Greensboro, NC
Jay was well awake when the Avro touched down in Greensboro, and out the window, he could see some planes from the other schools on the tarmac. They passed by a couple of airliners, A VC-10 from the Mojave team, as well a few other jets from other teams. Not a lot of big jets other than the VC. The jet pulled up to its spot on the tarmac and the engines shut down, with that, the boarding door was opened and everyone grabbed their stuff and made their way to the side of the jet to pick up their bags. Jay sighed, more out of relief there wasn't too much attention on the tarmac.
Soon a shuttle bus arrived on the tarmac next to the plane, and students who had their bags began making their way over to the coach. Jay walked over with his bag, still contemplating his decision to sign up for the tournament. He had a troubled look on his face, one that would spell his feelings about the situation. He sighed as he grabbed his bag.
"What seems to be bothering you, Jay," Hanz said, grabbing Jay's attention. "I've seen the look before, but we're not going into battle just yet. We still have time to think things out.
"It's nothing, I'm just getting lost in thought," Jay replied, picking up his bag and making his way to the front of the now-empty jet.
"I don't believe that is entirely true. That is a look of concern and fear, so tell me. What's going on?" Hanz said bluntly. Jay knew he couldn't lie to him, he had to at least tell someone about it, and he was a pretty good listener. He continued to walk towards the bus after the two had disembarked the jet. "You're just gonna give me the cold shoulder?" Jay stopped and turned to face his co-commander.
"I'm nervous, ok?" he said to him, returning the bluntness of his last comment. Jay could tell that Hanz was a bit surprised by the way he had answered the question. "Sorry, I didnt mean for it to come out like that, but..I'm nervous." He walked over to the bus, hearing Hanz following behind him. Once at his seat on the bus, he looked out towards the window as the last of the students boarded the bus and took their seats. It was about 7 pm local time, and the sun had started to dip down into the horizon. He could feel the heat of the sun on the side of his face.
"You think you're nervous? How do you think the rest of us feel?" Hanz replied a few minutes into the drive. "You've been here before, have you not? Plus you're not the only one repping JayPac here. I'm also representing the German clubs." Jay knew he was right, but even still his thoughts kept filling his mind like an angry wasp nest. He put in some earbuds and began to listen to some music. He closed his eyes and eventually fell asleep, the gentle rocking of the bus as it went over some bumps helping him to do so.
Danville, VA
Jay woke up while they were still on the highway, looking out to see the now-darkened sky outside. He looked to his left to see that Hanz had fallen asleep, and was blocking any way to the aisle. He sighed softly and looked back to the front, seeing a few heads moving about. He stretched a bit as the bus passed a large building, which was the USSF headquarters. The bus passed it, and with a couple of bumps in the road, they were in the small city.
After a bit of driving alongside and over a river, they arrived at the Hotel. Jay got out of his seat, climbing over Hanz to get to the aisle, which of course woke him up. Jay gave an apologetic wave and grabbed his belongings, soon stepping down off the bus, waiting to get his bag which was in the cargo hold. The driver opened the door and started to take bags out of the hold and place them on the ground. He grabbed his bag and made his way into the air-conditioned lobby of the hotel they would be staying at. He got to the front desk and checked in, grabbing the room keys for each person, luckily they were right across the hall from each other. He went to wait for the rest of the boys, taking a seat on the barstool.
"Well, at least you got the room keys, right?" Cody said, taking a seat on a barstool next to Jay. "Is that why you trampled over Hanz?" he said, yawning a bit.
"No, I just wanted off that bus," Jay replied. "I'll apologize to Hanz about that."
"I understand, but next time try not to moon someone without them knowing." He said, giving Jay a light punch. "Now then, where is Kyle and Hanz?" He asked, looking at the door behind him. "They were closer towards the front...maybe they didn't get their bags yet."
"Most likely," Jay said, taking off his jacket and sighing in relief upon feeling the cool air on his arms. "So, you wanna bunk with me? Or you wanna bunk with one of the boys?" He asked.
"I think I'll bunk with Kyle," Cody said, and Jay slid him the room key.
