Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Meet the girls.

Japan. Twenty nautical miles South-East off the coast of Mie Prefecture.

The targets were hit by a volley of arrows, some hit their marks whilst others missed by only a few inches. Forty yards away a line of horses galloped across the field at great speed, charging past as their riders, students of Árpád Girls Academy, kept their steeds moving at a quick but steady pace as they notched another arrow and aimed towards the targets, unleashing another volley towards the targets. They knew their steeds very well, having been caring for them ever since they arrived at the school. They knew each horse's strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and limits, and knew not to overtax them unless it was completely necessary.

The school took great pride in their equestrianism, being one of the best equestrian schools in the world. Every student knows how to ride and care for their horses, and these girls were no exception.

They all wore the same uniform, a brownish-green Khaki with black trousers, brownish-green socks, black riding boots, and a brownish-green field cap. Each girl was also carrying a composite recurve bow and a quiver half full of arrows, as well as a cavalry sabre by their hip. Of course, measures had been taken to ensure student safety, the arrows and bows were safe to be used by the students whilst on horseback, and the sabres did not have a sharp edge and were more ceremonial in function.

Mounted archery was not a mandatory subject Árpád taught its students, in fact, it was a club and not part of the main curriculum, one of several horse-related clubs to be exact. But, for students who wanted to join Lovasság, it was something that was mandatory.

Lovasság is the school's elite equestrian team, consisting of the best riders in the entire school. The few students who have masted all aspects of riding and caring for their horses. They are masters of their craft ad are by far the world's best equestrian team, at their school level at least, they are not professional material yet.

Only one member of the group currently ridding across the field was a member of this prestigious group, the girl riding at the front. The rest were first and seconds year students who either joined for fun or wanted to join the ranks of Lovasság.

The group's leader was a slightly tall and well-endowed girl with long blond hair, green eyes, a rather good looking face and tanned skin. Like the other girls, she too had a calvary sabre by her side, but hers was more ornate than the others, custom made for her.

She notched another arrow and aimed towards one of the targets, waiting until she had steadied her aim before she and the other students let their arrows loose. Whilst most of the arrows hit their targets, hers got the closest to the centre.

After the students launched their third arrow they holstered their bows and rode towards the targets in perfect formation, maintaining a steady pace before slowing down as they reached the targets.

The group's leader got off of her horse a few meters away from the targets and walked towards it, one of the other students taking the reins of her horse.

She walked towards her target, noting that all three arrows were close to the centre of the target. Had her horse been standing still, she no doubt would have hit the centre all three times. She looked to the left, towards the rest of the targets, most had about two arrows on them, with only a few being hit three times. Very few of the arrows hit close to the centre.

“Well, I must say, you girls are improving,” the girls said with a smile as she turned towards the rest of the riders “A few misses here and there but most are on target. I know mounted archery isn't easy, especially when on the move. But, practice makes perfect.

“You sure Buda?” one of the first-year students asked, sounding slightly depressed. She was, unfortunately, the only student to hit their target once, her other two arrows were nowhere near the target “I'm still not hitting the target much”.

“Don't be so negative about yourself” the group leader and second-year student, Buda, said with a friendly smile “You'll get the hang of it. As my older sister always tells me, with enough practice, you can master anything,” she said before she addressed the group “The same applies to all of you. Never think you can't do something. Keep trying and someday, you will master it. Now, that's enough archery for today. Gather your arrows and prepare to ride back to the school” she said before she pulled her arrows out of the target.

The rest of the girls dismounted their horses and walked towards their targets, removing the arrows from them before returning to their steeds and mounting them again. Once all the arrows had been collected and everyone was mounted up, the group rode off across the field, back towards the school.

At the other end of the field was their school, which took architecture inspiration from several Hungarian castles such as Visegrád Citadel, Vajdahunyad Castle, and Esztergom Castle & Basilica, and had a large stable off to the side housing all the school's horses, which they had a lot of.

Just like with the targets, the girls slowed down their horses as they approached the stable, slowing down to a gentle trot before they entered the stables.

Inside the stables were a large number of pens, with almost all of them occupied by a horse. There were also several students around as well, caring for the horses and cleaning up their pens.

