Alexandra had sat down with her group as they were now beginning to discuss what was going to happen, they were going to do this quickly.
"Well Alexandra you certainly caught MEXT flat-footed as the 61st National Sensha-Do tournament is just starting, and everyone seems to hate each other and now they want to declare war on each other. And now with this war starting, we can certainly see why this is a golden opportunity and at the same time a curse for us to participate and win some of our prestige back." Megumi began explaining to Alexandra she chose the worst time and possibly the best time to start the war. Alexandra nodded.
"Okay. I will have to rename Saunders to make us seem more united." Alexandra told Megumi. She went over to the microphone, and she began speaking. "May I have your attention please. I would like to say we're renaming Saunders to Petrograd as Saunders sounds a bit too German to us. Plus, we got the war on, so I hope you're all excited for that." Alexandra had made the announcement. The students that had been mobilized in the days prior began to cheer on as they were more than excited to be able to celebrate. Now came for the chance to prove their might they had begun reforming from the beginning of the year.
The schools had gathered around in the building where the card drawing for the Sensha-Do schools had been gathered. Kay, Megumi, Alexandra and Lola were sent to represent their schools. The other school commanders looked at each other as there was a lot of tension in the room and everyone was eager to have a brawl with each other.
"This is looking pretty tense. These students look like they're eager to beat each other up." Ami began speaking to Shichiro and Renta.
"Well, I've been following this for a bit, and it seems like I'm worried too. They tried their best to fix everything, but we might have to step in and sort this out before someone gets killed." Shichiro expressed his concern that someone could get killed in this. Renta was the most excited.
"Let the students fight. If they need to release the steam from them. Let them." Renta told his co-workers that the students needed to fight each other if they were to safely vent the steam away. Ami and Shichiro were skeptical about this.
"So, you want the students to destroy their own schools in a cataclysmic war?" Shichiro asked, he was starting to get worried about this.
"Let's see what the students get starting out so we can see what there is." Renta told his workers that they should look at the card drawing and not focus on the conversation.
"And Kuromorimine gets one." The announcer told the group. The crowd cheered as Megumi looked at them.
"Okay Kay this is it. All you need to do is pick a number card and it should determine who we're going against." Megumi explained to Kay that the job was simple. Kay walked over as she went to the box. She stuck her hand inside and pulled out a card. The announcer looked on as he was surprised.
"Saunders has picked four." He announced. The schools looked on with suspicion as Manami was explaining her plan.
"I have a plan." Manami began speaking to Runa and Kirishima. The two of them listened to her while Alexandra eavesdropped on them. "We know Saunders is so big and clumsy it will take them forever to get ready. So, with me in charge, we're going to send all of our students into BC Freedom through Waffle Academy at lightning speed while Saunders is getting ready. Defeat them then go to Saunders and defeat them. And we can quickly declare victory assuming Gisela is going to struggle." Manami explained their plan on how they were going to quickly win the war. "Activate Plan Schlieffen." Alexandra knew that Manami was preparing a lightning strike but now with Saunders mobilized, could they throw this wrench into her plans? She walked along before bumping into Fumie.
"Hey Alexandra, it's been a while. How are things back at your old school?" Fumie asked Alexandra how the conditions of Saunders was faring out.
"Not good. Kay seemed to have invited foreigners and the school looks like a mess. Not what me and Megumi had envisioned. This is a big stinky imperialist war, but we don't want our big stinky imperialist government replaced by a foreign one." Alexandra explained to Fumie.
"Yes, but good luck in the tournament." Fumie told Alexandra that she wished her luck.
"Also, this tournament is really complicated, we're at war with the first school we're going against." Alexandra told Fumie of what exactly was happening.
"I hope Saunders loses the war." Fumie told Alexandra that she hoped Kay's School was to win the tournament but lose the war altogether.
"Lose, is there a reason?" Alexandra asked Fumie as she wanted to see what her thought process was going to be behind this.
"If the school is going to lose, then it will give the students a reason to rise up again and overthrow Kay. So long as that happens, who cares if Kuromorimine blows up half the country." Fumie told Alexandra that if Saunders was losing there could be another chance to enact some form of change to the school. Alexandra decided to nod with Fumie's words.
