Maken pow:
"Allright everyone, we know the drill: This is an elimination battle, so everyone does whatever they please. Therefore I ned Neubaufahrzeug to stay close to others or at least hide in most obscure place possible Tog II signs out!" I said throu the radio, giving last words before the battle.
"Yes Sir!" The united shout of my schoolmates responded, granting me confidence in them.
Andou pow:
"So it begins! Let's go forward and assist the situation in the middle of battlefield." Ella suggested right after the sign to begin the match was given, as always keen to give her ideas into consideration.
"Sounds good to me, we won't be keeping with most of our allies anyways." I responded, agreeing to the proposition while Angela silently nodded and shifted gearbox to frontal move. "Anyways, I'll check others." I added, looking outside of my cuppola and looking for directions others decided to go.
"Hmm... Maken goes to the left flank just as with Jaktasota, Dutch Antilles tank seems to be staying here and everyone else just rushed in the right flank." I thought, observing the way allied forces have split. "Okay girls! We're going to the centre and defend it." I quickly ordered, spotting the place that seemed to me as our weakest point.
"Got it, We're getting there later than Bonple..." Angela responded, slightly turning to right and then back to the left in order to avoid terrain difficulties. "... But we won't be too late for it to matter. Trust me on this one." She added, making a 'V' sign with her fingers.
"Don't worry, I trust you as much as everyone else in this tank." I responded, giving others my comunicative glare as they mumbled in approval to not distract her too much.
Narrator pow:
"Hmm... Odd. Usually Bonple begins battle with their tanks going forward in a widely stretched line." Lily said, herself and Norman doing another broadcast on school's radio programm. "But this time they are moving in a loose chessboard pattern, aren't they?" She precised her thought before passing the question to Norman.
"Inded they do." He responded, taking a look at the screen himself. "Jajka propably decided that the fact of having the entire battlefield consisting of hills and tiny grasslands as unfavourable for their typical cavarly charge and opted for a more flexible tactic for sake of getting between thr hills without unnecessary attention from opposing tanks."
"A logical choice considering their underwhelming lineup." Lily nodded, looking at the main bulk of her school forces, riding across the dirt roads and hills like a swarm of wingless locusts with tracks attached to their legs. "But our folks will put up a good fight no matter what! You will all see."
"I do believe that, they have better tanks overall and no real pressure whatsoever." Norman added, smiling under his nose. "But the result remains to be seen..."
Narrator pow (Diffrent scene):
"Brute strenght, agility and a sharp mind. All equally important when giving a basics to the real warrior." A solemn voice from Adwa Academy truck was heard, reaching ears of Atlas Girls Colleauge overall commander called Rabat, an average sized girl gifted with astonishingly long brown hair and rich parents. Said girl was currently benefiting from the fact that small gathering consisting of her, Semla and Maya finished their discussion about the contect around the match and now were focused on watching the show.
"Please tell me Maya, is your commander always that... Elitariatic with her vocabulary?" Rabat asked girl to the left, feeling Semla's stare as she peeked from behind me.
"Yes, yes she does." Maya replied with afraid voice, looking behind herself for the moment. "She's heavly inspired by the way St. Gloriana's overall commander present herself and she seems to emulate her behavior in representatively modest manner." She added, before returning her eyes at the screen which focused one Sudamericana's Tog II pretending to be an SPG, seemingly firing into the air at moderate angle while moving forward without hesitation or care for ammo preservation.
"Not the first time Maken decided to play a sniper, and I'm sure he'll get something out of it." Semla commented with a chill on her spine, her opinion confirmed as the camera switched to present smoking TKS, his white flag stanging on top with full glance and hir right side almost pierced in half with the HE shell.
"A usual result when you fire a 17-pounder cannon against tankette." Rabat added, giving a brief look to her left and seeing Maya passionately taking notes about it. "And why we're at it... Semla, why are you so stressed at it?" She asked her fellow watcher, seeing her shaking in the seat.
