Fort Nelson Academy High School, 25th of September 2015, 1009 hours:
Rain continued to clash against the windows protecting the classroom, and whatever's inside from getting wet, students wearing extra warm clothes of either sweaters or jackets could be seen talking with one another, some playing on their desks with whatever tools they have out of boredom, like strapping a ruler to a pen to make an aircraft, or bouncing pens on the table. Some slept, including Alisia. Wrapping her arms on top of a desk and laying her head on it as if acting as a pillow, her chest rising every time she takes a breath, without much sound. Some strands of her hair cover her face as she sleeps, peacefully. Meanwhile, Lily just stood up from her seat and was stretching her body, before looking at the sleeping Alisia.
"Alisia?" Lily stared at her with a confused look. "Strange.. She usually goes to the cafeteria first before me." She thought, and before then she approached her. "Alisia, are you awake?"
No response from her first call. Lily's face turned into that of worry.
"Is she sick?" Lily leaned closer to her face, her hand moving towards her hair-covered face, noticing her eyes had dark pockets. "She looks so tired." Lily then touched Alisia's forehead with her hands, feeling it being warm. "Oh.. this is bad."
Just then, both Anoki and Miyuki entered the class, their hands turning here and there before noticing both Lily and Alisia. They then walked up to them.
"Oh hey! I didn't see Alisia in the cafeteria, is there something wrong?" Asked Miyuki before then looking down towards the sleeping Alisia, her face all of a sudden turning red violet. "... Kawaii."
"Hmm? Oh, hey." Lily leaned off, standing back to a straight posture.
"She looks so peaceful.." Anoki giggled, before she leaned closer to Alisia and noticed her pocketed eyes. "She looks so tired."
"Yeah, I noticed. She's not usually like this." Said Lily, before looking back towards Alisia.
"Oh.." Miyuki's face turned from fond to worried. "Should we take her to the sickroom? Maybe she got a fever?"
"Yeah, I felt her forehead, and it's a bit warm." Lily sighed.
"Hmm.. Maybe she's just tired.. Try slapping her." Anoki suggested.
Both Miyuki and Lily began to turn their heads slowly towards Anoki, both giving different reactions.
"Excuse me? Slapping her?" Lily gave a confused look towards Anoki.
"You crazy? I'm not slapping her again, okay?" Miyuki yelled at her.
"H-Hey.. Keep your voice down." Anoki whispered to Miyuki; her expression is that of panic after the yell.
"What do you mean slapping her again? Did you two slap her before?" Lily stared at them with a shocked look.
"N-No! We can explain!" Anoki panicked further, lurching towards Lily.
As the commotion continued, other students began to take notice and eavesdrop, some taking a peek. It wasn't until Alisia's eyes began to flutter; her posture remained still, her eyes looked to the side towards Lily, backing away, and both Anoki and Miyuki gave a flustered face. Still in the sleepy posture, she spoke up.
"What's going on here...?" Alisia yawned, her head moving for a small degree, her eyes staring at the three.
"O-Oh.. Morning Alisia." Lily looked straight towards Alisia as soon as she heard her voice. Both Miyuki and Anoki followed suit.
"Alisia! You're awake. You didn't come to the cafeteria, so I came here to check on you." Said Miyuki.
"Yeah, how are you?" Anoki asked about her condition, looking down at her.
Alisia remained quiet for a few seconds, before switching her sight towards the windows, where she saw rain crashing against the window in a low volume. She yawned once more before answering Anoki's question. "I'm good.."
"Oh, good." Anoki smiled at her.
The crowding students earlier have already reduced in size, leaving the classroom back to its quiet state. There was an awkward moment of silence between the four, being frozen and lost in their own thoughts. It was until Miyuki broke the ice.
"Oh! How about we go eat some food? Before we run out of break time." Miyuki suggested.
"Oh, sure." Lily nodded in agreement, before looking back down at Alisia. "You coming Alisia?"
"... In a minute." Alisia yawned once more, staring at the window for a moment before eventually standing up from her desk, walking out from the classroom towards the hallway where the other three were making their way to the cafeteria.
