GuP Skirmish No.2!

Seven Rats Academy(PoV)

vs

Kuromorimine Girls High School(Secondary PoV)

Seven Rats Lineup:

1x Comet Cruiser Tank

2x Cromwell Cruiser Tanks

4x Mk VII Tetrarch Light Tanks

Kuromorimine Lineup:

2x Tiger I Heavy Tanks

4x Panther Ausf. G Medium Tanks

4x JagdPanzer IV Tank Destroyers

1x JagdTiger Tank Destroyer

1x JagdPanther Tank Destroyer

2x Panzer III Ausf.J Medium Tanks

"Okay ladies!" Cassie yelled over the radio to all the tanks under her command. "We're about go to combat with an enemy that outnumbers us and outguns us." She put two hands out of the turret and pulled herself out of the compartment. Reaching up to her Pith Helmet and pulled down goggles to snap over her eyes. They protected her from the insane amounts of dust thrown around by their tank speeding through the desert.

"This is Combe, how exactly does that help us?" The nearby Cromwell's commander, Ashe, spoke out.

"It's not suppose to! You already know we can do this, we've made it this far with seven tanks and we can win it." She grinned wildly. Behind her were two Cromwells, one of which housed the one she talked to.

"This is Gott, Mobile Farce has already formed up, awaiting orders." Cassie looked further beyond the Cromwells and saw a group of four Tetrarch tanks trailing behind them. Touting their Littlejohn adaptors on the ends of their 2pdr guns and one of them a 3in howitzer.

"Perfect, we've all formed up nice and neat, I might as well finish my speech." She focused ahead of them and imagined German tanks in the dunes and traversing the sand.

"Kuromorimine has enjoyed a bit too much time in the spotlight, eight wins in a row!" Licking her lips to moisturize her mouth, she continued. "It's time we we broke their streak! They can't last at the top much longer, let's knock them down a notch."

Over the radio was the shouts of consent and excitement. "Okay Rats! Let's take out some Germans!" The tanks split off into their combat groups and they started to get their plans into motion as the tanks rushed over sand dunes and drifted through them.

Meanwhile, over on Kuromorimine's side of their battleground, a young brown haired girl looked out into the horizon. She was a greenhorn in terms of skills as a commander but even she knew this was going to be one of their teams hardest fights.

The desert was Seven Rats' territory, they were masters of guerilla and quick tactics. This was multiplied by their experience in this terrain and the speed of their tanks. Her brown eyes strained to focus through the intense sunlight.

"Miho...it's time to move, we've got a match to win." One of her crew talked up to her, as she climbed into the compartment of her Panzer III. She swore she heard something in the distance. Almost like a battle cry of sorts, but she must have been hearing things.

But in the distance was Cassie, leading her Comet and the Cromwells, her crew prepped, and her teams ready. She soon grew tired of the desert sun and buttoned back up into her own tank. "You doing okay there Cassie?" Their driver, Ashlyn spoke back. "Must be hot out there."

"Whew, this is the hottest it's been, never knew they could simulate so well…" Cassie took off her Pith Helmet and panted. "Either way, I still have to be out there, someone's gotta spot for us, just give me a moment." She leaned back and closed her eyes to rest. Just then, the crew heard a terrible rumbling from the rear.

"Was that the engine?" Noelle, their radio operator, backed away into the front.

"Yes...it is...we should stop before." The engine sputtered loudly and cut off. "Before it dies on us…"

"Dang it, we're sitting ducks." Cassie took control of the radio and spoke to their support. "Combe, Jock, we need to take defensive positioning, our engine gave up on us." She then turned to Noelle. "Take Noelle with you and see what's going on with the engine, we've got to get moving quickly." The two nodded and climbed out through the hatch and out onto the sand.

"So what do we do now?" Sydney, their gunner, cracked her knuckles and relaxed in her seat.

"You and Celina have to be on alert, our position is vulnerable until we move out again. " The gunner duo got back to their duties while Cassie tended to the radio. "Mobile Farce, we are going to be stopping for a bit, Comet is suffering from engine problems, you can still continue."

"This is Gott, the Farce will continue." Francesca looked out into the sand from the turret of their Tetrarch. They were at the head of Mobile Farce, a group of four Tetrarch tanks with a simple goal. Annoy and confuse their opponents, getting away was a second priority.

"Geez, you think at our speed, we'd find them by now." Their driver huffed.

"Catalina, make a sharp right, I think I spotted something." Francesca looked out into the horizon and saw objects. They weren't illusions either, too defined for them to be so. She took out a peek with the field glasses and spotted them.

