Wanted to get this written and submitted before the end of the month, apologies for any errors, and thank you for reading.
The student council lounge room was silent, while the president sat on her favorite couch, leg crossed over another, not realizing she was giving Lupa quite the view. "So we lost the match..." Diana stated, her subordinates simply sat silently, not sure how to respond. "I'm afraid we won't have enough funds for Senshadou."
"It's my fault," Julia said, head held low. "Forgive me, president."
"It's not your fault," Diana replied to the recon commander, her composure calm and collected. "This was our first match after all. And the school we went up against made quite a name for themselves in the tankathlon rings. I'm just afraid we won't have enough funds for Senshadou, at most we could afford one or two mediums, but even then, most of our lights are too weak..." she trailed off.
"Maybe..." Lupa muttered, not sure what she should say, before finally deciding. "Maybe we should continue Tankathlon." the room seemed to pause and the council members glanced at her, their expressions were ambivalent. Well, at least she held their attention. "There are several tanks I know of that weren't capable of competing in Senshadou, but would be perfect for Tankathlon."
Diana sat silently for a few moments, Lupa waited silently for her answer. "Very well," she replied, at what seemed like forever. "I will invest what little funds we have, but commander," she sat up straight, resembling one of the belles of the South with her curly blonde hair and stormy blue eyes. "Make sure you know what you're doing."
"President," Lupa smirked, resembling a wolf with her curled lip and dyed grey hair. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
"You have no idea what you're doing." Marcie said, sitting on Lupa's bed as the commander sat at her desk, looking over the team layout that she had spent the previous night planning. The curly dark haired girl was sitting upside down, back against the wall, feet in mid-air, and book in her arms as she read.
"Yes, I do." Lupa sighed, glancing over at her "friend," if she could call Marcie that. The other girl was completely unlike her in personality, whereas Lupa preferred order and discipline, Marcie was spontaneous and erratic.
"Just because some dame pissed you off in your first match?" Marcie asked, when Lupa didn't reply, she added. "Don't be Graziani."
"What?"
"Don't be Graziani, he joined the Italian Social Republic to get back at Badoglio, at the end, he came close to being lynched by angry partisans." Marcie replied, in her rare moment of revealing the true extent of her knowledge. "Moral of the story: don't join something because you want to get back at someone." she stated, reaching into a bag on the floor and dropping cheetos in her mouth.
"Do you honestly have to do that?" Lupa asked irritably, annoyed at the prospect of having to dust cheeto crumbs off her bedsheets for the umpteenth time. The other girl stayed silent, save for the sound of chewing. The commander sighed and returned to her business.
"So what's your strategy?"
Lupa growled. "Whoa there, Mama Wolf, don't have to be so gray. Just want to know, if you plan on continuing this course of action, what your game plan is." Marcie turned upside down, and swung around to gaze at her friend.
"My plan..." Lupa grumbled, not sure what to say. "I don't really know. At the moment, the student council president is depending on me. We had enough funds to afford two new tanks, both of which will hopefully add firepower to our team."
Marcie continued digging into cheetos until the bag was empty. Crumpling it up, she tossed it into the trash next to Lupa's desk, licking her fingers and standing up. "Well, it's been nice, Loops, but I've got to hit the road. Seeya." she went out the door, leaving Lupa alone to contemplate what she said.
The next morning, the students were greeted to two new tanks in front of their garage, and a fully armed and armored Lupa standing on top of a L3/33. "Ta da!" Lupa exclaimed, garbed in the helmet and cuirass of the Border Reiver, armed with the basket-hilt sword she was famous for. Without a trace of hesitation, she swung her sword around and presented the two new tanks of Graham Academy to the girls.
"What the hell is that?" one of them spat out, the others gaped.
"Since we do not have enough funds to proceed into tankery, we shall commence into Tankathlon." Lupa said, proud of her ability to keep a crowd in attention. "I present to you, the Carro di rottura heavy tank!"
One of the CV.3 gunners became discouraged. "But Tankathlon matches regulate all tanks must be under 10 tonnes."
"And so this one is." Lupa replied. "The Carro di rottura is 9 tonnes, it's completely legal for tankathlon."
The students looked surprised. "Wow," one of the girls said. "Italians really labelled their tanks weird."
"It looks like a larger Carro Veloce."
"The 65/17 armament may be short, but it should be able to burst quite the damage at short ranges." Lupa continued, and the students looked over the tank with a mixture of trepidation and admiration. "Our biggest hurdle is it's low speed. It's highest speed is 20 km/h on road."
"That's..." one of the school council counted her fingers and did some math in her head. "12 mph!"
The students' excitement was deflated by the low speed, but they continued to admire the vehicle.
After allowing them some time to examine the new tank, Lupa pointed to the next one with her sword. "Here we have the first attempt to create a SPG by Italy," she claimed, the rest of the girls gazed at the vehicle in apprehension. "I always read about this vehicle, but it wouldn't be allowed in Senshadou, due to the open-top."
"Open top?" one of the girls stammered. "The whole thing is open." the team that ran the tank destroyer would only have a frontal gun shield protecting them from enemy fire.
"With this little vehicle, we have serious teeth." Lupa declared, pressing the flat of her basket-hilt sword against her palm. "The 47/32 gun can penetrate 42 mm within 500 meters, it's our best gun in the game." she paused for a second and became much more solemn. "We cannot let ourselves lose our next match. Providence may or may not be against us, but regardless, we have to fight!" she exclaimed.
"Right!" the girls stomped their feet.
"Commander Trotter!" Lupa shouted, and the girl she called upon walked up.
Minna Trotter was a mousy girl, only 5'2, with skinny shins and buckling knees, and dark brown hair along with almond eyes. "Yes, ma'am?" she asked.
"Take command of this vehicle." Lupa proclaimed, pointing at the L3 da Semovente with her sword.
Trotter hesitated at first, the thought of driving something that left the crew practically naked in battle terrified her. "Right away, ma'am..." she finally managed to bring herself to say.
"I shall assume command of the 9(t), Elena will be my driver and Kerr will be the gunner." Lupa coughed into her hand, while Kerr and Ellen, the best gunner and driver in the entire school, walked up to take their place by the breakthrough tank. "The next round isn't set for two weeks. That's two weeks of practice, and time to become acquainted with our new tanks."
As always, any reviews are appreciated.