Alright guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything with Girls Und Panzer's rights, though I do thank the creator of the series for how amazing it is.
As I said chapter 3 would have a small delay for editing, well its finally here! As always, please read, review, and enjoy the chapter.
*Tap*
What…?
"I'm tired of sitting here… you'd better write me in…" Shiho Nishizumi gave Ald a death glare.
Yeah… okay… you got it…
*SCRAMS!*
xxxxxx
Ch. 3
The Commander
"It just had to start raining again as we were half way here…" Miho shivered a little as she fumbled through her bag trying to find her keys while Maho stood next to her with droplets falling from her clothes. "Where are my keys?" She began emptying her bag.
"Miho…" Maho looked at her.
"Don't worry I'll find them soon…" Miho replied.
"Miho…" Maho pointed to the ground next to her and Miho looked there spotting the keys, then realizing that they'd fallen out of her pocket as she'd sat down to empty her bag.
"Ahh…" Miho grabbed them and hurriedly unlocked the door. "Please go inside and…" She paused as she noticed her sister gathering her stuff up for her before neatly tucking them back in her bag.
"You didn't have…" Miho stopped as her sister silently walked past her and into her small apartment. She entered and shut the door before locking it, flipping on the lights she smiled. "Sorry it's not all that big… but being here by myself, I didn't need much room…"
Maho sat Miho's bag down on the desk before walking over to the bed and sitting down. "This apartment doesn't even have a bath, does it…?"
"No, most apartments aboard the school ships don't have full baths in favor of a public bath…" Miho looked at her sister.
"It probably doesn't have a dryer either…" Maho stared blankly at the wall.
"No, there's a laundry room for the apartment complex downstairs…" Miho smiled.
"This place is pretty pathetic…" Maho muttered softly. "Does it even have a bathroom?" She looked at Miho.
"Yes…" Miho pointed to it. "Also, it may not have a bath, but it does have a single person shower… if you want you can go warm up…"
"I will then… what time do we get up?" Maho asked.
"Five…" Miho replied, causing her sister to blink a little. "It's just my normal routine…" She went over to the desk and pulled out the papers Maho had packed. "…leave your clothes on the top of the hamper, I'll run downstairs and put them in the dryer…"
Xxx
"Mom, dad I'm home!" Yukari called out to them and they entered the front area, which was a barbershop. "Sorry I'm late…" She paused as she saw her dad get on his knees.
"Thank you for being friends with our daughter!" Mr. Akiyama bowed down, causing Nonna and Katyusha to blink as Yukari went scarlet.
"It's so nice to meet more of Yukari's friends…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at the two of them. "We kept worrying that she'd never make any with her obsession with panzers…"
"It's my fault!" Mr. Akiyama cried. "I shouldn't have treated her like a boy when she was little…"
"Dad!" Yukari's face was completely scarlet at this point as her parents continued to embarrass her.
"I like your parents…" Katyusha grinned as he continued bowing at her feet.
Nonna wrung her hair out a little trying to dry it. "Miss. Katyusha… we shouldn't…"
"Mom, dad these are two girls from Pravda, they're here because of the Sensha-Do team for the Olympics… teacher asked if we could host them…" Yukari looked at her mother who blinked.
"Sensha-Do was returned to the Olympics…" Mrs. Akiyama blinked and looked at them.
"Mom I hope you don't mind… if you…" Yukari looked at her seemingly in deep thought.
"It's fine, why don't you take them upstairs to freshen up, I'll be up with some tea in a bit." Mrs. Akiyama turned and hurriedly went back to the kitchen.
"What was that about?" Nonna looked at Yukari.
Mr. Akiyama got up. "I guess it startled her a bit…" He nodded and headed down a hallway towards the living room. "You haven't seen this before Yukari because your mom didn't want me to show it to you… back before she and I met, she went to Ooarai, before Sensha-Do was dropped." He pulled a dusty photo album off of the bookshelf and handed it to her. "Don't tell her I gave this to you…" He gave a wink to his daughter before turning and heading off down the hall again towards the room, which he turned into his bookkeeping office for the barbershop.
"What was that all about?" Katyusha blinked as Yukari cracked the album open and saw someone that looked a lot like herself smiling in the commander's hatch of the VK 7201 Lion they'd found.
"Mom…" Yukari glanced into the hallway and saw her mother's back as she continued to prepare snacks for them in the kitchen.
Nonna flipped the page "She was on the eighth Sensha-Do national champion team… and the 1972 Japanese Olympic team…"
They sat down around the coffee table and began flipping through the book, where they saw pictures of the 1972 Olympics, the Sensha-Do team and their battles.
"Oh I thought you girls went upstairs…" Mrs. Akiyama entered the doorway and froze seeing them flipping through the album.
"Mom!" Yukari tried to shut it and hide it.
"You're amazing ma'am… you were in the Olympics…" Katyusha looked at her a little awestruck.
"No… don't, please…" Mrs. Akiyama walked over and sat down the tray before taking the book from Yukari. "Don't look at this…" She turned and hurried her way out of the room before any questions could be asked.
"What was that about?" Nonna looked at Yukari.
"I don't know…" Yukari blinked. "Mom…" She called.
Mr. Akiyama stopped at the entrance of the room. "Let her relax for the rest of the night… it brought up some bad memories…" He continued on leaving the three puzzled girls alone.
Xxx
"Miss. Reizei I hope you don't mind us intruding…" Orange smiled as she looked up from the table while she poured Darjeeling some tea.
"Nope… just don't bother me in the morning, you remember the way to the school right?" Mako looked at them.
"I think I can get there…" Darjeeling looked at her.
"Good, leave without me in the morning, I'll be running a little late…" Mako shrugged.
"Is it something we can help with, perhaps we could get it done tonight instead…" Darjeeling looked at her.
