Megumi, Alexandra, Lola and Kay were having words with each other. Alexandra was particularly angry at Kay; her face had been compressed with ice as she took a beating during the last battle and Megumi wasn't pleased with Kay.
"What were you thinking Kay? We faced Kuromorimine and they knew everything you said. Plus, we ran into a bunch of middle schoolers that mauled the cavalry." Alexandra protested to Kay that she managed to cost them a crucial victory.
"Says the girl who thinks we're at war. Sensha-Do isn't war." Kay tried her best to tell Alexandra that this was fun and there was no need for the schools to be fighting each other.
"Where do you get your information from? The other side of the globe?" Alexandra asked Kay if this was something that should be true. "Of course, we are at war. Just be grateful that no one has died as of yet."
"Who will be in charge now that Kay hasn't delivered the results of victory." Lola asked. She seemed curious about what to do next. Alexandra and Megumi began to think about this. There could be some way they could come to an agreement. With Kay's plan having disastrous results, the best thing they could do was to start over.
"Kay you're no longer in charge." Alexandra began. Kay was upset about this as she got up and flipped the chair over. She went off to pout. Alexandra turned to Lola. "Lola, you'll be replacing Kay. Now we need to begin planning for our next move." Lola began to think for a moment before she began speaking.
"Let's not plan now unless we know what Kuromorimine and the Dual alliance are up to. I don't want to be going on the attack without a plan." Lola explained her concern that it wouldn't be wise to make the first move until they could figure out what their enemy was up to.
"Okay, I'll trust you with it, but we better have a plan tomorrow morning." Alexandra told Lola that she was willing to trust her for now, but they better have something by the next day. Lola nodded as they got up and walked away.
Manami meanwhile was talking to Gisela as the latter was excited.
"You destroyed Saunders today?" Gisela began the conversation. Manami stood there with a smile.
"Yep, both their tanks and cavalry. Alexandra retreated off of the field like the wimp she is." Manami told Gisela about the victory that they pulled off today. Gisela nodded with approval.
"We got the entire school mobilized and our middle school counterparts are ready for action as well. We're going to see how we fare against Saunders; we think they are weak, and we need to relieve some of the pressure on Przemyśl." Gisela began to talk to Manami as they were now ready to deal the next punch. "While you deal with Azumi and Earl Gray, we'll launch a diversionary attack towards Warsaw."
"Sounds like a plan." Manami told Gisela that there will be an attack to occupy Saunders while Manami finished BC Freedom off in a quick victory. "Also, we'll send Maho's friend in a supporting attack to Osowiec fortress." Manami explained that the Middle schoolers Kuromorimine are friends who will launch a second attack to hopefully cause panic in Saunders and cause them to retreat, lifting the siege of Przemyśl. She pointed to where the second attack was going to come from, and Gisela nodded.
"Okay, we'll get the students gathered in the hope we can launch the attack tomorrow. It was nice chatting with you Manami." Gisela told her before they logged off. Lola however was listening in, and she knew exactly what the plan was going to be. But she decided not to tell anyone about it. She was going to use the time to plan out the attack.
The next morning would be the day of the next battle. Lola was carrying some of the papers with her as she was going to speak to Megumi and Alexandra about it.
"I picked up what Gisela is planning to do." Lola began. Megumi and Alexandra looked on to see what their friend had in mind.
"What does she plan on doing?" Megumi asked Lola if she had any ideas about what Gisela was going to do.
"She's going to launch a diversion to Warsaw to have us loosen the grip on Przemyśl. We're expected to divert a lot of resources away to protect that place." Lola explained to them what Gisela's plans were going to be. "My plan is that we retreat and let Gisela and her students give chase, we ambush them just outside of Warsaw and they will be too exhausted to run away, we'll counter-attack and cause heavy damage that way." Lola explained that the plan was to retreat, catch them while they were trying to catch their breath and go on the offensive against an exhausted enemy.
"That's good and we got Alexei's students with us although they are few in numbers, they're the crack students he's giving us. Plus, we got Naomi and Kay guarding Osowiec fortress as another attack might come that way." Alexandra liked Lola's strategy. Now there needed to be a time and place to bait everyone away. "I'll start it off with the cavalry and you just get the defenses at Warsaw ready. We're going to abandon Lodz for the time being but it's part of the plan." Alexandra added that she will get the enemy to follow her, and they will have to give up some territory in the time being to get ready to swing back at them.