The students got off of their horses in turn and lead them back into their pens. On the way, one of the students in the stables walked up to Buda “Another successful archery lesson then?” the girl asked as she matched Buda's pace.

The girl was short and very well-endowed, with short brown hair, brown eyes, and had glasses over her eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with a light brown tie, a green pullover over that, a brownish-green skirt, green stockings, and black shoes.

“I would say so,” Buda said with a smile as they walked towards one of the pens “I'm surprised you didn't take part in today's lesson, Eszter”.

“I was busy with some other things” the girl, the first-year student Esztergom (Eszter for short), replied, “One of the clubs wanted some help with their finances, so I checked to see if there were places where they could save money”.

“You seem to be doing that a lot lately,” Buda remarked as she lead her horse into one of the empty pens, passing him over to one of the other students.

“I don't mind, more maths practice for me,” Eszter said “Although I must admit, I am slightly annoyed by how frequently I am asked to help the varies clubs with their finances. It's like most of them can't be bothered to do it themselves”.

“Yeah, that just about sums up most of them. Just don't overwork yourself ok” Buda said as they walked out of the pen “The last thing we need is you to suffer a burnout from working too hard”.

“Don't worry, I make sure to manage my timetable so that I don't overwork myself,” Eszter said calmly “You have no need to worry about me”.

“That good to hear,” Buda said before she put an arm around Eszter “Say, you wouldn't mind going for a coffee?” she asked with a charming smile.

It was then that the school's PA system sounded, a little chime to alert the students of an announcement “Attention, attention. Would all members of the sensha-do team please report to the assembly hall in five minutes. Repeat, would all members of the sensha-do team please report to the assembly hall in five minutes” a female voice announced over the speakers.

“Afraid not, I think Vajda wants a word with us,” Eszter said before she started walking “Come on, let's go see what our leader wants”.

Buda nodded before both of them left the stable and headed towards the school's assembly hall, alongside a few other students. A walk that only took a few minutes. As they made their way towards the hall, they met up with several other students who were making their way there as well. Most were wearing their school uniform, but there were a few wearing their riding uniform.

Whilst both girls were members of Lovasság, they were also members of the school's sensha-do team, high ranking members of it as well. But, neither of them was its leader. That honour belonged to someone else.

The assembly hall was a large room with a stage at one end, with the opposite end having several rows of seats, each row raised up slightly so that the students sitting in them could see over those in front of them.

Whilst the hall could fit every student in the school inside plus extras, there was only a small portion of them present in the room, just over a hundred. All of them were members of Árpád's sensha-do team.

As Buda and Eszter sat down, they noticed someone standing on the stage, standing in front of a wooden podium with a microphone on it.

The girl was of average size for a girl of her age, as well as well-endowed. She had short and rough brown hair with braids going down either side, as well as blue eyes. She looked mostly Asian but had some European features, such as the eyes and the general complexion of her face. She also had a Pocky stick in her mouth, with a packet of the things poking out of one of her pockets. There was also an eyepatch over her left eye. She was wearing the same uniform as Eszter.

“I wonder what Vajda wants to tell us?” Eszter wondered as a few more students filed into the room and sat down.

“Probably something to do with sensha-do” Buda said “She wouldn't have called the entire team if it wasn't”.

Eszter nodded before they waited for the last members of their sensha-do team to arrive and sit down.

The girl standing at the podium, Vajdahunyad, Vajda for short, waited until everyone had sat down, waiting a bit more just in case of any stragglers before she tapped the microphone a few times. Everyone in the room quietened down and focused on her.

“Now, you all may be wondering why I've called you all here,” Vajda said, speaking clearly into the microphone so that her voice could be heard throughout the room “Well, as you all know, we did not participate in the sixty-third national high school sensha-do Tournament. I know a lot of you wanted us to participate, but, considering our school ship had to go in for some emergency repairs after the captain fucked up, we, unfortunately, couldn't participate. And unfortunately, we also won't be taking part in the forty-first Winter Continuous Track Cup later this year” she explained, getting a lot of annoyed groans from the crowd, as well as a few angry shouts “Look, I'm sorry about this but it's out of my hands. I tried my best but the principal, in his infinite wisdom, decided that we should skip this year's official tournaments, quoting our lack of recent training with our tanks and that our ship's new captain is still in training. Now that the bad news is out of the way, here's the goods news. Not only will be taking part in next year's national but also this year's first national high school sensha-do doubles tournament”.