"No, it's something I have to deal with, get your rest…" Mako turned in her chair. "The guest room is down the hall on the left, I'll be upstairs for a bit before I go to bed…"
Darjeeling and Orange blinked as Mako left the room and plodded her way upstairs.
Xxx
Kay glanced at Hana "You sure you don't mind us crashing with you?"
"No its fine… besides this place is pretty big just being only by myself…" Hana smiled at them.
"This place smells really…" Alisa looked around trying to figure it out. "Do you have like a thousand air fresheners plugged in or something?"
"No…" Hana smiled as she walked into the small dining room and they saw the tank shaped vase with a beautiful arrangement of flowers in it.
"Wow…" Naomi stopped chewing her gum for a moment as she saw it.
"That's pretty cool…" Kay bent down and got a closer look at the vase.
"Flower arranging is my family's tradition…" Hana smiled at them.
Xxx
"Why did I get stuck with you…" Anchovie glared at Midoriko.
"Because you were so rude to everyone else that no one would take you… or even let them near their houses…" Midoriko replied.
"And you're so kind because…" Anchovie sneered at her. "I sense this is some kind of sick plot from Anzu…"
"It is what was asked of me, and I carry out my duties because I am the head of the school morals committee!" Midoriko glared back at her. "If I wasn't, you'd be on the street tonight."
Xxx
Erika watched Saori as she cooked dinner for the girls from Black Forest Peak. "I don't trust her… she's too…"
"Erikarin, do you want soy sauce on your rice?" Saori asked, peaking over a potted plant at them sitting around the dining table.
"For the last time… MY NAME IS ERIKA!" Erika shouted glaring at the nickname she'd be given.
The younger girls watched as Saori came out of the kitchen. "Sorry for the wait, I'm not really used to cooking for so many… dig in!" She smiled as their jaws all dropped seeing the delicious spread before them.
"You fir…" Erika started and stopped once noticing that Saori wasn't there, but over at a mirror calmly removing her contact lenses before putting on a pair of red rimmed glasses.
"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting… how's it taste?" Saori beamed at the girls at the table.
"Great Miss. Saori, your boyfriend must be really lucky…" One of the girls from Black Forest Peak smiled at her before noticing Saori rocking back and forth huddled on the floor next to her chair.
Erika smirked. "Pretty pathetic if you ask me… someone like you can't even get a boyfriend…"
"Like you have one…" Saori pouted at Erika, causing her to gag before she realized she'd hit the nail on the head.
Xxx
Miho reentered her apartment with her sister's cleaned and dried clothes, she blinked as she noticed Maho looking around at her stuffed bears. "Sorry it took so long…"
"I don't mind… but I don't get why you decorated like this, it's a little macabre for you…" Maho looked at her.
Miho sat Maho's clothes down and walked over to her closet before beginning to get her pajamas out. "You should remember when I did that… it was just after it happened…" Miho looked at her sister. "I know you stood up to mom for me… but…"
"You really haven't changed one little bit…" Maho smiled as she patted her sister on the head. "You still have that picture from way back then?" She asked noticing a picture of Miho with three other girls from around six and a half years prior.
"I couldn't bring myself to throw it out… even though when I moved here I said I'd give up panzers." Miho pulled the picture from the small clip in the closet and she looked at her three friends from her elementary school, smiling after their first match which had been a friendly one against her older sister.
"In the end you chose a different path than myself… even though we both ended up at the same conclusion with Sensha-Do. You were right…" Maho smiled at her sister who blinked, her sister becoming more comfortable with her alone again and not in the shadow of their mother.
"You can have the bed, I'll use the…" Miho started.
"No, it's big enough for both of us… Besides I'm your guest right now anyway…" Maho nudged her over to the bed before they both climbed in and clicked the light off.
Xxx
Darjeeling cracked her eyes open as she noticed Mako making her way to bed finally, she waited a few minutes before getting up and slipping past Orange, who was sleeping peacefully. "Time for a little reconnaissance…" She glanced around the darkened hallway noticing the clock reading around four in the morning. She slipped upstairs as silently as she could.
Entering one room she noticed what looked like an old writing desk with a pair of trays, one labeled in and the other out. "What's this?" She picked up the top letter from the out. "Water Company… Electric…" She looked around and realized the writing desk had a calculator and several account books tucked into one of its slots.
She placed them down and left the room, slipping further down the hallway she smelt a faint whiff of incense and she peaked inside the room, it was empty save for a portrait on a pedestal next to the wall in a plane black frame.
She slipped inside and made her way over, seeing the remains of the incense stick that had burnt down she looked at the photograph, a couple in their thirties both with raven black hair, the woman bearing a slight resemblance to Mako. "She can't be all alone…"
"She's not…" A voice made her freeze before she felt a light tug on her nightgowns sleeve.
"Don't make a racket… I tell her to go to bed all the time but she insists." The elderly woman spoke calmly. "This is my son and his wife… Mako's parents. They died when she was in elementary school."
"You're her…" Darjeeling glanced at the elderly woman who was a head and a half shorter than herself.
"I am Hisako Reizei, Mako's grandmother." Hisako looked at Darjeeling. "We met at the finals… her parents would have been so proud of her, top of her class even if she is a night owl like her father…" She nudged Darjeeling out into the hallway. "I don't like it when she does the bills… but she is seemingly more and more worried about my health…"
"I don't understand…" Darjeeling looked at the elderly woman as the office's light clicked on, and she took a seat in the leather armchair at the desk. "Why does she…"
"Mako is a good girl… she's very patient with me, and tries to keep me happy and comfortable, bearing the burden I put on her in place of her parents…" Hisako looked at the photograph on the wall, the happy young girl with her parents. "They died in a car crash… right before it Mako had a fight with her mother… because of it I'm lucky to have her still… yet she blames herself she never got the chance to apologize."