"Yeah, It's just for a couple days anyways," Kyle said, sitting on the barstool across from Cody. "So, where's my key?" Jay slid him the key and Peterson, silent this time around, took a seat across from Jay.
"You're bunking with me, Pete." He said, handing him his room key.
"Sounds good to me. So..what's the plan for the morning?" He asked, sitting across from Jay. "And Hanz, I guess you can choose who you want to bunk with."
"Well, we can uber our way over to the tank museum at any time, or we can catch a shuttle bus to the museum," Cody suggested. He looked at all of us and we all nodded. "It really just depends on if yall wanna pay for that ride or not." He grabbed the key to the room and made his way there.
Jay could tell that he was still tired from the flight and ride. He himself was a bit tired as well, and it showed.
"Well, If you all don't mind I'm going to go take a shower and enjoy the first night here," Hanz said, grabbing his bag and standing up.
"Sounds good to me. We meet here for breakfast at 7:30 if you can." Jay said, grabbing his bag and key. They all nodded and grabbed their respective bag and keys, heading off to the rooms. Jay made a quick stop at the hotel snack bar and grabbed a couple of snacks before heading off to the room. He wanted his roommate for the next couple of days to choose which bed he was in.
Once he was in the room, he had seen that Peterson was in the bed closest to the window. Jay sighed and lay on the bed that was closest to the bathroom, taking off his jacket and tossing it onto the table. While Pete was in the bathroom he changed into his sleeping clothes and lay down on the bed. He was asleep just before his head hit the pillow, drifting off into a well-deserved slumber.
The next day…
Jay woke up to the sound of Peterson turning on the shower and the soft humming of the air conditioning unit. He picked up his phone, which Peterson had kindly put on his charger, seeing that it was 7 in the morning. He sat up and stood up, yawning and stretching. The TV was on, but it was on low volume. He sighed and put on some socks and changed into a different shirt. He had brought a few with him just in case, and once he had changed, he went down to the Lobby to see that Hanz was already indulging in some of the breakfast items. Jay went through the line, seeing the other team reps that had come, most of them commanders and sub-commanders of their team. It could've been Jay's Imagination, but they all seemed to be mean mugging him. He shook it off and sat across from his friend, eating the eggs he had brought.
"Good Morning, Mein Kommandant." Hanz said, taking a swig of his orange juice. Jay just made a sound and nodded.
"I told you to stop calling me that," Jay replied. "But good morning to you as well." He was still tired, knowing it was going to be a long day. "Let's see..we got to the Tank Museum and meet up with our instructor for lunch, come back here at around 2 and hang out here until it's time to head out to the HQ for the order of the tournament ceremony." Jay explained. His voice was considerably deeper, as it always was when he had just woken up. It gave him a bit more of an authoritative-sounding voice. He took a bite out of a strip of bacon. "You're gonna wear the uniform, right?" He asked, munching on his food.
"Of course I am, what kind of question is that?" Hanz asked in a bit of disbelief. "Is there a reason you think I wouldn't?"
"Listen the only reason I would say is to stand out from the rest of us," Kyle said, taking a seat next to Jay.
"Welcome to the morning party Kyle, glad you could make it," Jay said, taking a drink of his apple juice.
"Nobody died, did they?" he asked, stealing a piece of bacon off of Hanz's plate, to which he was not amused. The two stared at Jay. "Except his sense of humor."
"You know what Pascal would say if he were here right now?" Jay asked. The two boys shrugged. "Probably something along the lines of 'Now knock it off with them negative waves' or something like that," Jay said, although subtly laughing at the jab. Jay just shook his head and finished what was on his plate. The other two soon came into the lobby and joined up with the rest of the group.
"Well, now that everyone is here..and I seem to be a little underdressed for breakfast, let's discuss one thing." Before Jay could get out another word, they all pointed at him. "Wait what? I didn't even say anything!"
"You were going to ask who was gonna draw our spot and go up on stage. It only makes sense for our commander to go up." Kyle explained. Everyone else just nodded in agreement. "Besides, doing this tournament was your idea entirely….almost entirely."
"Yeah, yeah, alright. But Peterson, you're the flag tank in the first round we get." Jay said, to Peterson's shock. He had a look of terror mixed with some sort of anger.