"What do you see?" The gunner, Anne grinned.

"I spot...JagdPanzer IV formation, they're traveling alone...no a JagdPanther just passed over the hill." She could see the command out on the top. Brown short hair, with a lack of confidence on her face. "Bring ourselves up to speed, we're engaging." The Tetrarch sped up and was joined by their allies.

"Looks like we're engaging something." From the Tetrarch bringing up the rear, their driver sighed.

"All the better, we've got some special shells to unload on them Priscilla!" Their gunner, Elisa laughed. Meanwhile their commander, Jane, was looking at what they were going to face.

"Jager formation, five tank destroyers." She watched them closely. "We'll be slinging HE, we can't penetrate them."

"What about smoke rounds?"

"We save those for last Elisa, but it'll fun, by the way, hang on, we're about to pass into them." She buttoned up and readied the next shell. "Just fire, I'll do the ammo selection." As the neared the German tanks, Mobile Farce switched from their Skein formation. They formed a Column and went up as fast as they could.

"Brace yourselves…" Priscilla tightened her grip and focused herself. At the front of the formation, Francesca readied herself with the radio.

"Okay Mobile...Farce…" The formation suddenly dived through the the dunes and found themselves flying into the Jagd-tanks. "Farce em!" The four tanks split up as they dashed through Kuro's tanks. They took shots as they made erratic movements to evade collisions and return fire.

"Keep loading!" Anne swiftly fired the 40mm rounds as they went through the breech. They had the capability of penetrating the armor of the JagdPanzer IV. But they were extremely small caliber and did little damage.

"They're recovering!" Erica, commander of Team Erskine reported over the radio. Their Tetrarch nearly hit one of the JagdPanzers while drifting.

"I realize that!" Francesca was sweating hard from the intense loading she did. "We've done our damage!" She yelled just as one of Kuro's tanks popped a white flag out of the hull. "Time to make our retreat, Hobart, smoke em!"

"Got it, making smoke screen!" Jane loading in the smoke canisters for Elisa to fire. They impacted into the sand and created a blinding screen. The Tetrarch formation made their escape just as Kuro started to fire back again.

"We made it!" Emily of Team Carver cheered over the radio.

"We're lucky, we almost never make it with full numbers." Catalina sighed with relief as they made it out. However, their luck ran out just as fast as they fled. They crossed onto a road that ran through a dune. Much to their dismay, a JagdTiger was watching that road, they flew down onto the road, leading to Team Gott's demise at the hand of the watching.

"Did that just happen?" Anne released her breath.

"Come on! We managed to get out of that!" Francesca ranted and then calmed down. "This is Team Gott...we've been knocked out."

"No!" Erica yelled out as they rushed out of sight. "We've already lost a tank…" The tanks made a power shift as Team Carver took into the lead.

"We may have lost a tank, but we're still intact enough, we need to rendezvous with Mobile Strike." Their misfortune continued when a group of three Panthers rushed to pursue them through the desert. "Our bad luck just never end does it." Emily quietly sobbed.

"It can't any worse than this can it?" Their gunner, Skye, mumbled to herself. But much to her dismay, a fourth panther showed up in front of them, trapping them in between.

"Of all the places-" Emily calmed herself and took to the radio. "Mobile Farce, split up, stick to survival tactics." The Tetrarch formation disbanded, leaving every tank to fend for themselves. They took every maneuver they could to avoid being hit.

"Haven't driven this much-" Carver's driver, Macie struggled to keep themselves mobile while the Panthers attempted to gain a lock on them. "Driven this much since training!" Their Tetrarch was being shot at the most, probably to break the chain of command.

"We can't hold on much longer! Where's Mobile Strike!" The three remaining tanks had linked back up together, but now the Panthers were closing in on them. "We're doomed…" Just as one of the tanks traversed its gun to fire, it got hit multiple tanks and knocked out.

"Did someone call the Cavalry!?" Cassie yelled out at the top of her lungs as her Comet came up over a hill flanking. The Panthers, realizing the greater threat started to turn to engage them. However, two Cromwells, Jock and Combe, came out behind them, effectively pincering them.

"Let's give them a taste of their own medicine." Joyce and Giselle, the gunnery duo of Team Combe yelled out as they fired on them. The remaining Panthers were now being rained upon by three tanks that they exposed side and rear armor to. The 77mm and 75mm guns of the Comet and Cromwells were penetrating with ease.

Soon enough the whole hunting pack was knocked out, quickly and unmercifully as Mobile Strike regrouped with Mobile Farce. "Good to see you've made it out of there alive." Zoe, of the commander of Team Jock, spoke over the radio.

