Usually when Keizoku performed their heists, they were on land and taking advantage of post-match celebrations or the distraction of the match itself. A team that had been knocked out could easily slip away and go through the staging ground for any supplies. This was how they had acquired the University Select Team's supplies. Boarding other schoolships was a rarity and few could name the scarce occasions in the school's history that they had ever boarded a ship at sea. There was a line in the sand regarding what they did, raiding for supplies, and boarding another ship to break and enter pushed them onto that line and whether they crossed it was the subject of raging debate.
But here they were, Aki mused, sailing in a Jehu landing craft in the wake of a commercial freighter. The freighter knew they were there and were baffled by the tiny craft shadowing them who replied to their hails with vague but friendly responses. They had no idea they were playing their part in an attempt to make history.
Out of the darkness, a mountain seemed to loom, a mountain that roared. The Ark Royal dwarfed the freighter to a far greater extent than the freighter did to their landing craft. The distance between the vessels was vast but the size of the schoolship meant it seemed to be right on top of them. Aki had seen the other schoolships many times but it never stopped aweing her that the gigantic vessels were able to make each other look small.
As the two ships passed each other, the miniscule landing craft slipped out of the shadow of the freighter and entered the rollers created by the schoolship's great wake. They had hidden in the freighter's radar profile and now as the two ships passed each other, the little landing craft was invisible within the huge presence of the schoolship.
It was rare to feel the motion of the seas aboard a schoolship but the girls of Continuation High felt it now as their vessel rose and fell over the waves from the wake that resembled a storm. Aki clung grimly to a rail and tried to ignore the sound of retching around her while wondering what kind of maniac had brought them here.
She was on deck, eyes fixed on the ship, on the prize. A little seasickness was a fair price to pay for this great endeavour. The girls upon this craft hadn't known what they were in for because they hadn't known what was going to happen until the last minute. Part of it was the need for secrecy and the other part, it stopped the girls from worrying with anticipation. She knew that while they all trusted her, they didn't have her attitude and they would fret about every little thing that could possibly go wrong or every impossible thing that their imaginations could conjure, if they were given the time to worry. So she hadn't given them opportunity. Instead she had sprung this cruise on them.
As the Jehu-class transport plunged into another trough, Mika felt the spray of the sea upon her face and it took all her restraint not to ruin her mystique by whooping with joy.
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Boarding the Ark Royal was nerve-wracking for all of them, the natural response to being beneath a mountain of metal, and they were all grateful to get their feet back on solid ground even though they all felt the confusion that came from leaving a world of steel and water and suddenly being on dry land. They took a few minutes to regain their senses. As much as it was possible to get a grip on reality when you were a part of a commando expedition armed with paintball guns on a mission to another school's ship to acquire a tank.
Aki looked at Mika whose 'weapon' of choice was her trusty kantele. Why she had made them bring the paintball guns along, she didn't know. Or why she had brought so many members of the club along. Mika had not shared her plans. This was nothing new but that didn't make it any less ominous. Mika had her eyes closed the way she did, as if she saw more with them shut rather than open.
They took off and Aki felt like a rat scurrying along a sideboard in the darkness. She had done this before, many times, but never in such numbers. How could they be stealthy when they were such a big group? They followed the path along the ship's rail but staying off it and away from the lights which made Aki wonder if they were more like cockroaches than rats. She certainly didn't feel like a pirate.
The immensity of the vessel meant that they had to walk for a long time just to reach the school, stopping at one point for a breather. Mika was serene while everyone else had become increasingly on edge as they hadn't seen a sign of life, as if the entire ship had decided on an early night, the animals had decided it was a good idea too, and yet they all felt like they were being watched.
Mika held up her hand and everyone hit the ground, looking at the buildings that made up St Gloriana Girls College. The garden in front of them was immaculate, low hedges and fountains, flowerbeds that were thick with life, small elegant tables for people to sit and sip tea. They all had similar thoughts, that it looked less like a school and more like an English stately home. A few looked at Aki who had been here before but she was gazing determinedly ahead, trying not to think at all.
