Strum Von Das Kettenantrieb (Assault of the Tracked Vehicles)

by mazinkaiser

A teenaged girl was trying to escape her troubled past only to confront them (along with her old and new friends) in the only way she knew how – The Way of the Tank.

2. Panzer Vor

And now we start the practice match where Ooarai-Bellwall matches wits and firepower with the high seeded team - St. Gloriana. It would certainly be an eye-opener for Oorai and even more so for a certain gunner as well. Also, the girls would be having some fun camping and swimming. What are you waiting for, start reading and enjoying.

---

Chapter 2 – Panzer Vor!

The Ooarai-Bellwall Sensha-do team had gotten to their initial position in a cliff that had overlooked the valley where the St. Gloriana tanks would later be running in a wedge formation as they themselves were running in a similar fashion.

Along the way, Miho Nishizumi was asked by Yuuki Utsugi to remind her on their strategy for the coming practice battle.

Miho then answered quickly. "As I had told you all earlier, this match is similar to our own first practice match that used 'search and destroy' rules. Thus, the first team that has all of its tanks immobilized loses the match."

"Ah, now I get it." Aya Oono quipped as they had remembered what had happened before. "So, all we need to do is to take out the enemy tanks and we win."

"Exactly," the brunette overall commander then added. "Right now, we at Team A will be scouting the area with everyone else advancing by a hundred meters before standing by."

"Okay," the whole of Team B had answered cheerily. "Team B acknowledges."

"Got it," Team D parroted. "Same for Team D."

"Roger," Team C then added. "Team C acknowledges the transmission."

"Team E acknow…you know what I meant." Team E stuttered in the airwaves. "And we do read you, whatever that is."

"We're reading you, Commander." Team F then added in unison before Zacarias Wycoco (the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank) had added. "Team F also acknowledges the transmission."

"Ditto for Team G," Team G commander – Neko Yamamori then added for her own team. "Good luck, Team A."

"Wilco," Anzu Kadotani chirped in the airwaves. "By the way, what's our operation plan's name?"

"Uh, um. The name is…" The transfer student from Kuromorimine was temporarily confounded and thus answered quickly. "Operation Sneaky! We'll be sneaking around while watching the enemy movement and then start launching sneak attacks."

"Sounds more like Operation Weak-y," Momo Kawashima then commented with a sour tone since her coveted position was taken from her. "This will never work."

Yuzu Koyama then giggled at the pun that her friend gave without meaning to and then said. "But that was your plan."

"I know."

-oOo-

Within the starting point of the St. Gloriana Girls College tanks, the blonde overall commander was looking at the horizon for any signs of movement from the Ooarai-Bellwall Academy tanks along with her trusted second in command and loader of their tank – the Churchill Mark VII.

After seeing the dust cloud in the horizon, the orange-haired second in command had only looked at her commander who was sipping a cup of tea. Said commander only put her cup back to the held saucer and nodded.

Both girls then entered the tank with the blonde saying in a calm manner. "All tanks advance."

The whole St Gloriana sensha-do team did move out with the Churchill taking the lead and center position of their wedge formation with the accompanying Matildas taking position on both sides of the heavy infantry tank.

-oOo-

Two girls had gotten out of the PzKpfw IV Ausf D with binoculars and laid down at the edge of the cliff to keep themselves from being seen.

"There's almost all of the St. Gloriana's are there except for the Challenger," Miho was telling her companion – Yukari Akiyama. "Can you give me a rundown on what these tanks are just to be sure?"

"Of course, Nishizumi-dono." The shaggy brunette answered in a low voice that still barely held her excitement. "The one in the center of the wedge is the Churchill Mark VII and the rest are Matildas Mk IIIs. Still, that Challenger is something to worry about."

"Let's go," the brunette commander of the combined schools then added. "We need to get in position before they do."

The pair then headed back to the Panzer IV that was closest to the cliff in a slightly higher ledge that was flanked by the Medium M3 Lee and the StrumGeschutz III Ausf. F with the remaining tanks behind it.

"Mako, start up the engines and let's move." Miho then told the driver as she was just waking up. "Let's keep the engine noise down so as not to attract unwanted attention. Saori, spread the word."

All of the Ooarai tanks had started up and the pink Medium M3 Lee tank that was nearest to the slope down had taken the lead on the way down, followed by the gold Jagdpanzer 38 (t), the StuG III, the Type 89B I-Go Otsu that was covered by slogans and volleyballs, the Panzer IV, the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. E, and finally the M1A1 Abrams.

The Panzer IV then weaved its way among the leading tanks to take the lead after going over a slight rise in the slope while both the Tiger and Abrams had stayed at the rear.

After passing through yet another ridge, Miho then said. "We will continue on towards the first sniper position, so you can now stay at our ambush site in the meantime. Operation Sneaky begins now."

"Team F here," Zack's voice was then heard in the airwaves. "We'll head back to our earlier position in case the Challenger tries to stab us in the back."

"Alright," the brunette commander then said after seeing the logic behind it. "Good hunting, Lieutenant."

"Roger that," the Abrams answered as it had turned back to ambush its St. Gloriana counterpart. "Good hunting to you girls as well."

-oOo-

Once the other tanks had peeled off, Hana then asked Miho as everyone had their heads out of their respective hatches. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

"We're going to snipe the enemy to get their attention and then lead them to others in the ambush site," the tank commander answered. "Even then, I'm not really sure if it would work."

"Well, it has to work, or we'll be doing the Anglerfish dance." Saori then added with a shudder. "We can't afford to lose now."

"You're right," the long-haired brunette then added. "As this is our first match, we have to do our best."

"Yeah," the orange-haired girl then added. "We will win this."

"Well, I'm just happy to see those British tanks in action." Yukari then quipped with a blush. "It's a dream come true to me."

"You sure look happy just now," Saori then said with a shake of her head. "Oh well, different folks, different strokes as the author would often say."

Very funny, Miss Saori, very funny. The girls then laughed at the joke made at my expense.

It did not take long for the Panzer IV to be in position (Point Bravo) for the starting phase of Operation Sneaky.

-oOo-

The column of British tanks had rocked at the sudden explosion in front of the Churchill. The crew had felt the shockwaves hitting their tank and thus the loader had opined. "It seems that they had started their offensive."

"Well then, we should let them taste their own medicine." The blonde tank commander of the Churchill replied with a smile as she told everyone else. "Find where the shells had come from and prepare to fire."

-oOo-

Seeing that the enemy tank's turrets had now turned to their direction, Hana then apologized to Miho as Mako had gotten the tanks to reverse slightly then turn around quickly.

"That's alright," Miho then pacified her gunner. "We're not supposed to shoot them down anyway. Let's head back to the ambush point so the others would deal with them."

-oOo-

Back with the St. Gloriana's tanks, the commander then added. "All tanks, concentrate your fire on the Panzer IV in front."

"Yes, Miss Darjeerling."

The Matildas and Churchill then opened fire at the retreating Panzer IV that was coming back to a safer position while turning in formation.

"Mako, please move in a zig-zag pattern as much as possible." Miho then said over her throat mike. "Our armor is pretty thin so one good shot at us and it's game over."

"Roger that," Mako said sleepily as the tank indeed move from side to side to avoid the shells fired in their direction. "That was close."

Darjeerling was impressed with the enemy tank's dodging of their shots and said to herself. "They're better than I expected them to be."

She then added in the tank's microphone. "Increase your speed. We'll chase them down instead."

As the British tanks were raining fire on the evading German tank, the blonde then added to herself. "No matter how fast we drive our tanks, we never spill even a drop of our tea."

After a near miss, Saori then asked her commander to get inside as it was too dangerous out.

"It's alright," the brunette commander then answered. "Our tank's interior is carbon coated so we'll be safe."

"I meant that you'll still get hurt as you lean outside the hatch," Saori then interjected. "It's dangerous out there."

"Alright," Miho said with a bit of disappointment as she knew that Saori would not take no for an answer. "I'm coming in."

-oOo-

At Point Alpha (a ridge above a T intersection where the Panzer IV had turned right), the rest of the team were marking time in their own ways. Team D was playing cards on the back of their M3 Lee tank while Team B was practicing some volleyball behind their own Type 89 tank.

Team E was also waiting on their tank with only Anzu lying on a lounge chair as Yuzu sitting on the tank's right side just over the tracks with Momo sitting on the turret.

"They're too slow," the Type 38 (t)'s gunner said with a scowl. "What's taking them so long?"

"Remember, Momo that waiting is part of the plan."

"Yes, but…" the monocle-wearing SC member then tried to make a rebuttal but failed. "Forget it."

Teams C and G had remained in their tanks while remaining in contact with Team F that had just gotten back to their initial position (Point Charlie) and hid their Abrams in some upcropping of rocks.

Soon, Saori's voice was heard saying that the trap was sprung, and they were now heading back.

"Only 600 meters until the enemy tanks are in range," Miho then added in the airwaves as the Panzer IV was closing in on the ambush point. "Everyone, please get ready to hull down."

"Roger that," Momo replied for the rest as the rest of the team had gotten back into their tanks. "F Team, what's your status?"

"Found the Challenger trying to surprise you from your blind side," Zack answered in between loud whumps of the 120mm smoothbore cannon firing its AFPDS rounds as the Abrams had chased the British tank out of the battle zone and out into the highway. "Now in pursuit of British tank towards the highway."

The Panzer IV was now seen by the others at the mountain path they were now facing with a large dust cloud behind them.

"Now fire, fire." Momo said with undisguised glee at finally getting some action. "Blast those Brit tanks out of the match."

The concentrated fire was so early that Mako had to maneuver the medium tank out of the AP shells being fired in their direction. Unfortunately, even if they did hit the Matildas not one of them were even seriously damaged, more so for the Churchill that even the StuG and the Tiger was trying to knock out.

Darjeerling had even said upon seeing the ambush. "A simple decoy tactic like that won't work against us."

Panic then spread as the St. Gloriana tanks had encircled the fighting Ooarai tanks if not for Miho taking command once again and getting three of still operable tanks to leave the battle area and make for the city to fight their enemies one on one (Operation Sneakier).

Even then, the Tiger had scored a mission kill on one of the Matildas with the other taken out by the StuG in a surprise attack while both were covering for the Panzer IV and the Type 89.

In their place, the St. Gloriana tanks had gotten a mobility kill (loss of tracks) on the Panzer 38 (t) and Team D had left their tank crying for their mamas so the medium tank itself was immobilized quite easily.

-oOo-

The chase had led to the city itself where the modern battle tanks were already playing a game of Hide and Seek to the excitement of their audience watching from either mobile screens or work places. Both were careful on not to make too much damage especially on those sectors with people.

An exemption being one of the stores being hit by the Abrams after it slipped on the road once the Challenger had run over the nearby fire hydrant. The Abrams crew had shaken off the ringing in their ears and once again gave chase with the tank itself lightly damaged in the collision.

As it were, both modern tanks were getting quite a beating as they had both scored hits that rocked each other despite being hull or even turret down at times.

Miho then added in the airwaves. "Since we're entering the city soon, please take advantage of the terrain as best as you can and beware of the Challenger since it's still in the running."

"Why not?" Caesar answered with a wide smile. "It'll be like the Battle in Stalingrad."

"We're super familiar with Ooarai," Taeko Kondou answered for Team B. "We were born here after all."

The three Ooarai tanks then turned right at an intersection before disappearing. This had forced Darjeerling to divide her own reduced forces to seek the remaining three tanks of Ooarai.

-oOo-

One of the Matildas had examined a street until it was ambushed by the StuG III that was hidden in an alley leading to a mission kill. It's commander – Nilgiri then reported. "We've been hit and unable to continue."

A second Matilda's commander named Rukuriri was by then out of her tank's hatch before spotting the lights of a parking garage signaling that it was opening.

Thinking that one of the enemy tanks had hidden there, Rukuriri had gotten her Matilda to park itself in front of the garage and blast the poor tank trapped there while commenting. "Fools, hiding in such an obvious place."

Unfortunately for her, her quarry was actually in a parking lift behind her tank. Upon seeing the lift going up behind her, the ponytailed tank commander immediately buttoned herself up inside her tank just before Akabi Sasabi had fired at point blank range.

The spare gasoline tank had exploded at the shot causing smoke and some fire to be seen at the rear of the Matilda. Rukuriri had even reported to her commander. "Our tank was shot! Currently assessing the tank's condition."

Both Caesar and Taeko had reported that they had shot down two more tanks excitedly to Miho.

In her shock, the braided blonde commander had dropped her teacup and it shattered near her black oxford shoes. Her gunner and loader could only look on in worry at the sudden change in fortune.

"Not bad," Darjeerling said as she was certainly riled up at the newest losses in her side of the fence, despite the calmness of her facial expression. "But that's as far as you'll go."

Switching on the microphone, she then said. "Donald, leave the Abrams for a while and take down the rest of the team first. We'll keep the Abrams busy for the time being."

"Roger, Cousin…I mean Commander."

"Now let's deal with the Panzer IV first before the Abrams," the blonde said with a feral grin. "We can team up with Don after getting rid of the small fry first."

"Yes, Commander." The crew of the Churchill answered quickly, fearful of their own commander's wrath. "It shall be done."