The time was 1315 hours, rain was still watering down from the sky to the earth, though not really dense. Students could be seen walking out the school gate with umbrellas on their hands or wearing raincoats to shield themselves from the shower above. As activity began to reduce in the main school building, it was the opposite for the old school garage.
Lights illuminated the inside of the old building, students in their tankery uniform talking to one another. The atmosphere inside was warm in contrast to the rain outside. Tanks lined up in a neat row, the scars from the previous battle were still visible despite repair efforts. Then there was Alisia, inside the all purpose room alongside the rest of the tank commanders, sitting on a foldable metal chair, dozing off. Her snoring was barely heard by the rest of the commander present, but a few mutters escaped her lips.
"What is she saying?" Beornhelm questioned as he continued staring towards Alisia as she continued sleeping.
"Huh?" Antoine stared back towards Beornhelm, before then staring towards Alisia, who was still sleeping. "No idea, but that's not the point. What are we doing here?"
"Uhh, I don't know." Beornhelm then turned his head towards Jack. "Hey, Jack."
"What?" Jack stared up from the book he was reading towards Beornhelm.
"What are we going to do today?" Asked Beornhelm.
"Well, Alisia told me that we'll be having a guest, but she never specified what and just falls asleep." Jack then turned his eyes towards Alisia, giving her a dirty look. "The headmaster is so stupid for using a damn pencil."
Then, a few knocks were heard on the door, and there stood the student's president on the doorframe. "Ms. Harlington?" She called out to Alisia.
Alisia remained asleep still, barely moving a muscle, frozen in her seat, not responding to the president's calling.
"Ms. Harlington?" The president called out to her once more. "Is she asleep?"
"Well, as if her face isn't that obvious. Look at her! That careless face." Jack frowned.
"What seems to be the matter here?" One young, dark-haired woman with a medium-sized chest wearing a long trench coat along with dark boots appeared from behind the president, speaking in a foreign accent. "Is there something wrong?"
The tank commanders turned their heads towards her, staring at her appearance. One of the commanders then spoke up.
"Who is that?" Asked Emile, wondering who the young woman may be.
"Oh, well, she is-" The president was about to spill the woman's identity, but was cut short as the woman spoke up.
"Greetings, boys and girls! I'm Sergeant Major Cathleen Smith from the Royal Armoured Corps, head of the British CTF, Instructors sector. You can call me Miss Cathe, Miss Cath, or Miss Cathleen.. Whatever, I hope we all get along." Cathleen put up a smile on her face, while placing her hands on her hip.
"She looks... friendly." Isabelle commented on Cathleen's introduction, giving an awkward look on her face.
Then, another voice was heard, this time a young male voice, which then appeared from behind her: a dark-haired young man with trimmed hair, wearing a khaki-colored long sleeved buttoned shirt with dark trousers and a pair of dark-colored short lace-up boots, his hands carrying a large leather bag. He then stared up towards her. "Gosh, you're already here? I was looking for you all over the place." He then stared at her appearance before asking. "Where's your uniform?"
"Alan! Well, some geezers in the airport, we' 'em up." Cath explained. "So I go' me some of me spare clo'es in the bag."
"Huh?" The commanders gave a confused look towards Cathleen, confused by her accent and words.
"What did she just say?" Beornhelm questioned Cathleen's way of speaking.
"You.. slipped, Ms. Cath." Alan starred up towards Cathleen.
"Oh! Sorry. Well uhh.." Cathleen then walked further into the room, while holding a small suitcase in her hands. "So, who's the commander here?" She spoke now without the accent.
The students remained silent, still left confused. It was until Emile pointed towards Alisia, still deep asleep.
"It's her.. Ms. Cath." Said Emile while still pointing his hand towards Alisia.
Cathleen's head turned towards the short girl sitting on a chair placed just right near the walls behind, west of the room. She walked towards her, before leaning down, staring into her face. "Look at this lass' face. Carried by the clouds, and she's your team commander?" She stood back up, looking at the rest of the tank commanders. "I thought it was you, judging from your look." She pointed her hand towards Jack.
