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Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Loss of Trust

Clang Clang. The sound of metal clashing can be heard, then a white flag pops out of a AC3 Thunderbolt tank as all around it, several tanks were in a similar state, defeated. “Flag Tank of Tamaulipas Team defeated. The winners who will be advancing to the next round is Team Nuevo Leon!!” Cheers can be heard as the winning team makes its way towards the stands where they are congratulated by the crowd. From inside the Thunderbolt tank however, silence was all that was heard. The crackle of their radio can be heard, but no one bothers to pick it up. Soon, pounding can be heard from the turret hatch. “Dragón, can you hear me? You have to get out to close the match. You have 10 minutes.” An irritated voice was heard before it once again returns to silence. Soon the hatch opens up, and a 17-year-old boy comes out of it. The boy is wearing a cream colored buttoned up shirt, cream slacks with an officer’s cap that has the words Captain on it. He looks around the battlefield and sees that all of the other tanks crews were all staring at him, waiting for him to speak. He looks onto the crowd and takes a deep breath. With a strained smile, he speaks, “Good match today, even though we failed. Badly. No follow-up meeting today. Just make sure the tanks return to the garage for immediate repairs the next morning. Dismissed.” With that, all of his fellow crewmates saluted and made their way to their perspective tanks, awaiting the trucks to transport them back home while some people who weren’t in his school all glared at him before turning and returning to their perspective tanks. The captain soon hops off of his tank and waits for his crew to exit the tank. Soon three more guys wearing the exact same uniform as him, minus the cap, hop out and with a nod, soon follow the captain towards the truck that came to pick them up. As all of them boarded and taken to the stage, the captain looks back towards the tanks and regrets ever trusting other schools to team with him.

After being forced to smile for the picture, the Thunderbolt team makes its way back towards the truck before they were stopped. “Hey guys wait up.” Turning around, they find that the captain of the flag team of the Nuevo Leon team was making his way towards them. One of the crewmates asked the captain, “Dragón, can we ignore it. I just want to go home.” Dragón shakes his head. “No Coyote, we need to remain nice to maintain relations with the other schools from other states. I don’t like it either.” With a groan, the team stopped and waited for the captain to show up. Once he arrived, he shook Dragón’s hand, “Thank you for the match, even though your other teammates turned on you.” He said, which shocked all of us. Coyote spoke, “How did you know that?!” With an embarrassed smile, the captain replied, “Well, while we were helping your Valentine crew, the radio was on speaker and so we heard the other schools on your team turn your back and left you out to die.” He was mad, “That is not tankery, that is cowardice.” He then sighed, “But there is nothing we can do but to continue. So don’t worry, we’ll support you if you need help.” Dragón looks at the ground before looking at the captain. “I appreciate it, but I need some time to take it in before I start trusting other schools again. Take this as a mutual respect and acknowledgement.” With that, the Nuevo Leon captain saluted and ran back to his tank. With that, Dragón and his team walked back to the truck to take them back to their home and possible discipline from their instructor.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Decisions

The weekend has passed, and Dragón and his crew finally returned to school after a long, silent weekend. Now all of them are in a hanger bay afterschool standing in attention in their uniform, which consisted of a white collared shirt with grey slacks and black shoes, waiting for their instructor to arrive, all the while Dragón is front and center, reminiscing on what transpired the week before during the match. Soon, the sound of a vehicle approaching snaps all of them from their thoughts as a military jeep arrives, stops, and a man steps out. The man is wearing a simple blue shirt and shorts but has a face of pure disappointment. “Mr. Montes, Captain Salazar of the San Fernando United Tankery Team, reporting.” Dragón said with a salute, maintaining a neutral face. The instructor sighed, “At ease, everyone.” He said, and all of the students were at ease, while Dragón lowered his hand but went parade rest instead. “Now then,” Mr. Montes said as he moved closer to Dragón, “report on the event that took place a couple days ago.” After the report was made, with accounts from the other crewmates, the instructor pinched the base of his nose before sighing. “That is a serious statement that you reported, but one that cannot be reported or even continue pursuing, I’m afraid.” That confused the team. What did he mean? Sensing that his students were confused, he continued. “What I mean is this; Tankery is shutting down here in Tamaulipas. All of it.” For a moment, nobody moved, said nothing, just their eyes widened in shock over hearing this revelation. After a moment, some of the students began walking sobbing silently, while others ran out of the hanger bay, most likely to scream and punch a tree. While this was happening Dragón stood there, unmoving but with his head down, shaking slightly. “Why?” Someone said from the crowd. Why indeed. That silenced everyone as all eyes looked over to the instructor to find an answer and maybe; a solution. Mr. Montes pulled out an envelope, took out the letter that was in it, and read the letter. “Dear tankery schools, I congratulate this year’s tankery teams throughout Tamaulipas for all their hard work and effort, but I regret to inform you that this will be the end. Due to budget cuts and lack of interest from other cities, tankery will be canceled. Effective immediately. All tanks that are owned will be confiscated and sold to other states or scrapped for parts. If you have any questions, please contact our office. The Ministry of Education and Tankery.”

Once that was read, Dragón took a step forward. “So that’s it then. All that we have done. The blood, sweat, and tears that we put into our tanks, all for nothing. I won’t accept it.” He said with a stern voice. Soon, all the other crewmates joined in and was behind Dragón. The instructor chuckled, “That’s why I put you as Captain. You show leadership and determination, even against odd against your favor.” He then stares at the paper, “I’m going to give them a call, see if there is some way of at least saving our tanks.” A week has passed, while it felt normal to any normal student, for those in the tankery club, were waiting for an update about the future of their tanks. Soon it was Friday again, and all of the crewmates are in the hanger bay again, working on their tank, whether it being engine checks, cleaning, or just resting on it. Dragón looked out from the top of his tank and smiled to himself. “You nervous Captain?” One of his crewmates asked from outside the tank. He looked over to him, “Lechuza, always observant as ever. Yes, I am, but someone has to keep our hopes up. Even if we are told to turn in our tanks.” Lechuza hums as he looks over to the rest of the tanks. Before he could respond, the sound of a jeep catches the attention of everyone and immediately all of them line up in three rows of eight even though they are 23 of them. The instructor approaches them and calls them at ease. “I have some good news and bad news.” All of them stared at him, waiting for him to continue. “I guess I’ll start with the bad news first, the tanks will be sold to the other states since all the other cities have already sold all of their tanks.” All of the crew members mouths were agape. Them murmurs started. “Sold to other states.” “All the other cities already did it.” “Are we the only team left that hasn’t sold their tanks yet?” Clearing his throat, the instructor continues, “Yes, a shocker to see that everyone else already sold their tanks. Now for the good news.” Everyone leaned in closer, anticipating with much hope. “After talking with the director and calling a couple favors, I managed to keep all of our tanks with us.” Cheers erupted as some of the guys started high fiving and hugging each other. All except Dragón and Lechuza, who noticed that the instructor was not in a cheerful mood but in one of nervousness. With one breath, he yelled out, “ATTENTION!!!” That stopped everyone as they noticed that the instructor was not happy like them. Dragón stepped forward, “Mr. Montes, what’s the catch? They won’t just let us keep the tanks like that.” With a sigh, Mr. Montes replies back with something that will change their lives for the remainder of their high school years. “You all better start knowing how to speak and write Japanese.”

“Dragón. Dragón.” A voice woke Dragón up as he annoyingly looks over and sees that Coyote was the one waking him up. “What do you want. I want to sleep you know.” He said with a hint of annoyance. Coyote pointed at the window. “We’re almost here. I’m going to start waking up everyone else.” With that, he started waking everyone else, much to their annoyance. With a chuckle, Dragón gets up and stretches as the sound of his team slowly start getting up. Remembering what happened five months ago and why they are going to Japan, he pulls a folded letter from his pocket and quietly reads it. “Dear San Fernando United Tankery Team, we have decided to let you keep your tanks. But in exchange, you must win a tournament. 1st place on your first try. But not here in Mexico since the tournament already is at its second round. We are transferring you and your team, minus your instructor, to Ooarai Girls Academy. Why there, it’s because they are starting their tankery team up from scratch and they need experienced members. You have quite the reputation with El Dragón as the captain. So, win it, and we’ll continue to fund your schools tankery. Who knows, maybe people will get interested when seeing you live fighting your way to the top, showing that Mexico has one of the best tankery leaders. If you refuse, your tanks and the students that operate them will be transferred to other schools. I know what decision you’ll make. The Ministry of Education and Tankery.” He gritted his teeth a bit before he calmed down. “Focus Salazar, you got this. All you have to do is to rely on a new team led by all girls, trusting them to fight alongside you and win the whole thing on your first try. All the while all of Mexico will be watching. No pressure.” Dragón stated to no one in particular. A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t worry Dragón.” Coyote said to his right. “We’ll win it for sure.” Lechuza said to his left. A hand slapped his back, pushing him forward. “You have us, the best team in Tamaulipas.” One more person said as he walked in front of Dragón with a smirk on his face. “Alacrán, you always know how to come at the best time.” Coyote said as he pulls out his phone. “Come on guys, let’s take a picture to remember this day. The day we start our redemption.” As everyone poses, Dragón thinks about what might happen, but shakes it off as he smiles for the picture. One thing is for certain, the road to victory will be one hell of a war.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Mutual Trust

“There’re late.” A girl with a monocle says as she looks at her phone for the tenth time, before looking back at the school. “Calm down Momo-chan,” Another girl says behind her, “they’ll be here soon.” “How can you be sure of that Yuzu, the president told us that she got us reinforcements in the form of transfer students and that they were supposed to arrive today. Before our exhibition match against St. Gloriana, no later.” Momo said, her eyes turning back towards the sea. “And they will.” Another voice responds. Turning, Momo and Yuzu find that Anzu is walking towards them, a bag of dried sweet potatoes in one hand. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll take the match today for sure. To show our new recruits that we can win this tournament.” “We have to win at all cost.” Momo says. “For the future of our school.” Yuzu ends it with. “We have Nishizumi, we should be fine.” Anzu says as she walks back towards the school, Momo and Yuzu following. “By the way president,” catching the presidents’ attention, “how did you manage to get transfers. With their own tanks, nonetheless?” Momo asks, walking next to Anzu. She chuckles a bit before taking a bite out of a sweet potato strip. “Let’s just say that mutual understanding was in place. The rest, a secret.”

Back to the Tamaulipas team, it was time wasting as they had to go through customs and all their belongings had to be checked; from their clothes to even their instruments. Luckily, their tanks have already arrived here and are all lined up in a small field next to the airport of Ooarai. By the time they finished, the sun was already above them, signifying that it was midday. “Hey Lechuza, where are we supposed to meet them again?” Coyote asked him as he took out his phone and snapped a selfie of himself. Lechuza rolled his eyes and looked at the email that Mr. Montes sent him. “From the looks of it, we are to send out tanks to Loading Bay 7 so that they could transport it to the ship and as for us, we head to the bleachers in the outskirts of the town.” That confused Dragón, who then looked at Lechuza. “What do you mean ship, I thought that the school was here in the town. Why do we need to go on a ship if we just arrived here?” Lechuza just shrugged, “I don’t know, but let’s just do it. It should be explained to us soon.” With a grown, Dragón ordered his team to transport the tanks to the designated dock which was next to an aircraft carrier, one that they have never seen before. “Look at the size of that ship.” A member of a crew said as he whistled. “Did you see the one next to it, it’s even bigger than this one. And I think that I saw girls wearing school uniforms on the ship.” Another guy said, which caused all of the team to look up and sure enough, there were girls wearing a white with green school uniform. “ATTENTION!!!” Dragón got their attention. “Now’s not the time to stare at girls. We have to drop this off and find the bleachers. Is that understood.” “Yes, Captain!!!” everyone said in unison, catching the attention of the dock workers who were surprised to see foreign males wearing a foreign uniform with tanks, but decided not to continue with the matter and continue working.

After dropping it off and getting directions from one of the female dock workers, the Tamaulipas Team made their way towards the bleachers where they see a giant screen being displayed with Japanese text all over it, making some of them confused as to what is happening. As they all began to take their seats together, Dragón, who was the most educated with the language was able to read the text, although barely. He then points to the flag that had a teapot on it. “Team, the flag with the teapot is not the school we are with, it’s the other one, the blue cross one.” As they decide to look at the screen that had their ally in, they were shocked by what they were seeing. “P-p-p-pink?” “Gold?” “Red with flags?” As the team was looking at the monstrosities that was the tanks that they’ll be with side by side, Dragón had one thing to say. “We’re doomed.”

For the next hour or so, the Tamaulipas Team saw what they had to put up with; from early barrages that almost resulted in the Panzer IV tank being hit, the M3 crew deserting their tank, the StuG III being hit due to those stupid flags giving away their position, the Panzer 38(t) missing a point-blank shot, (that actually hurt to watch), to seeing that despite everything the Panzer IV almost got win but came up short. All in all, the Tamaulipas Team was not impressed, not one bit. As the crowd was beginning to disperse, the team all looked at Dragón who had a neutral look on his face. Alacrán slightly pushed his captain, to see if that will get a response and it did. Dragón looked at the team and said in a monotone voice, “Team, take notes on what you saw. Because we will not repeat whatever that was. Ever. Again.” “Yes Captain.” They all said. He nodded, “Good. Now let’s go and meet our host school and let them know what we thought of it.” With that, everyone got up and began exiting the bleachers, with Dragón up front.

After looking for the school, they something that caught their attention; eight girls wearing a skintight pink suit with goofy eyeballs doing some kind of dance on top of a truck. As the truck passed by, some of the guys were whistling at them, which caused some of the girls to blush heavily and look away. After that, whatever that was, Dragón and the team decide to walk back towards the carrier where they see the girls that were dancing, now in their white and green uniform talking amongst each other. He decided to ask them if they know who they are supposed to meet up with.

Meanwhile; Miho, Mako, Saori, Hana and Yukari are chatting about their new friend in St. Gloriana when something caught the eye of Hana. “Incoming.” She says and all of them turn around to see about 23 or so foreign males wearing white collared shirts and grey slack all just standing there. Suddenly, one of them steps forward and is walking towards them. Immediately, Saori and Yukari are in front of Miho as she takes a good look at the person who is approaching them. He looks to be about her age, with rough black hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. What caught her attention was a pin that was on his shirt. It looked like a square pin that had word that almost read captain. Before she could say anything, Hana speaks first, “Who are you? What do you want?” This caused Dragón to stop on his tracks and stare at now hostile girls. Gulping, he tries to find the fight words to translate to before he responds. Finding the right ones, he speaks, “Do not worry. I mean no harm. I am Jose Salazar and I am captain of tank team behind me.” He gestures to the team behind him, who wave at them, causing the girls to hesitantly wave back. “Captain?” Yukari asks, to which he nods. She then turns to Miho and asks, “Know any of this?” Miho shakes her head.

“Ah, you arrived already. And I see that you are getting acquainted with the commander.” A voice interrupts them. They all turn and see that Anzu, Momo, and Yuzu are walking towards them. Dragón looks at the short red-haired girl and then towards the other two. “Are you Anzu?” The short redhead smiles and offers him something that looked like a dried potato. “I am good.” He declines the treat and continues speaking in broken Japanese, “so you are Ooarai Academy?” “Yup. And I assume you are the transfers.” He nods. “Good, good. Let’s go, we set sail in thirty minutes.” With that, Anzu and the others turn around and head towards the ship. Dragón looks puzzled and slightly annoyed that they don’t at least speak a bit of Spanish so that they could at least try to set up relations with them. “This girl, who does she think she is?” he says in frustration. “Do not worry,” A female voice said, catching his attention. He turns and sees that it was the girl with short brown hair that spoke in slightly broken Spanish. “She is president of students of school. Come on, ship will leave soon” She says with a soft smile. Dragón blinks, not being able to speak but just nods as the other girls look at the girl with amazement. Meanwhile with the guys, they saw that their captain was speechless after the girl in the back spoke Spanish, so they were chatting about what they never saw before; the great Dragón, speechless by a girl. Alacrán led the conversation, “Well, well, well. Looks like even our great captain can feel love. Finally.” A couple chuckles came from the group. “20 Pesos that they’ll be together.” Alacrán proclaimed, pulling out the currency. “30 that he will ask her out.” As others began placing bets, the girls had a somewhat similar conversation. “I didn’t know you could speak Spanish Nishizumi-domo?” Yukari said with wonder. Miho chuckled, “It’s a language that caught my interest that isn’t English or German.” “Still, look at Salazar. He hasn’t moved from that spot.” Saori said, as all of them looked at him, as he was still frozen in place, still facing Miho. Hana giggled slightly, “I think you broke him.” Miho chuckled nervously as they began walking towards the ship. Soon, the guys help out their fearless captain towards the ship as it gets ready to set sail.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Before two schools meet

After warning his crew to never speak of this again or suffer consequences, Dragón makes his way toward the top of the ship, and is once again without words as all his team reach the top and are amazed on what they see; a town, a town on a ship. It’s something that they have never seen before. They’ve heard of it from articles but since it was mainly of other languages, they didn’t bother digging much deeper. And yet here they are, probably the first in their country to set foot and live on a floating town. They looked around and see small mountains and even a small river. “This is the town of Ooarai.” “This is where the school is?” “This is where we will be living?” “We’re going to be in the ocean?” His crew were just not expecting to be a part of this, including him. They were expecting to be put in a dorm on the island, not be on a literal ship. After that experience, they were led by some staff who were awaiting them towards where they would be living, which was an apartment complex right next to the school. After thanking the staff, they Tamaulipas team went to their perspective rooms and after setting down their stuff, went to bed after a long day.

