The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Fünfundzwanzig: Ein Blick auf Ooarai
Kapitel Zwei: Ein Pazifikkrieg
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It was that time of the year again. It was the twilight of a new season of the International High School Arts of Warfare Tournament. That meant it was time to draw for the tournament bracket to determine who took on who for the first round, as well as to allow for future planning with regards to who stood the best chances at advancing.
As was tradition, the tournament drawing took place in Zürich, Switzerland. Specifically, it was held in the Opernhaus Zürich, a long-standing and world-class opera house looking over the Sechseläutenplatz and next to the waterfront of the Zürichsee.
The competitor listings this year were quite diverse. There was an entry from seemingly all corners of the world, from Scandinavia to Australia and the Americas, though the great majority of entries still came from Europe. All corners of Europe held a spot in the tournament this year, from Scandinavia again to Eastern Europe and all throughout Central and Western Europe.
Also returning to the tournament this year were some of the big-name teams that everyone knew about: Saunders High School from America, Saint Gloriana High School of Britain, as well as the reigning champs, Pravda Srednyaya Shkola of Russia, were back. The other teams didn't quite see Pravda as the reigning champs, however, as it was common knowledge by now that something outside of their control had happened to influence last season's victory in their favor. And to put it shortly, Pravda felt the pang from that.
Everyone drew silent out of begrudging respect when a certain black-haired ultra-ace strutted her way up to the stage with an air of untouchable power to perform her school's drawing. Isabel-Justina Hartmann's familiar, naturally intimidating demeanor served as a reminder that Germany's best, Schwarzwaldspitze Gymnasium, was also back, and most likely they were looking to avenge themselves from last season's loss.
But everyone drew silent a second time, this time out of surprise, when a vaguely familiar blonde strode to the stage when it was time for a new entry to draw. Though the school was nothing special – bearing the name of Ooarai High School, a school with a multinational student base and predominantly Japanese funding – the face of that girl was extremely familiar. It was so familiar because it was the exact same face that Isabel possessed, only filled with blue eyes and adorned with identically-styled blonde hair. It was a great surprise when Erika-Dietlinde Hartmann strode to the stage with all the confidence, and indirect intimidation, that her elder sister did, while wearing the white and green uniform of Ooarai.
It took a concentrated effort for Erika to not shiver, because though she couldn't make her out amongst everyone else in the opera, she could feel how Isabel was watching her. As much as the blonde wanted to detest her sister now after what happened in Russia last season, that instinct to cower under the Black Demoness' powerful stare remained.
(Send her over the waves
Our sentinel)
Much later in the vast Pacific, Erika took it upon herself to head up into the air alone with her steed as Ooarai's Staffelkapitän, a Bf 109 E-4. The Messer was painted in a camouflage with a forest green topside and a sky blue underside, and, out of personal preference, the blonde decorated the nose with a black tulip. On the tailfin was an insignia of a silver knife canted at the same angle as the leading edge of the fin, effectively parallel with it, with the black handle at the top.
The emblem was present due to the callsign for her being Messer-Ein. She had picked the callsign for sentimental reasons, choosing it because of the knife Manfred Nishizumi had gifted to her for her most recent birthday, the same day her life, in her eyes, fell apart. She looked down with an angered sneer on her face, silently berating herself for daring to think about what happened that day.
(She reports in the news)
Position of our foes!
Back to why she was up in the air, it was to perform a patrol of the waves for any sight of their adversaries' school ship. She spotted it soon enough, and really, it was difficult to miss, even from a couple dozen miles out. The USS George Washington was one of the largest of the school ships commonly seen amongst the main players in the Arts of Warfare, no surprise at all considering how it was almost expected for the Americans to be so pompous.
For all that it was worth, Erika had been waiting to unleash the pent-up anger she had held back onto Saunders. She wasn't mad at them exactly; she just sorely needed an outlet for her recently-harvested hatred of Isabel and for how belittled and broken she made her feel. And Erika really didn't want to use her new team for that. After all, none of them had any prior experience in combat, so it would just be extremely unfair to them to suffer the blonde's wrath.