"I... I'd rather not talk about it... I seen some things with him that... I don't want to talk about." Semla responded, nearly scowling as she stood up and took sweat from her forehead. "Anyways... Was fun being here with you guys, but I need to go back to my team. See ya!" She added with nervous tone as she left the place in jumps and run towards Strv/42 conviniently parked right a bit away from their observation post.
"She surely seems nervous." Rabat commented, looking back at the screen where Jajka's 10TP suddenly left the group and rushed to the right, roughly towards Maken's location.
"She must have some memory that affected her. Something... Very, very bad." Maya said, giving her opinion while Viggen's tank turned it's engine on and went away in a hurry, as if someone wanted to run away from danger with it.
"Perhabs. But this match will give us more details on this matter." Rabat responded with lowered tone, looking back at the screen where lighter formations of both teams were about to clash with eachother.
Andou pow:
"Hey Jola, how is it looking back there?" I asked via radio as I had just to much of a boredom.
"We're still behind you and are just as bored. I doubt anyone comes over there." Jola responded, a loud yawn following shortly after.
"I can tell, quite strange since we are almost at the middle of the map and others didn't said a thing about their engage-" I responded, but was cut short by obnoxious shouting.
"All units! Ten tanks engaged at sector K-17! Be aware of one missing 10TP, 9TP and a 7TP!" A loud, girly voice sounded in radio alongside fire barrage, implying that the actual fighting has began.
"Maken shot one TKS given our reports, this girl engaged all but three strongest tanks of Bonple..." I thought, piercing together all information I had. "I got it! They just want revenge!" I suddenly shouted, realising the fact that I had a great trap opportunity at hand. "Everyone! Three diverget tanks are going after Maken! Me and Jola will settle an ambush at their propable way to him!" I shouted as quickly as possible, vigorously shaking the radio cable much to Lily's disapproval.
"Thanks for telling! I'll prepare my own just in case." Maken responded first, letting me know of his positive approach to my opinion.
Rosehip pow:
"Whoa!" I shouted, ducking under the flying FT-17 of Guadeloupe clan who was sent it into the air by lucky double-shot from Bonple, both of our teams busy with hiding behind the hills and bombarding eachother with no aim or actual effort.
"We're down guys. Sorry all." A sorrow voice from defeated tank sounded, the vehicle itself sliding over the hill far away behind us befor ending on the road with white flag deployed.
"No problem, we can do it ourselves." responded decisively, taking my notes about our tanks and fuguring out armor values. And while M18 Hellcat had no chances of breaching the volley of fire, 102mm frontal armor of A30 Challenger had, which gave me an idea.
"Challenger! Go forward and have their shells bounce! Everyone else here go with me and flank them from the sides!" I shouted my suggestive - Accordingly to school Sensha-do policy. - orders before pulling back towards the road and throwing the FT-17 crew a bag of chips to cheer them up.
"Roger that commander!" Leon responded with natural drive before Challenger moved out of the cover and challenged Bonple's guns to penetrate him from roughly 200 meters of distance. With all of them obviously losing to him.
"Aye aye, Rosehip!" All other crews responded positively, following my example and going down the two conviniently placed roads to perform an imrpovised pincer manouver.
Narrator pow:
"Why so serious? You were supposed to be a man who stays up and fights!" Jajka asked with anger as she engaged in Maken's smack-talk on the radio.
"Back there I was saving civilians while you run and cried without even stopping go let them jump on your tank!" Maken responded, just as angry at her comments. "And being serious? How can I not be serious about giving an ASSHOLE like you a lesson?" He added, already raging in a style of old dictators mad at every failure they witnessed.
"Oh, did lack of loyality and lack of self-perservence instinct hurt your? I'm not even sorry for you." Jajka pressed on, scolding him about the right to flee in fear.
"Back then it did... But no more" Maken responded, now not angry, but dead serious. "You might be a Queen of Tankathlon, but I should call you a Queen of Botox and Egoism." He continued, making Jajka's face turn red in anger. "Also, you're ugly and you love your parents only when they give you this funny pocket money or something once in a month. Now rot in hellhole that is your life while I show you how much morally superior I always was." He ended his speech as he cut the radio contact and left everyone inside 10TP outside of Bonple's overall commander in state of utter shock over what happened to their former schoolmate.
