500 meters away, first target. Enemy flag tank is well protected, we might as well mess up their formation.
"Stop here, Hannes."
Feeling the tank come to a complete stop, Jouko gave a gentle tug on the trigger, and sent a shell straight into the leading Matilda's turret ring. A large column of smoke erupted from the Matilda and a white flag could be seen popping out moments later, indicating a knockout.
"Alright, let's get back to our team before we're turned into scrap metal. I've got a plan in mind."
The rest of the Koala Forest tanks, spreading out in a disorganized manner, opened fire at the Sturmi, but before one could land, it was long gone. Seconds later, the rest of Continuation appeared, nine tanks strong, ready to wipe out the rest of Koala Forest Academy. But, where was the Sturmi?

"Frisell, tell them we'll go around and try to take out their flag tank from behind, hopefully we won't be noticed easily."
Circling around, the Sturmi maneuvered around the Koala Forest tanks, who were too preoccupied with the Continuation tanks in front of them to notice, or even care. As the two sides began firing at each other, the Sturmi had moved to a position where Jouko now had a clear shot on the enemy flag tank. It was perfect. Jouko smiled, muttering silently under her breath:
This will be an easy match.

Taking careful aim, she sent another shell zipping through the air heading for the flag tank, but in a stroke of misfortune, one of the M3 Light Tanks drove into the shell's path, and absorbed the shell hit in favor of the flag tank, getting knocked out in the process. "Quick, Löfström, reload before they spot us!" Löfström slammed another shell into the turret as Jouko took aim, but the enemy Matilda was now taking evasive maneuvers. Stamping her foot in frustration, she decided sniping wouldn't do anymore.
If we can't snipe it, looks like we're gonna have to get more personal.

"Hannes, move in through the midst of those Koala tanks, chase that enemy flag tank best you can. They'll be distracting our team with their remaining tanks to allow that flag tank to get away, make sure it stays here." Hannes slammed her foot on the throttle, and the Sturmi bolted into the Koala formation. Jouko fired several times, immobilizing two tanks as she focused on hitting the escaping Matilda. The Sturmi was bouncing several shells, and it couldn't hold much longer. Hannes was turning this way and that, trying to avoid both incoming rounds and possible tank collisions. Seconds later, though, the Matilda was now in Jouko's sights. In the split second of decision, she fired straight into the Matilda's engine, right as the Sturmi itself was hit and knocked out. This time, the round found its mark, with no stupid tank to move in front to block it.

The announcement rang loud and clear.
"Victory for Continuation High School!"

Jouko congratulated each and every one of her crew, giving them compliments, praises, as much happiness she could heap on them. As they came out of the tank, they were surrounded by their teammates in celebration, showered in praise, embraced by everyone, it was their first official match and they had arguably delivered the best performance of the tournament so far. However, after doing away with the celebrations, the team approached Koala Forest Academy with Rumi to thank them for a fun match. Wallaby, the Vice-Commander, was speaking to her koala at the moment. "Say, commander, fine performance eh? Our opponents are approaching us right now for handshakes."

Rumi directed Jouko to shake the koala's hand, given it was the de jure commander, and grabbing hold of it, felt it hard to let go. Wallaby reassured her with a giggle, "Oh, don't mind her, sometimes she gets a bit too sportsmanlike." After finally letting go, Jouko shook the rest of the Koala Forest team's hands before returning to her team to see which opponents they would face next. Arriving back at the school carrier, Rumi gathered everyone for planning the next battle, where she broke the news of their next opponents in the tournament.

"I'm going straight to the point. We're facing Saunders next."

The room was quiet, save for the faint heartbeats that could be heard. Saunders, the richest school which had the most tanks, most materiel, and a sniper with great aim, like Jouko. This was gonna be a hard match, especially since it was the quarterfinals, the furthest they always got in tournaments before being eliminated. Would this be any different? Mika first broke the silence. "The winds are growing stronger against us, we are about to face a hurricane with no shelter from the powerful gusts." Jouko understood, but she knew she had a capable tank, a capable team, and a capable person in herself to stand up to Saunders, especially their sniper. She and her crew had already proven themselves as arguably the best team yet in Continuation. There was nothing to worry about, right?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mika. "Jouko, are you willing to face their sniper?" Jouko simply responded with an affirmative nod. The mood in the room was dark, but everyone knew that as long as Jouko was in the match, they had a chance of victory. Rumi outlined the plan: "We'll meet their tanks using our usual guerrilla warfare tactics. We'll be fighting in dense jungle, again not our home turf, but with more cover unlike in our match against Koala. Jouko, since you've agreed to, deal with that sniper so it doesn't give us a hard time. The plan is finalized?" Affirmative noises confirmed the plan.