This battlefield's been chosen!
Tactically in advance!
But that time would come soon enough, because the date to battle Saunders High School, the school that embodied the American personality in the most perfect and adoring way, was near. The battlefield encompassed the North Shore area and the other surrounding areas on Oahu Island, the home to the capital of Hawaii. It was a unique first-time experience for Erika, and she would argue for Manfred as well, because the officials had chosen to notify them of the battleground immediately. It took a bit of time to comprehend that, as they were used to charging through hostile land to get to the battlefield after their experiences from Schwarzwaldspitze. This time around, no such pre-match battle would be waged, considering it was kind of an unspoken rule amongst the large schools that they would be merciful to smaller schools like Ooarai.
Time to alert our fighters!
We're soon in range!
"It's nearly time," Erika began simply later on with the relatively small number of students that comprised Ooarai's Arts of Warfare programs before her for a final pep-talk, if it could be called that. To her Jagdstaffel, Erika looked downright scary with how intimidating she looked. "Just remember what you learned these last several weeks, and you'll be fine." Erika had grown into a rather hostile person after leaving Schwarzwaldspitze, but she wasn't so short-sighted as to drag her new comrades into her past. She had a duty to uphold, and she would do it, even if it meant pushing her emotions to the side.
Saunders!
It was a bit contradictory due to how intimidating her face was, almost always set in a pissed-off downturn of her lips, but Erika did honestly try her best to not direct her hatred onto her new comrades. Unfortunately, and worse for her even if she would never admit to it, that resulted in her being quite stand-offish with Manfred after he practically poofed back into her life when he also came to Ooarai, choosing to direct that hatred onto him in a sense even though he had done nothing to deserve it.
The light brunette nudged her with a glare telling her to cool off, but Erika waved a hand back towards him in an effort to smack his arm away in rebellion, glaring back and practically daring him to tell her to chill out. Suffice to say Manfred backed down first, and it stung. If there was one thing about Erika that hadn't changed since Schwarzwaldspitze, it was that she always had a far stronger will than he did. It stung to the light brunette that his lifelong companion, and long-time crush, was now trying to push him away so fiercely with that incredibly strong will.
He could still recall that look of pure horror on her face when they laid eyes on each other again in Ooarai's Student Council office. It was like she had seen a ghost, and that was somewhat true: Erika was so dead-set on trying to put the past behind her that she just didn't know what to do when she saw him, someone so intricately linked to her recent past of extreme turmoil. Manfred hated that she had mentally suffered so much as to reduce her to that state.
We'll take on Saunders!
"Bah, don't worry. We can destroy them with just one of us!" Kelly confidently boasted in response to an inquiry during a briefing of Saunders' Arts of Warfare programs. The proud blond-haired, blue-eyed, and pure American was the Captain of the Tank Battalion this year, being unanimously picked for the spot after his impressive leadership was demonstrated the previous season against Schwarzwaldspitze at Bastogne. Even though the Americans had lost that fight, they held on a lot longer than they should have.
"But don't they have that younger Hartmann girl on their side? You know, one of the German aces from Bastogne?" one person innocently asked. The person in question was most likely a rookie, but that reminder chilled Charlotte to the bone. The burgundy-haired American was there for the tournament drawing, originally because she wanted to get social with all of the other aces from around the world, and maybe also to brag about how she was picked to lead Saunders' Fighter Wing this year. But while there, she had also witnessed alongside everyone else how Erika-Dietlinde Hartmann, the younger sister of Isabel-Justina Hartmann, had drawn for the new entry, Ooarai High School.
Aerial war!
Even if Ooarai was a no-name school with a lack of experience and equipment, Charlotte was not so keen as to immediately dismiss them as opponents, solely for the reason that Erika-Dietlinde Hartmann was one of the pilots of their Jagdstaffel. The burgundy-haired teen remembered with clarity just how skilled the blonde German ultra-ace was. As skilled as Charlotte was, she had eventually been shot down at the hand of Erika during the battle at Bastogne last season. It was easy to see why she was more on the side of caution than the rest of Saunders' Fighter Wing, as the idea of fighting Erika again struck closer to home for her than anyone else.