"I'll keep that in mind." Alexandra told Fumie before she walked off. The stage was set, and the schools were ready for a fight. The layout lays as follows:
•1&2 Kuromorimine vs Waffle Academy
•3&4 Magyar Girls Academy VS Saunders University High School
•5&6 BC Freedom vs Maginot Girls Academy
•7&8 Count High School vs Yogurt Academy
•9&10 Koala Forest Academy vs Kebab High School
•11&12 St. Gloriana vs Anzio High School
•13&14 Blue Division High School vs Viking Fisheries High School
•15&16 Chi-Ha-Tan Academy vs Pravda Girls High School
The next morning would come around as the students were getting ready for the first match against Magyar Girl's Academy. Alexandra rode up to the crowd on her horse as she had several of them. She was going to go with her plan.
"Okay, this is the first match coming up. So, we're going to go over this one more time." Alexandra began. "We're going to split up into three groups. Megumi, you're going to be group A in which you will have an M3 Lee and a M6 heavy tank which you will be commanding. Group B will have the other M3 Lee and the two M4 Shermans, Kay is in charge. And the last group which will be my group will be me with the M3 Stuarts and the horses, the objective for me is to sweep in and try cutting off their retreat." Alexandra explained the plan to the others. Megumi was confident but Kay wasn't so certain.
"Sweep in, so you're saying you want to take some of the glory for yourself?" Kay asked Alexandra if this was going to be the plan.
"Yep, that's the plan." Alexandra told Kay before she walked off. Kay was preparing to leave when a middle schooler walked up to her. She had long gray hair with brown eyes. She was wearing her school's uniform before she began speaking to her.
"Good luck today." She said, Kay turned her head to see who this girl was.
"Who are you?" Kay asked the mysterious girl who was wishing her luck. She then began speaking and she introduced herself.
"I'm Naomi, I'm the leader of my school's iron battalion. I think our friend Alexei had sent me to spectate as my entire school is preparing for war." Naomi introduced herself. Kay paused. Was she really serious?
"Are you making this up that you were sent by the tsarevich." Megumi asked before she walked over to Kay to see what this stranger was talking about.
"I'm not, I was selected to spectate." Naomi told Megumi that she was going to watch.
"Okay then. I'm Megumi and this is Kay. Sorry to cut things short, we have to get ready for our first match, see you around." Megumi gave a quick introduction before she and Kay turned away. They needed to be ready for the match that was ahead.
"See ya." Naomi told them.
Megumi and the others were in their respective groups as they had managed to split up and fan out.
"How is everyone doing today?" Megumi asked the groups as they were ready.
"Doing good." Kay told Megumi as she was leading from her Sherman. Megumi was in her M6 heavy tank.
"Ready to sweep in and cause chaos." Alexandra told Megumi that she was ready to go in there and claim victory. The snort of one of her horses was heard as she had about fifty horses and the rest of her group were five M3 Stuarts.
"Okay. From what we were able to gather their flag tank is a Panzer-38T, but they don't know which one it is as they have two of them. We need to figure out how we can eliminate them." Megumi began explaining to the group what they had intended to do.
"Was it a good idea to bring in a lot of guns with the tanks?" Kay asked. She was in her ambush spot while the others were putting on the finishing touches to their camouflage.
"It's a good idea but two guns is sufficient enough. More than that and you wouldn't be able to coordinate, it's the reason why seven is the most amount of crew members you can have in one tank." Megumi explained. She then hung up when she saw the five or so tanks approaching them. Megumi began looking over the group. There were three Turan 2's a Toldi and a Panzer-38T taking the rear. Megumi noticed the Toldi in the front as she knew taking out the middle tanks would be a priority.
"Ready?" The M3 Lee commander asked Megumi as she was ready to take out one of the tanks.
"Yes." Megumi told her. The M6 heavy tank opened fire first with the two guns it had. The Turan 2 trailing behind the Toldi as struck with the M6's firecracker shot and it was shoved off the road, a white flag popped up as the M3 Lee fired its guns next, the 37mm shell missed but the 75mm shot struck the Turan 2 in front of the Panzer-38T. The Turan 2 began to rotate its gun and it fired on the M3 Lee. The shot ended up missing. The M3 Lee responded with another two shots of its own. The two shots finished off the Turan 2 as the remaining tanks began to flee. They knew something was up.