Darjeeling looked at the photograph. "So, this is why she told us to go without her to the school?"
"She's not a "morning" person, but her friends come by to wake her up and get her to school on time most of the time…" Hisako looked at her. "On nights like this she's rather tough to get up, so don't be alarmed if you hear a cannon go off…"
"A cannon?" Darjeeling blinked.
"That friend of hers, Miho, brought their Pz IV one day and they fired off a blank next to the house when Saori couldn't get her up for morning practice." Hisako chuckled as she remembered hearing the story from Saori. "Like her mother she has low blood pressure, so she isn't really active in the morning or early afternoon…"
"I should get to bed…" Darjeeling looked at her.
"What for, you'll be woken up by the rumble of a tank soon enough… Saori normally shows up around five thirty…"
Xxx
The alarm went off and as if on cue Maho tumbled out of bed as Miho fell over her, groping for the alarm clock before finally clicking it off. The first rays of sunlight poked through the curtains on the new day.
"Does it really take you this long to get to school?" Maho asked as she rubbed her eyes, Miho began hurrying around the apartment gathering her things.
"Hopefully we're lucky today… if we are, we'll just wait around for the others to get there…" Miho smiled as she got dressed in her uniform.
"Why would you need to go to school over three hours early? Do you do morning drills or something daily?" Maho looked at her.
"If getting all of my team to school on time counts as drills…" Miho smiled, causing Maho to blink a little puzzled.
Xxx
Darjeeling sipped on some tea as Orange stumbled into the breakfast nook where she and Hisako were. "Good morning Orange dear…" Darjeeling smiled as Orange looked rather disheveled and still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
"Why are you…?" Orange blinked seeing her.
"Just got up early today…" Darjeeling smiled as she held out a cup for orange.
A soft knock came at the front door. "Pardon the intrusion…" Saori entered and peaked her head in, noticing Darjeeling and Orange sitting with Hisako.
"Give her hell Saori." Hisako smiled at her as she waited for it.
"MAKO!" Saori yelled as she entered her room.
"Uhh…" A faint groan could be heard.
"COME ON MAKO!" Saori yelled again.
"Is she always like this in the morning…" Orange blinked.
Saori rounded the corner a few moments later. "How late was she…"
"Four…" Darjeeling looked at her.
"It's going to be this kind of morning…" Saori sighed, causing Erika and the girls from Black Forest Peak to blink at her as she fished out her phone from her bag. "Miho… We need it…"
"What about…" Erika started before a morning reveille could be heard from outside.
"Almost never works… Morning Yukari!" Saori called as Yukari entered from down the hallway.
"Sorry for the intrusion…" Yukari bowed slightly to Hisako.
"Why is everyone going through so much effort just to get her up early, if she doesn't want to wake up then let her sleep till she has to leave…" Katyusha yawned from the top of Nonna's shoulders.
"Once Mako was so deep in the red that she was on a razor thin margin from not passing the grade on attendance, even though she has the top marks…But We were given a massive attendance credit reward from winning the nationals, so she's clear now…Though even if at the present she's isn't in danger of losing a whole year, we want to make sure that she won't go to the red again, so we decided to continue helping her." Yukari looked at them and then turn her head up while scratching it in thought. "But I still don't get how she went to white, even with the attendance bonus from the nationals, it should still have some attendance points problems…strange."
Saori went back past Nonna to Mako's room again. "Mako come on you're going to be late!"
The house began to shake slightly as the teacups on the table rattled against their saucers. "What's going…"
"Ears…" Hisako smiled as she stuck her fingers in her ears just as the house stopped shaking, and a tremendous explosion made all of them jump.
"WHAT THE!?" Several of the girls jumped out of their skin now completely wide awake.
"Bigger panzer this time huh…" Yukari blinked. "I wonder which…"
"Don't worry it's just a blank!" Miho yelled as the house shuddered again from the rumble of the engine.
All of the girls quickly made their way outside to see Miho, Hana and Maho, all of them with the Leopard 1. "Good morning…" Miho and Hana smiled at them.
"If man was intended to see this hour of day… we…" Mako yawned before turning to go back to her bed prior to being blocked by Yukari and Saori.
"Oh no you don't, we're going to school." Saori grabbed her as Yukari grabbed Mako's uniform.
All of the girls from the other schools blinked as they tossed Mako into the Leopard 1. "How are we supposed to all…" Katyusha begun before the ground started to shake a little as the Porsche Tiger rounded the corner and came to a halt right behind the Leopard 1.
"Yo!" Satoko smiled as she waved to Miho.
"Oh hell no!" Erika yelled as she and half of the girls from Black Forest Peak scrambled for the Leopard 1.
Maho blinked at them "What's with you guys?"
"There is no way in hell you're getting me in a panzer with them ever again!" Erika pointed at them. "They thought it would be a "cool" idea to drift that Porsche Tiger and nearly killed us in the process of doing it!"
"No way, you guys actually got the Tiger P to drift…?" Yukari blinked at them from her spot on the Leopard 1.
"Yeah it was awesome!" Tsuchiya grinned from the drivers hatch. "We burnt up the transmission in the process, but it was totally worth it!"
Miho giggled a little. "I'm still surprised by the things our school does with its panzers…"
"Last night I was browsing the net and saw a really awesome vid of a Leopard 1 drifting one eighty on some mud to change directions in a hurry, it was crazy, the whole thing whipped around on a dime!" Satoko smiled at Miho. "Since it rained so much last night, we could take a detour on the way to school and…"
"No that's okay, we have practice after classes anyway…" Miho smiled a little as well as dreading the thought of damaging the Leopard 1.