"Yes, I know, we barely made out of there, they have quite a few Jagd Models out there, I think we tracked their JagdPanther in the fray, I'm not sure." Erica huffed as she popped out of the turret.

"We have no time to rest, I know for a fact that Kuromorimine can recover from this very quickly, we've only taken out their weakest tanks, they still have tanks with guns that can take us out in one hit.

"Then we hunt them down! Strike em down before they have a chance to fight back!" Ashe, the commander for Team Combe yelled.

"That leaves us exposed, either way, we need to keep mobile, they're gaining on us every moment we waste." After a series of arguments and indecision, the tanks split up. The Cromwells and Tetrarch tanks became a battlegroup. Cassie and her Comet became an independent unit all by themselves.

"How did we come to this point?" Noelle sobbed in the back?

"Relax, as long as we don't run into enemy tanks we'll be fine, we have to stick to the plan." Their plan was designed to penetrate deep into Kuro's starting point. If Cassie's suspicions were correct, then a majority of their tanks were retreating there.

"Don't run into enemy tanks you say, choose the Comet you say, we couldn't have gotten the Challenger?" Sydney huffed.

"Let's not get that started again, look, Ashe is leading her group to distract them, all we have to do is get behind them and simply pick them off."

"Easier said than done, after the engine problems we had, I'm not sure if we can make it through this." Ashlyn wiped sweat off of her forehead.

"We can do this, it'll be nice and simple, just load APCR and we'll slice through like butter." The Comet went over and through multiple dunes, on their way rounds. They were moving slower than their usual speed, as to avoid being made out.

"This is Combe, we've made contact with Kuro, we're sling it out near the open, we've spotted their Heavy Armor, they've taken to a oasis cover." Ashe reported over the radio.

"Use Peekaboo tactics, don't let yourself get hit."

"We'll be fine for now, but I assume the rest of their tanks are out there somewhere, probably rushing to their aid." Zoe took a look through her field glasses. "There appears to be a JagdTiger in the far rear, can you take it out?"

"We can do that, just keep them distract-

"The line's been cut, why is the line cut?" Zoe looked down at Carissa, her Radio Operator.

"They're out of range, we can't get to them, they can't get to us." She fiddled with the knobs and frequencies.

"Of all the things I thought we would be doing, I never thought I'd be moving the tank forwards and backwards, what joy." Their driver, Anais was tiring of the monotony.

"Just keep us going, it won't be long now…Catherine, Marina, keep the gun firing, we can't let up now." The five tanks of their group took cover spread out over the opening. Their tactics were working, but they didn't know for how long.

"Okay, we've lost range with them, but we have to take out that JagdTiger, we should be right behind them now." Their Comet had managed to maneuver through Kuro's lines, most likely because of the firefight. "We're going to have to operate differently, Noelle, you went through Commander training right?"

"Yeah, but it was only a single class, why do you ask?"

"Take over for me, I'm getting out and going recon."

"That's crazy." Celina looked at her.

"It's the safe way about doing this, that is an order, Noelle get over here." Cassie climbed out of the tank, allowing Noelle to take her place. She then looked back into the tank, grabbing a low power portable radio. "I'll use this to communicate, good luck."

"You too." Noelle tried to get comfortable in her position before Cassie jumped onto the hot desert stand.

"Whew, can't feel my legs, but other than that I'll be fine." She mumbled to herself. Cresting a small dune, she took out her field glasses and scanned the horizon. Lucky enough, about a few tens of meters away was the JagdTiger. "Move out of the dunes quietly, JagdTiger ahead, fire APCR." She whispered into the receiver.

"Got it…" Ashlyn slowly rolled the tank forward as their turret traversed to meet the big rear of the tank.

"Nicely big and juicy, load AP." Sydney stared through the gunner sight.

"Loaded." The JagdTiger fired one more time out at a target. Nearly deafening Cassie out in the field. The shell traveled a long distance and scraped the side of Combe's Cromwell before slamming into Team Hobart.

Jane sighed and picked up the receiver. "This is Team Hobart, we've been knocked out." Meanwhile the crew of Combe was panicking at their close encounter.

"That was too close!" Hannah, the radio operator, cried out.

"Stop yacking and keep the heat on, we can't lose focus." Joyce looked back at Giselle. "I need another round!"

"Clara, how long can we manage this?" Their driver looked back.

"I assume we can survive as long as they don't figure out the art of flanking." Meanwhile, Cassie was waiting the the right moment to take out the JagdTiger without attracting attention. She ultimately came to conclusion that there was no way and they had to take the chance.

