Neptune Reacts to Tankery!
A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Weiss Reacts! Now, to finish off one more of the older plot threads we started a VERY long time ago, but before that, I MUST ask something .I must request that people stop asking for Monster Hunter, as I neither own it nor have the funds to buy it. Part of my policy is that I prefer not to do games without owning them- FNAF being a sole exception to that one rule.
With that in mind, however, let's get this out of the way!
DISCLAIMER: RWBY does not belong to me, otherwise Velvet would be a hand-to-hand combatant.
Girls und Panzer belongs to Studio Actas.
All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.
The Schnee Tea Parlor, Vale...
Neptune twiddled his fingers nervously, clutching a cup of tea in his hands. He looked around nervously, waiting for his business partner, of sorts.
'I can't believe it...I really can't believe it. I...I mean, I knew I was going to grab attention advertising Beacon's Sensha-do team on the net...
...but to grab the likes of Ms. Nishizumi...' Neptune breathed in heavily, trying to calm his nerves.
He had remembered the phone call he'd gotten a long time ago, back when he was busy watching their tanks be repaired in the hangar after that fateful interruption by Blake's Mecha Club in their inaugural meeting.
The boy's heart had skipped a beat when he heard that one of the modern legends of Tankery, Miho Nishizumi herself, wanted to speak to him about it. Neptune, of course, had never dreamed that he'd ever get to talk to her in person- after all, while he'd spent some of his childhood watching old matches- and, yes, crushing over her- he never thought that Beacon would ever let him have his wish, nor that he'd be talking to who was basically a living legend within the sport.
Then again, that was the benefit of having the likes of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie as Student Council. One could get away with anything short of actual crime, and even then people might be inclined to look the other way.
It took him months to finally get around to doing it, but he'd called her back and asked for a meeting. She'd agreed almost instantly, much to his surprise.
Now he was waiting around, about to talk to one of his childhood idols about the sport he'd fought tooth and nail to bring to Beacon.
And-
A woman's voice suddenly pierced the haze of Neptune's thoughts. "Excuse me?"
"Eh?" Neptune shook himself from his thoughts, looking up at the woman who'd interrupted him. "Yes-"
He stopped and almost gasped in surprise. The years had certainly been kind to Miho Nishizumi, very kind indeed.
She seemed taller- Neptune reckoned she was probably about chest height to him, but then again, he was pretty tall for someone of his age- and her reddish-brown hair was somewhat longer. She was wearing thin-rimmed glasses; perhaps her eyesight had gone slightly from years of trying to stare through clouds of smoke and shrapnel; and in place of the Oarai uniform Neptune had grown used to seeing her in, she was wearing a blue jacket and shirt, with a small brooch on her lapel, bearing a small stylized tank with three characters Neptune recognised anywhere- the characters standing for Tankery.
Miho smiled at Neptune, tilting her head slightly. "Are you Neptune Vasilias?"
"Y-yes, of course." He choked out nervously, reaching his hand up to shake hers. "Forgive me for being so rude. I-It's an honour to meet you, M-Ms. Nishizumi! I-I'm a huge fan!"
She chuckled at the compliment. "I'm glad to see that someone appreciative of the sport took the initiative to spread it throughout the world."
She took his hand, shaking it firmly, and sat down in front of him, taking out a folder labelled with the same logo as on her brooch.
"I suppose you would like to get to business quickly?"
Neptune nodded quickly. "Of course. I don't wish to keep you long..."
"Very well." Miho adjusted her collar slightly. "As I understand it, you are the captain of the Beacon Tankery Team?"
"Yes."
"You are aware that it is primarily a girl's sport?"
"I grew up watching it, m-ma'am."
"And...forgive me for asking, but how many people are on your team, and how many tanks are you in possession of?"
Neptune thought quickly, rubbing his chin.
Nora, Isara, Velvet, Pyrrha, Miltiades, Aspasia...that makes...six.'
"Six people, four tanks." The boy explained. Miho adjusted her glasses.
"Four?"
"We made some adjustments, m-ma'am."
Miho rubbed her chin, nodding slowly. "Understandable...alright. As I understand it, the Kingdom of Vale doesn't currently have a leading authority on the rules of Sensha-do.
However, as it would be nigh-impossible for the Japanese Sensha-do League to administer rulings to all of one school...Vasilias-san, I have an offer for you.
I am willing to provide you with two hundred thousand Lien."
Neptune's eyes almost bulged out in surprised. "T-two hundred thousand?!"