After everyone climbed onto the two panzers, they pulled out rumbling their way through the streets towards the school.
Both of the tanks rolled past the small convenience store, causing its door to open and the bell to ding repeatedly till they'd passed. They slowed as they came to a narrower area of the street.
"Wha…" A little girl stuck her head out of a second floor window. "Mommy, it's Commander Miho!"
"A Leopard 1 now Miho… did they lift the restrictions?" An elderly woman blinked in surprise and smiled.
"Sorry for all of the noise!" Miho apologized.
"The new tanks look cool mommy!" The little girl looked at her mother.
"Was what they said on the news true? Did they really bring back Sensha-Do to the Olympics?" The woman asked from behind her daughter.
"Train hard Commander, we're counting on you more than ever, we know you'll do your best, so good luck!" Their neighbor cheered as they passed.
"Thank you very much!" Miho cheered back at them.
"They treat you like you're some kind of hero or something…" Erika glared at Miho.
The hatch in front of her spot on the rear of the turret popped open. "That's because she sort of is to the school… Miporin." Saori smiled at Miho.
"I…" Miho turned a little red. "I'm really not, we all won…"
"Because you led us." Yukari popped her head out of the hatch with Saori now sitting on its edge.
The two tanks rounded the corner onto a larger main street heading for the school, where they met up with droves of their classmates going to the school. "It's Commander Miho!" A freshman cheered and suddenly droves of them were waving and cheering to her.
"I still don't see why, the team did all the work…" Erika looked at Saori. "Not her…"
"Miporin led us, without her; we would have lost in the first round. And because we won the nationals… our school wasn't shut down." Saori replied, causing Maho and Erika to both look at her.
"Maybe you do deserve some praise…" Erika grimaced a little.
"Really… with the Leopard 1 this time?" A voice called out as the tank slowed to a halt and they saw Midoriko with her hand braced on her hip holding a tablet PC, as Miho and the others climbed off of the tank. "You should let Mako drag herself to school, maybe she'd learn to go to sleep…"
"Oh come on, don't be that way Sodoko…" Mako staggered her way over and hugged Midoriko.
"I SAID DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Midoriko snapped as Mako kept clinging to her.
Anchovie couldn't resist laughing at the sight of the overly serious host she had the night prior, now being pestered by one of her classmates. "This is priceless!"
"Duce Anchovie!" A girl's voice called out and they saw Anzio's second in command, Carpaccio, stepping out of a taxi. "I came as soon as I could."
"It took you long enough Carpaccio!" Anchovie glared at her second in command.
"My sincere apologies Duce!" Carpaccio bowed to the much shorter Anchovie.
The school's bells chimed and Midoriko looked at them "It's time to get to class, hurry up." She nodded through the gate as they quickly made their way through.
"What about us? What are we supposed to do all day?" Katyusha asked.
"It should be obvious…" Momo looked at them. "It was decided when you came here that you would be attending classes here for the term, until the Olympic Games are over."
"WHAT!?" Erika gaped. "With…" She glanced over at Anchovie, who seemingly was ready to lunge for Momo at the thought of being anywhere near the same classroom Anzu would be in.
"Everyone just relax…" Kay stepped forward. "C'mon Chiyomi, can't you just relax for a bi…" She dodged a swipe from Anchovie aimed directly at grabbing her hair.
"Show me some respect you airhead!" Anchovie snapped. "You're no different than that time we faced each other our freshman year, you're too laid back and…"
"You're still too stressed…" Anzu looked at her. "Chiyomi, we used to be friends in middle school, can't you just let it go?"
"You would never take practice seriously… you'd always blow it off to go hang out with whatever boyfriend you had that week!" Anchovie pointed at Kay directly. "And you would do nothing the entire time and just sit back, while I commanded the tank and relayed messages during training matches!"
"Most primary schools don't have tanks, or Sensha-do in their curriculum… wait… you three went to school together?" Miho blinked at the three of them.
"Yeah, back then we hung out all the time… until we wound up picking different schools because of that argument… Anji and I patched things up pretty quickly… but…" Kay shrugged. "Chiyomi here is still too uptight…"
"Would you just relax… and if we don't get to class, we'll wind up in trouble…" Maho butted in as she gestured to the clock while the bell chimed, all of the girls from Black Forest Peak except for her and Erika had already gone inside with Midoriko and the others.
Anchovie glared. "Come on Carpaccio!" She made her way past Kay and Anzu through the gates. "Maho, I'm surprised you're taking their side…"
"Because we need to work as a team, if we're going to win." Maho looked at her and Carpaccio.
Darjeeling looked over at them. "As the Americans say, burying the hatchet would be the most honorable thing to do in this case."
Anchovie looked at them. "We're late for class."
"I'm the president… I can find some reason for them to overlook it…" Anzu looked at her.
"C'mon Chiyomi…" Kay smiled at her. "We all want to win fair and square here… and if everyone isn't on the same page, we can't do that."
Anchovie looked at the two of them and sighed, "I'll think about it…" She turned and walked off with Carpaccio following her.
Xxx
Miho smiled as she entered the garage, where the tanks that they had recovered were. The massive Lion towering next to the PzIV, which had been recovered along with the others. "It's strange…" A voice called out causing her to jump only to see Ami walking over. "I never knew one existed… I thought it never reached the prototype stage… and yet here it sits… the VK 7201 Lion."
"That's because it shouldn't exist… the only reason it does, is because we didn't have the money to buy the few remaining post war German tanks most of the allies snatched up." A cold voice spoke from outside, causing Miho to jump seeing her mother, Shiho.
"Thank you for coming Commander Nishizumi…" Ami bowed politely to her.
"What do you mean it shouldn't exist?" Miho asked a little puzzled.
