KAPITEL EINS: The Briefing

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"Attention to all female personal IS users, proceed to the Student Council Office. I repeat: to all female personal IS users, proceed to the Student Council Office…"

As the PA system in the Infinite Stratos Academy bellowed out this message at least twice, a first-year student with long black hair tied in a ponytail was running along the hallway.

"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have stayed longer in the clubroom."

Upon arriving at the Student Council Office, she already saw four girls seated at the reception couch.

"What took you, Houki? We were about to begin the meeting without you." said Rin, who has just finished her serving of iced tea.

"Sorry guys," she replied. "I just had to finish up with my duty at the Kendo Club when I heard the announcement at the PA."

"You could have at least set up some time for yourself, Houki-san; at least without being too preoccupied with club activities."

"Easy for you to say, Cecilia; I don't see you being as pre-occupied as I am."

Just then, a couple of figures entered the room. "Now, now; let's keep the animosities at a minimum here. I do not want the office to be in a complete mess while I'm in charge."

"This better not be like that ploy you pulled during the festival, Kaichou," Laura uttered, while she slowly drew out her army knife.

"Not to worry, Bodewig-san," Tatenashi replied as she opened her fan which bore the words "stability" in katakana. "I won't be involving Ichika-kun directly in this one. And would you please put that away?"

Laura let off a small grunt as Tatenashi sat at her office table. "The reason for calling you lot is because of the upcoming sports festival. As customary in the IS academy, personal IS users are to participate in a friendly match with another school, not just for friendly relations or publicity but for teamwork training as well."

"An inter-school friendly game?" Cecilia inquired. "I have heard of similar events in the past but I never thought it was a standing tradition here."

"Well, it only started when the Academy was just on its second year of existence," Kanzashi clarified, as she looked into the academy's history on her handheld tablet device. "Every year, the academy would pick a certain "unique" sport where we challenge whoever the defending National Champion is."

"And for this year's inter-school friendly," the president added. "We are going to participate in something completely different."

She then opened her fan to reveal the name of the sport, as the girls inched forward to read it out of curiosity.

"Sensha-Do?"

"Yup. Also known as Tankery or Panzerkraft, 'tis basically a regulated combat sport where we get to engage aboard vintage tanks that were actually designed, tested, or used before August 15, 1945."

"Ah, I've heard about this from a few friends of mine," Houki added. "They said that it is a life-changing path of discipline for young girls aiming to become proper ladies of society. So far, it has caught quite a following among girls around our age, too."

"Proper ladies of society, you say?" Charlotte turned to her and asked. "That is quite a unique approach in training girls, to be honest."

"Well, it has been proven quite effective as to its underlying purpose," Tatenashi clarified. "The chances of men falling for a woman who engage in Panzerkraft is quite high, with about 60-70% success rate."

Upon hearing this, the girls immediately went silent; including Kanzashi.

"Great, they all got Ichika-kun in their minds again…" Tatenashi said to herself as she saw the six girls begin to daydream about him.

Quickly though, Laura snapped out of the same and raised her hand. "Kaichou, do we have any info as to our opponents?"

"Well, I'll let Kanzashi-chan fill you in with that." She then shook her younger sister in the shoulder. "Shall we proceed with the rest of the briefing?"

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Meanwhile, a similar briefing session is underway at Ōarai Academy among its tank commanders …

"Another friendly match?"

Momo quickly replied, "Yes, but this is slightly different from the other matches we have been in."

"How different, exactly?" inquired Hippo team Commander Caesar, who was just having a piece of sweet potato while the rest listened in earnest. "I thought that we'd at least get a few months' rest from Panzerkraft-related activity after winning the Nationals."

"Well, this was a special request from a highly-distinguished school in the country so we have no reason to decline."

"May we know who sent the invitation, Momo-san?" inquired Anglerfish team, and Overall Squadron Commander Miho. The PR manager then handed to her a copy of the invitation letter.

