Finals battlefield

Everyone on both sides knew that small hill would be the major point of contention for the match. It was such a vital place to hold for both teams. For Continuation, it was a vital place to allow for a vantage point to let Jouko fire down on the Gloriana tanks. For St. Gloriana, it was an important vantage point to allow for observation and to allow to fire on their opponents from superior ground. Jouko knew how much she would have to fight, but first there was something to deal with. Any time now, Rosehip and her group of tanks would be here, in fact she could already be seen charging in recklessly with three other tanks, nothing out of the ordinary for this pink-haired speedometer remover. Continuation was firing shells at them, missing at first, but as they closed the distance shots began to impact, and soon hit white-flag impacts. Jouko was "missing" her shots a few times, hitting some of the Gloriana tanks further behind, though she managed to knock out a tank in Rosehip's group, though it wasn't Rosehip herself.

"Hannes, charge in, we'll give that speedster a taste of her own medicine and a masterclass on maneuvering. Frisell, order Linder to follow. It won't be good going in alone."
The Sturmi lurched forward, breaking formation, followed by Linder and her new T-34/85 that had been "borrowed" from Pravda during one of Mika's heist operations. Together, they met Rosehip's vanguard in close-quarters combat as the rest of Continuation fired at the main Gloriana force from a distance. Hannes was drifting the Sturmi this way and that, avoiding shells and giving Jouko perfect firing opportunities which she used to their fullest effect. Linder stood further back, providing close fire support to Jouko and making things harder for the Gloriana vanguard, firing with decent accuracy, though some of her shots came dangerously close to hitting the Sturmi. Regardless, the duo was able to knock out two more vanguard tanks, meaning that now, only Rosehip was left.

With three tanks of four gone, the vanguard was almost nonexistent. The last Crusader attempted to make a getaway, not wishing to meet the same fate as the other tanks next to it. Linder wouldn't have it, however, and with another shell loaded in, she took careful aim. This particular Crusader was making things complicated, weaving and swerving this way and that, trying to be as unpredictable as possible, meaning that this had to be Rosehip herself. Remembering what Jouko had taught her about moving targets, Linder took several moments to study Rosehip's pattern and calculating her shot, fired a powerful shell at her Crusader. The shell impacted, but it wasn't enough to knock it out, merely detracking it. Moments later, however, Linder heard another shot being fired to her right. The shell zipped through the air and straight into the Crusader's engine, and a burst of smoke and flame followed by a white flag signaled its knockout.

"Frisell, tell Linder to move to the hill. We'll fire a few shots at those Gloriana tanks. Hannes, when we get there, I want you to wait until I fire a shot before moving backwards, in other words, do kiting, Frisell you tell Linder to do the same. Make sure that we move irregularly, for we don't want our rotation periods to be predictable." Jouko opened her cupola and watched as the Gloriana formation came ever closer as the duo moved towards the hill. They were abreast in perfect line formation, maintaining steady discipline and cohesion. It was like watching that video of those British Grenadiers marching back in the 18th Century, although a line formation wouldn't be efficient against guerrilla tactics, like that scene from that American movie she forgot the name of, also set in the 18th Century. From her position she could count sixteen Gloriana tanks. This was their entire force. Linder pulled up next to Jouko, ready to take on the entirety of St. Gloriana's forces if necessary.

There was that joke where during the Winter War there was a Finn who cried out that one Finn was better than ten Russians. Ten Russians were sent, and as silence came the same Finn said that one Finn was better than a hundred Russians. A hundred Russians went in, all were slain and silence came again. That same Finn then said that one Finn was better than a thousand Russians, so the Russians sent a thousand soldiers at that hill. After the cacophony of hundreds of different types of weapons and guns firing at the same time came and went, silence again fell across the field. To close off this famous fable, a badly wounded soldier returning from the ordeal warned his commander:
"Don't send any more soldiers... it is a trap. There's two of them." Having said this, the soldier died from his wounds. Jouko's retelling of the joke was good relief for Continuation as everyone had a good laugh from it. But now, it was time to make that joke a reality.