Shiho sighed as she entered the garage and looked at it. "Our economy hit a small slump when the limit was raised from 1945 to 1970… we were able to convince some of our allies and the JSDF to lend us some panzers for our Olympic team… and what did we get from Germany… but some outdated prototypes, blueprints, and one brand new Leopard 1A1 main battle tank…"
"How do you know th…" Miho blinked before Shiho patted her daughter on the head silencing her.
"Because back then I was around your age… and I was part of the team that drove these tanks." Shiho looked at the Leopard 1A1. "The only ones we were able to get our hands on were either scrapped prototype tanks, or blueprints to build our own… which was cheaper to do than to import the massive tanks... it's the only one of its type in existence, it was replaced by the Maus before any prototypes could be built."
"I looked through the records, we received the remains of the second Maus prototype that had been destroyed and rebuilt it." Ami looked at her. "But the others…"
"The IS-8 or T-10 heavy tank was a captured prize the Americans gave us from the Korean War. They also gave us the use of one M103, which had been badly damaged. We purchased one of the T95 Motorized Gun Carriages that had been sold for scrap and imported it, which ate up most of our budget." Shiho looked around at them as she meandered through the garage with her daughter following her. "The Conqueror was a gift from the United Kingdom that they sent with a nice set of tea sitting on the commander's seat."
"Miho are you…" Yukari called out as she entered the garage.
"I'm over here…" Miho trailed off as she noticed why Yukari had stopped. There, standing in front of the VK 7201, was Yukari's mother. She blinked as Shiho walked past her, and Mrs. Akiyama turned to face her.
"Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at her.
Shiho looked at her. "Miho… it's been almost forty years…"
"I'm sorry… really I…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.
"Let's not drag up the past…" Shiho narrowed her gaze at her, before looking at Yukari.
"You called mother?" Miho made her way over to Shiho.
"No… I was talking with her… Yoshiko Akiyama… Miho was her nickname back then." Shiho gestured to Mrs. Akiyama.
"Mom…" Yukari walked over to her and both pairs faced each other. "What's…"
"Our daughters are a lot alike us…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho."…though… Miho is more like you were back then, before you took over the Nishizumi style… no, even after that you were the same… it was because of…"
"Will you leave him out of this for once!" Shiho snapped at Mrs. Akiyama.
Miho and Yukari blinked at them, now utterly confused as to what was going on.
"Sorry I took so long to get here dear…" Mr. Akiyama rounded the corner of the door to the garage before freezing from seeing Shiho and his wife. "Uhh…"
Shiho took a deep breath. "It's been some time Akiyama..."
"Uhh…" Mr. Akiyama grimaced. "Yeah…" He chuckled lightly scratching his head.
"Get over it, will you, it's been over forty years…" Shiho glared at him.
"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Mr. Akiyama ran his hand through his hair. "No point in dredging up bad memories, right…?"
"Mom…" Yukari prodded her. "You…"
"Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at her. "I do have to thank you… because if you hadn't broken up with my husband… I wouldn't have Yukari now…"
Shiho sighed. "I told you not to dredge up the past…"
Miho and Yukari both glanced at each other and blinked. "Wait… dad…" Yukari looked at her father.
"When I was young I went out with Shiho… we broke up before the last match of the Olympics… we were what thirteen…?"
Shiho glared at him. "You always were that ignorant… asking a woman her age… let alone in front of your own wife."
"Because of the bad blood between us over that breakup, because of me… we wound up taking silver against the West German team, since we refused to talk with each other..." Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.
"Mom you…" Yukari looked at her.
"Yes, I was the commander of our Olympic team, after having beaten Shiho in the nationals that year." Mrs. Akiyama smiled before she turned to look at the VK 7201 again. "And Old Fritz, was our flag tank." She placed her hand on its front plate, running her fingers along the weld where the upper and lower plates met.
"I wanted it to be the Maus… but you disagreed saying the Maus would get bogged down, and would become a sitting duck." Shiho looked at her. "None of the other teams could penetrate its armor easily."
"You're wrong… your daughter proved that it could be beaten. With rather creative tactics it can be beaten… all the other team would have had to do is get above it and get its turret out of the way." Mrs. Akiyama looked at her "We faced West Germany in the final match, their team was made up of primarily M26 Pershing's and the new Leopard 1A1 main battle tanks… however they also had the few remaining Jagdtigers at that time, which they had placed on high ground overlooking the battle. The Maus was rendered useless as it was disabled on soft ground, where it was then taken out by three shots from the Jagdtigers."
"And what about the Lion then? It was taken out last… you did nothing to help any of the other tanks." Shiho glared at her.
"I used Fritz's gun to its fullest potential at maximum range to take out the majority of the enemy Leopard 1A1's."
"Which because of that you mistook my tank as one of theirs!" Shiho snapped back at her. "Because of that we lost!"
Mrs. Akiyama stood there looking at Shiho "I told you it wasn't my shot back then… it wasn't. I would never purposely take out my own team!"
Ami let out a light cough causing them to look, noticing the other girls that had been selected to make up the new Olympic team standing there with Mr. Akiyama listening to the argument. "I think we can solve this problem…" She held up an old VHS video tape. "This is the recording of the final match…"
Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho. "You can watch it if you want… see for yourself. The shot that hit your tank wasn't intentionally fired at it from Fritz's gun… I watched it hundreds of times to make sure I wasn't wrong. That I hadn't shot my own friend's tank!"
"Fine then, play it, it won't change a thing." Shiho glared at her.
As the garage doors closed, an old VCR was hooked up to a projector and it was brought up on the doors for them all to watch.
The lights in the garage were turned off as the projector came alive. "Wow…" one of the young girls from Black Forest Peak gasped as they saw the introduction of the match.
"Sensha-Do Finals of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, Federal Republic of Germany VS Japan." The judges announced in English before being read again in French.
