"…"
"…"
"Why did I even suggest this arrangement…?" Karl muttered. Maya stretched her arms and nearly hit Karl in the face.
"Oops, sorry," Maya apologized. Karl sighed. The car carrying them to Philadelphia ran over a bump, shaking the occupants inside. In front of him, Karl's mother slept in the passenger's seat while his father stared at the road, hands on the steering wheel.
"You know the plan, right?" Karl asked. Maya nodded.
"Yeah, I think," she replied.
XXXXX
"Alright guys," Karl addressed his teammates. "Remember; I am going to fight on the enemy side. This is to simulate your independent abilities. Don't hold back."
One of the team members cracked his knuckles.
"All right!" he exclaimed. "I've been waiting to kick your ass for a long time."
Karl sweat dropped at this statement.
The team separated, leaving Karl alone in the room. The atmosphere outside bustled with excitement.
Karl stretched his limbs, relieving his body of some stress.
"Now then," Karl said. "Let's get started."
XXXXX
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer exclaimed. The crowd in the gymnasium roared into applause. "I would now like to announce the beginning of the Live Fire Exercise between the Japanese Language School of Philadelphia and Emmaus High School!"
The crowd roared. Maya and the rest of the team looked around the gymnasium, slightly awed at the sight.
"Think this will be a tough fight?" one of the members asked. "With Karl on the other team and all."
Another shrugged.
"We'll never know," said he.
"Right then," said the first. "Let's go."
The five stepped forward into the gym, accompanied by more cheers. Karl and the JLSP team stepped forward as well.
"You lot ready?" Karl asked. Maya and the others nodded.
Karl and Maya shook hands, as representatives of each team, before turning around and leading the teams to their respective rooms.
Within these rooms sat a number of computers, one per player. Maya sat down at the computer labeled "#1" and logged into her account. As the match would be a single annihilation match, she thought there would be little to no restrictions in terms of tanks.
She hovered the mouse over the SP IC, tier VII German light tank. Its 90mm autoloader proved to be a threat to other enemy light tanks, especially at tier VII. The limited capacity magazine, however, was the only hindrance in Maya's opinion.
Of course, the map selected was not one she remembered.
"Port…?" she said curiously, while the other team members muttered amongst themselves.
"I thought they took it off the roster."
"When did they bring it back?"
"What tank should we choose?"
"Everyone," Maya said, gaining everyone's attention. "Pick light tanks. You know what to do after that."
Everyone else nodded and selected light tanks. Maya sighed.
"Good thing everyone understands me now…" she said to herself.
The clock ticked down. Maya could hear the crowd in the gym cheering.
She decided to take a breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
The timer beeped.
"Go."
XXXXX
An IS-3 heavy tank slowly rolled through the central highway of the Port map, its turret swinging left and right. Suddenly, a hailstorm of shells smashed into the tank. Some bounced off harmlessly, while others punched through the tank's armor, shredding away its hit points.
Before long, the tank exploded.
Karl shook his head at the performance of his temporary teammate.
"Some people…" he muttered. "Two! Take Four with you; flank around the west side!"
"Got it!" Two replied. Two tanks, a T-50 and an LTTB, turned around and headed towards the urban area in the west.
"Five!" Karl ordered. "Cover the bridge! Here they come!"
"Affirmative!" Five replied, positioning his ISU-152 in a sniping nest as he did so. "But they're going to come at us in light tanks, right? I won't be able to survive for long!"
"Don't worry; I'll try to cover you," Karl replied. "The only thing you have to worry about is that T49 of theirs."
Suddenly, a number of shots sailed over the bridge, narrowly missing the destroyed IS-3.
"Here they come!"
XXXXX
"All right guys!" Colby, Maya's team's #2, exclaimed. "Let's go!"
Maya nearly joined in on the charge, if it weren't for the fact that she felt something was wrong with this situation.
"You two take the planned route. I need to check something," she said. Devon, the team's #3, rolled his eyes.
"Suit yourself," said he. "C'mon, let's go."
Three tanks, a T-54 lightweight, a Chaffee, and a VK2801, rushed over the bridge towards the enemy. Meanwhile, Maya's SP IC turned towards the west.
"Michael," she called. "Cover the attacking lights. My guess is that Karl has set up an ambush for us."
"Got it," Michael, the team's #5, replied.
Suddenly an explosion echoed from the bridge.
"Fuck!" Devon exclaimed. "That was a big one!"
"Where is it!?" Alexandra, the team's #4, yelled.
"I have no fucking idea!" Colby replied, obviously scared of the shot which shredded more than two thirds of his health.