(Calling all hands to deck
Got to be airborne)
"Come on! Up and at it!" Erika broadcasted her voice across the land just outside of Ooarai's hangars. The Jagdstaffel was in the process of prepping for battle, as it was now time to enter the fight, and Erika was holding no qualms with sounding ruthless in her beckoning to hurry up. As long as it would get everyone focused, her tone would do. Both fighter squadrons, it was decided, would start from their respective carriers, both equally distant from the battlefield, due to the fact that Oahu was such a small island: fighters flying at top speed could fly across the entirety of the island in little more than two minutes.
Erika took a moment to close her eyes and breathe while she sat in her Bf 109 E-4's cockpit as she waited for everything to be prepared. She was anticipating this moment, the moment where she could finally unleash herself onto a deserving opponent and slaughter them all.
(Head out into the sun)
Descending on our foes!
Out of the sun flashed two German fighters decorated with the unique blue-bordered, five-legged Balkenkreuz markings that belonged to Ooarai. Charlotte and a few other P-38s belonging to Saunders turned to try and meet the attacking pair of German fighters, but the burgundy-haired Wing Commander had issued the command to engage a little too late, as one of the German fighters, an Fw 190 A-4 with a tailfin emblem of a white and brown shrike with wings extended and appearing as if in a roll, swept past and tore apart one of the American P-38s effortlessly. That caught Charlotte by surprise, and she at first thought that Erika was the 190's pilot judging by the accuracy of its fire, but that was yet another small mistake she made.
This is the crucial moment!
In the heat of battle!
"Dammit!" Charlotte cursed when a Bf 109 with Ooarai's markings and the distinct black tulip nose zoomed past her, quickly disposing of one of her comrades with the minimum number of shots necessary. The burgundy-haired American had underestimated Ooarai's abilities more than she had thought. Though it was her plan to take down Erika first, that no longer seemed feasible when she had a clearly talented wingman tethered to her. "Oh, fuck you and your black tulip ass," Charlotte muttered as she kept an eye on Erika, praising and simultaneously cursing the blonde's unpredictability that had thrown her Fighter Wing for a loop. The rest of Saunders now were made crisply aware of Ooarai being an actual threat to them, as much of a shocker as it was.
To fly and hit our targets!
Further below!
"Let's get the rest of them, Erika. Was sagst du?" the Fw 190's pilot suggested with a confident smirk in place as she climbed away from the engagement. Otherwise known as Anna Novat, this Bavarian girl hailing from Munich had a natural talent for aerial combat despite having no prior experience, and was also a part of the Ooarai Student Council. She had some light brown hair hanging down to the middle of her back in a low-hanging ponytail along with brown eyes in a darker shade than her hair color, and was very similar to Erika in terms of height and body structure. Anna held a measurable respect for Erika already: considering the blonde was able to see through her intentions to manipulate her into joining Ooarai's fledgling Jagdstaffel, it was surprising to Anna that Erika still decided to join even after calling her out on her manipulating.
Saunders!
(Display their might!
Ordering Jagdstaffeln!
Captains waging war!)
"Don't get too cocky," Erika warned the Student Council's Chief Advisor before redirecting her focus to scan the skies and get up to speed on the situation. The air battle had found itself over the water to the north of the battlefield, but to the advantage of the two German fighters of Ooarai, it was at relatively low altitude. That was a domain that both the Bf 109E and especially the Fw 190A excelled in compared to the more high-altitude-oriented P-38s of Saunders, and with Erika's vast experience and the natural talent of Anna, the two were making good progress on downing their opponents one by one.
Even though Ooarai was outnumbered two-to-one both on the ground and in the air, thanks to the gentleman's agreement all of the large schools shared with each other to go easy on smaller schools, Saunders only had ten fighters total at the start, which provided a relief for Erika. Knowing that she didn't have to hold off literal dozens of American fighters as was the case when she fought them in Bastogne was a welcome relief for her, since Ooarai had only five fighters to oppose Saunders in the air, and only five tanks to utilize on the ground.