"Wait, why is Yukari there?" Saori blinked seeing the girl in the center of the commanders of the Japanese team.
Miho blinked as she looked over at Maho. "Mother looked a lot like you…"
"Captains, forward." The judges announced and the two heads of the teams stepped forward.
"Hey, she looks a lot like that one friend of yours Miho…" Maho pointed to the girl who was the West German captain.
Miho turned and blinked. "Wait…"
"I hope for a fair match…" The girl with auburn hair in a pair of thin twin tails smiled at the younger Mrs. Akiyama.
"I'm looking forward to it…" Mrs. Akiyama replied to the girl.
"She was older than us… she actually participated in the games three times prior… after these games she stopped, and she ended up marrying and had a son, I was actually invited to his wedding here in Japan…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at her.
"You should recognize her Maho… you met her at the Summer Sensha-Do festival, and defeated her eldest granddaughter." Shiho looked at her.
"She looks a lot like Emi…" Miho blinked.
"Its funny… you know her name Miho…" Mrs. Akiyama patted her on the head.
"No, that was the name of one of my childhood friends…" Miho looked at her "Emi Nakasuka, she returned to Germany with her family when we were still in elementary school…"
The rumble of engines caught their attention as they watched the tanks begin to move out towards their starting positions for the match.
Unlike other matches getting a top down view the screen split showing multiple points of the battle, as a flair burst high in the sky they watched the two teams begin the engagement. The German team was the first to make its move. A Kanonenjagdpanzer opened fire on the Tiger P, sending a 90mm shell into the rear of the long tank and instantly sparking an engine fire, disabling it.
"Poor Leopon…" Tsuchiya sighed. "So, that's why I had to rebuild the engine when we found it…"
A loud bang caused all of them to jump prior to realize that it had been a cannon going off that had struck the side of the Kanonenjagdpanzer, causing it to rock upwards onto one track before coming back down and knocked out of the fight.
"And that was Bob…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled.
"Bob?" Kay asked as the crowd cheered over the speakers, before the rumble of the tracks plodding along revealed what had knocked the Kanonenjagdpanzer out, the T95 Gun Motor Carriage's 105mm cannon as it slowly made its way for cover, in order to make itself harder to take out.
"Bob was an interesting machine… he really wasn't meant to take on other tanks but to take on heavy fortifications, so we decided to use its firepower to our advantage, as well as putting it in a place where it would be difficult for the other team to get it out into the open, where they could get around his armor."
"How much armor does it have?" Alisa asked as she looked over.
"It has 300mm of frontal armor, roughly a foot of steel, its sides are protected by a thin layer of armor but that is compensated for by the two tracks on either side, acting similar to how spaced armor does on other tanks. But if you get behind him…" Mrs. Akiyama pointed just as a Leopard 1A1 erupted out of the trees and got around the T95 without any problems, firing one shot into its engine and knocking it out.
"The engine had a lot of problems… it was really over exerted and would have mechanical problems... it's the same engine they used in the M4 Sherman." Shiho sighed as she looked at it. "Because of that, it had problems crossing difficult terrain, and we couldn't take it across any bridges because it would become dead weight."
"After it!" A girl's voice shouted as the two AMX 13 75s charged the Leopard 1A1 that had taken out the T95.
They watched as the two light tanks seemingly drifted around it as they fired, the first salvo struck the right track breaking it, while they circled wide around the front of the disabled T95 in opposite direction the Leopard locked onto one and fired, the shot narrowly missing the small vehicle prior to a loud bang erupted as the Leopard slid on the soft ground slightly and struck the rear of the T95, before its flag deployed.
"Good work, commence the attack!" The younger Shiho ordered from her spot in the hatch of the Leopard 1A1 of the Japanese team. The Maus began rolling forward slowly past the Leopard and joined in the advance towards a group of three opposing M48 Patton tanks.
The three Patton's coordinated their fire on the Maus, trying to destroy one of its tracks only to have shots ricochet off of the behemoth.
"Fire!" Shiho gave the order and all of the grouped tanks unleashed a barrage into the three M48 Pattons. Instantaneously all of their flags popped out of the small hatches on the Pattons.
The two AMX 13 75s charged out into the field towards two Leopard 1A1s that had attempted to come to the rescue of the M48s. As the two Leopard 1A1s fired at the smaller tanks, they avoided the shells using serpentine movements as they closed.
The Maus turned its turret and fired at the Leopard on its left. The shell slammed into the turret and Shiho smiled knowing they would soon finish the other. As the smoke cleared a little, a shot erupted in return from the Leopard splitting the cloud of smoke before it slammed into the Maus' upper track shield, getting lodged in the thick steel. The Leopards advanced on them quickly picking up speed.
"Commander Shiho, we're going to be overrun!" The Maus' commander yelled over the frequency.
"Don't panic, take out the left one, we'll take the right!" Shiho ordered in return as the her Leopard 1A1 opened fire as the AMX 50 Foch also opened up, both shots striking the Leopard on the right and knocked it out of the fight.
As they began advancing again towards the remaining Leopard a loud bang caught Shiho's attention as the Maus slowly came to a stop, she realized why as they passed it, the shell that had gotten lodged in its armor had broken the track.
"We're immobilized!" The commander's voice yelled.
"Don't worry we'll…" Shiho started prior to three bangs echoed across the valley and before three simultaneous shots struck the side of the Maus' turret as it began targeting the Leopard that was going to pass Shiho's own. Turning around she saw what had fired, on the hill overlooking the field, and from where the battle had started in, were the three West German Jagdtigers.
The AMX 50 Foch slowed and began elevating its gun towards the distant targets, firing once the shot struck the dirt about twenty feet ahead of the Jagdtigers.
