Chapter 1: The fatal shot.
Kay was in command of her tank, an olive-colored US M4 Sherman, when she received an excited message from Alisa, her deputy.
"All the tanks of the Ooarai are attacking us!" She told her, alarmed.
Taken by surprise by that announcement, the blonde asked:
"Wait a moment! You didn't tell me anything else before! How did it happen?"
"I don't know… Probably the radio intercept… Maybe they have outsmarted us?" It was the reply.
That answer pissed her off a bit.
"Baka!" She insulted her.
"I'm sorry…" Alisa's voice replied from the radio.
"I always told you to fight fair!" Her captain scolded her furiously.
After a few moments she heard a cannon fire coming from the microphone.
"Anyway, get away from there, and quickly!" She commanded, peremptorily.
"Yes, Ma'am!" Her deputy answered.
Kay hung up and thought:
Would it be unfair to fight back with all our tanks just because our intercept failed?
She thought about it herself, coming to the conclusion that no, she wasn't at all. After all, Alisa's trick, while unfair, did not violate the rules of the match. So she commanded, over the radio:
"All tanks follow me! Naomi, it's your time!"
"I never expected such a twist." Commented Orange Pekoe, who along with Darjeeling, her captain in the St. Gloriana sensha-do team, were watching the match.
From her side Darjeeling chuckled.
"It almost looks like cops and robbers!"
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Captain Ami Chono of the Self-Defense Forces, aboard her Type 90, roared with laughter.
"It's getting interesting! I have never seen a chase like this!" She stated, amused.
"A really unexpected twist."
Commented Erika Itsumi, deputy commander of the Kuromorimine sensha-do team, also intent on watching the game in the company of her superior, Maho Nishizumi, older sister of Miho, captain of the Ooarai, who limited herself to nodding.
Meanwhile the Saunders flag tank, also an M4 Sherman led by Alisa, was fleeing from the Ooarai tanks: A Panzer IV, a Stug III, a Type 89, an M3 Lee and finally the enemy flag tank, a Panzer 38 (T). It was one against five, and she could do nothing but flee across the clearing to await reinforcements. Facing the enemies would have been a real suicide, and would have decreed the defeat of their team. at one point Alisa, increasingly furious, leaned out of the turret and began to rant against her opponents. Luckily for her, after a few minutes the Sherman tanks, including the Firefly, came to her rescue, chasing down her pursuers. Seeing them, the girl and her crew regained hope. Saunders' tanks began to target all the enemy tanks together, who tried to return fire, but this was not enough. In short the Type 89 was hit and eliminated, closely followed by the M3 Lee, which stopped in a ditch. More shots fell around them, kicking up sprays of earth.
"Prepare yourself! You are just microscopic ants! I will crush you under my steel tracks!" Alisa said, getting back into her tank, shivering at the thought of her.
Her words proved prophetic when, after a short chase, Ooarai's flag tank was also hit and eliminated, displaying the white flag. A few moments later a voice over the loudspeaker announced:
"The Ooarai flagship tank has been eliminated. Saunders Academy wins!"