"This will go towards the starting and funding of Sensha-dou clubs in the rest of the continent, in order to promote the sport." Miho explained. "This will allow the Kingdoms to form their own League to administer rulings- of which we'll be able to help out in establishing.
As we are a growing sport, we always appreciate new start-ups. I...of course...have to ask you a favour."
"Which is?"
"Beacon's team must play a friendly match against Oarai Girls' School." Miho smiled. "Purely for publicity."
"A-against...you?!" Neptune's eyes widened in shock as he nearly dropped his teacup.
'A-alright, Nora and Velvet are pretty good, for amateurs, and I know Isara's a pro at this stuff, but there's no way we'll beat freaking Miho Nishizumi at-'
The woman chuckled. "No, of course not. You'll go against the new team. I will be supervising the match.
Sadly, my...days of Tankery in the field are long behind me." She sighed sadly. "Most of my old friends are either acting as instructors or following their dreams, just as I am.
However, you will have to submit to the Japanese Sensha-do League rules."
Neptune sighed in relief- partially from not having to engage a legend of the sport in a heated battle, and partially from her requests being over. "Alright. That sounds fair enough.
So, when will this publicity match be?"
Later, in the Beacon Hangar...
"One week?!" Isara, the club's mechanic, practically exploded at Neptune, who was taken aback by her outburst. She was normally more mellow and quiet, even when dealing with the likes of Nora.
"I...uh...thought it might be-"
"Neptune, do you know how hard it is to prep a tank for battle?" The mechanic inquired. "It takes several hours, per tank. I have to run checks on all the systems, the hydraulics, the magazine, the engine, just before battle. I have to run maintenance on all our tanks to get them battle ready within the week, and I don't think I have time..."
Neptune looked worried as Isara shifted her shawl awkwardly, frowning. "U-uh, I can get them to reschedule!"
"Dude, even if you did that, we still need more tanks." Sun pointed out. "We have, what, the Panzer and the Tiger."
"What about the Edelweiss?" Isara inquired hopefully. "That's a tank, right?"
"Has to be made pre-1945." Sun shrugged. "Sensha-do League rules."
Isara's spirits sank. "...s-so you mean...we can't use the Edelweiss?"
Neptune frowned, rubbing the back of his head slowly. "...sorry...that was Ms. Nishizumi's condition for setting up the match."
The mechanic sighed, shaking her head. "...I-I see."
She hung her head in disappointment, clearly set on showing off her work. "I-it's just that...I could take off the upgrades and retrofit it to be...sorry. I was just...really looking forward to showing it off.
It's just that the Edelweiss is my life's work..."
"Maybe another time." Sun rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
Nora, who had been silent until then and crossing her arms, pouted. "You mean we can't use our awesome blowy-up stuff on them?!"
"I'm sorry. They asked us to remove the Spiral Enhancements from the tanks." Neptune rubbed the back of his heads. "They said it wouldn't be fair at all.
The only concession I managed to get out of Miho was that guys could pilot the tanks, but even with that-"
"We have enough for two tanks each." Sun sighed. "Three to one tank, the Panzer and the Tiger. We can't use the Heavy Tank and the Edelweiss...
If we're going up against Oarai, we're going to need at least two more tanks. And people to crew them."
Nora looked up, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "If they let us recruit guys, then I can grab Renny~"
"We'll need replacements for Miltiades and Aspasia, as they dropped out." Sun nodded slowly. "I suppose we could grab Jaune and Winter if that's the case."
Neptune nodded, counting the group's numbers on his fingers. "Alright. Ren, Jaune and Winter makes one extra tank-"
"Why don't they let boys pilot tanks again?" Isara interjected, rubbing her chin. Nora shrugged.
"Probably because all the weirdos keep writing crappy self-insert fanfics about it. I never really understood why..."
"We're also going to have to ditch Isara's shells." Neptune explained. "League-mandated shells only."
The mechanic sighed, looking down. "The pride of my work and I can't use either..."
"We still need to get one more crew." Sun pointed out. "Who are we going to recruit?"
Neptune's expression darkened. He knew that he had to recruit three more people, and he knew one of them wouldn't like it.
"...I have a couple of ideas. Isara, you're not going to like this."
She stared at him.
"Y-you're not seriously going to recruit...her...for this, are you? Look what she did to our tanks!"
"Desperate times, Gunther. Desperate times."