"Focus on the Leop…" Shiho started before she realized the enemy team's Leopard had passed them and was now aiming at the Foch.
The turret turned to face the Foch as it turned before three more bangs erupted from behind her and then she saw the Foch knocked out.
"All remaining units fall back!" A voice came over the frequency.
"Are you crazy, that's the enemy flag tank!" Shiho yelled back as she realized which Leopard 1 it was that they were fighting.
The two AMX 13 75s turned with Shiho's Leopard as they now gave chase to the enemy flag tank. All three tanks opened fire at the same time, all three shots struck around the Leopard 1A1 from the West German team.
"Your tactics were your end Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama looked over at her.
"We had the enemy flag tank within range of taking it out." Shiho glared at her.
"But in the process of chasing it…" Mrs. Akiyama pointed to the movie again as a pair of shells struck one of the AMX 13 75s, sending it flying before crashing to the ground, breaking its suspension and knocking it out of the fight completely. "We lost more tanks than we could… the Lorraine attempted to come to the rescue, however as soon as it was spotted, the Jagdtigers took it out."
"And…" Shiho looked at her. "I get a shot on the Leopard 1 right… there." She pointed at the exact moment as her Leopard 1 fired, its shell slamming into the enemy flag tank's rear compartment.
"Yes, it damaged its transmission…" Mrs. Akiyama replied. "However…"
At that moment the West German flag tank turned its turret to face Shiho's tank and fired, putting a shot into the front plate of the tank as it picked up speed to close the distance even further.
"Shiho wait!" A voice yelled over the frequency.
"My tank doesn't matter as long as we win, if we break its tracks, it'll be a sitting duck!" Shiho yelled. "Ram it!"
The camera angle switched as the Lion climbed over the rise at the far end of the field and watched as Shiho's tank picked up speed to ram the enemy flag tank. "Get ready to support Shiho, take aim at the enemy flag tank!" The young Mrs. Akiyama ordered as the Lion's massive cannon adjusted its firing angle towards the West German flag tank.
The loud bang of Shiho's tank ramming the opposing flag tank echoed through the long valley like a tank's cannon going off, seemingly instantly the two tanks tracks broke as they slid to a halt.
"FIRE!" Mrs. Akiyama ordered and the Lion's massive 10.5 L/70 fired, its cannon sending a slight shockwave out with the shell as it left the barrel.
The shell tore through the West German flag tank's engine compartment and slammed into Shiho's tank.
"Did we…" Mrs. Akiyama looked as she grabbed some binoculars trying to see.
Three cracks came from the opposite side of the valley before she could see the shells struck the Lion and the pop of the small flag echoed behind her. "Ahh…" She righted herself from the front of the turret and looked down, three shells had slammed into the front of the Lion.
"End of match, victory, and first place goes to the Federal Republic of Germany!"
The camera angle switched to the West German flag tank which slowly pulled itself free from the disabled Leopard 1A1 that Shiho had commanded, before finally the tank stopped as smoke began billowing from the engine compartment.
Shiho looked at it. "You could have sent one of the other tanks…"
"None of them had the accuracy to hit a target at that range. We were just unlucky, if the shot had been a little further forward it would have been a direct hit on the engine and we would have won." Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.
"Wow…" Katyusha blinked "That battle was…"
The girls on the current Olympic team were shocked. "Ooarai dropped Sensha-do twenty years later in 1992… because after that, with our defeat began its continuous losing streak for the remaining years up until it was dropped, on top of running into the financial crisis of the early 1990's that truly dealt the final blow for it coming back until last year."
"What about the 1976 Olympics?" Anchovie asked.
"We didn't even place… the USSR, France and the United States were the ones that medaled that year, and in 1980 it was dropped because of most nations not having the financial ability to send teams overseas." Shiho sighed before looking over at Mrs. Akiyama. "I apologize Miho…"
Mrs. Akiyama smiled. "I think you wanted to… why else would you name your daughter using my old nickname…"
"Because naming her after myself would be weird, when Maho looks more like me… and she had that same blank expression you would give me from time to time." Shiho looked at Mrs. Akiyama.
"Is that why you were so hard on Miho?" Maho prodded, causing Miho to look at her a little shocked.
"No… because seeing how much alike she was to my old friend… I knew she would have potential to lead, if she stepped out of our shadow, and found her own way." Shiho looked at Maho. "We'll stop talking about family matters now." She gave Maho a cold gaze.
"Have you figured out who would command the current Olympic team?" Mrs. Akiyama asked.
"Uhh…" The girls collectively paused.
"Commander Maho should lead!" One of the girls from Black Forest Peak spoke up.
"No way! Darjeeling should lead us!" Orange shot out of her seat and pointed at her.
"Hold up, Kay should lead we have mostly American Tanks, and we have the most experience with them!" Alisa snapped as the shouting began to build.
"HOLD IT!" Ami yelled causing them all to stop. "We'll solve this in a civilized manner… with a six way match with two tanks per team."
"Alright then!" Anchovie smiled. "We'll take the Lorraine and the AMX 50 Foch!" She and Carpaccio hurried over towards the two French vehicles with no Italian made tanks available. "They can't be too different…"
Kay smiled at Alisa and Naomi, who were already sitting on the T95 as she leaned against the M103. "We're taking these two…"
"The Strumtiger!" Erika turned around and looked at Maho. "Quick before someone else…" She started to point at the Leopard.
"Take the Porsche Tiger…" Maho pointed to it. "We need something with a turret that can help support it, also think about how easily the Leopard 1 was taken out..."
"Nonna, quick before they change their minds!" Katyusha pulled her along as they ran over to the T-10 and a T-62.
"Without question we're taking the Conqueror and Centurion." Darjeeling smiled as she sipped her tea from her place on the Centurion's turret.