"Rosehip, come back..."
Darjeeling's warnings fell on deaf ears. She watched with disappointment as Rosehip's vanguard met with the Sturmi and a T-34/85, and were utterly wiped out. Rosehip tried to make an escape, but being detracked by the T-34/85 and moments later knocked out by the Sturmi, her recklessness had given Continuation an early advantage over their opponents, with St. Gloriana now four tanks down. Their chances of winning the Finals were now weakened. Rosehip's devastated voice came over the radio frequency, profusely apologizing to Darjeeling for her failure to deal damage to Continuation and her recklessness that St. Gloriana couldn't afford to have, especially in the Finals.
"PLEASE FORGIVE ME, DARJEELING-SAMA! I'VE FAILED YOU! PLEASE DON'T PUNISH ME, I CAN'T HELP IT, PLEASE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT ANY PUNISHMENT FROM YOU, DESU-WAA~"

Letting out a sigh as Rosehip continued her anguished pleas for forgiveness, Darjeeling calmly took another sip of her tea to balance her nerves. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Normally, a tank commander would just kick Rosehip out of the tankery club for, well, being a detriment to the team, but Darjeeling was a patient commander. Her years with Earl Grey had greatly helped her to get used to stuff like this. She muttered to herself in a low voice, "Perhaps success isn't always the child of audacity..." Taking another sip, she began to weigh her options as she gave her teacup to Orange Pekoe for a refill. There wasn't much time to think. The formation was moving ahead, closer and closer to Continuation's positions, and she could see the same Sturmi and T-34 on the small hill on her left, getting ready to open. If she didn't act quick, she'd meet the same fate as Miho during the Semifinals, but she had to weigh out her options first before committing to drastic measures.

On one hand, she could go full aggressive and try to take out as many Continuation tanks as possible, but with her forces weakened Continuation would easily be able to surround Gloriana's forces. Sure, they would be able to take out a few tanks, but Jouko had likely been training their gunners in accuracy, and they would be whittled down and annihilated within minutes, and there was also Jouko and that T-34 from a distance. That T-34 was likely a disciple of Jouko, and arguably Continuation's second-best tank crew. If she was more defensive, then Jouko would easily snipe down her forces into oblivion, unless she was feeling merciful. Spreading out into smaller groups seemed the best option, but there was still the risk of being defeated in detail, something Napoleon had used very well in his campaigns, most prominently in Italy and Austria. There wasn't much that could really be done, but as commander, she would do her very best to get as much success as possible.

Receiving a newly-filled teacup from Pekoe, she gave her next orders to St. Gloriana. Facing Continuation, it wouldn't really be effective, but it was the best choice they had, and the best plan Darjeeling could really come up with given the very tight schedule she was being forced to put up with at the moment. Clutching the radio, she transmitted the plan of action to the others.

"Nilgiri, Rukuriri, you and four other tanks will keep moving towards Continuation and try to knock out as many of their forces as possible. Their tanks' quality is not as good as our tanks' quality, so I am confident you will be able to do well. The rest of the team, aside from myself, will attack that hill to knock out those two tanks and give us a better chance of winning while I stay behind and try to give support from a distance. Don't expect all of us to survive, we are, after all, facing a very good opponent. The survivors and myself will join you in mopping up the rest of Continuation's tanks and hopefully winning this tournament, we have much to do.

Good luck to all of you, for St. Gloriana expects that every woman will do her duty."

Linder could see St. Gloriana's forces splitting up: the smaller force kept advancing towards Continuation's positions as the majority attacked the hill besides the flag tank, which remained on the ground. This was a sign that Darjeeling had truly begun to grow desperate, and this St. Gloriana assault was going to be nothing but a massacre. A total of ten tanks were advancing on the hill. But, Linder was hesitating somewhat, and needed to be sure that Jouko would be okay if she opened fire. Her initiative was still developing, and she still showed signs of uncertainty, though it was being less and less frequent that these signs presented themselves.

"Commander, they're splitting up, a majority of them are advancing on our positions. Shall we commence firing?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask, Linder, you may open fire when you wish."

"My apologies, commander, forgive my indecisiveness. I'll start firing immediately."

The two tanks opened fire with great accuracy. Jouko and Linder were firing several shots at St. Gloriana's tanks, some bouncing due to the maneuvering their opponents were doing to prevent impact, others hitting the turret rings or any other spots where the armor was particularly weak. One by one, the St. Gloriana advance was weakened, and the advance began to stall. Hannes was performing irregular kiting cycles to prevent the Sturmi from being hit, and Linder was doing the same, though somewhat less infrequent. The Sturmi still sustained a few hits, most of them ricocheting off the armor, with the worst being a detracking from one of the Gloriana tanks which would need a few minutes, maybe around ten or fifteen, to fix up, but at least it wasn't a knockout hit, and Jouko kept sending shells straight into the remaining tanks.

Seeing the devastation that was being inflicted on St. Gloriana, Linder proposed trying a few shots at the flag tank, allowing Jouko to finish off the rest. By this point, five of the original ten tanks that were sent to attack the hill were white-flagged, the rest beginning to dither from witnessing the losses they took. The Churchill was now speeding up, having too witnessed the massacre that had just happened on the hill, to try to no doubt catch up with the other St. Gloriana tanks and get more protection from the possible shells that would most certainly be coming in its way now that there were no more tanks to really send in its direction.