In the few days preceding the second round, Jouko and her crew practiced hard, maneuvering through dense forests on the school carrier and firing at long-range targets. They also worked on repainting the tank, given that white armor against a green backdrop was basically a free ticket to having your tank's white flag to pop out within the first 5 minutes of the match starting.

Finally, the day came for Continuation vs. Saunders. Jouko looked at the enemy team. Expectedly, they were shorter than her, but they bore similarities to Americans she had met in her few visits to America. They enjoyed eating, were very loud, save for the sniper, and generally nice. Their commander was Megumi, another student who was going to All-Stars next year. Her Vice-Commander, named Kay, was next in line to succeed her. As Jouko approached, she was greeted first by Kay, the energetic Vice-Commander."

"Howdy, great to see ya! Wow, you're a big one."
Jouko giggled and replied, "Heh, great to meet you too. I see you bear similarities to Americans I've met in Finland and America itself. Say, who are those three behind you?"
"Short one with pigtails is Alisa, a chaotic girl who tends to lose her mind during matches. Kinda hard to sit through her breakdowns but hey, once you get used to it you get used to it. Tall girl who looks like a boy is Naomi. She's pretty quiet, but she's really good when it comes to tanks. She can hit targets from far distances, all around great addition to the team. Last but certainly not least, the girl with the dark long hair is Megumi, our Commander. She's graduating highschool next year so we're hoping for a good run to give her a grand farewell."
"I see. Let's have a good match?"
"Of course! Sensha-do's always about the fun and games!"

When the time came, both teams were called to do the pre-match formalities. Jouko and her tank crew stood out like a sore thumb due to their heights, which amused some of the spectators watching the match.

"Commanders, please bow."
"We wish you a good match!" both sides shouted, and the crews manned their tanks to begin the match.
A burst from the Bofors gun signaled the beginning of the match, and after a few minutes of driving with the pack, Jouko's Sturmi abandoned the formation. She kept a close eye on the Firefly, the enemy sniper, and subtly followed it into the dense forest as she played some pieces by Sibelius, albeit very quietly. Hannes did her best to maneuver as Jouko gave orders, and seeing the Firefly take its position, she stopped the tank. Pushing her face into her gunnery visor, she took several seconds to estimate the distance of the enemy and the angle of her gun as a shell was pushed into the turret.

One-and-a-half kilometers away, 21 degrees upward. No wind to worry about this time.
By the time her evaluation was completed, however, she noticed the Firefly turning its turret towards her position. They had been spotted. Acting fast, she pulled the trigger and fired a single round at the Firefly, but it missed by mere inches. A muzzle flash could be seen seconds later from the Firefly's position, and more eternal seconds passed before the shell impacted and shuddered the ground around them, tearing up patches of dirt and grass and sending them flying into the air. With seconds to think, Jouko instinctively opened the hatch and yelled, "Quickly, Frisell, the smoke grenade!"

Frisell grabbed a smoke grenade from a compartment and tossed it to Jouko, who activated it and tossed it outside, before quickly closing the hatch again. A few seconds passed as Jouko waited anxiously for the Firefly to budge, hoping her ruse of making it look like her tank was knocked out had worked. Indeed, it did, somehow, and the Firefly began to move from its position to rejoin the main Saunders formation. By now, Frisell had reloaded another shell, and Jouko took aim at the Firefly a second time, and fired. The wait felt as if everything had frozen, anxiously hoping her shot would find its mark. There was good and bad news that came from this. The round had indeed found its mark this time, but it failed to immobilize the Firefly, which noticed that the Sturmi was still very much operational, and realizing its potentially fatal mistake, had to act fast. It began to turn its turret again, and targeted the Sturmi's position. Jouko muttered words of anger and regret under her breath.
For goodness' sake... I should've stayed with the main formation... we're too far.
"Hannes, get us out of here, and try to move closer to that Firefly. Apparently these shells won't work at this distance." Hannes slammed the throttle, and managed to get the Sturmi out of the way of an incoming shell, driving into the trees. Moving through dense forest was difficult, but Jouko's guidance was a great help for Hannes, who was lucky to have a commander who knew forests well, growing up in a similar environment to this. Unfortunately, given the density of the forest they were in, Jouko had lost sight of the Firefly, and was now desperately trying to find it again. The trees were making it very difficult to find that tank, and just as she was about to give up and order the Sturmi to maneuver out of the forest to engage the main Saunders force in a surprise attack to hopefully take out the flag tank she heard a shell fly past, and seconds later, another.