We'll take on Saunders!
(To win the fight!
Tactics are crucial!)
The low numbers meant that victory would be achieved by whoever was the most cunning, and Erika's experience with the Americans showed them to be anything but. As an American school, Saunders had a notably larger budget than most other schools, with Schwarzwaldspitze being the only one to have a similarly large budget, yet the American role-model school hadn't even bothered to upgrade their arsenal that much over the break. They used the same P-38Fs and P-63s as they did last year, though only one of their P-63s was brought out this time thanks to the obligation to reduce their numbers against Ooarai. The only upgrade to their aerial arsenal was that they had modified at least one of their numerous P-38Fs into a P-38M Night Lightning.
Aerial war!
Saunders was just stubborn like that, preferring the humble but unimpressive M4 Shermans and P-38 Lightnings over whatever else they could buy. Though their pilots were rather aggressive, Erika noted how they were short-sighted, how they were prone to undergo improvisation. With that knowledge, the blonde German ultra-ace knew that it would be easy enough to manipulate Saunders to her will. After all, they had already fallen to trying to take her on at lower altitudes, a domain that the American P-38s were no better within than the German fighters, if not inferior. So of course they would fall for other tricks up her sleeve.
Far from shore!
A Pacific war!
Bombs are falling from the skies
Down on the ground, Ooarai's five tanks had done a good job of eluding Saunders' tanks using the various terrain to their advantage. Unlike in the air, it was a lot harder for Ooarai to take on Saunders in a heads-up fight on the ground.
For that reason, Erika saw fit to assign the other three fighters available to her to assist with the ground war. There was a Ki-10-II decorated with a tailfin decal depicting in gray a cyclone swirl that normally would be useless for any role, but it was still providing a very useful purpose via providing aerial reconnaissance on Saunders' armor.
Then there was an F4F-3, adorned with a tailfin emblem of a pouncing silver-furred wildcat, laden with a couple of 100 lb bombs, one under each wing, that dove to the ground to dive-bomb one of Saunders' Shermans. The cylindrical bombs struck on the mark and took out the M4, leaving the other American tanks to focus on defending themselves from the air attack, as useless as the effort was.
It's a bomb run day!
It's the ground pound way!
A blood red sun is on the rise
And the last in the trio of fighters assigned to assist in the ground war announced itself with a resounding boom of its massive cannon. The shot fired by the massive gun hit its mark, another Sherman, and took it down as the twin-engine fighter wielding the gun stormed above the battlefield.
Ooarai's Me 410 A-1/U4 presented a very unique foe to Saunders, because even though it was a twin-engine fighter, it had decidedly greater survivability than the American P-38 thanks to its fernbediente seitliche Lafetten rear defensive turrets, a respectable amount of armor protecting the plane from the front, effective air brakes and good acceleration that combined made it easy to manipulate energy, and effective armament. It held two 20 mm MG 151/20s, cannons that were among the best in their caliber for use against air targets, and a single 50 mm BK 5, a gun that one absolutely did not want to be on the receiving end of, especially if the target was an aircraft, as the explosive shell for the gun would pulverize any plane with a single shot and send it to the ground. Against tanks, it was just as useful, its armor-piercing shells being more than capable enough to cripple armor. As its tailfin emblem of a buzzing hornet depicted, the Hornisse could sting, and very hard at that.
"Thanks for that, Hornisse-Vier," Manfred Nishizumi gave the Me 410's pilot a word of gratitude as it flew away to await another order for an airstrike. The light brunette Panzer commander then started ordering his fellow tank crew members. "Haru, get the one nearest with its side exposed."
"Sighted," the black-haired and tall gunner reported back as he aimed the gunsight onto the specified Sherman. Haru Isuzu was much like a gentle giant: though he was not extremely buff to fit a giant's physical profile, he was tall, and he did have a calm, gentle demeanor most of the time. Oftentimes, he liked to dabble as an artist in his free time. And, as he fired the cannon and watched the shot plunge into the thin side armor of the M4 he targeted, he was a very proficient gunner.
The Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausführung D that took down the Sherman from within the woods held a Panzergrau paint job, with a rather humorous addition to either side of its turret: a pink anglerfish that one of the crew members randomly suggested be their callsign. Upon seeing the decal at first, Manfred grew extremely embarrassed from just how… different it was. Well, it was also because Erika was right there with him to see it for the first time, and the blonde had actually cracked up from the sight of it. It was an embarrassing occasion for the light brunette, but it was worth it to see Erika genuinely smile again, even if it was for but a minute before her new normal expression, a pissed frown, took over again.
Another cannon boomed from within some more trees nearby, and its shot pulverized another Sherman. However, this time, the M4 was easily taken down from the front. The Sturmgeschütz III Ausführung F that Ooarai had available to it was certainly capable of disposing of the American tank, its powerful 7,5 cm StuK 40 L/43 wholly capable of the job. Also in the Panzergrau paint job, the German assault gun had an emblem of a hippo showing off its behind painted onto the side of its superstructure.
As the battle raged on, Manfred noted how Saunders was starting to reorganize itself on the ground. That wouldn't do for Ooarai, as they would no longer have the advantage of surprise if Saunders was allowed to conduct an organized attack. "Retreat," he calmly ordered his small Panzerzug. "We'll find another opportunity."
"Incoming!" he heard the voice of Veronica, oftentimes nicknamed Ron for short, forewarn him. Though saddled with flying the pathetic Ki-10, she took to her role of recon without question. The American captain of the school's recently axed badminton club knew a thing or two about following orders. "Two Lightnings coming for you, loaded up!"
Far from shore!
A Pacific war!
Bombs are falling from the skies
As foretold, two of Saunders' P-38s soon entered the fray loaded up with one 500 lb bomb under each wing. The two American fighters, one P-38M and one P-38F, both dived down in the vague direction of Ooarai's tanks and dropped their bombs.
With a resounding quadruple boom, the bombs struck. Luckily for Ooarai, the bombs had not struck close enough to cripple any of them, though Manfred knew that the all-ninth-grader crew of the school's M3 Lee would likely lose their nerve from it. He shook his head at the thought. He made a note to get that crew to improve its resilience and not flinch every time they heard a gun fire.
It's a bomb run day!
It's the ground pound way!
A blood red sun is on the rise
Up in the air, the P-38M and P-38F that had previously dive-bombed the Ooarai tanks now chased after Erika's Bf 109E and Anna's Fw 190A, both loaded with external armament that they were just about to release onto the Shermans. The 109 had a single 250 kg SC 250 bomb under the fuselage, while the 190 had a single 500 kg SC 500 bomb under the fuselage in addition to a pair of 210 mm Werfer-Granate 21 rocket-propelled mortars under the wings.
The Saunders P-38s were too late to stop the two German fighters from dropping their ordnance, the German munitions blowing up and taking out a couple of American tanks in a spectacular fireworks show. It filled the Japanese-descended students of Ooarai, which were rather high in number since the school was first built as a Japanese school, with a sense of pride that their school was doing so well. The red rising sun was rising high above all.
The Fw 190 then immediately jettisoned the launch tubes for the Werfer-Granate 21 rockets via the explosive charges fitted to the launch tube supports, as there were no plans in place to rearm with more of them this late into the fight. Jettisoning them allowed for the aerodynamic drag provided by them to be removed from the plane, which was a self-explanatory advantage for an aircraft.
Saunders!
(Display their might!
Ordering Jagdstaffeln!
Captains waging war!)
"Rachel, cover me! That's her!" Charlotte immediately ordered the P-38M's pilot to be her wingman. The blue-eyed Wing Commander decided that in order to achieve victory, Erika had to be taken down no matter the cost. She was the key to Ooarai's survival for so long against Saunders, and without her, Charlotte believed Ooarai would fall easily.