There were a lot of gasps and hushed murmurs. The doubles tournament was something the JSF has been planning for a few years, but it's garnered some controversy over the years as some fear that it would result in some horrendously unfair teams and match-ups, like Kuromorimine teaming up with Pravda going up against Chi-Ha-Tan and Bonple. Or Saunders teaming up with itself due to having three teams. With matches like that you're better off taking out your own tanks to avoid the colossal beat down you are about to receive. Either someone had found a way around those little issues, or they are testing the waters with the first doubles tournament, seeing what works and what doesn't and acting accordingly for future tournaments.

“Now, the doubles isn't the only thing we'll be doing this year. We also have several none tournament matches planned with the other schools as well” Vajda said “Just so we have some practice before the doubles. We haven't fought against another school since our ship went into repairs, after all, so we do need some practice” she said, “Also the rest of the day will be spent practising with our tanks. So, everyone, get into your uniforms and report to the motor pool, sensha-do practice starts in half an hour!”.

The rest of the students glanced at each other before they slowly started to file out of the room. All save for Eszter, Buda, and Vajda. The former two waited for the others to leave before approaching the latter, who had eaten the Pocky stick in her mouth and was in the process of getting a new one out of the packet.

“Vajda” Buda said as she and Eszter walked up to Vajda “I couldn't help but notice you didn't show up for mounted archery practise today”.

Vajda put a Pocky stick into her mouth before looking at Buda “Sorry, but sensha-do stuff kind of takes priority over club activities. I am the team leader after all. I've been busy all day trying to get us as many practice matches as possible before the doubles tournament starts”.

“How many did you organise?” Eszter asked.

“Four” Vajda replied, “The last one being a three vs three”.

“Good, that should give us enough experience against other teams,” Eszter said “I've noticed at least a drop of twenty per cent accuracy in our gunfire this year. Still, a three vs three. Who will we be up against for that one?”.

Vajda smiled “I'll leave that a secret for now,” she said before she turned “Come on, we should get into our uniforms”.

The other two nodded before they walked out of the hall and made their way to the changing room. Whilst their sensha-do uniform was the same as their horse riding uniform, the only difference was a brownish-green skirt replacing the trousers, as well as brownish-green stockings. So Buda did have to change a few parts of her uniform.

After the girls all got changed into their sensha-do, they all made their way towards the school's motor pool, where all their tanks were stored and maintained.

Vajda, Eszter, and Buda were among the first to enter the mortar pool, inside were their school's inventory of tanks. 6 40M Turán's, 4 41M Turán II, 2 43M Turán III, 3 43M Zrínyi's, 2 38M Toldi IIA, 2 Panzer 38(t), and a single 44M Tas heavy tank. There was also a Rába 38M Botond carrying shells for the tanks. But unlike the other vehicle, the truck did not have Árpád Girls Academy's emblem on the side. Instead, it had the emblem of Völgyzár University, a University that Árpád shared its school ship with, without them, their school ship wouldn't be nearly as big as it was.

There was also Carpathian Academy for boys, but they're not important right now.

The three made their way towards the truck whilst the rest of the students approached their tanks. Völgyzár does not have a sensha-do team, as Hungarian ww2 tanks are ineffective at the university level. Instead, they have the Völgyzár sensha-do support team, students from Árpád's sensha-do team who graduated to Völgyzár who help support Árpád's team. One such support role is the transportation of ammo for the tanks.

As they approached the truck, they noticed several girls around it unloading ammo whilst one watched. The girl who was watching was a tall and mature girl with long blond hair, green eyes, slightly pale skin, and had a small scar under her right ear. She looked slightly older than the others. She too was wearing Árpád's sensha-do uniform, the only difference being that it had Völgyzár's emblem on it. She was the leader of the Völgyzár sensha-do support team, Bory, as well as Buda's older sister.

“Hay Bory,” Vajda said as the three walked up to her “Guess you got my message about the training excise, huh”.
The girl turned around towards them “Indeed I did” she said with a smile before turning towards Buda “Sister, I hope your archery practice went well today”.

