There were many who said that without exhibition matches, the so-called 'Minor schools' would rarely have had a chance to practice their Sensha-do at all. Schools like Kuromorimine and Pravda with their powerful finances could field the very best tanks they could get while the minor schools had to make do with vehicles those major schools only ever used for training or for scouting.

So it was today with Viking Fisheries and Waffle Academy. Viking had fielded nine Panzer IIIs which were used only as a scout by Kuromorimine while Waffle's AMC-35s and Hitchkiss H35s were derided as slow, undergunned and weakly armoured.

In the past the major schools had never bothered to spectate these matches because there was little that could be seen or learned. A highlight reel saved them all from a long journey between ships.

But not anymore. Not since Oarai had come out of nowhere to deliver shocking defeats to three of the Big Four while utterly annihilating Anzio along the way with only one casualty. If any had thought to dismiss it as luck, their victory over the All-Stars University Team while leading a rag-tag coalition of the other schools had confirmed it was no fluke.

Now the minor schools were inspired and the confidence of the majors severely shaken. If a small impoverished school that still possessed less than ten tanks could win against all the odds, they could no longer feel complacent and assured of victory over the minors.

Darjeeling was the exception. She had always watched the minor schools matches for the simple fact that she enjoyed them. There were many who thought that Sensha-do was contrary to St Gloriana's principles. After all, war machines that blasted pieces off of each other, their diesel or petrol engines roaring, spent shells rattling about on the deck… It was far from elegant. Of course, those nay-sayers were those who failed to appreciate the beauty that could be found in a tank, in its design, in its movements, in the way they clashed.

Only those who knew Darjeeling well could see her excitement. Tell-tale signs like her grip on her tea cup. The glint in her eyes. Whatever joke or proverb she felt like saying in the moment. A sip of her tea was a cheer.

Orange Pekoe knew that right now she was as close to jumping up and down as she could get. Waffle had sprung an ambush on two of Vikings Panzer IIIs, only to find themselves caught in a larger trap. Caught in a vice, it seemed Waffle was about to be crushed only for two remarkable shots to land and make Viking back off as the flags popped. The Waffle tanks scrambled away and after a few moments, Viking pursued with their Neubaufahrzeug trailing at the rear and taking long shots.

It was a lot of exciting action but Pekoe's attention was elsewhere. It wasn't just St Gloriana that had come here today to spectate, there were also members from Bonple, Maginot, Maple and Viggen. From Pravda and Saunders. And from Keizoku.

The captain of Continuation High's Sensha-do team was famously enigmatic, and more so than for her sticky fingers. People often compared her to Darjeeling but the difference was that Darjeeling always explained her cryptic aphorisms while Mika held to the philosophy that answers had to be unravelled by the listener, not freely given. As such, Pekoe was never left confused for long by the quaint sayings of her team captain and best friend.

The same couldn't be said for Mika's second, Aki. Anyone watching them could witness those moments when she was left baffled by her captain's musings. For Pekoe, it was the strangest feeling to have, knowing exactly how it felt and how unlikely it was for the two of them to have both acquired such a person in their life.

St Gloriana was friendly with many schools, with Darjeeling visiting the other Sensha-do captains for tea and biscuits and gossip. Few realised she was subtly gathering intelligence this way, acquiring knowledge the other schools had gathered on each other for herself. While their relationship with Keizoku was cordial, it couldn't be called friendly. Keizoku's habit of 'borrowing' supplies from the other schools was hardly conducive to friendly relations. The number of tanks that were on extended loan from Pravda meant Katyusha was famously known for her war plans against the other school, plans that began with a retaliatory 'loan' of their own and ended with demands for a full nuclear strike. That Pravda lacked a nuclear arsenal was little deterrent to her demands, she had insisted they make do, and a group now had the difficult task of trying to come up with an equal substitute for an atomic bomb with Katyusha demanding a progress report within two weeks.

While the other schools sat close to each other, Mika and Aki were set apart. Mika said she saw things better from a distance, just as playing her kantele helped her think. Aki didn't have her focus. She wanted to watch the match but she was distracted, likewise drawn to her opposite number in St Gloriana.

Life had a wry sense of humour, Aki thought. Mika's enigmatic sayings may often have given her a headache but she loved her friend regardless. She knew the St Gloriana girl felt the same way. Somehow they had been led to similar people, to have similar roles. Similar but different. There was much more to Aki's life than being a captive audience for her captain's wit. She couldn't help but look over at the St Gloriana contingent and felt a shock as she met the red-haired girl's blue eyes. They both looked away sharply from each other.