"Fire." The Comet's 77mm HV gun expended its shell straight into the rear plates of the JagdTiger. It wasn't particularly hard for the to penetrate of the rear of the armor, it was a rather thin plate. Much to the surprise of the crew, their tank was knocked out and they didn't know how. "Hide!"

Cassie watched carefully for Kuromorimine's reaction to the situation while her Comet backed further up. Kuro was having difficulty realizing the extent of the situation, she could see that the other group had cause a casualties in the field. A few white strung about here and there, mainly in the open.

"Shell loaded, ready for another shot." Noelle spoke up from the tank.

"Right…" Cassie watched with careful attention what to do next, so far they had not been made, they could cause a bit more damage now. The next thing she was unbelievable, a JagdPanther, charging across the field into a different position. It was obvious at that range they could not penetrate. "JagdPanther across the field, take out the tracks."

The Comet moved back into position and lined up its shot. Tracking the path of the tank and estimating the compensation of the shot. "Ready to fire…" Sydney kept a close eye on the tank's movement.

"Fire." The shell flew a far distances away from their location. But it just barely made its mark, slamming into the frontal section of the track. It the track and broke it open, forcing the JagdPanther into a spin, leaving it planted with its rear open to the other group.

"Did we hit our mark?"

"Yes, you hit quite well…" The JagdPanther was pounded with rounds until it finally rolled over and popped the white flag. However, it did appear that their position had been made out, as a Tiger that made its position near the oasis started for them, albeit rather slowly. "It does appear they've made our ruse."

To make matters worse, JagdPanzer IVs and Panzer IIIs had flanked the other group, forcing them to combat them. While Cassie and her team retreated, they were fending them off. "Bloody JagdPanzers, flanking us!" Zoe yelled out as their Cromwell maneuvered around the fired they got.

"There's." Combe's tank scrapped another shot from a Panzer III. "There's only four of them, we have a chance!" The Cromwells and Tetrarch tanks were having difficulty adapting to the situation, their quick dodges barely saving them.

One of the Panzer IIIs tooked an aimed shot at a Tetrarch while it erratically moved about. "Track them carefully…" Miho watched the tank very closely, this was a risky move all in itself, so they had to take something out of it. "Fire." The Panzer III's 5cm gun fired a shelled center mass into the Tetrarch, knocking it out.

"Team Carver, we've been knocked out…" Emily mumbled into the radio.

"Take out those darned Panzer IIIs!" Jock's Cromwell traversed its turret onto one of them. "FIRE!" Zoe yelled out as their gun fired at them. It was competition, the Cromwell's 75mm gun could easily penetrate the frontal armor.

Miho heard out on the radio that the Panzer III next to them was taken out as she watched another Cromwell turning its turret for them. Her eye caught sight of a JagdPanzer IV, moving its hull onto that tank and firing on it.

The shell took a corner piece of the turret when it impacted, they responded back by loading APCR and firing a round straight through the exposed lower glacius. "Target knocked out, load another." Joyce looked back at Giselle.

She couldn't believe it, their movement wasn't working, flanking wasn't showing a lot of results aside from a beaten up Tetrarch. "Take a shot on the other Tetrarch." She looked at her gunner as she rotated the turret. The Panzer III took another shot, funny enough, the Tetrarch had actually backed into it.

"This is Team Erskine, we've been knocked out!" Miho continued with the attack, staying true to the orders. However, she realized something, the one of the Cromwells was missing, where had it gone, the other was in cover.

"This is mildly comedic." Ashe watched the two remaining tanks as their own flanked them. "Bit Ironic too…" Their Cromwell had managed to slip right through and flanked them. Miho at the same time watched with horror as it blasted the rear of the remaining JagdPanzer.

"Just one left…" Catherine looked through the gunner sight and locked onto the Panzer III. "Firing." The Panzer III was taken out as the shell made contact with the frontal armor. Miho's tank was out of action, the entire flanking force just gone.

On the other end, one of the Tigers had closed the distance on Cassie and her team. She quickly embarked into the tank and took back her position. "This is risky, but charge out flank, take a APCR into their turret or rear armor."

"Roger…" Ashlyn eased up and went out of their position at maximum speed, hoping to catch them by surprise. It somewhat worked, the Tiger crew panicked and fired too early, just barely missing the Comet as it careened out."Flanking…" They drifted around the front and the side of the tank, Sydney keeping the turret on quite well.