“It went as well as expected, but there are some who are still struggling,” Buda said “Also Vajda didn't show up”.

“I said I was busy with sensha-do stuff,” Vajda said, turning towards Buda “I can't attend club activities if I'm busy with other stuff”.

“You are falling behind with your Lovasság training!” Vajda said with an annoyed look on her face “If you don't catch up you'll be kicked out of Lovasság”.

“Well maybe you'll-” Vajda shouted before Bory interjected “Lady's please” as she stood in-between the two girls, calming them down “Buda, you may be the leader of Lovasság, but Vajda is the leader of the sensha-do team, so she does have a lot on her plate and can't always attend club activities,” she said before turning to Vajda “Vajda, despite being the leader of the sensha-do team, you are also a member of Lovasság, and you do need to catch up with your training. Besides, you don't have to do everything immediately, pace yourself and ask others to help you out” she explained “Take it from someone who was both the leader of Lovasság and the sensha-do team, I struggled a lot when I was in charge of both groups and was prone to overworking myself. You two have it far easier than I did when I was in Árpád, so don't make excuses to overcomplicate things”.

Bory wasn't lying about being the previous commander of both Lovasság and Árpáds sensha-do team, she lead both but had difficulties with it at times. Hence why, when it came to choosing her successors for both groups when she graduated to Völgyzár, she chose a different person to lead each group. Buda for Lovasság, and Vajda for the sensha-do team. Each of them was good in their respective groups and were close friends, but being the leaders of the two groups sometimes caused them to butt heads. But such incidents tend not to last and are normally resolved quickly and rarely flair up into angry shouting.

“Yes sister,” Buda said with a frown “Sorry about raising my voice”.

“Sorry Bory senpai,” Vajda said with a frown.

“There, now we're making progress,” Bory said with a caring smile “Remember, you two both have important responsibilities, but you need not carry them yourselves. Ask each other for help when you need it. Don't let your positions tear you apart”.

The two girls looked at Bory before looking at each other. It was true that ever since the two got their positions, they had gotten into some arguments with each other, always over the two groups.

“Perhaps I have been a bit hard on you Vajda,” Buda said with a slight smile.

“Yeah, and maybe I was a bit too rushed to get everything sorted out for the training matches,” Vajda said “Perhaps I should ask for help more”.

“Now kiss” Eszter suddenly said, surprising the other three girls who promptly turned to look at her with a mix of confused and shocked looks “What?”.

Vajda sighed “Never change Eszter. Never change,” she said as she shook her head. She then turned towards Bory “So, are the tanks ready to go?”.

“Yes, they are.” Bory said, “Ammo racks are full and the tanks are fuelled up”.

“Hay commander!” one of the other girls shouted across the room “We're ready to go!”.

“Ok! We'll be over in a few moments!” Vajda shouted before turning back to Bory “Well, looks like we've got to go. See you later Bory” she said before the three girls turned and rushed over to the tanks.

“Talk to you later sis!” Buda added.

Bory smiled and waved as they rushed back to their tanks before turning around and returning to directing the rest of the Völgyzár sensha-do support who were present.

The three quickly rushed over to their tanks and climbed up them. For Buda a 41M Turán II, Eszter the 44M Tas heavy tank, and Vajda one of the two 43M Turán III. Whilst Buda and Vajda were the commanders of their tanks, Eszter was both the commander and gunner for her tank.

Vajda quickly climbed into her tank and sat in the commander's seat “Sorry for being late ladies, just needed to discuss a few things with Bory” she said with a smirk as she grabbed a radio headset and put it on.

“Copy that commander,” the tank's radio operator said as she turned the tank three radios. Due to being the command tank, Vajda's Turán III had three radios whilst the rest only had one “Radios are tuned and ready”.

“We are ready to go when ready sir,” the driver of the tank said as their metal steed sputtered into life, its engine growling loudly as its armoured compatriots roared to life.

“Copy that,” Vajda said before she picked up a radio microphone “All tanks, report in” she ordered over the radio. Almost immediately the commanders of the other tanks started to report in with their armour number, which was based on their tanks tonnage, lighter tanks had a lower number whilst the heavier tanks had a higher number.

