Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or World of Tanks

Beacon Academy was, for all its differences from civilian schooling and even lower-level combat schools, still a school at heart, and a school in the kingdom of Vale to boot. As such, it, like all schools within Vale, typically started just before the end of summer, the last few wisps of the heat coming as refreshing breezes. This was due doubly to being in Vale, in fact; not only did the schedule align, but Vale's temperate climate afforded it greater comfort in general. The site, too, had an advantage which finally moves away from temperature; namely, it was a scenic place that was obscenely well-preserved in its natural beauty, connected to the sprawling city of Vale by zoning boundaries only- in reality, there were some hundreds of miles between any of the campus' buildings and any of the concrete trees which made up Vale's urban jungle. In short, it was a paradise, provided one could tolerate all the teenagers roaming about. Oh, and the trip through a monster infested forest- that's probably what kept most people, but that's also neither here nor there.

To refocus on the events of that first weekend, Ruby had prepared a picnic for her team, and that picnic was no less a miraculous coming together of everything that could be good in the world than the climate. Where she'd gotten a blanket- much less such a comfy one- was anyone's guess, as was how she'd managed to obtain more than the meals the school gave students each day, how she'd preserved the food until the time came, and a million and one other questions of logistics. Ultimately, though, it didn't much matter; the picnic was there and prepared as a celebratory gesture by Ruby herself. Indeed, the mystery, if any of the girls had bothered to think about it, only added to how pleasant it was, and it was already the very picture of a nice meal to enjoy on a summer afternoon. Or, morning, really; but summer, being how it was, made it seem like it was already afternoon due to how early the air got to the temperature that it would stay in equilibrium at for the rest of the day.

...and yet, sitting on the luscious, beautiful green grass underneath the gently warm sun, a small picnic made with love and care by her own little sister splayed out before her, and even isolated from most of the trouble making teenagers and monsters mentioned previously, Yang Xiao-Long still couldn't help but wish she were in the nightmarish maze of streets and strangers that called itself the 'city' of Vale. With a sigh, she glanced around, then asked, "So, why'd you make us all come here?"

"Well, we're all a team," Ruby said, "So, I figured we could celebrate, uh, a first week anniversary."

"Right," Yang said, now having given up even trying to seem enthused. Weiss noted, "I suppose it is an accomplishment for us to not have had a serious dispute."

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, "Plus, it's an excuse to eat strawberries."

And on queue, out from her backpack came a container of strawberries. As Ruby opened it, Blake reached over to grab one, only for her hand to be quickly smacked away. Yang noted, "No serious disputes yet."

"Phair my phawberres," Ruby mumbled, already having stuffed on in her mouth and started chewing. Weiss chided, "Were you raised in a barn?"

"I mean, we spent a lot of time there," Yang joked, and Blake asked, "May I have one?"

Ruby chewed a bit, swallowed, then shook her head, "They're my strawberries."

"This is our picnic," Blake retorted, and Yang explained, "Yeah, but they're her strawberries."

"They're my strawberries," Ruby agreed, grabbing another one out. Weiss sighed, then asked, "Did you think to bring any cutlery? Plates, even?"

Ruby shook her head, and Yang pointed out, "Uh, it's a picnic."

"That's no reason to turn to manhandling your food," Weiss retorted, "If you'll excuse me, I'll go get some utensils."

Ruby shrugged again, and the heiress stood, brushed nothing off her dress- but still brushed anyway- and left. Blake pointed out, "You know she's not coming back, right?"

"Whaph?" Ruby blurted, face once again stuffed with strawberry. Blake nodded, "That was her excuse to leave."

Ruby hesitated, then shot up, yelling, "Pheiph! Phait!"

Blake glanced at her leader as she ran off, then grabbed one of the precious strawberries, and Yang sighed, "Now I can't try that..."

Blake shrugged, then noted, "You could go now."

"Yeah, but..." Yang said, before sighing, then finishing, "I feel like with the tanks and JNPR and all of us doing our own thing, we kinda don't let Rubes be a leader."

As if on queue, the sound of a rumbling engine came to the blonde's ears. She ignored it, though, and Blake retorted, "She leads exercising."

At that, Yang shrugged, then realized that the rumbling was getting louder. A lot louder, in fact. With a sigh, she stood up, then yelled, "Hey! HEY!"