"Commander, may I try a shot at the flag tank as you finish off the rest? I could finish this match right this instant if you'd like."

"No, Linder, I would like us to do a little... reenactment. Remember the Little Bighorn?"

"'Little Bighorn'? What's that?"

Jouko took the time to explain the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a battle she had heard about several times in America and studied about. It was a humiliating defeat for the U.S. Army where around 270 cavalrymen, led by war hero George Armstrong Custer, were massacred by Native Americans during one of the many wars the Americans fought against the Native Americans, Custer among them. According to popular legend, the battalion had made a last stand, surrounded by Natives and fighting until every one of them was dead. It was likely inaccurate and that the stand was instead composed of several smaller stands spread out over the battlefield. Here, though, Jouko wanted to make a little reenactment of the "popular" form of the Little Bighorn, and after knocking out more of St. Gloriana's hill attack, ordered Continuation to begin moving to encircle the last of the Gloriana tanks. The survivors of the hill assault had been ordered to rejoin Darjeeling, the attack a disaster.

Ironically, the other, smaller force of St. Gloriana had fared somewhat better. As the battle developed, Jouko dismissed the idea of maneuvering, but still encouraged it to be done "if necessary". Continuation's formation, which before had been dormant, was now buzzing with activity. St. Gloriana had poked the hornet's nest, and now the residents had received a rude awakening and were moving at all directions. Nilgiri and Rukuriri had slowed, taking advantage of the weaker cannons of Continuation's T-26s to fire even in range. Together, the five Gloriana tanks worked to destroy two of Continuation's T-26s. As Continuation began to start maneuvering, another T-26 was taken out. Although the gunners were putting shells into what should be knockout areas, the barrels weren't that strong enough to really hit hard enough, and their shots merely bounced.

Soon, however, the Gloriana forces were at the perfect spot for Jouko to exercise her plan, a plan she had appropriately titled "Operation Crazy Horse". Linder and Jouko would now watch as effective spectators. The St. Gloriana tanks couldn't afford to fire at them because they themselves were being under fire from their opponents. So, with everything in place, Jouko ordered Frisell to give the order.

"To all tanks, begin the encirclement. Commander Jouko wants to finish this tournament with some spectacle."

Finals viewing area

The crowd couldn't help but feel sorry for St. Gloriana. With a fifth of their tanks knocked out early on, they had been given an early disadvantage, and the hill assault, well, you couldn't really expect much success given it was defended by two skilled tank crews with two powerful tanks. The other assault group was faring much better, knocking out four tanks, losing none of their own. At least St. Gloriana was seeing some success from what otherwise was a complete disaster of a match for them. Jouko and Linder were overlooking the battle from their hill, but for some reason weren't firing the knockout blows to that Churchill flag tank. There was no second chance to give at this point, even if all the T-26s had been knocked out, they couldn't hope to stand a chance against the tanks on the hill, which had now been joined by the flag tank, again the BT-42. Was there some finale that Jouko was going to give? If so, everybody couldn't wait.

The other major schools viewing the match had taken their seats, or tanks, next to Ooarai, and intermingled with each other as they commented on the match. Everyone didn't expect St. Gloriana to really win with Jouko on the opposing team, and indeed, within fifteen minutes of the match starting they had already lost all but 6 of their tanks, most of those kills being from Jouko. But, it was relieving to see that the match wouldn't be entirely one-sided as the remaining six tanks knocked out three of their opponents, but now, everyone was about to bear witness to what would arguably be the best tournament finale since Ooarai's match against Kuromorimine, and everyone was trying to make predictions on how this match would conclude.

Some, like Ooarai, Anzio, Saunders, and Alice, who was spectating the match with them, were expecting Jouko to do something like allow all of Continuation's tanks that weren't herself, the T-34, or the BT-42 to get knocked out before going in herself and finishing the job effortlessly. Others like BC, Chihatan, Pravda, and Kuromorimine were expecting Continuation to go in with overwhelming numbers like a large wave against a sandcastle. The latter group was right, although it wouldn't simply be trampling over the remainder of St. Gloriana's forces.

Erwin was the first to spot the movement, pointing to Miho:
"Look, Kommandant, Continuation's forces are moving forward!"
"They seem to be splitting up, they're doing a good old pincer movement!"
"Will it be like the encirclement of Minsk, Erika? I love double envelopments!"