“Armour twelve standing by” Buda reported over the radio, being the eighth to report in, followed by Bory reporting it “Armour twenty standing by”.

The remaining tanks soon reported in, only armour eighteen didn't report in as that was Vajda's tank. There were a few oddities here and there, armour seven, one of the Turán's, their call-in was accompanied by a dog bark, armour fifteen, a Zrínyi, their call-in was in Hungarian, and armour nineteen, the other Turán III, was in Morse code.

Soon all the tanks had called in, and they were ready to march “All tanks are to follow armour eighteen to the training ground and await further orders” Vajda said over the radio “Tank előre!” she ordered, ordering the tanks into motion.

Q Hunyadi induló playing in the background as the tanks start moving (It's on youtube).

Less than a second later Vajda's Turán III rocked backwards as it sprung into motion, driving forwards out of the motor pool, followed by the rest of the team's tanks, forming a line behind Vajda's tank as they left the building.

The armoured column proceeded through the school at a steady speed, their armoured steeds growling as they passed by other students as they made their way to the training ground. Some of the students carried on their day whilst others stopped and watched the column drive past. A sight most of them would never have seen before, or haven't seen for a while.

After a few minutes of driving, the tanks reached the training ground and formed a line on the grass. Beyond them at about seven hundred meters were a line of large targets resting against a long, thick mound of dirt.

“Aright, we'll be doing some stationary gunnery practise first, just to get us back into the swing of things,” Vajda said over the radio as the tanks lined up and turned towards the targets “After that, we'll be doing some firing on the move”.

“Why thou,” one of the commanders of one of the other tanks said sounding annoyed “You can't hit anything whilst on the move. Staying still makes it so much easier to hit the enemy”.

“Because it also makes you easier to hit” Vajda retorted “A stationary target is easier to hit than a moving one. Have you not been paying attention to cavalry combat tactics during lessons? This is basic stuff we learned from day one,” she said “Now stop complaining, aim your gun, and get ready to fire!” she said with a sigh before she lowered the microphone “Why must everyone in this school complain about everything?” she asked, realising that she was complaining about other people complaining.

“No idea commander” the tanks gunner replied.

“Gun loaded commander!” the tank's loader reported as she finished loading the 75 mm gun.

“Rodger” Vajda said before she held the microphone up to her face “All tanks, fire on my mark” she ordered before lowering the microphone “Gunner, aim at the target in front of us and prepare to fire”.

“Rodger!” the gunner said as she looked through the tank's gun sight and proceeded to aim the gun at the target seven-hundred meters in front of her “Target sighted, ready to fire”.

Vajda nodded before she raised the microphone “All tanks. Tüzet nyit!” she ordered loudly.

Almost immediately all twenty tanks opened fire, sending a single training round downrange towards the targets ahead of them. The twenty shells hit the targets, sending dust and debris up into the air. Vajda turned out of the tank to get a better look at the targets, getting out a pair of binoculars and holding them up to her eyes, lifting up her eye patch so that she could see out of both eyes. Yes, the eyepatch is just for show, she is not blind in that eye. She just thinks eye patches are cool.

She looked through the binoculars and waited for the dust to settle so that she could get a better look at the targets. Eszter was right, there was a noticeable decrease in their accuracy, most of the shots were off target, even Eszter was off by a bit “All tanks, reload and fire again! And check your aim, most of you are way off” she ordered over the radio.

“Sorry about that commander” the commander of armour six responded “We haven't done much gunnery practice since the ship went into repairs. Correcting aim now”.

Vajda sighed, and then cursed. Damn that drunken bastard who called himself captain. If it wasn't for the accident that put their ship into repair they would have been able to train more and take part in this year's national and the winter continuous track cup. Alas, they weren't able to get their tanks off the ship due to safety reasons, so they were unable to train with them for months. It's only recently that they were allowed to train with them again. But they lost three months of training, and it was showing. They needed a lot of training before the doubles tournament. Training like this is all good and all, but what they really needed was some practise matches against the other schools. Hopefully, she can get them ready for the upcoming matches against St. Gloriana Girls' College and BC Freedom Academy, as those were only a few weeks away. The other two matches were, well, let's leave those two a secret for now. Don't want to ruin the surprise after all.