"KURWA! He will pay so hard he's going to wish to be never born!" Jajka erupted in anger, shaking her tank just in time to have shells from Neubaufahrzeug and FCM 1A bounce off hyperasymetrical armor slope values. "Get these two losers out and proceed forward!" She shouted, her personal squadron quickly firing on her command at the two tanks, having them defenceless from cannons with caliber close to their armor values at close range and making them both pushed bakwards upon being hit and deploy white flags. In the end, leaving both Sudamericana tanks defeated as they went past them like a pack of wild horses.
Little did she know that the next in line was a monster of a man...
Maken pow:
"We're out in ashaming style. Sorry for that." Andou's voice went over the radiolinie, informing me and rest of the team about the situation.
"No need to be sorry, I don't demand you guys to win all the time." I responded cheerfully, doing my best to balance my emotions. "Winning is MY job in this place. And I'll be dammed if I losed to this one coward in particular." I thought, loading an He shell into the gun and accelerating to average tank speed before entering the great spot that I prepared for myself earlier. "And if the fight goes as smoothly as verbal provocations, Jajka won't realise the blindness of her rage before it's too late..."
Narrator pow:
"Everyone in position?" Rosehip asked, her squad place at both sides and the back of the nearby hills in hiding, waiting for order to attack distracted by Challenger's overwhelming gun tanks of Bonple who just allowed themselves to be trapped.
"Just attack them! I gottwo TKS and 7TPdw but they just keep hiding behind this hill!" Leon shouted, a loud clang and bang following shortly after.
"You heard him! Let's go!" Rosehip shouted at instinct, all of the tanks under her comman swarming outgunned and outnumbered Bonple tanks who were piling on top of eachother around the hill they defended for the last three minutes.
"Bap!" Ionie yelled lightly as their Hellcat rammed the nearest 7TP and threw him to the side like a rock kicked by the boot, proceeding to join in obliteration of Bonple's main forces.
Narrator pow (Diffrenf scene):
"Hey, hey, heeeeey! Look who came unannounced." Maken said, teasing Jajka and her squadron as he observed three Bonple tanks enter a half-rounded arena placed in excavated place that looked like abanoned open-pit mine.
"Says who? A coward who needs trickery and team sacrifices to win?" Jajka boasted, still raging on her radio.
"tsk, tsk, tsk. Not in that tone, barbie doll." Maken opposed, turning his turret from the only possible entreance that he just blocked behind his opponents. "Says a man who knows how to think. You're no diffrent from Chi-Ha-Tan before Oarai taught them how to plan in advance."
"Oh yeah?! What's the diffrence?" Jajka asked again, unaware of impending Doom she brought to herself as Tog II went into the right dirt road between lowered mine area and rest of the battlefield, blocking the only exit even in case he was destroyed.
"Chi-Ha-Tan at least respects opponents in higher weight class." Maken said with dreadful voice before firing his 17-pounder gun at the estimated direction of Bonple tanks, hitting the a heap of stones who fell on top of the 7TP, immobilizing it for good under the rubble.
"Dammit! Tricked again by this suicidal hero wannabe!?" Jajka yelled, forgetting that radio connection was still turned on.
"Not a wannabe, omlette." Maken said, loading an HE shell into his gun. "But a real one. You would know it if your ego didn't stood in between. Now get lost." He added, ending the call and firing again, but this time hitting the neat-vertical cliff at the end, sending rubble downward and forcing two remaining tanks to retreat backwards.
"Caudillo! All Bonple tanks in our sector are executed at the cost of one AMR 35 and two FT-17! Any suggestions?" Excited voice of Rosehip reached Maken, who had a tradition of always accepting radio calls mid-battle.
"Come and join me at the abandoned stone mine. I originally wanted to deal with Jajka myself but she doesn't deserve a fair fight to begin with." Maken responded calmly, but with enough hardness in voice to make himself clear.
"Roger that! All units come and join Caudillo!" Rosehip responded, calling all other tanks while her Hellcat was first to move and rush towards new goal.
