KAPITEL SIEBEN: The Elite Cavalry

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The day after Miho and Yukari's infiltration of the IS Academy went along as usual, with the teams who will participate in the inter-school friendly conducting their usual training routines. Only Turtle Team's Hetzer was not present in the field as it was undergoing a much-needed gun upgrade.

Inside Anglerfish Team's PzIV, everyone's in their usual happy mood, save for their commander Miho. Ever since leaving the IS Academy, she has begged Yukari not to make mention of what happened there, apart from the tanks the opposing team will be fielding. More so now that she has finally known of Ichika by his name.

"Is something bothering you, Miho-san?" Hana inquired.

Miho shook her head, not just replying negatively to the question but also getting a hold of herself from the occasional daydream.

Saori, ever so enthusiastic about what happened yesterday, could not contain her anxiety. "If it's about your trip yesterday Miporin, then you really need to talk to us about it."

"Let's not pressure our commander about that matter, Saori-san," Mako flatly retorted. "It's better that we let her contemplate about it first."

"I dunno, Mako-chan..."

Suddenly, Anzu contacted them via radio, "All teams, return to the garage immediately. It's time."

"Um, what does Kaichou mean by that?" Saori asked her teammates.

"She must be talking about the 'heavy back-up' that she mentioned days ago..." Yukari replied.

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Back at the tank garage, the members of Anglerfish, Hippo, and Leopon teams lined up in front of the Student Council.

"Girls," Momo declaimed. "As you all know, we will be having an exhibition match against the IS Academy within four days time. The game will be under the same rules as our practice match with St. Glorianna: a 5-on-5 elimination match."

"According to the special stipulation set forth by the opponent school," Yuzu added. "We are allowed to gather a maximum of 5 extra crew members outside of our respective crew pools."

"We have also learned, through the efforts of our infiltration team, about the current lineup of tanks they will be fielding," Momo continued. "Their tanks will consist of the following: An IS-2 Heavy with a 122mm long cannon, a Cromwell Medium with the 3.7-inch howitzer, a Sherman Easy Eight with the 76mm, an ARL V39 assault gun with a 105mm cannon, and the same StuG III as Hippo Team, but with a longer 75mm gun."

"Hmmn... We're going to have some problems with that IS-2," Hippo Team co-commander Erwin commented. "Thanks to the sloped profile of that tank's hull, we may have a hard time cracking it unless we flank it while steering clear of the 122's sights. And we all know how terrifying that 122 is, since we faced one during the semifinals against Pravda High."

"I'm more concerned about their mediums though," said Leopon Team commander Nakajima. "Both the Easy Eight and the Cromwell are known to be highly maneuverable flankers, thus posing a proper threat to the Porsche Tiger. More so the Cromie with that howitzer."

"Pardon me for raising this, Kaichou," raised Saori. "But you made mention of 'heavy back-up' during our last meeting. Will they arrive in time for the exhibition game?"

"No need to fret about that, Takebe..."

Just as Anzu finished her sweet potato, the academy's PA system began piping a marching tune. "Uh, what's with the speakers today?" asked Saori.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's playing the British Grenadiers," Hippo Team driver Oryuu observed. "Which is weird since the last time we heard that was..."

As the song's trumpet line kicked in, a desert-cream colored Cromwell with the 75mm Vickers HV gun roared through the left side of the open field and parked on the far right of the group, with about 10 meters of gap between them and the tank. And sure enough, it bore a different school emblem from Ōarai.

"... During our practice match with St. Glorianna," Miho continued.

Sure enough, a fine-looking woman with pale yellow hair and a red coat exited from the Cromie's turret hatch.

"It has been quite a while, Ōarai girls. I heard that you have your hands full with a group of newcomers to the sport..."

"It's good to see you again, Darjeeling-san," Miho replied.

Before Miho could approach her though, another marching tune played through the megaphones. "Kaichou, are we playing 'guess the tune' right now?" commented Yukari. "'Coz if my guess is right, this must be the US Field Artillery March, which means..."

As Yukari was about to finish her sentence, they all heard the rumble of an M4 Sherman coming from the right. And true enough, in came a Sherman Firefly wearing the Saunders University emblem on its turret, which then parked on the right side of the Cromwell.

"Miho! Angie! What's happenin'?!" Said the girl with bright yellow, wavy hair, as she propped herself out of the Firefly's turret.

"Glad you could make it to the party, Kay!" Anzu responded while waving to her. "It just won't be lively without you guys."

"Still the wild flower, aren't we Kay?" Darjeeling said while having her serving of tea.

In response, Kay went back inside the Firefly and brought out a bottle of soda. "And you're still as classy as ever, Darry," she responded before drinking up her soda.

