Chapter 2- A Meeting of Friends

Mica found himself up later than everyone else for once, he quickly made his breakfast and checked the time. " 12:00 PM, I'm going to be late to the meeting!" He yelled in his mind as he ate his bagel as quick as he could. He then got dressed in his casual clothes and rushed outside. He took his biked and took off to a nearby town . Unlike some tankery-able schools, Grand Peak was landlocked to a small mountain. The academy was poorly funded at their start due to the abundance of schools. Mica rode along a beaten dirt path to the town, which was rather small. The only place to eat there was the local Cafe which had no popular name with the people. Stopping to chain up his bike, he spotted his buddies sitting at a table. Mica opened the door and walked over to sit at the already cramped table.

"Mica! My friend! How are you doing." Aleksei said to Mica.

"Fine, fine, Aleksei...can't believe you went all the way from Russia to visit." Mica replied. He looked at each of his friends. Each one was the commander of the lead tankery teams in their school. Barret Kirkland, was the commander of Team Clarent, who used a Centurion Mk.1. Aleksei is commander of Team Fulcrum, they piloted a T-54, since the cut off date in Russia was extended, like France. Next was Cosette Renault, she was the commander of Team Papilion, with their AMX-13 which was provided via the extended cut off date. Marilyn Noel, commander of Team Mochi, which she liked to consume in large quantities, was in charge of her school's legendary T30, which was the only exception of a tank past the cut off date in America. Cramped in the back was Karl Walter, he was pretty much the smallest of the bunch, he was the commander for Team Schwarz and their Tiger II.

But Mica noticed someone was missing from their group.

"Guys...have you seen -" Mica was cut off by Barret.

"Sorry Mica, he lost his ticket and couldn't come with us." Barret sighed.

"Oh...okay..." Mica disappointingly mumbled. He looked up at the TV nearby to see the words Summer Panzer Cup. "Hey...are they televising the Cup this year?" He asked.

"Yeah, they going to do it via helicopter, first year they're doing that." Cosette told everyone with a smile.

"Well...it's going to be awhile before the actual cup itself isn't it? First day of summer is coming closer every second." Karl whispered out. He was quieter and more shy than most people at his age.

"Man...it seemed like it was only a month ago when we started in the preliminaries." Aleksei reminisced.

"That's because it was a month ago you moron..." Marilyn mocked Aleksei.

"Oi, don't talk to him like that!" Barret yelled at Marilyn.

"Both of you shut up, I want to watch the TV." Cosette shouted.

The man on the screen soon began to talk about the cup. "This year, only 16 teams, all chosen from the earlier preliminaries which ended just yesterday, will compete." The man started to list the schools. "This year...the schools competing in the Cup are...Assault Mauser Academy, Krupp Blitzkrieg Academy, St. Sheriff Special Academy, Grand Peak Tankery Academy, Chatillon Roses Collage, Vicker Royals Collage, Browning R&D University, Calvario Fiat High School, Shanghai Tiger High School, Blitz Tankovy Academy, and this year, we feature six more Japan based tankery schools, something never before seen, those schools are...Ooarai Girls' Academy, St. Gloriana Women's Academy, Anzio Academy, Pravda High School and Kuromorimine Women's' College." The man stopped to catch his breath.

"Well...we have six other schools from Japan coming this year..." Marilyn said.

"St. Gloriana...isn't that the British rip-off school here in Japan?" Barret jokingly laughed. He received an elbow in the stomach by Cosette.

"Honey...don't say that...they've been doing tankery long than Vickers has." Cosette said with that same creepy smile.

"You are really perfect for each other!" Aleksei joked. He soon got tea and coffee splashed in his face by the French and English couple. "It was only joke..." He sighed, walking elsewhere to dry himself.

"Hey...has anyone noticed Marilyn is missing?" Cosette asked.

"Nope, that's because she's in the bathroom, I gave her some chili earlier and she'll never live it down." Barret laughed. But his laughter was short lived before Cosette slapped him not, once, or twice, but four times.

"Barret Kirkland! That is very rude of you, if you will excuse me, I'll go check up on her." Cosette rushed off into the women's room.

"Owww….that hurt." Barret winced.

"Servers you right Barret, you know Marilyn has a…."interesting" stomach!" Aleksei scolded.

"I'll never hear the TV at this rate, so I'll just turn it off." Mica mumbled before turning off the TV.

"Well, who wants food? I'll be paying..you know...so order whatever you want...I have plenty of money." Aleksei shouted.

"Shhhhh! Quiet down, we're not the only ones here, you know. So at least have some manners and be quiet." Barret ordered Aleksei. At that point Cosette came out with Marilyn, who looked rather pale.

"She threw up, Barret! It stinks in there now, and it's all your fault!" Cosette yelled.

"Gosh, I didn't see this coming Marilyn, sorry about that."

"Not...your...fault...I..probably should've have eaten the chili in the first place, knowing myself." Marilyn sickly uttered.

"I'll take her back to the Inn guys, go on and have your fun, I'll be back later," Karl volunteered to escort her back. Cosette handed Marilyn off to Karl, who walked out the doors and back to the town Inn a few blocks away.

"Man, a lot of people are sick, Leo had to stay in Italy because he had the flu." Barret commented. Leo, whose last name couldn't be pronounced by anyone, was the lead commander of Team Macchi and a modified P40, ironic considering Macchi, was the model name for an aircraft series rather than tanks.

"Well, let's not have their sickness in vain! They would want us to eat and have fun." Aleksei philosophized. It took a while, but he convinced everyone to order something to eat. Karl came back ten minutes later, and found that everyone waited for him. Soon after, they were absolutely stuffed with food, the Cafe was known for making rather larger quantities of food, which discouraged people from ordering them. Before they knew it, it was 3:00 in the afternoon.

"Oh god my stomach, I'm going to throw up." Barret exclaimed.

"What's the problem? I feel fine, I can't eat anymore, but I feel fine." Aleksei calmly spoke.

"I don't know how you do it Aleksei." Mica complemented. "But you could probably eat an entire elephant you know."

"That's not the healthiest choice, but I think it's true. Although you would need some big guns to take one down." Cosette added.

"Anyways...we need to head back to the Inn...we'll catch you guys around some other time. But we have to head back in two days." Karl said. So they said their goodbyes, and hugged each other and exited the Cafe together. They parted their ways as Mica got on his bike and pedaled back to his school. He managed to have fun, that was all that mattered. He would soon return to working hard and hoping his hard work would pay off. The days soon breezed by, as the Summer Cup, got closer.

Me: Hey guys, again, sorry for the REALLY long wait. By now, you should probably know what happened. I felt bad that I kept you waiting so long, so I went into turbo typing mode. I really hope you guys will enjoy this chapter. Just so you know, the battles are quickly approaching. So keep an eye on this story. Also note, this is my first time including official characters in anything. So if I mess up, it's due to my lack of knowledge. See you for the next Chapter guys! -CeleryFox