Viking's pursuit evened the odds, bringing it to six versus seven before the Waffle tanks regained their composure and took up a defensive position. Viking held a slight firepower advantage with their Panzer IIIs over Waffle's AMC and H35s while the short-barrelled 7.5cm armament of the Neubaufahrzeug was the most powerful gun on the field. It wasn't lost on any of the spectators that they were using the flawed prototype vehicle as a capital ship when it was only a medium tank itself. Those with the knowledge knew that despite its imposing twin turrets; it had the thinnest armour on the field. It was in fact inferior to the Panzer IIIs composing the rest of the team.

There was a brief stalemate as Viking declined to rush into the attack while Waffle wasn't inclined to give up their strong position and release their inner Chi-ha-tan. As Sensha-do matches could last days, brief meant a couple of hours as the two teams recovered their wits and tried to wait each other out.

Darjeeling made more tea and sipped, her keen eyes seeing far more than just two resting groups of tanks. She knew why Orange Pekoe was agitated. She knew far more than her friend was aware of because it was her job as a good commander to know everything that might be troubling her crew and her club. But as a lady, it was also important that she not stick her nose into their business. She had to be invited. She hoped her friend knew she could tell her anything and she would do anything she could to help but it was unlikely things could be that simple.

As the audience had no idea what was being said inside the tanks, they had no idea what communications were going back and forth during the interlude. When Viking's tanks roared into life and charged Waffle's left flank, it was as much a surprise to them as it was to Waffle. The Neubaufahrzeug covered them, lurking in the shadows of the trees and striking the side of an AMC 35 that had turned to face the flanking attack. Smoke belched from the small French tank as its flag popped.

Viking's sudden aggression had given them the initiative and their concentration of force overwhelmed the two remaining tanks of Waffle's left flank. But Waffle was not to fold easily and made their own charge; at the Neubaufahrzeug. It brought smiles to the faces of those who knew that this tank's gearbox lacked a reverse position. It was helpless as the four remaining Hotchkisses and AMC-35s bore down on it, firing forlornly once before the quartet surrounded it and fired their 37 and 47mm guns point blank in it, leaving the ears of the six members of the crew ringing like church bells.

"Commander Nishi would be proud." Darjeeling remarked as at the sight of their beloved icon smoking and surrendered, the remaining five Viking tanks charged in fury while the Waffle cavalry tanks likewise lived up to their name. The wildly oscillating guns had no hope of being accurate so the two groups of tanks came together in a crowd pleasing scrum. A Panzer III and AMC 35 slammed together head-on, twenty five tons meeting fourteen, and the French tank flipped up on top of the German one as both flagged. A shell scored the turret of a Hotchkiss which retaliated exactingly only to be shot from behind.

Finally there were only two tanks left and they fired into each other simultaneously in a great gout of smoke that made both vanish from view. When it cleared, both tanks were out and Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe nonchalantly sipped their tea as befitting the St Gloriana honour, while the rest of the audience expressed their discontent with an apparent draw. All save one.

"To lose is to win." Mika declared. "And she who wins shall lose."

"But no one won." Aki mused. "So no one lost. So losing was better than winning?"

"No." Mika plucked a few chords.

"So…" Aki's green eyes became wide. "Ehhh?" She was saved from trying to fathom out Mika's arcane meaning by the arrival of Mikko who despite her tied up red hair and frequent feral grin was able to move about unseen.

"How do things look?" Mika inquired.

"We're good."

"Did you acquire the necessaries?"

"It wasn't easy." Mikko grinned. "But I got it."

"Okay then." Mikka ceased playing. "Now we have to mingle."

"They're still going to suspect us." Aki pointed out.

"We all have to play our roles as expected, and they expect us to be up to something and acting innocent. We hide in plain sight, as we should. And there's no sandwiches if we hide somewhere else." Mika beamed.

[][][][]

While neither Viking nor Waffle would claim to have the culinary prowess of Anzio or BC Freedom, both did however pride themselves on their cuisine. They even overlapped with their love of seafood. As such the banquet they provided looked remarkably as if they had swept the ocean clean. The two schools had no history of enmity, if anything they had a mutual bond in feeling marginalised by the major schools, not that that was evident. Everyone was too well-mannered to show any ill-feeling, especially when they were being fed and watered.