Looking behind, it was the enemy Firefly.

You're not getting away easily... Naomi fired another shell at the retreating Sturmi. Whoever was commanding that tank was really good at her job. Was it that girl from Finland she met before the match? If so, no wonder, some rumors say her grandfather was friends with the White Death himself. Well, she was about to face someone related to the White Feather, an expert sniper that could be of Simo's caliber. Seconds passed as Naomi watched to see if her shot had landed. To her dismay, the Sturmi was out of there before it could come within 100 meters of her shell. "Dagnammit, Sandy, drive us down. We're hunting that tank down even if we get knocked out. The longer we keep that thing occupied, the bigger the chance we get of winning this match."

Sandy began moving the Firefly down into the forest. Naomi tried to keep her eyes on that Sturmi, initially able to maintain sight of it. However, as they both descended into the trees, both lost sight of each other. "Chloe, can you radio the other tanks? We gotta warn them about this Sturmi."
"Commander Naomi, we can't transmit any messages in this dense forest. At best we'll only get badly garbled audio." Dangit, looks like we're gonna have to settle this one way or another. "Alright, Sandy, I'll look outside to try to get a better view so as to catch that Sturmi again. Drive on my orders, don't let up the chase." The Firefly continued to drive through the dense forests as Naomi used a map to try to navigate. Minutes passed by with little knowledge of the main combat that was going on with the rest of her team. All her orders were to try to snipe the enemy flag tank or knock out as many as possible, yet here she was, stuck in some stupid goose chase with another sniper either trying to do the same thing or possibly even assigned to knock her out specifically.

More minutes passed, there was no announcement of victory yet. But, there was something that caught Naomi's eye. Painted in green with the Jatkosota symbol prominent on its side, it was none other than that cursed Sturmi. "Sandy, drive to our left, I've finally caught sight of that tank." As Sandy drove the Firefly to a suitable shooting position against the Sturmi's rear, Naomi took aim and fired. Miss. "Jenny, another shot!" As the shell was slammed into the barrel, Naomi took another shot. and it missed again. Now it knows we're here for sure...

"I've gained sight of it again! Hannes, drive faster and get us as much distance as you possibly can, but evade as many shells and trees as possible." Hannes obeyed, but was confused on why Jouko was being so, well, typical. "Don't question it Hannes," piped Löfström, "Commander Jouko knows best, so it's best to listen to her. Don't forget about less thinking, more acting." So, she increased the speed of the Sturmi and swerved this way and that, avoiding trees and shells as best she could, though she was unable to avoid several trees which did manage to impact the Sturmi, causing it to slow several times, but despite this they continued to gain more distance between them and the Firefly. Minutes passed by as the chase dragged on. Shells were continuing to shoot by them, some close, some far, but no hits on the Sturmi. Jouko didn't know how the main battle was going on, and Frisell's radio was unable to work properly due to bad signal in thick forests, but she had good faith in her teammates, as well as her fellow tankers.

"That tank's speeding up, don't let it get away, Sandy! Jenny, keep those rounds coming in!" Shot after shot after shot was hurled at the Sturmi. Naomi needed to take this thing out before the team could lose. Come on, give me a hit, just one. Dumb Continuation drivers, too good at their job... It's getting away from me... Seconds passed as that Sturmi gained distance. Naomi still fired shells at it, but didn't seem to hit anything but the ground or the trees surrounding the both of them. Just as she was about to give up, things took a turn for the worse. That Sturmi was drifting, and in some extremely lucky circumstance, in a clearing, perfect for drifting. Now, its barrel was pointing directly at her Firefly.
"Oh no-"

That Firefly was not letting up the chase, and was still firing away, shots zipping by growing ever closer to hitting the Sturmi. But, at the perfect opportunity, enough distance was finally met for Jouko to execute the next part of the tactic. At a small clearing in the forest, a lucky coincidence, Jouko shouted, "Now! Drift left!" Hannes, with renewed confidence, pulled the lever as fully to the left as possible. The Sturmi's tracks tore up the grass, slowing the turn until it was now facing the Firefly, which was rapidly closing the distance between itself and the Sturmi. Again, with split-second precision, Jouko fired, sending the shell directly into the Firefly, knocking it out in a bright and brilliant mixture of orange and black, shortly thereafter followed by a small white square transposed in front.