"Fire." The shell thrusted straight into the side of the turret, but didn't take it out. At the end of the drift, the Tiger was still traversing the turret to meet them, its Khaki haired commander came out of the hatch. "Fire again!" A second shell dove straight into the turret again, but they kept turning. "Fire until we take them out!"

"I can do that…" Sydney grinned and with the help of Celina, they fired very rapidly into the turret, filling it up with dents until the white flag popped out.

"That took more shells than necessary." Cassie chuckled as she watched the commander throw a tantrum. "Oh dear, I admit that's funny." She thought to herself.

"Cassie, we're back in range with Combe."

"Good, Ashe, status report?"

"We've lost the remainder of Mobile Farce, but they only have one tank left from where I see."

"Yes I know, a Tiger, a lone one at that, they've done nothing this match, but we outnumber them, this will be easy."

"So what do you do?"

"What we always do, close the pincer on them, now!" Both the Comet and the Cromwells skidded out into the open, effectively surrounded the last Tiger. But much to their surprise, the Tiger roared to life with a highly well aimed shot. Slamming right into Jock.

"Team Jock, we've been taken out of action." Zoe mumbled over the radio.

"Looks like the Tiger has some fight left in it, use evasive maneuvers." The distance closed as they started turn and make random movements to throw off their aim. "Closer we get, the closer we have a chance of getting hit…"

The Tiger's Commander, a dark brown haired girl came out into the arid air as they started to move the tank. It was much faster than they anticipated, possibly match the speed of their Cruisers. "That's one serious tank…" Sydney commented.

"What are they doing…" Cassie watched very closely at their actions. The Tiger and Combe's Cromwell were nearing collision distance, Joyce fired multiple rounds, but they pinged off the frontal armor. Clara took a sharp turn, but the Tiger followed, actually pitting the corner of the tank and spinning them out of control.

"What in the world...they can't be that skilled." Once the Cromwell skidded to a stop, Ashe found a horrifying sight when looking through her viewport. The Tiger's 8.8cm gun pointing straight at them right before blasting their tank. No report was needed, it was obvious what happened.

"They aren't pushovers, take extreme caution when engaging." By the time they had closed to around just a few dozen meters, the Tiger had fully traversed its hull and was moving for them. Their hulls scrapped as the two took shots at each other, point-blank.

"Damned, loading!" Celina rammed another shell into the breech. The two tanks drifted around each other to fire, but missed again. The 8.8cm shell just barely scratched off the paint on their turret. They made effort to get a shot on mark, even stopping, reversing into a position to ram the front of the Comet.

"Keep ourselves mobile here, we can't get hit." Ashlyn made extreme efforts in her driving, and it showed. The two tanks moved forth and back trying to get a shot. Their gun barrels hitting the other off as they fired into the air or ground. Celina was having difficulties loading in time.

"There's only one way out of this, get us out of here, speeding off." Cassie watched with intent.

"Got it." Ashlyn was slowly making their tank escape from the hold. Just inching away each time they stopped contact. The last time, they broke off, speed away behind the Tiger as it traversed to meet them again.

"Drift around to their side, they can't possibly catch us there." The Comet made a quick turn around to speed towards the Tiger again. As Ashlyn prepared for the drift.

"Hold on, this will be a tight one!" The Comet turned and sharply drifted around the side. She could barely steer the tank as the track broke off, increasing their radius of turn. The Tiger made a quick movement towards them, their hull quickly turning.

"Come on…" Cassie grinded her teeth as they halted right behind the Tiger. "FIRE!" The Comet fired first, Sydney not sure of where she shot at. However, this was then followed by the Tiger's barrel moving through the dust and firing straight at them.

Miho watched the commander of the Comet at the closing ceremony. They won again this time, their ninth in a rear. But it was too close, practically a stand off. She noted their use of tactics especially the last one they used, it was smart.

"Now you see, next time they won't win, I'm sure of it." Two members of Seven Rats walked by, having a conversation before lining up with the others behind the Comet commander. She then looked at her sister, Maho, at the front of all their own students.

Turning her attention back to the members of Seven Rats. They were outnumbered in size, dressed in Khaki and donning Pith Helmets, some with goggles even. They were dirty, dusty, improper, but they were happy of their match, they did good for such a small school.

The two commanders, Cassie and Maho walked up to each other to shake each other's hands. Maho kept her face straightforward and serious, Cassie was grinning wildly, her pith helmet crooked and goggles hanging from her neck.

This made Miho think a bit, not too much, but it was some deep ones. Maybe everything she knew of Sensha-dou was different than she had anticipated. Maybe, just maybe, but tonight, Kuromorimine had won their ninth in a row. Next year would be the tenth…

For sure.