"Infinite Stratos Academy? I think I have heard about this school before…"

"Are you sure, Squadron Commander?" the rest of the girls in the room asked, apart from the members of the Student Council.

"Yes. They said it's an all-girl academy where they train them to handle a highly-advanced exoskeleton armor of the same name. One of my distant cousins applied for that school last year."

"Well, the academy itself got thrust into the headlines recently because one man was able to start up the supposedly female-locked suit, and is now enrolled there," Yuzu added. "I just looked it up an hour before this meeting."

"…and she could not stop fawning over the guy." Momo sarcastically furthered.

"Do you have a picture of him, Yuzu-sempai?" Rabbit team Commander Azusa asked with enthusiasm over the topic. Yuzu then passed to them a picture of the said guy.

"You're right, sempai; he's quite the good looking type!" Azusa exclaimed.

"I agree with Azusa-san on this one," Duck team Commander Noriko added. "Certified hottie, that's for sure."

"Hmmn, not bad in the looks department, if you ask me," Caesar commented lightly, as she passed the picture to Miho.

Upon seeing the pic though, she stopped and let out a light blush.

"Is there something wrong, Nishizumi-san?" Momo inquired, as the rest of Oarai's tank commanders all looked at Miho.

"Um… I actually met him the other day at the Fish market…"

The room quickly erupted: "REALLY?!"

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Returning to the meeting at the IS Academy, the girls are now looking at the data flashed through a projector screen.

"Ōarai Girls Academy… Seems they are not to be taken lightly," said Laura who was looking a lot more closely at the stats of the tanks.

"To add, there are a few conditions that we have agreed upon with our counterparts at Ōarai," Tatenashi said while the rest listened on. "First, the match will be a 5-on-5 knockout type; Second, we are allowed to get at the most 5 extra crew members from outside the academy, but who are well within the age limit. And third, we get to choose the location for the match, which has already been green-lighted by the Japanese Sensha-Do League."

"But first, we will need tanks," Cecilia interrupted. "We are not even sure as to which ones the opponents will field by then."

"No, I think they will be using at the most all their German tanks for this match," Laura rebutted, while highlighting the data on Oarai's Panzer IV, StuG III, Hetzer, and Tiger (P).

"Still, we would need to confirm if they will not be deviating from their lineup at all."

"Not to worry, I got that bit covered. I will try to get in touch with my subordinates at the Schwartzer Hase to do some recon and supply us with at least the same StuG III they have."

"So, until we have data on their lineup, we will put the rest of the tank procurements on hold," Tatenashi noted. "And since you immediately contributed for this event, I'm putting you in charge as our Squadron Commander, Bodewig-san."

"Me?"

"Well, among us personal IS users, you are the only one who has quite an experience in pre-IS military machines," Charlotte confided. "And besides, this might be your chance…"

"Um…" the white-haired girl slightly blushed. "I-I'll do my best then…"

"I think it would be proper now to set the teams as well," Kanzashi continued. "And based on the available tanks we can procure under official Sensha-Do regulations, the following will be the confirmed crew leaders: Bodewig-san for Team 1, Alcott-san for Team 2, Dunois-san for Team 3, Kaichou-nee for Team 4, and Shinonono-san for Team 5."

"Hey!" Rin quickly protested. "How come I'm not included as a tank commander?"

"Based on the data from the list of tanks allowed by the JSL, we are unable to find any tanks that were made by China since they roughly participated in the World Wars."

Rin grunted in disbelief. "Well, at least let me ride in one of the tanks; I just cannot stand aside and do nothing while the rest experience the path towards the ideal woman."

"Feel free to choose your team then, Rin-san. For now, let us adjourn until we get further information."

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Quite a long chapter, this. By the way, I'll make some references from the World of Tanks roster regarding the tanks to be used in this crossover. Expect the next chapter anytime within November.

P.S. Just read the info about the GuP English dub; did NOT expect to see familiar VA's from IS… Coincidence?

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