Since they arrived on the weekend, they had a day to set up their stuff and to visit the hanger where their tanks should be. But since the time schedule was different than back in Mexico, their sleep schedule was a bit out off, so the majority of the morning and early afternoon was spent sleeping. After waking up and realizing that most of their day was wasted sleeping, they hurryingly got their rooms together by putting away their clothes, toiletries, their plans and their instruments. After finishing their rooms in record time, they decide to first look at their tanks before they get something to eat.

The walk to the school garage was a bit difficult since the gates were closed and locked but after sneaking to the back and jumping the walls, they made their way to the garages. After opening several of them and finding the Ooarai schools off colored tanks before closing them, they went to the last hanger that wasn’t opened yet and opened it. Inside was what they were look for; the last 5 tanks of the Tamaulipas team, all in a V formation, ready to charge. They guys soon entered and closed it as to not raise suspicion, they made their way towards their respective tanks to inspect it for any damages that could be present. After finding nothing wrong with any of them, they decide to leave the hanger and get something to eat. After climbing the wall for a second time and regrouping, they first check how much they have with them to spend and convert it to the Yen. After checking online and seeing that what they have is decent enough to have but to not spend crazy on, they decide to find some cheap places to eat, luckily the convenience store had a cheap section that had good food for the team to enjoy for the last day of the weekend before they officially start school tomorrow.

The next day, they were awoken by the multiple alarms that they all had and got ready. After putting on a male version of the Ooarai uniform, which was a white with green button up shirt with green slacks, they all made roll call before heading out to the school. After passing a girl with a tablet who was marking attendance, they entered and were heading to their perspective classes. Due to them not only being foreign but also a male, Dragón felt on edge since all the girls were looking at them, either out of curiosity or annoyance. As he entered the class he was assigned to, he looked at the door and hoped that some of his tank crew was here but alas, two commanders from the other tanks were with him. “Dragón, thank God that you’re here with us. I don’t know if I can handle the stares that we are getting.” One of the guys, who’s a tanned guy with brown hair, said. “Relax Raul, you’re being a bit to overdramatic.” The other guy, who looks just like Raul, said. “Well sorry Saul, I would rather be in a tank than surrounded by girls that are speaking Japanese.” The two then started bickering, gaining the attention of the rest of the girls. Looking around and seeing that the two are causing a scene, Dragón sighs before he gets up and grabs each of them by the nose, hard. “Ow, ow, ow. Why?” Both of them said as I led them to two desks next to mine and sat them both down, before he released their noses. Sighing, he says, “Can’t you two act like captains? You’re embarrassing me, and this is barely the first day.” Raul and Saul look down with guilt before they take out a Japanese translation book and start to read from it. Satisfied, Dragón sits back down and takes out his own book and reads it and the day went on from there.

The day continued with little complications, except that the stare were still present, and soon all 23 guys were at the garage afterschool, at attention, waiting for the student council president to introduce them to the Ooarai team. “Hmm, I don’t like it.” Dragón said as he was in front of his men, who have been waiting for an hour at the garage and yet no one has arrived yet. “Where are they?” Raul said as he was starting to fidget a bit. “Oh, calm down. You worried that you’ll miss dinner.” Saul jokingly said, which prompted a glare from Raul. “Enough you two.” Dragón said, which stopped both of them, “Since they are not here yet, we’ll do a maintenance run on our tanks. That means doing a lap around the field with them. No ammo.” He finished, which followed by a salute and everyone made their way towards the garage that had their tanks. “Let’s also add some music to the fun.” He said, which prompted cheers from the group.

Meanwhile with the girls, Miho and the others teams were walking towards the garage after a quick meeting with the student council to repaint the tanks, come up with a strategy, and to meet the new members of the team. As they were walking, Yukari approached Miho. “Do you think they’ll be nice?” She asked, to which Miho shrugged. “I’m not sure. Anzu wouldn’t say much, just that they are a good, responsible team.” Hana then added, “They seemed alright, though the guy from yesterday, the leader, seemed a bit stiff.” Saori giggled, “That’s probably because Miho caught his eye.” “EH?!” Miho blushed a bit before pouting. “That’s not funny.” They all laughed. “Humor aside, I wonder what they are doing? Since they weren’t aware of the meeting, they all must have gone straight to the garage.” Hana asked, which got them thinking about what the foreign boys are doing. Soon, the sound of marching music filled the air, foreign music. Caesar looked ahead and cocked her head. “What is that music. Must be a distraction so that we don’t know what they are planning.” Saemonza added, “No, it must be music commemorating a great leader from where they’re from.” Rommel shook her head, “No, it must be something that keeps their spirits up while they’re not at home.” “THAT’S IT!!!” The rest of the team responded, prompting everyone else to laugh. All except Momo. “I don’t care. I’m going over there and shutting their little party.” With that, she started walking a bit faster, which caused everyone else to chase after her. When they reached the garage, the girls were shocked see a choreographed practice that had 5 guys playing the bugle and 5 more playing the snare drums.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: The Tanks of Tamaulipas

Before Momo can confront the conductor, the tanks started rolling out of the garage and lines up side by side in front of the girls. “OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THESE TANKS!!!!” Yukari screamed, causing all the girls to look at the tanks in question. “What do you mean?” One of the girls from the M3 Lee asked, “They look like normal tanks.” Yukari turned her head in shock. “No, they are most certainly not, they are tanks that are rarer than some of our own.” She points to the one at the far right. “That one is a Mk III Valentine, a British infantry tank that initially saw use in the North Africa, European, and Pacific Campaign. They were normally used in huge numbers due to their speed and could pack a punch with their 40 mm cannon.” She then points to the tank next to it, “That one looks like a Heuschrecke 10, a prototype self-propelled German howitzer tank that never saw combat production so I’m wondering how they got one.” Miho looked at Yukari with curiosity, “How do you know it’s the Heuschrecke?” To which Yukari responded, “Because of the gantry that is mounted on the sides of it.” One of the girls from the Type 89 tank asked, “Gantry? What’s that?” Before Yukari can respond, the Heuschrecke’s gantry suddenly sprang to life as it slowly lifted the turret itself before moving slowly towards the back of the tank itself, hiding behind the tanks. The tank in question slowly moved forward, showing the girls that the tank was carrying the turret on a small trailer. The turret opened up, revealing a shirtless guy appear from it, clearly not noticing the girls that were in front of it. “Hey Carlos, the thing is…” He stopped when he discovered that he is in front of a lot of girls. Slowly, he got back in the turret and closed the hatch, the tank itself driving off with the turret wobbling behind it.

Still blushing after that ordeal, Yukari pointed at the next tank, “That one is…” her eyes went wide, “I don’t believe it?!” All of the girls look at her in confusion. “What is it Yukari?” Miho asks, before Yukari runs up and is running around the tank in question. “It’s a Pz.Sfl. II. Only two of them were ever made, and they were only prototypes. They were sent to the Afrika Corps where supposable both were destroyed!!!” That got Erwin’s attention as she stepped forward and inspected it. “She is correct, never thought I would see it again.” Yukari then points to the tank next to it. “And that’s a SU-100Y tank destroyer. Actually, most of these tanks are tank destroyers, besides the Valentine and the AC3 Thunderbolt.” She then continues to inspect each tank that were still there. Some of the crewmates popped their heads out of the tank and are staring in confusion as they see a girl running around their tank with a huge smile on their face. “What is she doing?” One of them asks. “She’s just looking at our tank. We can’t advance forward. Radio this in.” The other man says, and they both disappear inside the tank. The other girls are looking in confusion as Yukari continues to run around the tank.

After receiving radio update from the tanks that they can’t advance due to a girl blocking their way, Dragón makes his way towards the tanks to try to get the girls out of their practice. When he reaches the tanks and before he could say anything, a fluffy brown-haired girl is in front of him with stars in her eyes. “Where did you find these tanks?!” She is saying, all while waiting for him to answer. Blinking, he looks past her and sees that the other girls are just standing there, not doing anything to stop her, either by confusion or shock. “What do you mean?” He says, trying to speak calmly. “The tanks were already at our school when I joined. My teams handles these.” He then points to the AC3 Thunderbolt, “That is my tank. Flag tank.”

“Not anymore.” Momo says as she makes her way towards Dragón, Miho following after her. “Momo, calm down.” Miho tries to say, but is cut off by Momo. “You are with us so you are not the commander anymore. Nishizumi is.” Dragón narrows his eyes as he sidesteps away from Yukari and is face to face with Momo. “I am Dragón, captain of the San Fernando United Tankery Team. I have led my men to victory and defeats. What I saw days ago was a mess. Do you want me to get my notes and read them all to you?” He says with authority, which makes Momo and Miho take a step back. “Your team does not have trust in each other. How long have you been a team?” “We just started the club.” Anzu says as she walks towards the two. A tick appears from Dragón. “You barely started?! And you have the guts to tell me to step down.” Momo retorts, “Yes, I do. You are the transfers, so follow our lead and we will win the tournament.” Dragón hisses. Meanwhile, all the other teams, both male and female, are watching this happen, unsure of what to do. Coyote goes towards Dragón and tries to drag him away. “Calm down Dragón, you need to calm down.” Coyote says as he is slowly dragging him away from Momo. This pissed her off. “I’m not done yet. Tell your friend to save it for when this conversation is through and when you apoligize to me.” This irks both of them, but they press on. Anzu shakes her head in disappointment. “Now you’ve done it Momo. You’ve angered our help.” Momo looks back at Anzu in anger. “Why? They think they could do whatever they want and they have the audacity to criticize our team.” Miho finally yells. “LOOK WHAT THEY SAW DAYS AGO!!!” That got everyone’s attention, even Dragón. “We lost to St. Gloriana. We were uncoordinated until the end, scared and everything in between because that was our first match. We need all the help we can get. If not, we already lost.” Nobody said a word. Until Anzu slapped Miho in the back with a smile on her face. “That’s what I like to hear from the Commander.” She then points at Dragón, “You’re Vice Commander now.” She then turned to everyone else. “Now then, lets remove the paint and return it to their original colors.” With a smile, Anzu walked to the garages with the others, not before turning to Dragón and the others. “I need to speak to you about something. Alone.” With that, they girls entered into the garage, leaving the boys outside with their tanks. Dragón looked at the garage before looking at his team. “Wrap it up for the day. Do homework, learn more Japanese. Is that understood.” “Yes Captain.” And with that, they tanks were being returned to the garage and everyone was wrapping up for the day, leaving Dragón with one last thing to do.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Build Up

“How are you liking Ooarai?” Anzu says as she takes a bite of her favorite snack. Dragón, sitting on a chair facing the president, thinks hard on what to say. “Do you want the truth or a lie?” He finally says. This makes Anzu stop eating. “The truth.” With a nod, he begins; “Overall, not too bad. School is alright, though it is hard due to language barrier. Room is fine, food is fine. Fine.” He then points at the 5 Ooarai tanks, “Needs improvement. Match when we arrived was not good. More practice is needed. Timing, pressure, strategy, trust. Especially trust.” He finishes. Anzu looks at the sweet potato and back at him. “Do you know much about our history.” She asks him. He shakes his head, “No. When asking instructor, he did not give information on your school.” This makes Anzu return to her usual self. “That’s fine. Practice tomorrow after school, then tournament drawing at the end of the week.” With that, she left, leaving him alone.

As he was walking towards the gates, he sees the brown-haired girl, Miho, standing next to the gates. When she sees him, she quickly walks towards him, making him freeze in place. “Salazar, glad I found you.” Blinking, Dragón tries to say something but can’t. “Hello, Nishizumi. What can I do for you?” He say in Japanese, to which she bows her head. This confuses Dragón. “Why are you bowing?” He says, a little panicked. “I’m sorry about the student council’s actions.” She says, still bowing towards him. “I get it. I get it, pick your head back up. I’m also sorry as well.” To this she picks her head up. Dragón gulps as he tries to find the right words to say. “Do you want to talk somewhere, so that we are not in the gates of the school.” Lightly blushing, Miho accepts and leads him somewhere where they talk about apology and ways to improve their team as a whole.

Days pass and the training is a bit more intense for the girls’ side as they have to try to keep up with the coordination of the Mexican team. Although none of the girls like it, they want to prove them wrong and try their hardest to surpass them. Meanwhile, the guys are doing their normal routine, but also adding extra stuff to put in the table since they will be representing Mexico. Drum and Bugle practices, marches and flag folding are added to make them more presentable since they will be representing the country of Mexico. Though Ooarai got new tankery uniform, the boys are keeping their team uniform but with an image of a certain animal will be pinned to their side. The new team animals in the Ooarai team is; Jaguar, Iguana, Boar, Paca, and Armadillo. Practice was improved a lot. Between the teaching of Chōno and Dragón, improvement has shown in practice rounds but trust has become somewhat of a plateau between Momo and Dragón, though it is usually straightened out by Anzu and Miho.

“Listen up everybody!!” Anzu calls out to everyone on the debrief one day. All eyes point to her, to which she smiles and continues. “We are set to go to the tournament drawing tomorrow to see who we are facing in the first round.” To that, everybody nodded before they were let go for the day. As the girls were leaving, Dragón called up the guys to give them a debrief of their own. “Attention!!” He called and everyone stood in attention. “We are about to make history. We will be the first team in Mexico’s history to compete in the Japanese tankery tournament. We have trained for this. Let us do our country proud. FOR MEXICO!!!” “FOR MEXICO!!!” They all cried out in unison. With a nod, he dismissed everyone and they all dispersed to put away their equipment. As Dragón was walking towards his tank, he stopped and looked to left towards a couple of boxes. “You can come out now.” A gasp was heard before Miho stepped out of her hiding spot. “Guess I gave myself away.” She says as she nervously walked towards him. “Why are you following me?” He asks calmly as to not sound hostile. She sighs, “I just want to know you better. To build up more trust with each other.” This gets his attention. “Why, trust is earned and actions speak louder than words. I need to see that you will contribute to the fight so that what you say aren’t just words. I hope you understand.” With that, he walks away towards the guys to meet up with them, leaving Miho behind with much to think about.

During that night, Miho decided to call Yukari to help her research a bit about Salazar’s Team. Once Yukari arrived, the search was a bit faster due to her interest of tanks and knowing the name of the school. Once they searched up San Fernando United Tankery Team, some articles came up from the past year. One about their defeat on the second round of the Mexican Tournament, one on the state itself closing down their tankery, and one on their first round. Curious, Miho and Yukari began reading the defeat on the second round; on how it was two schools, Salazar’s and another schools, that worked side by side, how their scout was left alone at an ambush even though reports showed that it was flanked by two tanks, and how half of the tanks malfunctioned in the final charge signaling the end of the match. “That doesn’t add up.” Yukari says, as she reads the article again. “That sound like betrayal by the other team that worked with them.” Miho nodded her head, “Yeah it does.” She then reads the final sentence, “In conclusion, we don’t know why this happened, the famous Dragón and his team lost a shot at the championship despite an impressive record.” Yukari cocks her head to the side, “Dragón, like the creature dragon? Who’s that?” Miho thinks for a second before looking at the article again. “It’s probably Salazar since dragon is like a powerful leader, and who is the leader of the team.” Miho chuckles a bit in embarrassment. She then reads the final article about his state closing down tankery. “Yukari, check this out.” She begins reading, “Due to lack of interest and the loss of the second round, the state of Tamaulipas is shutting down its tankery program. Many towns were for this move and have sold their tanks, while others refused and tried to save it.” Miho then looks at Yukari, who finishes reading it. “So that’s why they’re here. To try to restore tankery in their state.” Yukari also points out, “That’s why he was so hostile and cold to us. He thinks we’re going to betray them again like the school that was with them.” Miho then looks at the forced smile that Salazar made in the second-round loss, and then looked at Yukari. “Let’s show then that we can do it. That we can be a capable school and a capable team. To save his school.” And with that, Yukari returned home to rest as they have to get ready for the tournament drawing that will start this. Miho hopes that they will succeed as far as they can.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Tournament

“Welcome everyone, to the 63^rd Annual Tankery Tournament. I hope this year will be spectacular. The lots will be casted shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the meal.” And with that, the banquet began. Many schools were attending, but they all had one thing in common; they were all staring at the Ooarai section of the hall. Though some had looks of surprise and acceptance like Chi-Ha-Tan and St. Gloriana, others weren’t so happy that males were a part of the tournament. Dragón looked over at the Ooarai table, where he sees that some of his team were warming up to some of the girls, which made him relieved a bit. He didn’t want the whole team to be separated like a certain school that he is seeing on one side of the room, bickering over something while a blond girl was eating a cake. He looked over and stops when he sees a girl who looks like Miho and a light blond haired girl glare at him with such ferocity that he could have dies right then and there. “What’s their problem?” He thought as their gaze was at him, so he stared back at them. Before anything else, the announcer speaks. “Alright folks, it’s that time, time to cast your lots. Will Yogurt Girls Academy come over to begin it.”

As each academy was called, Miho looked over at the other teams; Darjeeling is looking at them with an accepting smile as she sips her tea, while she looks over at Pravda and sees that the reigning champions are frowning a bit as the commander looks at them with slight annoyance. She tries not to look over to a certain school but can feel their stares at her. She looks over and sees that Salazar is looking at their direction with a glare. Before she could say anything, the announcer speaks. “Next up, Ooarai Academy. Will the Commander and Vice-Commander step up and cast their pick.” With a deep breath, Miho and Dragón got up and makes their way towards the stage. Before Miho can take a lot, they were stopped by the announcer. “What’s this? Males entering the competition. How new. Isn’t that right everyone.” She said, which got half of the room to clap. “Now then, pick your lot.” And with that, Miho placed her hand in and pulled out a number. “Well then, looks like our first match is Ooarai vs Saunders to begin the tournament.”