Orange Pekoe stood back as Darjeeling was exuberantly embraced by Kay. The Saunders contingent likewise stood back as their commander did her best to try and make Darjeeling lose her cool. Darjeeling acted the part of being the long-suffering victim while Orange Pekoe knew better. While the two of them might have seemed like complete opposites, there was great affection and respect between them. Kay might have had no sense of personal space or decorum but Darjeeling knew it was all in jest.

"They call you 'Orange Pekoe' now."

It startled Pekoe to hear the voice and even more so to hear the anger in it.

"They've taught you to drink tea, and act like a lady." Aki continued, her green eyes piercing Pekoe's blues. "And look down on the rest of us… Because we're 'vulgar'." She pronounced the word in the most exaggerated English accent she could manage and it hit a sore spot that Pekoe wasn't even aware she had.

"And your ship of pirates." She retorted which brought an instant look of outrage to Aki's features while Darjeeling and Kay both continued their conversation pointedly, pretending they didn't hear. "They taught you to steal whatever you please and call it 'borrowing'?" She mimicked the heavy exaggeration.

"We choose our own path!" Aki snapped with all the force her diminutive frame could manage.

"SO DID I!"

The abrupt shriek surprised Pekoe herself and all the various Sensha-do clubs who paused briefly before resuming immediately to politely cover the awkward silence but none were as shocked as Aki who didn't think the 'lady' in front of her was capable of such a strong emotion anymore. Her own anger vanished, swept away by the sudden shout. It was too familiar. Too much of a reminder of what no longer was.

Pekoe felt shame for losing her self-control but she felt a much greater sadness as Aki turned away, unable to meet her eye. Hearing her anger and contempt hurt but not as much as her anguish. She hadn't meant to shout at her, it had just happened, and it took all her effort to speak three simple words. "I've missed you…"

The words hurt Aki even more but she managed to turn back. "I've missed you too, sis."

Darjeeling and Kay's conversation walked into a glass door and they both stared open-mouthed at the two girls who were blushing at the attention they had drawn to themselves and feelings they simply couldn't express in this place. Aki quickly took her leave and Pekoe was only startled from her reverie when Darjeeling slipped her arm around hers and squeezed her hand.

Aki received a different kind of sympathy. Distraction.

"Time to play the game." Mika declared and Aki thought miserably how she had inadvertently provided the perfect excuse for them to leave. The perfect reason for them to slip away into the darkness, and go make mischief.

[][][][]

Viking and Keizoku shared a few tanks in common which meant they had many things that Keizoku needed. A school like Saunders or Pravda could afford to buy spare parts in bulk, so much bulk in fact that generations of Sensha-do club members had passed through without having to order more. The smaller schools had to be more conservative and while Anzio's program survived on the proceeds of its culinary prowess, Keizoku got by carefully managing its assets; and acquiring those of others.

It was often joked that it was easier to board a schoolship unnoticed than it was to walk into a restaurant. While the sheer size of the ships should have been an obstacle, their specifications were freely available on the Internet and so finding a point of entry was merely the act of browsing the blueprints.

Aki had to admit that the distraction of stealing aboard the Viking ship did help, until she remembered her sister's accusation that they were pirates. She didn't think of their 'commandeering' for their Sensha-do club as stealing but it was still taking what didn't belong to them. 'Pekoe' as she was now wasn't wrong about that. But it was a distraction sneaking aboard, making their way through the town to the school and finally to the Sensha-do club's compound.

Which was where things became difficult. Viking had a guard dog, Yuuma the German Shepherd who freely roamed the compound. The 'necessary' that Mikko had been despatched to acquire were some pills capable of putting the dog to sleep for a little while. Unknown to the Continuation trio, they had been completely unnecessary. The dog wasn't even all bark and no bite. It had no bark. Yuuma may have looked big and threatening but the girls of Viking knew him affectionately as 'Soppy Dog'. Yuuma played his role well just by how he looked.

But while he had happily chomped down the laced meat, he was obstinately refusing to fall asleep. Mikko had been promised results within minutes and wondered if she had been ripped off while Aki thought the dog was behaving strangely, not sleepily but something else. She didn't know how strange until three Viking students appeared, out for who knows what reason and decided to say hello to the dog.

Except the legendarily soft and soppy canine was no more. It was now an entirely different species of beast whose mind was now swimming with psychedelic visions in which the three Viking girls were ten foot Neanderthals whose friendly greetings were ferocious battlecries while the fence between them and him was a great net of writhing snakes.

The screams of the three girls alarmed the neighbours near the school who were used to the early morning rumble of tanks but not to terrified screams and certainly not to a primal howl that was heard across the entire ship and sent various people running to household shrines, striving to remember forgotten religious chants to ward off what was clearly a marauding oni.