Sure enough, Continuation was moving towards St. Gloriana's remaining tanks, which attempted to flee. But, they were overrun and surrounded. Anchovy was excited, ready to see a devastating volley that would knock out all of St. Gloriana in one go. Her shouts were echoed next to her by Katyusha and Alisa, who were equally excited.

"COME ON, GIVE IT TO THEM! ONE LAST VOLLEY TO WIPE THEM ALL OUT!"
"The Great Katyusha is pleased to see a great display of power! Overwhelming amounts shells that they cannot possibly hope to stand up to!"
"Give us a good old Fourth of July show! My popcorn's almost out! I WANT SOME BIG EXPLOSIONS HERE!"

To everyone's surprise, however, Continuation, instead of ending everything right then and there, began to drive circles around St. Gloriana's tanks. The circle spun faster and faster as Continuation's tanks sped up, completely trapping the tanks inside. It wasn't even all of their tanks, just twelve of them. The others were waiting elsewhere, ready to cover any holes St. Gloriana would try to make. The tanks inside the circle formed a defensive formation with the flag tank in the middle, and began firing at the circle. Two T-26s were felled, but quickly replaced by the reinforcements waiting to go in. The T-26s were firing shot after shot into Gloriana's forces inside. Gradually wearing down the armor of the Matildas, the longer the stand dragged on, the less tanks there were for St. Gloriana. Yukari's eyes were beaming, and joined with Kay in saying in unison:

"It's just like Custer's last stand!"

Battlefield - Churchill

"All tanks, assume defensive positions around my tank. It looks like our worthy adversary would like us to have a last stand of sorts."

Darjeeling calmly sipped her tea as the battle raged outside. Continuation's tanks were running circles around her own, and firing indiscriminately, kicking up lots of dust from the ground they were tearing up. Her five remaining tanks had formed a box around her per her orders, hopelessly firing shells at the whirlpool engulfing them. Each tank they knocked out was quickly replaced, and there was no hope of escaping from this predicament. If they tried a breakout, Jouko and Linder were on that hill waiting to fire some shells that would be enough to knock all of them out within a minute. They couldn't try to fire at the hill given how chaotic the situation was in the hill's direction, so all they could do now was sit back and get defeated. It wasn't a victory, but it was a very interesting defeat, something the spectators hopefully were loving to see. After all, who didn't love a story of a gallant final stand, let alone view one unfold?

Nilgiri, Rukuriri, and the other tank commanders were consistently providing updates to Darjeeling of their situation, informing her of knockouts and their tanks' durability, but gradually the amount of voices decreased as their tank's armor wore down and eventually they were knocked out. By the time the last survivor was finally knocked out, they had taken out six tanks over the course of the last stand, but it wasn't enough to turn the tide. Shell after shell impacted St. Gloriana's tanks, and they were whittled down as time passed. Darjeeling understood that she didn't really stand a chance this battle, especially after Rosehip decided to do what she did at the very beginning. She wasn't just facing one of the best tank commanders and crews in Sensha-do, she was also facing that tank commander's apprentice, who was in command of a powerful tank that had been stolen from Pravda. Her hill assault could've gone better, but she was under some stress at the time and couldn't really refine that plan, but whatever she did it would get rebuffed, Jouko was simply too good.

Expecting that soon her tank would soon be met with shells and knocked out, she braced for the inevitable, finishing her teacup and not asking Pekoe for a refill, not wishing to spill any tea on herself nor anybody else inside the Churchill. However, the firing soon ceased. It had been around fifteen minutes since the last stand had begun, and now, the Churchill was the only one remaining. The tanks had also stopped moving and now faced inside the circle. Linder's T-34 had driven up to her. Was she going to deliver the coup de grâce? In any case, she couldn't really do anything. Resigned to her fate, Darjeeling waited for the impact, but again, her expectations were not met. Instead, the T-34, joined by six T-26s, was using hooks to tow away the knocked out tanks. This process took around 5 minutes, long enough to finish another teacup, but by the end of that time, Darjeeling's Churchill was completely exposed. She didn't want to fire into the backs of those tanks, it wasn't really elegant and civilized for her to do so, so she simply waited for the process to finish before the end came.

The still air was interrupted by the return of the roar of the cannons as all of the T-26s opened up on the poor Churchill. Everyone inside could feel dozens of shells slamming into it, yet for almost a minute the tank held out. Darjeeling was looking through the slits of her cupola to get a look, and the corner of her eye caught something moving close to her tank. Upon closer inspection, it was the Sturmi. Moments later, the Churchill was rattled to its core by a powerful blast, being shoved to the side even, traveling a few feet before settling down close to the perimeter of the circle, smoke erupting from its turret ring, and a white flag popping out. With their flag tank and all of their forces knocked out after a thrilling last stand, St. Gloriana had lost the Finals, and the Tournament. Darjeeling was relatively unaffected by the result. She knew that there was little chance in victory against Continuation. Jouko had trained them well, and she had been bested by an honorable opponent.