She waited for all the tanks to reload before ordering them to fire again, once again their cannons roared, sending metal rounds downrange towards the targets. Vajda hoped that, in time, she would be able to get them ready for the first practice match against St. Gloriana. She didn't expect to win that one but, even losing to them would give them valuable training and experience that they desperately needed.

She watched as the line of tanks fired again. Árpád Girls Academy may have had a bad first quarter of the year, but they will make a comeback for the rest of it.

Chapter Text

Japan. School ship Tegetthoff. Twenty nautical miles off the coast of Mie Prefecture.

Vajda, Buda, and Eszter stood in the loading dock of their school ship, Tegetthoff. Standing and looking in awe at the sight before them. With them were several other students from their sensha-do team.

In front of them was their latest acquisition, a German Tiger I brought from Kuromorimine. There was also a Panzer IV Ausf. H, but they were focused more on the Tiger.

“You know, I could take on an entire city with this thing,” Buda said with a smile “The legendary Tiger tank, and we finally have one. Ohhhh I can't wait to drive this thing”.

“Yep. This thing is a beast. For about ten seconds” Vajda said, holding a Haynes manual for the Tiger tank “I've been reading up on it recently, and, I hate to admit it, this might not have been a smart choice to buy”.

“What!” Buda said sounding surprised as she and Eszter turned to look at her with shocked expressions on their faces “Vajda, this is a legendary Tiger tank, one of the greatest tanks Germany ever made. They were the bane of the Allies, with one going on to destroy an entire column of British mechanised infantry and armoured tanks. How could it be bad?”.

“Well, yes, that did happen. But the tanks were known for breaking their engines, transmissions, and gearboxes” Vajda said, holding up the Tiger tank Haynes manual “And the first combat operation the Tiger was involved in resulted in one of the tanks getting bogged down and, well, abandoned. Resulting in it getting captured by the Soviets. Intact and fully functional” she explained “Who promptly started testing it against their guns, finding out they had nothing that could pierce its armour. So yeah, I will admit, I was very wrong about the Tiger. It was really only ever useful in flat open spaces. German heavy tanks are, rather, unreliable. I even had a chat with Erika about the Tiger, and she had, strong feelings about the gearbox, transmission, and the interlocking wheels”.

Her two friends looked at her with shocked looks “B-but you said that the Tiger tank was a great tank” Eszter said sounding surprised.

“I did. But then I read up more about it and, well, was quickly disproved” Vajda said “Turns out the Tiger, as well as German heavy tanks in general, had a lot of issues” she said, “At least the Panzer IV is a better tank”.

Buda groaned “And I was so looking forwards to driving this thing” she groaned, annoyed that their new heavy tank was not as good as they had thought to believe. At least tanks made for sensha-do are somewhat more reliable than their WW2 counterparts, as well as faster and more manoeuvrable. Maintenance was still going to be a bitch though.

“At least we'll be able to use it against St. Gloriana next week,” Eszter said with a smile.

“Ah, about that” Vajda said with a nervous look on her face “Both tanks, well, failed their last safety inspection”.

“WHAT!” the group of girls shouted, stepping back in shock “Why the hell did you buy broken tanks?!” Buda asked loudly.

“Budget reasons” Vajda replied “There was no way we could afford to buy a fully functional Panzer IV with our current budget, let alone a Tiger. If we had, we would not have had enough money to cover repairs, maintenance, or ammunition for the rest of the year. I had no choice, these tanks cost a lot more than our Turán's”.

There was a collective sigh of annoyance from the gathered girls, all of whom were annoyed that their newest acquisitions were broken.

“We are going to have a nightmare fixing these things” Venus, the commander of one of the team's 38M Toldi IIA's, said sounding annoyed.

“Just what's wrong with them?” Suda, the radio operator for the Tas, asked.

“The suspension, transmission, engine, gearbox, turret motor, radio, carbon coating, and all of the internal electronics need replacing” Vajda replied “And that's for both tanks I'm afraid”.

The rest of the group groaned again “We've been trying for years to get new German tanks, and when we finally managed to get some, they're all broken” Cserép, the gunner for Buda's Turán II, said sounding rather annoyed.