"Is this because of the shower? Or because I didn't speak up earlier?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"I think you know, anyway, let's get ready and meet back here in say...2 hours?" They all nodded in agreement, and with the exception of Peterson and Cody, all went back to change for the day. Once they all were ready, dressed in their casual clothes. They all did their thing, and Jay was looking at the forums as per usual. Peterson was reading up on the M24 Chaffee, And the others were chatting with some of the other teams, hoping to make some acquaintances.
The time soon came to where they would be heading off to the Museum for a bit to see their instructors and also see a few tanks drive around the museum. The JayPac boys all gathered up and climbed aboard the shuttle bus, along with a few other teams. They were all mostly silent, not really excited to see their instructor again. She was a bit hard on them when they had their last lesson, but she was the best instructor JayPac could get. Jay knew she probably wasn't that enthusiastic to see them, considering how much they hadn't followed her instruction but improvised off the instructor's teachings. As they rode along the highway, Cody tapped Jay's shoulder.
"I know what happened to our old T29." He said, to which Jay turned to face him.
"Oh yeah? What happened after we sold it?"
"Apparently, Lone Star got a hold of it. I talked to the gunner on that thing, name's Jerome, very uh...open, but yeah. Lone star has our old T29." Jay pondered for a moment and then just gave a light huff.
"That seems like something they would do...They already have some formidable tanks in their arsenal, and now they have our T29. What's next, a Maus?" he said, jokingly. Cody just silently shook his head.
"They bought that tank as a message. I can guarantee that."He said, looking ahead for the remainder of the ride. "New York is a bit more modest at least.."
"Yeah.. that's for god damn sure," Jay replied.
After riding the bus for about half an hour, they arrived at the museum, getting a peek at the instructor's tanks for a moment as they passed the back lot where they were all sitting. He immediately recognized his team's instructor, as her Tank was a pretty rare modification of the Type 74 main battle tank. And the camo scheme was pretty recognizable as well.
The bus came to a stop, and everyone disembarked, walking into the tank museum, where they were greeted by photographers and some of the USSF instructors, as well as the Museum staff.
The boys all shook some hands, saying a quick greeting, before being handed a lanyard with a tag on it, which had their Team name on it. They all put their respective ones on and began to walk around the museum, looking at the many tanks there. Naturally, the group split up as the museum got busier, and he soon found himself alone in front of a Sergeant York.
"Looks like the sheep is far from his flock." He heard someone say in a heavy southern drawl. "But that's ok by me..wolf needs to eat something" Jay turned to see a guy behind him with a couple of other people from his posse. Jay himself was a big guy but wasn't as intimidating as this person.
"Why don't you go somewhere? I didnt even do anything to you." Jay said, standing his ground.
"Ah no, no, no. You see I came to thank you for your Tank. I heard one of our boys told ya, so I might as well personally say thanks." Jay was taken aback, now knowing that it wasn't just a coincidence, but a message.
"I heard what happened all those years ago, as well. And...well not to bring up history, but I remember it was a slaughter." He said, smirking at him.
"Why don't you just shut it," Jay said through his teeth. "It's in the past, and it's not gonna happen again." He said, turning to walk away towards where his instructor should be.
"C'mon Porter, he's not gonna bite, our commander's waiting for us." He heard one of his lackeys say as he walked off. He heard some other stuff but paid more attention to the open door to the lot. Out there some of the teams were talking with their instructors, while Instructor Izumo was sitting atop her tank, waiting for JayPac's boys to arrive.
"There you are!" He heard Cody say behind him as they got to the doorway. "We've been looking all over for you." He turned to see the rest of his group walk up to him.
"Don't tell me you were gonna face the beast alone," Peterson said. "You know she would've reprimanded you."
"This seems to be somewhat of a common thing to happen," Hanz said, shaking his head. "I should know, I've been observing his combat style for the past six months." Jay just nodded, still trying to process the encounter with the Lone Star guys.
"Something happened, I can tell," Hanz said, noticing Jay's reaction. "Would you like me to show them any mercy, mein kommandant?"