She waved her arms, staring at the tank approaching- the boxier, grey one. After a moment, someone popped out of the top of it, and shouted, "Wir jagen die Engländer! Aus dem Weg!"

"Don't you dare try and run us over again!" Yang yelled, and the man shouted, "Du wurdest gewarnt! Die Macht des Reiches ist eine Kraft, die für keinen Menschen aufzuhalten ist! Geschweige denn eine Frau!"

As the 'conversation' (if shouting at each other in languages that the other didn't understand could be counted as such) carried on, the tank came ever closer and closer. Finally, Yang warned, "Jump!"

Quickly, Yang rolled out of the way, and the tank went speeding by faster than it really should have been able to go. As she stood up, Yang shouted, "This is the last time!"

"Those guys are different," Blake pointed out, and Yang shot, "Last time!"

Blake rolled her eyes as the blonde ran off, and debated running after her. For only a moment, though, before Ruby cried, "MY STRAWBERRIES!"

With that, the girl whooshed away, and Blake firmly decided against bothering to help Yang, hoping to let the sisters actually do something together for once.

-Elsewhere

"Why can't we get a damn move on?" Emma complained as the Cruiser IV meandered slowly along Beacon's concrete footpaths, shadowed by the shadow of the cafeteria, "At this rate, the weekend'll be over before we get to the forest."

"We're driving through a school," Gladys reminded, and Ribbans pointed out, "Have to be fast if we want to beat the Hun."

"We'll beat them, just you..." Gladys assured, trailing off as she observed perhaps the most remarkable coincidence of her life. That coincidence being her suddenly seeing the Germans in their Panzer III, properly tearing through the countryside off to their left, leaving a too-obvious set of track marks through the once-pristine grass, just as the conversation had been turning to the subject of their whereabouts. She was only stunned for an instant, though, before she swiveled her periscope about, desperately looking for an inlet to turn down before her tank was shot at, yelling, "Ribbans! Jerries at ten o'clock!"

Ribbans laughed, and Emma yelled, "Round up!"

Boom!

"Driver, sharp right!" Gladys yelled, seeing a gap between they building they were driving past and the next building. Swiftly, the hull turned, and Gladys grabbed onto her periscope while Ribbans started turning the turret in the other direction. Emma, somehow unaffected, yelled, "Up!"

The hull finally stopped turning, and the turret did a moment after. Quickly, Gladys opened her hatch, hitting the thing more than anything as she scrambled out, leaned over to the side-

Boom!

-and splattered the contents of her very upset stomach onto the pathway they'd turned down. For a moment, she hung there, wearily waiting for the world to stop spinning... then noticed that it had gone still. Promptly, she ducked back into the turret, picking up the intercom and commanding, "Carney, full ahead."

The tank lurched into motion once more-

Boom!

-just as the Germans finally decided to fire off a shot. Gladys turned herself to face turret-forward, grabbing her still-rebelling stomach as she did, while Emma yelled, "Up!"

Boom!

That Gladys had not closed her hatch reared its head then, as the mostly-full volume of the gun firing filled the turret. She ignored that, though, instead looking at the German tank and seeing that it was undamaged, and approaching rapidly.

Boom!

It fired again, and the Cruiser lurched forward with the impact of a thirty-seven millimeter round smacking squarely into the tank's rear, spearing through various bits of engine. Realizing that she had no chance in a running fight against a crew far more experienced in that sort of thing, Gladys commanded, "Driver halt!"

The tank, for once, didn't lurch as it stopped- or, if it did, it wasn't as noticeable due to the already-happening lurching. Emma called, "Up!"

Boom!

Another forty-millimeter round sailed through the air and landed neatly to the hull-gun's left, near enough to have probably killed the driver. Gladys directed, "Good shot, hit their turret-left."

Boom!

The Panzer fired, and the droning of the Cruiser's engine suddenly changed to a more sputtering, dying noise. Behind the Panzer, a red ball started coming in close, but Gladys didn't have a chance to say anything about this before Emma yelled, "Up!"

Boom!

Another round hit the Panzer, this time squarely through the turret ring. Finally, the red blur became Ruby again, who swung a scythe in a wide arc at the Panzer's turret- which only resulted in her being comically swung around for a moment, before the blade caught on the fresh hole, bent too far, and clattered out of the turret neck, now hooking between the hull and the track. Throughout all this, the Panzer hadn't stopped, and Gladys turned out to yell, "Ruby! Get-"

Boom!