"Huh? Oh." Jack was surprised but recovered in just a millisecond. "Well, I'm not."
"So, to think this lass is the one who led this team to taking out a whole company of Boston's tanks..." Cathleen placed her hand on her chin. "Hmm.. Where have I heard this before?"
"Haven't you read the papers?" Alan facepalmed.
"Well, you know me, I don't like reading long papers!"
"What kind of a Sergeant Major are you?"
"That's the 83rd time you asked me that."
Jack was furious the moment he heard those words. It was him that planned the whole thing! Well, Alisia sort of gave some ideas, but he still gave the majority of the plan.
Cathleen leaned back to Alisia, dropping her case on the floor. "Can't resist wanting to pinch her cheeks.."
"Don't.. Ugh." Alan released a heavy sigh.
Cathleen proceeded to reach her hands towards Alisia's face, and began pinching her cheeks. "Hehe.. So soft and squishy.."
".. Damn, she's getting uhh." Antoine struggled to say the appropriate word for the situation, while still watching Alisia get her cheeks pinched while she remained asleep.
All of a sudden, Alisia's eyes fluttered open, and she charged forward to bite one of Cathleen's hands that was pinching her, causing Cathleen to release a squirm and flinched backwards to the floor.
"Oh, god, she's one aggressive lass." Cathleen groaned, holding her hands tight with her other hand. "Oh, thank God the wound's not that deep."
Everyone inside the room was shocked by Alisia's action, their bodies frozen in place, eyes wide and open after witnessing the event. Silence filled the room aside from the people talking outside the room with each other. Alisia was giving an angry look on her face, until her vision began to clear more after her deep slumber, to see a young woman right in front of her. Her face turned bright red, her body posture went tight, and her head turned down in shame.
Cathleen was still groaning on the floor, holding her hand in pain with her other hand as it slightly bled. "Ow.. That hurts. You sure have sharp teeth." She stood back up. "Well, sorta my fault for touching like that, a bit improper.. But anyways, let's get down to business, shall we?"
"You should probably clean that wound.. Ms. Cath. Or else some bad germs will enter through that wound." Alan suggested with a monotone tone.
"Nah, I'm alright." Cathleen grabbed the case and placed it on the table. "Now anyways, today the CTF has sent me here to help with assessing this team's performance and help with improving it. Right beside me is Alan Bridgeman, he's from St. Bennett's Boy's Academy High School, a 2nd year. Say hi, Alan."
"Greetings everyone." Alan greeted in a monotone tone.
"Now, uh, let's start with... What's this team's doctrine?" Cathleen looked across the table, waiting for someone to answer.
The room remained silent as no one answered Cathleen's question.
"I take that as a no?" Cathleen then turned her attention towards Alisia, who was still looking down towards the floor. "Well, Missy. Mind telling me what your team's doctrine is? Or style, as some people may say."
"Eh? Uhh.." Alisia was caught off guard by the sudden question, she hesitated for a while, before eventually answering. "... We have none."
"Oh, so you guys really went with wild ideas, huh? Well, nothing wrong, but you can't just go 'Tally ho!' on the enemy. Unless you're in Japan, then that's an entirely different story. Now, I will present to you all templates and doctrines." Cathleen then proceeded to open the case, revealing a stack of book files inside, with different labels. Her hands began to rummage through before pulling out one, colored bright yellow with the label, 'Doctrine and Template Manual'.
She then opened it up and proceeded to flip it to the last page, where there was a disc wrapped in plastic, attached to the back cover. She then gently removed the tape, keeping the wrap close before pulling the disc out. "Right, Alan, pull out the electronics."
"Right." Alan placed the leather bag on the table, opening it before then pulling out a laptop, a small projector, a few cables, and a tube that is almost the length of the bag.
"Alright, while he's setting the thingy up. Tell me, how did you all take out an entire Boston College sized company? Even though you were facing Delta Company, they're still somewhat potent."