-oOo-

The StuG was spotted by the Challenger first as the two tanks were seeking either company or competitor and thus the former was shot down quickly, it's flags and bright color-scheme was a dead giveaway against the backdrops of brown and grey of the city block around it.

Erwin could only report while shaking her head in dismay at being taken out by a tank that they could barely see. "Team C, immobilized."

As for the Type 89, their jubilation was short lived as the smoke cleared with the muzzle of the Matilda's Ordnance QF 2-pounder now seen in their sights.

"Wah, fire at it again." Noriko commanded in panic as the whole Team B were shocked at the sudden change in their fortune. "And continue firing at it."

Shinobu Kawanishi had gotten the light tank to go in reverse as succeeding shells had done nothing more than dent the medium tank's rear armor.

"Wah," the blonde gunner of Team B had cried in panic as their own attacks were not even effective. "It's their serve now."

One shot later, this was what Noriko had told Miho afterwards. "Team B making a correction, we failed to eliminate the enemy and was immobilized too. Sorry, Commander."

Miho could not believe her own luck as they were now down by two tanks while their enemy was still totaling at three. 'I guess we only have the Tiger left as our trump card since the Abrams had to keep the Challenger at bay or hopefully defeat it. This will certainly need some fancy footwork for all three of us to get out this mess alive.'

"Saori, please ask Teams F and G on where they are at the moment." The brunette commander then added out loud. "Mako, Yukari, and Hana, prepare for anything since we may find ourselves surrounded if not careful."

"Roger."

-oOo-

Neko Yamamori was leaning out of the Tiger I's hatch as the Tiger was looking for the remaining St. Gloriana tanks. Her strategy was two-fold – engage both the remaining Matilda and the Churchill and run away from the Challenger.

The former delinquent and tank commander of the Bellwall Sensha-do team had gone through various blocks in search of their prey while avoiding the similarly stalking and heavily damaged Challenger that was avoiding the similarly damaged Abrams which was also patrolling the blocks of the city.

"Head right since I've seen the parking lot where Team B hid earlier and that's the street where the Matilda would be right now searching for Team A," she told the driver – Kanbarra. "We'll surprise 'em then look for the Big Cheese."

"Roger," the masked driver of the Tiger I said simply. "Need to watch out for Challenger."

And like Neko had predicted the Matilda was seen a good one hundred meters away after the Tiger had turned right as the latter tank was chasing the Panzer IV that was also trying to meet up with the Abrams for protection.

One 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 PzGr 39 round was enough to make a mission kill and thus Rukuriri's Matilda had spouted a white flag.

The only problem was that the Challenger was just behind the Matilda and its own APFSDS L26 round had taken out the WWII heavy tank easily.

"Team A, found the Matilda as well as the Challenger." Neko then transmitted to her team members. "Mission killed one and was immobilized by the other."

"Team G, copy that." Miho then replied. "Kindly say last position for Team F. We'll join you later."

"Team A, Team G acknowledges transmission."

"Team G, we just heard the report of the L30 cannon and is nearing your position now." Zack then added. "Team A, be wary of the Churchill and Challenger until we meet up."

"Team F, copy that as well." The Ooarai/Bellwall commander then said. "Be careful, Lieutenant."

"Team F acknowledges the transmission."

"Team E is in the house," Anzu said with a chipper voice. "Where are you girls?"

"Oh damn," the red-haired SC president then added in a frightened tone. "Yuzu, get that pedal to the metal now."

"What happened?" Miho was asking as she had the Panzer IV turn right as it was hoping to help Team E before they get shot as well. "Team E, please report."

-oOo-

Zack had gotten Emi to turn his physical self to the right before finding the Challenger trying to run away. Another AFPDS cannon round had hit the Challenger's engine block causing a mobility kill before the Abrams had also gotten firepower killed thus the white flag sprouting on its turret.

"This is Team F, we had gotten a mobility kill on the Challenger and in return, we got our gun disabled as well." Zack said with a terse tone of voice. "I hope you girls are alright. And don't worry, both Hitomi and Chihiro are A-Ok."

By then, the Panzer IV had spotted its fellow panzer approaching and they both charged at the Churchill with guns blazing. Of course, the Panzer 38 (t)'s shells had only hit the pavement and sidewalk not the tank in the middle of the street to its gunner's frustration.

Darjeerling could only laugh at the fired shells from the Panzer IV bounced at her tank's front armor before the Churchill had fired its own Ordnance QF 75mm at the Panzer 38 (t) first. She then added as the microphone was set to a public-address setting. "As they say, all's fair in love and war."

The Panzer IV had tried to slide towards the weaker armor of the Churchill at the right side, but somehow did not make significant damage as the QF 75mm's Shot AP M61 round certainly did a number on their tank.

Both Ooarai/Bellwall tanks had sprouted white flags from their bodies, ending the match in a St. Gloriana victory.

The said victory was barely seen by Team D who were watching in a tree at the city's park and all of them were all worried about their punishment once they return to the Zuikaku.

-oOo-

After the immobilized tanks were picked up, both Teams A and F (except for Zack, of course) had gathered near rows of trailers where they would later be picked up by the bus bound for their hotel. The rest had already left since they were ordered by the Student Council as Miho was to meet with her counterpart in St. Gloriana.

After waiting for ten minutes, the St. Gloriana commander and her posse had come to meet and greet with Miho and her friends.

"You must be the Ooarai/Bellwall commander," the blonde with a French braid had said upon meeting the one who was said to be in command of the Ooarai sensha-do team. "I'm Derjeerling, and these are my associates – Orange Pekoe, my loader and second in command and Assam, my gunner and battle analyst. And may we know your names please?"

"I-I'm Nishizumi Miho," Miho then said with some hesitation. "These are my childhood friends –Nakasuga Emi, the driver of the Abrams, Yusa Chihiro, the gunner of the Abrams, Yuzumoto Hitomi, its loader."

The aforementioned girls had bowed their heads as they were introduced while Miho had introduced the rest of her friends.

Miho then added. "This is my loader –Akiyama Yukari, my gunner – Isuzu Hana, my radio operator – Takebe Saori, and my driver – Reizei Mako."

"Ah, quite a number of friends you have…Miss Nishizumi." Derjeerling then said. "So, you must be the younger sister of Maho Nishizumi. Compared to Maho, you're a lot nicer and have a lot more friends than she did."

"Uh…umm," the former vice commander of Kuromorimine stuttered and thus her hands were both squeezed by Emi and Yukari. "Thank you."

Derjeerling then nodded and with a nod to her companions before they left the scene.

After the St. Gloriana Noble Sisters had left, that Team E had also arrived.

"Oh well, we lost." Anzu then said with an airy tone of voice. "Still, it's no biggie."

"As we had agreed, you would perform the Anglerfish dance." Momo then added with a sliver of anger at their loss and humiliation. "Compared to our humiliating defeat earlier, this one is easier to swallow."

"You know, it wasn't just Nishizumi's fault that we lost the whole match." The red-haired twin tailed SC president then told her subordinate. "I remember the Lieutenant saying that the mistake of one is the mistake of all and thus all of us will be dancing the Anglerfish dance."

"But Prez…" both Momo and Yuzu exclaimed at the same time. "You mean…"

"Yep, the whole Ooarai-Bellwall Team will be performing the Anglerfish dance in three days' time starting tomorrow." Anzu said with nary a change in expression. "Well, we'll make time for the practice also starting tomorrow and yes, when I said the whole team, I meant that the Lieutenant would be joining us."

-oOo-

Speaking of the Lieutenant, he had called the freshmen team for a debriefing about their actions in the match while still in the garage.

"I am very disappointed in all five of you for deliberately leaving your tank in the middle of a match," the Abrams was telling the fifteen-year-old girls in his stern voice while having his hull repaired especially the front and the turret. "I understand that you're all scared of being blasted and yet did you see your teammates running for the hills once the guns start firing? Remember that the safest place in the battlefield is right inside your tank."

"We're sorry," all the freshmen answered with lowered heads and some even had teared up at the sermon being given to them. "We won't do it again."

"You'd better," Zack then added, his tone softening at the sight of the girls crying openly. "Now don't cry and fight until your tank is immobilized. Slightly paraphrasing the last line of March or Die – 'You had tried to quit and even ran away earlier. In the future, none of you would succeed.' Do you want to know why?"

"Why, Sir?" Azusa had gathered the courage to ask.

"It's because if you tried to run away again, the Sensha-do team will stop you, if they don't, the enemy team will." The Abrams then added with a serious tone. "If they don't, the judges will. And if the Federation won't stop you, then I will. I don't know which is worse."

"We understand, Sir." The whole group answered meekly with bowed heads. "We will fight more fiercely the next time."

"Good," Zack had his turret nod to signify his appreciation. "All of you are dismissed."

The first years then left, glad that the instructor had understood their fear and even told them to stand firm in the future.

The Abrams then let out a tired sigh showing his own anxiety at being a martinet even for a moment. The mechanics at work had looked at him concerned before shrugging their shoulders as Zack had gone silent afterwards.

-oOo-

As promised, the locals of A Team had guided her commander and their new friends around town.

As the group had stopped for lunch in a fast-food chain, Mako then told her new friends. "I'm sorry, but I need to get home or Grandma would be very angry with me."

"That's alright," Miho replied as she knew that her driver had a very good reason to go back home. "We'll see you on Monday then."

"See you, everyone." The short brunette then added as she had taken a cab home. "I would have wanted to join you though."

"We'll be fine, Mako." Saori answered for the rest of the group. "You be careful now."

"I will."

-oOo-

The rest of the group had gone through Ooarai's mall and even through the city streets until they came across a young man carrying a rickshaw.

The young man had stopped and looked at the direction of the girls, making Saori think that he was looking at her. "Oh, our eyes met."

The young man suddenly gasped and smiled and gently dropped the handles of his carried vehicle before jogging towards Miho and her group. Again, Saori had exclaimed. "Oh jeez."

It was then that Hana had recognized the older man approaching them. "Shinzaburou?"

"You know him?!" The ginger-haired girl nearly yelled in surprise. "How?"

The young man had once again carried the rickshaw towards the girls before gently laying it down on the street. He then approached the group with the A Team's radio operator acting like she was the one to be approached.

"Uh, hi." The ginger-haired teen said as the older man approached them. "I-I'm Hana's friend and…"

But the young man had only passed Saori to greet his young mistress to Saori's shock. "Young Mistress, I am glad to see that you are well."

"Wait, what is this all about?!" The A Team's radio operator then exclaimed in confusion. "I demand some answers right now!"

"As I was about to say," Hana then answered with an apologetic bow. "This is Shinzaburou, my family's humble servant."

"We thank you for always looking after my lady," Shinzaburou then said. "We are both grateful?"

"We?" Miho and her friends aside from Hana then said in confusion. "Whose we?"

"He meant me," An older version of Hana answered them once she had come down from the rickshaw cart before opening her paper umbrella. "How are you doing, Hana?"

"Mother," The brunette gunner then said with a bow. "I am well and in good company."

"That's good," Missus Yuri Isuzu said with a graceful nod. "And who are these girls?"

Hana then introduced her new friends starting from Miho to Emi.

It was after being introduced that Yukari had blurted out that all of them had participated in sensha-do.

The older woman's eyes had narrowed at the mention of the sport before adding. "Hana dear, what is the meaning of this?"

"Mother, I…" Hana had tried to explain before her mother had grabbed her hand and smelled it. Yukari had by then realized that she had goofed somehow.

"Your hand smell of iron and oil," the flower arranger then exclaimed. "Don't tell that you are learning sensha-do?"

The heir to the Isuzu flower arranging style had nodded and said softly. "Yes, Mother."

"I cannot believe that you touch tanks with the same delicate hands that you arrange flowers with," Missus Isuzu exclaimed before fainting on the spot. "Uhhh."

"Mother/Milady." Both Hana and Shinzaburou exclaimed as everyone had picked up the fainted woman and brought her to the rickshaw and then to the Isuzu mansion.

-oOo-

Once they were in the Isuzu mansion's dining room, Yukari then apologized for speaking out of order.

"I thought that she knew about it," the bushy haired loader of Team A then added. "I'm really sorry."

"No," Hana then rebutted the given statement. "I'm the one who should apologize since I haven't told her about my participating in sensha-do."

"Yes, but she shouldn't even act like it was the end of the world." Emi then blurted in frustration. "We're all free to choose what we do."

"You don't understand, Miss Emi." The gunner then added. "As the heir to the Isuzu style of flower arranging, I cannot do anything else or I'll lose my skill in arranging flowers."

Miho then looked at the vase to her right to see a delicately prepared flower arrangement that showed how much work it was done to it.

It was about that time that Shinzaburou had opened the door and spoke. "Young Miss, your mother has regained consciousness. She wants to talk to you."

Hana then returned the worried looks of her friends before saying. "I have to go back to the Zuikaku."

"Young miss!"

"As much as I love my mother…"

This time, the manservant could not afford to stay in the sidelines any longer. "Young Miss, my apologies for speaking out of order, but I think it is better that you tell your mother how you really felt."

"I'm with him," Chihiro and Hitomi then chorused.