Andou pow:
"What did we learn so far?" I asked my team, as we had took the seats on stands alongside crew of Dutch Antilles, having our tanks destroyed.
"Big guns are terrible at point blank range." Jola said, looking at the screen where 9TP and 10TP were terrorized by He shells and near-avalanche experience Maken was providing to them.
"I do wonder why such experienced Sensha-do student as Jajka could fall for that obvious trap. This isn't her style at all!" Ella added, getting very emotional over the situation.
"She was blinded by revenge. Perhaps some insecurity that materialised in her mind as Maken or just the hot-blooded nature of her took advantage." Angela said, taking her smartphone and looking over the news sites.
"Seems legitimate..." I thought, looking to the right as Maiko, Uszka and other Bonple crews were also leaving the battlefield in a state of utter defeat and embarresment. "So Maken's history with Bonple and Jajka has even more to it? I own you a lot for it Angela." I thought, standing up from my seat and walking away from the group towards group of girls who just were my opponents.
"Where are you going, commander?" Diana asked me, making me stop and stand still for a while.
"I'm going to socialize with Bonple team. I met you back later, propablh back on ship." I responded in hurry, leaving her with improvised excuse.
"Fair enough, but be before we leave you!" Nene added, shouting the last part since I was already a bit away from them.
"I will!" I responded, waving my hand to them before turning back towards my objevtive and going forward in fast stride.
Narrator pow:
"On guard!" Maken shouted throu the radio as his entire remaining team encircled Bonple's two (mostly) terrified crews in a death trap full of spreaded rubble, dust clouds and feeling of despair over cathastrophic scenery. "Load HE shells!" He added, giving the commands as he also loaded said type of ammunition.
"Shouldn't we give them a chance to give up?" Leon asked, unsure about the necessity of solving the fight by execution without alternative.
"Sure thing, we aren't animals after all." Maken responded positively, taking his radio and altering the frequency to connect towards Bonple tanks.
"Students of Bonple High School! I speak not as Caudillo od Sudamericana General High School, but as your old friend, teammate, buddy, pal..." Maken begin his improvised speech, being as much of emotional speaker as he could. "... But most importantly, as someone who doesn't want to harm you. You put up a good fight, propably even better than Jatkosota in our previous match. And let me tell you, I have no intention of damaging the bulk of your forces before 64th National Sensha-do Championship!" He continued, his speech given out to his enemies, confident that his school radio picked up the broadcast on this part thanks to currently made call to Panamian clan commentators back on the ship. "So here I ask you, brave warriors: Give up now and walk away in peace. You can do both of these things it in any way allowed or not prohibited by federal Sensha-do rules and with every respect and courtesy you demand within legal terms. I can even move away from the road and let you pass of you demand!" He stated his offer, trying his best to be merciful and generous friend he thought some of target audience was. "So please, ignore Jajka and embrace yourself, because Sensha-do is a marital art and not a business!" He ended the speech on a high note, eerie silence going over the radio as everyone was waiting for the result.
"Sudamericana General High School, here speaks Pierogi, commander of 9TP. We accept your humble offer and proceed with necessary actions." Cute voice from the radio reached Maken's ears, confirming his attempt successful as hatch of said tank opened up and their crew walked throu it outside before heading towards the Tog II.
"You know the drill, aim at 10TP." Maken said shortly throu the radio, himself going reverse with his Tog II to let capitulating girls walk away from muffles yells that wehe heard from inside of last remaining tank.
" - Screw you and you madness! We talk about this with school principal!" A tall, blonde girl shouted back inside, walking out of the tank and dragging the short ginger behind herself by the shoulders.
"That's right, this is madness! Especially to our old friend." Another girl with short blonde and athletic body type added, walking out of the tank last and leaving screeching Jajka inside.
"Rosehip, please offer the girls a ride in Hellcat, we're done here." Maken said throu the radio as he already went a considerable distance away from the entreance and beginned his rotation for deaprture.
"The winner is Sudamericana General High School by lack of sufficient manpower for Bonple High School! The match is ended!" The radio signal from judges sounded on the radioline, plunging one school in ecstasy, second in deep thought and one person in pure fury.