After more small talks and the presentation concluding, all the school went their separate ways. For the Ooarai team, Miho’s tank team invites Dragón tank team for some food at a restaurant to which they accept. After giving orders to his men to take care of the other girls of the team, Dragón and his team followed Miho and her team to a tank themed restaurant. After chatter and getting to know one another, Dragón excuses himself to the restroom. As soon as he is done and makes his way towards the table, he is blocked by two girls wearing black with maroon uniforms. He realizes that the one who looks like Miho is one of the girls that is blocking his path. “Excuse me, can I pass through.” He says before the other girls’ snaps. “No, you won’t. Leave. Now.” This angers Dragón. “Why. I’m not bothering anyone. You’re blocking my path.” The light blond girl was about to retort back before the Miho looking girls raised her hand. “Erika, enough.” That stopped Erika. “Of course, Commander.” The girl in front of him was still glaring at him. “Can I help with something?” He asks. She responds, “My name is Nishizumi Maho, Commander of Kuromorimine Girls Academy. And Miho’s older sister.” She emphasizes the last part. Suddenly it clicks for Dragón as to why she looks like Miho. “My name is Jose Salazar, Vice-Commander of Ooarai, Captain of the Tamaulipas United Tankery Team.” He finished, his gaze staring back at Maho, who hasn’t moved a bit. Both of them stared at each other for a while, neither letting up their position. “Salazar, you’re taking a bit too long to…” Alacrán began as he made his way towards him but stops when he sees Maho and Erika in front of him. “Excuse me girls, what business do you have with Dragón?” “Dragón? Who is that?” Maho asks. Before she could say anything else, Miho notices and walks over to them. “Salazar, is everything…. big sister.” Miho begins but stops when she sees Maho and Erika. Erika smirks, “Hey there Vice-Commander. Oh wait, former vice commander. I thought you weren’t doing tankery anymore after that humiliating performance last year.” This got Dragón’s interest. “What does she mean by last year Miho?” He said, which got the attention of all three; one by defeat, one by smugness, and one by clear anger. “Oh, you don’t know what happened in last year’s tournament.” She then pointed at Miho, “Ask her then.” Maho continued to stare at Dragón before grabbing him from the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to him, causing everyone to react quickly. “Don’t try anything funny with my sister or I will end you.” She whispers coldly before pushing him back. “Erika, we’re leaving.” And with that, she departs. After choice words between Erika and Mako, the dinner continues as usual but tension was still there, especially for Dragón, as question kept him distracted. What happened in last year’s tankery match?

After the team went their perspective ways, Dragón took some time to search up last year’s tankery and found a clip of the final match between Kuromorimine and Pravda and what he saw made him really upset. What Miho did was noble and he would have done the same in her situation but Erika tells it like if what she did was dishonorable. He’ll prove them, he’ll show them that trust in your team and not on power alone is how you win. As he was putting away his laptop to go to bed, he got a message from Miho, asking is he could see her right now. Looking at his roommates and seeing that they are asleep, he changes and leaves the room. He goes to a bench a ways away from the apartment and sees that Miho is there, sitting down, looking at the ocean. “It sure is a nice view out here, not used to it, though. Mainly see deserts and mountains.” He said, which got her attention. “How is it like? Where you’re from. The other teams?” At her question, he scowled. “Matches are good, fun even. But after what happened in my last match. Let’s just say made me who I am today. I care for my team, all of them. If they are in trouble, I help.” He says, sitting down next to her. “Is that so?” She says, to which he replies, “Yes. Though the team is a couple of hard-asses, excuse my language but it’s true.” To that she giggles a bit, “They are a part of the family. No one strives to be the best. We get out there to have fun, to make memories. To live.” At that, she looked at him. “I assume you saw what happened last year.” She said with her head down. To that, he nodded. “What you did was honorable. You cared for the safety of the team, not the match. But they’re treating it as if it was something dishonorable.” She looks at him with tears in her eyes. “But I costed the school their tenth consecutive win. I ruined the Nishizumi Style. How can I lead this team on the tournament if I can’t trust…?” She stops when something touches her head. She opens her eyes to see that Dragón was petting her head. Blushes soon sprout from both of them as he stops. “Don’t beat yourself up. You didn’t do anything wrong. You acted on instinct. You’re you.” He emphasizes it by pointing at her. “You will do your best for us. Don’t worry, I’ll be there besides you, to guide you along the way.” A moment passes before she gets up and bows. “Thank you for cheering me up, Salazar. I appreciate it.” He nods his head. “You’re welcome.” He then gets up from the bench. “So, let’s get some rest. We have a tournament to look forward to.” She nods, and they leave the bench.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Ooarai vs. Saunders

The day arrived. The first match of the tournament and expectations were high. At the sidelines, Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe are sitting at their spot drinking tea. “Darjeeling.” Orange Pekoe asks, “Why are you interested with Ooarai? If you don’t mind me asking?” Darjeeling sips her tea and smiles, ‘It is our ignorance of things that causes all our admiration and chiefly excites our passions.’ Orange Pekoe tilts her head and thinks for a bit. “That was Edmund Burke. So, you want to see if Ooarai has improved from their match against us?” Darjeeling takes another sip. “That is correct Pekoe. And from what we saw at the drawing, they have some new faces in their teams.” Orange Pekoe nods. “Males doing tankery. Foreign ones at that. But I thought that tankery was females only?” Darjeeling looks over at the fields, “Exactly why that quote summarizes this match. Something new to the table.”

Meanwhile, with the Ooarai team, preparations are underway as they got their tanks in mint condition with checks on fuel and ammunition. While Dragón and the guys were doing last minute maintenance stuff, one of the guys came over to Dragón. He salutes. “Captain. Someone is requesting your presence.” Dragón nods and the guy left to his tank. After leaving and going to behind the garage, he is shocked to see that one of the representatives of the Tamaulipas Board of Education and Tankery was here. He then salutes. “Captain Jose Salazar. Vice-Commander of Ooarai.” He says in an official voice. The representative just waves his hands. “At ease, nothing bad is going to happen. I just want to let you know that this match will be broadcasted in Tamaulipas and, if you win, to the rest of Mexico as highlights. So put on a show.” He says before he turns around and leaves. Dragón gets out of parade rest and shouts. “Don’t worry, we’ll show them the Mexican spirit.” With that, he runs back to the garage and calls his guys over. “What’s wrong, captain?” Lechuza asks. “Yeah.” Raul says. “It’s rare to call us right before the match.” Saul says. Dragón lets them chatter before he clears his throat, grabbing their attention. “Listen up, someone from the Tamaulipas Board came up and told me that this match will be broadcasted in Mexico.” That got their attention. “So, let’s put up a show. Get the bugles and drums in the tanks. And get a flag. Let’s show them some tradition.” Cheers were heard as expectations were high now.

Soon, the leaders of Saunders and Ooarai are face to face in front of the crowd as cameras from both Japanese and Mexican broadcast teams focus on the two schools. Miho and the other girls are looking at the guys since they have the Mexican flag with them. “Now then,” began the announcer, “the first round of the 63^rd National Tankery Tournament will begin with Saunders Girls Academy versus Ooarai Joint Academy. Before the match will commence, a small presentation from the Tamaulipas United Tankery Team.” All attention turned to the guys, as they got their flag-bearer in position around six members. “MARK TIME, MARK!!” Dragón yelled, and the group began mark timing. “FORWARD, MARCH!!” Soon, they began marching forward to the Saunders team, with Kay and the others looking at them with surprise. “READY, HALT!!” And they halted a few feet in front of them. “PRESENT. FLAG!!” The two guys in front split up, letting the flag bearer march forward, the Mexican Flag never touching the ground. He then stopped in front of Kai and presented the flag to her. Kai nervously took the flag and said a quick thank you. Dragón stepped forward. “The country of Mexico would like to extend a token of gratitude with our flag. Take it as a sign of Unity between our two countries.” He says, before he repeats the message in Japanese. With that, the crowd started clapping at this, even the cameramen started clapping as well. Kai smiled and her, Alisa, and Naomi bowed their heads in unison. Miho and the student council looked in surprise by the presentation, but bowed their heads nonetheless. After the guys returned to their spots, the announcer announced the beginning of the match. “Panzer Vor.” “Adelante.” And with that, the match begun.

Soon, all positions have been called and all tanks are where they should be by radio, and Dragón and his team were situated on a small hill west of the map. He then goes on top of the tank and takes out his binoculars and checks his surroundings. Coyote is looking through his scope and sees nothing in his range. Soon, the four commanders from the other tanks radio him on a different frequency. “Any word from the girls, captain?” One of them asks. “It’s too quiet, do you think that the enemy is waiting it out also?” Another asks. Dragón picks up the radio and responds. “Don’t worry, everything should be fine. In the meantime, do a small inventory check and make sure the turrets are working properly.” “Understood.” They all said in unison before the radio becomes full of cries and panics from the girls on the other frequency. That got the attention from Dragón as he got everyone in battle mode just as their spot got bombarded by three Sherman Tanks. “Lechuza!!” He shouts to his gunner, “Show them what we can do.” Lechuza nods, “Yes Captain.” Before he goes back to his scope and fires. The round hits the treads of a Sherman, immobilizing it. Dragón grabs the radio and calls for Miho. “Commander, your orders. We’re getting hit also but they’re getting dealt with as we speak.” During this, the Heuschrecke 10 and the Pz.Sfl. II knocked out the two other Shermans. “We got the second and third tanks, captain.” One of the commanders says. The first Sherman with the broken treads gets hit by Dragón’s tank, the AC3 Thunderbolt. “All three tanks down, captain.” Lechuza finishes as an empty shell pops out of the turret. Dragón nods and radios it in. After receiving orders to remain there but provide reconnaissance to see where the other enemy tanks are, he sends the Valentine tank as a scout to locate the enemy or the flag tank. The cries and panics are still present, which is confusing Dragón. How do they know where they are as soon as they move? “Captain!!” He hears Raul call from outside. He comes out of the hatch and see that Raul is pointing at something high up from the trees. With the binoculars, he looks and sees that it is a balloon of some kind with wires around it. Realizing what it was, he yells out that the enemy has hacked their radio, prompting the other tanks to stop using the radio.

He tells them to wait for orders as he then pulls out him phone and calls Miho. After a few rings, she picks up. “Salazar? Why are you calling me? Now’s not the time for-” He soon interrupts her, “Miho. They are tapping into our radio with a balloon, look at the sky. Call me back when you acknowledge it.” He then hangs up. Trusting him, she opens up the hatch and looks at the sky past the trees and sure enough, a balloon is spotted dangling overhead. She goes back into the tank and calls Hana over. “Who was that on the phone?” She asks. Miho then whispers what she has learned from Salazar. Once letting Saori know, they formulate a plan to do counterintelligence.

Soon, coordinates were radioed in, and tanks were moving out. For Dragón, his team were to stay there and try to locate and lead the flag tank to a trap. All he did was wait for his Paca team to locate the flag tank. His phone rang, and he answered it. “Captain, we found the flag tank.” Someone on the line said. Dragón smiled, “Were you seen?” “No, we got out from a distance and sneaked towards it, here are the coordinates for it.” After receiving coordinates, he orders the team to return to the tank and go and help the Duck team, who were doing scout duty. “EVERYONE!!” He yelled, getting the commanders attention, “Get the Drum and Bugles ready, and set the turrets to these coordinates. We got a show to put on. Time to show them what we’re really made of.”

“You want to what?” Miho asks Dragón as her team is in formation with Turtle Team. She sighs. “Ok, fine. I’m going to ask you for your tactics next time.” She then hangs up the phone. “Saori, send this message to everyone.”

Meanwhile, in Alisa’s Tank. “Come on. Come on.” She said as she was moving the frequency around. “Where are you.” “bzzzz, bzzzz- tanks, set course to marker 330, all tanks will cover the 38(t). Iguana and his teams will provide cover fire from marker 325. Ready. GO!!” Alisa grins, “Found you.” She then radios Kai. “Go to marker 325. Their flag team is will be going there.” “Understood. How do you know that’s where they are? You’re not doing something you’re not supposed to, are you?” She grins, “Of course not. This will be a home run.” “Understood. Kay, out.” And with that, Alisa grins as she takes her time as she sets the radio to speaker volume, waiting for the panicked voices of the Ooarai team. Maybe, even the yells of men.

A while later, “Alisa, do you copy? There’s no one here. Anywhere. Not even tracks. Are you certain that this is where you wanted us to go?” Kai’s slight annoyed tone resonated through the headphones, making Alisa nervous. “No, that should be the-” She stopped when she hears something from the speakers. The other girls in her tank all look at the speakers. “Is that drums?” One of them says as the drums start picking up in tempo. Until it stops for a moment, the picks back up but this time with what sounds like bugles. “What’s going on, Alisa? Why am I hearing music in the background?” Kai’s voice can be heard from the headphones but Alisa just stares at the speaker. She then slowly made her way out of the tank and checked all around her to see if she could see where this was coming from.

Meanwhile, five members were playing the drums and five more were playing the bugles as if it was for the President of Mexico, all with Dragón conducting with one hand as he looks on to the forest. Lechuza runs towards him, “Captain, a girl from the flag tank is outside on top, we have to wait before we can bombard.” Dragón nods, “Notify me immediately as soon as she goes back in.” “Alright.” And with that, Lechuza goes back to his phone, where he is in contact with the Paca team. With Ooarai, Miho and the others are listening to the tune that was being broadcasted through the radio. “It does have a nice melody to it.” Hana says. “So, this is what foreign men can play.” Saori says as she sways from side to side. “It sounds like a lullaby.” Mako says as she is slowly drifting to sleep, before being shaken awake by Saori. Yukari and Miho both didn’t say anything but both have different opinions to the song. For Yukari, she feels like she has heard it before, but can’t put her finger to were. For Miho, she thinks she know what it is and if it is, she knows what happens when the song ends. “Saori, send a message to all tanks. Tell them to advance, now.” Saori goes out of her state of mind and pulls out her phone.

Alisa, after seeing nobody around the tank, returns back inside of the tank. Unknowingly giving the Mexican team the green light to begin their next plan. The music is still playing, but the drums are going faster. Soon the bugles let out a high note before the music ends. Alisa looks at her tankmates. “Is it over-” She began before all hell broke loose.

“FIRE!!!” bang, bang, bang, bang. Four cannons were fired as soon as Dragón gave the call. All of them were hitting at a certain spot where the flag tank is. “FIRE!!!” he yells again as the four tanks fired again, destroying the ground and trees all around the flag tank. “ONE MORE TIME!!!” He yells out as the tanks were quickly reloading the turrets. “AND FIRE!!!” And with that, the four tanks fired one final time, grinning as he sees the balloon drift away. “Let’s go, let’s go.” Dragón yells out as he jumps onto the tank and goes through the hatch and closes it. He then pulls out the radio and speaks into it. “Commander Nishizumi, radio tapping is no longer an issue. You are cleared to use the radio again.” Cheers were heard through the comms. “Acknowledged, Thanks you.” He hears Miho say before he puts the radio up. “Coyote, you know the plan. Take us there.” “With pleasure.” Coyote says before setting the tank to drive and advancing forward, the other three tanks following suite.

Alisa opens the hatch after making sure that the bombardment was over and looks at the devastation around her; craters all around the tank, trees shattered, the cord that held the balloon snapped and is drifting away, and two tanks rushing towards them. She then turns back and sees two of the Ooarai tanks gaining on her as she yells at the driver to get them out of there. Soon, the tank was leaving, just as shells were being fired from the Type 89B and the Valentine as they pursued the fleeing Sherman tank. “Commander, save us!!!!” Alisa cried out on the radio. “Alisa, what’s going on, why are you calling for help.” “I’m being pursued by two tanks after being bombarded. Save me!!!!” “How did they know where you were?” “It must have been because of the balloon.” After getting a handful from Kay, she reported that they will arrive as soon as they can and to stay alive.

Meanwhile, Dragón’s team is making its was at the edge of the forest to regroup with Miho’s group to begin their final assault on the flag tank and to provide protection against any reinforcements. “CAPTAIN, LOOK OUT!!!” He hears in their personal radio and a loud clank is heard next to the tank. Opening the hatch, he peers and sees that the Armadillo team took a hit and where his tank should have been hit. “Incoming fire!!! All tanks, rotate turrets 90 degrees to the left and change formation from a V to a slash so that there is no open space. Understand.” “Yes, Captain.” The other commanders responded as they turned the turrets and changed formation. Dragón then takes the Ooarai radio and calls for Miho. “Commander, my team was sighted by the reinforcements. One tank was hit, but wasn’t enough to take down. We are-” He takes out the map and looks at the surrounding, “- nearing the location where you are setting up the trap. If you can, take out the tank. We’ll take out as much as we-” Whooshing sound can be heard as he quickly goes back inside. “INCOMMING!!!” He yells out as rounds pound on the Tamaulipas team. “Salazar? Salazar? Do you copy? What’s going on?” He could hear Miho cry out. He takes the radio. “Sorry to startle you, we just got hit by a barrage ourselves. But- WE DIDN’T LET THAT STOP US, RIGHT GUYS?” he yells out in the end, earning a couple of cheers from the crew. “We’ll hold them off. Win.” And with that, he finishes his radio call. “Captain!!!” He takes the private radio and answers. “Jaguar, how many are there?” “4 Sherman tanks, led by a Firefly. They spotted us are have their turrets trained on us. But not facing us. Looks like they’re doing the same thing we’re doing.” Dragón thinks for a moment before grinning, “Looks like the girls got rid of some of them, good job. Let’s end it strong, and give the ladies a chance at winning. Afterall, we’re gentlemen.” “You got that right, Captain.” Coyote cheered, followed by Lechuza and Alacrán. He then gives his opinion to his team, who all agreed and got ready. Dragón then got the radio and spoke. “Commander, win this one, we’ll hold them off.” Silence from the other side before he got a response, “Good luck.” He then looks at his team, who look at him expectedly. He then grins and grabs the personal radio. “Tamaulipas. Execute reverse catapult. NOW!!!” He says and the whole group stops.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Round One Conclusion

“Come on, let’s fire at them.” Kay heard over the radio as she led her team that were facing their turrets at the heavy tanks while they did the same. “Naomi, think you can shoot that Thunderbolt?” “I need a window of opportunity. They’re tightly formed up. I need a gap to take it out.” Came a response. Kay pouted, “Hmm, just focus your turret ahead, try to take out the Ooarai flag tank then.” A simple roger came from Naomi and Kay turned her attention back to the heavies. Their shot earlier was blocked by the SU-100Y, who was in front of the Thunderbolt, so she needed a plan, quick. With Alisa being chased by half of Ooarai, they needed a plan. “Come on, Kay. They disrespected Crockett. Let’s have at them.” A western accent cried out as she started laughing. “Aww, what the hell.” She grabs the radio. “All reinforcements, fire for Crockett!!!” and with that, they started firing. The three Sherman began firing at the Ooarai wall of tanks, only getting ricochets in response, but the Ooarai team hasn’t returned fire yet. Naomi fires another round but only slightly misses her target. She prepares for another before she hears her tank getting hit.