"I'm fine, it's just those Lone Star guys are a bunch of asses," Jay said. "We better beat them. And only then can you show no mercy. Now c'mon, I'm sure Instructor Izumo is waiting on us." He said, making his way out into the open air. The group soon followed closely behind him.
Standing before the boys in front of her Type 74G, was Instructor Hanna Izumo. She had trained the boys ever since she had found out about their plan to compete in the tournament. She had been very strict with the boys when doing drills, and heavily reprimanded Jay many times, as well as a few other members of the team. Although this time, she didn't have on a scowl or a face of anger, more one of relief.
"Instructor Izumo, sorry for taking so long to meet up with you. We all were...caught up in something." Jay said as confidently as he could.
"I was afraid you wouldn't show up." She said, and for the first time since she had started training them, she cracked a smile. "I thought I had scared you all off. Anyways, I'm glad you came." She looked at everyone who was there. "Pasc...I mean Hanz, Peterson, Kyle, and Cody, glad to see you all are doing well. I wanted to tell you guys that I'm proud of you all, despite you not following all my instructions."
"Well, that's a first," Kyle said. "Been a while since we heard you say that." The other boys nodded in agreement.
"That may be true, but you should know she speaks very highly of you boys." A voice said from behind the group of boys. And they were shocked to see who it was, as well as Hanna herself. "Although her..Ahem..teaching methods are a bit too direct, it gets the job done." The voice was coming from another instructor who happened to pass by while on the way to his tank. Instructor Baker was one of the best senshadou commanders and Instructors the USSF had to offer.
"Thank you, Philip, please move along now." he just nodded and before heading off, he wished the boys good luck in the match. Soon they turned back to see their instructor pinching the bridge of her nose and laughing to herself softly.
"Ms. Izumo? Is something funny?" Hanzl asked. "Or...is it something else? Is something he said to you?"
"No, it's just something that he said earlier that came across my mind." She said, upon calming her laughter. "Well...I guess yeah." She took a deep breath before continuing. "You should know he instructs New York High's team, so it's no wonder they've been good these past few years. Hopefully, someone will finally put a stop to their streak."
"I'm sure we can do it," Jay responded, to which their instructor gave them a confused look, which turned into a small, some would call an evil smile.
"How about this, If you do well enough I will personally arrange a match between you and a team in Japan." She said. "And you know how high my standards are when it comes to these sorts of things."
"What? Wagers?" Hanz asked. "I am all in, but how do we know you're telling us the truth?" He asked.
"Because I'm a woman of my word." She said. "You know that's kinda upsetting that you don't trust me, considering how much time we've spent together. Even you Hanz, I thought we were connecting. And on that note, you boys have made improvements on your maneuvers." She said.
"Thank you, Ms. Izumo," Jay said. "Well, I think it's about time the guys and I head out to lunch and get ourselves prepped for tonight."
"I thought we were gonna watch these tanks drive around for a bit then head out," Kyle said. "I kinda wanna see that Scimitar we passed by driving around."
"Right, right..We're gonna go do that, and then get prepared for the ceremony tonight." Jay said. "Excuse us, Instructor." She gave a nod and motioned for them to get going.
"Hey, Good luck!" She called after them.
"We're gonna need it!" Cody shouted back. After they went back into the air-conditioned building, which felt great after about an hour of talking, they picked a good spot to watch the tanks roll around the museum. From the rather large Leopard 2A5 to the small but quick Scimitar light tank, the museum road to life with Armour from around the world, with the Type 74 even showing off its hydropneumatic suspension. Before long it was time for the groups to start heading back so they could enjoy themselves for a bit before the big event.
Hours later…
Jay rushed out of the hotel room, realizing how late he had prepared for the event, he made some last-minute adjustments to his Uniform and jacket as he made his way to the stairwell, climbing down the stair as carefully, but quickly as he could. He made it down to the lobby where the rest of the group was waiting.
"Well, look who decided to show up?" Peterson said, looking at his watch. Jay was a little out of breath from the climb, but he had enough to gesture for him to shut up.
"The shuttle is leaving in about 5 minutes, so let's go. C'mon,Mein Kommandant no time to rest." Hanz said, motioning him to follow. Jay dragged himself out of the hotel into the hot and humid air, which didn't help things, and onto the cool fridge that was the shuttle bus.