"Well, uh, me and Alisia baited them in while the rest hid somewhere near an open area sort of place, ambushing and stuff." Said Alisia in a low tone. "Jack gave like 90% of the plan.. I'm sorta useless."
"Oh, really?" Cathleen nodded, looking back and forth at Alisia and Jack. "Hmm, I see. So no one organized the entire thing alone. Well, that's good! Most of the time I help with guiding schools. It's always one dominant person doing all the stuff."
Jack looked towards Alisia, with a confused look. Usually he only sees in popular media people being selfish and taking credit for themselves. Or is it just the media telling him the bad things?
"I'm assuming you two share paperwork jobs too?" Cathleen asked, while staring at the two.
Alisia immediately lit up at the mention of paperwork and answered without hesitation in a tired tone. "I do all the papers alone.."
"Oh." Cathleen nodded once more. It was until Alan's voice could be heard that he could be seen finished setting up.
"Everything's up, Miss Cath." Said Alan, pointing at the small projector connected to the laptop via a cable, projecting a computer screen towards a previously small tube into a mini tabletop projector screen.
"Ah, thanks Alan." Cathleen then handed over the disc to Alan, in which Alan received it, before then inserting it into the laptop's CD player.
Alan then proceeded to go to the file explorer, revealing a new entry on the 'This PC' section of a disc. He then opened it up, revealing a presentation file, which he clicked on. A display appeared; as the file opened, there first saw an opening page with the CTF's symbol, which is similar to the Commonwealth's flag but without the blue background and with a silhouette of a generic tank and an inscription below, displaying the CTF's full acronym.
"Now, I'm about to present to you a few examples of the doctrines of styles used currently and how it works."
Alan pressed on the touchpad, moving through pages after pages of introduction before eventually stopping at a page, showing the title, 'Standard Doctrine'. There were also shown multiple images and illustrations of the doctrine's structure and composition.
"The standard doctrine. As the name suggests, it is a standard doctrine or style that involves a balanced loadout of tanks. It usually consists of a couple medium or cruiser tanks, usually Shermans, and in some rare occasions, a few Matilda's. All centered around a heavy tank, used usually for brute breakthroughs. The most used type of heavy tank is the Churchill. This loadout is very versatile, as teams can do both offensive and defensive tasks." Cathleen explained to the commanders, before asking. "Any questions before we continue?"
Colin raised his hand, which Cathleen noticed. "Yes?"
"Isn't the Churchill an infantry tank?" Asked Colin.
"Well, if we want to get technical, yes, it is an infantry tank, as it was meant to be used for that. But in terms of armor, it's a heavy tank. Suitable for frontal assaults. The 57mm sometimes suffices, but some changed it to the 75mm or the 17 pounder. Any more questions?" Cathleen asked once more to the commanders. "No one? Alright then. Onto the next slide, please."
Alan pressed on the touchpad, moving the slide to another page. Now showing a page with the title on top saying, 'Mobile Light Force Doctrine'. They showed multiple images and illustrations of the doctrine's structure and composition, similar to the last page.
"Back then, tankery was one very chaotic sport of cluster mess where people used light nimble tanks, crashing to each other, where back in the day it was anarchy. But almost a century of field trials and research, came in the mobile light force doctrine, or some people may call it the Fort Nelson style as it's frequently used and improved by the Fort Nelson team before they started using heavies." Cathleen explained.
The commanders nodded, some were shocked by the revelation of it being developed in their town.
"Woah.. From our own town?" Isabelle's mouth went agape.
"Aye, from your own town. Doesn't this town have a museum?" Asked Cathleen to the commanders.
"Well, it just shows relics of the old town people that once served in wars. I don't know about tankery." Colin explained.
"Ah, I see." Cathleen nodded. "Anyways, this doctrine or style is also customisable. Frequently used due to the doctrine being budget friendly, but this doctrine isn't suitable for prolonged matches like annihilation, though depending on the tank. Very suitable for flag matches for quick victories as the light tanks only have to aim in taking out the flag tank and for people with guts. Usually comprises tanks like the M24, Crusaders, and the Stuart. Unless your team has the budget to buy the insanely costly tanks from Japan. Now, are there any questions before I continue?"