Miho then added. "Missus Isuzu may understand how you feel if you just tell her."

"Thank you, Miho." Hana said as she stood up. "I guess it is time for me to come clean as well."

Hana then went towards her mother's room with Shinzaburou in tow. The rest had remined in the dining room awaiting the result of the talk while eating pork cutlets.

-oOo-

Hana had knelt before her mother before apologizing for not telling her the truth.

Yuri then asked her only daughter. "What happened? How come that you no longer love flower arrangement?"

"That's not it, Mother." The younger Isuzu then replied with a soft voice. "It's something else altogether."

"Are you unhappy with something," the present master of the Isuzu style of Flower Arrangement then said. "Have I been remiss in my duties as a mother?"

"That's not it, Mother."

"Then why do sensha-do in the first place?" Missus Isuzu then added with a bit frustration in her voice. "What is there in that activity that made you join it?"

"Mother, no matter I had practiced flower arranging." Hana then explained. "There is always something missing and I can't figure out what it is."

"No, you aren't." the older Isuzu then rebutted. "Your arrangements are neat and beautiful. The perfect embodiment of the Isuzu style."

"No, mother." Hana had to shake her head as her only parent could not understand her. "You don't understand. I want to put arrangements that isn't just neat and beautiful but would make a strong statement as well."

Seeing that her daughter was beginning to rebel, Yuri had broken down once again. "What happened to your honest, kind self? Did sensha-do do this to you?"

"Tanks are barbaric, ugly, noisy, and nothing more," the elder Isuzu then criticized her daughter's choice of elective. "They should be turned to scrap metal and recycled."

"I apologize, Mother." Hana finally found her mother's beef with sensha-do. "But I…won't quit sensha-do."

"I understand your feelings," Missus Isuzu then replied as she could no longer hold on to her daughter any longer. "But you are no longer to set foot in this house ever again."

"But Mistress!"

"Stay out of this, Shinzaburo."

"Then please excuse me," Hana then bowed one last time before standing up and leaving the room with Shinzaburo following her. "Goodbye…Mother."

Once both her daughter and manservant had left the room, Yuri had broken down and cried loudly.

-oOo-

Once she had gotten back to the dining room, Hana then told her new friends. "Let's go."

"But what about your mother?" Miho then said with concern. "Have you made up?"

Hana only shook her head as she added. "Maybe someday, I'll be able to make a flower arrangement that would open her mind."

"Young Miss!" Shinzaburo then exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

"Do not worry, Shinzaburo." The long-haired brunette then said with a gentle smile. "As I'll be starting from the bottom, I'll work even harder to come back."

"Yes, Young Miss."

"Hana, we will work hard too." Miho then said with a twinkle in her eyes. "You're not the only one that has to prove herself."

"Thank you, Miho."

-oOo-

Mako was waiting for them at the pier near the boarding gate with her left foot on a rope anchor. "You're late."

"And you're always wide awake at night." Saori retorted with a grin as they had gone out of the taxi they had rented. "No matter, let's get in."

"You barely made it in departure," Midoriko Sono told the team as she made a note along with a few of the navigation girls. "Good for you."

"Sorry, Miss Sono." Miho said as she passed the Public Moral Committee. "We had some business."

"My bad, Sodoko."

"Don't call by that name, Remako." Midoriko shot back. "And don't you dare laugh."

Once the A and F teams had come to the upper deck, they were met by the whole D Team who bowed once their seniors had gotten up. "We would like to apologize for throwing the match, Miss Miho."

"It's alright," Miho said as she had rubbed her junior's heads. "I know you're scared and I'm sure that the Lieutenant had given you a suitable lecture."

"You could say that again," the whole of D Team replied sourly that made their seniors laugh. "He's still cool as all of you are for fighting that Challenger and Cromwell tanks."

"Like Miho told you, you're forgiven since the Lieutenant had said more than enough for all of us combined." Emi then said with a shrug as she and the others had duplicated Miho's action. "Next time just don't run away from a battle."

"Alright, kids." Anzu's voice was then heard. "Head on home as we big girls had something to do."

Team D then said their goodbyes at their seniors before leaving.

Turning to Miho, the SC President then added. "From now on, you're officially our commander, Miss Miho. And as such, you get to handle our tactics from now on."

"Eh?" Miho was surprised to be given full control when it came to sensha-do.

"Also, there is something from Gloriana for you as well." Yuzu then gave Miho a box filled with a tea set and a note - "For our new friend."

In addition, Darjeerling and her team had wished that they would meet the Ooarai/Bellwall team in an official match.

Yukari then said. "It is said that St. Gloriana sends a tea set and their accompanying tea sachets to those they deem worthy opponents."

"Oh, is that so?" Saori then quipped. "I guess we've given them a good battle after all."

"I guess yesterday's enemies are today's friends after all," Miho then said with a gentle smile. "It did hold true for the world as well."

"You better win next time," Anzu then added. "Our school depend on it."

"Don't worry, we will." The short-haired light brunette answered. "We have more reasons not to lose after all."

"Wait, official match?" Saori then asked.

"Yes, the National Sensha-do Championships that would be starting soon."

-oOo-

That night around nine in the evening, Zack was now left alone after being fixed by the mechanics along with the other tanks and was even given a diesel generator to run his systems despite having his turbine engine shut off.

A slight clanking sound was then picked up by the modern battle tank's external microphones thus it had turned its turret at the intruder. "Who goes there?"

"It's me, Lieutenant." A tall teenaged girl answered as she had turned on the garage's fluorescent lights and thus seeing the 120mm smoothbore cannon's business end in her direction. "Can we talk?"

"Of course, Miss Kawashima." Zack then added as Momo had closed the door. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I-I would like to a-ask for help in improving my aim?" The monocle-wearing student council member was saying with forefingers touching. "I'm sure you've seen the replay of the match while you were being repaired."

"Yes, I did." The Abrams then said after a minute. "I never expected that your aim was that abysmal in actual combat and I was thinking of getting Captain Chono giving you a tutorial in her tank if you both have the time since she herself had said that she could hit a target 120%."

"Please call me, Momo." The brunette then added with a slight blush upon remembering the digital image of the lieutenant in Yuzu's laptop during the meeting before. "I don't think that Miss Ami would be able to help that much, and I wanted it hush-hush."

"Well, Miss Momo." Zack then added, again after a minute. "Other than using me to practice your shooting, I may suggest that we'll start tomorrow evening and that you would need these items…"

-oOo-

The next evening, Momo had come back to the garage carrying a dart board and three darts on her hands.

"So how would this help me improve my aim?" The PR Officer said as she was setting up the dartboard on the nail on the wall that Zack had gotten the Goodwrench team to set up earlier. "I'm not even using a tank gun."

"Just get to the drawn line on the floor and throw the darts at the upper 20-sector," the Abrams then said. "You'll understand why once you start throwing."

Momo did as she was told before asking while adjusting her aim. "Which is the upper 20 part?"

"That's the largest part of the 20 in the board, right in the middle of the double lines."

"Alright," Momo had finally gotten her aim or so she thought and threw the first dart. "What the?!"

"Just aim better and throw," Zack then quipped. "We'll talk about it if after you throw the last dart."

Two minutes later, two more thunks were heard with none of the darts even within the target area or even the dartboard for that matter.

"Since you missed by a proverbial mile, you'll have to try again until the clock strikes ten then we'll try again tomorrow."

"Alright," Momo said as she had tried again, and again, and again.

"Arghhhh!" The PR Manager was screaming in anguish. "Why can't I even hit a damn dartboard?"

"Concentrate on the board," Zack replied sternly. "Remember, you wanted to improve your aim and until you can hit the upper 20, you can't hit any target with your tank's 3.7cm ÚV vz. 38gun."

"Alright, I'll have those darts in there before I need to sleep." The teen answered as she had pulled out the darts from the wooden wall around the dartboard. "I think I'm beginning to see what you meant earlier."

Momo finally got the three darts within the black square just as her Casio watch had beeped ten in the evening. "Finally; so, what's next, Chief?"

"For tomorrow, you'll have to continue hitting the upper 20 until it becomes natural then we'll switch to the green bullseye."

"You're a slave driver, you know that." Momo then joked as she had taken a picture of the dartboard with the darts on the designated target with her phone before putting the darts and their metal case inside the cabinet within the garage. "Next time, you'll have me shooting a rock with a slingshot at a glass bottle placed ten meters away."

"Well, it's either that or you'll be shooting a BB gun at a paper target that is twenty meters away." The Abrams joked back. "It doesn't matter how long you'll have to train; what's important is that your aim would be slowly improving until you can hit me at 200 meters while I'm still running."

"Thanks, Chief." Momo said with a sigh of relief as she was closing the door. "You're a good friend. Good night."

"And you're a good student, Miss Momo." Zack replied as the door was closed and locked from the outside. "I have to admit, that girl is certainly sweet when she isn't panicking or playing tough girl."

-oOo-

As it was Momo was busy with lessons, paperwork, and sensha-do practice during the day and aiming practice during the night. It was hard for her both physically and mentally, but for the sake of her school, she was willing to take the risk.

At first, no one had even suspected that the PR Manager was even sacrificing one of her rest hours to practice her aim since she was still doing bad at the range.

But Ami was beginning to suspect something once the Panzer 38 (t) was actually hitting the area within the target after just five days of practice. As someone who has very good aim (or so she says), she could tell if someone was getting better as the rest would just be glad that Momo was actually hitting the target at all.

Ami then asked Zack at the end of practice as she had him take her around the school ship's commercial district. "Momo is practicing her aim, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Zack said after a beat. "She's a quick learner as she finally mastered hitting the bullseye last night. She'll be hitting the double bull tonight."

"Darts, huh?" Ami then said while waving at one of the teachers that the Abrams had passed by. "Quite creative of you to get her to practice using that pub game."

"Why not?" The Abrams answered while making a virtual shrug. "It's a nice pastime and it even helped my aiming too."

"Once you're back to normal, I know a sports pub in Ooarai where we can play Killers." Ami then said nonchalantly. "Loser pays the tab."

"You're on."

-oOo-

The next day, the whole sensha-do team had gotten on two Mitsubishi Super Great flatbed truck trailers with Team C being divided into two to play the dadaikos on each end of the truck with the others performing the dance in the middle.

There was even a plasma display panel just enough to fit a full-sized image of the six-foot two inch (157.48 cm) tall Zacarias Wycoco who was also wearing the Anglerfish costume on one of the trailers.

Both trucks were driven through the streets of Ooarai-Bellwall's residential and commercial districts while the Anglerfish song was being played along with the History club playing the dadaikos in tune with the beat.

Nearly all of the "dancers" were complaining at one point or another. Oddly enough, only the Student Council as well as the digitized instructor and their new commander had kept mum on the subject.

"I can't get married anymore," Saori was saying to her teammates. "No one would want to be with me anymore."

"If you think this is embarrassing, then it would be even more embarrassing." Hana then admonished the A Team's radio operator. "We are all in the same boat, after all."

"Deal with it," Yukari angrily added. "Like Miss Hana said, we're all in the same boat."

"I couldn't agree more," Momo grumbled as she had watched Anzu having the time of her life while Yuzu was also feeling distressed at their public performance. "This sucks donkey dong."

Beside Momo, the whole volleyball club was chanting. "It's all for the club, it's all for the club."

At the other truck, the girls were also grumbling about dancing a traditional dance that left them embarrassed and even exposed by some manner. The new transfers were grumbling softly as anything heard by their commander/instructor was met with the glare of instant death.

More so for the freshmen who were scared of the lieutenant who they could now see as a human, despite being a digitized image. Despite his handsome face and sexy body, the stony face of Zacarias had scared the team.

Even then, Zack was wishing that it had done the same to the audience especially the older women who had pointed at him and swooned while pointing at something below his visual range. 'I was hoping that the family would not find out about me this way or Dad would disown me anyway.'

F team could only take sneak peeks at their infuriated commander and sigh at his bad luck.

After going around town once, the parade finally ended, and everyone had gone home or in the digitized commander's case, back to his physical self's hard drive.

Of course, Ami had thought to tease the digitized young man even more although her real reason was that she wanted to spend some more time with the tank in the now humanly vacated garage.

"You're still sexy as ever I see," the JGSDF tank platoon commander. "I wonder what it would take so you'll be human once again, so we could play killers."

"I don't really know," the Abram's amplified voice was unsure as heard in its tone. "But I would be lying if I didn't want my old body back. This body is certainly powerful and tough, but I can only enter this garage as well as 'eat' gasoline or even aviation fuel to run."

"Yeah, but you could certainly defend yourself and others easily." Ami then added. "Then again, you could do the same in your human form as well. And finally, you can't have kids as a tank."

"On second thought, I think I'll remain an Abrams for a while longer."

"Hey, don't deprive us young ladies of the opportunity to bag a hottie and a green card in one fell swoop."

"Not funny," Zack's tone had changed to one charged with slight anger. "Seriously though, I don't even know how I got turned to this and thus, it's impossible for me to know how I could change back."

"Sorry," Ami then said with fluttering eyes at the wall. "We could ask the author if he has any ideas. Maybe he knows how you could be uncursed."