"Okay I got you. Also, we're going to use armored cars for this battle." Lola told them. Alexandra and Megumi nodded. The three of them dismissed the meeting as they went off to prepare for their grand plans. The next battle was going to begin.
Alexandra was recovering from the battle she had yesterday, and she was going to use caution while her injuries healed. She was hanging back while some of the students spotted something.
"Hey Gisela, isn't that Alexandra?" Solti asked while she handed the binoculars to her. Gisela began to look to see Alexandra and her cavalry preparing a mass charge.
"Yes, it is. Everyone fix bayonets!" Gisela ordered; she was going to fight Alexandra expecting her to come charging forward. She waited for the whistle to be blown and within a couple moments. Gisela blew the whistle. The students began to exit from their positions and began to charge into Alexandra and the cavalry. Alexandra saw that they were coming to her, and she knew that she wasn't going to fight them all.
"All Cavalry, begin retreating." Alexandra gave the order to fall back. Gisela was leading the group when she noticed Alexandra turning the other way and falling back.
"What is Alexandra doing? She's the only one who is reckless enough to throw herself into the fight and she's retreating, after her!" Gisela gave the order to chase her down and finish her off. Gisela had taken the bait and now was in full pursuit of Alexandra.
"Lola, how is your progress in getting set up, we managed to bait her away." Alexandra asked her friend if she was ready. Lola was busy digging in as the students were getting ready with trench works by the river and machine guns in areas of overlapping view.
"We're coming along nicely; we should be done in ten minutes." Lola told Alexandra that their works were going to be finished and they were going to lead them into the trap.
"Okay. Megumi told us that the Jatkosota battalion is going to reinforce Kay and we're going to use Alexei's crack group to help bombard them as they're good with artillery." Alexandra told Megumi that some of the reinforcements had been diverted away to support any other attacks that were going to occur. Lola nodded while she helped set up the positions.
"We're on our own for certain?" Lola asked. She helped get a machine gun into place as some of the students loaded it with ammunition for the fight.
"Not necessarily. Follow my lead and we shall drive them back." Alexandra told Lola to not be afraid and instead get ready.
"We have taken Lodz. Should we keep going?" Solti asked Gisela that they had taken something from Saunders, and they should keep the pressure up.
"Yes, keep the pressure up." Gisela shouted to Solti that they should keep the advance going. Something felt off though. They didn't encounter much of Saunders at all, and Alexandra's cavalry were the only ones they ran into.
"Something doesn't feel right. You expect us to make an advance to Warsaw, but we've encountered no one so far other than the scouts. Should we pause?" Solti asked as she gripped her straight pull Mannlicher rifle.
"No, keep going." Gisela told Solti as she continued to lead the charge. The others followed behind as they were heading past Lodz. They were going to overextend themselves from their supplies in the hope that they were going to drive Saunders away from Warsaw. Gisela was completely unaware of the fact that she was running into an ambush. The cavalry from her school raced on ahead while she continued to lead. They were in trouble.
Lola was just finishing the defenses of the area when Alexandra and her cavalry raced up. They were getting ready for the counter-attack.
"They're coming." Alexandra told Lola. Lola looked on nervously as it was clear they were going to be here.
"Get the artillery ready. Gather the cavalry and the armored cars. Once they have been bloodied here, then there will be a chance for a counter-attack." Lola explained. Alexandra rode off with the scouts. Alexandra got to the outpost with Megumi who was gathering the horses.
"I need to use the radio." Alexandra told Megumi. Megumi looked at Alexandra as she was confused about this.
"What for?" Megumi asked.
"Let me use it." Alexandra shouted a bit to Megumi. Megumi couldn't defy her friend's logic and grabbed the radio. She began to tune in and she decided to contact Alexei. "Alexei, artillery ready?"
"Artillery is ready, give us the location of where to fire." Alexei told Alexandra while looking for what the coordinates were. Alexandra began to speak out the coordinates. "Okay, 20 batteries will begin." Alexandra nodded before she went off to get the cavalry ready. "Go join Lola in the fight. We need all hands-on deck." Alexandra told Megumi to join in. Megumi nodded before she grabbed her Nagant revolver and her saber. She headed over for the front lines.
Lola was waiting around in her trench as she braced for impact. Megumi joined her while Lola raised her rifle.