The steel mesh of the fence protected the Viking girls, not that Yuuma could have caught them as the trio set a pace that an Olympic sprinter would have been hard-pressed to match. First the dog tried to chew through the fence and while making a valiant effort, became distracted by the fluttering of a plastic tarpaulin covering several drums of cleaning fluids and at a rate that put the Tasmanian Devil to shame, shredded it into tiny pieces before chipping a tooth on one of the drums and then sinking its fangs into the rear tyre of a fuel vehicle to such astonishing effect that it was somersaulted through the air by the resulting blowout.

Yuuma's ears were ringing as he saw colours he had never known existed and his second howl coming just after the explosion in the dark prompted a score of calls to the police and fire service who acted with dutiful speed to the multiple reports of screaming, an explosion and 'demonic presence' at the school's Sensha-do club.

The police were first onto the scene and instantly regretted their dedication. Through a snowstorm of shredded plastic and chewed rubber came a monster their wildest imaginations could not have conceived, one with bloodshot eyes and drooling unspeakable slobber. Yuuma's lack of experience with violence and his normal friendly state meant the officers of the law lost only their trousers as they fled back to their car where they screamed for backup as Yuuma rendered escape impossible by causing a second blowout that only led him to further attack the softer portions of the car.

By the time the fire engine arrived, the two half-naked policemen had been reduced to tears and clinging to each other in hysterics by the monster that had bitten off both their wing mirrors and chewed their windscreen wipers into toothpicks while making many fruitless assaults upon the fortunately toughened safety glass.

Yuuma had been in the midst of howling at the six multi-coloured moons in the sky he could see when the flashing red lights caught his attention. Summoned for a possible explosion, the lack of any visible fire or damage confused the firefighters. As did the presence of a squad car that seemed fresh from an encounter with a T-Rex. But the last thing they expected was to be attacked by what appeared to be a furry crocodile that slobbered, snarled and wailed and moved like it had St Vitus dance and had no trouble in reducing clothing designed to resist the most severe of environments into rags and also seemed to have acquired a taste for the wheels of motor vehicles, resulting in a further two explosions as tyres were ripped open.

They responded with all they had, the hose. It turned out to be a terrible mistake as Yuuma disappeared into the darkness from the attack of the cold water, only to return with a howl that drove the few neighbours who hadn't yet taken shelter to begin building barricades. Knocking down the firefighters, they were spared any harm from the dog as the German Shepherd instead engaged the fallen writhing hose in mortal combat, convinced it was battling a great anaconda in the primal jungle of its LSD-driven dreams. When the hose burst with enormous pressure, it blasted the dog several feet into the air, flew about and floored the firefighters once more before smashing and lodging in the rear window of the police car, forcing the two policemen to abandon their sanctuary or drown.

Fortunately, the men ran in the opposite direction to which Yuuma landed and the dog charged into the night, seeking fresh foes while leaving three devastated vehicles, two policemen who would apply for desk jobs and a team of ragged firefighters who barely had the wherewithal to turn off the hose and cease the flooding of the ruined police car which the insurance company would send an entire team to assess, to see for themselves the tooth and claw marks.

Aki took in the sight which if she hadn't seen with her own two eyes she never would have believed. "I don't think those were sleeping pills." She said to Mikko who nodded mutely and flinched at the demented howl of the dog that fortunately now seemed far away. "All this for some spares…" She thought aloud and hoped that no one would notice they were missing, not with everything that happened. If her sister learned they were responsible, she would never, ever live it down. It would vindicate every negative thing ever said about their school. Aki turned, naturally, to Mika for reassurance and could not say she found it in the twinkling brown eyes of her captain. "Did you think that was funny?"

"I think in our entire history we have never enjoyed a greater distraction." She declared. "We should have planned for more." She looked at the compound and sighed. "I guess the story is reward enough."

"No one's going to believe us."

"How could we make up such a story?" Mika asked, beaming, and then a fresh howl changed her expression. "I do hope the dog's okay."

"What about the policemen? The firefighters?"

"I don't think they were bitten. And they have a story to tell too."

"I'm sorry-" Mikko began.

"It was not your fault." Mika cut her off. "It's mine. We'll never seek outside assistance again." So strong was her tone that Aki and Mikko were left in no doubt that while she saw the funny side of the night's events, she knew how seriously wrong things could have gone and it did bother her. As much as the other schools thought of her as an aloof rogue who sewed chaos wherever she went, her conscience never left her.