Chapter One-In the watching Eyes...

As their tanks slugged up the hill they were to hold, Mica couldn't help but feel he was being watched. He gazed at the bushes around their group of four and quickly thought to himself.

"No, that's impossible, no tank could've made here before we did." He whispered to himself, thinking that the tanks of Gate Ridge were hidden among the foilage. He then said to Rin, their radio operater, "Hey, Rin, do you mind getting Ryan on the radio for me?"

"Umm...sure...I suppose I can do that" She replied back.

Meanwhile, in Team Yew's tank.

Ryan Allaway, the commander of Team Yew, silently gazed out of his tank, before saying. "Hey guys, it looks like the fog is clearing up, we'll have better visability pretty soon." to his fellow students crewing the tank.

"That's great Ryan, but I'm getting a transmission from Mica's team, want me to patch them in?" Cassey, their radio operater told Ryan.

"Of course Cassey, they are our flag tank after all you know, patch him in." He responded. "Wonder he needs to talk about."

"Got him on Ryan, he should hear you loud and clear." Cassey informed the others.

"Hey, Mica, what do you need?" He talked over the radio.

"Oh Ryan, listen, you know holding that town could be paramount to our success today, right?" Mica had lectured Ryan.

"Right, right, I know all about that Mica, I have you assured that everything will be under contro-" He couldn't even finished his sentence before his Gunner yelled out.

"Ryan, IS at the front!" Their gunner, Karl, yelled out.

'Ryan? Ryan? Can you hear me?" Mica asked him.

"No time to explain Mica, gotta go." Ryan sputtered out before ending the call and ripping off his communication set. Team Yew did managed to get to cover, but not before the IS put a shell each into Team Aegis and Team Zero, the two tanks in front of them.

"Team Zero here, we're out, bloody IS..." Kenneth, their commander cursed over the radio.

Marylin sat still for a moment before reporting over the radio," Team Aegis here, we're out too." Mica sat there frozen thinking, that he sent the three on a suicide mission. But he had to take charge and do something.

"Rin, get Claude and Kurtis on the radio, I need them now!" He ordered Rin.

"Roger that, I'm patching them in now." Rin said back.

"What do you need Mica?" Claude said over the radio chatter.

"Is this about the the IS? We're already turning to fire on it from our position." Kurtis told Mica. "Our 17 pounders should make quick work of the IS's side armor, and Ryan will be fine."

"Oh, I see you're already on it, just do it quickly, we've already lost 2 t-" Mica stopped a moment.

"Uhh... Mica? What's wr-"

"No time to explain, I have to go." Mica stopped the call and got out of his tank's hatch. "Hmm... something is wrong..." He looked around his surroundings before stopping at a bush." Wait a minute... is that...a gun barrel?" He actually saw a gun barrel of a SU-100, but their commander must've saw him eyeing their Tank Destroyer, because put a round right above their tank and retreated. "That round almost hit has, everyone into defensive positions." He ordered the other four tanks to be in a defesive positions, their guns covering every point of attack.

"Mica, over here!" Maya, the commander of Team Gemini shouted out, "85s coming up the hill" Maya told her crew to move the turret to face the direction of the path going up the hill. However, just as they finished that, a round came and hit smack center into Team Cross.

"Team Cross here, we've been taken out." Shirely said disappointly.

"Sniper! Get to cover, and will someone take out those 85s!?" Mica shouted at the others.

The three remaining tanks got to cover, as a bonus, they took out the 3 T-34-85s advancing on the hill while the two Type-17s took out the IS in town with accurate sniper fire. However, the same two were quickly found by the sharp eyes of the other school's tank destroyers and were quickly taken out.

"Team Hawk here, we've lost it." Claude calmly said over the radio.

"Aye, Team Falcon has bit the dust as well." Kurtis said in reply. Mica absolutly could not belueve it, they had lost another two teams. Half their original force were now eliminated. All due to one-shot wonders.

"Everyone, pull back and regroup in town, there we'll have time to reorganize our plans." Mica yelled in an ordering manner. In a few minutes the tanks had regrouped in the village, near the west edge. "Okay, there's only have of us remaining, all we have to do is take out their flag tank and we win, simple as that."

"But Mica," Colleen, the Commander for Team Gungnir, spoke up,"what is their flag tank in the first place anyways?" Mica had not even thought about that, they had to figure out that puzzle for they could commit to any strategy.

"Well, we know Gate Ridge loves to use heavy guns that are easy to conceal, with the except of their forward attack team." Maya pointed out.

"True point...so...a heavy hitter that can be concealed easily...wait..." Mica was trying to put the pieces the together."THE ISU-152!, it's so obvious, it uses a 152mm gun and is roughly just around the size of a KV-1, it's the perfect flag tank!

"Hey...guys...do you hear that?" Ryan said, getting rather nervous.

"Yeah, I hear it...sounds like...engines!" Mica yelled out as soon as three SU-122s burst from their positions. The group of five started to engage the three 122s, Ryan and his OF-Type 89 were too slow and were taken radio was filled with chatter, no one could hear eachother. Two SU-122s were taken out 10 minutes later, and the last one 5 minutes after that. But it was at the cost of Team Gungnir and Gemini, bring their total down to two tanks.

"Arthur...were the only tanks left...I can't believe it." Mica told Arthur, Commander of Team Flash.

"I agree...they still have three tanks left." Arthur said back. The two were alone in that small corner of town they held. "We need a plan Mica, and quick."

"I have one...it's rather risky though, are you sure you want to do it?" Mica asked Arthur.

"Anything is a good idea now." He said, nodding his head.

"Alright, here's the plan then."

10 minutes later...

"Well, when Mica said risky...I didn't think he meant dodging shells!" Arthur team had driven right into the heart of the enemy encampment. The two ISU-122s were firing like crazy, trying to hit the small Type-40 S. Meanwhile, Mica had set up on the hill, looking for a shot at the flag tank. He looked through his binoculars for a while, until he saw the short barrel of the ISU-152 fire at Arthur. It was a direct hit on the little 40 S, sending it flying back 10 feet.

Arthur yelled at Mica over the radio,"Mica, you got this! Get a shot on the ISU!" So Mica calmed down, looked through his binoculars.

"Okay Tsuki, are you tracking the 152?" He asked Tsuki, their gunner.

"Got em in my sight, they're not even moving." She reported.

"Good...fire for effect." He ordered Tsuki.

"Roger...and firing!" She yelled as she pressed the solenoid. The shell went flying through the air, gravity pushed it down, making the shell dive straight into center mass of the ISU's hull. From their position, Mica could see the white flag fly up, they had passed the preliminaries.

Later that night...

All of the tankery teams partied in the gym that night, however, Mica had left early to get a good night's rest. He layed there on his bed thinking. They had only passed the easy part, now they would have to wait a full month to attend the first match of the Summer Cup, on the first day of Summer.

(Note Below the Main Plot: Well, I hope you guys actually like this. I really need a break though, between doing this and other things, I am extremely tired! Anyways, I'll post Chapter 2 within one to two weeks. As always, see you until next time. -CeleryFox)