“What in the world?!” Kay says as she sees all four enemy tanks stop and go behind them and begin firing. “Evasive maneuvers team, Naomi, get out of the line of -” She could only say before her tank got hit by two round, eliminating her from the match. She looks through the scope and sees that another Sherman was also eliminated, leaving only one other Sherman and the Firefly left to help Alisa. The enemy tanks fly past her before one of them stops and goes in reverse and stops besides her. The hatch opens and the Vice Commander gets out of the tank. He then jumps out of his tank and goes to her tank. He then knocks on it. “You girls, ok?” He asked in a slightly worried tone. Kay then opens the hatch and pops her head out. “All good here, thanks for worrying.” She winks at him. He clears his throat. “Good. I thought our plan might have been a bit too much.” An explosion in the distance got both of their attention. “Saunders flag tank has been knocked out. Winners. Ooarai Academy!!!”

After getting back to the lot, Dragón makes sure that his team are ok before ordering them to return to the garages where they are meeting up with the girls, who are celebrating their victory in the first round. As Dragón makes his way towards the girls, he sees that all three of the Saunders girls were there and the short brown headed girl was bowing in front of Miho. As he approaches, the blond girl walks over to him and hugs him. “That was some match, glad that I got to be the first team to go against you all. Also, thanks for looking out for us.” She says with a smirk. Lechuza and the others could only look on with amusement as they see their leader being hugged by another girl in front of the Commander.

Meanwhile, Miho was feeling a bit jealous seeing Kay hug Salazar like that. Behind her, Saori and the others watch in amusement that Nishizumi is pouting that her crush is being hugged by another girl. She clear her throat, which gets Kay’s attention. The girl in question lets go of him and winks at him. “Good match. Can’t wait to face off again. Then, we’ll show you that Saunders will prevail next time.” And with that, she leaves, Alisa and Naomi following behind. Dragón walks up to Nishizumi to congratulate but notices that she is pouting a bit. “Miho, you ok?” He asks but receives a hmph in return. He then turns towards his team, who were trying not to laugh. “What did I do?” To which several of them started laughing before congratulating him with the victory.

Following the victory, Dragón receives an email from his instructor saying that their victory was broadcasted in Tamaulipas and that it became the talk of the country. The only thing was that some towns criticized them for letting the girls take the final blow and that the team was only a support member. “Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Montez says after Dragón calls him, “The press is using it to raise interest and popularity. Many of the other towns and even the other states liked your flag presentation before the match. That shows that Mexico is honorable despite our difficulties. In a couple of days, a reporter will arrive to do a report on you and the Commander.” He concludes.  Dragón sighs. “Is that really necessary?” “Yes, and since I’m not there, you will be the one that will be interviewed. So good luck.” With that, the call ended. Dragón sighed again. This is not what he wanted to hear. He wasn’t fond of interviews since that event last year, but he has to suck it up and get it over with.

The following days were mostly used as rest days and practice days since the tournament does two-week breaks, with Pravda, St. Gloriana, and Kuromorimine advancing to the next round. Ooarai’s next opponent is Anzio and with their use of fast tankettes, it will be challenging for the heavy tanks to overcome, so they have tried to practice with their aim and fire with their turrets moving as fast as they could. A couple of days later, Dragón receives a call from the reporter stating that he will be arriving at the school in a few hours. Sighing, he looks down at his uniform and does a quick once over and sees that it looks fine enough for the interview. He called his team over and informs them that the reporter was arriving soon, and that they commence maintenance on the tanks and to help the girls with anything. Dragón then informs Anzu about the interview and she gives them the student council office to use as the interview room and he thanks her.

The afternoon arrives and Dragón finds himself with Nishizumi sitting down in the presidents’ office facing the reporter who is sitting in the chair in front of him. “Hello, my name is Luis Antonio Hernandez and I am with La Prensa, thank you for taking some time off for an interview.” He says, shaking both of their hands. “The honor is mine, I didn’t expect La Prensa to bring someone here, I thought maybe someone from Tamaulipas.” Dragón said with a bit of surprise. Luis waved his hand. “You have brought attention with your performance as soon as we received the video from Tamaulipas. Some are rooting for you. So, Mexico City decided to send me to do an interview to get some words from you guys.” “Alright then, let’s start it.” Dragón says as Luis pulls out a recorder and a pen and paper. The Interview goes on for about an hour, talking about subjects like life on a ship, care for the tanks, and of course, the match itself. “Have you had any trouble with being an all-male groups while here?” He asks towards the end. “Not that I know of, everyone was skeptical at first but we showed them how much we can bring and they showed us how much we can trust them and vice versa.” Dragón explains, with Miho also agreeing and giving her account, albeit with her limited speech. Luis continues for a bit more before shutting off the recorder and closes his notepad. “That concludes the official interview, thank you for giving me the time to do this, I know you are getting ready for your next match and I appreciate that you took some time to do this.” He says as he and Dragón shake hands, and then to Miho. “I really appreciate it as well, it’s good to hear that people have taken interest in it as well.” Dragón stops for a moment and takes a deep breath. “Actually, I want to ask you something, if you want to.” “Ok then, what can I do for you?” Luis asks with a confused look. “Are there people that are opposed to us, I can’t assume that all of Tamaulipas is for it. Considering that Tankery was shut down and caused us to be here to try and revive it.” Dragón asks. Luis ponders and sighs. “Yes, there are people opposed to it. It’s normal for it to happen. Everything will have people opposed to it, no matter what it is. I’ve received letters asking me to try to humiliate you and downgrade your mission to be a lost cause.” Miho, who has not said a word but can somewhat understand the conversation, is at a loss for words. Dragón and the guys are trying their hardest to win, to keep their program alive. She’s glad that Ooarai is helping them, it's not like they’re experiencing something similar, she would know about it. Right?

After a couple more minutes of talk, Luis said his goodbye and left, leaving Dragón and Miho in the office by themselves. “Thank you, Miho.” She heard him say. She turned and saw that he was bowed to her, “For everything that you are doing, by helping us achieve our goal, our passion, our dream.” She smiled, “Lift you head up, I’m glad that we’re doing everything in our power to help you guys win. Just don’t expect us to win the tournament right off the bat.” He chuckled, “No I don’t, let’s show the world that we went down swinging.” They both laughed before they stared at each other for a moment, feeling as if the world around them vanished. Before anyone can say anything, the door roared open, revealing Anzu and the others, immediately scaring both of them and causing them to look away from each other in embarrassment. “I’m guessing the interview went well. I already sent the teams home for the day. You too can go as well, enjoy your rest of the day off.” And with that, they both excused themselves and left the office, not daring to look at the other as they said their goodbye at the gate before going their separate ways but their thoughts were the same. “Am I falling for her? / Am I falling for him?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Hot vs. Cold

After a successful match against Anzio, Ooarai Co-ed prepares once again as their next opponent is quite powerful; the current winners of the previous year tankery tournament, Pravda. Dragón overlooks the papers that show the supplies needed to help them with this match. He grimaces as he sees that most of the supplies are related to keeping the tanks engines from freezing due to the cold weather. “Of course, the match will be in the snowy region where Pravda is at an advantage.” He rubs his eyes. None of them have ever had any matches in the snow. Rain yes, but snow? This will be tricky. They can’t practice correctly and they can’t do a practice run before the match so they have to do a bit of research and do what they can to help them. As he continues to look at the papers, he thinks about the girls. Minus Momo, the rest have been nice, thou rarely interaction with them so there is a mutual feeling. The other guys have helped them out and are training with them separately in tactics and maintenance. Word got around that another tank was found and that the hall monitors will be the ones operating it and that another was found but undergoing restoration so it will not participate in this round. He then remembers that Miho’s tank got an extended barrel so now they can fire at a longer distance, which is good news to Dragón. Speaking of Miho, after that interview, both of them have been ignoring the other, only ever interacting in the Anzio match since it was by radio. He them looks out the window and looks at the garage. “I need help, but who do I ask.” He says as he places the papers down. “What’s this? The Great Dragón is needing some help. That’s pretty funny.” A voice calls out from behind him. A tick appears on his face before turning and facing Alacrán, who has a smirk on his face. “Are you done Alacrán?” Dragón said in a strained tone. Said person puts his hands in the air. “Just want to lighten the mood. Maybe I can help.” Dragón narrows his eyes. “Can I trust that you won’t say anything to anyone?” Alacrán nods. “Don’t worry captain, I won’t tell anyone. Now then, what do you need?” Dragón takes a moment before releasing a breath. “I think I’m falling for Miho.”

“…” Silence. Alacrán just stares at him for a while, as he registers what his captain just said. He jokes with Lechuza and the others that Dragón will end up with Miho, but they just play around since the last time Dragón was with someone it ended in disaster and their predicament. He didn’t think that Dragón will ever fall for anyone ever again, much less with a foreign person. They came to try to bring their sport back, cooperate with this school and that’s it. Win and done, case closed. Admittedly, he has seen the other captains and their teams talk to even flirt with the girls, but that’s just it. To be more familiar, a sense of unity. It didn’t end well with Dragón, and he swore that he wouldn’t let it bother him again. And he has. Ever since the match last year, he has rejected several confessions and even ignored any advances that some girls tried to do. Now this happens. Alacrán ponders for a moment before nodding. He deserves this. He has held our team together and has led us this far. This shows that we can get a bit of the old captain back. We just have to make sure that we are there for him if something happens. “I’m quite shocked that you’re feeling this, considering what happened with Yurani-” “Don’t say that name. I don’t want to remember her ever again. As I said, it’s only an assumption. I am not in love with her. Clear?” “Clear.” “Good. Now let’s turn in for the day, I want to worry about this tomorrow.” Dragón says as he puts the papers back in the folder, and both of them leave for the day.

“Good work men, that ends this day’s practice.” Dragón says as he looks over to Miho, who is giving some words of encouragement to the girls as well. He then looks back at the guys. “This match will be in the snowy region, a scenario that we’ve never experienced, so we must be careful at all times. Understand.” “Yes Captain!!!” “Good. One other thing. We will not be bringing the drum and bugles for this match.” Groans can be heard throughout the ranks. “I know, I know. I want to do it, but with the cold weather, I want your mouths to be fine, and not stuck in your bugles, plus the wind will mute the drums. We will still be doing the flag presentation and I heard that they will be playing the national anthems of both countries since it will be live in all of Mexico.” Shocked expressions can be seen throughout the guys. “Does that mean…?” Dragón heard someone say. “Yes. The match will be televised not just in Japan, but all of Mexico. We’ll be on live TV, so let’s show Pravda the Mexican Spirit!!!” Cries and cheers came from the guys, startling the girls as they look on with interest.

Miho looks over to the guys and sees their pumped-up expressions. “Mus be pumped up for tomorrows match against Pravda.” She says as she tries to give the same energy to the girls. “The guys are all fired up. Lest show them that we can also fight as hard as them. Let’s do our best tomorrow. Win or Lose.” The girls cheered as well. “No.” A voice can be heard from the cheers. “We must win.” But the voice was overshadowed by everyone else.

As the Ooarai ship is setting sail for the northern region, Dragón is outside by a bench, taking in the sight of the ocean as he thinks of ways that his heavy tanks can take the snowy region. Can they be aggressive, cautious, normal, what can they be? He starts to shiver as he feels the air getting a bit chilly. “You cold?” He hears a voice call from behind. He turns around and is shocked to see that Anzu is there, alone. Normally she is with Yuzu and Momo, but here she is, alone. “I would be lying if I said no, but I am trying to prepare for the match against Pravda. Do you think that we’ll win?” He says and asks her as she takes a seat next to him. “We have to win. No matter what.” She says as she takes a bite out of her favorite snack. Dragón narrows his eyes. “Why, I know that the letter we received told us that we will get our tankery back if we win but the odds are against us. Even with Miho’s tactics and our firepower. This match will be a tough one. We have powerful tanks to look out for, blizzards and snow that could trap our tanks out there. I don’t know if we can win.” He takes a breath. “It would be nice to win. To show Mexico and the world who we are. But they will understand when we don’t win. That we did our best out there, that we-” “No.” Anzu’s response stopped him. “We must win, not just this match, but the championship as well.” This irritates Dragón. “Why. Why are you so committed to win. I understand the want to win, but something is not right. Tell me why?” He finishes as he gets up and looks at her. Anzu, who is looking at the ground just stays silent. “I.” He hears her speak. “Can’t.” She finishes as she gets up and starts walking away. “Why not? Anzu, why not!?” He yells at her but she doesn’t turn around. He huffs as he turns around and makes his way towards the apartments. One way or the other, this doesn’t satisfy Dragón. Just what is she hiding? Can he trust her now, when she is keeping secrets from not just him, but possibly from Miho as well. He’ll have to find an opportunity to find it, One way or the other.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: Ooarai vs Pravda

“We are back here again. But this time something is different.” Darjeeling says as she takes a sip of her tea. Orange Pekoe looks on as she sees the crowds gathering for this match. She sees some people wearing heavy coats setting up cameras and speakers, and she notices that in the crowd were several people that looked foreign. They were bundled up but waving around a flag of red white and green. “It looks a bit livelier, but I don’t see wat you’re saying.” She responds back as she takes a sip of her own tea. “Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.” Darjeeling says as she too looks around. Orange follows her gaze and sees that Kay and some members of Saunders were present, even Anchovy and some members of Anzio’s team were there as well. “Miyamoto Musashi. I think I see your point. It’s strange to see other teams that were defeated to be here, especially to a Pravda match.” Darjeeling smiles and points to a corner of the bleachers. Pekoe follows and is shocked to see that the head of the Nishizumi Style is present, even more shocking was that Maho Nishizumi was here as well. “She’s here? But why. I thought she would be overseeing the training of Kuromorimine for their match against us.” Orange Pekoe now is confused by this revelation. Before she could say anything else, a voice calls out to them. “DARJ. PEKO. MIND IF WE SIT BESIDES YOU!!” Kay’s voice startled both of them as they both turn and see that her, Anchovy and others were coming their way. “We don’t mind Kay. The more the marrier.” Darjeeling replies as she takes another sip of tea. Soon, Saunders and Anzio is setting up next to St. Gloriana to watch the match between the power of Pravda and the tenacity of Ooarai.

“It’s freezing here, Dragón. Can we go home now?” Lechuza says for the fifth time as they do maintenance checks on the tanks. “No, we have a match to fight.” Dragón says as he sees that all issues are fixed and that the anti-freezing agents were added to prevent the fuel from freezing over and stopping them in their tracks. Things were looking up a bit. A while ago, he received word that La Prensa has set up and ready to start broadcast and the speakers were in place for the ceremony. “They spent so much time and effort for this, let’s not disappoint them.” He says as he turns around and looks at his team. “Listen up.” He grabs their attention. “This will be a tough match. More because of the weather. But remember why we are here. To show them, not just Pravda but to all of Japan and Mexico, that Tamaulipas has tankers who will do the impossible. Win or Lose, do you best. VIVA MEXICO!!!” “VIVA!!!” Cheers erupted as the guys were being pumped up.

Miho and the girls looked on as seeing the guys pumped up got them pumped up as well. Before anything, the sound of a truck coming got their attention. Soon, a truck stopped and two figures exited the vehicle and are walking towards them. “Look, it’s Commander ‘Drifting Snow’ Katyusha and Vice Commander ‘Blizzard’ Nonna. They’re here.” Yukari says as they stop in front of them and inspect the tanks. Katyusha looks at the tanks in display and smirks. “Is this what The Great Katyusha will be facing this round. They don’t look so powerful.” She says as she starts laughing. “Hey Katyusha.” Anzu says as she walks over to her with an outstretched hand. “Let’s have a great match.”