Sorry, but my lips were sealed at the start so that particular tidbit would be best left as something for me to know and for you two and everyone else to find out. Besides, I am not even allowed to reveal plot points anyway.

"Thank you, Mister Author." The Abrams said with a slight bow of its turret and cannon. "Speaking of plot points, I am supposed to join the girls in the tank fights, am I correct?"

Yes, since they would need all the help they could get especially in the later chapters. Not only that, you and the other armored fighting vehicle instructors would suffice as a twist that nobody else had thought for some reason.

The pair had continued their conversation about the team's collective skills and how to improve them even further after thanking me.

"The Type 89 is our lightest and fastest unit at the moment and thus it would make a great scout along with the other light tank – Panzer 38 (t)," Ami was saying. "Then we have the medium tanks and tank destroyer – the Panzer IV, the M3 Lee, and the StuG III, all of which are better used as the main body of the attack and finally, we have you and the Tiger with you being the spearhead and the Tiger as the rearguard."

"Yes, that is a good formation." Zack then had his turret nod at the given suggestion before adding. "And given my speed and armor, my team and I could certainly serve as the spearhead and still keep our real secret weapon – Miss Miho protected."

"Of course, we still have to contend with one-on-one battles that Miho seems to excel in making this team do."

"Yeah. Of course that leaves us tank commanders with enough latitude to create our own tactics based on our new locations which is what I personally like," The Abrams then continued. "It would do us good to have it and still stick to main strategy in the end. Alright then, let's suggest this to the SC and Miss Miho so we could center our whole training regimen on that formation and strategy."

"Consider it done, Sweetheart." The JGSDF Captain then said with a suggestive wink as she turned around and left the garage, ignoring the sputtered response of the tank through its speakers. "See ya."

"W-wait a minute…Sweetheart?!" Zack's voice had echoed inside the garage. "What does she think we are, dating or ugh…married?"

Let us leave our poor soldier boy alone with his thoughts as he was just so easy to tease.

-oOo-

The next day, three girls of different grades had approached the Student Council in the hopes that they could join the team despite being late.

Their leader was a second-year student named Nekota and she was followed by third year Piyotan and first year Momoga.

"So, what can I do for you three?" A titian red hair tied up in twin pigtails had said after the trio had gotten inside the Student Council office. "My name's Suzuka Shimuzu, treasurer of the Student Council."

"Oh, we just want to ask if it's too late to join the Sensha-do team?" The blonde second-year student then said after a minute. "You see, we're players of the MMO game – World of SPG and we wanted to try out being in a real one."

"Well, you can since we have more tanks than we have teams." Suzuka then added. "But just to make if official, let's wait for the other half of the SC to arrive so sit down and be comfortable."

"Alright," Nekota said with a nod. "Girls, let's sit down over there."

The trio then sat down on the couch near the door and waited as they read magazines and other publications.

After ten minutes had passed, the rest of the student council members except for Team E had arrived and even greeted the girls inside.

The SC members then sat down at the second seats with Suzuka preparing some tea and sandwiches.

The tall blonde student had then said. "I am Juri Kobayashi, Secretary of the Student Council. May we know why you had come here?"

"Well, we wanted to join the sensha-do since we wanted to see what it's like to be in a real tank battle?"

"They're players of World of SPG," the red-haired treasurer explained. "Kind of like the Challenger 2 instructor tank that tagged the Lieutenant in the practice match along with the StuG and the Tiger."

"Well, we do need more crews for the other tanks we have right now." The strawberry blonde then said with a shrug. "I mean, even the Auto club wants to join in as they did claim the Porsche Tiger as their own. Not to mention that Midoriko is looking at the Char B1 bis with interest a few times."

"Alright," Juri then added with a nod. "Our auditor was saying that we have three spare tanks, but two of them are pretty much spoken for and thus, you'll man the Type 3 Chi-Nu. Is that alright with you three?"

"It's not the most powerful tank, but it is quite speedy." Piyotan then said with her head tilted to the side. "Let's show the others how good we are in any tank, girls."

"Yeah!" Both Nekota and Momoga cheered as they stood up and bowed. "Thank you, Miss Secretary."

"You're welcome." The SC members replied as they too stood up and bowed. "We wish you luck."

The trio of gamers who would later call themselves the Anteater Team had left the room skipping in happiness. As for the SC members inside, they too celebrated as their efforts in getting a strong team in sensha-do may have borne fruit after all.

-oOo-

The trio of gamers had gone to the garage in the hopes of meeting Miho to formally join the team. All three girls were in high spirits as they walked from the main building towards the tank garage.

Once they had come inside, the gamers had found a hive of activity from the other teens inside. The mechanics were scurrying in doing some minor tweaks as the tanks would now be installed with laser sensors that would mimic a hit by the laser module at the tanks' weapons.

The tankers were being lectured by Satoko Nakajima who herself along with both her fellow Auto club members and the transferee mechanics were lectured by the US Army engineers and mechanics along with Zack, hours earlier.

"Um, what's going on?" Nekota then asked as she saw the activity inside the garage. "What are those things?"

Satoko had called for them before repeating what she was told earlier. "So, you three must be the ones that the Student Council had told us all about. Simply said, these sensors would tell us that the tank is hit enough or hit powerfully enough to trigger the referee system."

"Ok, what would be fired at the tanks that the sensors would pick up?" Momoga then asked as she had heard of a similar game before. "A laser beam?"

"Something like that," the shorter brunette said with a small smile. "It's kinda like Lazer Tag, but actually used by the US military as well as many other countries."

"Well, I'm for anything that would mean less time fixing the tanks during training matches." Taichi Shimoka said with a big smile. "Of course, it's better that we come back to live ammo during official matches."

"I guess," Miho then spoke up. "But maybe it would be better for official matches too."

"True, but it won't be as much fun." Emi said with a shrug. "Still, it could work if sensha-do would move to the Cold War tanks."

"Good point," The brunette sensha-do commander then added. "But I'm sure down the road, sensha-do may go there indeed."

"Even then, welcome aboard." Saori then said with a big smile and a raised hand for a handshake. "Every new member is welcome and needed especially with the coming tournament."

"We know," Momoga said as she had shaken the Panzer IV radio operator's hand. "So, we need to learn how to utilize our tank as quickly as possible."

"The best way to do that is to actually get in your tank and learn how to use it," Emi then said with crossed arms. "If you'd like, we'll join you since we can even test the new laser sensors at the same time."

"Good point since the targets were also fitted with sensors as well." Anzu then said. "Although, we have some spare parts that we need to address first before we roll out."

"And what spare parts are those?" Satoko then asked as she was the head of all the mechanics attending to the tanks. "We've gotten lots of 'em kept within the storehouse."

"I meant the Kwk 40-gun barrel as well as the Shurzen spaced armor," the twin-tailed SC president answered. "We've found them kept in the storehouse and maybe it's time to use them."

"Well, we don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket yet and thus, maybe the gun barrel would be best for now."

"Alright, since equipping the Shurzen and some additional armor may slow down the Panzer IV which may be bad when speed is an issue." Taichi then added as assistant head mechanic. "We'll use it when armor is much more needed. For now, we'll upgrade the Panzer to its F2 model."

"Thank you."

"Let's go, let's go." The newly named Rabbit team excitedly tugged the Anteater team to do some practice battles. "We need to get better, so we could pull our weight."

Once both Anteater and Rabbit teams had left with their tanks, Miho then added to Satoko. "Please have the barrels replaced since we certainly do need the upgrade in firepower while we keep the speed despite not having additional armor until it is needed."

"Yes, Miss Miho."

-oOo-

Outside, Rabbit team was relishing their temporary status of being the seniors since they did have seniority when it comes to sensha-do. (sees the smiles directed at me) I did say that is temporary, did I not?

All of the first years then frowned at the given fact but continued their own tutorial of the newcomers of tankery.

As for the rest, they had either watched the newfangled sensors and laser emitters attached to their tanks or headed back to their dorms as practice was cancelled until the day after tomorrow.

Thankfully, the sensors and emitters were held by magnets, so they were easily removable.

-oOo-

The next day, Zuikaku had docked in Tokyo for the National Championship draw. The Anglerfish, Hawk, and Turtle Teams along with the Student Council were there in force or in other words, all of Miho's friends plus all of the student council members and even one of the instructors was there with her that morning, just sitting on his own chair in a laptop's screen in his US Army Class A service uniform.

The said laptop was on Saori's lap, so she could say that she had a man sitting on her lap. On her left were both Miho and Emi while Hana and Yukari were on her right. All of the council members were sitting on Yukari's right while the rest of Hawk team were sitting on Miho's left.

Students of other schools were all present as Yukari had spotted Darjeerling and her lieutenants sitting on an upper row with Anzu seeing some familiar faces as well on the other side of the auditorium itself.

They had watched the commanders of the other schools draw their lots from the box at the center of the stage. Thus, they had seen Maho had picked her own draw before the older Nishizumi had studied all of them, pausing for a moment at seeing the children that had joined her little sister in a match against her and her classmates six years ago as well as the image on the laptop carried by the ginger-haired girl that was sitting beside Miho.

There was even a girl that had waved at Chihiro who waved back just as enthusiastically. Miho then wondered on how her childhood friend even knew a student from Koala High School.

Finally, it was Miho's turn and she had picked the number 8 from the box and showed it to everyone. Maho's second in command had made a tch sound as she wanted first crack at the relatively unknown team that just entered the tournament out of the blue.

After sitting down, Miho was instantly massaged and taken care of by her friends that caused both Maho and Darjeerling to smile as they shook their heads.

There was even one dark brown-haired girl with ponytails that said in derision. "So, we got the dark horse as our opponent, eh. Sounds like fun."

"Of course, they've got that hot instructor tank that got everyone in a tizzy once that video is out in Youtube." Her short haired companion said from her right after popping her bubble gum. "We'd better be wary of him though along with that Tiger."

"Neither an Abrams nor a Tiger are invulnerable though," a tinny voice in an Australian accent then said from the laptop that the pony-tailed girl was carrying on her lap. "But we need to be exact on where to shoot it and hopefully from a better position."

"You're right, Miss Hilda."

"And teamwork is the key to that one as once those two behemoths are shut down, the rest are pretty easy."

-oOo-

That night, Momo had come back for her nightly practice using the dart board. She and the instructor had gotten chummier during their nightly practice schedule.

This time, the monocle-wearing Public Relations officer was trying her best in hitting the small rectangle near the bullseye at the 20 section. Out of all the targets she was given, this was certainly the smallest one yet as it was even smaller than the red bullseye.

Momo had learned to calm herself and imagine a slightly curved line towards her target. After doing some research when it came to actually be shooting a tank shell, it was not much different.

It took her ten minutes before she finally got all three darts within the boundaries of the triple twenty and after a short jig, had continued to hit the same area for the next fifteen tries.

It was around that time that Yuzu had visited her friend and fellow Student Council member in the latter's apartment. Having found the door locked, she then began to look for the brunette since she was hoping to spend some time with her even if it was only for an hour.

The sexy brunette had met Anzu who was also looking for Momo since she had to ask the PR officer some questions about the documents that she had approved and passed on to her.

The pair then found Miho who was also out of her own apartment for some reason while still dressed in her pajamas.

"Miho, what are you doing outside?" Yuzu then asked the Ooarai-Bellwall sensha-do commander, a little perplexed at the younger girl who was looking at the direction of the school. "Is there something wrong?"

"Um, n-no." The light brunette answered with a shake of her head. "I think I saw Miss Momo pass by this way about twenty minutes ago. She was running too fast for me to either catch up or even call her."

"Well, let's go." The red-headed SC Prez then said before running off towards the school itself, despite only dressed in her pajamas as well. "What are you two waiting for?"

The other two girls only followed with Yuzu being a bit slower as she was wearing a pink robe over her black nightgown. The trio had reached the school area in thirty minutes, by which time that Emi, Caesar, and Noriko had come join them.

"Girls, you don't have to join us." Miho was telling the other tank commanders who like herself were also in their pajamas. "We're just looking for Miss Momo."

"Well, it's too pretty a night to spend inside and besides, Miss Tight Ass may be in big trouble." Noriko then answered for the other tank commanders. "We're not even sure if she might stumble into spies from other schools."

"Actually, that…makes some sense." The blonde historian said with a shrug. "Let's go."

-oOo-

It did not take them more than five minutes to arrive at the school where Anzu had used her authority to be let in and even learn that Momo had been going to the school every night at nine and then leave at ten and was seen to be heading towards the tank garage each time.

The group headed directly for the garage as fast as they could. Once there, they could see the slightly ajar door of the garage and light coming from the crack. There were also voices heard from within the garage along with some audible thunks in the silence in between.

A familiar high-pitched voice was heard saying. "You know, Chief. Once I get the hang of this and you're back to normal, we can play some dart games for fun."

"Yes, but Miss Ami had gotten me to play a game of killers first." A deeper baritone voice was heard a few seconds afterward. "We could play the tournament favorites like 301 or 501 since we just need to hit a certain number to subtract from the total to win."

"Sounds like fun and not as challenging as what I'm doing right now," the first voice added with a titter. "Yes, I finally got yet another one in the Triple 20 zone. One down, two to go."

