Andou pow:
"This is the place?" I asked my group as we rolled into somewhat remote area made out of irregular placed dirt, ocassional barriers made of sandbags and size that remimided me of stereotypical arena.
"Yes, they even came first for some reason." Antonio added as I looked to the left and saw one Panzer II F and one Verdeja I, with few girls in school uniforms of Blue Divison High School sitting on top of them, most of them looking rather impatient. "Anyways, let's give them a casual trash-talk before we wreck them sensless." He added as he went out of the tank throu the open hachet on top.
"Well, well, well. Finally ready to give our money back?" One of the girls standing on top of Panzer II's turret asked, waving her pink purse in a oddly vain way. "I didn't risk my material behavior for nothing, right!?" She shoutef right afterwards while two other girls decided to hold her by the way ginger hair to prevent her from potentially attacking us.
"You're lucly El has high tolerance towards ones of her own..." Another girl, a 6 foot tall amazonian with short, rice-white hair added, coming from the Space between Blue Division's tanks with a student's book for economy classed. "But yeah, you guys should give us... If judging on my memory and calculations... one hundred thousand yen." She said after a while of thinking which led Alvara to paint a grimace of blant fury on her face.
"Only of you can beat us. We have these three tanks and you have your two." Antonio said with a smirk visible from my position, while a short series of pirate chants followed from our two other tanks. "It's first time we're using these so it balances the number diffrences, sounds appealing?" He asked the opponents while I looked throu the hachet and saw two officials of Tankathlon federation coming towards us.
"Sure, but we pay for the match and repairs suffered during it in a 50/50 model." White-haired girl responded, at which Antonio nodded with a doubtful face as they both took their attention at bureacratic measures.
"We got this, aren't we?" I asked Alvara with hesitant voice, still seeing her vengeful glare starring straight at the opposing team from her position.
"Yeah. We got this no matter what happens." Alvara responded with a sickly determined face, a one determined enough to make me feel uneasy about the whole thing.
"Oh boy, here we go then..." I thought as I heard a general sounds of agreement from the outside where officials of the place talked with our teams.
Maken pow:
"All right then! Let's remind myself what you brought for a battle." I said to myself as I liked against the side of my Panther and performed the last inspection of my team battle list before the battle. "Hmm... This is going to be... Like... Brazilian field one M-3 Stuart and two CTMS 1TB1, Puerto Rico fields two CTMS 1TB1, Honduras fields two CTMS 1TB1, Paraguay fields one M-3 Stuart and one CTMS 1BT1..." I read the list with growing resignation as I saw how much tanks were taken from the school's stockpile. "Cuba fields two T-34/85, Chile fields one M-3 Stuart, Peru fields one LTP, Colombia fields one M-3 Stuart... That's Seven CTMS 1BT1, four M-3 Stuarts, two T-34/85 and one LTP plus my Panther... Yep, we're doomed unless I go beyond my limits." I concluded the check-up with a growl as I moved my left hand over the back and felt a stinging pain almist everywhere I touched." Oh right, third degree burns still are here." I reminded myself as I looked forward and cross my hands on the back, making a short whine as I accidently touched my troublesome flesh wound above the tailbone.
"Caudillo! Are we ready to go?!" A rapsy girly voice that I assumed was from my team sounded across the room, nearly making me jump in place.
"Yeah! I'm going here now." I replied with faked smile to not keep her waiting as I moved towards the centre of my group's preparation space. A zone of the parking lot reserved for our team and our tanks specifically to maximize the quality of last minute preparation measures.
"The match begins in three hours people! Nina, are we all ready?" I asked the nearest person from the gathering, all of them looking more or less prepared for a match.
"It seems like it... Nothing we can't do after deployment is left undone." short and thin brown haired girl called Amazonas replied, ending her capoeira training on top of her M-3 Stuart turret.
"In that case let's get into the tanks and do whatever else you need. Match begins sooner than later." I directly commande to the whole group, recueving 'Yes, Caudillo!' in response and walking back to my Panther with my bcak still itching from the last physical contact.
"Okay Maken. One last time, afterwards you can move on." I told myself in mind as I crawled on top of the tank and went throu the hachet inside. The moment of reckoning was coming close, and with this moment, the power of Sudamericana would ride and blind other schools with it's light.
Andou pow:
"We begin in three... Two... One, NOW!" Antonio shouted throu his radio as our team moved forward and rushed into the battle. "Remember the plan, we're all going middle onto the plains to use our numbers and their weak armor." He added stortly after as our tank took the lead and other followed right after us.
"Now that I think about it, isn't putting a flag tank on the lead a bit of unnecessary risk?" I asked the rest of the crew, doubting our current tactic.