Dragón looks over and sees that Miho and Anzu are talking with two girls that are wearing dark green uniform. “Must be Pravda. Better report for introductions.” He says and begins walking, but not before telling the team to begin settling for the flag ceremony. As he walks over, he sees that Miho freezes up and looks down with a solemn expression, which worries him and he soon paces over. “Mi- ahem, Nishizumi, Anzu, sorry for arriving late. I got everything ready in my part.” He then pretends to notice Katyusha and Nonna. “Oh, sorry for not noticing you both earlier.” He then extends a hand. “Vice-Commander Salazar or Dragón. Pleased to meet the leaders of the current champion team.” Katyusha narrows her eyes. “The feeling would be mutual if it was any normal match. But since it isn’t, I’ll give you all a warning.” She says as she eyes Dragón and his team. “Tankery is an all-girls sport. What you are doing is simply unacceptable. I’ll show you the power of Pravda. Maybe Nishizumi will help us win like last time.” Hearing this caused Miho to start sniffling a bit, irritating the other girls. “That was uncalled for.” Yukari says as her and the others try to comfort Miho. Dragón grits his teeth and points at the both of them. “You’ll regret that. We’ll show you the spirit of Ooarai and Tamaulipas.” And with that, the hostile confrontation is over, for now.

Later, both teams’ commanders and Vice-Commanders are standing in front of each other, with crowds and cameras pointing at them. Dragón sees the signal from a cameraman and clears his throat. “MARK TIME, MARCH!!!” The group that was behind him and the other Ooarai members begin mark time marching. “FORWARD, MARCH!!!” They soon begin marching slowly, the flag waving along with the cold wind. They soon begin getting closer to Katyusha, who is cross armed, a slight glare on her face. “MARK TIME, MARCH!!!” The group then stops and marches in place. “HOLT!!” They stop in place. “PRESENT FLAG!!!” The two in front move to their left/right, leaving the gap open for the center man to begin marching, the flag never once touching the ground. When he is in front of the Pravda team, he stops, tilts the flag and extends it. All the while, the viewing crowd watches with excitement, while the cameramen shows the event live in all of Mexico. Thousands, even millions watching from home or hearing it on the radio.

Soon, Nonna steps forward and accepts the flag. The flag holder bows and backsteps till he is back with the group, which then about face and march back to their original spots. Dragón then steps forward, and clears his throat. “Pravda Girls High School. Take this flag as a token of friendship and unity between two different schools and nations.” He says before he translates it in Spanish. Katyusha steps forward. “Pravda accepts your token. May we have a good match.” Cheers erupt from the crowd as even the cameramen were clapping silently as well. Katyusha and Dragón both nod in acknowledgement as they return back to their spots. Soon the announcer welcomes both teams to the semifinals and wishes both of them a great match. Next, the Japanese National Anthem starts playing and all citizens stand and salute, the Japanese flag displayed at the center of a platform, next to the Mexican Flag. Soon, the Mexican National Anthem plays, Dragón, his team, and the crowds that came from Mexico salute and start singing. Miho looks at him in awe. She never hears the national anthem of other countries but hearing it play, with Dragón and the others singing like if it was a performance showed just how much they love their country. She sees that the others were looking at the guys or the crowd that came along, seeing them wave the flag around or singing as loud and proud as they can despite the weather. When it finishes, the crowd cheers as the announcer wishes us the best before we are let go to return to our tanks to get ready for the round to start.

“So, what’s the plan?” Yukari asks Miho as they reach the tanks. “Well, since Pravda has powerful tanks, our best strategy is to be on the defensive. Try to find a weak spot and take down their numbers while also finding the flag tank.” Miho responds. Dragón nods in agreement. This can help since none of us are used to snowy terrain. “No.” A voice interjects. They turn and see that Momo was the one that spoke. “We should be on the offensive. We’ve made it this far.” Before Dragón can interject, the girls from the other tanks started agreeing with Momo’s idea while the guys, knowing that this was a bad idea, kept silent and let their captain take control of this. “That is a bad idea.” He says, silencing the crowd. “We are not in a position to do an all-out offensive, especially in an environment we are not used to.” Momo glares at him, as he knows that what he says is the truth. “Actually, let’s do it.” Miho says, shocking Dragón, the guys and Yukari. Momo gets a smug face as she tells the other teams to ready up. Before they leave, Dragón goes towards Miho before she enters the tank. “Are you sure, Miho? You know Pravda better than anyone.” She nods, “Yeah, everyone is pumped up for this. We’ll improvise just in case.” He sighs, “Very well. I’ll send out the Valentine for scout recon.” And with that, both leaders entered their tanks and the match officially started.

To say that what he expected from Momo’s plan to backfire was an understatement. It started out well enough, his scout told him that three T-34’s were just up ahead. After alerting Miho, they decided to form a V formation, with the Tamaulipas team in both rears. After taking out the T-34’s, they advanced where they saw more T-34’s and began firing at them. After taking down two of them, the remaining ones began retreating, which prompted them to follow. Dragón, being skeptical, private radioed his recon tank to get some information. He was shocked that ahead of them was a small town where the majority of their forces were, with the flag tank nowhere in sight. He soon grabbed his microphone. “MIHO, MIHO!! Come in.” He spoke loudly on the radio. “What’s going on Salazar?” She says, confusion in her voice. “Tell the forces to stop. I received word that-” He was cut off. “We have them. We won’t stop. Come on girls, lets show his wrong.” “YEAH!!!” Momo’s voice, followed by the other girls sounded on the receiver. That cheer was short-lived, because as soon as they entered the town, all hell broke loose. Surrounded. Shell after shell was fired, blowing one of the cannons of the M3 Lee, and ricocheting off of all the tanks. After getting some hits and knocking out two more tanks, they retreated to a church at the center of town. Overwhelmed, two of Dragón’s tanks, the Pz.Sfl. II and the Heuschrecke 10 were separated and were forced to retreat out of the town, their maneuverability helping them not get knocked out.

After receiving a declaration to surrender with a time limit, Ooarai is now stuck inside of the church while the Pravda forces are outside, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Dragón looks over the teams. Some of his men are helping with the repairs of the M3 Lee turret and the StuG 3 tracks, while some the girls are checking for any other damages. “Why did this happen. I was about to warn them of the ambush but Momo interrupted everything.” Speaking of her, he sees that she is talking to Miho. His nose flared and he immediately walked over to them, his expression and pace getting the attention of everyone. “So.” Dragón said, his arms crossed as he reaches them and glares at Momo, who is also glaring back at him. “So what?” She replies back. His eyes narrow, “Look where your plan ended us at. Surrounded. Our only exit a trap. And with a three-hour time limit. You will no longer give orders for the rest of the tournament.” He finishes before he turns around and leaves Momo and the others there with mouths agape. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!” She yells back, but Dragón doesn’t turn around. He only stops and replies back. “Then give me one of your plans that actually worked. No backfires.” And with that, he continues walking, leaving Momo time to think. Miho ties to calm everyone down. “Come on guys. Let’s not do this. We have to think of a way to get out of this. We’re sitting ducks out here.” “Why not just surrender?” A new voice speaks up. Everyone turns and sees that the captain of the rabbit team spoke up. “Even if we fight back, they have greater firepower and an environmental advantage. We could always try again next year.” She finished speaking. No one said a word, knowing that what she said was true. “You’re right.” Dragón said, shocking everyone. “We need a full proof plan to win, no errors can happen. In our situation, they could immediately wait till the flag tank is seen before firing or trap us and bomb the church, immobilizing us. In any other situation we can win, in this I’m not so sure.” While the other teams are contemplating on what was said, Momo fired back. “NO!!! WE HAVE TO WIN!!!” This irked Dragón. She was the one that got us in this mess. “YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO VOICE YOUR OPINION, MOMO!! Look where it ended us. We. Can. Not. Win.” He finishes. “We have to. No matter what.” This narrowed Dragón’s eyes. “Why?” He whispered. “Why are you so desperate to win. The truth this time. No petty excuse.” Momo stopped and tried to open her mouth but no words came out. “Well?” He said, getting irritated by the minute. “If you don’t tell us why in five seconds, I will march out there and declare surrender.” Gasps were heard throughout the church. Opposition was followed as some of the teams were calling him out for giving up but Dragón gave one response. “Until Momo gives the reason, I’ll do it. 5, 4, 3, 2-” “IF WE DON’T WIN THE TOURNAMENT, THE SCHOOL WILL BE SHUT DOWN!!! THERE, ARE YOU HAPPY!!!” And with that, she ran off.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve: The Fight Rages

Silence. No one said a word as the wind blows throughout the church. The realization hits everyone as what Momo says is confirmed by Anzu and Yuzu, this tournament not only decided on the future of tankery in Tamaulipas for the guys, but for the future of Ooarai Girls Academy itself. As the rest of the girls contemplated on their future with each other, Dragón was fighting with himself on the inside. “She was doing it for the school, pushing us to win to save the school. That’s why they agreed to partner with us.” He said as he looked over to the girls. “They didn’t know because the student council hid the truth. Because I forced it out of them. I broke their trust in me. I have to make it up to them.” “Jose.” A voice called out, forcing him out of his thoughts and looked towards the direction of the voice. He was shocked to see that it was Miho, who looked upset and disappointed. “Now is not the time to fight. And you also don’t do any more decisions without my approval. I’m ordering you to apologize to Momo. When you are done, report to me. Got it?” She said, her team looking at him with neutral expression. He looks down in shame and nods, before walking away.

While Miho sends out scouts to get a picture on what the formation is, Dragón is entering his tank and pulling out the private radio. “Dragón to Toro, Chavo, and Plata, what’s your status, over.” Static was the only thing heard from the speaker. “Dragón to anyone, respond.” Nothing yet. Then, a voice responds. “This is Toro, I’m here with Chavo. His antenna was hit, so he can’t use the radio.” Then, another voice responds. “This is Plata. All good here with the Valentine. We’re at the other side of town so we can see the church entrance. Do we retaliate to get their attention?” “Not yet until I receive orders from Mi-Nishizumi.” He corrects himself before continuing. “Plata, stay where you are and give any update if they move.” He gets a confirmation before he continues. “Toro. You and Chavo try to go to unit 524 and try to hide with branches and enough snow. Also make sure that the tank vents aren’t covered. I don’t want any injuries. Understand.” “Understood!!!” Two voices respond before the radio cuts out.

With that, Dragón stretches before getting out of the tank and making his way back to the girls. On his way, he bumps into Lechuza and Alacrán, who were both laying down next to the tank. “Hey Captain, how’s it going. Everything good?” Lechuza asks. Dragón looks at them. “Am I a good leader?” That set both of them off. They’ve never heard their leader say something like that before. Even in previous games that they’ve lost, Dragón has always encouraged them to try harder, saying that next time they’ll win for sure. “Why do you think that, Captain?” Lechuza says as both guys got up. “You aren’t like this. Something happened. What happened?” Dragón looks at his team members and remembers all the good times he had with them. “I messed up. I don’t know if you heard the confrontation between Momo and I, but it ended with her crying and running away.” His fist clenching hard. “I’m not me anymore. I let pride take control and it prevented me from seeing a way out of our situation. I wanted to get back at Momo for all the things she had done to us.” He punched the tank with one hand, red liquid slowly dripping down from his knuckles. “I’m no longer the Dragón of Tamaulipas, not after what happened.” He started sniffling as tears started falling down.

“No, you’re not.” He heard Lechuza said. “Yeah,” Alacrán added, “you have been leading this team ever since you became captain. You have helped us through the highs and the lows. Trusted all of us, and we have trusted in you.” “You have also made your mistakes.” A new voice calls out. Turning around, Dragón sees that it is Coyote who spoke. “And you have learned from it. What the other schools in Tamaulipas did affect you. Do not let it. Be better.” After hearing all that, Dragón saw that what he became was not him at all. He became the other school that left them out to dry that made them lose the tournament. He gasped and then punched the tank again with his other hand, making that one bleed as well. “How could I have been so blind. I became the thing that I hate.” He said as he looked at his team. “Thank you, guys. For clearing my head. Now, Call the guys over. I have to do something, so I want everyone there.” With a nod, they all scrambled to get ready. Dragón then turned around and made his way towards the Turtle team.

As he made his way towards the team, he saw that several of the other teams were sulking around. Whistling to them, he gestured to follow him, to which most of them did so after seeing his expression and his bloodied hands. Making it to the Turtle team, he sees that Yuzu is consoling Momo, while Anzu is looking at the ground, a bag of dried sweet potatoes next to her. He took a deep breath before clearing his throat, getting their attention. Momo then glares through tears. “What do you …sniff… want? Back for more.” She said as she got up and made her way towards him. She paused when she saw that all the other girls and the guys were here as well. Dragón then bent down on his knees and bowed in front of her, shocking everyone. “I’m sorry.” He said, loud enough that everyone heard it. “I don’t deserve to say those things to you.” He yelled out, his fists clenching hard that the cuts were reopening, making him bleed again, freaking the girls out but he continued. “I have not shown you respect at all, despite that you all are helping us get tankery back. I became what I hate. That’s why I want to relinquish my role as Vice-Commander to you.” Gasps can be heard as he slowly gets up and looks at the Turtle team, who looked surprised. “WAIT!!!” Miho’s voice calls out as she makes her way towards them. “You can’t do this Salazar. Please.” She says with a hint of disappointment. “I want to make amends. I want to show that I truly mean it when I’m sorry.” He said as he looked over to Momo, who looked shocked as well. “No.” Another voice called out. They turned to see that Anzu was the one who spoke. “Doing this was enough for us. You will stay the Vice-Commander.” She then turned to everyone else and bowed. “Everyone. We’re sorry for deceiving you all, we just didn’t want throw this responsibility to you all at the beginning. Please accept our apology.”

For a while, no one said anything. Little by little, the other teams started clapping. They know that the student council had to do this. A huge burden like that, they would’ve been stressed from the beginning, so they understood why. With that, the Ooarai Co-ed was renewed with under a different beat. To win at all cost.

After turning the Pravda girls away after the time was up. The captains were planning the counterattack to break through the defenses. Seeing that Pravda purposefully left a gap open, they decided to attack head on to confuse them. Radioing the tanks outside to their positions and setting the other tanks in formation. Ooarai was ready to strike.

“So, they decided not to take my surrender. Typical. Probably influenced by the men. Nonna, prepare to advance.” “Yes, Katyusha.” The commander and Vice-Commander said as they radioed for the tanks to get ready. They began advancing slowly before a shot rang out, striking a T-34, rendering it out. Soon, the Ooarai tanks came charging out, going towards the main force instead of the gap. “What are they doing?!” Katyusha yelled out as the charge towards them confused Pravda enough to allow the Ooarai team led by the Thunderbolt to punch through and escape. “After them.” She orders. But before they could turn around and pursue them, some of them got hit but not enough to knock them out. Looking around, she spots a Valentine and the Panzer 38(t) firing at them to distract them. “Take care of those tanks, the rest of you follow me.” And with that, the main force separated and advanced, leaving some to take care of the Valentine and 38(t).

“Commander, we got their attention away from you. My scout sent you the coordinates for the flag tank. We’ll handle it from here.” Dragón said as he gets in formation behind the Duck Team, who were the flag tank. “Understood. Hold them off for as long as you can.” Replied Miho and the radio cut out. He looked at his team and nodded. “Come on guys, lets win this thing.” And with that, the race for time began.

Dragón looks out his hatch and sees that the Rabbit and the Mallard tanks are covering the Duck tank while his tank and the SU-100Y are behind them, providing additional armor. He then takes his binoculars and sees that four tanks are gaining on them, one of them being an IS-2. Soon they begin firing. Grimacing, he pulls out his radio. “Toro, Chavo, come in.” He speaks into the mic. “Toro here, captain. What do you need?” It replied. “Where is your position right now?” He asked, as he looked at the map. “We are in Unit 524, on both sides of the clearing like you asked, and concealed by some branches and shrubs.” Dragón looked at his map and sees that they are nearing the spot. “Good, send Chavo a message that both of you will begin driving with us and to take out a tank each. We are forming a wall to protect the flag tank. Is that understood?” “Understood. Relaying message now.” And with that, the radio became silent again. “Dragón.” He heard Lechuza say. “Let’s put on a show.” He turns and sees that Lechuza had snuck something aboard that would have never been used before in battle. Until now. “Lechuza, you sneaky idiot. Yes.” As Lechuza is getting it out, Dragón looks out to the snow. “Come on Miho, I know you can pull a win.”

Nonna is looking through the scope and sees that the AC3 Thunderbolt and SU-100Y are closing in on each other for a bit before separating and then begin turning their turrets towards them. Before she could tell the other three tanks to begin maneuvers, the Thunderbolt fired but instead of a tank round hitting a tank, the projectile exploded into flashes of colors. The SU fires as well and the same thing happened. “Фейерверк?” She said as one of them exploded in front of her, blinding her with sparkles that she had to move away from the scope. Soon, she heard two shots fire and something connecting near her. Going to the turret, she sees that two of the T-34’s have been eliminated and two more Ooarai tanks came from the sides and are completely blocking her shot at the flag tank. “No matter.” She says, “I will give Katyusha her win.” And aims down her scope and begins firing back.

“We got two of them, plus Chavos’ and Toros’ team are here to help us as well.” Alacrán cheered as he loads a round. “Our distraction worked.” “But the match is still not over.” Dragón said as he sees that the last T-34 and the IS-2 began firing at them, to try to break their wall. One round fires past the wall and strikes the Lee, making it stop and making the wall break in two to not hit it. Which gave the IS-2 enough time to fire and strike the Char B1, causing it to flip and be out. “CLOSE THE GAP, NOW!!!” Dragón orders. The wall closes, but not before one more shot was fired, striking the SU-100Y in the engine, killing it and knocking them out. Dragón then grabs the main radio. “Rabbit team, Mallard team, Esqueleto, you ok. I’m sorry for letting a round hit you all.” He said onto the microphone. “WE’RE FINE, VICE-COMMANDER. JUST WIN THE MATCH!!!” “ALL GOOD HERE CAPTAIN, JUST WIN IT.” They all cheered out, making him sigh in relief before picking up the radio again. “Dragón to Nishizumi, come in. how is the progress on the flag tank?” As soon as he said that, a message sounded on the speakers. “PRAVDA FLAG TANK ELIMINATED. VICTORY GOES TO OOARAI.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen:  The Truth

Cheers can be heard from the radio as the tanks came to a stop and started turning to make their way towards the base. Along the way, Dragón saw that Vice-Commander Nonna was outside of her tank and so decided to do the same, as to apologize for the unusual rounds.