"Is that Miss Momo?" Emi then said in a stage whisper. "This is the first time I've heard her act like a normal girl."

"Yes, that's Momo alright." Yuzu then answered with a titter of her own. "She rarely smiles in front of the student body, but she does in private with us."

"But why darts though?" Noriko then said with her head tilted. "What does that have to do with sensha-do?"

"It's related to aiming since one has to concentrate on getting the darts to hit the board where he or she wants it to be," Anzu answered in a matter-of-fact way. "The fact that Momo is using this to improve her aim certifies that the Lieutenant knows what he's doing."

" And she never even told us about it," Caesar then said. "I guess she's too embarrassed to tell anyone about it. I say we tell her how we appreciate her efforts and maybe even give her a party."

"I'll go with that," Miho said with a wide smile. "Miss Momo may be stern to a fault, but she's still our teammate."

"Thank you for the support, girls." A certain voice then said from the slightly opened door. "But it would have been better if you had talked about it as far away from us as possible."

"Momo/Miss Momo?!"

"You girls should really pipe down more or at least talked outside of school, so I certainly couldn't hear you," The PR manager said with a shake of her head. "Even then thanks for the vote of support, as I do appreciate it."

"You're welcome."

Before the clock had struck ten in the evening, Momo had gotten all three darts into the triple twenty rectangle for twenty turns.

"Congratulations, Miss Momo." Zack then said with a jolly voice. "You've just passed the test I gave you a week ago with flying colors. Now you can continue doing this either for fun or to just practice your aim more besides using the range."

"Thank you, Chief." Momo then hugged the Abram's glacis plate. "Thanks to you, I won't be that big a weight for the others in a battle. Still, I'm sure that Prez could do better."

"We'll just take turns," Anzu then said with a rare red tint on her cheeks. "You'll be our loader if I shoot and I'll be your loader when you shoot."

"Sounds fair," the tall brunette added with a shrug. "But I think I'll take a raincheck with the party until we win the Tournament."

"Alright," Miho then said for the others. "That would make the party even better."

"Let's go home since it's already curfew," Anzu then told everyone. "You'll be getting a raise for doing overtime, Lieutenant."

"Thanks, but I'd rather have more fuel credits since I can't buy anything else right now."

The girls could not help but laugh as they left the Abrams and the other tanks in the garage and went home.

-oOo-

The next day, Anzu was seen standing on top of the Panzer IV while making a tall tale of winning the first-round battle in a tropical island. Wait, isn't this the Pacific campaign in a nutshell?

Behind her, the newly named Anglerfish team and Hawk Team was talking about what swimsuit they would be wearing before Miho had confessed that she did not have one.

"Well, let's go buy a swimsuit then." Anzu then yelled to everyone's enthusiasm. "Let's go."

"You coming, Lieutenant?" Miho then asked the Abrams that was parked quietly in its own space. "You can be our chaperon."

"Thank you for the offer, Miss Miho." The Abrams answered back. "But I was told to stay put while I wait for the barrels of diesel that I'll need to move. Have fun."

"Thank you," the sensha-do commander said with a wide smile as the students left the garage to buy new swimsuits. "I'm sure if you're back to be a human, we'll buy you a swimsuit too."

"Eh, no." the Abrams then answered quickly. "I already have three pairs of boardshorts and those are enough for me."

The students then left with a laugh as they had imagined their instructor wearing boardshorts upon arriving at the beach. The said instructor had silently fumed as he had realized what his students were laughing about.

-oOo-

The said outlet mall (Resort Outlet Ooarai) was only a thirty-minute ride from the Zuikaku itself and the girls had gotten out of their ridden taxis and went in.

As it turned out the outlet did have a plethora of swimsuits as Yukari had told the team on the way towards it. Wait, I thought that she was more tank-centric when it came to merchandise.

"I'm a girl, Mister Author." The shaggy-haired loader of the Anglerfish team replied with a shrug. "Just not a girly-girl, no offense, Saori."

"None taken," the strawberry-haired radio operator of Anglerfish Team said with another shrug. "Is there a chance that the Lieutenant would come with us to the beach once he's back to being human?"

My apologies then and yes, Zack is fine with going to the beach to relax thus he has three pairs of boardshorts in three colors and is an able swimmer besides.

"Well, let's go before someone thinks we're loony for speaking to an invisible being." Momo then said. "No offense, of course."

None taken, besides if they break the fourth wall, then I may have every side character wishing for something that may break the story itself. So, just go on in and we would continue inside where we left off.

-oOo-

Inside the outlet store, Miho was suitably impressed with the variety of the swimsuits that the store had to offer and frankly, I am suitably impressed to see a nice discount there too even if it was only 20 percent.

Yukari then made a mini-fashion show for her friends as she fitted some swimsuits from different time periods.

"There are reproductions based on frescoes from Pompeii showing the oldest known two-piece swimsuits," the shaggy brunette was saying while wearing an orange one of the said swimsuits (two pieces of cloth that looked like they were tied around the chest and waist). "Pompeii was actually a seaside resort of its day thus the swimsuits."

"Ahh."

"Then, there's those from the nineteenth century." Yukari was now wearing a one-piece swimsuit with some blue trim. "Unlike the ancient Greeks, the Victorian age was a lot more conservative."

"That's right," chorused the History club and newly named Hippo Team.

Yukari had nodded in the direction of her fellow historians before changing.

"Now this one is worn in the Roaring Twenties," the tank expert added as she came out in an indispensable striped bathing suit. "At the time, the rules on modesty had well, relaxed a bit."

"Obviously," Emi muttered under her breath. "Still a bit wacky though."

"You can find swimsuits of all ages and cultures," Yukari then added as she paraded a few more like a pink two-piece and a white one-piece. "This place has it all."

It was during Yukari's fashion show that Mako had found an unusual red bikini. It was actually a mankini because of the bulge in front and yes, I watched Borat even if the humor was considered toilet quality so shut it.

"Oh my god, it's the legendary swimsuit that would make you super-popular." Saori exclaimed with glee. "Wear it Mako."

"No way it's the one." Miho then exclaimed. "Oh my."

"I don't think so," Hana then corrected. "Although I think I've seen that somewhere."

"That's the one that Sacha Baron Cohen had worn in his movie- Borat," Chihiro then said with a heavy blush that she had covered with both of her hands. "My older brother had a CD of it back home, but I was too embarrassed to let Miho and the others see it."

"It was funny, but at the same time ugh." Emi said with a shiver. "I wouldn't show it to Miho, Hitomi, or the whole Rabbit team for being too lewd at times."

"Momo-chan, isn't that the movie that you were watching on cable the other night?" Yuzu was overheard asking her best friend about it. "I even heard you saying that it only tickled one's baser instincts."

"That was another movie," Momo's louder voice was then heard. "And don't call me Momo-chan."

At the same time, Saori ran towards another display of swimsuits. "That one over there looks good."

Mako had ignored the excited girl as she had pulled up the straps making it form its full shape. "It does look like what a man would wear."

Miho could only shake her head as she watched her friends go through the displays to find a swimsuit that would fit them.

Speaking of the strawberry haired girl, she was fawning over sets of old swimsuits that would not look strange in a bedroom. "This one's so girly! I'd love to wear one of these!"

On another set of displays, she had found gothic styles of swimsuits that also tickled her fancy. "It's gothic! I want to try that sometime!"

She then turned her attention to another group of swimsuits before adding. "And this paisley design! I can look like an adult in this!"

After a few seconds, Saori had turned back to her friends before exclaiming. "I think panzer designs will be the most popular this year."

"Panzer?" Miho then said quizzically as her old friends had spotted their own choices. 'Even clothing is tank-themed?'

"Yes, Panzer."

Hana then spoke up. "Oh, like leopard skin?"

"No, not like panthers." Saori practically screamed in response. "I meant tanks."

"Ah, people used to pronounce the German word 'panzer' like the English word – 'panther'." Yukari then explained before an argument broke out. "No biggie."

Mako then said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't get it."

"Well then, I'll show you." Saori then left for a minute towards another rack of swimsuits and picked up a few before heading back to dressing rooms. "Give me a minute."

After a few minutes, the Anglerfish Team's radio operator had emerged with a daring swimsuit that had tank wheels on two sides with the right "wheel" nearly covering her breast and the left "wheel" over her hips. "There is this bold design, which incorporates tank wheels."

After a moment, she then added as she had lifted her net like skirt. "They even used mesh as a pareo to imitate Schu-Schu…what was it called again?"

"It's Schürzen," Yukari then said as she had gone to the rescue once again. "Or skirted armor mounted on the chassis like the one that Miho-dono had put on hold for now."

"Oh yeah, there's that."

It was then that Chihiro had come by wearing one of the bandeaukini, with a candy-striped design. "So, how do I look?"

"Like a model," Hana said with glazed eyes. "Where's the others?"

"Emi and 'Tomi are still looking for their swimsuits over there," the tall boyish looking girl said with a shrug as she had pointed at another part of the outfit mall. "I like this one since it's a bit sporty and yet still looks nice."

It was about that time that Yukari had gotten another swimsuit and entered the dressing room. The swimsuit she was now wearing was composed of a desert tan halter top that was tied at the chest area, similarly colored shorts, and bikini bottom also of the same color.

The shorts were held by rope tied in a knot in front and a red handkerchief fitted in a pocket at the back.

"There are bikinis like these too," the Anglerfish's loader was saying with a wide smile as even Miho was looking at her with interest. "With these, you can imagine yourself in the Sahara."

"It has a southern flare to it," Hana was gushing at the new suit. "It's so cute."

It was then that Miho had noticed something about the shorts. "Wait, isn't that emblem of…"

"Yes, Nishizumi-dono." Yukari added while turning around both to show them the handkerchief and to hide her face. "It's from the Afrika Korps."

"Yeah, that works too." Saori exclaimed in joy. "Now we're cooking."

"Cooking what?" Mako then asked confused before being pulled in by her fellow tank crew member towards the dressing room.

"It's a figure of speech, Mako." Chihiro replied with a shrug. "Nice suit though."

A few minutes later, the curtains to one of the dressing rooms had parted revealing Mako wearing a…excuse me for a minute (full blown laughter is heard somewhere) …a pink swimsuit with frills, a red ribbon, and a rat design at the right side.

"Check this out," Saori then added as she had parted the curtains even further. "Tada."

"See, Saori." The driver of the Anglerfish was saying. "Even the author had laughed at this suit of yours that even I am wondering why am I wearing this."

"Bad author, bad author." Saori then admonished me. "You're not supposed to laugh at such a cute swimsuit."

Hey, you are not supposed to hear that. (sighs) Alright, I'm sorry for laughing, Mako. And please, no more fourth wall breaks. I considered not even posting this on the internet, so I won't have to deal with flamers for something that I'm only doing for fun by myself.

"Oh, that's the symbol of the British 7th Armored Division, famously known as the "Desert Rats". Yukari then said to bring the story back on line. "You should be proud of wearing a swimsuit that has the symbol of a famous tank division."

"Alright," Mako said with a nod while making an OK smile at the ceiling above. "But I still prefer a school swimsuit."

"Yes, exactly." Saori was certainly ecstatic at this point. "I think these kinds of swimsuits would be popular this year."

"Right?" Both loader and radio operator were saying in tandem.

"Will they really?" Miho then asked hesitantly.

"I don't think so," Hana then said, seeing that Chihiro herself was called by her other friends.

"I think I'll look for my own swimsuit," the Anglerfish commander then added before leaving the scene. "See you."

-oOo-

Miho then walked around the outfit store while looking for her own swimsuit. She had checked a lot of swimsuits, slippers, and even hats, but none had gotten her attention.

Without meaning to, the Anglerfish commander had come back to the dressing room where it was Hana's turn to pick out a swimsuit that she liked with Saori's help.

The Anglerfish's gunner had emerged from the dressing room in a light blue one piece with all of its straps tied to her shoulders and hips. The back was bare though.

So, while Saori was really excited at how cute Hana's swimsuit looked like, Mako who had finished putting her uniform back on had complained about her teammate's exposed back.

Hana had drawn back the curtains before reappearing in a black frilly number with a see-through middle. Again, Mako only complained about the exposure.

Miho could not say anything out of fear that she may be shunned and thus had taken peeks at the other teams' looking for their own swimsuits. At the moment, she could see that Rabbit Team was still looking for their own suits.

She then heard Yukari coming back for another fashion show for Mako's use, starting off with a DUI dry suit. "This is a DUI dry suit. Even Navy SEALs use these."

"Out of the question," the Anglerfish driver responded with a straight face. "We're not busting terrorists anytime soon, y'know."

Yukari had tried again; this time appearing in another dry suit and was just as quickly shut down. With a pout, the shaggy brunette had pulled down the front zipper to reveal a floral pink bikini.

"But having only this bikini is kinda boring," the Anglerfish gunner then added with a shrug as she continued to pull down the zipper. "There's nothing exciting about bikinis."

"That and I'm out of good ideas too." Yukari added as she finally removed the dry suit. "Any good ones?"

"School swimsuits are fine," Mako then repeated. "We don't need more."

