ARC II chapter 16

A week after Maho arrived at Niedersächsische Universität, somewhere in Tokyo

Renta looked over the gathered representatives from the high schools that would be participating in the renewed Continuous Winter Track Cup this year and smiled. He knew that this tournament won't be a decisive factor for the Internationals. After all, it was already decided a few months back, when Oarai won the 63rd Nationals.

"Commanders, Vice-captains or representatives, step forward," he commanded and the 32 teens gathered behind him walked towards the box. And then, he called out the name of a school, each representative putting a hand inside the box and pulling it out, revealing their opponent (in some cases almost immediately) for the first round.

"Alright, so for the first round we have… Chi-Ha-Tan versus Koala Forest! For the second round… Oarai versus BC Freedom! Blue Division versus Saunders! Yogurt versus Jatkosota! Maginot versus Kuromorimine! Pravda versus Viking Fisheries! Waffle versus St. Gloriana! And… Anzio versus Gregor!"

After that, he quickly said some apologetic words to fans of Bonple, who were expecting them to be in the tournament. And then he remembered the reason how it really happened.

The Bonple's 7TPdws encircled Gregor's main force, consisting of the Hetzer,two Panzer III Ns, the ST vz 39, seven Panzer 35 (t)s and seven Panzer 38 (t)s and fired at them. But, much to their surprise, the enemy tankers quickly recovered and their tanks formed a protective circle around the Flag tank, which was (surprisingly enough) the ST vz 39. And then, Gregor returned fire, taking down several of the ambushers.

And yet, it wasn't enough as the rest of Bonple's tanks (sans the Flag and two others) arrived at the scene in a very Chi-Ha-Tan-like manner. The Panzers put up a brave fight, but the 7TPs had already carved a path towards the Flag tank…

"Bonple's Flag tank disabled. Match over!" Hibiki's voice suddenly announced and Renta looked at the screen as it replayed the Škoda T-25s firing three shells each… almost simultaneously taking down both the guards and Jajka's own 7TPjw.

Fritz sat down with her crew next to a table at the nearest café. And by sheer coincidence, it was the same one where Trafalgar Jameson was said to threaten Kommandant Itsumi over her insulting Kommandant Nishizumi's sister. But what he didn't know was the fact that he was sitting at the same place as the most famous boy tanker in Sensha-Do did.

He's just the type of Kommandant that doesn't need elaborate tactics, but is two steps ahead at the same time, he reminded himself the fact he learned at the 63rd National tournament and which he confirmed a while back at the farce of a match, which saw the end of Raven's Nest as a threat to Sensha-Do proper with their overly militaristic views.

"Kommandant," Hans suddenly began asking, catching his attention, "why is our crew still in the team? I expected us to be either moved to Tankathlon or outright kicked out," he finished after Fritz gave him the go on signal with his hand.

Fritz looked him in the eye, fighting his urge to blush and look away after hearing that. "Someone talked the Kommandant out of it," he simply answered and after noticing that a waitress was waiting for their order, he quickly ordered coffee for himself and his crew.

The truth is that Koume- "-dant? You're blushing. Thinking about the Vice-Kommandant again?" Karl inquired with a huge smirk, knowing that it was true. Hell, his whole crew had it. "Traitors," he muttered and looked away, thinking about the best way to get revenge on them.

Traf looked at the assembled commanders of Oarai (including the recently crewed VK 16.02's, which was from PMC) with a small smile. He knew that their battle was still three weeks away, but it never hurt to plan ahead. Even if the enemy was as fractured as BC Freedom showed them at the battle against All-stars.

"Why are we here?!" Sadoka, the newest commander, asked coldly and was clearly prepared to start a tirade, but Traf somehow stopped her with the coldest glare he could muster at the moment.

"To answer the question," he began, "we are helping Momo-" "Don't call me that!" "-to get into a university," and he sent another glare in the direction of Sadoka to stop any new comments that would only get in the way of him explaining the plan he made with Boris and Miho.

"From what we know, BCF has only ARL-44s, SOMUA S35s and a single FT-17. Also, the map," Boris said after Traf nodded at him, "it has a maze near the middle. And since our B1 Bis has the same turret as their SOMUAs…"

And then, the fifteen gathered commanders spent another two hours discussing the plan and pointing out some small mistakes, Traf also adding the point that BCF might have an ace or two hidden up their sleeves.

But, no one believed that point after Yukari came in and showed them her nearly failed recon on the school, also making both him and Boris facepalm at her parodied logo of Lucasfilm at the start and end of it.

The next day...

Shiho looked at the practising Sensha-Do team of her school with the ghost of the faintest of smiles. Ever since Maho left for Germany, she saw only improvement in Erika as a Kommandant. Her tactics were also a bit more suited for Blitzkrieg simply by letting the crews attack in groups of two or three, whenever they saw a chance (or lure their enemies to the Maus, which was finally repaired).

I think that she'll be one of the best non-Nishizumi Kommandants from Kuromorimine, she thought as she saw the Tiger II (P) of Erika take out the "enemy" Panther and deflect shots from several others, Koume's Panther immediately returning fire, when the Tiger II was reloading. But, the "enemy" Panther, which was crewed by the boy crew - the same one she saw demoted from Miho's former Tiger to one of the free Panther As - used their fallen comrades' tanks as an effective form of shield against incoming fire.

And soon, it quickly devolved into a 2v1 situation, neither side gaining the upper hand… until Fritz's gunner scored a lucky hit at the Tiger II's commander's cupola, making the white flag pop out. "What the hell?!" She heard Sangou's voice, her Panzer III being one of the tanks the Panther hid behind, suddenly interrupting the silence after a few seconds.

"That was one hell of a lucky shot, Hans," Fritz's voice said, ignoring the Panzer III J1's commander's question completely, but also telling about what happened in one sentence. Yes, it makes sense to aim for the commander's cupola, when you can't penetrate the front and flanking is not an option, she thought and nodded very slightly at the action, because it bore fruit.

And after that, Shiho only watched in slight disbelief as the two last remaining Panthers disabled each other at the same time. "With all tanks disabled, this match ends as a draw," she announced and walked back to the school building, knowing that the practise for today has finally ended. And she still had some things to do, thanks to her role as the Headmaster of the school.

A/n:

Hey guys! Today's the 1st year anniversary of Girls und Panzer: Second chance! Sorry for the hectic updating lately, but I wanted to post a chapter right at the anniversary.

Anyway, this story has reached 20k views.

See ya later!