Nonna was deep in thought at the conclusion of the match, after seeing the ferocity of the Ooarai team and seeing just how dedicated the team was after she did a silent infiltration and seeing the Vice-Commander break down and submitting to the student council girl, her viewpoint of the men of Ooarai changed than what her Katyusha claims. Despite their unorthodox rounds, she will accept it since they themselves know how to operate in the winter. That, and no one was hurt during the chase.

“Vice-Commander Nonna.” A voice caught her attention. She turned and saw that it was the Vice-Commander of Ooarai, Salazar she thinks his name was. “Greetings, Salazar.” He shakes his head and bows to her, surprising her a bit. “I apologize for the stunt we pulled. We’re just kind of used to pulling stunts to surprise our opponents.” She chuckles for a bit before replying back. “I guess I’ll allow it. Afterall, you were playing at a different battlefield where we reigned supreme due to our understanding of the winter.” He nods, and as he leaves, Nonna looks at the vice-commander and nods. He is one of the good ones, she will tell Katyusha that.

Returning to his team, Dragón looks at his team with a smile. “Look alive men, for the next match is with a school that had previously won nine consecutive times before. Let’s get the tanks in prime shape and dust off the ceremonial uniform. We are in the championship.” And with that, the guys and the girls who were there cheered as the tanks that were knocked out were being transported back to the ship.

Meeting up with Nishizumi who was talking to Katyusha, the latter giving him a glance before nodding in approval, left saying that she will see them for their match against Kuromorimine, began congratulating each other over their upset win over Pravda. Dragón made it a point to walk over to the student council and bow in front of them, which got a slight praise for Momo and Anzu. The battle was not over though, as their tanks need to be repaired and with the tanks that were found but couldn’t be ready for Pravda, all stops had to be in place for the match that will determine if they prevail or not.

Returning to the ship and met with a cheery reception was understandable. They were the underdogs of the tournament, not just in Ooarai but in Mexico also. Although some had high hopes that they could win the tournament, others knew of the ferocity of Kuromorimine due to how they left their previous opponents. The stakes were high and everyone knew it.

Days later, after getting the Type 3 Chi-Nu and the Porsche Tiger in working order and upgrading the 38(t) into a Hetzer hybrid, their numbers are now 13 strong, which though is less than what Kuromorimine had, which was 20. That still didn’t deter the Commander and Vice-Commander as they got them practicing under overwhelming scenarios and improving the reload time and maneuverability. They’re not taking any chances now. After another day of practice and the match coming up in another week, the student council decided to let the mixed team take the weekend off as a way to destress their minds after a week of practice. “You all earned it. After Pravda, we didn’t think we would make it this far, but we’re here. Enjoy your weekend off, but come back Monday prepared for more practice. Dismissed.” After that, the crowd dissipated while the Leopon team decided to stay and do some more maintenance work on their Tiger. For Dragón and his team, they decided to invite the girls for a small party the next day since they had acquired some Mexican foods that were sent to them from Mexico from fans and sponsors. As they’re leaving the garage and making their way towards the gate, the speakers sound off. “Class 2-G Salazar Jose, please report to the principal’s office, I repeat; Class 2-G Salazar Jose, please report to the principal’s office.” A look of confusion swept the faces of the group as Dragón himself was confused. He hasn’t done anything wrong to constitute trouble, besides a couple of late arrivals to school, but the hall monitors reassure him that it doesn’t constitute a visit to the principal’s office. Taking a breath, he turns to the group. “I guess I’m need somewhere else. Go on ahead, get the supplies set. I’ll catch up with whatever happening.” And with that, Dragón made his way towards the principal’s office. He himself has not seen it, but he has talked with the principal several times and by far, the principal is a middle-aged man who prides himself with keeping Ooarai operational. Reaching the entrance, he takes a deep breath before he knocks on the door and waits before he is told to enter. He hears the door open and is soon let in the office with the door closing behind him.

“I wonder what the principal needed from Dragón?” Lechuza said as he is on his bed, resting for a bit. Coyote is listening to some music so he is zoned out for the moment. The one who answered is Alacrán, who was looking at his laptop. “Probably congratulating him on the success the school is receiving.” “I don’t think so.” Lechuza replied back, prompting Alacrán and even Coyote to look at him in confusion. “What makes you say that?” Coyote asked. “Why only him? Why not Nishizumi, or the student council. Why only him?” Lechuza finished, letting the two figure out what he just said. “Yeah, that’s true.” Alacrán finally said. “That sounds suspicious, if you ask me. But we won’t know what it is till Dragón returns back. Next week is our final match before we return back to Mexico.” The reminder that they have to return back after a semester of foreign classes and matches is what they sometimes forget that they’re doing. They’re doing it to save their school and their state from losing tankery. They were given this opportunity and they have done all that they could to stay alive. One more match. That’s all that was needed. The sounds of banging was heard and caught the attention of the guys, who then looked out the window to investigate. They were shocked to see that it was Dragón. And he was punching a trash can while who they assumed was Commander Nishizumi was behind him, apparently trying to comfort him. “Captain’s in trouble!!” Lechuza said. He then points to the other two. “Coyote, tell Plata to get the thing, Dragón needs it urgently.” Coyote nods and runs out of the room. “Alacrán, you’re with me, let’s get our captain before he does something worse.”

5 minutes earlier.

“Why?” Dragón asked to no one as he made his way towards the apartments. All their hard work, all their victories that they had on their plate, the promise that was held. A lie. All for the pride of a couple of hard asses in the state education section. “Damn it all.” He said, “Not like this.” He then turned and punched a wall, feeling a bit of pain from his knuckles that barely recovered from last match. He didn’t care. He started punching the wall again and again. He then started punching the trashcan that was near to him. “DAMN IT ALL!!! WHY DO THAT!!!! WE WERE SO CLOSE!!!!” He yelled out, punching the can with as much force as he can. “Salazar, stop it, please!” He heard a voice cry out but he was too focused in his rage that he barely registered it.

Nishizumi was on her way towards the boy’s apartment to invite Salazar to a café that she wanted to take them. Of course, the girls got her a bit ready and slightly teased her a bit before letting her go. As she was approaching, she heard cries and the sound of metal bending. She hurries over and sees that Salazar was the one crying out. She got more horrified when she saw blood on the nearby wall and on the trash can. “Salazar, stop it, please!” She cried out to him, but he didn’t. Soon, she saw that some of his teammates ran from the apartment and ran to their captain’s aid. At first, he struggled a bit before he was calmed down by his team. They saw her standing there, before beckoning her to follow them, to which Miho did so in a hurry while texting the student council and her friends to come as soon as possible.

“They want you all to return back to Mexico immediately?” Momo said as she couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Dragón could only nod as his hands were being treated after punching a wall and some trash cans. “But why?” Nishizumi asked as she saw how much it affected Salazar to even damage his hands. With a sigh, he looked up to the girls and guys who were waiting for what caused him to go on a rampage. “I was called to the principal’s office because they got a call from my high school tankery coach.” He began, vividly remembering the conversation. “He saw how much we’ve done for Ooarai and the publicity that we were getting. But not everyone liked it.” He paused and seethed in pain as some of the guys held his arm as Yukari was applying alcohol on his left knuckle. After a quick apology from Yukari, he continued. “Apparently some reporters found out the reason why we were here, and given that the director of education and tankery told them a different reason, they immediately got hit with backlash for ending the tankery program despite receiving more funds the year prior.” He finished, his teeth gritting, and not from pain. That shocked the guys and the girls. The guys especially. They were told that budget cuts were the reason that they were shutting down tankery. Now, it was all a lie. “So, what does this have to do you guys?” Yuzu asked as she ate another sweet potato. Dragón sighed before replying, “The reason they want us back home is to have us enter the Mexican Finals as the surprise entry to make it a triple school tank match. That way, they could have the reporters forget about the scandal and instead interview us under their watchful eye instead of another country where they can’t do anything.” He ended with a spiteful snarl.

A scapegoat, that’s what the director of education and tankery of Tamaulipas thought of them. Something that they could use to push any fault that they deserve away from them. “That’s terrible.” Saori said as Dragón ended his story. “And if you don’t do it? What happens?” Mako asked groggily as her question got everyone’s attention. Soon, everyone turned to Dragón, waiting for him to answer the question. With a defeated sigh, he answers the question. “I asked the coach what happens if I refuse.” Silence. “He said that they will get our school shut down and the coach will be fired. Something about a file they had on hand that involved a petition from other schools.” Everyone was shocked to say the least. “They said we had till next Saturday to be back home.” Next Saturday was the Finals match against Kuromorimine.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen: The Trip to Mexico

Reporters started swarming the outside of the building that some would confuse it with celebrities or Fútbol players arriving for a match, but instead they’re waiting outside of Mexico City Airport for the arrival of the captain of the San Fernando United Tankery Team. Soon the doors opened and Dragón stepped out, followed by Miho Nishizumi and Ami Chōno. Flashes soon covered the trio as reporters and photographers bombarded them with cameras and asking them questions. “Everyone!!!” Dragón yelled out, getting their attention. “We’re going to have a meeting at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México conference center for a press talk. All question will be answered. Let everyone know. Thank you.” He finished and then led the girls to a taxi that awaited them. As news spreads that not only is the captain of San Fernando here alone, but that the Commander of Ooarai and a Captain of the JGSDF came along as well, one question was on everyone’s mind. Why did only he come alone and not take his whole team.

Two days earlier.

Anzu returned back with the phone in her hand. “Well, I spoke with Chōno-Sensei about the situation and she said to standby while she gets into contact with the director of the Sensha-Dō Federation to see if anything can be done about it.” That got some people hoping as the guys started their Saturday with a good morale boost as some of them got the stuff ready for the party. Dragón looks at the team ahead of him, laughing and hanging around. He had come to like living here, even though they can’t interact with the locals in Spanish, he had come to call this place home even if it’s temporary. But to leave without competing in the finals just to save the ass of a couple of idiots. That made him flare up again. A hand squeezed his bandaged hand, breaking him out of his rage. He looks up and sees that Nishizumi was the one that held his hand. “Everything will be alright. We have to find a way to win this battle, no matter what.” She said with a smile. That warmed him up a bit. No girl has ever made him feel this way except for “that girl.” “Thank you, Miho, I appreciate it.” Dragón said as he took a sip of water that she handed him. As he drank, he was thinking how they could overcome this mess that the director made for them. He then remembered something his teacher said. Something about a file on them and the plans. His eyes widened as he started chocking on the water, freaking everyone out. He calmed them down as he finished and looked at them with a grin on his face, freaking some of them out. “Uh, Dragón. What’s with the look on your face?” Lechuza asked, a bit scared. “Lechuza.” Dragón says, making Lechuza flinch. “Yes?” “You’re in charge of the training for the next few days.” That confused everyone. “What do you mean by that?” he asked with a hint of confusion. “I have an idea. They want attention away from them by setting us up, then I’ll just make it worse for them.” He finishes as he gets up. “Pablo!!” He yells out. A head pops out of the doorway of the room. “Y-y-yes captain?” He asks nervously. “You’re in charge of our social media. Right?” Dragón asks with sweetness. A gulp can be heard from Pablo. “Y-y-yes I am. I make sure our pages get tweets from us and cool photos. W-w-why?” He asks nervously. “I need you to tweet something when I’m ready. Is that alright?” Meanwhile the guys are getting a bit freaked out. Dragón, although being a leader, never asks for Pablo’s permission, especially for something on social media. What is their leader thinking? “Um, Dragón. What exactly do you want to post.” Coyote asks, his question on everyone’s mind. Dragón turns and looks at everyone. “That I’ll be returning to Mexico.”

Back to the present

The taxi ride was a bit eventful. Their vehicle was surrounded by reporter vehicles and news vans and it had to take a police cruiser to personally take them. “I never expected Mexico to be so, colorful.” Miho said as she looks over the window, seeing the colors that several building were colored. Seeing advertisements in Spanish, from dentists and fútbol to pizza and movies. Having never been outside of Japan, she was filled with curiosity being in the country where Salazar was from. Dragón, seeing her reaction to everything around her, chuckled at her reaction. “At least Chōno is maintaining her composure.” He says, getting a pout from Nishizumi. He chuckles as he sees that Chōno is looking at him with a smirk on his face. His gulps as he can feel his cheeks heat up. Chōno then speaks. “Alright enough flirting you two, let’s get down to business.” That got their attention and both blush hard. The driver smiles as he sees that the Dragón of Tamaulipas is blushing like a teen, but says nothing. “I’m impressed how you handled the crowd, the tweet you posted last night spread like wildfire.” She said as she looks at her phone and looks at her emails. “It’s all thanks to you who was able to get us plane tickets to Mexico City so soon and to help me get the university to acquire one of their auditoriums for this interview.” Dragón said as he then looks at his social media account and see that his tweet went viral. “I just got a text from my teacher saying that he is here in Mexico City and on his way to the campus. Along with the education board of Tamaulipas.” He said, a hint of glee on his voice. He knew this would get them to all come down as soon as possible. Plus, he would get to see his teacher, who he hasn’t seen since before he and the guys departed to Japan.

Arriving and giving the driver a large tip, the three make their way towards the conference center before they get bombarded with reporters. They soon meet up with campus officials who welcome them to their facility and have gotten them security to contain the eventual crowding of fans and reporters. Taking this time for lunch, they decide to go to the cafeteria to see if they could get something before their scheduled time for the interview. Along the way, they run into some university students who take pictures with them and speak with them, though some of them have tried to speak Japanese to Miho and Chōno who appreciated the gesture in kind. As they were eating, they discussed what they were going to say. “You haven’t thought of what you were going to say?!” Miho asks as Dragón just takes another bite out of a taco. He then burps before responding, “It’s the press with fans. I have dealt with them before but I do admit that this is completely different.” He says as he takes a sip of Pepsi. “It is normally about the upcoming match with other states and secrets of my tactics. This is not it. This will be about exposing the board of education of Tamaulipas of their shady business with evidence provided. I also wanted to promote the Kuromorimine match this Saturday.” Miho’s eyes widened. “What?” Dragón said with a smirk. “You think that I’m staying here and leaving you two. I made a promise to Anzu and to you.”

That touched Miho as she sees that Salazar is doing all of this for them. Not long after, they hear a voice call out to them. “JOSE!!” She turn around and see a middle-aged man wearing a cream collared shirt with blue jeans make his way towards them. Salazar immediately stands up and makes his way to the man. He then stops and salutes. “Mr. Montes. Vice-Commander Jose Salazar, reporting.” He says with a clear but loud voice. “So that’s Salazar’s instructor.” Miho says as she sees him conversing with his instructor. By how they’re acting, she could tell that it is working well for them. “Worried about your boyfriend, Miho. What would your mother, or better yet your sister, react to how you’re looking at Salazar.” She heard Chōno say from behind. She turns around quickly with a huge blush on her head and sees that Chōno has a grin on her face holding her phone towards her. Her eyes shrink in terror as the phone is turned and it shows her looking at Salazar with a soft expression. “Delete that, please!!” She softly cried out as she tried to reach for the phone before it was quickly out of reach. “Too slow.” Chōno said as she put her phone away. “Relax, that picture is only for me. I won’t show it to your mother or your sister.”

Soon after, Salazar and his instructor take a seat. “Thank you for chance to speak with both you.” Mr. Montes says with broken Japanese. This touched Miho’s heart that his instructor went out of his way to learn a bit Japanese for them. “That’s alright, we can speak Spanish also, this will be better if all of us understood each other correctly.” Chōno replied, which got Mr. Montes feeling a bit better about the situation. “Now then, what’s this about Salazar’s team leaving us to participate with the Mexican Finals on the same day that we go against Kuromorimine.” Chōno said as she sipped her coffee. Mr. Montes scratched his head a bit before beginning. “The director came to me as soon as the news of him given money to continue tankery and the news that Tamaulipas was disbanding it due to lack of it.” He said as he adjusted himself on his chair. “He accused me of accessing his files and giving it to the reporters. But after I told him that the only reporters that came to him were just following up on the interview Dragón did several weeks ago. Plus, I don’t have the ability to access his computer. I’m not that smart.” He chuckled, getting Miho and Chōno to chuckle as well.

“So, what happened after that?” Dragón asked as he looked at his phone after receiving a text. With a sigh, Mr. Montes continued. “Well, they were getting pressed by the press and that’s when they decided to announce that this lie that was circulating was just an elaborate hoax. A prank that fooled everyone.” Dragón snorted when he heard that. “Bull. They were caught with their pants down and tried to fix it with a joke. Except no one was laughing.” He finished as he showed Miho and Chōno a news article of the joke confession and how no one believed it as they found that almost every school in Tamaulipas that had tankery now don’t because either they don’t like it anymore or that they were told that it was shut down due to budget cuts and showed them the exact memo with the director’s signature. “So that’s why they sent me the memo to tell you about their so called saving grace. You.” He said, pointing to Dragón. “They saw how much attention you guys at Japan were doing. All the stunts, the tricks, even the intimidation tactics that you did with the school that had the American tanks. So that’s why…” He was cut off by Dragón. “That’s why they wanted us to leave Ooarai. And face the other two teams in a triple threat finals match. A match that has never happened before. Might I ask who is the final two teams facing off this Saturday?” Before his teacher could answer, Miho beat him to it. “It says the match is between Sinaloa and Puebla, two states that had history for having the most titles under their belt. A so-called Clash of the Giants.” She said as she put her phone down. Dragón chuckled, “They want us to ruin a good match by making us the surprise entry.” He took another sip of his drink. “We’re good, but not that good to advance. I’ve been captain for only two years and even though I got a reputation, we’ve always lost in the quarterfinals by superior teams in their home territory.”

