Chapter 1

"I HATE Math!" I growled as I walked home with my friends.

It was a cloudy Monday, the worst day of the week. I was slumbering home after a day's worth of grueling studies with my friends, doing our routine cursing of the day's events on the way.

I'm Louis, a junior 2 student at Shanghai International Languages Middle School, and I'm not a happy or good student. My Math is hopeless, for one thing (I've NEVER got anything past 60% ever since entering this accursed place), and that pretty much meant that I'll never get anywhere with my Physics and Chemistry. I do better at Chinese and English, but hey, this is Shanghai. Anyone here speaks Chinese, and English isn't rare either. My teachers are jerks too: the Chemistry teacher is a freak who screams at you for anything; the Math teacher is WAY too strict and stubborn. All in all, I hate school.

"Yeah, yeah." Gabriel nodded. He's a friend of mine who does slightly better and loves basketball, but we're still friends because we all watch the anime series Girls und Panzer together. In fact, the group around me is made up completely of our class's GuP fans. There's John, who's a big, rather fat kid from a rich family who has grades even worse than mine and loves video games (note: he's older than all of us); Lucas, our average-student style Chemistry representative who doesn't really pay much attention to his job, and Hank, a member of our badminton club (I used to be in the club too, but later left due to studies).

"Seriously," I ranted on, "if God ever gives me the chance to start again in a different universe, perhaps one we like, I'd be much better off."

"You mean like in the GuP universe?" John joked.

"Obviously." I sighed, "but everyone knows that place is just a story…"

We stopped at a crossroad close to home, waiting for the red light to go off. I thought of what John had said. If only God would give me a chance and something I could live on, I'd be an excellent student in Oarai (my favorite of all schools), but there wouldn't be such a chance, of course…I heaved another sigh.

And that's when what I later presumed to be our deaths in this universe happened:

Lucas suddenly yelped in surprise and terror, pointing to the street. As I turned to look, I saw a large Special Police van, skittering in an out-of-control fashion on the street due to the earlier rain. As I watched, it hit the curb, and the tail swung in an arc.

Right toward us.

Only one word flashed through my mind before the car hit me.

Fuck.

…

When I came to again, I was lying not on the street, but on a strange, glowing surface of what felt like marble. Ahead of me, the platform continued into nothingness.

A choke came from behind me. I turned, and saw my four friends lying on the ground, as if just waking up.

"What-what happened?" was all I managed to get out of my mouth.

"YOU ALL DIED," An ancient, distant voice sounded, "WHEN THE VAN CRUSHED YOU ALL."

"Where are we?" John demanded.

"AT A CROSS BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH." The voice said, "APPARENTLY, YOUR FRIEND LOUIS HAD MADE A SINCERE WISH JUST BEFORE HE DIED. I HEARD HIS THOUGHTS, AND AFTER CONSIDERING, I DECIDED TO GIVE YOU ALL A CHANCE."

"What kind of chance?" I asked.

"TO TRAVEL INTO THE ANIME YOU ALL LOVE SO MUCH." The voice had a hint of interest in it now, not so hollow. "AND SINCE HE ASKED FOR SOMETHING TO LIVE ON, I GRANT YOU ALL WHAT HE ASKED FOR."

Suddenly, something appeared in the pocket of my pants. I pulled it out to recognize it as a replica of my cell phone.

"THIS IS THE PANZER ACE SYSTEM. IT CAN GRANT YOU POINTS AS YOU COMPLETE MISSIONS, WHICH IN TURN CAN BE USED TO EXCHANGE FOR TANKS, WEAPONS AND SPECIAL BOOKS THAT CAN BE ABSORBED INSTANTLY. THE PHONE IS ITS EMBODIMENT. IT CANNOT BE LOST, TAKEN APART, OR IT WELL."

"Um…thank you, sir." I said shakingly (I can't believe my wish actually came true), as my friends marveled at what is happening. "But sir, are there any regulations or things you want us to do?"

"JUST ONE." The urge to laugh can barely be hidden now, "PICK A GIRLFRIEND FROM THE TEAM."

"O-okay."