"They're fleeing." The M3 Lee commander told Megumi that two tanks had been knocked out and the rest were pulling back.
"Pursue them, we should chase them down and finish them off." Megumi told the commander. The two tanks left their positions and began their pursuit after the three remaining tanks.
During all of this time, the second part of the attack was happening. Kay was given three tanks compared to Megumi's two. Megumi's tank was the flag tank, and no one was going to mess with an M6 Heavy tank head on. The five tanks were heading down the road as Kay was looking out for them. She looked over to her left and trailing behind them was the target that could be taken out and result in an automatic win for Saunders.
"Flag tank is taking up the rear. Knock it out and we win this first round." Kay instructed her gunner to take out the Panzer-38T that was waving the flag of its tank with the color it had designated. "Knock out the front tank so it blocks the road ahead and then we'll go for the flag tank." Kay explained her plan, the turrets of the tanks were all going to fire at the same time. The M3 Lee fired first as the shot came along and immediately connected to the Toldi taking the lead as that tank spluttered from being struck with a firecracker round. The white flag popped up as the other two tanks including Kay's missed. "Oh great you missed them!" Kay shouted; they had been discovered. The remaining tanks began turning their turrets and began firing all at the same time. The M3 Lee that took out the Toldi received three shells as all of the remaining tanks were firing at it at the same time. A white flag popped from the M3 Lee as it had been knocked out. The shell had been loaded up into the breach. Kay turned to her gunner and called out: "Fire!" The two Sherman tanks fired again but Kay's shot missed the flag tank again while the other Sherman managed to strike a lucky hit on one of the Turan tanks. That tank had a white flag pop out a moment later. Gisela, who was in the flag tank, turned her head and found Kay's tank.
"We should try taking out that tank next!" Gisela called out to her crew thinking Kay's tank was the flag tank. "Fire!" She called out. The panzer-38T fired as the firecracker ricochet off of the sloped armor of Kay's tank.
"That was lucky." Kay smirked as she was now focusing on the flag tank. Gisela prepared another round to fire when the two sides heard something. Something they weren't familiar with, but they didn't like it. Kay opened the hatch to her tank as the snorting of horses was getting louder and louder, this was followed by five M3 Stuarts as they were trailing behind the horses. Leading the charge was Alexandra.
"Horses?! Who said anything about horses?" Gisela asked. The Stuarts began to concentrate fire and fired at another of the Turan 1 tanks. That tank was swiftly knocked out as Gisela knew she had just two tanks left. "All tanks fall back! We need to regroup!" Gisela rambled on the radio that they needed to retreat. The remaining tanks began to fall back as Kay watched, there went the perfect chance of taking out the flag tank. Alexandra stopped beside Kay's Sherman as the Stuarts and the other horses chased after Gisela and her tank.
"What are you waiting for Kay? Join the pursuit!" Alexandra shouted for Kay to join the hunt to finish off Gisela and the rest of her team. Alexandra rode off as the other two Sherman tanks followed closely behind. Some of the cavalry students split off to see what they were going to be able to take. Then Megumi began to buzz in.
"This is Megumi, we knocked out two tanks so far." Megumi told Alexandra what their mission was and what they accomplished. "They are retreating for some reason, but we don't know." Megumi did her best to explain the situation and why their foes were starting to retreat. Kay began speaking next.
"We also knocked out two tanks, but Alexandra showed up, the Stuarts knocked out another tank and all of the tanks are in retreat." Kay told Megumi what was going on. "We also lost an M3 Lee in the process as it was discovered and shot at." Kay also explained what tank they managed to lose.
"Nine to five. They lost half of their strength." Megumi was happy that they managed to sap away half of the enemy team's strength. Now the pursuit to finish Gisela's remaining tanks off. Alexandra knew that Megumi needed more tanks if they could take out the remaining tanks. Then the radio buzzed for Alexandra.
"Alexandra, this is one of the cavalry regiments. We captured Czernowitz." She told her friend. Alexandra nodded before she began issuing orders. "Three M3 Stuarts, go back Megumi up. The other two are going to back Kay up. We'll meet up assuming the flag tank escapes." Three M3 Stuarts break off as they begin racing westward to help Megumi out who is pursuing one of the groups with her M6 Heavy tank.