"Blue Division tankers tend to attempt frontal assault based on their optimism and in our case, need to win." Antonio said as I took a bit of look throu the aiming systems to check on the surroundings. "They will rush head on for the money they believe is theirs and get knocked out for this. Logic as simple as it gets."
"Makes sense to me." I responded shortly to cut the distraction from my duty while I took another look forward and saw an imitation of a grey metal in the far distance on a small hill in front of us. "I think I see one... But I'm not sure." I reported to the command as I looked further at the lone target.
"Let me check then." Antonio responded as he put his torso out of the tank and looked forward at reported target.
"And?" Alvara asked from her spot, also taking a short while to observe the lone object.
"Hmm... It's Panzer II" Antonio responded, taking his binoculars back from his face, went back inside the tank and took the radio to his hand. "Numbers two and three, go forward and try frontal attack at the Panzer II on the hill! We will try to encircle him from the left and search for their flag tank." He informed the other members of our team as he gave away the orders.
"They put their second tank as an obvious target. And their flag tank is somewher else..." I thought as I felt our tank making a delicate turn to the left. "... But they didn't charge? Hmm... That can only mean that..." I analyzed the situation before the realisation struck me as I rotated the turret to the left and loaded a single AP shell into the loading mechanism.
"Andou, what the hell!?" Alvara asked me with anger while Antonio only maked a concerned face.
"It's a trap!" I shouted in response as I took the look outside and saw a Verdeja I with a flag on top of it running straigh at us.
"What!?" Both Antonio and Alvara asked me as I took the shot on instinct, seeing a blast and then a strong hit as I realised that we were rammed.
"Whoa!" I shouted in suprise with slowed down realisation of what happened as we went into the spiral, sliding alongside the lower part of the hill.
"What the- aaaaaaaAAAAA!" Alvara screamed on her own for a while before we came down to stop on a rear-right side from Panzer II perspective, feeling partially concussed from the impact.
"How is it looking mechanically?" Antonio asked as he opened the hachet and looked outside to check where we actually were.
"Fully operational! The left side armor is moderetly damaged!" Alvara quickly responded, taking a quick look at the surroundings.
"Gun is working!" I added before I recieved a touch to the left shoulder and turned the turret on a instinct.
"Their flag tank is still standing and Panzer II is reversing!" Antonio shouted as I heard a noise of two engines getting closer and closer. Shortly after, I saw throu the aiming system a Verleja I without a fist-sized chunk of armor on it's turret left side.
"Incoming!" I shouted, this time loading an HE shell for higher chance of disorienting their crew with a shockwave.
"Fire at will! Full on forward!" Antonio shouted to is as Alvara took the steering and I took the aim at Verleja I.
"Got it!" Both of us shouted as I felt the tank moving away from the opponents and I took the shot at the opponent's flag tank.
"All units! Engage and help us!" Antonio shouted throu the radio to rest of our team while I fired a shot and ripped open a part of armor on the Verleja frontal left side, mostku thanks to explosion than actual penetration.
"Target damaged!" I reported as I took another AP shell to load it in.
"Panzer is coming!" Antonio shouted as he looked for a while outside, forcing us to stay on alert.
"Got it!" Alvara responded as she maked a sharp turn to the right at full speed, drifting around the opponentband allowing me to score a clear shot at their back.
"Pow!" I shouted in a imitating way, pressing the trigger and watching as Panzer II rear part lifted itself out of the ground and fall with a loud thud, white flag popping from the turret right afterwards.
"Nice one! Now to the flag tank!" Alvara shouted as she turned us to the left as we faced the situation where opposing Verleja I was rapidly turning left and right, ricocheting all shots our two other L-60 fired at her.
"Take the time girl. Our team is distracting them." Antonio added from the top as I felt two dirrfent arms on my shoulders while an APCR shell was loaded into the gun.
"Let's end this." Alvara added with supportive tone as I took the aim at the middle of the tank and fired the shot.
What followed was a sound of screeching metal and breaking steel as I saw a hole directly into the frontal part of Verleja I armor, the tank itself having his left tracks fall apart and the white flag popping out in a span of two seconds afterwards.
"We did it!" Antonio shouted with excitment as he hugged both me and Alvara in a cheerful manner.
"I mean... Of course we did it." Our driver added with happines prevealing over the general annoyance she had from being squished in other person arms.
"Yeah... What now?" I asked the group as our radio sounded with congratulations form our two other crews.
"Oh! Now we will get on good terms with them, we are still friends after all!" Antonio laughed with anticipation as we all laughed at his silly but fitting comment.
"I guess we own them as much." Alvara responded as she tokk her attention back to the driving as we went towards the defeated tank.