"I didn't know that they were closest of pals," Yuzu observed.

Just as the two have boarded out of their tanks, another song blared through the sound system.

"Is that Polyushke Polye playing?" Caesar asked.

"Impossible. It must be Korobeiniki," Oryuu retorted.

"Nah. Only one famous Sensha-do team would use this tune, which apparently shares the same name as its team captain..." Erwin commented.

"You don't mean... her?" Erwin nodded in response.

And sure enough, a white Heavy tank entered the left side of the field bearing the Pravda High emblem. "Is that an IS-2?" Leopon gunner Hoshino inquired.

"No, the hull looks different from the IS-2," Nakajima replied. "It must be a KV-1S with the 122mm cannon."

"As in the same one on the IS-2?"

"Not exactly. The IS-2's cannon was the D-25T. The one mounted there's probably the D-2-5T; You can see it from the muzzle brake."

As the KV-1S parked beside the Sherman Firefly, two girls popped out of two of its hatches. The one who came out of the commander's cupola hatch then sat on the other's shoulders.

"Finally, we've arrived. About time this place be graced by the presence of Pravda's finest," said the little girl on top.

"Nice to see you too, Katyusha-san," Anzu replied. "But hang on; you said you weren't available for today."

"Katyusha just wanted to see me off before she goes back to studying for her exams," Nonna clarified. "You all know how attached she is."

"Seems Katyusha just woke up from her sleep," Darjeeling observed, while looking at the former's obligatory bed hair. "Try fixing your hair first."

"And try cleaning your face while you're at it, too," continued Kay, while letting of a grin. "I can still see a trail of drool from your mouth."

"Nonna, mind putting me down for a bit?"

"Sure thing."

As Katyusha got down, she brought out her handkerchief and wiped her mouth clean; she also fixed up her hair as cleanly as she can. Then she faced Darjeeling and Kay and...

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LOWLY OF THE GREAT KATYUSHA-SAMA?!"

The two captains just giggled as Katyusha continued to throw a tantrum, waving her arms madly in frustration. "Let's just calm down now, everyone..." Miho uttered, while trying to pacify the Pravda captain.

Then, another tune played in the background, which greatly surprised everyone, save for the Student Council. "That tone..."

"It can't be that, right?"

Miho stopped and briefly analyzed the tune, which she quickly recognized...

"Panzerlied... Kuromorimine's unofficial marching anthem..."

However, unlike the last three, from the forest came a desert-cream Tiger II heavy tank. It later parked sideways behind the three tanks, as a white-haired girl emerged from its commander's hatch.

"Erika-san?"

Erika shook her head. "No, it's not me, Miho. By the way, I've brought the other one, Kadotani-san."

She then brought out another girl with green hair. "Hey, let me go Itsumi! I said I'd help anyway, but why did you have to drag me like this? You're embarrassing me in front of them!"

"When will you stop being so stubborn, 'Il Duce' Anzai? You're lucky I was ordered by my superior to escort you here."

"Is that Anchovy-san?" Yuzu asked, to which Momo and Anzu nodded.

Erika then turned back to Miho. "Don't worry, she's just right behind me..."

She then pointed at the forest clearing that her Tiger II made, as Panzerlied continued playing. And sure enough, another tank emerged from the horizon. One that the Ōarai team is very familiar with.

"Another PzIV Ausf. H?"

"Looks like it," Yukari observed. "But the main gun's completely different from the 75mm on our PzIV."

"That's because it's the 105mm, one of two that Ōarai will be receiving..." Erika explained.

"What do you mean 'receiving'?" Miho asked.

"You will find out later, Miho..."

As the rest of Ōarai's Panzerkraft team looked on, the fifth tank was apparently carrying another 105mm gun on its back. It then parked beside the KV-1S. And unlike the other tanks who had someone come out of the commander's hatch, this tank had its driver's hatch open up to reveal...

"Long time no see, Miho..."

"Onee-chan!"

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Meanwhile, tension is a bit high back at the IS Academy among the guest members from Schwarzer Hase.

"Why the hell did you not contact me at the earliest notice, you fools?!"

"We could not contact you of that matter since you're on rest break, Vice-Captain." Elda replied rather calmly.

"How about Captain Laura; why did you not inform her?"

Just then, Laura entered the room along with the rest of the Academy's tank commanders. "Stand down, Clarissa. It's our fault for overlooking the fact that they may pull off the same trick on us."

"But the spies have just found out our lineup, Captain."

"Well, we spied on them first anyway so it's practically fair game..." said Laura, who was still busy crafting their strategy.

"About that though, I have some good news and bad news..." Tatenashi added.

