Chapter 9

Trafalgar internally cursed, when the Tiger became too visible. "Takashi, ride back until I say to stop." The driver nodded in response and immediately started slowly driving backwards. "Just a little bit… STOP!" he commanded and sighed in relief. They did it just in time to avoid getting spotted. "I'll disable their Churchill to get Rosehip's attention! Takashi! Get ready to ride away! George! Tell Miho that soon, the Lionheart will follow us!"

His crewmates nodded and George sent the message to Miho. This is the first point, where I mustn't screw up the shot… Traf thought and sighed as he grabbed one of his limited Panzergranate 39s. The Churchill's length is 3.25 meters and its speed is 10 km/h right now. To damage tracks, I must aim at a spot where it will be a second later… There! he calculated and smirked. "Feuer frei!" the commander of the Tiger whispered and pulled the trigger.

The shot was placed rightly and the Mk. VII Churchill stopped moving. "The Lionheart noticed us! And has one Knight as support!" George quickly said and Takashi turned the Tiger to get it out of there. "We need to reach the town before Rosehip and that Matilda takes us down! And don't forget to zigzag a bit!" Traf nearly shouted. The driver nodded and the Tiger suddenly accelerated towards the Oarai ambush zone.

Rosehip pouted a bit, when she noticed the Tiger running away and zigzagging like crazy. "Hey! No fair!" she shouted at the unnaturally fast heavy tank. "We have fixed the track and are coming to support you." Rosehip's pout changed quickly into a wide grin. "Understood, Darjeeling-sama!" she responded and ordered her crew and Matilda to stop, which confused the Tiger for a second.

"Now is my chance! Ute!" she shouted and fired at the Tiger. There was smoke everywhere right after it. "I-I think that we did it…" she said and grinned even more.

"Can we move?" Trafalgar asked. Takashi tried the pedals and the Tiger moved a bit. "We got lucky. It was only a scratch…" he breathed out in relief. "Trafalgar? Can you take down the Matilda? I'll get us away right after the shot." His commander nodded with a small smirk. "Of course. They won't see it coming!"

Takashi grabbed the steering wheel and the lever. "Feuer frei!" Trafalgar said as Takashi stomped on the gas and the Tiger's engine loudly protested for a second before it started moving again. "First blood!" Trafalgar announced happily right after that. "Understood!" George shouted and turned on the radio. "We shot down one Matilda II! Repeat! We shot down one Matilda II!"

"Good work! Lead them to the city. We will reunite there!" Miho's voice responded with a hint of happiness. "Understood!" the radioman said. "We have a target on our backs now. Drawing the first blood and being in a heavy tank makes it even worse.:." Takashi muttered for himself and started zigzagging again to avoid more shots from making contact with their tank.

Erwin grinned, when the Tiger showed up near the ambush zone. "Alright! Let's follow Knispel and find a good hiding spot for an ambush in the city!" she called out. "This starts reminding me of Battle for Berlin, but without Russians and Königstigers…" Saemonza commented. "No. More like the Battle of Tobruk, but without sand!" Caesar countered. "Exactly!" Erwin shouted with a really wide grin.

Miho and her crew were already on the road, when the Tiger sped around her with crazy speed. It was soon followed by the rest of the team she was tasked to lead. "Mako, take us to the town." The sleepy driver muttered something and the Panzer IV started moving towards the retreating allies.

"If we all act like we just panicked, it will lead some of our enemies to lower their guard." Miho nodded in approval to that idea and ordered Mako to act like she was panicking, which was hard for the driver and not too convincing overall. But, they still managed to get into the city without noticing a single enemy. Perfect for finding the best ambush spot.

And with that in mind, she let Saori navigate them through the city, because Miho saw only a part of the city and could get them into a dead end street.

Rukuriri and her crew were driving through a random street, which was awfully calm and had some flags near one shop. "The enemy isn't there. This street is clear." But, that only added more uneasiness into the atmosphere. She suddenly got a feeling that something was awfully wrong.

BANG! A shell impacted with her tank and immediately disabled it. "We got taken out!" she announced to Darjeeling via the channel. And before it closed down, she saw the same red & yellow StuG coming out from the small alleyway near the flags.

Rosehip grinned, when she noticed the pink M3 Lee's back turned towards her. "Ute!" she said and the 6-pounder spit a round that finally hit and disabled something. "One down, five to go!" she announced happily to her team's opened channel. "Which one?" Darjeeling asked. "The M3, Lee variant."

But, when she gave an order to turn around and continue swiping another street, a shell impacted with her Crusader. "Our tracks are damaged! We are forced to crawl!" the driver announced. "DAMMIT!" Rosehip shouted in response and glared at the Panzer 38 (t), which did that.

"Cowards with golden camouflage…" she muttered and sighed. It will take more time to sweep the streets now.

Taeko ginned at the Matilda II before her tank. it was completely oblivious to their presence. "Ute!" Noriko shouted and grinned, when the fuel tank on the enemy tank exploded. "We destroyed one!" she cheered, but as the smoke cleared out, the Volleyball club noticed that the turret was aiming at them and fired a second later.

"Sorry, they got us!" she announced to Miho before the connection was cut out. We were so close… she thought and sighed.