"Great match you all! This is a hell of a debiut for you guys!" White haired girl from Blue Division team said, sitting on the ground with tired face as our trio came outside to meet her.
"Thanks! But we both know the official one begins in two hours and a half." Antonio added as they went to eachother to make a hug, Alvara doing the same shortly afterwards.
"By the way, if you can't come with us then you can still check the match online. Some of ours are making a live transmission on behalf of our school." Alvara added as she also walked towards the defeated team and got into friendly chit-chat with extensive flattery.
" Sounds good for you. It really does." I thought as I watched the sight of friendly rivalry between the two groups. "But I still have to be given the other part of the deal..."
Narrator pow:
"Hey, wanna to take a shot and find something of good use?" A tall boy with light brown hair made into dreadlocks, near tan-like skin and shining green eyes asked, as he and the rest of the group of twelve came up to the 'Used Vehicles Depo', as claimed the wide, yellow letter at the top of the entreance gate.
"Heck yes! Let's go tehre fast and find something fast!" Rosehip yelped with excitment as she and most of the group rushed towards the gate.
"Ehh... She fits in too well. I need to file a compliance list to Maken about him not making more transfers..." Previously decribed boy sighed, before following the group.
"Oh come on Leon! Stop being so negative now would you? You still want to have your own tank and not use the school given ones, right?" One of the girls who satyed behind asked him, playing with her blond locks.
"Fine. But we pay after we know what is here at all." Leon responded, coming up to the compromise with slightly obnoxious girl.
Meanwhile the other ten people from Jamaican clan had a good start. After talking a but with people who run the place they got the green light to look around and see what can be taken for a reasonable price and modernised back to being useful.
"Have you find anything yet?" Rosehip asked, turning her head away from the pile of junk towards five brown coats that were her teammates that still searched close to her.
"Not yet! But we have something close to that regard." One of them responded, making a hand gesture for her to come closer.
"Show it to me!" Rosehip responded with pretensional tone, walking towards then in small jumps, almost as if she tried to imitate the deer.
"Well... Do you know what is this?" Other person from the group asked her while she took a better look at the somewhat syrange construction composed of not expectional chassis, round turret with open top and relatively thin gun of moderete lenght and high caliber.
"No idea. It's the first time I see this... Whatever this is." Rosehip said, crunching her face left and right as she looked over the frontal side of the tank. "I'm not sure if it even falls under classifications of Sensha-do federation." She added, making circles around the tank and looking a Little at every piece of the vehicle.
"I know what this is." Girl that stayed behind with Leon earile spoke up with rised hand as said duo joined the conversation with two other team members who joined them in a meantime.
"Then tell us Rebecca!" Rosehip nearly shouted at her, suffering a meltdown due to suspense atmosphere.
"That's Nimrod. Hungarian anti-air self propelled gun. Considered by some as THE first actual SPAAG ever made." Rebecca responded, pointing at the gun barrel. "However, this one has already installed a 105mm MAVAG 40/43M howitzer from the same country." She explained with calm expression of her aquamarine eyes, making almost whole group jump into despair.
"HOW BIG GUN?!" Leon and Rosehip shouted, shocked by the size of the armament on the new discovery.
"Yes. And behind him..." Rebecca added, taking look deeper into the seemingly abandoned part of the depo. "... Is a pair consisting of God's gift to earth A30 Challenger and Rosehip's soon-to-be new favourite: M18 Hellcat!" She proudly proclaimed, pointing at the two tanks storaged further away, partially covered by the darkness.
"Sounds good. But how do we look with money?" Leon asked her, goving her troubled face as he checked his bank account on his smartphone. "I mean, we were planning to buy two tanks, not three." He clarified himself right after, getting reasonably worried faces in response.
"Well... We have emergeny option left..." Rebecca said, talking out her own cellphone and begin writing the messeage to Maken. "But we'll have to return it as soon as he wants it..."
Maken pow:
"Leon, you noisy man. You owe me all senatorial votes after this." I talked to myself out loud as I ended both sending the funds to Jamaican clan and agreeing on the return from them as a means of fair trade. "Now however, I need to move the gear up." I added, putting my smartphone back into the pocket in my pants and moving my Pudel forward to meet with the Jaktosota and judges before the match. "All units, to friendly meet-up! Panamiams are already broadcasting this!" I shortly said throu the radio in demandful tone before hearing multiple engines roaring behind me with relatively stable loudness. A confirmation I needed to know that they went with me on their front as overall commander.
"First and last time, depending on the viewpoint... Adulthood, here I come!" I thought with unjustified optimism, creating an image of myself proudly standing in the middle of a cranage filled with burning and fallen on the side tanks.
It would be a perfect sight if not a fact that I was in this situation before... And on top of it, in a middle of partially razed village...