"Something the matter, Kaichou?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, good news is that my counterpart at Ōarai communicated to me about their final tank - another PzIV Ausf. H, but with a 105mm cannon."

"And the bad news?" Cecilia continued.

Tatenashi then approached the teacher's table, booted up the built-in computer as a guest user, and then plugged in a thumb drive. She then selected a video clip and played the same.

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Infinite Stratos Academy Panzerkraft Team...

This is Kadotani Anzu, Student Council President of Ōarai Girls' Academy. We have heard of the attempts of your guest members in spying on our line-up for our upcoming inter-school friendly game. And as some of you have heard, we have also succeeded in infiltrating your school complex through the efforts of our top agents...

On that matter, we're even. But that is not why I speak to you today.

Seeing as the friendly match we'll have may or may not be as grand as it is, I would like to make a simple wager:

The winning school will have Orimura Ichika-san as grand prize. But to make things more convenient for his security, if we win, he will be attending class at Ōarai Academy for 3 full months.

Refusal of this wager would mean a full forfeiture of the game, which will affect your reputation as a premiere education facility.

The choice is yours, commanders...

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"This is total blackmail!" lashed out Cecilia. "We just cannot hand Ichika-san to them!

"But we cannot risk a forfeit either, Alcott," Tatenashi retorted. "We would just put the Academy's reputation in danger. We have to."

This development apparently made the commanders very uneasy. Laura was not flinching, though.

"We'll just have to show those girls how much we are willing to put everything on the line for Ichika, then. I, for one, will not allow other girls outside this Academy to ever get their unworthy hands on my wife!"

All of them looked at their pro tempore Captain, and finally got their morale back up. "Now, let's put those champions where they should be; WHO'S WITH ME?!"

The commanders got their resolve straightened out as they roared this battle cry inside the room, complete with fists in the air:

"FOR ICHIKA!"

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Back at Ōarai, the five guest captains lined up in front of the four tanks that arrived.

Darjeeling spoke first. "We have heard about your current situation regarding your friendly game..."

Kay continued: "And we decided that we'd help you out in putting those IS Academy girls to the wringer."

Followed by Katyusha: "But we figured that since you'll also be representing our country in the Sensha-Do World Cup, you guys will be needing all the help you can get."

Maho then concluded: "So we all met up a few days ago, and we decided, well four of us did, to give Ōarai more than just our assistance in the friendly game..."

With that, all four of them approached the tanks they brought and peeled off the logos of their respective schools to reveal Ōarai Academy's school logo.

But what really surprised the team was the one on Maho's PzIV: beside the large Ōarai logo bore five more logos representing the five schools represented that day.

"You guys will be using the PzIV for the friendly game, Onee-chan?" Miho asked her elder sister, as Anzu approached both of them.

"You got that right, Nishizumi-chan. All we have to settle now is which position they will take inside the tank."

"About that," Darjeeling interrupted. "Kay, Katyusha and I have agreed to let the renowned Nishizumi Heiress to assume commander duties, all to see how both styles will co-mingle in the battlefield."

"That's one settled then," Anzu responded. "As to the other positions though..."

"I'm vouching the Voice of St. Glorianna for Radio Operator duty!" Kay immediately exclaimed, surprising Darjeeling in the process.

"You don't have to emphasize that one, Kay. If that's the case then I vouch the Blizzard of Pravda behind the main gun."

"I'd be honored, everyone. But I'll be needing someone consistent with loading speed. Such attribute which, I believe, only the loading half of Saunders' Calamity Duo can manage without breaking a sweat," Nonna humbly replied, which made Kay respond to her with a grin and a peace sign.

"Which leaves the Green Blaze of Anzio as our designated driver..." Maho continued, which then made Anchovy let off a hard-sounding grunt.

"Now for their designation, Nishizumi-chan..." Anzu uttered to Miho, who still could not contain the overflowing joy that the turn of events brought to them.

"I was thinking of Owl team, but I think it doesn't sound right... Racoon is a bit more fitting though," she replied. "What do you guys think?"

Apart from Anchovy, who was still annoyed by the fact that she was 'persuaded' to come to Ōarai's aid, all of them nodded without question.

"Alright, then as of this day we hereby welcome the five of you as official members of Racoon Team. Congratulations!"

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With Ōarai's lineup now complete, and ISA now finally getting more serious, the upcoming game is bound to be veeeeery interesting. Still, with only about four more days (in-story) before the showdown, both teams will have to get moving, more so now that Ichika has just been revealed to be the prize.

Who do you think will win? Stay tuned...

P.S. The following three posts will be Bonus KAPITELS, covering the bonding moments between the members of Anglerfish Team and their respective counterparts from Racoon Team. After that though, It's on...

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