Miho turned around and looked at Yukari and the other girls. "We'll take the Leopard 1A1…" Miho looked at it.
"Miho… we need something with more room it has a crew of four…" Saori looked at her.
"I know that…" Miho nodded and looked at Yukari. "Yukari… can you become a commander again? Like you did in the match against Anzio?"
Yukari blinked. "But…" She stopped as her mother patted her shoulder.
"I know you can do it, and I need your support…" Miho smiled at her.
"I get to pick any tank to take for our second then, right?" Yukari looked at her and she nodded.
Yukari looked around at the various machines. "There are so many… but…" She turned around to face the towering VK 7201 Lion. "I think we have the best shot with this one…"
"Uhh… I think we haven't gotten the Lion running yet…" Tsuchiya grimaced and looked at the others from the automotive club.
"Oh, that doesn't surprise me… Fritz was always temperamental… that's why he got that name, because he had a lot of problems…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at it. "I remember when we finished building him… we wound up breaking the transmission pulling it out of the garage… then after that we wound up breaking both tracks trying to turn it on its axis and broke the crankshaft in the engine."
Yukari grimaced sensing that she'd gotten them the worst tank in the garage. "Is it really that problematic…?" She looked at her mother.
"Oh don't worry, Old Fritz is just a little touchy, with the right prodding he'll do what you want." Mrs. Akiyama smiled at her. "Why don't you see if he'll cooperate for you like he did for me…"
Tsuchiya gestured to the members of the automotive club. "We'll help, if he's that touchy then he'll be just like Leopon!"
Yukari climbed up the track and opened the driver's hatch before slipping inside. "Where is the…"
"It should be on the right side… I don't think it will, but…" Tsuchiya stuck her head inside the hatch.
Yukari blinked as she noticed a button. "Alright… come on… please work…" She closed her eyes and pushed it as she pushed the clutch in. The starter turned over as the whining groan of the engine turning over for the first time in nearly thirty years echoed through the garage as its new fluids finally freed it. The 1000 horsepower Maybach engine roared to life. The loud engine almost sounded like an actual lion's roar, causing several of the girls to jump back a little afraid of the massive machine.
Yukari vacated the seat as the others clambered into the tank, she opened the commander's hatch and carefully stuck her head out avoiding bumping it off of a block and tackle for a mechanical winch they used during maintenance to remove turrets. "Alright… wow this is high up…" Yukari looked around at the others.
Miho looked at Ami. "We're ready when you are."
"Alright, take up your positions, the battle begins on our signal." Ami smiled at them.
"Our?" Shiho looked over at her.
"It's why I asked you two to come here… I need more help to coach this team… and you both commanded the only Olympic team that medaled for our nation in Sensha-Do…" Ami looked at them.
Shiho looked at Mrs. Akiyama. "Looks like we don't have much choice in the matter, do we?"
"We have a chance to make up for our mistakes…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Ami "Alright then."
Xxxxxx
Well that's it for this chapter, next time we get a six way match between the commanders! Which team will win?
*Crash!*
"Darjeeling!" Orange knocked Ald out of the way and began to write the chapter.
"Kay!" Alisa shouted as she leapt over the couch and proceeded to tackle Orange away from the computer.
"Anchovie!" Carpaccio now lunged for the laptop only to have it grabbed by Nonna.
"Katyusha will win!" Nonna began running away with it.
"No way! Maho will win for Black Forest Peak!" Erika grinned as Nonna found the laptop being torn from her grasp by a helicopter's winch and pulled out the window.
"NO WAY, I'M NOT LETTING YOU BEAT MIHO!" Yukari jumped from the top of the Lion used Nonna's shoulders as a springboard and grabbed hold of the laptop before falling into a tree with it.
"Well at least they're into it…" Kay grimaced a little.
"Go Carpaccio don't let them get it, we'll rewrite the first three chapters and we'll make ourselves the leads!" Anchovie cheered her second in command on.
Miho looked at Maho who just shrugged.
"Go get it Nonna!" Katyusha cheered on Nonna as they continued to fight trying to get at the Laptop which Yukari still had while keeping them at by from up the tree.
"Where are you going Mr. Aldaeus?" Darjeeling asked as she noticed him sneaking out of the room.
To write the chapter in peace… where I don't have six people trying to kill me for the computer… that version is only a remote access one via my laptop… the real version is on my desktop. And unlike the mess they'll write… my editor would work out the mess they try to sneak in around the actual plot…
"Carpaccio there's another computer GET TO IT QUICK!" Anchovie screamed as she heard it.
Oh hell no! *Runs for the stairs to the computer room!*
"Huh?" Nekota blinked as she looked up from the desktop seeing Ald dive into the room.
"Sup Ald?" Momoga blinked from the barstool she was sitting on near the TV.
Ald slammed the door shut and locked it as he braced himself against it.
They're trying to get the computer.
"But I'm using it to play WoT… tell them to bother me later…" Nekota brushed him off.
"Yeah we're trying to figure out the strategy for the open league series tournament this Friday… so tell them to bother us later…" Piyotan nodded.
I need it to write, they stole my laptop! And don't tell me you're one of those runt teams we've been trouncing?
"Can it run WoT?" Nekota looked at him.
At minimum settings, but yeah…
"Good enough… you just write us in and you have your desktop… by the way… nice T110E5…" Nekota smiled.
Crap I forgot to log out!?
"Don't worry we didn't mess with your clan or anything… well not much anyway…" Momoga grinned "Though I do think we kinda ticked off a few guys from your clan they want your head on a silver platter in this match we're in… and they keep telling you to get on TS…"
No it just sounds like a normal day… prioritize clan members on the opposite team because the majority of the time…
*Crash!*
"GET IT!" Orange yelled as they broke in the door sending Ald flying.