"Okay good. See if you can capture more territory." Alexandra told the cavalry groups to spread out. She was going ahead to try to intercept the flag tank.
Two tanks had arrived at another city as Gisela had instructions for it. She was getting ready to leave the city behind as she didn't know that Alexandra, her nemesis, was racing ahead to try to intercept her. The Turan 1 commander nodded as the flag tank drove as fast as she could to get out of dodge and try to link up with the remaining portion of her team. The Turan 1 got ready to defend the village as Kay's group raced its way along with a cavalry group. The Turan 1 rotated its turret to face Kay's group of four tanks, but they were going to prove that they weren't going to be messed with. The four tanks raced onward with the Cavalry galloping ahead. The Turan 1 fired its cannon at one of the M3 Stuarts. The light tank was taken out as Kay's Sherman stopped and she began looking ahead.
"First tank I hope to take out. Fire when ready." Kay told her gunner. The gunner nodded and fired the shell. The Turan 1 was knocked out immediately as Gisela had four tanks though they lost another one of theirs. Kay decided to report to Megumi the outcome of her actions as the cavalry raced on ahead.
"Megumi." Kay began. She waited for a response from Megumi for a couple of moments before she began speaking.
"What is it, Kay?" Megumi would ask her. Kay began to think of something before she began speaking.
"We have captured Lemberg." Kay told Megumi that another spot had been taken. Megumi nodded.
"Okay, come along as we need you to help deliver the hammer blow." Megumi told Kay that she needed to also race westward to help trap and take out what remained of Magyar Girl's Academy Sensha-Do team.
"Got you." Kay told Megumi, the tanks and horses began to race westward but for Kay there was going to be no final struggle. Megumi was going to be the one to deliver the final blow.
Gisela's Panzer-38T was racing westward when they learned that they were gathering at the fortress town of Przemyśl. Three tanks had gathered there but because of Megumi's position, she was quick to intercept her. Gisela looked out as the M6 Heavy tank had taken up position on the road Megumi had Gisela right in her sight.
"I got you right where I want you." Megumi told Gisela. She then fired a shot, the Panzer-38T was a lightly armored medium tank so taking it out was a breeze. The shot connected with the flag tank and the resulting explosion by the firecracker caused the tank to bounce up slightly before turning to its left-hand side. When the tank finally came to rest, the white flag popped out.
"Megumi, this is the M3 Lee commander, the Cavalry and I have surrounded the town of Przemyśl. It's under siege." The M3 Lee commander told Megumi that the last town had been surrounded and with the news that Czernowitz and Lemberg fell into their hands, this was a surprisingly successful first battle.
"And the winner of the first round is Saunders University High School!" Shichiro shouted with excitement. The schools clapped and cheered with excitement. Gisela got out of her knocked out tank, she had been humiliated as Alexandra's students were chasing after them with their cavalry, her force had been decimated.
As the match was concluded, Kay decided to stretch her legs out when one of the girls who was watching from the stand ran up to her.
"Kay!" Baby Lee shouted. She hurried over to give her friend a hug. "That was a spectacular first match you managed to pull off." Kay accepted Baby Lee's hug before she began speaking again.
"Thanks Alice. I managed to pull it off myself. I took the flag tank out." Kay told Baby Lee, but her words were massively inflating her own ego. Megumi had taken Gisela's tank out and not her. Megumi looked on with suspicion. She knew Kay's actions were going to get her into trouble.
"Kay thinks she is some kind of big shot. Arrogance is the downfall of one girl." Alexandra told Megumi that Kay's ego was going to work against her.
"Who are we going against in the next match?" Megumi asked as she was curious.
"You're going against Kuromorimine." Naomi told them as she walked out from the shadows. "I bet Alexei's word has arrived that we're mobilizing. I had come to watch the first battle of this war." Megumi and Alexandra froze. Kuromorimine was going to be their opponent for the next match, and these weren't the typical Sensha-Do tournament. This was now all out war.
"We'll have to plan carefully if we are to defeat Kuromorimine." Megumi told Nami as she had her thanks. "Thank you for the information."
"You're welcome." Naomi told them before she began to walk away. Megumi and Alexandra looked at each other. If Kay was to interfere with the planning they were going to do, the next match was going to backfire.
With Kuromorimine, they were sitting around as they were satisfied with their early victory. Runa was sitting around with her apprentice Maho while Manami was speaking.