Sun rubbed his temples. "You know, Neptune, this wouldn't have happened if you gave us more than a week to get ready for this thing."
"Hey, I was a bit busy being starstruck!"
"Starstruck or checking her out? You did have the biggest crush on her back in the day." The monkey Faunus pointed out.
"It was a little crush! And I got over that! Besides, she's twice my age! No way.
Now, if you excuse me...I've got to go talk to some people.
Blake is going to kill me."
Later, in RWBY dorm...
"No." Blake shook her head, vehement. "Absolutely not. I may have conceded that my pointless pursuit of trying to beat a bunch of innocent girls in a band standoff was childish and unmanly. I may have conceded that I am in fact somewhat annoying to the fans.
But I will in no way help you guys with your stupid tanks!"
Neptune frowned. "Come on, Blake! It'll be fun! And besides, we got Norn and Minako to do it."
"No! I am NOT going to jump into what's basically a glorified cannon on treads! My whole moral compass is against this!" The catgirl snapped irritably. "You're going to have to find some OTHER person to sucker into it!"
Neptune leaned by the door frame, sighing.
"You leave me no choice, Blake. I invoke the contract."
The catgirl's cat ears perked up, and her eyes narrowed.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Blake, and I need an extra man to get into a tank. I'm calling in the contract clause.
I'll see you tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock. Don't be late. We're initiating training."
He walked off, leaving Blake in shock.
"T-that devious little..." She clenched her fist, irritated. "Damn it. I shouldn't ever have signed that blasted thing..."
"Huh?" Yang looked up at her, confused. "What's going on, kitten? What's this contract? Did you two do something behind my back?"
"No." Blake muttered. "Neptune promised that he'd help me with grabbing the latest Ninjas of Love volumes from the bookstore every time they came out in exchange for one favour.
He called in that favour for this..." The catgirl shook her head, horrified. "I can't believe I'm doing this...
I can't believe I have to help those blasted mecha-traitors..."
Yang stuck her tongue out mischievously. "Looks tough for you, Blakey~
Good luck. I'll be rooting for you!"
"Shut up, Yang." Blake retorted bitterly, looking away.
"Stupid unmanly Neptune..."
...
Meanwhile, back in the Hangar...
Neptune walked in, patting his sleeves to clean off the dust. He looked over at Sun, who was sitting on a tank that looked unfamiliar to him. In contrast to the Panzer and Tiger, it was far less bulky, with a green paint-job and a longer, narrower barrel.
"Hey. Where'd you nab that tank?" The boy inquired curiously. Sun laughed.
"Funny story. This Sherman? Apparently Professor Faust had one of these." The monkey Faunus explained. "I just went around, asking if anyone knew where we could buy a bunch of cheap tanks and she just up and lent us two."
"Where's the other one?" Neptune tilted his head. Sun pointed his thumb towards the other one, laughing even more.
Neptune's eyes followed his thumb, and his eyes widened.
It was a Maus, the biggest tank ever produced, if never in mass quantities due to its impractical nature. It sat in the garage, dwarfing all the other tanks they had, even the Edelweiss, in its khaki-and-green glory, with the Beacon insignia being hastily painted onto the side.
One-hundred eighty-eight tons, ten meters long and three meters wide, with a thirteen-inch PaK cannon as the main armament, protected by armour plates two hundred millimetres thick on the front, back and sides, and all powered by a twelve-hundred horsepower diesel engine.
And Professor Faust had held on to one of these things.
"...did you guys find out how she got one of these?" Neptune approached it slowly, running his hand softly over the tank's hull, feeling the smooth, cold plates with a sense of awe.
"Apparently, she won it in a card game." Sun responded, shrugging. "Although what kind of a moron would be wagering something like this...
I mean, there was only two of these prototypes ever made, and a third made for Kuromorimine Girls' over in Japan, so how whoever gave it to Faust got one..."
Isara popped her head out of the tank. Her face was a veritable spring of joy, despite being caked on grease and oil.
"And it's in almost pristine condition!" The mechanic cried in surprise, wiping her forehead with a rag. "I mean, the systems, the gauges, the engine- all of it looks perfect!
Are you sure this isn't somehow storebought? I mean, I know it's impossible, but look at it!"
Neptune shuddered.
"If those tanks used to be Faust's, I think we need to get an exorcist or something. Dust knows what she did to those things..."
Nora stared at the Maus, before turning to Neptune, a pleading look on her face.
"Pleaaaaase let me have the big one!" The berserker pleaded. "PLEASE!"