“At least that would explain why they weren't brought on board under their own power” Nagyhalomi, the driver for Vajda's Turán III, added with a frown “And why Erika dislikes fixing them so much”.

“Ur, command” Hont, the commander of one of the Panzer 38(t)'s, said as she tapped Vajda's shoulder “Osowiec just asked if there was any good news?”.

“Well, there is one small piece of good news,” Vajda said “There was a large shipment of German sausages that came with the tanks, so we're having Bratwurst for lunch today. And yes, they will be seasoned with paprika”.

The surrounding students quickly perked up, followed by them all cheering. It was no secret that the girls of Árpád liked fatty food, especially if spices, like paprika, had been added to it. And Bratwurst had a lot of fat in it. At least that cheered the girls up.

“Alright! We're having Bratwurst for lunch!” Buda said happily “I have almost forgiven you for buying us a broken tank. So, apart from the broken tanks and Bratwurst. Is there anything else you need to tell us? Like our battle plan?”.

“I've got something in the works, but it's still in the beta stage” Vajda replied “Their heavy infantry tanks like the Matilda and Churchill will be difficult to deal with. There is no way we can piece their armour with most of our shells, even from the rear” she explained “So we will have to come up with another way to deal with them. Once they gone we should be able to clean up any cruiser tanks they brought with them if we haven't dealt with them already,” she said before she turned around and faced one of the other girls in the room “Is that enough information for you Assam?” she asked with a smug look on her face.

The girl she was looking at, who was about her size, with long blonde hair and light purple eyes, suddenly looked rather shocked. Like she was not expecting to be pointed out like this. The other girls around them took notice and looked at her as well.

“Who's she?”.

“I don't know?”.

“Is she a new transfer student?”.

The new girl still looked rather surprised, shocked even “How did you know?” Assam asked, struggling to work out how she was so easily spotted. She had worked so hard on making her disguise, by her calculations it should have been impenetrable. So how did someone as laid back as Vajda notice her?

It was then that Buda stepped in “Your sabre. Its design is unique, meaning you are a member of Lovasság. And as Lovasság's leader, I recognise every single member of our prestigious calvary team. And I don't recognise you” she explained “That, and I recognise the sabre your carrying as the one we gave St. Gloriana last year”.

“That, and there are only ninety-three members of our sensha-do team” Eszter added “We are a small team after all. All of our members are present, yet there are ninety-four people here. That's one too many”.

Assam was shocked, her brilliant and perfect infiltration of Árpád was undone by both simple maths and the sabre she used.

“Actually,” Vajda said nervously “Apart from the members of the signal club, she was the only one who didn't cheer loudly when I said we're having Bratwurst for lunch. That kind of gave the game away,” she said, smiling nervously.

Eszter and Buda turned their heads and looked at their leader with a suspicious glare “What?” Eszter asked.

“That's what gave it away!” Assam exclaimed, even more, shocked that that was what allowed Vajda to spot her “Not the sword or the fact that there was an additional person here. No it was me not cheering at the news of having Bratwurst for lunch”.

Eszter sighed heavily “And for a moment there I thought you had gotten smarter”.

“Well. I may also have had a hunch that St. Gloriana might send someone to gather information on us” Vajda said nervously “Kind of glad that I had gotten it right. I would have looked ridiculous if I had gotten it wrong”.

Buda sighed “Sometimes I wonder why you're the leader of our sensha-do team. But then I remember that your the tank nerd who knows how to conduct armoured warfare”.

“Commander,” Hont said, “Osowiec just asked what we're going to do to Assam, and if we can make her wear an embarrassing outfit, like that once worn for the anglerfish dance Oarai is famous for?”.

Assam started to blush. She remembered that dance all too well from when the Oarai sensha-do team performed it whilst they were surrounded by Pravda. The flood of memes that popped up about it after the match was staggering. The last thing she wanted to do was to wear that embarrassing outfit that people wear whilst doing the dance, as there was a 25% chance that Darjeeling might try and convince the others to dress the same. She was the origin of a rumour that Oarai made the loser of a training match dance in an 'unlay-like fashion', AKA, the anglerfish dance, after all.

“The what dance?” Vajda asked looking rather confused.

“That dance Oarai did in that church whilst they were surrounded by Pravda” Buda replied “You know, the one you said 'would make me execute order sixty-six if we were down there watching it'”.