"Waffle Academy had been defeated, we expected them to sit down and shut up to us, but they didn't. They fought back and they were pretty good too, so they slowed us down especially after the battle of Liege." Manami told them that the first school they were facing against had been defeated. Runa nodded.
"Excellent but this first victory had led to some far-reaching consequences." Runa began.
"What do you mean?" Manami asked Runa if there was anything that she was going to say.
"What's worse about the whole battle is that Earl Gray showed up and she's pretty pissed that we're invading neutral schools to get to BC Freedom. So, St. Gloriana has declared war on us." Runa told Manami that they made two new enemies.
"So much for St. Gloriana staying out of the war. So, what, let's push on through Belgium and commit some atrocities along the way. Let's also wear spikes and skulls on our uniforms." Manami jokingly told Runa that they will continue on with the pace that they were going.
"Well about that." Maho interrupted them. She then showed them the footage of the Saunders Magyar match that occurred earlier today. Their ally got pummeled in the first match.
"Well Plan Schlieffen has failed. Saunders is ready for war and way earlier than we had expected. I thought Gisela was going to guard the flanks but now we need to send our team to the East to defend against Saunders." Manami told Maho that their grand plan was a failure and now they needed to contend with Saunders far earlier than they were comfortable with.
"Also, they used cavalry in this match to disrupt the enemy so we might say that they are relying on mobility and the Dual Alliance is out of the Sensha-Do matches." Runa began that Alexandra was fighting a war of movement and their ally had suffered a crippling defeat right from the beginning. "The Dual Alliance even got its ass kicked by tiny Serbia who is repelling all of their invasion attempts so far. The Montenegrin gang has also declared war on us."
"Yep, Conrad Von Hötzendorf is ignoring our advice and is running back to us now that he's getting into trouble demanding we help him." Manami told them as she knew the Dual Alliance was getting itself immediately into danger.
"So, who are we going to be facing in the next round?" Runa asked who their opponent will be for round two.
"Saunders." Manami told Runa.
"Oh no, if we face against Alexandra and her cavalry during the Sensha-Do match coming up, they'll tear us apart. The horses will distract us, and Saunders will envelop us in an encirclement which we can't break out of and take out the flag tank." Runa expressed her concern that Saunders was going to use cavalry to their best advantage to surround them and distract them. They began to think of a way to prevent this from being a catastrophe and end their winning streak. After a couple moments of thinking, Maho had an idea.
"We can contact my childhood friend Erwin Taketa to send a sizable detachment to us to help guard the perimeter, so Alexandra and the cavalry don't break in and ruin the match." Maho told the group that they needed to contact this one boy to send his students over and try to keep Alexandra and the cavalry at bay.
"Which school does he go to? I know you mention he's the Kaiser's grandson." Manami asked as she knew certain details about him, but she didn't know where he was attending.
"He's attending Mittelschule des Königsimperiums I will say." Maho told them where Erwin Taketa was attending.
"Call him and see if he's in as in giving us some guards to help block the perimeter." Runa told Maho to get her friend and see if he was willing to help. Maho nodded and got her phone out.
"Will do." Maho replied. She began to dial in the number. She was waiting for a couple of moments before someone picked the phone up.
"Hello?" Erwin asked as he was trying to figure out who was calling him.
"It's me, Maho, I wanted to ask if you want to send us some assistance to help us out. We're worried that someone might have cavalry and we need you to guard the flanks." Maho explained to Erwin what exactly she needed. Erwin began to think about it for a moment before he began speaking.
"Sure thing, we'll be there for the match when it starts, and we'll send a sizable group to help you out. Anything for a friend." Erwin explained to Maho that he was willing to contribute.
"Good. Now meet us at…" Maho began. She laid out the details for Erwin and the time he needed to show up at.
"Okay. See you tomorrow." Erwin then hung up as Maho knew what Saunders had coming to them. Maho, Manami and Runa were ready to face Kay now.
[A/N]: Sorry if this chapter took forever, I needed to rest up and I was a little busy. But now I'm back in and the war is just getting started.
Part 4 has finally begun, and I hope this will be some pretty lengthy chapters as this will be the war part of the fanfic. Let me know what you want to see next in terms of the war. Next chapter will be round two.