"You're already assigned to the Tiger-"
"Please! The big one is more awesome! I deserve it! I'm the queen of the castle!" Nora cried, puffing out her cheeks and pouting to make herself look cuter.
Neptune chuckled.
"Alright, alright. Fine. You can be the commander of this tank."
She pumped her fist triumphantly. "Yesssss..."
Sun raised his finger. "Wait, Neptune. Which one am I taking?"
"I'll go with you and Isara to take the Panzer IV. Blake, Norn and Minako will take the Tiger, Nora, Ren and Velvet will grab the Maus, which leaves Jaune, Winter and Pyrrha with the Sherman."
"Ah." Sun nodded slowly. "I don't think we should let Winter and Pyrrha share a tank with Jaune."
"Why's that?"
"Jaune's Semblance."
"Oh." The blue-haired boy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah. I never thought about that.
Fine. Pyrrha will go with you and Isara, I'll head with the Sherman.
Right, guys, let's wrap this up. Tomorrow, we're wheeling out to the Forest of Forever Fall to start our training exercises!"
Early the next morning, in the Forest of Forever Fall...
Blake sleepily blundered into the prescribed training area, looking around irritably at the tanks gathered in the clearing. She looked around for Neptune, who had pressganged her into this whole scenario.
The blue-haired boy was sitting upon the Sherman, speaking to Sun, who was looking into the treads of his own tank opposite. He looked as normal, only with a pair of earmuffs on his head and a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck on a thick black string. The boy looked over to Blake, waving at her.
"Morning, sunshine!" Neptune called cheerily. Blake glared at him angrily.
"Don't you start."
"My, my." Winter frowned as she climbed into her tank. In lieu of her normal dress or kimono, she wore instead a pair of tight jodhpurs and a white, fur-lined coat, prepared for the cold. "Miss Belladonna, perhaps you did not get enough sleep last night?"
"No. Not that." The catgirl hissed. "Just a little dispute. No issues here."
Neptune shot her a look, as if to apologise, before looking over at the others gathering into their tanks.
"Attention, everyone! Welcome to the...err, second meeting of the Beacon Tankery Team!" The blue-haired boy announced.
"Effective today, we're training for the first ever battle our team has had with another school."
Winter raised an eyebrow. "Another school? Mister Vasilias, do you mean to say that myself and Jaune are to be put into battle within a week of training?"
"It's just a friendly match with Oarai Girls'. No big deal." Neptune laughed. "Although Isara and Sun nearly had my head for it..."
Blake grumbled. "Alright...and are we going to get this over with?
I've got a whole lot of other things to do today, and I'd rather get this training out of the way now."
Neptune sighed. He looked over his group.
'Isara's obviously our best chance. Blake, too, given those two do this kinda thing all the time...Nora, Pyrrha and Velvet are pretty good at it, given they're rookies.
But the others...they'll have to learn fast.
I think they'll manage it.'
"Alright!" Neptune called out. "Everyone get into your tanks. Blake, you're taking the Tiger."
"Over here, Mistress Belladonna." Norn announced, still clad in her maid attire. Her face was still as emotionless as always as she gestured to the catgirl to join her.
"I swear to Dust, the next Ninjas of Love novels must be worth betraying my beloved mecha..." Blake grumbled, before swallowing her pride and climbing into her tank.
...
It was pretty cramped inside there, obviously, with barely enough room for the three with them, even with Norn and Blake being relatively thin. Along the front was the driver's seat, the radio, various gauges and such.
Minako turned to them, waving.
"Gooood morning, ladies! You'll be driving with me toda-"
"Save it, Arisato. I'm not in the mood." Blake snapped irritably as she settled into the tank commander's seat, shifting to let Norn into the gunner's position. "Just turn around and get piloting."
"Alright!" The girl turned around. "Sheesh, you woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning..."
The radio suddenly burst into life.
"Alright, attention everyone!" Neptune called out over the radio. "We'll be doing a little test fight this morning. Myself and Jaune will take one side, and Blake and Nora will take the other. The first side to take out the two others will win.
Everyone, get into position. Good luck, and panzer vor!"
"Yippee-ki-yay, Neptune." Blake remarked as she leaned back in her seat. "Yippee-ki-freaking-yay."
To be continued...
A/N: Next chapter, the climactic battle itself! How will Blake cope? How will everyone cope?
So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, comments, suggestions, criticisms, thoughts and reviews, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!