Gerald R. Ford…

Rain was pouring onto the ground all throughout the night. Luckily, the tanks had been lowered into the loading hall of the carrier, but they were still a bit wet. Jay couldn't sleep the previous night, at least not for a long stretch. He had woken up multiple times, ultimately sleeping for about 2 hours in the last stretch. Despite that, he felt refreshed, almost as if it was just what he needed. Hours had passed since he had gotten dressed and made the long walk from the apartment complex to the other side of the carrier to the loading dock. Along his walk he was bombarded with cheers and "Good lucks", as well as people staring off into the distance and pointing to what he presumed, was land. The closer he got to the elevator, the more he could see another large ship in the distance. It looked almost like an aircraft carrier. That's when he realized it was another school ship. The silhouette was that of an American one just like theirs. There were a couple more ships berthed out to sea, more akin to carriers of the second world war, and smaller vessels going to and from them. They, on the other hand, were about to dock.

When Jay got to the dock, he was met by his team, at least the few who were ready to go. Ryan and Lyon's crews were getting their tank prepped. The turret had been swung to face backward, and the barrel was stowed in the travel lock.

"Finally, we get to live out the dream!" He heard Lyon's gunner say. "I'm gonna buy so much anime merch."

"Chill, we need to get there first. And you know why we're here." He heard the driver say. "But after, I'm with you one hundred percent." Jay just chuckled and went to meet his crew who had prepped the tank for transport the day prior.

"Ready guys?" Jay asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be." His gunner, Isaac said. The other crew nodded in agreement.

"Just do what you do best, and the rest will fall into place." He climbed up the tank, standing on its engine deck to see if anyone else was coming along. He could see the other team members trickling out of the elevator and making their way to the tanks. A few minutes later, the massive cargo door began to open. The bright grey sky illuminated the cargo hold with natural lighting. We were then treated to the sight of the loading ramp being connected to the ship followed by some harbor personnel beginning to marshal us down the ramp.

"Engines on guys, let's roll!" Jay said. The hellcat's engine came to life and the tank lurched backward under the acceleration. One by one, the other tanks followed, forming a line that led to a checkpoint. Once there, all the boys were inspected, and their passports were checked and stamped. They were led through the town by a pace car, which given that they had never set foot on Japanese soil, made sense. They were led past crowds of onlookers and students from schools all over who had come to witness the spectacle. Some of the boys were waving at the onlookers, shouting hello in Japanese, but most of it was drowned out by the noise of the engines.

The drive took about 20 minutes, and in that time, they had traversed about 15 miles from the port, to which they were greeted by a much larger crowd. It was almost like a festival with several activities going on at once. The pace car pulled off to the side and they were once again marshaled to the staging area. Once the tanks had been parked and shut off, the boys got their tanks ready for the match. The guns were unlatched from their travel positions and swung around to face forward.

"Well, I must say it's definitely much more different than back home," Patrice said, hopping down from his tank.

"I gotta agree with you there," Jay replied. "But I like it here so far, and did you see all those carriers in the distance? It's insane!"

"We didn't really get much of a welcoming party, but I think we can manage," Hanz said. "Honestly, I think it's just a big deal we made it this far." They all agreed, but it wasn't long before they had their first visitors. The visitors happened to be a large crowd of girls that practically flooded the space in which the tanks occupied. All of them were either talking amongst themselves or really feeling around the tanks. A few of them shot some questions at the crews who were more than happy to answer. Even still, it was a bit overwhelming for everyone, so Jay shouted for them to get back from the tanks. He didn't want the boys to get too distracted from their duties. Of course, though, he wasn't heard by everyone and some of the groups still hung around.

It took half an hour to get everything ready to go due to a few of the crews getting distracted, but they were quickly reminded of the battle at hand and soon drove out to meet their opponents.

When they arrived, one thing was made abundantly clear. They had a very peculiar lineup, almost unassuming.

"This is their champion team? Oh my god, this is gonna be a cakewalk." Jay shot a look at his loader. Their eight tanks lined up, matching the Ooarai tanks. Each of the crew dismounted their respective tanks, taking one last check to make sure they were in top shape. They stood in front of their tanks while the commanders of said tanks walked out to greet their counterparts. Jay stepped forward ahead of the commanding group finally coming face-to-face with his counterpart. Well, it would've been face-to-face, had he been a bit shorter. He had to look down to meet the gaze of the brunette staring back at him.

"So you're the famous Miho Nishizumi," Jay said extending a hand. "Pleasure to finally meet you. I can't wait to show you what we got." He smiled a little, although on the inside he was extremely nervous.

"Let's have a good match then." She replied, shaking his hand. "Show us what you got, cowboys." Jay was a little surprised, as were a couple of the judges. Jay then gave her a smirk.
"Yes ma'am."

"Everyone bow!" Everyone did as was asked and were soon allowed to return to their tanks.

A few minutes passed, and they arrived at their starting location. It was a forest on the outskirts of the town itself, almost identical to the forest of their home. Everyone waited with bated breath. Every tank had its crew hatches open, and the engines of each tank were idling.

"Well Commandant, what is the plan?" Hanz asked.