She was cut off by the Panzer firing, and abruptly her right leg disappeared, sending her slamming against the ring of her cupola before sliding back down into the turret. And then, she was jostled out of her seat with a horrific metallic screeching, as the two tanks collided. Emma yelled, and dropped a two-pound round merely inches from where Gladys' head had ended up. Quickly, Emma grabbed a new round and slammed it in, then bent across and pulled the trigger.

Du-du-du-du-dun!

Only for it to actually be the machine gun trigger she'd pulled. This, fortunately, gave Gladys a chance to stop the loader, reminding, "Aim!"

Boom!

Given how little time there was between the first and second attempt at firing, Gladys couldn't be certain that there was any attempt to heed this advice. What she was certain of, though, was that she was in great pain, as the breech ejected the spent round directly onto her, causing her to scream from the combination of two whole pounds slamming down on her back and the stupidly hot temperature of the round. Quickly, the weight subsided, but the burning only partially stopped by the time Emma remarked, "You survived that?"

"Yes," Gladys croaked in between short, shallow breaths, "A-Ask Carney... if he's..."

She trailed off, and Emma picked up the intercom and said, "Carney, get out."

She then dropped the device, heading over to her own station while Gladys commanded, "Go for Ribbans first."

"Was going to," Emma shot. Gladys half-nodded, in as much as a woman laying on the ground can nod, waiting for Emma to step over. Once the loader had done so, Gladys grabbed onto the breech and grunted and strained to eventually lift herself up, then grab onto her seat and lift herself again, unable to do much with one leg in the tight quarters. As she finished heaving herself up, Gladys heard Ribbans murmur, "Blasted Krauts..."

She craned her neck downwards to see Ribbans already back in fighting condition, and let out a quiet sigh. Emma murmured, "Try shooting them first next time."

-Meanwhile

"Hey, get out!" Ruby yelled, rapping at the grey tank with her fist, "Or I'll come in there and, uh... beat you up!"

The only response she got was an odd sort of muffled bang from within the tank. Promptly, and because there was no way to retaliate for such a crime as destroying strawberries other than with violence, Ruby smacked the tank again, then unfurled Crescent Rose, warning, "Stand back-"

She was cut off by the hatch opening, and one of the 'Germans', as Yang had said they were called, came out, holding a boxy pistol. Specifically, he was the one who always hung around the shouty one, and tended to shout fairly often too. As if to prove this, the man promptly shouted, "Wir werden nicht aufgeben! Das Reich wird tausend Jahre leben!"

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, "Why'd you ruin my picnic?"

The man turned to look at her, then quickly raised his pistol. Or tried to, anyway, before Ruby smacked his wrist with the end of her gun barrel, somehow with enough force to make him drop it. Quickly, the man bent over to grab it, and Ruby questioned, "Why are you fighting?"

Swiftly, the man came up, pointing the gun at Ruby again, who pointed out, "There's no reason for us to shoot each other!"

Abruptly, another hatch opened, and both Ruby and the German looked swiftly over. After a moment, Carney came around the corner of the British tank, glanced at the German, then raised his hands, murmuring, "I'd thought the-"

Pop!

He was cut off by the German firing, and then his own corpse awkwardly tumbling back down with a neat hole through one of the eyes. Ruby yelled, "Hey!"

"Du wirst schweigen! Du hast hier keinen Platz!" the German yelled, and Ruby pointed out, "There was no reason to-"

Pop!

The man fired another shot, sending a nine millimeter round ploinking into Ruby's Aura, eliciting a sort of stabbing pain like being breaking through skin with a sewing needle.

Bang!

And Ruby fired in return, sending a Dust-infused high-caliber sniper round into the man's chest, eliciting a gory explosion as the Fire Dust imploded in his lungs and sent bits of him flying all about. The one caveat was that his death was probably instant and without much pain. An odd silence followed though, as Ruby stared at the bits of person that were left behind- the legs, a few vaguely recognizable chunks of meat, and the scalp once it fell back down. Another hatch opened nearby, and Emma called, "Carney? You alright?"

The loader got onto the engine deck, then around to where Ruby was standing, before murmuring, "Bloody hell..."

"I... I made that," Ruby noted, and Emma fumed, "You killed our driver?"