Andou pow:
"Hello there girls! Sorry for your loss." I said towards group of Bonple students, right after the messeage about the match result.
"Ehh, no problem. Your tanks and tactical awareness were just higher." Maiko responded, sighing a little afterwards.
"Might aswell put it this way, I heard Maken was very engaged in anything he took his attention to." I said, patting her on the shoulder in supportive manner.
"Can tell, can tell." Uszka added from the side, done with her talk to other girls. "When joining us he was given three diffrent competitions against Jajka. Won two and had a draw in third." She said, giving Maiko goosebumps.
"Challanges for letting boy enter a girl's competition? May I ask more?" I pressed on, finally finding a way to get more information.
"Eh... First he had to prove that boys can compete Sensha-do, which he won flawlessly, embarresing Jajka and school principal in the process." Maiko begin to tell the story, looking around as if someone unwanted could be listening to her. "Then came the test of actual skills in tank, where he proved to be the average for our club, excelling at driving, aiming and improvisation but fell short in tactical discipline and communication." She continued, recalling the second phase of the trials.
"Obviously he improved it over time but back then he always played as if he was a third party and always tried to be the MVP." Uszka added, her supposing cheerfulness for the first year unspottable over the seriousness of the topic.
"And then came the third trial, which was him fighting one on one against Jajka in 7TP's." Maiko said, frowning against the Sun as it came out of the clouds. "And he embarresed her completley, firing only two smoke shells and making her tank fall upside down after she was pushed downhill and rotated from the rocky hillside." She added, looking towards the ground with empty stare.
"He really was influencial to all of you, was he?" I asked her, my heart caught by the weight of their sadness.
"People don't value the good things until they lose them. And Maken was an amazing Sensha-do student: Eager to learn, willing to take the weight of responsibily, coming with gentleman approach never seen in Sensha-do for all it's history." Maiko counted, nearly weeping as she spoke.
"Jajka was the only person that never recognized his talent at least in some part, mostly because she view him as threat to her command and her reputation of Queen of Tankathlon." Uszka added, suprisingly mature even for her young age.
"He was this good? Then how he left and what caused it?" I asked them the real question, feeling like my stomach moved up to the throat.
"We... We... Please don't talk about it." Maiko said, taking Uszka under her arm and cuddling her like a baby. "This is subject too heavy for us to talk about. Better look for someone else to do it." She added to me, passing over the list with few names quickly written with pencil on it.
"Oh, sorry... Thanks for help then, I am also worriwd about Maken and how he eaisly switches his emotiond." I responded in hurry, taking the note and placing it deep into the pocket of my jacket before leaving then alone.
Narrator pow:
"Maiko, do you think we'll be fine?" Uszka asked, sobbing at the looming dread of facing pissed off Jajka.
"It will be all fine, I make sure of it whatever it takes, just as Maken would do." Maiko responded, hugging her tightly and earning attention from the rest of the team.
"How can we know that he wants it if we don't know ourselves? And Jajka will-" One of the girls asked in response, but was cut short by the finger placed against her mouth.
"Maken wanted us to modernize, use tanks we had within our cultural identity despite them not being Polish in the first place. He wanted us to not use backwards or modern tactics but to have our own style. Not Nishizumi Style, not Shimada Style, but Bonple style, because he would never take a full credit for it." Maiko responded, making girls around her nod to one another in a sign of agreement. "He might be now at Sudamericana, working with people who gave him the chance after being brought so low, but we cannot stay still in our mistakes. We must follow Chi-Ha-Tan advice. Maybe not modernise, but change the mentality and think twice before the move. Do you agree?" She asked at the end with fingers pointed at the gathering, the silent suspension falling over them afterwards.
"YES WE DO!" Whole group shouted in unision, their fists in air and faces full of newfound pride.
"Exacly." Maiko said, letting Uszka leave her grasp before standing up herself and facing her new support group. "We don't have time and don't have Maken, but we have ourselves and have the idea to follow. Now let's save our school and it's name!" She shouted again towards the group, earning the shouts of support for her new project.
A project to change Bonple High School forever...