“Where's the director? I thought he was with you.” Dragón asked, realizing that the coward of the director wasn’t adding on to this conversation. “He went straight for the convention center to prep for the journalist. Even though it won’t start for another half hour.” Mr. Montes said as he pinched his nose. That made Dragón’s eyes twitch as he took a deep breath. “We’re going there, now. I want to have a word with him.” “Agreed.” Chōno said as they all got up and left the table. Before they left the cafeteria, something unexpected happened. “~JOSEEEEEE~” A female voice called out, making Dragón freeze in place. Miho, looking skeptical, turned to see who called Salazar. Making her way towards them was a tan skinned girl wearing a white sleeveless button top with blue jeans. “Jose, aren’t you going to say hi to me.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Fifteen: The Mexican Finale

For a while no one spoke, only the chatter of students walking to and from the cafeteria. All of them unaware of the awkwardness that was happening in that same building. Miho looked at the girl who knew Salazar and who made him freeze up, something she has never seen him do. She could only watch this mystery girl make her way towards them and stop as soon as she was close enough. “Hello Maya.” Mr. Montes said, breaking the silence. “Might I ask what you are doing here in Mexico City and not in school?” he said, causing the girl now called Maya to tense up before clearing her throat. “I am a straight A student. I can miss a couple of days and make it up like that.” She snapped her fingers to clarify it. “Plus, I came to see my boyfriend.”

For a second, Chōno thought that she hears something break in Miho. “Poor girl.” She thought. “The guy that she was interested in was already taken.” She concluded as she looked at the surrounding. Mr. Montes was arguing with Maya while Miho looked dead. She then turned to the man in question and saw that Salazar has yet to respond, but she could clearly see that his fists were clenched. “In anger?” She thought as Salazar started to turn around and face the group.

“No.” A single word spoken silenced Maya and Mr. Montes and made Miho look up from her thoughts. “You are not my girlfriend. You broke up with me a year ago after the Nuevo Leon loss, remember.” Dragón’s tone sounded angry, his fists still clenching. “You made it clear to everyone after you started going out with Gomez, the captain of Nuevo Leon.” Maya waved it off. “That was before, when you lost against him badly. But we have since broken up after he could not provide for me the attention that you gave me. Now look at you.” She said, pointing at Dragón. “You are the talk of Tamaulipas, no, all of Mexico. Almost as much as Sinaloa and Puebla.” She then drew her hands close to her face and did a puppy dog look. “I know you still have feelings for me. It is just under all these Japanese girls that you hang around with.” She then points to Miho. “Especially her.”

She then gets close to Miho, her height slightly taller Miho’s so she looks down at her. “I’m going to say this nice and slow so that you understand what I am going to tell you.” She says, clearly mocking Miho. “Stay. Away. From. Jose. He Is Mine.” She then finishes by flicking Miho’s head, making her flinch. No soon that it happened that Dragón clamped down on Maya’s arm, pulling her away from Miho. “That’s no way of treating your girlfriend.” Maya is saying, yelling loud enough that some students heard the commotion and making their way towards the source. “And that is no way of treating my captain, Maya. Now apologize.” Maya scoffs, “Why should I. She is just trying to steal you away from me, making you forget what we were. The power couple. The Dragón and The Tigre.” She grabs and clings to his arm, her chest squishing his arm and she is trying to drag him away from Miho and the others. “Let them return to Japan and call the others here. I heard you might be participating in the finals this Saturday. I need to look good for the photo shoot that would happen.” She turned around and gave stink eye to Miho, who was on the verge of tears.

Dragón let go of Maya’s grip. “No.” Maya tried to answer back but was cut off. “No. We are not a thing anymore. We will never be a thing anymore. You left me, remember. To go for the guy that beat me. You didn’t stay and comfort me.” He then walked over to Miho. “She did. She made sure my head was clear, that I knew my mistakes, who comforted me when I needed it the most.” Miho looked at him with embarrassment and blushed a bit. Maya was seething at the outcome and stormed off, yelling profanities towards Miho. He then look down towards Miho, a small blush on his face. “Sorry about that, I didn’t expect her to show up and sorry for letting her say that to you.” She shook her head, “That’s ok. You saved me in the end. Thank you.” She then hugged him, and once again he froze. He then looked and saw that several people were giving him nods of approval and some females were taking pictures of them. “This is going to be everywhere.”

After that, and a knowing smirk from Chōno, the four of them made their way towards the auditorium where the interview was going to happen. Getting there from the back entrance, Dragón sees that the board of directors was there, talking amongst one another. “HEY!!!” he yells out, getting their attention. Miho jumps at his outburst, he never yelled like that, not even during practice. “You got something to say to me.” He says, his arms crossed. One of them makes their way towards them and gives a strained smile. “Mr. Salazar, welcome back from your trip. Where is your team? I would have expected you to arrive with your team so that we could get the press in on our plan to make this Saturday’s match a triple threat.” He says, looking around to see if any of the other members of Salazar’s team was here but only found her and their instructors. “And what is your commander doing here, Salazar? Shouldn’t she be getting her team ready for Saturday as well. They have to make new plans now that you’re not going to be there, after all.” The director said with a joking laugh, except no one was laughing. When he say that any of us were laughing, he looked confused. “Am I missing something, I thought your teacher gave you the message we sent him.”

“We did.” Dragón said, cutting the director off. “So I came by to give you my response. No.” The director’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean no? This could be a huge opportunity for us, the school, the-” “For you, you mean.”  Dragón cut him off again. “This only benefits you. Your ‘plan’,” he adds air quotations to emphasize it, “only distracts people from your mistakes and makes us look like the bad guys.” The director looked appalled by the statement. “Now look here-” Dragón cut him off again. “Do you think that the media will spare us because we decided to leave Ooarai before their final match just so that we can fight be ourselves against two of the biggest rivals in all of Mexican Tankery history. Sinaloa and Puebla are leagues above me in any way, shape, or form. They have a long and proud tradition of being the best there is. I can only lead my team to the top 16 before being defeated by a better state. We stand no chance. But instead, they will make us look like crap because we decided to leave Miho and Ooarai to fight against Kuromorimine alone.”

Miho looked at Dragón with awe. She was reminded of how her mother acted toward her when they lost their ten-win streak because of her. She took the criticism, not having the will to talk back against the matriarch of the Nishizumi Style. But here, Dragón is not taking it, he is fighting back with everything he has, not letting them give a good enough excuse. She knew that she got more confident ever since taking the position as Commander, but she still couldn’t think of facing Maho, or her mother when the time comes. Having meet Salazar, it made her more confident, and this cemented it. She had a crush on Salazar. Saori was going to have a fit when she finds out.

After the back-and-forth shouting match between the director and Dragón, a security guard told them that the auditorium was getting full of reporters. Everyone looked and saw that the time was almost here for the interview. With one glare, Dragón finished it off with this. “Mexico will know just how foolish you are. I don’t intend to stay here for long, I got a match to win back in Ooarai.” With that, his group started for the doors. “We’ll fire your instructor if that happens.” One of the board members said in a desperate attempt in gaining the upper hand. Mr. Montes turned and smiled at them. “Then I’ll just quit. I believe Ms. Chōno offered me a position as a foreign instructor and wanted my response. Thank you for deciding for me.” And with that, the board all had their heads down as they followed them towards the awaiting crowd.

“ONE QUESTION AT A TIME!!!” Mr. Montes yelled out since as soon as Dragón and his group sat down, reporters started taking pictures and yelled out questions. Miho couldn’t help but feel scared. Sure, she was used to reporters when she was Vice-Commander, but this was insane. It didn’t help that when she smile and waved at some of them, they started to take pictures of her. She felt her hand being gripped and saw that Dragón held it. She looked and saw him give her a smile. She smiled back and squeezed her hand back. Luckily their hands were out of view of the cameras.

“ENOUGH!!!!” Chōno yelled out, silencing the crowd. “Thank you. Mr. Montes, continue.” Mr. Montes cleared his throat and got the reporters to raise their hands if they wanted their question to be answered. Soon, all hands went up. The interview just started.

“You, Azteca Deportes.” A middle-aged man stood up and asked his question. “Thank you. As one of the leading stories here in Mexico and in Japan, how have you been able to keep us interested in both nations?” Dragón grinned. “Simple. Creativity. I have given a show to watch besides the usual tank v tank combat. Music, art, and couple of fireworks are used to not only distract the enemy, but also get some highlights that I’m sure you’ll are interested in seeing.” He says with a chuckle. The man from Azteca nods and sits down. “Next question.”  More hands went up and more answers were answered and it was till the end that the final questions could be asked. Before Mr. Montes could pick somebody, Chōno called out a young women from the near back. Dragón eyes went wide as he recognized that specific individual and slightly loathed her. “Yes, TvNotas here. My viewers want to know this? Are you and the commander dating?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen: Begin Again?

“Alright, this concludes today’s training. Tomorrow will be a day of rest. For after tomorrow is the finals match with Kuromorimine. Rest up, destress, and get ready. We’ll show the Tankery the might of Ooarai.” Cheers filled the hanger as Miho finished her speech. She looked over to her team and saw that they had smiles on their faces, except Mako who looked like she was going to doze off, as they are ready to go. She looked over to the other teams and saw that they were talking amongst themselves. The rabbit team looked like they were getting ready to watch another military movie to come up with strategies. The hippo team were comparing our finals match with a moment of history and couldn’t find the right one. The anteater and the mallard team were going back to their tanks to do some self-maintenance. Being the newest teams, they had to do a crash course on how to operate and firing. Luckily maintenance wasn’t an issue with the leopon team being the automobile club so they were going to do a full maintenance on all the tanks and even get some help form the guy’s mechanics as well. Speaking of the guys, she turned and saw that they were all huddled up and listening to Salazar. Her cheeks heated up as soon as she saw him. Ever since their return from Mexico, they haven’t been able to look at each other without blushing. Miho silently cursed that gossip reporter from Mexico City for asking that question.

“Take it in, men.” Dragón began. “We have made it to the finals. Our first ever. We normally make it to primary and lose to a better school. But this time, we made it thanks to the cooperation with Ooarai.” Cheers can be heard from the teams as he waited till they silenced before continuing. “Our final match will be against Kuromorimine Academy, a school that used German tanks, powerful ones at that.” Murmurs were shared as some of the commanders had looks of worry amongst one another. “It is easily shown that they have the power and the numbers game. 20 against 13. They outplay us by 7. And their tactic is that they fight hard and fast, their armor protecting them from return fire.” He waited a moment more before looking at his captains, seeing their faces thinking about what they can do. Something caught his eye in the distance, he looked over and saw that Miho was looking at him. His cheeks heated a bit but he coughed to distract himself and concluded this speech. “Remember, tomorrow is a rest day. Take the time to rest up, do final maintenance to your tanks, take the time to look at the map for Saturday. And remember, Mexico will be watching. Our match is at 10 am here. In Mexico, it will be 07 pm on Friday. The time that many will be out of work, relaxing, looking forward to tankery with us and the finals the next day. Let’s get them ready for a war!!!” Cheers came the response from his men. After a salute, they dispersed, doing their own thing. Dragón took a deep breath and talked with his team for a bit, getting conformation about the status of their tank, making sure that their need equipment is loaded for transport, for their tanks are getting ready for transport soon.

Once that was done, he saw that Miho was waiting for him by the gates, her friends already gone ahead. He cleared his throat and remembered what his teammates told him. ‘flashback’ “Ask her out.” Lechuza told him. He looked at his friend with worry. “I don’t know about that. I wanted to keep my feeling in check ever since-” Alacrán cut him off, “Maya, we know. Look, after this, we are done. We return back to Tamaulipas. Our program ends after the match. You only have this one shot of happiness.” Dragón couldn’t believe that his friends were trying to help him ask Miho out. Sure, he likes hanging out with Miho and her friends, but he just can’t get himself to say that to her face. “You have our support.” He heard from behind him. He turns and sees that it was Coyote who said that. “You need something to destress from this. The competition and the entirety of Mexico is putting a bit of stress on your shoulders. We’ll be there for you. All of us. Now stop being such a wuss and ask her out.” He finished as he went over to their tank and started reading. Dragón looked at his friends and smiled. “You’re right. I need this. I just needed a bit of a push. I’ll do it after school.” ‘End of flashback.’

“Hey Miho, are you ok?” he asked, getting her attention. She turns and closes her phone. “Everything is alright. Just got a message from Anzu telling me that she is getting some finishing touches for the uniform.” That got his attention but he shrugged it off. Remembering the promise, he cleared his throat, grabbing her attention. “Hey Miho.” He started, his voice cracking a bit, which caused his face to redden a bit. She just looked at him in confusion. “Yes, Salazar?” She asks but he blurted it out. “Doyouwanttogoonadatewithmelatertoday.” Dragón say rather quickly, his face redder as soon as he finished and then look away in embarrassment. He slowly turned his head just a bit towards her to see her face and he saw that her face was red as well. Gulping loudly, he quickly says, “Uhh, just forget it. I need to go and meet up with-” “WAIT!!” He was turning around and about to run when she loudly told him to stop. He froze and turned around to face her. It feels a Telenovela, silence between them, in the front of the school, our faces red in embarrassment. “Yes.” She softly said. He couldn’t hear what she said. “C-c-come again?” “I’LL GO ON A DATE WITH YOU!!!” She yells out before covering her mouth in embarrassment. He stood there, his mind going blank as he couldn’t find what to say. Both blushing, they left the entrance of the school, a new plan forming on their heads.

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“WELCOME ALL, FROM JAPAN ALL THE WAY TO MEXICO, TO THE 63^RD ANNUAL TANKERY FINALS!!!!!!” Cheers can be heard from the bleachers as both Japanese and Mexican audiences were expressing their excitement for an event that is rare. The bleachers are completely filled and school vehicles are filling the hills overlooking the giant screen that is displaying the birds eye view of the terrain. St. Gloriana, Anzio, Saunders, Pravda, even Jatkosota and Chi-Ha-Tan is there, tents set up, grills being fired up, and all the leaders sitting down watching the screen, discussing what the outcome could be. Normally, all the schools would be separated and amongst themselves but this year something new showed up: the San Fernando United Tankery Team. “I think that Kuromorimine will take the championship.” Katyusha proclaimed as she takes a bite of cake. “I don’t think so, I think that Ooarai will win it all if not barely.” Kai says, taking a bite out of her hamburger. While the other schools are divided in who is winning, Darjeering was quietly sipping her tea and looking at the screen. “There was once a phrase, ‘Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.’” “Winston Churchill.” Orange Pekoe answered. “You think that it’s about who is more devoted between the two schools.” She nodded as she took another sip of tea. “Let’s see what Ooarai has in store for us.” Darjeering finishes as she holds her cup, waiting for more tea.

“Gather around everyone.” Miho calls out, getting everyone’s’ attention. “This is it. The finals match, the one that will determine if we stay open or closed for good.” Murmurs echo in the hanger that they are in as the words sink in. “Do not take it likely but also not seriously.” Dragón called out, getting the others attention. “We will do our best to finish this match, whether it’s by winning by the skin of our teeth or we make sure we go down fighting but know this,” he then stands up on top of a crate, “KUROMORIMINE WILL KNOW WHO WE ARE. THEY WILL UNDERESTIMATE US AND THAT WILL BE THEIR DOWNFALL.” The hanger erupted in cheers as everyone got pumped up by his words. Dragón looked over to the student council and gave a nod to them, before everybody dispersed, making their way to their respective tanks. He looked out to the team and looked down. He knew it was going to be the toughest battle yet. Even with their tricks and strategies, their opponent will show no mercy, that he knew. He researched a little bit on them and knows that they specialize in strict formations, blitz tactics and heavy armored tank. The tanks that he has seen being used is mainly the common heavies such as the Tiger, Panther, even a few Panzers but he noticed a rumor that Kuromorimine had something ordered to them a few weeks ago but that was it. “Dragón, you good?” A voice called out, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned and saw that his crew was waving at him. “The introduction ceremony is about to begin. We need you over there.” Coyote said as he was adjusting the saber. “Right.” Dragón responded as he jumped off the crate and made his way towards his friends. “I know that you’re worried about the match, but know that we will be there with you all the way.”

“IF EVERYONE CAN POINT THEIR ATTENTION TO THE FIELD, WE WILL BE DOING OUR INTRODUCTION OF THE TWO TEAMS. FROM YOUR LEFT SIDE, REPRESENTING KUROMORIMINE IS TANK COMMANDER NISHIZUMI MAHO WITH VICE-COMMANDER ITSUKI ERIKA!!!” Cheers and claps resonated as the two figures made their way to the center of the field where the judges waited, their dark uniform giving an air of authority as they made their way in a military manor, the rest of their tanks and members waited behind at parade rest except for a single member behind them with the flag of Kuromorimine being displayed. They then stopped and gave a blank stare but the judges can feel the tension in the air.

“NOW WELCOME FROM THE RIGHT SIDE, REPRESENTING OOARAI IS COMMANDER NISHIZUMI MIHO AND VICE-COMMANDER JOSE SALAZAR!!!” A loud cheer erupted from the stands as several rows were filled of Mexican citizens who were able to attend the match. Dragón looked on and assumed that back at home, everyone was watching them from their homes, barbeques and large screenings. He focused at the matter at hand as he and Miho made their way towards the center, with Plata as the flag bearer behind them. When they made it to the center, he immediately felt the hatred from both the members of Kuromorimine, especially of their commander. He only stared back as they came and went to parade rest.