"We take the road into town, they'll likely expect us to take the long route in. So we're taking a shortcut. We maintain our formation till we get to the town, and basically wing it from there." Jay said.

"Wing it?" Patrice asked. "That's new coming from you."

"Well, it is their town, it makes sense to wing it. If crap goes sideways, we can work around it." Jay explained. "Besides, we don't know what'll happen if we win or lose." The area where they were going to head out from was surrounded by forestry which lead to a two-lane road. The road split into two directions one of which led them down the route Jay was thinking of. The rain had let up just in time, and the late morning sun was shining through the clouds. All the team could do now was wait. Every second felt like a minute as they waited for the starting flare to soar into the sky. Over the radio, I could hear some faint remarks and what sounded like a banjo being strummed softly.

"Whatever happens, I'm glad I'm here to be a part of it." Patrice's voice crackled through the radio.

"Same here," Hanz stated. A sharp noise split the air, causing everyone to look up. The flare had been fired.

"Showtime." Jay said under his breath. "All tanks advance on me. Two by two, just like we practiced." The tank lurched back under the acceleration. The T34 took up position on the lefthand side of the Hellcat, followed by the Tiger II and A13, the T26E5, and M36, and bringing up the rear were both Chaffee's. The column made its way down the road taking the fork on the left. Jay checked his map, and right on schedule, about 20 minutes in, they found the tunnel that would take them into town. He ordered the column to hold at the entrance. Jay scanned the area, above and around the tunnel, and he didn't like what he saw. He was expecting an open-air tunnel so that he could see, but instead, it was a standard tunnel. And a long one at that.

"What's the move, Jay?" Kyle asked. "We going around? Or are pushing through." Jay thought about it for a moment.

"If we're going through, I suggest we put Shield 3 and Sniper 1 up front." Patrice chimed in. "That way, they meet our strongest element first. If there is someone waiting for us."

"Well you heard him. Kyle, Hanz, take point, we'll be right behind you." The T34 pulled ahead of the hellcat, entering the tunnel. It was followed by the King Tiger, which was staggering behind it, as the path was too thin for both tanks to be side by side. With the roofs of both the T34 and Tiger II barely clearing the roof, Jay could only pray that they wouldn't get ambushed on the other side. The front end of the convoy made it through the tunnel unmolested, followed by the rear. Everyone was looking around as they climbed the rise. The tunnel, fortunately, widened at the other end. The two heavies were the first to get in the crosshairs of their opponent. That's when all hell broke loose.

Two shots was all it took to take out the King Tiger.

"Scheiße! They got us!"

"I cant see where that's coming from!" Kyle exclaimed. He scanned the tree line on each side of the road, desperately trying to look for the shooters. The rise in terrain allowed for the T34 to shoot from an impromptu hull down position, but even still the turret was being pelted with shells every few seconds. It was only a matter of time before one for through.

"Ryan, Foster, go check out the other end of the tunnel! Leon, get that tank to the front!" Jay ordered. He slammed the roof of his tank with his fist. "Damnit! We should've taken the long way 'round." He spoke under his breath. He then heard shots being fired behind him.

"No good, got tanks over here! They've got us surrounded!" He heard Forster shout over the radio.

"Lets just wing it, huh?" Patrice spoke. "Yeah, this is just bloody brilliant. Now we're going to lose horribly!" The 120mm cannon from T34 rang out, breaking everyone's thought.

"Got one! M3 down!" Kyle exclaimed. "Ill be damned if we got this match without taking one out." The Pershing moved up between the knocked out King Tiger and the T34. Jay turned to face the rear, watching for the two scout units.

"Justin, get that gun around. We may not be able to face the forces out front, but we can protect our ass." The turret of his tank and the M36 began to rotate around until both were facing backwards. "As soon as you see an enemy tank, blast it."

The M24s came belting around the bend with a Stug, a Hetzer and some Chi-Nu in pursuit.

"Fire!" Isaac had lined up on the Chi-Nu, and pulled the stomped on the trigger. The 76mm shell slammed into the tunnel wall just ahead of the target. "Again!" Another shell was quickly loaded into the gun, but before they fired, The gunner saw the A13 shoot out in front of them, rushing towards the enemy tanks. It must've caught them off guard, as the Chi-Nu began. swinging the gun at the charging Brit. It was too late. Isaac's next shot flew true, knocking out the medium.

"That will never get old. Javier, you owe me for that." Patrice said. Foster managed to dispatch the Hetzer, but not before it managed to get a shot off into the M36, and trading with Ryan.

"We got got. Good luck fellas." Justin said, as calm as ever.

"Roger that. We got us a clear path behind us boys. Let's get the hell out of here." Jay said.

"Roger, well fire off some smoke rounds and turn around." Leon stated. After firing off a couple rounds, the remaining tanks retreated and began taking the long way around. Upon passing the girls tanks they had knocked out, each commander gave a salute.

Once they got back to the fork in the road, they began making their way down the path they should've taken.

"Well, what now commander?" Patrice asked. "I think we're even on tanks, but Christ."

"I know… but the best thing we can do is keep on our toes and keep a sharp eye out." Jay said. The whole team knew it was going to be a very long day. The battle between champions had truly begun.