"When do you think they'll be here?" Lola asked Megumi if she had any idea of what she was going to do. Megumi began to think.
"I'm not sure about it." Megumi replied. She got out her binoculars and began to peak over the horizon. She then spotted something; it was the enemy cavalry. "They're here." Megumi told Lola. Lola raised the rifle and dialed in the sight using the ladder of the rifle.
"Hold your fire, we are not going to waste our ammo on them." Lola told the group that they shouldn't fire away as of yet. Meanwhile the 20 batteries of artillery opened up as the students began to shell the field in front of them.
"Cannons away!" Megumi shouted. The Dual-Alliance cavalry had been caught off guard as they reared up as firecrackers exploded around them. The cavalry had no idea what exactly was going on as students scrambled around to try figuring out what to do next. Gisela and her group were fast approaching as they were heading straight for the trap.
"Why isn't the cavalry doing its job?" Gisela grumbled while they ran in. The students began firing their straight pull Mannlichers while approaching the position. Gisela was taking the lead, but she couldn't see a thing.
"I can't see with all of this smoke, what is going on?" Gisela asked as she led the group through the cloud. The cavalry has all been knocked out but the students that were still willing to fight joined in, but they were heading into Lola's trap. More firecracker rounds landed on them as students were tossed a couple feet aside. The students began to appear from the smoke and Lola knew they needed to strike. Megumi gave the order.
"Fire!" She called out. Lola raised her rifle and fired along with the other students who were beginning to fire away as well. The machine guns began firing away as they were dispersed along the defenses. The students stumbled around when they got out of the smoke. When they opened their eyes to get a clear view, they were instantly mowed down as the smoke acted as a screen and those that wandered out were picked off. Some of the students from the other schools didn't know what to do as they hid in the smoke and behind cover. Gisela looked on as the smoke began to clear and there were several machine guns ahead, mowing down the students that attempted a charge. She knew she needed to rally them together and finish the fight.
"We can't keep hanging back if we are to win this. Get yourselves out of the dirt and continue forward!" Gisela called out. She was going to continue leading the charge, but the machine guns had other plans. She began to charge out with several students following behind as the machine guns then decided to turn themselves and fire on the crowd. Gisela looked on as she and the group she was leading were mowed down like grass by plastic pellets. Alexandra who was watching the smoke clear, managed to gather the group together to begin the counter offensive.
"Just a little while longer, wait for the smoke to clear." Alexandra told the group while she was looking through her binoculars. The students seemed to be getting more and more numerous as the smoke got thinner and thinner. Some of them were even firing back from their positions they were hiding behind. The machine guns continued to rattle on, spitting their BB's at the students. Once they had been whittled down to a small number, Alexandra knew she needed to get ready. The smoke had finally cleared. "Okay everyone! We're going on the offensive; we're taking our land back from the enemy. Get the sabers ready!" Alexandra shouted. The students got their lances and sabers out as they were also carrying their rifles with them in case their horses went down. The armored cars went first as the horses followed behind.
The armored cars came out from three different areas, they traveled down the roads that had separated the trenches as this was their main weapon. The armored cars began spitting their ammunition at the students who saw them coming to them. Solti knew she needed to give the signal.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Solti shouted. The students turned as they began to make their rush back. Some of the students didn't know about this so they were staying dug in their positions. The horses then crossed the roads, and they were beginning to come out and form the wall with the armored cars. Alexandra stopped beside Alexandra and Lola as Lola finished inserting a stripper clip into her rifle.
"Come on, follow us in the advance!" Alexandra told Megumi now was the chance to go on the offensive and follow behind them. Alexandra's horse galloped off as Megumi turned to her group and she began to give the order.
"Fix bayonets!" Megumi called out, the students grabbed their bayonets and fixed them to the rifles. The armored cars continued down along the road as their machine guns were peppering any students that were showing their faces. Many of them continue to retreat as they are terrified of an indestructible beast. Alexandra spotted a student of hers get shot off of her horse and she looked to see a band of students firing their Mannlichers at her. She pulled out a firecracker grenade and pulled the pin, she tossed it over and the grenade exploded, the students were tossed to the ground as the contents must've stung them. Alexandra turned her head to the sound of a whistle blowing. The students leaped from their trenches and began to charge in behind. She turned to see another group of students huddled over and prepared to shoot but one of the students threw her hands out as she wanted to see what was going on.