"All the world's a stage." Mika declared and then smiled, unseen by her girls. "And the players are all here." She waved them forward.
One moment all was quiet and then St Gloriana came alive. The low hedges sprouted armed girls. Girls in green with black vests, wearing brown vests and brown ushankas with the ears tied down under the chin to hold them in place. They wore masks. They were Pravda girls.
A mask did nothing to disguise their towering leader or her equally formidable lieutenant. Having chased them through their woods, the Keizoku girls were especially familiar with them. And vice versa.
Mika smiled at them. And said nothing. She closed her eyes instead and almost as if it was a signal, more figures appeared. Girls in redcoats. They came from the school, their school, and they came with urgency and a barely detectable annoyance at not having received their guests in a timely fashion.
"Mika."
"Darjeeling."
"Nonna."
"Darjeeling. Katyusha sends her regards." Nonna declared to all present.
Behind the captain of St Gloriana, Orange Pekoe stood and bemused as she was by this strange gathering, she waved awkwardly at Aki. For a moment their eyes met and Aki could not help but wave back.
[][][][][][]
Assam had raised the alarm around midday and had insisted that her source that had informed her that Keizoku was coming was 'confidential'. The rest of the school had been nonplussed by the sudden flurry of activity from their Sensha-do club. It was impossible to ignore roving patrols of tanks and Bren Carriers tearing around the grounds and the rest of the ship and then not to notice as they abruptly ceased patrolling. The school had been abuzz with rumours from mundane 'training exercise' suggestions to graphic narratives about captured students from another school being interrogated in the basement.
This story had put Darjeeling into a towering fury when she had heard it though only those closest to her were aware of it. She dealt with plenty of disdain from the rest of the school for their sport but this was a step too far. She had been questioning herself regarding her handling of the Keizoku situation and those questions had frayed at her temper. She loved St Gloriana with all the passion her heart possessed but there were times when the restrictions it placed upon her made her wish she could take a short excursion ashore into a secluded place, and scream.
Darjeeling knew that Orange Pekoe had been in distress since her abrupt reunion with her sister at the Viking-Waffle exhibition match but she had not talked about it. Whether she really wanted to have a deep discussion about it, Darjeeling didn't know. She had already stuck her nose in too far, unable to contain her curiosity about the confirmation that one of her best friends had a sister. A sister she had never mentioned. A sister who served as the counterpart for her opposite number in Keizoku.
Darjeeling had heard people make comparisons between her and Mika. They shared an interest in philosophy and maintaining a stoic outlook on the challenges of life but the styles of their respective schools were too dissimilar for them to have reached out to another. They had shared polite greetings, traded aphorisms and enjoyed a mutual respect. She hadn't known though that they both relied on girls who happened to be related.
Had Mika always known? Perhaps she had. There were enough rumours about Mika's family and who was possibly her sister…
A good commander never let her doubts show but Darjeeling was full of them. She trusted Orange Pekoe implicitly but wondered why she hadn't opened up to her. Why would Keizoku have decided to expand their activities to St Gloriana, immediately after the public revelation that Aki and Orange Pekoe were related? Was Mika toying with the two of them, or forcing them to confront each other? Was it altruism, or sadism? Was this entirely unrelated to the sisters and simply Mika getting bored of antagonising Katyusha and casting her net further?
Assam hadn't been able to provide any answers. Mika was not the confiding kind and so they had known they were coming through Aki's visit and the exact time through Assam's 'confidential source'. That only increased her doubts. Mika had wanted them to know. To prepare. How could she not be forcing a public encounter?
They had known they were coming and they had posted lookouts. The human eye could not be deceived the way electronics could and those lookouts had spotted the Jehu doing exactly what Assam had predicted they would do. She had foreseen how Keizoku would come to the ship but no one had thought that Pravda would be lurking in the shrubbery.