It was about that time that Hitomi had come back with a dark blue swimsuit with pictures of tools on it. "How do I look?"

"It actually fits you," Saori then said seeing that the blonde actually looked cute in it. "And you look pretty cute in it too."

"Thanks," the blonde answered before running back to where she came from. "Now, I have help Emi get a suit."

"Well, you can look for something cuter just like Hana did." Miho then suggested. "It won't be too hard."

"Yeah, like frilly ones or flowery ones like Yukari did." Saori then added. "You can actually keep that one, Yukari."

"No thanks," the shaggy brunette said with a shake of her head. "Not my style."

"Frilly?" Mako then asked confused.

"Frilly…" the orange-haired teen replied with stars in her eyes.

"Frilly?"

"Go with something frilly!"

In the midst of it all, both Miho and Hana held their peace.

"What's frilly?"

"Something like this!" Yukari said as she had emerged from the dressing room, now in a camouflaged apron. "I know it's not a swimsuit, but it is frilly."

Miho's right eye had twitched as things were certainly beginning to get out of control.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about." Saori exclaimed with Hana actually smiling at something that she would later buy for her apartment. "That's certainly frilly."

Hana even quipped. "Yes, it's really frilly."

Miho then interjected. "Yeah, except for the camouflage part."

Mako had gotten back to the dressing room before emerging in a black one-piece swimsuit. "Then I'll go with this."

"Mako, did you even understand what we're saying."

Yukari had come back to the dressing room before emerging in an old-fashioned school swimsuit with her name on it. "In that case, why not wear something for the real enthusiasts. This old-fashioned school swimsuit or just old swim for short, has some deep…"

The shaggy brunette was about to show off the part of the front of the swimsuit that had a gap near her belly button when Saori had jumped into action holding a frilly swimsuit for her friend to wear.

"Mako, try this one too." Hana had added while carrying a black swimsuit.

So, while the three girls were having fun in the dressing room, Emi had arrived wearing a black bikini that made Yukari whistle and Miho's cheeks to color at how the bikini had made the red-head look sexy.

"You look good in that," the shaggy brunette said before spotting yet another suit that caught her fancy. "See ya."

"I'm with Yukari," Miho then added. "You finally got a suit to wear."

"Thanks." Emi's own face was as red as her hair. "Have you gotten one for yourself?"

"Sadly, I'm still on the fence on that one." Miho then said sadly. "I think I need help."

"Yukari's is more than enough," the Hawk Team's driver and co-commander said in reply. "It already took all this time with some help from both Yusa and Hitomi to even get this. Besides, some of those suits they're parading around is…well a bit out there to be honest."

"Yeah, that DUI dry suit is a bit too much."

"How about putting on a full set of special ops equipment?" Yukari then quipped, nearly scaring the pants of the two childhood friends as she did wear a full diving gear complete with tanks and rebreather. "You could maximize the fun by going to the deepest part of the sea."

"I think it's better that Mako or Miho choose something less extreme, you know." Emi was telling Yukari as the latter girl was pushed back to the dressing room. "We'll call you when we go do some James Bond level of spying on the other school ships in the tournament or recreate some Dirk Pitt underwater adventures in our spare time."

"Really?!"

"Really."

Miho was about to explode at the antics of her new friends but was grateful for the red-head's help. Still, she could not help but wonder if there was a need to do a high-level spying job at the other schools in the first place.

It was about that time that the other girls had finished with Mako wearing an old styled striped swimsuit that would look just fine in prison for some reason.

Yukari had come back by then wearing her floral bikini and was seen to be clapping while Miho was hesitant in giving her opinion. "That's a bit…"

The trio tried once again and this time, Mako was wearing a lacier one-piece swimsuit.

Again, Yukari was clapping with Miho still speechless. "Well…"

-oOo-

In another part of the store, we see the newly named Hippo team were arguing on what swimsuit they would wear.

"It would be a red loincloth," Saemonza was telling her fellow team members as she wore a headband with a symbol on it, bandage across her chest, and the aforementioned loincloth. "Because red loincloths symbolize history. Thus, I'll go with this loincloth and the Sanada crest"

Erwin then interjected by saying. "No, this swimsuit displaying the palm tree of the Afrika Corps is better."

"Of course, the swimsuit is yellow, so it wouldn't stand out in the desert." Oryou said under her breath. "Not to mention that she is still wearing her hat and some sort of anklet on her right ankle."

"A legionary's armor complete with red cloak would be best," Caesar then said with pride. "Then again, it's combined weight when wet isn't ideal for floating."

"How about the red and white of the Kaientai," Oryou then said simply. "I think I saw Mako wearing this one earlier."

"Sanada ribbons are also good." Saemonza was not willing to give up on her claim of getting the team swimsuit then saw someone at the end of the aisle. "Um, I'll be replacing it with a new one, Miss Momo."

"The Germans developed a dissolvable swimsuit," Erwin then added as she was still lying down on the same lounge chair as earlier. "Let's go with that."

"No, this apron like swimsuit with the Sakamoto crest cannot be topped." Oryou then suggested. "By its design alone, it could be a forerunner of the old old sukimizu."

"That's it."

-oOo-

Miho had left her friends with their own choices of swimsuit as she looked for her own. Upon overhearing the Hippo team's choice of swimsuit, she could not help but mutter. "T-things are getting out of hand over there."

She then continued through the store before chancing upon the newly named Duck Team. Oddly enough, despite wearing beach volleyball sport wear, their choice of accessories left a lot to be desired.

I mean, picture two beach volleyballs held on someone's chest, a volleyball net as a sort of cover, same thing for a portable bathing machine, and a Kirby like mascot. Wacky isn't it?

"Th-things are getting bizarre over there!" Miho then said as she slowly walked away. "I wonder how the rest of the teams are."

She then spotted Rabbit team in their new normal swimsuits and…gyahhh! What the hell is this?! A black beachball in the shape of anti-ship mines, a shark swim ring complete with a severed foot, a squid-like swim ring, a swim float shaped like chain saw, and a gas mask?! Are these real beach accessories or those that just cater to fans of B horror movies?

Then again, there was one girl who was not even carrying anything and could be taken as the innocent victim against a backdrop of horrors. Seeing all of them, Miho had quipped. "And things are getting scary over here."

Miho then checked the last two teams if they would at least be somewhat normal. I am sorry to say, that well…I guess normalcy was indeed relative.

Tiger team was wearing ripped off swimsuits that would not be out of place in post-apocalyptic films or at least, those films with anarchistic flavors. As for Anteater team, their swimsuits were normal, but the floatation devices had consisted of Game Boys, PSPs, and is that a Game and Watch tube?

"I guess people have their own styles of swimsuits and this store has it all," Miho said as she finally left the remaining teams and sat down on one of the seats for the weary shopper. "It makes me wish that the Lieutenant and Miss Ami are here. I wonder what they would wear."

It was there that the rest of Anglerfish team had caught up with her. Saori was even ecstatic in asking her tank commander on what swimsuit would be the cutest among what they had bought.

"SEALs, British SBS, French Naval commandoes, or Spetnatz?" Yukari had asked as she had liked their special swimming equipment. "Which one should I go with? I just can't choose."

Even Mako had joined on the fun. "Gold or Silver?"

"Wait, at least let me breathe." Miho replied as she was being hemmed in. "I'll help you all choose once you give me some space. And Mako, are you choosing a swimsuit or a pokemon game?"

Mako only replied with an impish smile. "Both."

"Oy vey," Miho could not help but repeat on her mother's favorite expression of defeat and exasperation. 'Now I know how Mother felt whenever Maho and I would do stupid things.'

"All of you are lacking in discipline," a high-pitched voice was saying from nearby. "All of you should be ashamed of yourselves."

And it is only now that we actually see the newly christened Turtle Team. And well…except for Momo, the others were wearing bikinis with Yuzu carrying a deck brush that she had used to clean the Panzer 38 (t) days earlier along with her white bikini and Anzu wearing a red bikini while eating a pack of dried sweet potatoes while lounging on a lounge chair.

As for our favorite Public Relations manager, she was wearing a black pretzel swimsuit and a…. spotted swim tube. I am thinking that shooting is not the only thing that Momo was bad at.

"Uh, Momo-chan." Yuzu then said with a bit of hesitation. "That doesn't really apply here."

Before Momo could retort, Anzu then said. "Yeah, right now everyone should enjoy themselves."

She then looked at the crowd of tankers namely the Anglerfish and Hippo teams with the latter having purchased their own swimsuits and added. "Girls are you having fun?"

"Yeah!" came the enthusiastic reply.

"Let me hear it again!"

"Yeah!"

"Again!"

"Yeah!"

This time, Miho had joined in the chorus with a soft "Yeah!"

-oOo-

Sometime later, everyone had filled out of the mall and was waiting for their taxis, so they could return to the carrier.

"That was fun," Saori was telling her friends. "We should do this again sometime."

"I didn't know that so many types of swimsuits existed," Hana then added. "It was mind-boggling."

"It is a nice change of pace from sensha-do, now that I think about it." Yukari then quipped. "We don't have to worry about doing our jobs correctly or be yelled upon by either Miss Momo or the instructors."

"A school swimsuit would have been fine too," Mako then interjected. "No need for useless frills."

"You're the one to talk," the orange-haired radio operator retorted. "Your swimsuit is pretty risky."

It was only then that in all of the excitement, Miho had actually forgotten to get a swimsuit and had realized it.

"Something wrong, Miho?" Emi then said as she had noticed that her old friend had stopped short of the building's corner.

"I forgot to buy my swimsuit," came the explanation.

"I actually thought that this might happen," Yukari said with a shrug. "So, I bought you one."

"Huh?" Saori then said confused. "What about the size?"

"I can tell just by looking," the shaggy brunette answered. "It's a gift."

With everyone looking at her oddly, Yukari then explained. "For example, Miho's bust is 82 cm. Her waist is 56 cm, and her hips are 84 cm."

The whole time that the loader was rattling off the numbers, the brunette tank commander had covered her aforementioned body parts in response to the quite accurate measurements of her body. In truth, Yukari was with Miho during gym and her keen hearing along with a photographic memory do come in handy...sometimes.

"Amazing," Hana managed to say. "That's quite a gift, Yukari."

"Yeah," Mako then added. "Amazing and at the same time creepy upon knowing one's body measurements by looks alone."

"Hey!"

-oOo-

In the Graf Zeppelin, a certain seventeen-year-old brunette had shivered despite being in her own private office.

"Is there something wrong, Commander?" A blonde teen then looked up from her own paperwork. "I'll turn off the air conditioning if you want."

"No, Erika." The first girl said with a shake of her head as she had picked up her own paperwork. "My Miho senses just started tingling all of a sudden."

"Maybe she felt embarrassed by something," Erika added with a shrug. "That girl would be embarrassed by the littlest thing."

"Yes, you're probably right." Maho Nishizumi said with a sigh. "Despite being disappointed in her, I still wouldn't want her to be with a pervert."

"Yeah, I'm with you." Erika Itsumi quipped with sincerity. "I don't hate her that much."

-oOo-

Yukari immediately sneezed for no reason just as she was about to give Miho the bag that held the bought swimsuit. "I wonder if anyone was thinking about me."

"Probably your folks," Chihiro said with a shrug. "It's kind of late."

"Thank you," Miho said as she had accepted the bag. "But yes, let's go home for now."

-oOo-

The next day, the team had gone to the Ooarai Sun beach resort. The poor Panzer IV was there as a mobile drink's kiosk for the girls.

Saori's swimsuit was a yellow frilly bikini with Hana's to be a white bikini similar to Yuzu's. Mako's swimsuit was revealed to be a blue one-piece swimsuit with stripes, that complimented her pink tube.

Yukari's swimsuit was a camouflaged bikini that fit her. And finally, Miho's swimsuit was a pink slightly frilly bikini.

The girls had a fun time in the beach doing the usual things – making sandcastles, splashing around, playing beach volleyball with a black ball that looks like a sea mine, recreating ancient battles, actually swimming, getting a tan, you know… the usual stuff.

At least, it was until Mother Nature decided to troll our sensha-do team and let it rip. A two-hour cloudburst had fallen and thus the whole team were forced to stay inside the beach's restaurant until the rain had stopped before going home.

-oOo-

It was during the squall that the Graf Zeppelin had docked in Ooarai to take in some supplies, but none of its students were able to leave their homes due to the rain with practice also cancelled for some needed shore leave.

Maho had been told of the presence of the Zuikaku in the port and was contemplating of visiting her little sister just to see if she was alright.

She was also thinking of visiting Ooarai-Belwall's instructor tank that much like their own was a modern battle tank, with the only difference being that Ooarai's instructor was once a real tanker and was even jokingly called an armchair general by his fellow tankers and even superiors due to his indulgence in strategy games and could be counted on for unorthodox advice when it came to war games.

'This Zacarias Wycoco may be Ooarai's trump card,' Maho had thought. 'Let's see what makes him tick.'

-oOo-

Speaking of Zack, his sneeze had echoed throughout the empty tank garage. 'Weird, I'm not supposed to sneeze as I don't even have a nose. Then again, a cup of coffee and some ham sandwiches would be nice right now if I'm not a tank.'