"VERY WELL. NOW, OFF YOU GO."

…

I woke up on the ground of a forest.

Standing up, I noticed a pair of feet sticking out of the shrub nearby. One kick caused an "Ow!" from the owner, who turned out to be John.

Beep! Host has arisen. Panzer Ace activated. Distributing startup kits.

Choose your tank.

"Hey John, look at this." I said, as my cell phone display lit up with cards representing various tanks. "Which should we pick?"

"Hey, you two." Another familiar voice sounded, "Let us have a look! We're friends, remember?"

We turned to see Lucas, Gabriel and Hank stumbling out of the woods.

Before we could say anything else, the system beeped again.

System suggestion: put your uniform on first, and grab your weapons. They're right by your feet.

"But Oarai's uniform is for girls – oh. Oh."

Looking down, I didn't see the white sailor uniforms the girls wear in the movies, but a simple white shirt, a folded set of Wehrmacht M40 tunic & trousers, leather boots, a Stahlhelm helmet and a set of tool belts (one looked like it goes over the shoulder). Beside it is an MP-40 submachine gun, a holstered Luger P08 pistol, and a few Stieglhandgranate 24 grenades, each with a small, untitled booklet next to it.

Note: Weapons can be changed for free at the beginning, but later editions will cost points.

We looked at each other and grinned. "Let's do this."

…

A few moments later, we've completely dressed and geared up. I swapped my MP-40 for a more comfortable MP-41 and my grenades for a few remote TNT explosives; John now wielded a MG-42 machine gun and a Panzerschreck rocket launcher; Lucas had a Kar 98k sniper rifle with camo netting and a 6x scope as well as a Mauser C96 (of all the nice pistols there are…); Gabriel had a FG-42 automatic rifle with a bayonet and infrared scope as well as a Luftfaust antiair rocket launcher, as well as the only paratrooper helmet and uniform; Hank decided to use an Stg 45 assault rifle and a Polizeipistole whatever-it-is. The little booklets seemed to be magical, as they were blank, but vanished as soon as we looked at it for one second. And another second later, all we need to know about our weapons just popped into our head. What's unusual is that according to the knowledge, the ammo belts we carry will keep generating new cartridges and warheads for our rockets will just keep appearing on our belt, so we essentially have infinite ammo. I'll skip the part describing our backpacks and other tools, since it would take me hours.

"So," I said, fidgeting with my wire cutters, "what tank? I personally like the Nashorn TD."

"Nah, I'd use the Rheinmetall-Borsig Waffentrager." John volunteered.

"You forgot the rules? That thing never saw combat, so it can't be employed. Nashorns saw plenty of combat on the Eastern Front, on the other hand."

"I could use a Sturmtiger…"

"Are you even serious? With that thing? I doubt we could fire more than 1 shot for the whole game!"

"What about a Tiger I or Tiger II? Nice armor and firepower."

"Well, repairing the suspension can make you literally end up in an asylum…"

Everyone thought on it.

"I've got better." Lucas spoke up, "we'll use the Panzer VII Lowe super-heavy. If a T-95 can be used by All-Stars, the MEXT can't object our Lowe"

And then, with a white light, a real Panzer VII Lowe materialized on the lawn right next to us. The aura of pure power coming off it was enough to make us all shiver.

New mission: Assign crew roles (0/5)

"I think I would do well as the loader." John piped up, "I have the most strength of us all, and I'm not good at anything else."

"Good, then I'll be the gunner." Lucas stated, "I've always hit accurately in World of Tanks."

"I'll do the driving. I used to drive karting cars." Gabriel said.

"I'll just pick the quiet post of radio operator." Hank muttered.

"So, I'm left with the post of commander, eh?" I muttered.

Roles assigned. Distributing all necessary manuals.

And a book, much thicker than our weapons' instructions manuals, appeared into our hands. It vanished and dumped info right into our brains again, but this time, everyone staggered. I nearly collapsed. Don't blame me: being a tank commander is not easy. All the necessary experience, logistics, data and all the stuff being dumped onto my mind is nearly enough to floor me.

"Ugh… All right. Let's get this beast moving."