Amongst other surprises.
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"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you all to leave." Darjeeling spoke in her usual calm, measured tone.
"Them first." Nonna replied.
"You're all trespassing."
"We came to stop them." Nonna pointed at Mika who had sat down at one of the tables and looked for all the world like she was enjoying the night air and not being aimed at by several dozen paintball guns.
"We appreciate your assistance, Nonna. But we can take care of this."
"We've thought that in the past." Nonna deadpanned. "And something always happens. It's how they operate."
"I've noticed." Darjeeling replied, equally deadpan. "But I think we all need to-"
She was cut off by a shrill roar. The three groups turned from each other as a pack of girls ran up, carrying not just paintball guns of their own but what appeared to be battleaxes slung across their backs. Their uniforms were red and brown with furred collars and they wore blue caps, except for their leader, who had a nasalhelm upon her head that sprouted a pair of magnificent horns.
"Freydis?" It was all Darjeeling could do to hide her surprise.
"Good of you to remember who we are." She replied coldly. She wore her long red hair in a single braid and her green eyes were blazing. "You!" She pointed her axe at Mika.
"Hello." Mika replied, and then plucked a dramatic chord.
"You poisoned our dog!"
"You came here for that?!" Assam had been caught between shock and seething fury that two other schools had sent expeditions to St Gloriana without her knowing but hearing they were hosts for two different feuds?
"They poisoned our dog!" Freydis turned the axe on Assam.
"We didn't poison him!" Mikko protested. "We just… Gave him the wrong pills…" She flushed furiously.
"What were the right pills supposed to be?"
"Sleeping pills. To knock him out. He wasn't supposed to have flashbacks to Woodstock and attack all those people."
"But he did!" Freydis looked along the length of her axe shaft at Mikko. "Because of you!" The rest of her club were no less furious. They loved Yuuma.
"I got them from one of your students!"
"What?!"
"She said-"
"You dare say we'd betray each other?!"
Mikko was completely taken aback but persevered. "I bought them from a Viking student, she must have given me the wrong ones-"
"You poisoned our dog!" Freydis snapped and her girls collectively snarled. "You stole from us!" They snarled again. "After we fed you!"
Inwardly, Darjeeling winced and Nonna tutted while Mika continued to smile mysteriously.
"I think we all need to take a moment." Assam declared. "And a step-"
"This is our moment right now!" Freydis yelled. "Right now!" Nonna gave Klara a look. "ANGREP!"
The Pravda girls immediately took cover while the Keizoku raiders and the St Gloriana defenders were slower, taking hits as the Vikings loosed a volley. Darjeeling was tackled to the ground from behind, a long whip of blonde hair announcing it was Assam.
"This is intolerable." Darjeeling declared into the dirt.
The low hedges of St Gloriana's gardens provided cover for the four war parties who exchanged paint furiously. Twigs and leaves were torn from hedges, fountains and statues took on a psychedelic appearances and the Viking girls yelled threats and insults. Initially, their fury was directed at Keizoku but the small battlefield meant that each group was soon shooting at anything that seemed to be shooting at them.
Still sitting at the table, Mika had launched into the Ievan Polkka and the fast-paced tune appeared to infiltrate everyone present, setting the tempo of the battle. She nodded along to her own music, her eyes closed, oblivious of the storm raging around her it seemed. Not merely oblivious but shielded from it. As the garden around her became a colourful wasteland, she remained curious untouched, not so much as a loose speck flying her way.
"What are we even trying to do?!" Aki yelled, now sporting one green pigtail and one red. "It's paint! No one cares if they're hit!"
Mikko's face was bright blue, clashing horribly with her hair. "I don't think anyone cares!" She returned the favour on a Pravda girl, proving that blue and green should indeed never be seen.
"What is she doing?!" Aki meant Mika.
"Feeling the beat?" Mikko shrugged.