"Well, you boys made it just in time." the boy Jay took a seat next to had said. Jay looked at the boy and saw him in a Lone Star uniform. "I'm Jerome, nice to meet ya." He said, to which Jay gave a nod, having caught his breath.
"You must be the commander, I can tell." He said, a few minutes into the ride.
"Yeah? And how'd you figure that? Saw me get ganged up on earlier today?" Jay asked, obviously upset about that incident, to which Jerome just shook his head.
"He does that to everyone. Just to try and get in their head, make 'em angry and sloppy during the match." Jerome explained. "It's pretty messed up, and it usually works. Apparently, that's how they beat JayPac all those years ago." Jay thought about it, he had read up on the past JayPac team, and read they were pretty well trained and even held the #1 spot from '96 to '00, where they lost it to New York and Portland. He did remember reading somewhere that the commander seemed sloppy as if anger had consumed him.
"I hate to say it, but I think he's gonna try to get in your heads again." Jerome finished as a light rain started to pour down.
"Why are you telling me this?" Jay asked, now feeling a little bad that he had assumed all of Lone Star were jerks.
"Because our commander is a bit of a douche, and so it's a bit fairer," he said. After a few more minutes of driving, the bus slowed up and pulled up to the USSF building. It was the tallest building in the area, with an Easy 8 Sherman and an M60 Patton out front as gate guardians.
Everyone on the bus Disembarked as camera crews from many sports and news stations filmed everyone stepping off the bus. Even though the ceremony was to start soon, the lobby was still buzzing with excitement. Jay noticed someone in the crowd he had recognized, and made his way over, telling the group to mingle for a bit.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Crashman himself," Jay said, walking up to the Commander of New York's team. She spun around to face Jay and smiled upon noticing him and gave him a punch in the arm.
"You're one to talk, Tex." She replied to him with a chuckle. Jay laughed with her as he rubbed his arm. "It's good to see you, Jay, after what...6 years of talking?"
"I know Sophie, it's good to see you too. Those days in the M8A1 are long behind us now, are long behind us now, huh?"
"They sure are." She replied. "Is Pascal still in the sport?" She asked, looking around. "I don't see him anywhere."
"Yeah, he still is in the sport. He's playing back in his home country. Drives a centurion now, and gotta say he's pretty good at it. Why? Have you got a crush on him or something?"
"Well, you should know I'm taken first of all." She said, crossing her arms. "And secondly...you boys should watch your back." She suddenly had a change of tone, her glare went from friendly and warming to cold and somewhat threatening. "If you think you can beat us, you're dead wrong. But..I do wish you the best of luck." She left the boys with a wave, and the two watched as she joined up with her group before heading into the auditorium.
"What the hell was that?" Hanz asked, walking up to Jay.
"That's called having the crown for too long," Jay replied, walking back to the group as well. Once they joined back up with the group, they walked towards the auditorium, which was packed to the brim with Instructors, participants, and media alike. The boys were ushered to their section, which was by a door to their relief, and not too long after the ceremony started.
"Welcome to the 56th annual US National Senshado Tournament!" The MC for the evening boomed over the speakers. "We would like to welcome all 24 teams that are participating this year. As you know our league operates differently than our Asian and European counterparts, and the winner of this year's tournament is called the greatest in the world!" With some awkward silence, he continued. "Just kidding, this isn't the NFL." After some laughter from that recovery, he continued on with the ceremony, explaining the rules and how some of them differ from the rest of the world, like there not being a limit on how many tanks can participate in a battle. "Now then, as for the order of the tournament, we have 24 slots. Of those 24, only 8 will have a first round bye. And on that note, the representatives for the #1 and #2 team reps please come up to the stage." Everyone watched as Sophie and Porter walked onto the stage taking the left and right side of the MC.
"Now then, Ms. Wallingford after discussing with your team, do you want to take the first round bye?" The boys hesitated, looking at their school logo on the screen in the background and back to Sophie.
"We're going to take the bye this time." She said, to which the New York team logo went into the Bye section.
"And you Mr. Jones? Are you going to take the Bye or fight in the first round?" The MC asked the Lone Star leader.