After a few minutes just listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof, Zack then added mentally. 'I wonder how the girls are doing.'

-oOo-

The next day at around 9 AM, everyone was in a certain camping ground in the ship that was rented by both Captain Chono and Second Lieutenant Zacarias Wycoco for the Sensha-do team's use.

Again, Anzu had used the poor Panzer IV that was brought by Anglerfish as their mode of transport as her stage in which she was lying on its turret.

Oddly enough, only the Turtle Team was wearing their uniform as everyone else was wearing their civilian clothes complete with bags or backpacks and Mako even had her hair braided.

"Everyone, to improve our friendship," the red-headed Student Council President was yelling to the teams standing in front of her. "We're going to…"

"One, two…"

"Camping!"

A few minutes later, all three Student Council members had changed to their swimsuits with both Momo and Yuzu even carrying their accessories – a transparent tube for the Public Relations Manager and a sweep broom for the Vice President.

Momo then added. "Our instructors had rented the camping ground for us. They said that you needed some time for rest and relaxation amidst the training they have been giving us."

After a beat, she then said. "Everyone, work hard to show your gratefulness!"

"Right now, the place is exclusively for us." Yuzu then chirped. "So, there is no need to worry about peepers. Not to mention, the Lieutenant said that he would be peppering those peepers with .50 caliber machine gun rubber rounds once reported."

The girls had shivered at the fact that their tracked instructor would go to such great lengths just for them and yet was glad that he was certainly acting as their big brother even without meaning to.

Anzu had leapt from her perch to land on two feet before saying. "Yeah, and now you girls should…"

The twin-tailed SC member was not able to finish when the whole Rabbit team also wearing swimsuits had jumped in the lake behind them without any prompting as they yelled. "Jump!"

Momo then shook her head as she advised. "Jumping into the water all of a sudden is dangerous."

"Yeah, it's dangerous." Miho parroted out of concern.

"That's right, if you don't warm up then…" Anzu was saying while doing some stretches.

"Then…" Momo was confused on what was her friend about to say when Rabbit Team surfaced.

"Leg cramps,' the whole freshmen team complained loudly as their cramped right legs were raised in the hopes of getting the circulation back to them. "Help!"

"Turtle Team…" Anzu said as she started to run towards the stricken teens.

"To the rescue." Both Momo and Yuzu added as they ran.

Emi and Miho had looked at each other and ran to help as well with their friends. Along the way, they had discussed about camping with Mako unfamiliar about camping as a whole.

-oOo-

After their daring rescue, the whole team had gone to the camping ground to set up their tents. Oddly enough, only Saori was still in her dress as everyone else had donned their swimsuits.

"Why are you all in your swimsuits?" She then asked.

"Well, since everyone else is in their swimsuits, it would look weird if we weren't." Hana answered for the rest.

"Isn't it weirder to wear swimsuits in a camping ground?"

"Who cares," Mako said as she had laid down on a set of tents. "I'm sleepy."

"Hey, you sleep inside a tent, not on it." Saori then scolded her childhood friend. "Get off."

By then, the Rabbit team had recovered from their cramps and was now surrounding the tents (and Mako).

"Please wake up, Miss Mako." Azusa was telling her senior. "Saki, what are you doing?"

To everyone's surprise, Saki had joined her senior in their shared slumber (and they even had the same-colored swimsuit too). I guess we have a Mako Jr here.

Ayumi was even seen yelling at her fellow loader. "Saki, don't join her."

Yuuki did quip in response. "But they look so comfy and cute."

Hana could not help but add. "Yes, I agree."

Yukari had seconded the motion by saying with her usual upbeat nature. "It's alright since I'll get the tents set up later."

Of course, this had brought about the admiration of the freshmen to her. The said team had even offered their services to help set up the tents once the two Sleeping Beauties were moved.

"Even a single zeltbahn can be set up as a single tent," Yukari was telling her new students as she had unfolded the tents and put them in the same place. "Use these buttons to link the zeltbahns, see?"

"You're amazing, upperclassman." Azusa said with gushing pride.

"So, this is how a tent works," Aya then gushed at the DIY ingenuity being shown to her and her teammates.

Ayumi added in rapture. "We've learned so much from you, upperclassman."

Just nearby, four of the members of Anglerfish Team was also watching their loader do her stuff.

"No, that's a special tent." Miho then quipped as she knew that Yukari would bring her WWII equipment to impress them.

"Really?" Saori then asked her commander.

"Yes, since I've brought a simpler one." Miho answered while pointing at her dome tent. "See?"

All the while, Hana was smiling at her new friend impressing the freshmen team.

"Wow, it's already done?!"

Of course, Saori's outburst was loud enough for Rabbit team to see the tent that was already set up and ran to it.

"It's so cute," Aya said while she stood up and ran.

"Incredible," Ayumi added as she had followed her fellow gunner.

Well, Yukari had cried since her efforts at impressing her teammates (and especially Miho) about her WWII equipment and knowledge had been brushed aside. "I'm just trying to revive WWII…"

Seeing that Yukari was genuinely saddened by something that she had done, Miho then attempted to comfort her friend by saying. "Old tents are fine too, but they are a hassle to set up."

After a beat, she added. "And they're not comfy inside either. So, why don't we use this instead?"

Yukari was able to answer in between sobs. "That's true, but…"

Saori then diverted everyone's attention as she pointed at another spot and spoke. "Oh, looks like that one's more troublesome to set up."

"Eh?"

And now we're seeing a tent that looked more like a fort, judging from the flags, statues, and walls that were painted in red and white. Not only that, there was a low-pitched sound like a war horn piercing the air.

Inside the "fort" sat the whole Hippo team in their historical attire. Saemonza was complaining about the placement of her seat. On the other side of the coin/camp, we see a perfectly picthed tent, but Anteater team was inside playing their mobile games.

"Miss Yukari, we want to help you in setting the tents up." Azusa then blurted out. "I don't like giving up half-way and it's half-done already."

"I wanna try too," Karina seconded. "Since we've already started it, we should finish it."

"Even though it's old, isn't it still interesting." The Rabbit Team's driver then added. "Right?"

"Right, and we'll help." Emi then said as she and her teammates had already set up their own tents. "How about it, Miho?"

"Yes, since we're already here." Miho said with a smile at the fact that she may make up with Yukari after all. "Let's build all of them."

"Yes, of course." Yukari said as she had wiped away her tears. "Let's do it."

The girls then set up buttoning up the sides, pounding the stakes to the ground, and putting the guy ropes within the holes on top of the stakes.

I do wonder on what is going on with both Yuuki, who was banging two tiny tongs and Hana was just twirling a guy rope.

"They have their own world," Yukari said in explanation.

"What are they doing?" Aya then asked as everyone was watching both Yuuki and Hana doing their own thing.

"I don't think it has any meaning," Saori then added.

"And I thought that Miss Hana is a more level-headed person," the younger girl then quipped.

"Yes, you're right."

The girls had gotten back to their work and finished it with half an hour.

Everyone celebrated their success with a Yay. Even Mako joined in the fun while asleep inside one of the tents with sleep buddy – Saki.

Of course, this had brought a groan from Saori and Chihiro for sleeping in while it was still daylight. "Mako!"

A minute later, the Turtle team had arrived and had noticed the now set up tents.

"Oh, it looks like they're all done." Momo commented upon seeing the tents. "Good work, girls."

"They look beautiful as well," Yuzu added. "You've really outdone yourselves."

"I'm nearly done with my warm ups." Anzu then spoke up.

"Prez is still doing push ups?" Saori had told Hana in a stage whisper.

"She's unexpectedly serious about it," Hana replied in the same manner.

"She's still doing it as we speak," Saori then added.

"Looks like it."

It was by then that Anzu had grabbed her pink swim tube and ran towards the lake, passing the freshmen who were about to play wheelbarrow. "Then let's play in the water. Let's a go."

"Let's a go?" Aya then asked her teammates.

Ayumi then queried. "What's let's a go?"

Karina then squealed. "It sounds cute. Let's a go."

The rest of Rabbit team had echoed the new cute catchphrase and ran after the Prez. Both Momo and Yuzu could only look on smiling at the cuteness of the youngest members of the team and their own friend.

Of course, Yuzu had to point this out with Momo denying it vehemently. Oh well, by then everyone had been bitten by the fun bug and started jumping towards the clear water as well even Anteater.

-oOo-

The girls were seen splashing around, playing with water guns, riding the water with swim tubes, testing their mettle on who could stay underwater the longest, playing water volleyball with the ball still looking like a sea mine, and what the hell are both sleep buddies Mako and Saki doing?! They seem to be asleep while floating on the water.

It was not that long before its time to prepare dinner as everyone had eaten lunch after setting up the tents and before they had played in the water.

The big question would then be – curry or barbecue? Coming from Anzu though, she did have a point in having a barbecue would be preferable to curry as they were camping after all.

"Yeah, a hot pot of curry or soup is indeed delicious," the SC Prez was telling the Anglerfish and Hawk Team girls with her with Mako sitting on a chair near the Texas sized pit grills along with Anteater that were still playing games. "But we can have them anywhere."

Notice that Yuzu has to be pretty hungry for BBQ to be nodding at the given explanation.

"Not so with barbecue that we can only have them outdoors," Anzu then added. "Something that the Lieutenant agreed wholeheartedly as he and his family had barbeques outside while camping as well."

"I see," Miho then said while everyone else agreed with the statement. "I wish he'd be here."

"I don't think the Lieutenant will since he'll be jealous of us having a barbecue while he can't," Hitomi then whispered in her friend's ear. "Maybe when he's back to normal then we can invite him to a BBQ. Not only that maybe he'll be cooking it."

"Yeah."

"I never thought of it that way," Hana then added.

The just as culinary knowledgeable Saori then quipped. "But we can get barbecue from restaurants too."

Leave it to Momo to overreact by responding. "Prez said it's barbecue, so we're doing barbeque."

Anzu then grabbed her subordinate and friend while saying. "Never mind, never mind."

Miho, who was intimidated by the PR Manager's ranting, then said. "Let's have barbecue."

The Anglerfish radio operator just said. "Eh" in response with Yukari once again fired up since it was her time to shine once again.

"Now that's decided…ta-da," the shaggy brunette said as she came back with a large rucksack filled with WWII foodstuffs. "My solution to our food problems."

"But we don't have…" Hitomi's mouth was shut closed by Emi's hand who also told her in a stage whisper not to continue.

The whole of Rabbit team had surrounded the blanket where the vintage foodstuffs were laid down for everyone to see. One of them had even asked what the strange packets and cans in front of them were.

"This is my prized collection," the Anglerfish Team loader answered with pride. "Rations from different countries."

"Yukari, we said we're doing barbecue." Saori yelled from her place beside Hana.

"Hey, what's a ration?" Ayumi had asked her teammates.

Yuuki then replied. "That's the word. Did she mean simulation?"

"Yeah, Silumation." Aya then added before she was corrected by her tank commander.

This had prompted the Rabbit Team's driver to say. "Aren't they different things?"

Miho then answered. "They are different things."

Seeing that her own tank commander was being a bit flustered with where the conversation seemed to be heading, Yukari finally spoke the real definition of rations. "Rations are what we call as military food or battle food. And yes, I'm sure our instructors had eaten them."

After a beat, she further explained. "It's for eating during military operations."

"Oh, you mean military food like Luncheon meat?" One of the Rabbit team members then said. "I've heard my grandpa was given luncheon meat while he was young."

"You mean the Okinawan cuisine with bitter groud and tofu?" Another added with interest.

"There's luncheon meat and sushi too!" Karina then said with gusto.

"Eggs and spam," Ayumi then crowed to the puzzled group.

"Eggs, bacon, and spam." Aya then added with just as much gusto.

"Eggs, bacon, sausage, and spam." Karina had joined in as she had figured out what her friends and teammates were up to.

"Spam, spam, eggs, and spam." Ayumi was already on a roll by now.

"Spam, spam, spam," went the trio as they went full spam, I mean ham with their Monty Python skit.

Yes, you could imagine them doing the skit complete with Viking costumes if you want.

Azusa, seeing that her teammates were beginning to be annoying and unconsciously going along with the skit as the waitress, then began to shout. "Shut up!"

"Delicious spam."

"Shut up!"

"Delicious spam."

"Shut up!"

Finally, the Rabbit Team commander had enough of shouting and just huffed in frustration while Yuuki had asked her senior Yukari with Saki just looking on at the hams having fun. "Are all of these luncheon meats?"

"No, there's all sorts of food in here." Yukari answered as she had ignored the singing in front of her. "Like chocolate and chewing gum."

"Eh, even snacks?" The bowl-cut brunette of Rabbit team then exclaimed.

"I want to try them." Saori's shrill voice was heard nearby. "Please even if it's just one."

This had prompted Miho to then ask. "Are you sure they're even edible?"

"Well… about that, most of the rations I bought are for collectors." Yukari answered without skipping a beat. "You can decide whether to ingest them or not."

"What's ingest?" Saori then asked Miho, puzzled at the foreign word.

"I think it means to eat," Hana had answered for her friend, then again, she would know since her appetite is certainly top notch.