There was no time to celebrate. Now, they needed to rejoin the main fight as soon as possible before things got any worse. Given they were in a part of the forest where the signal was stronger, Jouko demanded radio reports. "Frisell, tell our team we have just dealt with the Firefly. Ask them their status and that we're on our way. Hannes, drive as fast as you can. We have to get there before Jatkosota gets knocked out of this tournament." After doing so, Frisell gave a mournful reply: "Nearly all of our tanks are gone, only Rumi's Panzer is left as well as Mika's BT-42. We're close to the action, we'll just have to drive right from where we're facing."

Hannes drove like never before, driving through thick woods, avoiding trees, bushes, and other natural obstacles that stood in the Sturmi's way, as Frisell continued to ask for updates on the situation, and Jouko stuck her head out of the cupola to listen closely for the gunfire in the distance as well as use her binoculars to look for the way out. As the sound of shells being fired grew louder and louder, Jouko climbed back into her seat and readied the cannon as the brightness of the open fields grew more and more prominent.

"Come on, we almost have you..."
Megumi was not allowing victory to slip. Those tanks were as good as toast. As long as that cursed Sturmi didn't show up and ruin everything at the last moment, they were well on their way to the Semifinals. "Keep up the chase! We're slowly whittling down their numbers! Vice-Commander Kay, give me a status report!"

"All good, Commander Megumi! We're pouring in more lead into them, but those stubborn tanks won't allow that lead to dig itself warm and cozy into them. We're trying our best, though!" Nobody had heard of Naomi since she last reported she was chasing after an enemy Sturmi into the forest. Was she still in the match and knocked out the Sturmi, or had the opposite happened? No time to think now, the match is as good as won. Just one more minute and they'll be in the Semis.

"Uhh, Commander Megumi?"
"What is it, Kathy?"
"Enemy Sturmi to our three!"
Aw, crud. Naomi did get knocked out. "It's aiming at us, keep firing! We'll kill that flag tank before that Sturmi kills us!"
"Commander Megumi, it's about to fire!"
No, not now. They were so close... they'd just taken out the tank guarding the flag tank. They weren't about to get smoked right when victory was in their grasp. Climbing out of her cupola, she spotted a flash from the Sturmi.
Was this it? Was this gonna be the end of the match? It couldn't be, there was no chance. Ah, whatever, there was always next year for Saunders. Hopefully it would go better, shame that Megumi wouldn't be there to command them. Bracing for impact, she expected the shell hit that would end her chances of getting Saunders to the Semifinals.

Finally emerging from the dense forests, the Sturmi ended up on the right flank of the Saunders team, just as the BT-42 was taken out,
leaving the Panzer flag tank undefended and alone. But there was a clear shot on the enemy flag tank, the M4A1(76) Sherman. Jouko readied to fire. She knew the Continuation flag tank wouldn't survive for long, so she needed to act now. Taking aim, Jouko fired a desperate shell at the flag tank. Unfortunately, fate was against her for a second time, in the same form. Another Sherman, commanded by Kay, drove into the shell's path and was immobilized. "No, not again! Quick, another shell! I'm not letting this cause our team's defeat!"

Megumi heard an explosion, though no impact. What had happened? It took a few seconds to process it, but she realized. Kay had driven onto the shell's path just before the shell could traverse the distance, and had taken the hit for Megumi. As she looked back at the wreckage, having stabilized herself, she could see Kay smiling and waving to her amidst the smoke, her tank's white flag having popped out to her left. Her heart was racing like never before. Kay had given her a second chance, and she couldn't let it go to waste.

"Come on... just one good hit... please..."
Keeping watch for that Sturmi, it was still heading for the Saunders formation. Some tanks were trying to shoot it, but it was evading shells, and though some were impacting, they were bouncing off. Soon, a flash came from where the Sturmi was. Megumi could see the incoming shell, and ducked inside her tank for cover. This time, there was an impact, rocking the tank. Megumi was violently thrown around, and temporarily blacked out. She came to moments later, and regaining a grasp of reality, turned her head to the left to see that a white flag was flying in the air, and her tank reeking of copious amounts of smoke.

"Quick, Löfström another shell!"
Another shell was pushed in within seconds, and Jouko once again took aim. Shells were coming their way, as the rear Saunders tanks were firing at them. They were bouncing many shells, but once Jouko had found the perfect opportunity, she pulled the trigger and fired. At the same time, a shell from one of the M4s shot straight at Continuation's flag tank.

Both flag tanks were immobilized, and it was hard to determine which had gone down first. If both flag tanks had been knocked out at the exact same time, then there would be another match the following day to determine a winner. The judges reviewed the footage as both teams gathered in their own respective areas, anxiously waiting to hear the results. Minutes passed by that felt like hours. Jouko's stomach was twisting into another knot each passing second. She had to pray her shot made it before Saunders' shot did. If it was a draw, at least they had another shot at the semifinals, and maybe Jouko could try sniping the enemy flag tank first opportunity she got.