No one raised their hands, Cathleen continued. "Alright then, now into the next doctrine."
Alan pressed on the touchpad once more, moving the slide to another page. There is shown the title of the page, 'Heavy Doctrine'. Along with illustrations and images of composition and structure.
"The heavy doctrine. As the name suggests, the doctrine involves the use of heavy tanks. Best used for both defensive and frontal assault. Used by Nishizumi-styled schools, or maybe schools influenced by it, and schools that are based solely on tankery or schools with huge resources. The budget for this particular doctrine or style is very expensive, and usually requires large members to practice it. Now, any questions?"
Beornhelm raised his hand. "What's the Nishizumi style of tankery?"
"Oh, well. It's a style that first emerged from the late 50's somewhere in Kumamoto. If I remember correctly.. You can find out more about it in the town's digital library or from your computer if you have one." Cathleen cleared her throat. "Now to the next page."
Alan pressed once more on the touchpad, but nothing appeared. "Huh, I guess that's all."
"Oh, well. I forgot. I guess that concludes today. On Monday we'll be starting field training and some more additional classes in the future." Cathleen then covered her mouth before yawning. "Oh, god, I'm so tired.. Anyways, you're all dismissed."
Soon, the commanders began leaving the room. The other students outside the room, in the main area of the large garage where the tanks reside, began leaving as soon as they heard the words that they could go back home. Just as Alisia was about to leave the room, Cathleen called out to her.
"Oh hey, Missy." Cathleen called out to Alisia.
"Y-Yes?" Alisia turned back towards the woman, staring up at her, feeling nervous inside. Is Ms. Cath mad at her for biting her hand?
Cathleen approached her before leaning down to her height. "I've read the files and reports from the matches and training you went through. I gotta say, while you're not perfect, you have quite a decent record. Leaders are not only born, but made. So keep it up."
Alisia remained in place, and gave a slow nod back. Cathleen saw her body movement and language, seeing that Alisia's a bit nervous. She then gave a smile and placed her hand on Alisia's shoulder, causing her to flinch slightly, but then Cathleen reassured her. "Relax; I'm not angry with you biting my hand earlier. Besides, you're one cute little ruffian..~" Cathleen patted her head a few times, causing Alisia to blush with embarrassment. "Oh my, quite the soft hair you got. Oh well, off your way then." She patted her shoulder before eventually standing back up. Alisia then turned away from Cathleen, and began making her way out of the room. Cathleen just smiled as Alisia walked away. That girl can make it, somehow.
"I always forget and ask myself why the committee and the armed forces chose you to be the instructor. It's always your friendliness towards younglings." Alan stated as he was putting things back in the leather bag.
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Be like the average rude Sergeant Major that yells all the time." Cathleen chuckled, before she suddenly felt a jolt of pain on her. "Ow.. My back.."
"You good?" Alan looked towards her with a worried look. "You're still like, 32, you know."
"Curse Ryanair.. Ugh.. Come on, let's go back to the inn." Cathleen began limping out of the room, followed by Alan with his hands entirely occupied, carrying a leather bag and a suitcase containing the manual books shown earlier.
Alisia was at home once more, still flustered after Cathleen showed affection towards her. It sorta reminds her of her mother, though different. She then took off her shoes and placed them on the rack, and began doing what she has been doing basically daily and on Fridays especially. Cleaning the house bit by bit, taking a bath before entering her room with the lights off like she usually does, except this time she went immediately towards the bed, dropping her body like an elephant after being shot with a laced dart.
She grabbed onto her pillow, covering herself with the blanket, re-thinking the previous encounter she just had. Biting the young woman's hand, but instead of an angry response, instead she was. Complemented.. She never heard or thought doing something bad ever a good thing. Then her eyes began to flutter, feeling a bit more exhausted than she usually does, rain could begin to fall again to the earth, crashing to her window. Combined with the cold air inside her room, she eventually closed her eyes and fell asleep.