"I meant all of us being here! In this!" Aki could reach only one conclusion. "She told them we were coming! She told everyone to be here…"
Mikko flattened herself to the ground so she could think and yellow flecks rained down on her hair as paintballs splattered in the hedge. Like Aki, her mind could only go to one place. "She wanted us to have a story to tell…"
Assam's voice rang out over the fray. "Perhaps we could negotiate?!"
Freydis' reply was far more colourful than the ammo flying through the air.
"Katyusha would love this." Klara said to Nonna who smiled beneath her mask. She had come to foil Keizoku and instead found herself enjoying a party she could never have imagined. True, one group of guests were yelling threats of dismemberment and sacrifices to the gods, another was crying for order but she was pretty sure everyone was enjoying themselves. No one more than the girl sat in the middle of it all, lost in her music, playing and yet conducting the world at the same time.
Darjeeling had no weapon and even if she had, she wouldn't have used it. She was trying to stay composed but this insanity was beyond any experience she had been through. She had been inside her Churchill, taking fire from all directions with her ears ringing from the repetitive concussions, which was similar to this but the inside of a tank was safe unlike a low hedge. There was no way she could take control of this situation. Tanks were immobilised when they were hit but besides a few bruises, the flying paint wasn't doing anything but messing up their uniforms. There was no way to win this, only to wait until everyone ran out of ammunition.
Nonna had reached the same conclusion and Katyusha would be furious if they ended up taken prisoner and shamefully escorted off the ship. She wouldn't be happy either. The fantasy had been to capture Mika and her raiders and present them to St Gloriana, even if Katyusha would likely have enjoyed them being brought back to Pravda in chains. The reality, such as this situation could be called reality, was that no one was in control. But Nonna could tell by the numbers that St Gloriana didn't have their full strength here, not by a long shot. They would be here soon and they would mop up this madness. Keizoku, Pravda and Viking swept up in a single triumph for St Gloriana. She called to Klara.
Smoke began to rise around Pravda's positions as Assam summoned those reinforcements, her long blonde hair now a rainbow of colours, and she knew what the smoke meant.
"Nonna's leaving."
"I wish her well." Darjeeling snarked. A spent paintball slapped her arm and she held it up, comparing it to the shells they used in Sensha-do. This was all good fun until someone got hit in the eye.
They heard the reinforcements before they saw them. The rumble of engines preceded the arrival of what looked like metal boxes with tracks; Universal Carriers. Each carried four or five girls and there were twelve of them. They immediately disembarked, flanking the Vikings who hurled fresh obscenities. But what caught Assam and Darjeeling's attention was the familiar rumble of a Crusader tank.
"For what we are about to receive…" Assam murmured.
The Crusader tore around the building and proceeded to flatten hedges and flowerbeds before squealing to a halt before the battle ground. The commander's hatch opened and out popped a familiar shock of pink hair which framed a gleeful grin of anticipation. Rosehip was late to the party but she fully intended to make her presence known.
"Rosehip!" Darjeeling called. In vain.
Rosehip chugged her tea and then slapped her other hand down on the turret. "FIRE!"
It was hard to say who was more surprised, those unfortunate souls in the Crusader's field of fire or Rosehip herself. The flour round engulfed the entirety of the battlefield, instantly whiting it out of existence. Thicker than any fog, it coated everything it touched; leaves, flowers, ornaments, tables and especially paint-splattered students. They staggered about blindly, trying to clear their eyes of the sticky paste which had taken over them. Gloriana, Keizoku and Vikings mingled unknowingly, unable to discern friend from foe now that they all resembled snowmen. Rosehip had thought a flour round could take out an entire raiding party and she had been proven right.
Two figures had fared a little better. Assam and Darjeeling had thrown themselves flat which had protected their fronts from the blast, meaning they could at least see though the flour in the air settled on them as they walked with all the dignity they could muster to the Crusader tank.
"A good job, Rosehip…" Assam declared, taking in the winter wonderland before them.