Unfortunately, it was all not to be.
After minutes of review, the announcement rang out loud and clear: "Victory for Saunders University High School!"
Her shot had come too late... by eight milliseconds.

Eight. Milliseconds. Jouko was devastated. Eight milliseconds?! Collapsing to the ground, she couldn't afford to show her face, she couldn't hear the distant cheers from the Saunders team. This was their shot, this one last chance for Rumi to get Continuation to the Semifinals, and she had blown it all away by eight milliseconds. Give me a break. Eight milliseconds my foot, I'll be treated like a bag of garbage now. I had this chance for Rumi, and I blew it all away.
Mustering the courage to stand up after a few minutes, she faced her team defeated, expecting backlash, criticism, and all sorts of verbal abuse. She had come too late to save her team, all because of her focus on a single tank. Expecting the worst, she dejectedly stood in front of her teammates. However, she was met with compliments, and congratulations instead.

"Well, we might have lost, but your performance against that Firefly was definitely the highlight of this performance." Touko's words came as a surprise. Mika came next: "From hearing Frisell's reports, you must be lucky to have a tank team like that. Your driver and loader have served you well, and we of course shouldn't neglect your radio operator.."

Rumi came last. Jouko expected the worst criticisms, given this was her last tournament before going to university, but all she got was compliments from her as well.
"It's truly unfortunate Continuation never got to the Semifinals when I was with you, but this was the closest we've ever gotten to getting there, all because of you, Jouko. Don't beat yourself over it, you did well today. I can see Continuation going to the Semifinals soon, and I'm sure it will happen when you're with us."

Jouko felt tears coming to her eyes, but quickly did away with them, trying to make it look like she was wiping away sweat, and embraced Rumi. She was unlucky that match, but what she was lucky to have were supportive classmates. Everyone else gave their compliments, before leaving to meet with the Saunders commanders.

Kay was the first to greet them. "I forgot your name, Jouko, isn't it?"
"Yes, that was a fine match we fought."
"Well I'll be, turns out I got lucky driving forward a bit, you are one heck of a tank commander!"
Jouko smiled, "My father always taught me to be mobile and accurate at all times."
Alisa was busy celebrating over winning the match, so it was Naomi's turn to talk with Jouko.
"Say, you were the commander of that Sturmi I was fighting during the match?"
"The same."
"Impressive work, you really know your way around tanks, given your age."
After Naomi, Jouko was introduced to Megumi, the commander of Saunders.
"Pleasure to meet you, Jouko. Your team fought well, and I'm impressed by your skills against Naomi. I see great potential in you. I hope you will see more success next tournament."

Jouko, who minutes before was full of considerations about abandoning Sensha-do, now felt proud, all of her dissatisfactions, disappointments, and depressive mood was gone. Now, she felt ready to take on the world. That's what a supportive community does to you, after all.

After both teams departed to their respective carriers, Jouko called her family. It was the first time in weeks, she had been too focused on Sensha-do to remember about them.
"Mother, Father, please forgive me for not calling you earlier."
His parents reassured her, "Oh, don't worry, Jouko, we know how much you've been working on Sensha-do. We watched your matches in the tournament, my goodness, you were amazing!" Jouko smiled, and they talked long into the night about how Aarne and Antero were doing in their shooting competition. They were doing quite well, and were still in the competition. In fact, they were going to face each other in a battle for 1st place in a week. Jouko told her parents to wish her friends good luck for her, before saying goodnight, doing her nightly devotion, and going to bed, bummed out over the tournament loss but satisfied with her performances during the tournament.

Watching the rest of the tournament's matches with her fellow classmates, she could be seen taking notes on the maneuvers, tactics, and strategies used by each school. She watched Kuromorimine's style of fighting, commonly called the Nishizumi Style, which had dominated Sensha-do for the past 9 tournaments. She saw several flaws, and began writing up several ways of combating it. At the finals, however, as she watched the school's Vice-Commander, Miho, the younger sister of Kuromorimine's Commander Maho, abandon her flag tank to save a drowning crew, causing Kuromorimine to be defeated after the flag tank was immobilized, robbing them of what would've been their 10th consecutive win, an unsurpassed feat, she gained great admiration for her, and when she heard of how badly treated Miho had been after the match, she was upset, but kept these emotions to herself. She shouldn't interfere in other schools' business. But, she expressed an interest in meeting Miho soon.