A 90mm shell zipped past Maya's SP IC. She gritted her teeth as she attempted to line up a shot on Karl's ELC. Maya's efforts ended in futility, however, and her three shots barely sailed over the smaller French tank.

Karl smiled as he heard the distinctive clicking of the reload indicator.

He zipped immediately towards the nearest cluster of buildings, barely avoiding another 90mm from the German light tank. As the SP IC skidded around the corner in hot pursuit, and the Eurobeat pounded in his ears, Karl's smile grew even wider. As he mashed the space-bar, and then the 'a' and 's' keys, he envisioned himself in an enclosed space, like some sort of cockpit. He imagined himself jamming one joystick back, another forward, as he adjusted the pedals under him. Once the tank spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, he stomped on the clutch before shifting the tank into reverse. The glowing reticle glowed as it lined up with his target. Karl then pulled the trigger.

Of course, none of that was actually happening; it all took place in Karl's head. However, it is what he felt like doing while he mashed all those keys on his keyboard.

Coincidentally, Maya had something similar occur.

Upon seeing the ELC's 90mm barrel point in her direction, she pulled both joysticks back, adjusted her pedals, and skidded out of the way of the 90mm shell. She then lined up the crosshairs of her own 90mm and fired away.

The ELC suddenly rounded a corner, Maya's three shells harmlessly passing by where Karl once was. He immediately headed for the bridge in the center of the map before spinning once again, firing a shot in Maya's general direction.

Karl's shell missed, of course, but that did not stop Maya from pursuing him further down the bridge. Suddenly, Karl made a sharp right turn, in the middle of the bridge, and rocketed over the side.

The crowd gasped at this action.

However, the ELC landed on a nearby train car before descending to the train tracks down below. He had only taken one point of damage.

"Spall liner and enhanced suspension," he said to himself, before turning around to witness Maya also jumping off of the bridge.

She unfortunately missed the train car, but she still survived.

The SP IC's tracks however, did not.

"Got you!" Karl exclaimed, and fired his shot. The shot struck home, but did only half the damage it should have done.

Karl gritted his teeth in frustration as he avoided Maya's retaliatory volley.

Maya smiled as the distinctive clicking of the tracks repairing themselves echoed over her headphones.

The two then rolled into the hilly and, excluding a number of concrete tubes and tank wreckages, coverless area of the map. Karl's ELC swung around to take another potshot at Maya's SP IC. Maya casually swung by the shell before firing the last round in the magazine.

Both tanks swung around a nearby wreckage before firing on each other. Both shots missed but Maya still had two rounds left. She let both fly in Karl's direction as the ELC attempted to retreat towards the city.

The last shell of the volley found its mark, and the ELC skidded to a halt as its tracks were destroyed.

"Yes!" Maya exclaimed to herself, before lining up her final shot.

Unfortunately for her, fate seemed to be playing tricks on everyone because the ELC's tracks suddenly clicked back together and Maya found herself looking down the barrel of a 90mm gun.

Then, just in time, Karl's Eurobeat album finished its last song.

"Repair kits," Karl said, before pulling the trigger.

XXXXX

The car ride back to Philadelphia was not filled with excited conversations of the aforementioned combat sequence, against Karl's father's expectations. Instead, the car found itself filled with a peaceful silence, with only the humming of the car's engine echoing in the background.

Ken Ogawa took a quick glance at his wife, who just woke up from a brief nap, before returning his attention to the road ahead of him.

"Aww," said he, glancing at his rearview mirror as he did so. "They're leaning on each other. How cute."

He smiled as his wife giggled at the statement.

XXXXX

The next day…

The chirping of birds echoed from outside as Maya opened her eyes. She had gotten quite familiar with the ceiling above her by now, and could probably point every single stain and crack if she tried.

Maya slowly got out of bed and walked over to the nearest window, which she slowly opened. The sunshine from outside the apartment immediately the bathed the room in a radiant glow.

She sighed.

What an unexpected turn of events.

So much had happened since she arrived here, and all in such a small amount of time. She remembered that time when she first stepped off of the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Everything felt alien; no one understood her and she understood no one. Things changed, of course, but it all changed for the better when the school year started.

Maya had to admit, it took some time to get used to this September start date.

Another memory surfaced, this time from the first day of school, when she made her first friend in the United States.

She smiled.

Maya didn't feel like taking a quick shower or anything at the moment. No homework had been assigned for the weekend.

She stretched.

Perhaps she should record a song, she had not uploaded one in some time.

Maya walked over to her computer, her microphone and violin case already laid out on the desk. She gently flicked the latches on the case open before slowly opening the case and pulling out her violin. A gentle tap on her computer's trackpad brought the screen to life, prompting Maya to log in. Her fingers danced along the keyboard, typing her password in the process, before moving to tune her violin.

Once she finished with her usual routine, Maya found an instrumental rendition of a song she wished to sing. Not only did she find the art for the music video to be beautiful (Maya really wished she was good at drawing), but also found the lyrics somewhat nostalgic, as if it reminded her of someone.

Maya softly smiled as she brought her bow to her violin, and the melody began to play.

Author's notes: Eurobeat, Vocaloid, and tanks. What more can you wish for?

Hey guys, Karl the Arty here. I'm back again with this story. After rereading this story from its beginning, I can't help but feel really old all of a sudden. I started this particular fic during my sophomore year of high school, and it was meant to reflect my ideal junior year. Now, as a senior in high school, it all seems silly, as my junior year went completely differently.

#foreveralone XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want me to write more, please don't hesitate to drop a review in the review box below. It motivates me to write more.

Thanks :D

-SPSH Karl