"N-No," Ruby said, "That was the other guy. There wasn't a reason for him to fight... I didn't even really want to do it, but he seemed to want to fight, so..."

She trailed off, staring at the legs.

"Good riddance," Emma said, "Which one was he, anyway?"

"Uh... I don't know," Ruby admitted, "But, uh, we'll find out when he comes back, right?"

She chuckled awkwardly, and Emma sighed, "Never hear the end of it. Least not from our commander, either..."

She sighed again, then headed over to the hatch that Carney had come out of and started straining. Ruby paused a moment, then asked, "Why were you guys fighting?"

Emma strained a few moments more, finally lifting the corpse out of the hatch, then panted a moment before answering, "They're the red team. We're green. And they're Krauts to boot."

"Yeah, but why?" Ruby asked, "I mean... there's so much mess now."

"Didn't you say you made that?" Emma retorted, and Ruby pointed out, "What about... uh..."

She trailed off, then sighed. Abruptly, another hatch opened, and out came Gladys, asking, "Is our driver dead, then?"

"Jerry shot him," Emma informed, "And then the little brat here shot him."

The commander let out a long sigh, then lifted herself out, awkwardly shimmying onto the top of the turret in a manner not unlike a whale beaching itself- and making it rather obvious that, for whatever reason, she was in a plain, somewhat dirty, white shirt rather than her usual bold, red coat. Emma questioned, "You know how to drive?"

"No," Gladys answered, "But I'd like to be out for when the headmaster comes along."

The woman continued in an awkward sort of shimmy, and Emma walked over, while the commander instructed, "We'll wait here, obviously, and use the kit on Carney when it comes back."

Finally, the woman got to the edge of the turret, and Emma dragged her off, freeing Gladys' arms to cling to the turret's outer armor for support when Emma finally set her down and moved a little away. It was at this point that Ruby noticed another peculiarity about the commander compared to usual; one of her legs was missing, with her coat wrapped crudely around the stump where a leg should have come out of her hip. Promptly, Ruby panicked, "Are you alright?"

Gladys nodded quietly, hopping along to the the rear of the tank, then plopping herself on the engine deck and leaning back onto the gun, still traversed to the tank's rear and facing the knocked-out Panzer III. Ruby asked, "What happened?"

"A-A round went through the turret," Gladys answered, "Nothing particularly special."

Ruby stared at her a moment, then murmured, "This just... happens?"

"Bit too often," Emma noted, "Least we weren't knocked out this time."

Gladys nodded, and Ruby pointed out, "But this is what you're good at. Shouldn't you be... good at it?"

Gladys sighed, then explained, "All the skill in the world can't prevent a spot of bad luck."

She sighed again, and Ruby began to wonder if she was just breathing heavily, before pointing out, "Besides which, this 'Cruiser' nonsense is quite far from what I..."

She trailed off into another, longer hiss of pain, leaning off of the gun and pressing one hand against her stump and the other against the engine deck to balance herself. Emma shot, "Just shut it and rest. Ribbans'll be coming 'round with a cuppa any second now."

Gladys nodded a little, and Ruby noted, "You're just... fine with this happening?"

Her expression while saying that was one of surprise, because she was indeed surprised at what she was hearing. It wasn't the first time she'd been told about people getting hurt while fighting, of course- growing up in rural Patch with a family unit composed almost entirely of huntresses and huntsmen did that. And the best stories were the ones where the heros faced great challenges and seemingly unbeatable odds, most easily represented with injuries. But those injuries were usually scars, and being told that people got hurt doing something is vastly different from seeing a person very badly injured. But most surprising of all to Ruby was that Gladys wasn't screaming and bawling and crying in pain; she was just sitting there, with a sort of mildly surprised expression on her face. Finally, the commander pointed out, "I'd thought things were rather worse for footsoldiers."

Ruby's eyes widened, but then she nodded, "I... uh... guess I'll find out when I graduate."

She chuckled awkwardly, sheepishly glancing away, before her eyes wandered back to the stump, and the red coat wrapped around it. She'd seen it a lot, of course- it was a very bold, distinctive, noticeable shade of bright red. Now, it was much darker, like the blood it must have been keeping in. Ruby couldn't help but stare, smelling the stench of iron in the air-

"Tea's ready, I'd say," Ribbans abruptly said. Ruby finally forced her eyes away from Gladys' not-leg to see that the gunner had set a kettle and some cups on the engine deck, just next to Gladys. Calmly, Ribbans poured a cup, and gently handed it to Gladys, who murmured, "Th-Thank you."