"Hurry up and spot him!" Michael exclaimed, focusing on the battle area with his SU-14-2 artillery.
"Wait!" Alexandra exclaimed. "I found-!"
Her Chaffee violently exploded, sending its turret flying into the air.
XXXXX
"Got one!" Six exclaimed before realigning his barrel on another target. "Did you see that, One!? I got a kill!"
"Six!" Karl exclaimed. "Fall back! They have an arty!"
"Wait what!?" Six managed, before violently exploding as his ammunition rack detonated from an artillery shell.
Karl raised his eyebrows in slight amazement.
"Impressive," said he. "Landing a shot so perfectly. Guess I have to do something."
He then noticed the low health T-54 lightweight and VK2801. Karl licked his lips.
"But first…"
XXXXX
"I knew it!" Maya exclaimed as she opened fire at the enemy's T-50 and LTTB. The enemies scattered to the side, each entering a separate street.
Maya, however, already had her eyes on an enemy. She zoomed towards a corner to find an 85mm barrel pointing in her direction.
"Got you!" Four exclaimed. He clicked on the trigger.
Maya smashed her keyboard's space bar and 'A' key, skillfully dodging the enemy's shot with a well-executed drift.
She immediately emptied an entire magazine into the LTTB before doing another drift around the now exploding light tank.
Maya sighed as she rounded another corner.
"Now for the reload…"
XXXXX
An AMX ELC suddenly burst out in front of Colby and Devon, firing a shot into Colby's T-54 lightweight before dodging a shot from Devon's VK.
"That drifting!" Colby exclaimed, now spectating the battle from Devon's point of view. "It's you, isn't it Karl!?"
"What!?" Karl replied on the open channel. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY EUROBEAT!"
Seconds later, Devon fired another shot at Karl's ELC, who drifted out of the shot's path just in time.
A familiar clicking noise echoed in Karl's headset. Karl punched a 90mm shell into the VK2801 before drifting laps around the larger light tank.
Finally, the distinctive clicking of the reloaded gun sounded, and Karl punched another 90mm shell into the VK; this time the ELC drove off as the VK exploded.
"Right," he said to himself. "Time to deal with that arty."
XXXXX
The T-50 narrowly avoided Maya's shot before returning fire with his 47mm gun. However, the shells merely glanced off the heavily angled armor as Maya drifted past another corner.
"Holy crap this guy is good," Two muttered to himself before pursuing Maya around the corner. This time, however, a 90mm gun barrel tapped at his side as he did so.
Two's eyes opened wide.
"What the-!?"
The T-50 exploded violently as Maya punched three 90mm shells into the other light tank.
Maya wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve.
"You guys all right!?" she asked. The only responses she received were "nope," "I died," and "Karl got me."
Maya could not help but sigh at this.
"Michael," she called. "You good?"
"So far, yeah," Michael replied. "I may or may not need to- Fuck! I've been spotted!"
A 90mm shell punched through the side of the SPG as an AMX ELC burst into the open.
"Surprise!" Karl exclaimed. "Anti-Artillery brigade coming through!"
Another 90mm shell punched through the poor SPG as Michael struggled to aim his gun at the small tank.
"STOP! DRIFTING! EVERYWHERE!" he exclaimed, before firing a shot at Karl which nearly blew off his tracks.
"How about 'no?'" Karl replied as he punched another shell into the SPG, this time making it explode into a column of flame.
A 90mm shell landed in the ground next to Karl; this time it did not belong to him.
Karl could not help but smile.
"よっ！ (Yo!)" Karl said. "調子はどうだ？ (How you doing?)"
Maya scoffed at Karl's statement.
"意外と調子良かったよ、カールが来るまでは。(I was actually feeling pretty good, until you showed up,)" Maya replied.
Karl sighed at Maya's reply.
"そう冷たく言うなよ…俺たちは楽しみに来たんだぜ。(Don't act so cold… We came here to have fun, you know,)" Karl said.
A 90mm shell sailed past Maya's SP IC, landing a few centimeters behind her.
"それより、 (More than that,)" Karl said. "そろそろ終わらせないか？ギャラリーを盛り上げないと。(How about we put an end to this? We need to make the audience excited.)"
Maya smiled.
"そりゃそうね。(You got that right,)" she said. "悪いけどこの勝利、あんたには渡さない！ (I'm sorry but, I'm not letting you have this victory!)"
Author's Notes: I'm back! :D
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter that I wrote in an airplane. See you guys in the next one.
Please leave a review. It motivates me to write more.
-SPSH Karl