"Rosehip…" Darjeeling began but her trusty words failed her in the face of the farce about her and the expectant expression on Rosehip's face which was too much like a dog awaiting approval for having returned a stick. The only thing she could do was stand to attention and salute which Rosehip eagerly and happily returned.
The St Gloriana reinforcements who hadn't been subject to Rosehip's intervention began to round up the figures, expediently gathering them all together rather than trying to ID each of them. The only one they could identify was the one who swung an axe at them before being tackled from behind and pinned to the ground under a scrum of half a dozen before being disarmed. Freydis continued to fight, even as she was carried away by eight students; two to each limb.
An engine suddenly started up and the trio of St Gloriana girls whipped their heads around. Even though she looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Mikko's hairstyle was still distinctive and with two other girls, they raced away in one of the Universal Carriers.
"After her!" Assam commanded.
"After who?" Rosehip was confused.
"After them!" Darjeeling clarified.
"After you!" Rosehip remembered her manners.
Two of the carriers were manned and sped after Mikko with Rosehip following behind, having first promised not to fire another round, flour or otherwise. Darjeeling was left with her guests, who she invited in for tea and a wet flannel to clean their faces. Thoroughly chastened by the flour, they meekly accepted the offer.
Orange Pekoe had spent the entire battle crouched behind a statue of a faun who had turned red, then blue, green and back to red in a matter of minutes. She hadn't fired a shot. The insanity that had taken over had been too much and she didn't know if it was finding Prada here or the wholly unexpected appearance of Viking Fisheries that had made her lose any sense of duty to take part. And then everything had turned white.
Now she picked through the remains of this small part of the grounds. Between the paint, the flour and the tank tracks, it was clear the Sensha-do class was going to spend their next couple of weeks' sessions replanting the flowerbeds, repairing the hedges and replacing the damaged garden ornaments. What would the rest of the school think? Would they all be shunned for such a shameful display of what was little better than hooliganism? Or would they see the funny side and secretly wish they had been a part of it?
"Haru?"
Pekoe started and what she had taken for a fallen statue blinked at her. "Aki?"
"Hi." She waved her hand feebly. Instantly Pekoe knelt down.
"Are you hurt?" She asked urgently.
"Just got the wind knocked out of me. I think I was hit by a muffin. Or maybe a scone."
"That's not funny."
"Isn't it? Look at all this! Look at you. Look at me. This is hilarious!"
Aki was right. They were both white from head to toe but Aki had a thicker coat from the paint that had spattered her. Almost instinctually, Pekoe reached out and drew a smiley face on her cheek.
"You haven't done that in a long time."
"We went in different directions."
Aki smiled lazily at her and replied by tracing a couple of swirls on Pekoe's forehead.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"
"I was hit by flour fired by a tank… Hitting my head is the least of my worries." She grunted as Pekoe lifted her onto her feet. "Does this make me your prisoner?"
"How about the girl who gets to have a shower before all this dries?"
"Works for me."
They began to walk away from carnage and Aki was glad she was coated in muck because it hid her expression, her feeling as her sister took care of her. The anticipation of a hot shower after the ride on the Jehu, the terrifying scaling of the ship and then the scurrying in the dark, not to mention the battle, felt almost magical.
She stopped them dead.
"What is it?" Pekoe squeezed her reassuringly.
"Where's Mika?"
They turned to the table where she had been seated throughout the skirmish but there was no trace of her. Table and chair were completely covered in flour so she hadn't been sat when Rosehip had opened fire.
"She must be with the ones who drove off." Pekoe suggested.
"No." Aki smiled to herself. "I know where she is."
Author's note; If you're going to quibble about paintballs being dangerous, I'm using them as shown in the OVA, Daikon War. I've been paintballing and been shot in the throat; I know what they're like in reality. Fortunately, this is a universe populated with carriers the size of Star Destroyers and high school tank battles and I can gleefully say 'Sod reality'.