"I... uh..." Ruby murmured, suddenly remembering that she actually did have her own team to go back to and couldn't really explain why she was still hanging about. Finally, Gladys interjected, "I'm sure we h-have another cup for a guest."

"Most of them got broken," Ribbans informed. At that, Gladys finally switched from a passive expression to one of utter sadness, and Ruby pointed out, "The other guys ruined my picnic idea, so... I could just hang out with you guys."

Ribbans chuckled a little at that as he poured a cup of tea, and Gladys pointed out, "You have your own team to get to."

Ruby hesitated a moment, then shook her head, murmuring, "I'm... pretty sure no one wanted to stick around."

Gently, Gladys brought the teacup almost to her lips, but mere inches away she stopped abruptly, seething in pain yet again. Ruby questioned, "Are you sure you should be handling that?"

Gladys murmured"Qu-quite..."

She didn't even get all the way through that one word before seething in pain yet again, bending over again- but raising her tea-holding arm high. After a moment, she sat back up, as Ribbans noted, "Really bad this time, then."

"Y-Yes," Gladys murmured, then sipped her tea. Ruby pointed out, "Aren't you, uh, worried?"

"'Course not," Ribbans answered, "She normally just ends up dead, so this is nothing."

Ruby's eyes widened further, and she awkwardly asked, "Does it... uh... hurt? To die?"

"N-Not so much as this does," Gladys admitted, and Ribbans encouraged, "You'll tough it out."

Gladys nodded quickly and sipped her tea again, and Emma finally returned. The loader immediately questioned, "What're you still around for?"

"Uh... I think she should see a doctor," Ruby answered. Emma snorted, and Ribbans retorted, "She'll be alright."

"E-Emma," Gladys murmured, "Could you check up on the multi-kit?"

The loader grumbled nothing in particular as they went into the turret, and Ruby hesitated a moment. Quietly, she glanced half-behind her, back the way she'd come, back where her team might have been. With an emphasis on 'might'- she wasn't stupid enough to think even Yang wanted to be there. Then, she looked back at the people she'd been speaking to- the red-coated weirdos who were just casual about death and dismemberment. The people who had combat experience like actual huntsmen, even if it was a weird form of combat that Ruby wouldn't be doing. Speaking of, Ruby asked, "What are you guys... uh... if it's not just a you thing, I mean... y'know... uh... doing?"

"Having a bit of tea while we wait around to mend Carney," Ribbans answered, "Or did you miss the kettle?"

"Uh... I don't think that he, um, is alive," Ruby pointed out. Ribbans dismissed, "That's what the multi-kit's for."

Ruby stared at him oddly for a moment, before Gladys finally informed, "W-We're going to the forest, to... ah... how shall I say this..."

She proceeded to hem and haw for a few moments over that last bit. Finally, just as Emma came out, the commander finally finished, "We're making sure we don't go rusty, is all."

"And it's dull around here," Emma pointed out. Gladys sighed, murmuring, "That isn't to say we want to start fights..."

"I get it," Ruby said, "You wanna go down there and shoot stuff."

Gladys sighed, then nodded, and Ribbans put in, "I still say it's a dreary business."

"Uh... can I come?" Ruby asked. Ribbans and Emma both glanced at their commander, who murmured, "Why... w-why would you?"

"I wanna kill monsters too," Ruby answered. Gladys stared at her a moment, and finally Emma snorted. Ribbans retorted, "Good luck finding any targets with us around."

"Good luck... uh... doing the same, but in reverse!" Ruby retorted. Ribbans chuckled a little, and Gladys questioned, "Don't you have your own team?"

"Eh," Ruby said with a dismissive hand-wave, "We kind of do our own thing, anyway."

Author's Note: I promised I would, and I finally did get back around to writing tank combat. And I'm not going to lie, this chapter had the most of it by length, word count, and draft attempts. So, here's to hoping that I didn't get horribly out of practice and that it's at least decent. Also, no, Gladys' injury won't be permanent, I simply wanted to highlight that the multi-kit needs a bit of time to cooldown like it does in WoT rather than being able to instantly solve all problems.