"Charlotte, we need your fucking help down here! That plane with a tank cannon is killing us all!" she heard Captain Kelly's voice practically demand for her to take down the enemy Me 410 laying waste with its massive gun. The burgundy-haired grunted in mounting frustration, because Erika had picked that moment to engage her, forcing her to divert her attention to take out the biggest threat to her.
We'll take on Saunders!
(To win the fight!
Tactics are crucial!)
But Kelly wasn't exaggerating all that much in his report. The Me 410 A-1/U4 was indeed giving the Americans a hard time. Already, three tanks had fallen to the Pulkzerstörer after its most recent strafe claimed another. That was a very useful attribute of the Me 410 A-1/U4 in particular: its ability to take down armor with one of its main guns made it a very useful attacker considering it could simply aim and fire rather than having to expose itself in order to dive-bomb or use wildly inaccurate rockets.
And its pilot knew that as well. With long deep red hair falling to her mid-back in a graceful silky wave and eyes that held a similar shade of red, she was known as Wolf to her band of friends. The graceful yet also extremely confident girl was a history buff, with her focus on German history and her being closest in character to Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, the German World War Two fighter ace. As such, the soul name of Wolf was bestowed upon her.
Aerial war!
Anna was easily able to compete with the P-38M thanks to her Fw 190's more comparable performance to the late-war Lightning at lower altitudes. That made it easy for the Bavarian girl to maneuver into a position where she could take down the P-38. Within a couple of turns, the 190 was able to get on the Night Lightning's tail, and it was simple point and fire for Anna after that. She fired a burst from her guns, and the end result was the P-38M being set ablaze and having a chunk taken off its left wing, forcing it to lose control of itself.
Saunders!
(Display their might!
Ordering Jagdstaffeln!
Captains waging war!)
"Fucking FUCK!" Charlotte heard her comrade Rachel cry out over the radio, and with a brief glance she caught the P-38M as it tumbled through the air with no control whatsoever while on fire.
"Shit!" the burgundy-haired American cursed when Erika's Bf 109 closed for another attack from her left front, forcing her to jerk the controls in evasive action and bring her attention back to the fight. As the Messer passed her by, Charlotte pulled up on her P-38F's control yoke and flicked her flap switch to the combat setting to vertically double back after the 109.
We'll take on Saunders!
(To win the fight!
Tactics are crucial!)
With flaps deployed in the combat position, Charlotte was able to turn as tightly as Erika's 109 could, but the blond-haired German ultra-ace wasn't one to fall for such a trick. The two ended up catching each other in a head-on pass, but Erika chose not to engage and instead tried to spoil Charlotte's gunfire. It was a smart move, considering the P-38 was one of the best fighters out there for head-on attacks with its heavy and centerline-mounted armament.
Aerial war!
"You need some help, Erika?" Erika heard Anna offer over the radio. The Bavarian herself was further away, heading back towards the blonde Swabian after shooting down the P-38M.
"No, I've got this," Erika responded, fully confident in her abilities to down Charlotte. She had done it before, so she was sure she could do it again, even with the lower-performance 109 she flew this time. It was only a matter of time, but soon enough Erika was able to deplete Charlotte's energy enough to where she held the advantage. The 109 didn't lose energy as easily as a P-38 did, especially in the vertical maneuvers that Erika knew from vast experience were best for energy conservation.
Saunders!
The time soon came where Erika was able to get into an adequate position to fire at Charlotte, and she did so, unleashing the firepower of her Bf 109 E-4. The rounds impacted and set the P-38F ablaze, something Lightnings had a rather common habit of doing when shot at.
Charlotte's and Erika's dogfight with each other had captivated the entirety of the spectators due to both of them being the commanders of each side's aviation arm. It was certainly captivating, Isabel-Justina Hartmann could agree to that as she stood in the fields watching the battle from afar. The black-haired German ultra-ace betrayed nothing with her body language, but it was still obvious that she held a much bigger interest in this fight than even that of her own team's upcoming fight, a much more personal interest.
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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 Sabaton. 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.