Chapter 17

"Welcome back to the quarter-finals of the 63rd National Sensha-Do Tournament! We have yet again Flag tank battle mod. My name is Hibiki Inatomi and I'll be today's head judge." Miho and Anzu repeated the starting ceremony, but this time with Anchovy and a blonde girl, instead of Kay and Alisa.

As they reached the starting point, Miho felt that something seemed off. It was like someone was constantly watching her back, but when she turned, no one was there. Must be stalkers or something… scum. Her emotionless self said in her head. "Saori, text a message to the Tiger about watching out for something that isn't supposed to be there." Her radiowoman nodded and quickly wrote the message.

Miho waited until the flare exploded. "Panzer vor!" she said and all six tanks started advancing. And as expected, the Tiger soon broke off from the formation and headed towards the forest on the right side from her point of view. Good luck you three… she thought and refocused on the area before her.

Traf smirked as he noticed the Pepperoni girl setting up 11 wooden boards shaped like Semoventes and Carro Veloces. He was looking from a bush at the attempt of trying to fool their enemies. He snuck back inside the Tiger and gave a signal to George.

Right after that, the radioman opened fire from the MG34 that was installed in the hull in front of him. The girls panicked and tried their best to dodge the rubber bullets, but most of them still found a mark either on a girl, one of the boards or a Carro Veloce.

Traf looked at the retreating tankettes. "We won't chase them. George, text Miho that we uncovered a trap that Anzio was setting up." The radioman did as ordered. And soon, he received a message back. "She responded with: That's good, but I still think that something is here." The commander of the boy crew sighed.

"We should scout in this part of the forest. Takashi! Start the engine and get us a bit further into the forest!" The driver responded with a salute. Son! There is a nasty surprise set by someone other than Anzio! Don't go further before testing the road with a HE! The boy silently thanked for the warning and fired the HE shell on the road.

And a big explosion was the result. "Damn it! Minefield that wasn't set by Anzio! Someone really wants us to die!" Takashi shouted. "George! Warn them! NOW!" Traf commanded and fired another HE at the road, this time causing a chain reaction of about a dozen mines going off.

Viewing platform for VIP #2

Alisa shivered, when the screen showed the Tiger suddenly stopping and firing at the road. "Mines!" she shouted in surprise. "Anzio is not so bold to do it. Someone is trying to assassinate Miho Nishizumi or the Tiger I crew." Kay nodded at Naomi's statement. "But who? And why?" Alisa asked her comrades.

But the only answer she got was silence and a shrug.

Viewing platform for VIP #1

Tsuneo resisted the urge to run towards the battlefield. But he knew that Miho and the boys were already preparing a counter strategy on that dirty move. "Raven's Nest…" he muttered and clenched his fists.

Shiho and Maho were the only ones who heard that mutter. But, all around them, dozens of watchers started shouting and protesting to end the match immediately. Mental note: buy zimmerit and other anti-mine equipment. Suddenly, he got an idea and stood up.

"PEOPLE! CALM DOWN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. It had the desired effect and he got the attention of everyone. "This dirty move was set up by those who fear the Nishizumi style and want it destroyed! Those same people were behind the sudden disappearances of Oarai's Sensha-Do team five years ago!" the engineer continued and quickly dropped on the wooden bench.

When nothing happened, he sat down and sighed.

Viewing platform for VIP #3

Darjeeling had a hard time suppressing her emotions after the minefield was revealed. But, she calmed down a bit after Tsuneo had his little speech. It had an unspoken meaning. And that was: 'Miho already is preparing a plan to counter the mines.'

"I bet that someone was paid to let those who set up the minefield inside the closed area. Or it happened, when no one was watching." Orange Pekoe looked at her. "Who do you think did it?" she asked her. "I think that it was this Raven's Nest. Neither of the schools that are in Sensha-Do would do this, but that university is a secret of the biggest caliber."

Just don't get killed or let anyone die. You three are the last hope of Oarai.

Anchovy noticed the giant explosion after the loud noise that accompanies it usually was heard. "We'll investigate it. But, what is with operation Macaroni?!" she nearly shouted. "I'm sorry, Anchovy-nee-san, but the Tiger found us, when we were setting the decoys up!" Pepperoni's voice came back.

"What?! How?! The Tiger would normally be at the crossroads in the next two or so minutes!" she said with frustration in her voice. "They maybe upgraded the engine from the basic Maybach HL 210 to something stronger." Anchovy nodded at that idea. "That might be true, Carpaccio."

And as she said that, four enemy tanks passed by. Neither of them was the Flag one. Suddenly, the StuG III turned and fired. The shell flew towards her tank, but it never made contact with it. The guarding Carro Veloce took the hit instead and was instantly white flagged. "I'll take care of the one with the 7,5 cm cannon."

Anchovy nodded at that and took after the enemy command vehicle, leaving the Semoventes and StuG alone for their dance of death.

Noriko splitted from the column after a few dozen meters. The Duck team was tasked with taking down the tankettes, while the Rabbit team had to take care of the remaining Semoventes and the Anglerfish team was playing bait for the P26/40.

"And again, the SC has to do nothing…" she muttered. But suddenly, the Tiger showed up and instantly angled in 45°. A second later, two shells bounced off of its hull instead of penetrating it. "They said that there were two Semoventes camped and attempted to take us down!" Noriko explained after her phone received a message.

After that, the Tiger fired from its cannon somewhere into the bushes in front of them. But, it missed the Semoventes and hit something else. Something that was well-hidden in front of the unsuspecting TDs. "We have a third party intervention in the match! Repeat! We have a third party intervene in the match! A M24 Chaffee of unknown affiliation was hiding in the bushes!" Trafalgar's voice suddenly cracked to life through the opened channel.

Noriko saw the commander's hatch of the Tiger opening and the commander of the boy crew jumped out from it, walking towards the now revealed tank. He made a hand gesture towards her tank. "We should get going to find those CV33s." And her tank drove away from the spot.

Hibiki stared at the screen with her mouth wide open. Not only some third party invaded the match and set a minefield, but also it was finally revealed who commanded the Tiger of Oarai. A boy?! Well, I guess that I should tolerate him until Oarai loses in this Tournament… she thought and ignored angry shouts from the viewing platforms.

There was something important about the moment. One of the drones flew towards the disabled tank, just in time to show the boy from Oarai's maintenance team opening the commander's hatch of a M24 Chaffee.

The boy turned on his throat mic. "There are three unconscious girls!" he announced and pulled out a pale girl in a never seen before tanker uniform. He dived into the tank and came back with a shell in his hands. It looked like an ordinary JSFD-approved one.

Hibiki didn't realize that she was holding her breath as she watched the drone follow the boy to his tank. He loaded the shell and aimed at a random tree about thirty meters to the left and fired.

Tsuneo gasped in surprise as the shell was fired. It flew faster than the standard regulated ammo. And as it made contact with the ground, there was a hole far deeper and wider than the regulated ammo could even hope making.

"Non-regulated HEAT shell… that thing could have killed someone!" he shouted and everyone near him agreed. "We'll rather see boys in Sensha-Do than killers!" someone (Yukari's dad) announced. "I bet that they wanted to fire at the Semoventes at the same time as the Tiger to frame the crew for murder." Tsuneo turned to his wife and nodded.

A/N:

Hey guys! Here is Pt. 1 of the match against Anzio. Well… I didn't expect and/or intend to write it so fast, but here it is!

Anyway… I know that it grew a bit messy, but Raven's Nest and its mysterious leader want [secret].

See ya!