"I surrender! Don't shoot!" She shouted. Alexandra looked at the students before she continued speaking. "We're from Gregor, we don't want to fight." She told them. Alexandra rounded up the students and ordered a couple of them back to keep them. Megumi and the others caught up as they continued to run. Some of the more elite groups like the Bonple High School legion put up stiff resistance but they were easily overwhelmed by the armored cars. After fending them off, Solti pulled the group back to square one, retreating past Lodz in order to stabilize the front line. They entered back as they expected a fight. Megumi and Lola had ordered there will be no fight, however. Saunders had won this battle.
Meanwhile with Kay, she was expecting to fend off the middle school that forcefully defeated Alexandra the day before. Behind them was a defensive fortress known to the Saunders students as Osowiec. Erwin looked on ahead as he was going to be able to fight the middle schoolers in bulk that were sent in the direction of Kay. Rumi and her Jatkosota friends were inside of the fortress as they were going to act as a second line of defense. She looked out of her binoculars to Kay who was leading the defenses of the first trench.
"I hope Kay doesn't screw this up." Rumi told herself. Erwin turned to his students as it was just him and Azusa. Olivia was still in the hospital and recovering from a broken left arm. Azusa walked forward and began speaking.
"I want to seize this fortress as quickly as possible so we can move on and quickly knock Saunders out of the war. We've beaten them before once and we can beat them again." Azusa began. Erwin was busy looking out through a pair of binoculars before he turned to the students.
"Wait until the artillery is done firing." Erwin told the group. The few artillery guns they brought with them to soften up the enemy were using the few remaining shells they had. The artillery crews loaded up another shell before the guns fired. The shells began raining down as dirt exploded around. The Saunders group that was expected to guard the fortress was ducking in the trench they made while they were getting bombarded. Kay knew an attack was going to come any moment now.
"When do you think they'll come?" Jajka asked nervously. Kay didn't respond to her question. All she knew was when the artillery stopped firing, the infantry would begin the assault. She looked behind at the fortress where Rumi and the others were held inside. Finally, the artillery guns stopped firing.
"Get ready everyone." Erwin told the group that they were going to go over the top to assault the fortress. He placed the binoculars down and raised his Mauser pistol. Azusa got the whistle out with her hand and a stopwatch, when the clock was going to strike twelve, she was going to blow the whistle. The two hands merged on the twelve and Azusa blew the whistle. "Now's our chance, attack!" Erwin shouted; he was the first to climb out of the trench followed by other students as they were carrying their Gewehr 98's. They had climbed out of their trenches as a mixture of girls and boys were heading to the enemy trench. Kay knew she had to fend off this attack at all costs. Azusa continued to blow the whistle as it was now hundreds of students heading for the front. Erwin was leading the charge as he began firing a couple shots at the Saunders students.
"Now!" Kay shouted. The mixture of students began to retaliate and fire back with their M1891 rifles. The 3-line bullets weren't hard kickers which meant follow up shots were easy. The middle-school students Kay had at her disposal were good shots and students like Jajka were beginning to prove their worth. She aimed her rifle and fired, the BB struck one of the students and he collapsed onto the field. She pulled the rifle back, grabbed the bolt and cycled the round out. She raised the rifle again and fired.
Erwin looked back as several of his students were collapsing from getting struck. Azusa hid behind some form of cover and began firing her Gewehr 98 to cover for the group. She cycled the bolt before firing another shot. They still had a bit of a way to go, and this slow march was making them sitting ducks for the defenders as they just needed to aim and fire to be accurate. Kay looked on as those students were collapsing from walking along slowly. The M1910 maxim they had was firing away as the BB's were being spat out. Several students fell from the Maxim that was slowly tearing them down. Azusa rushed up with a few students herself, but they were hosed down by the machine gun's incoming fire. Except for Azusa who had feigned her fall as she was taking cover in all of this. She pulled out her school's grenade, unscrewed the bottom and pulled the pin, she then chucked it at the machine gun crew and buried her head in the dirt. The firecracker grenade exploded, taking out the machine gun crew. The students continued going forward even as BB's swirled past them. Some students slid into a foxhole while others were still getting shot up. Those that did find cover began firing away with their rifles. Some of the defending students began to collapse as the enemy was getting accurate shots of them up close. Mika was firing her rifle alongside Kay when she was struck by a BB and collapsed. Kay knew enough was enough.