Trafalgar grinned, when he heard a confirmation of Rosehip being slowed down. "This is our one and only chance to finish her." Takashi nodded and followed George's instructions where to turn that he got from Anzu. "Alright, the Crusader should be in this small alleyway…" George said finally.

Traf nodded and loaded another Panzergranate 39. And before the Tiger was near the crossway, the Panzer 38 (t) of the SC sped towards them, only to be taken down from the left. "We got her position. Thank you." The radioman and driver turned to him. "We'll use the Panzer 38 (t) as a shield, but Takashi," he finally spoke up, "we need to be in that 45° angle to boost our defensive capabilities."

"Yes sir!" Takashi responded in a joking manner and sped towards the Panzer 38 (t). Dices are thrown… he thought and aimed the turret to the left.

Darjeeling and three other Matildas were chasing a lone Panzer IV D, when the rightmost Matilda suddenly stopped with a white flag popped out. "It seems that their StuG or Tiger is near." But, before she knew it, the Panzer IV was found stuck before a barrier. Darjeeling suppressed her smirk and opened her hatch.

"Have you heard this saying?" she asked. "All is fair in love and war." The brunette commander, which was looking out from the commander's hatch of the Panzer IV seemed familiar to her, yet she was also a complete stranger. Suddenly, a cannon fired and disabled another Matilda. "Destroy that StuG first."

But, as her Churchill and the last surviving Matilda fired at the tank destroyer, the Panzer IV moved and took out the Matilda. She is good. Now, there are only four tanks left. "Chase her. Rosehip will take care of the Tiger."

Rosehip had already another shell loaded, when the Tiger hid behind the Panzer 38 (t). "Ute!" she said and fired at the turret, but the shell exploded only halfway through. "D-did they just… shoot our own shell?!" she realized after a few seconds of stunned silence. "We must get away!" her driver shouted with a panicked face.

But, before the Crusader moved to the Tiger's blind spot, a loud BANG! announced the arrival of the finishing shell. "Well played, Onii-chan…" she said as the loud popping sound of the white flag was heard. And after that, the Tiger moved away. "We got shot down…" she announced to Darjeeling with a small hint of sadness.

"The Lionheart is down!" announced the voice of George suddenly, when Saori tried to contact the Tiger. "They did it!" she cheered. Rosehip was out of the game, so they could flank the Mk. VII Churchill easily and avoid the embarrassing Ankou dance! "We must focus on surviving now."

Saori looked at Miho. "Is there something wrong?" she asked. "I can't see the enemy tank." Her commander had suddenly a worried face as she looked around to find the missing tank, but found nothing.

Suddenly, something hit their tank and smoke was everywhere. Even worse was the popping sound of the white flag. "We got shot down! It's all up to you!" Saori managed to say before the channel was cut off and left them in radio silence.

Assam loaded another shell and looked into the periscope to find their last still operating enemy. "I never thought that the boys could be this good…" she muttered for about the fourth time after they destroyed their tracks with a well-placed shot. "I think that George told them about our tanks, when they had one meeting to help them prepare for us."

"I guess so…" But, before she could finish her statement, the Tiger showed up right in her sights. "Got you." And Assam pulled the trigger, a loud BANG! following right after.

Traf saw the Churchill before it fired and quickly loaded a random shell. "Feuer frei!" he muttered and fired the shell towards its destination at the same moment as the Churchill spit its own shell. And it impacted his tank, leaving smoke everywhere inside it.

Viewing screen, town center of Oarai

The smoke was slowly clearing up and the gathered people held their breaths. But, Ami Chono already knew the results. A draw… And the screen showed both the Tiger and Churchill with white flags on top of them, which popped up at the same moment. The townsmen sighed in relief that their school's team didn't embarrass itself, while the students of both schools just stared at the screen with open mouths.

Suddenly, she noticed a stranger in a coat with a big hat throwing away his disguise, revealing the long lost Tsuneo Nishizumi in a working attire and a toolbox in hand. She walked up to him. "I never thought that I'll ever see you again, Chono-san." The instructor just smiled. "Same for me, head engineer Nishizumi."

"Miho was in the Panzer IV…" she said, but he cut her off. "I know. She did great even with that shitty turret of the D version. It makes me wonder, who was in the Tiger I? It reminded me a bit of Shiho, when she was younger…" Ami smiled at the comparison. It was surely fitting. "I can't say it here and now, but if you have time…" Tsuneo just smiled at her. "I have plenty of it. That snake Tsuji finally did something reasonable and appointed me as the head engineer of the Oarai team."

And this time, it was Ami, who was shocked. Renta Tsuji doing something like that means only one thing: he went crazy. "With you there, they should be able to update their tanks a bit. I have a suspicion that a better cannon for the Panzer IV is hidden somewhere on the ship." Tsuneo smiled at that. "You mean that 7,5 cm KwK 40 L/48? Oarai's team will be more scary afterwards even without those other 15 missing tanks."

Suddenly, the three boys from the Tiger I and the Panzer IV crew showed up and walked towards the rest of Oarai students. They were awfully quiet. "Go meet your daughter," Ami encouraged her friend's husband and pushed him towards the group. She ignored his protests and he gave up after a while.

And Ami chose to go to the cameraman to ask him for a copy of the recorded match for Shiho.

A/N:

This chapter was finished faster than usual, but it won't become normal for me to post a new chapter this fast.

See ya later!