"We're gonna have to fight in the first round." He said. "And another thing, we're coming for you JayPac...don't you forget it." He said, pointing at the section they were sitting in. Jay balled his fist and sighed a bit.
"Just think of him as a target. And just think of the final shot. They're probably better shooting their mouths than they are at shooting tanks.." Hanz said.
"Yeah dude, it's just some trash talk," Cody said. Jay was glad he had one thing that Porter didn't, friends.
"Well, you have your answers, now will the representative please come to the stage to draw your positions!" Jay stood up and walked down to the stage behind a few other people. He waited as each slot was filled by the people before him, and when he finally got up to the stage, as in the 10th person, the announcer was shocked that JayPac was in the tournament.
"Well look at this, JayPac has returned to the National Stage for the first time in 11 years! And what is your name young man?" He asked.
"My name is Jay, I'm the commander of our Senshado team." He said confidently, but still quite nervous as so many people were watching him.
"Well please draw your spot." Jay reached into the box that had the spots on it, and pulled out a card with the word "Bye" on it. "Well how about that? JayPac takes the first of the three First Round Bye cards, let's hope they use that time wisely." Jay handed the card to the MC, breathing a sigh of relief. "We wish them good luck in the coming tournament." After a couple more hours, the ceremony ended and everyone went back to the hotel in the now pouring rain.
At the hotel, Jay had ordered pizza for their team and they celebrated their first-round bye drinking soda and eating Pizza.
"Mein Gott...I still can't believe you pulled a first-round bye from the barrel." Hanz said, taking a bite of his pizza.
"Yeah, I know...I'm just relieved I got lucky." Jay said, finishing one slice and moving on to the next.
"So, what's the plan? For the battle?" Peterson asked, looking at the tournament order. Jay looked at him confused. "Same as it always is, huh?"
"Same as during regionals, yeah. It will depend on the battle. And like I said, you're the flag tank for this first round, Pete." Jay said, drinking some soda he had bought at the vending machine.
"I'm already getting texts from the boys back on the boat about your draw, and it's mixed reviews," Cody said. "But I think we need this bye. Gives us more time to practice."
"That's for god damn sure. Did you see everyone looking at us like easy prey?" Jay said. "I don't know guys..maybe we should've gotten a first-round fight."
"Mein Kommandant, if I may." Jay shot him a look and nodded. "Sorry, Jay, I'm sure the other teams are saying the same things as us. Maybe even some teams are cursing us for our draw." The others nodded in agreement as they finished their food. "And with that, I believe we should all start making our way to our rooms. I'm going to enjoy this sleep while I can." They all agreed and went to their respective rooms for the night.
Gerald R. Ford, First round of the Tournament…
The flight back to the boat was uneventful, with most of the people on board falling asleep. They were greeted with mixed reactions from the team, both thanking him and telling him off for getting a first-round bye. Hanz had to step in, telling them; "You all know it was chance, and if you don't like it you don't have to participate in the first fight. I thought you all would be much happier off."
This silenced everyone and Jaypac began practicing right up until the day of the first matches. Jay was holding a small viewing party to watch Lone Star take on Southern California's team. During the Pre-match preps, every time the camera was on their leader, he couldn't help but notice he would stare right back at the lens as if he was looking right at him. He looked at his phone and saw a text from Pascal. "They could lose, you know. An M26 can only go so far." Pascal said. I chuckled a bit and returned a message briefly explaining why.
"Pascal is watching as well. He said that Pershings can only go so far."
"Not when you have a whole team of them. Especially in an urban environment." Leon, the commander of JayPac's Pershing, which he named "Waifu".
"Yeah well, they have a couple of platoons worth," Jay replied, watching as the battle got underway. Soon he knew that the sound of the engines and the starting chime would fill his ears the next week. He watched, taking mental notes of their strategy.
During the mat he got a few messages on the forums, talking about the Japanese league and a couple from some other people. One of the users' names he recognized and opened the message. It was a drawing of the tanks of JayPac, with the words Good Luck at the bottom of the message. Jay smiled to himself and went back to watching the match. "Thanks, bud..were gonna need it." He muttered to himself.