“WILL EVERYONE PLEASE STAND AND MAINTAIN A MOMENT OF SILENCE AS THE COLORS AND ANTHEMS OF BOTH NATIONS PLAY. FIRST UP, THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF MEXICO.” As soon as the announcer finished, the anthem started playing and the Mexican flag was proudly being displayed on the screen. Dragón, his team, the citizens and the entirety of Mexico saluted as the anthem was being played, their voices being one as the verses that they knew by heart was being resonated throughout the area. Miho, who was accustomed to the anthem, was awestruck by it. To listen from a video was one thing, but to hear it firsthand was something to behold. She even saw her sister’s stern gaze loosen a bit as she saw the dedication of Salazar through by how he sang his anthem. When it finished, he yelled out. “VIVA MEXICO. VIVA!!!” Cheers erupted as the Mexican crowd chanted as well before quieting down.

“NEXT UP IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF JAPAN!!!” The sound of soft music began and then the anthem started. Dragón, who was used to his fiery anthem, was calmed by the softness of their anthem. Tranquil they sang as he slightly looked at Miho and saw that she was softly singing with her eyes shut. He then looked over to Kuromorimine and saw that even the stern-faced captains were singing, their expression softer. Their loyalty to the country was there. He smiled, knowing that in this moment, they were respecting each other, no disturbances, no hatred, just cooperation. When it finished, they all clapped, no cheering, showing their respect for a soft but full of expression anthem.

“WILL THE FLAGBEARERS OF BOTH TEAMS COME FACE TO FACE TO PRESENT THEIR COLORS!!!” The announcer declared. Soon, both members marched past their commanders and made their way forwards until they were mere feet of each other. “THIS PRESENTING OF COLORS SHOWS THE SPORTMANSHIP THAT BOTH THESE ACADEMIES PRESENT TO ONE ANOTHER. LET IT BE AN ACT OF RESPECT, OF HONOR, AND OF COMMITEMENT.” Both members presented and received their opponents’ flag, bowed and made their way back to their spot.

“NOW THEN, CAPTAINS. RETURN TO YOUR TEAMS AND READY YOUR TANKS. FOR THE FINALS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN AND MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN!!!”

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen: Ooarai vs Kuromorimine Pt. 1

Dragón looked on as he was looking at the map that Miho gave him showing where they would go. The layout of the area was a large forest between the area where they and the opponents will start, followed by a mountain to the west and a ruined city to the east. Their objective would be to secure the high ground and take the mountain, thereby eliminating the tanks one by one. He proposed that the plan should have a plan B and to reach the city where they could finish it off. He knew that with all the firepower they had, plus a few tricks, it wouldn’t be enough to take down all of them. He has seen the tanks that are being used.

“Alright, let’s begin our trek to the mountain. PANZER VOR!!!” and with that, they started carefully. Even though the map shows that both teams will see each other at the clearing, Dragón can’t help but feel tense. He picked up his radio. “Boar, Iguana. Get side-by-side with me. Paca, get behind me. Armadillo, front.” Lechuza looked at him with confusion. “What’s up, man? We haven’t exited the forest yet.” Dragón looked at him with certainty. “They’re inspired by German tactics. What was their uniqueness during the second war?” Lechuza thought for a moment before his eyes widened with terror and put his eyes on the scope, awaiting orders. Dragón then went to the other radio. “Commander. We must advance faster.” He waited for the response. “Say again, we’re almost at the…” She couldn’t finish her sentence as chaos erupted as shells were being fired from all sides.

Blitzkrieg tactics. “THEY CROSSED THE FOREST!!!” He yelled on the radio. Suddenly, the advancement stopped as both sides tried to take the other out. Dragón was trying to regain control to the girls to tell them to advance but to no avail. He couldn’t risk going around the formation without him being exposed and a clear line of fire to the German tanks.

Erika had her sights on the Thunderbolt as soon as she had seen it and ordered her gunner to aim at it. She would take out the vice-commander, the one who opposed her, who is a mockery to the tankery sport in total. “Aim……FIRE!!!!!!!” The gunner fired.

“JEFE LOOK OUT!!!!” Was all Dragón heard as a shot almost hit the Thunderbolt, knocking it out early in the match if it haven’t been for the Pz.Sfl. II moving ahead and taking the brunt of it, knocking it out. “IGUANA!!!” He yelled out as the white flag popped out, signaling an elimination. After seeing the Anteater also fall while defending Miho’s tank, everyone deployed smoke for concealment and advanced forward before giving a cryptic message, confusing the others.

After that ordeal, and several missed calls, they have successfully reached the mountain and dug into the side. “Alright guys, check inventory. We have but a few minutes before the force is in our range. They may be powerful, but they are slower than us.” Nishizumi finished up as the others checked their inventory and checked for any leaks or exposure. She opened the hatch and took a look at her team. Anteater is gone, Anzo took the Turtle and hid for a plan, and the Mexican group was accounted for save for two. The ones called Armadillo and Paca were accounted for as….? “Where’s Paca, the Valentine?” She mumbled. She had heard Iguana being knocked out but not the Valentine.

Dragón looked over to his team and closed his eyes, taking a breath. “They think that they have the advantage. Taking us out one by one. But we won’t go down without the fight. Time for some entertainment.” He opened his eyes and picked up the radio. “Paca, Boar, Jaguar. Let’s give the world a show.”

“Oh dear, they seem to be in a predicament. Kuromorimine is relentless and has a thick defense and a fearless commander.” Pekoe said as she refilled Darjeering cup. “Indeed, but it’s not all black and white.” Darjeering replied back as she took a sip. “Yeah, I highly doubt that Ooarai will stay put. I want to see the fireworks that caught Pravda off guard!!!” Kai exclaimed as she took a swig of her cola. Katyusha puffed her cheeks. “They were lucky that time. But this is the daytime, fireworks won’t be as effective. We’ve seen how Kuromorimine fight. They won’t be fooled by that trick.” She ended with a worry on her voice. Nonna stood by with a slight nod. “Well then, it looks like the boys are prepping for some music.” Darjeering said as everyone looked up and saw that the Mexican team all outside with drums and bugles.

Nishizumi Maho looked stern as the tanks by her started taking distance to form a solid wall of steel as they make their way to the mountain. Even if her sister choose the high ground, Miho should know that they will crush them. Her hands tightened as she thought of Salazar. The Mexican Dragón who took her sister from her. She will end this once and for all and end this resistance. She is a Nishizumi after all, their mother is in the crowd, observing this battle. She cannot fail. “Commander.” A voice cut through her thoughts. Erika called through the radio. She took the radio and spoke through it. “Yes, vice-commander.” Precise, straight to the point. No chit-chat. “Our scope has the enemies dug in on the mountain. Awaiting orders.” Erika reported before standing by to receive orders. Maho took in the surrounding, it looks cut and dry. The tanks are indeed on top of the mountain. “Steady as she goes. When we reach the base, all stop. Prep for advance on my count.” After receiving a confirmation and the word going to all the tanks, She took a breath. “Alright Miho, let’s see what you got.”

Reaching the base, the heavy German tanks all stopped and waited for their commanders’ orders. Maho looked up and saw the Ooarai tanks lined up in their wall of steel and dirt. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of drums. It was faint but naturally grew louder by each second. Her eyes scanned before landing on the Mexican team who were to their left. All of them were outside their tanks, half of them with drums and half with bugles. She remembers the melody. It was played in Ooarai’s match with Saunders and was very effective. The difference was that the boys were on top of their tanks, all of them. Not one of them in the tank itself, readying their guns like Ooarai’s group. Maho narrowed her eyes and radioed the group to hold on as people were outside their tank. She may be a Nishizumi, but even she knows not to fire on defenseless people.

Erika gritted her teeth, her anger flaring. There was their target, in plain view, ready to get struck down by the might of the German tanks but her commander ordered them to stop. She just had to sit there as the boys were playing their drums. The same melody that was the downfall of Saunders. They think they can play a fancy tune and say that they will win. Ha. She then heard the bugle play, followed by the fiddle.

“NO WAY!!!!! HE’S PLAYING CROCKETTS MELODY!!!!” Kay cheered as the rest of Saunders cheered as well. The other commanders looked on as they heard the melody, a complete contrast to the usual that they heard from the Saunders match. “This took an interesting turn.” Pekoe replied, taking a sip of her tea. The others just nodded.

Miho looked starstruck, seeing the boy’s fearlessness as they played the drums, then the bugles, and finally Dragón, her vice-commander, play the fiddle like he was performing to the world. The world felt like it held its breath as the great Dragón of Mexico made all of us stop. She saw the some of the girls opened their hatches to listen, even some of the Kuromorimine tanks that she could barely see opened their hatches to hear it. She looked back and felt something that she never had before; love. Seeing her partner who they met all those months ago, built a friendship, seen the highs and lows, and even saw his vulnerable side. She couldn’t look away.

The silence after was eternal. From the bleachers, many families, instructors, even the cameramen clapped with tears in their eyes. In the students’ side, all the different schools clapped, giving an ovation that could have been photographed. The commanders all were standing, clapping. From Darjeering to Kay, from Katyusha to Nishi and Anchovy, they all were moved by the display and power of music. Across the world, many businesses, cookouts and viewings were clapping, before cheering loud and proud, like they just won the World Cup.

Dragón lowered his fiddle and saw the crowd that it got, to his left, he saw the girls of Ooarai clap before closing their hatches, he saw Miho removing a tear before turning to their rival and saw that some were clapping before they refocused. “It’s amazing what a little harmony can do.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen: Ooarai vs Kuromorimine Pt. 2

“FIRE!!!!!” The mountain and valley erupt with the sound of Ooarai’s tanks firing to the Kuromorimine line, trying to stop their advance. But the might of German steel takes it and retaliates with precision and synchronicity. Dragón looks on as he sees Armadillo take out another Panzer III but the flag tank is guarded by heavy tanks.

“Commander, we need a break-through.” He radioed to Miho, who acknowledged it. He looked back and tried to find an opening but the wall is almost too strong to break through. Even if he sent Armadillo as a spearhead, they’re nowhere close to Miho and there’s a chance that the heavy tanks might get a lucky shot and take out the SU-100Y. As he looked over to the tanks and seeing the girls’ tanks getting hit hard, most of their tanks not powerful enough to challenge the thickness of the enemy tanks, his radio cracks to life. “Dragón, are we late to the party?” The sound of the commander of Paca with a hint of amusement can be heard. Dragón takes the radio and takes a deep breath before responding, “This better be good. We’re pinned to the mountain and we need to break-out.” “Already ahead of it. The girls of the Turtle met up with us and formulated a plan. We’re currently traversing the side of the mountain. Let the commander know to wait for the signal and when it happens, run like hell. Over.” Alacrán looked over to Dragón, having heard the radio call. “Orders?” Dragón, closing his eyes and shaking his head with a smile finally spoke. “You heard him, get ready and load the special package.” With a grin, he radioed the rest of his tanks to load the special packages before alerting Miho of the plan.

Back at the spectator’s area, the head of the Nishizumi family looked with a neutral look. Seeing her daughters against each other was something that she wasn’t expecting but knew it was necessary. Miho’s rebellion needed to end and return to lead Kuromorimine like the Nishizumi that she is. She then looked at the Mexican team. A wild card. A group that not only brought their own tactics but represent a polar opposite of the entirety of tankery. An all-male team. In an all-girl sport. They will be crushed and returned to Mexico with their spirits broken and, from what she read in an article, their team disbanded and dismantled. Her thoughts interrupted when she saw a single trail of dust traversing with such speed riding the edge of the mountain.

Dragón was about to radio an update when he saw the Turtle team appear from the forest and make their way behind the wall. He then heard music blasting and saw that Paca was racing towards up the right of us, riding the mountain like it was riding a wave.

Pretty soon, chaos broke the wall as the Valentine and Hetzer messed up the formation as German tanks tried to take out the small tanks but the nimble and small tanks took advantage of their speed and caused some tanks to get knocked out. “FIRE!!!” Dragón called out as his tanks fired their special package.

If the area wasn’t thrown into chaos, what happened next was insanity. Miho could only be speechless as she saw her former school, a very professional and strict school where they are trained with discipline and order be thrown into chaos as she saw the student council tank and Salazar’s Valentine tank make maneuvers through the wall of steel. Her gaze shifted when she heard him yell fire and see a volley of something that did not look like shells being fired to her sisters’ tank formation. “COVER YOUR EARS QUICKLY!!!!” She heard him scream through the open channel.

Erika looked on with fury as she saw two puny tanks wiz through their formation, causing chaos as some have tried to fire at them but soon being picked off from the tanks on top. Her tank was about to take a shot at the Thunderbolt when she saw what looked like a giant grey German grenade strike hard in the ground. She looked up and saw that it was fired from the boys’ tanks. Remembering their use of special tactics, she realized what it could be and grabbed her radio. “INCOM-”

Her order cut off as the special package ignited, causing the loudest and most colorful firework that anyone has ever seen. The west side of the Kuromorimine wall erupted as fireworks that Dragón team fired created not just small craters but painted almost half the remaining tanks a shade of red, white and green. The girls saw with their ears covered in shock as they saw some tanks painted with three different colors. Miho looked in shock as she saw that even her sister looked shocked in the literal mess the boys did. Regaining her composure, she saw an opening through the wall and ordered a mass break-out while the enemy was distracted. She had to remind herself to scold and punish Salazar for using something so insane.

Erika opened her hatch, ringing still in her ears as she looked out at the carnage that the boys did. Half the tanks, including her own, was painted a splotch of red, white and green. She then looked up and saw the Ooarai team had left, leaving them behind. Her blood boiled and started pounding the hatch, almost making her knuckles blood. “Everyone.” The sound of her commander crackled through the radio, disrupting her rage. She shook her head and took a deep breath before responding. “Yes, Commander?” She responded back, a sense of fear slowly taking a hold as she heard. “Is your hearing and girls, ok?” The slight sound of concern she heard made her clench her jaws. The boys made her commander show fear. Her. Nishizumi Maho, who had won them 9 times in a row and would’ve if it weren’t for the weakness of her sister Miho. She looked at her crew and saw that they were trying to clear their ears but raised their thumbs. “We are ok, Commander. Ready to head out and take retribution to Ooarai for their unorthodox methods.” Erika responded, her anger flaring. The other tanks agreeing behind her. “Prepare to head out. For Kuromorimine.” And with that, the tanks form up and head out.

The Ooarai team, with a huge lead make it to the river, which is the obstacle to the town up ahead. Dragón, seeing the girls link up, decides to do the same before taking a look at the map. He sees two ways to enter the town: their current path which leads to a bridge to enter town and a side path that is under construction. Looking at it, he decides to radio Miho. “Vice-Commander to Commander, do you hear me?” He calls out. “Yes? Anything to report?” She says, a hint of confusion in her tone. “I’m going to pull my men to the other entrance to the city to regroup. The path leads to a bridge and we’re take too much time if we continue. We’ll split up and regroup as fast as we can. It won’t be long before they arrive. Plus, we could lighten the load by taking out some more tanks.” Dragón finishes and waits for her response. He was about to radio for an update until the radio crackles to life. “Go ahead, just be careful. Meet up at the town center.” And with that, the group separates, each one heading their own path.

Dragón’s team successfully arrived to the towns’ construction sight. Unfinished buildings, roads and piles of wood and bricks litter the area. Dragón orders a stop and reallocates his forces. Leading is the Valentine followed by SU-100Y, then his tank the Thunderbolt, and lastly the Grasshopper 10 with its cannon pointed to its backside for protection. Dragón surveys the area and sees a large pavilion area with walls on both sides. “Alright men. We’re going to the pavilion to meet up with the girls. If they destroyed the bridge that they used to cross, then the other school will enter through this area. We have to secure and try to take out as many as we can to lighten the load. Forward.” With that, they advanced. Passing the piles was quite the challenge but was manageable for the team. Dragón looked at the map again. He knew that where they arrived is the only other way into the city but he still notified his men to still be vigilant in case of something.

Something reared its ugly head when a frantic message sparked to his tanks. “ENEMY ALERT!!!! MAUS!!!! SALAZAR, WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!!!! WE ARE BY THE CENTER. IT JUST TOOK OUT THE MALLARDS AND HIPPO!!!!” Gritting his teeth, Dragón grabbed the radio. “Understood, we’ll be on our way. Don’t worry Miho, we’re coming.” And with that, he ordered his men to advance their speed to link up and take care of the Maus. A Maus, a super heavy tank that can take a hit and hit as hard. Most of Miho’s tanks are not made for it and the one that could have was knocked out. He needed to get there fast to either pin it or take it out. He looked out the hatch and saw the pavilion in view. He was getting close. But then he heard something. It sounded like it was getting close. Almost like… his eyes widened. “FULL ST-” His call was cut out as something hit the back of the Valentine, exploded and spun the tank till it stopped and its flag popped out. “PACA!!!!” He called out but the sound of an engine filled the pavilion.

Parked in the other side of the entrance, sided by two Panzer III’s was a tank he had only seen in a book. An impenetrable wall, able to fire a rocket so big that its’ used as a bunker buster but it’s use is now for battle. “Dragón, do you copy. Are you close? We really need help.” Mihos’ calls echoed throughout the tank. Dragón could only look out and feel fear as he raised the radio to his mouth, his confidence waning. “I’m afraid we are also in a situation. We have a…..” He could see his men getting ready for his next order.

“Strumtiger.”