"Just say eat then," Mako then said with a sneer. "It would be much easier to understand. Not only that, I'm hungry."

"Mako's awake," Emi then spoke up as she had seen the Panzer IV driver now wide awake as she had just paid Yukari for one of the Tootsie rolls. "Want a Tootsie Roll?"

"Sure."

Ayumi then looked intently at the food in front of her and the rest of Rabbit Team before saying. "We decide if we eat?"

"Our own responsibility…" Karina then added somberly.

"We'll suffer from our own mistake," Aya finished vocalizing their thoughts.

"It's fine since I got them all by special means," Yukari said with raised hands. "They're all edible."

"Ah," came the gladdened sighs of pretty much the whole Rabbit Team complete with sparkling eyes sans Saki who only looked at Yukari with doleful eyes as she always did.

Even though the whole of Anglerfish and nearly all of Hawk Team was looking interested at the scene, they all smiled at how Yukari was suitably impressing the young members of the sensha-do team.

Miho privately thought though. 'I guess that was payback for the tent set up earlier. Nice play, Yukarin.'

"Awesome," cooed one of the younger girls as they started taking their picks of the packed food.

"So how much is this?" Karina was asking her senior as she carried a small box.

"That's 5,000 yen." Yukari said quickly before pointing at the pack that Ayumi was carrying and adding. "That's 15,000 yen."

"15, 000 yen for just one?" Ayumi said in panic.

Saki was already poking one of the smaller packets when Azusa reminded her. "Don't mess with them. They're expensive."

Yukari had seen the antics of the other two freshmen and added. "That's only 300 yen so it's fine."

The Rabbit Team commander was certainly caught by surprise at the cheapness of the small packets near her.

Mako had voiced the question that everyone was thinking. "Why would the prices differ so much?"

"Yeah," Saori had added.

"It's a mystery…" Hana was able to say before her mini-me (Yuuki) had added. "It's a mystery."

Everyone had looked at the two who then blushed.

Once again, Yukari had gotten everyone back on track by saying. "Basically, for the more delicious ones, they're usually collected, not sold."

"That's why they're more expensive," the Anglerfish loader then added in a matter-of-fact way.

"Then why is this so cheap then?" Saori was asking as she had picked up an MRE pack.

"Because it tastes horrible," Mako then interjected.

"I'm sure the Lieutenant would say something about that, Mako." Yukari said with a giggle. "He told me once that he and his fellow tankers did have these things called MREs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when their base cook had gotten a week's leave."

"Is it really that bad?" Azusa then asked her seniors. "I mean if Lieutenant Wycoco and his teammates had eaten them for days then they wouldn't be that bad?"

"Well, it depends on who was making it." Yukari had answered. "Thankfully, Mister Zacarias and his team had one of the better ones since the first US Army MREs back in the eighties are terrible and thus they was nicknamed Meals Rejected by the Enemy, Meals Rejected by Everyone, and the ever-popular Meals Rarely Edible. The rest are just too cruel to mention."

"What does that mean?" Saori then asked of the foreign (in more ways than one) word.

"Reject means refused so…" Hana then theorized.

Miho then added. "There's food that was rejected by the enemy? It must be really bad to be rejected like that or even be said to be rarely edible."

"Well, I did hear that, soldiers from different countries would exchange rations during NATO exercises, but the US Army never managed to exchange theirs." Mako then said. "There was also talk of a single French combat ration could be traded for at least five American Meals Ready to Eat. I'll have to check with both our instructors to see if either of them is true."

"How bad it was has gotten me curious," Hana then added. "Then again, if Mister Zacarias isn't complaining about his MREs then I guess they have gotten better."

"Just in case, I have some here that were made by better manufacturers." Yukari then quipped with a big smile.

"Oh, do the manufacturers matter too?" Azusa then asked, curious about how manufacturers would affect quality.

But before the shaggy haired loader could answer the question, Miho had grabbed her by the shoulders while saying. "Yes, yes. Let's go prepare the barbecue."

"Ok," Rabbit team responded.

-oOo-

Everyone has begun to prepare the ingredients for the barbeque with Yukari crying despite not cutting onions. I guess Miho had spoiled her efforts in hamming it up to freshmen once again.

Wait, Saki was only watching Hana and her mini-me cutting ham.

To get back to the swing of things, Yukari had used five Han-gou pots to cook the rice for all of them while Duck Team and Anteater Team were putting the cut ingredients on the skewer.

"Start with a small fire before cooking it with a larger fire," she reminded the Anglerfish team that was with her.

"What kind of curse is that?" Hana then asked.

"I think she meant the temperature," Saori then answered as it was in her area of expertise.

A bit annoyed with the criticism to her cooking style, Yukari then quipped. "Yes, rice cooked in 70 degrees is more delicious. Start with a small fire then slowly raise the temperature."

She then added quickly. "Once the rice is soft, control the temperature so it doesn't overflow."

"What a hassle," Mako riposted.

"Can't we use an electric rice cooker?" Hana then opined as she was getting both impatient and hungry.

"Want to use the Panzer IV's battery?" Miho then suggested as she could have the battery recharged as they head back to the school.

"There's no romance in that," Yukari then riposted. "Eating rice cooked like this is the essence of camping."

Surprised, Saori then opined. "Yukari is certainly high spirited today."

The rest could only agree with the whispered statement.

Tiger team were on hand with Hawk Team except for Emi to carry the boxes or trays of ingredients to the others. Even Hippo and Turtle teams were on hand to do some cutting and preparing of the sauce.

Back with Rabbit team, they had placed the readied skewered meat and vegetables in front of the grill for barbecuing.

"We made so many," Aya said while looking over at the contents of the steel trays in front of them.

"Yeah," everyone else agreed.

"Is it done?" Yuuki then asked. "I'm so hungry."

"Let's grill them now," the blonde replied as she too was getting hungry.

"Hey, our upperclassmen aren't done with…" Azusa was trying to be the voice of reason for her team only for her stomach to be otherwise.

"Your body doesn't lie," Yuuki then commented amidst the laughter.

"Let's grill them now," Karina said excitedly.

"The rice is almost done too," Ayumi concurred. "I think it's a good idea."

This time, it was Yuuki who was getting cold feet. "Shouldn't we wait a bit more?"

"I've already started," Aya commented as she had already put seven of the skewered food on the grill.

"What're you doing?!" Azusa was having a fit at being ignored.

"We've started as well," both Ayumi and Karina had added at the same time with ten more of the skewered food on their side of the grill.

This had gotten Yuuki to panic as everyone was getting too impatient.

"I can't believe you girls," Rabbit Team commander said with a sigh.

Yuuki had given up and joined in the fun. "I'm starting too."

Saki could only watch as her teammates had added more and more skewered food on the grill complete with sauce, none of them thought what would happen if too much barbeque was placed on the grill haphazardly.

As I would have guessed, their barbecue is now certainly BBQed.

"It's burning," the whole team exclaimed as the fire fueled by the sauce falling into it had gotten much too big for the teens to control. "Fire!"

Good thing for them (and the grill) that Momo had reacted accordingly and grabbed a fire bucket from the nearby lodge that she had used to put out the fire. "Hey! What are you girls doing?"

"We're all wet," Yuuki stated as they were also splashed along with the fire.

"Geez," Momo groused at all the now ruined meal.

"The food was all wasted," Yuzu lamented.

By that time, Anzu herself had arrived and thus Momo had added. "We leave it on your hands, Prez."

The twin-tailed SC member just walked closer to the grill to take a better look. "Let's see."

She then walked towards Rabbit team that was in awe of her calm demeanor and borrowed the tongs that Karina was holding and added. "Kawashima, the useable ingredients."

"Understood," Momo said before picking up whatever ingredient that could be salvaged.

"Koyama, get me 'that' thing," Anzu added with Yuzu coming back to the lodge to get the item.

The Vice President then came back with a large flat steel plate where Anzu then mixed the ingredients masterfully with two tongs.

Anglerfish had already finished cooking the rice for everyone when they had chanced upon their president finishing their dinner.

"The rice is done," Yukari said proudly as she had raised her Han-gou pot over her head. "Wow."

"Eh, Prez," Miho said in surprise.

"Ah, you're here." Anzu said upon seeing the star team arrive.

"It looks delicious," Saori commented.

"Smells good," Hana then added.

"Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub." Everyone said before laughing as there were no adults in the campsite to reprimand them...yet.

After taking a bite of the food, everyone had commented - "This food is good."

"Cooking is Prez's hobby," Momo said in explanation.

"Don't mention it," Anzu said while slapping her good friend in the back.

"I really can't tell from your looks," Saori commented.

"Hey…" Miho was shocked at the sudden comment.

"They're really delicious," Hana then added with a smile as she started to dig in the Kancolle Yamato sized bowl of rice.

After everyone had their fill, the whole sensha-do then said. "Thanks for the food."

It was then that Anzu had gotten everyone to clean up and get their sleeping bags ready.

In the midst of it all, Miho had reflected that sensha-do could be so much fun. Overhearing her, Anzu then said. "That's because everyone loved the school."

Both girls had gasped upon seeing the Milky Way shining in front of them. Miho even gushed. "The stars are so pretty."

Miho's friends along with Anzu's had congregated on their spot and looked at the stars, something that is usually done when camping out.

"Yeah, it's so pretty." Hana said for the rest of them.

Mako just had to be snarky and add. "I hope morning never comes."

Before Momo could blow a fuse, Miho then quickly added. "I think the weather will be great tomorrow."

"Yeah," Chihiro and Hitomi said together.

"That way, we could have a few more training sessions before the match."

"That's why we got this training ground," Momo said in a matter-of-fact way.

"Eh?"

"It's because we could drive around as much as we want here," Anzu then added.

A much louder Eh was heard throughout the campsite as everyone had peeked at the large wooden sign at the lodge nearby that said. "East Fuji Training Grounds."

-oOo-

The following day, the Abrams had arrived from the school grounds early in the morning. Once Zack had parked himself, he then played Reveille and Assembly on his loudspeakers at full volume. You could guess how many unladylike yells that early morning call had gotten in response from the direction of the tents.

"Alright, girls." Zack then yelled in his loudspeakers. "Up and at 'em. Everyone, fall in in front of me right now!"

Miho was then heard yelling from the direction of her tent. "Everyone, head to where the lieutenant is and stand straight."

There was a shuffle as everyone had gotten up and walked drunkenly towards the Abrams that was parked and idling right in front of the campsite.

"Not exactly the fastest, but it'll do," Zack then said with a virtual shrug. "Alright, now drop and give me twenty."

"What?"

"He meant that we should drop down on the ground and perform twenty push ups," Yukari then yelled as explanation. "Let's do it before he gets mad."

"Lieutenant, we hereby give you the spirit name of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman." Saemonza said in response as she and the others had laid down on the ground on their chests.

"That's right," the other members of the History Club yelled tiredly in agreement.

"Thank you," Zack replied with a joyous voice. "And as such you can all call me Gunny from now on. Now, start doing push ups."

After an hour of drills with everyone still in their night wear, Zack had allowed them to head to the mess for breakfast just as the trucks carrying the other tanks and a black 1978 Firebird Trans-Am Special Edition that was driven by Ami had arrived.

-oOo-

While eating with Zack in sleep mode for the Abrams to be refueled for the intense day ahead, Miho had asked her second instructor on what had gotten to the lieutenant.

"Zack is just giving you girls a taste of what he himself has been through for two years now," Ami said with a chortle. "If you think that was rough, try doing that every morning for two years and then practicing on your roles in your assigned tanks for the rest of the day until you either eat or sleep."

"Did you do that too?"

"Yes, but we have an agreement that I'll be the sweet one today since he'll be more than enough for all of you for the next sessions especially this one."

"Good cop, bad cop." Mako said while slumped on her side of the table after eating. "Figures."

"Yeah, but I think Miss Kodatani actually named us Dempsey and Makepeace instead."

"I don't get it," Saori then commented.

"I'll explain after the day is over," the JGSDF captain added with a conspiratory wink. "For now, you girls would be given an hour's rest before we really start training."

"Ok."

---

Alright, I'll admit I felt sorry for Momo so I gave a chance to improve her gunnery skills even it is a little bit. I'm also sure Maho does have Miho senses even in canon, she's an elder sister after all.

Actually, it was revealed that Yukari was in Miho's gym class and thus she learned the latter's measurements then memorized it. Even then, the only times those measurements would be valuable is when Miho needs new clothes and...underwear. Yukari is certainly trying to score brownie points and hope that Miho would accept her help in buying new clothes in the near future...including a wedding dress.

As for the Dempsey and Makepeace joke, it does fit for both Ami and Zack since Zack is a lot taller than her and is an American besides. Not to mention, he can be such a brute sometimes too. We would just replace Makepeace's British ethnicity with Ami's Japanese and there we go.

Next chapter, Maho and Erika meets with Anglerfish, Maho meets with Zacarias, and finally, Oorai-Bellwall gets their first match up - Saunders University High School. So expect some spying, some cheating, and some famous Darjeerling quotes.

Read and enjoy.

But before that, let's see what Ranma would think about the Tendous and what they would think of him in the third chapter of Together in Spirit.