"Fix bayonets!" Kay shouted. She got out her saber and revolver as the students drew their bayonets out and began fixing them to the rifles. Once that was done, Kay knew they needed to lead the charge to fend off the enemy. Kay flicked her hand forward and she and her group began to race out of their trench, straight for the enemy. Erwin was still leading the charge, but he didn't realize Kay was now charging into the opposite direction. If they both collided, they were going to fight.
One of the students got jabbed with a bayonet as Jajka slapped a middle schooler down with the butt of her rifle. A couple students fired their rifles, but the rest were engaged in melee combat. One of the middle schoolers flipped someone on Kay's side over and jabbed her with the plastic rifle bayonet before the student was jabbed with another rifle bayonet. Kay flicked her saber, almost if she sliced one of the middle schoolers down. Another student came charging in, she used the plastic saber to slice low, causing him to fall over. Kay grabbed the Gewehr 98 as someone approached her from behind. She slammed the butt of the rifle into her before shooting the rifle. Erwin fired his Mauser pistol off and took down one of Kay's students. He turned to see one of his friends finished off by the enemy. The enemy turned and he fired the Mauser, finishing off the foe. Some of Kay's students battered and wrestled their enemies to the ground as one of them jabbed the foe with the rifle bayonet. Jajka swung her rifle like a club and slapped the student. She then bashed her chest with the rifle butt. Another student vaulted another one over before jabbing the bayonet into him.
All along the lines, the students bashed, jabbed and beat each other up in the chaotic mess of the melee battle. Some even shot each other if the distance was far enough. Erwin and Azusa looked on with horror as they were getting brutally slaughtered out there.
"Retreat everyone! Retreat! Retreat!" Erwin gave the signal to fall back. The remaining students began falling back as Kay had put up a successful defense of the fortress. Kay had managed to win for the first time.
"Now is the time to tend to the wounded." Jajka told Kay before dragging one of the middle schoolers off that had been mauled in the battle.
"They're chickens I tell you." Kay smirked before she walked off to help Jajka out.
Evening came and the students had gathered around. Megumi and Alexandra were happy with the victory they managed to pull off.
"Leadership is important if we are to keep ourselves together, Gisela still can't face us." Alexandra told Lola and Megumi. She was excited about the victory.
"Gisela doesn't know what she means when she says it, but we have an easy time with this victory. Keep this up and we should be able to continue fighting. We should be able to get Gisela to give up and rely more and more on Kuromorimine. She failed to take some of the pressure off of Przemyśl and Warsaw is still in our hands." Alexandra beamed with victory. "Any news about Osowiec fortress?"
"The fortress held on. The charge pulled off managed to throw those middle schoolers back. Plus, things aren't going well for Kuromorimine according to Azumi. They stopped retreating. A gap opened up, so Kuromorimine pulled back. Even though they took out the BC Freedom flag tank, this was the end of a beginning as they can't win a quick war." Megumi explained that the alliance was getting itself together and they were beginning to turn the tables against Kuromorimine. However, this wasn't going to be the case.
Under the cover of darkness, a group of students were wearing a bunch of fez hats as they were on two cruisers, Goeben and Breslau.
"Kuromormine was gracious enough to give us these cruisers. As a way of saying thank you, let's use them." Ankara began. She adjusted her fez hat before the guns on the cruisers turned to line up with their first target. "Fire!" The guns of the cruisers began opening up as supplies for Saunders were destroyed using firecrackers. They would go on to raid more storage sheds with their cruisers before slipping away into the night. They had attacked four times. The next morning came, and Alexandra walked up to Megumi with news.
"Megumi, we've been raided by Kebab as of last night. They fired at four storage sheds." Alexandra began.
"Where did they attack?" Megumi asked.
"They shelled Odessa, Sevastopol. Feodosiya and Novorossiysk." Alexandra gave the targets where they had been shelled by the cruisers.
"It's clear whose side Kebab is on. Ankara wants war with us and our alliance." Megumi told Alexandra that Kebab High School was siding with Kuromorimine.
The war was beginning to escalate.
[A/N]: Saunders has managed to snatch two victories from The Dual Alliance and their middle school allies however a new enemy has joined Kuromorimine's side. Kebab High School decided to shell some of Saunders and decide that they are at war now. Now Saunders is fighting three schools instead of two. Next battle will be against Kebab. Goodbye for now.