Battlefield - Sturmi

"Well, that's it. Managed to grow lots of muscles from that, heh."
"Yep, Continuation's first tournament win, feels good driving, doesn't it?"
"How are you feeling, Jouko?"

Jouko simply responded by plugging in her small speakers to her phone, and moving to the Sibelius Violin Concerto again. This time, however, it wasn't just the First Movement alone, it would be the entire concerto. Jouko had wanted to play through the whole thing, she had by now memorized pretty much everything. Taking out her violin from its case hidden in one of the compartments, she was about to press play and start playing the solo part alongside the recording, which was of David Oistrakh, one of her favorite violinists, when Frisell interrupted her for a few minutes to install some extra, more powerful speakers she had brought in case Jouko decided to go musical again. It took a few minutes to wire all the speakers, but when everything was set, Frisell gave Jouko a thumbs up, telling her that she could feel free to perform outside the tank if she wished. Indeed, climbing out of the Sturmi and standing on top, Jouko readied herself and her violin, began to play as the orchestra, led by another legendary conductor, Eugene Ormandy, played in the background, being heard by everyone on the battlefield.

Everyone stopped celebrating or doing what they were doing, both Continuation and St. Gloriana students, to go listen to Jouko's performance, gathering around the Sturmi or sitting or standing in nearby tanks. The pickup vehicles were delayed to allow for the performance to be completely run through. Jouko was playing as loud as she could so that Oistrakh in the recording couldn't be heard, though there were some moments where she was too quiet to drown out the great violinist, but Jouko didn't really care about that fact, in fact, she paused in a few places to allow Oistrakh to be heard, primarily in the quieter places, before resuming later on as the music crescendoed, as if she were playing a duet with him, something which she definitely would've loved. Granted, Jouko wasn't perfect, missing a few notes here and there especially at the jumps, but she still gave an impressive performance which attracted applause from the crews of both teams as Jouko gave her customary bows.

The whole performance was heard through the loudspeakers at the spectators' stands, and as Jouko closed off everyone gave a standing ovation, for they loved to see and hear some talent outside of Sensha-do in addition to the art itself. Granted, Jouko's methods of winning were somewhat questionable. Some liked them for its uniqueness, some hated them because it was "too dirty" for their liking or went against their strategy which they duty-bound couldn't diverge from, but it was undeniable that she had talent both in and out of the art of Sensha-do, and everybody loved talent.

Jouko climbed back inside, tired from playing for thirty straight minutes, saying out loud, "I think I did good there, finally managed to play the whole thing."

The majority of the Finals match was somewhat underwhelming, but that final stand and closing off with a wonderful and unexpected musical performance from Jouko more than made up for it.

Author's Note:

Yeah, apologies if this was a bit underwhelming, but since I'm somewhat new to the writing business I tried my best. I'll be doing some revisions when I feel once I finish off with the whole story. Right now, I'm planning to release 2-5 more chapters depending on whether I decide to take the story. So far I have these options.

1: Have a "Losers' Bracket" where the winner of that bracket fights Continuation in the Grand Finals, a new addition to the Sensha-do Tournaments (3-5 more chapters)
2: Don't have a "Losers' Bracket" and go over some details in the next chapter before heading over to the story's "Grand Finale" with a 1v1 with Jouko vs. Anglerfish (1-2 more chapters)

I'm likely going to go for option 2 for the time being but if I feel motivated enough I'll get to work with option 1. I hope you've enjoyed reading so far, it's been amazing writing this. In case you didn't know, this was originally on Wattpad and I wanted to try it out here, I was surprised with the amount of attention this was getting so I decided to not just copypaste but make more "original content" for the story, meaning that I added more details and revised and fixed mistakes from the Wattpad version. On Wattpad, it's around 30k words, this fanfic may go up to 60k, maybe even 100k though that's unlikely. Thanks for taking a read, all feedback is appreciated.

And congrats, Jouko and crew, you've finally got Continuation's goal of not just getting to the Semifinals, but winning the entire tournament. No doubt Simuna is smiling at you right now.
(Sorry Ooarai fans, I just felt they were winning a bit too much in other fanfics, so I decided to be different, but tried to make the ending as close as I could to make up for it, so I hope I did well)