“Oh, that dance” Vajda said before she frowned “No, not in a million years. I have no desire to subject anyone to that ridiculous dance. We'll just send her home in a shirt”.

“What!”.

Japan. Schoolship Ark Royal. Twenty nautical miles off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture.

“So, Árpád has itself a Tiger,” Darjeeling said before taking a sip of tea. With her were Orange Pekoe and Assam, all three of them were sitting down at a nice table having tea and cake.

Assam nodded, wearing an 'I infiltrated Árpád girls Academy and all I got was this lousy T-shirt' shirt, not the weirdest punishment she heard of/been subjected to, but it was up there “Indeed. But neither the tiger nor the Panzer four are functional, so we will not have to deal with them during the upcoming match” she explained “But, Vajda did say that she had a new tactic in the works to deal with our heavier tanks, mainly the Churchill. But I was unable to find out what the plan was as she found me out, by noticing that I didn't cheer when she said they were having Bratwurst for lunch. And there's a seventy per cent chance that her plan was a decoy to throw me off, even if she didn't one-hundred per cent know I was there”.

“Their Turán two's do carry HEAT rounds” Orange Pekoe added “A single one of those to the back of the Churchill will be enough to take us out”.

“Then we must be prepared for whatever they have planned for us,” Darjeeling said calmly “'The first step of avoiding a trap, is knowing of its existence”.

“I'm pretty sure that was from Dune,” Orange Pekoe remarked.

“Anyway. The show match against Árpád is in four days' time” Darjeeling said “They know full well that a head-on attack would be suicide, so they will try to get behind us and ambush us. And they will have the advantage as we will be fighting them on their home turf. They will know the terrain better than us, so we will need to keep our eyes open-” she said before there was a loud metallic screeching sound outside, followed by a lot more metallic screeching.

“Was that, Rosehip?” Orange Pekoe asked as Assam rushed over to the window and looked outside.

“Yep, it's Rosehip” Assam replied, spotting the red-headed speedster in her Crusader, drifting by alongside the rest of their Crusader tank platoon “That's funny, they've got the Cromwell with them”.

“Oh, that must be the Tea Garden's newest member,” Darjeeling remarked before taking a sip of tea “She's a transfer student from Kuromorimine, she transferred a few months ago”.

“Oh yes, Yorkshire. We gave her command of the Cromwell and put her under Rosehip's command” Assam remarked, “How's she doing by the way? Can't have been easy transitioning from Kuromorimine to St. Gloriana”.

“She's doing fine and has been able to fit in well, but has been a bit problematic at times” Darjeeling replied, “She didn't like receiving orders from Rosehip, nor did she like her new soul name. But a quick discussion with me sorted those two problems out quickly”.

“I understand how she feels about the name, we are running out of tea names after all” Orange Pekoe said with a frown. There are only so many teas in the world after all, and with the recent increase in new members of the Tea Garden, they are unfortunately running out of tea names. And they don't reuse tea names until three years after the last student who used it left.

“I suppose she'll be taking part in the practice match against Árpád,” Assam said as she walked back over to the table.

“Indeed she will,” Darjeeling said with a smile “It may be odd to send someone with little experience in commanding a tank into a match so soon, but Oarai had their match with us a few days after they reformed their team, and they managed to take out four of our tanks. So Yorkshire should do fine-” she said before there was a loud almighty crash outside.

“Ur, I think I broke something desu was,” a rather worried sounding Rosehip said loudly.

Darjeeling sighed “Let's go inspect the damage,” she said before standing up, still holding her teacup, and walked out of the room.

Orange Pekoe and Assam followed Darjeeling out of the room to assist in the damage inspection. Rosehip was famous for two things, her love of speed and breaking her Crusader every time she drove it. But despite her flaws, she was a competent leader and was very good at commanding their cruiser tank unit, even if they all end up getting taken out within five minutes of engaging the opposing team. Hence why they're being given the Cromwell, to provide them with some more firepower and armour. Darjeeling was hoping that they would learn to be able to fight effectively as a unit when by the time the match with Árpád comes around. But with Rosehips, 'unique' form of training, it's been rather up and down at times. It's not easy to reel that girl in, but, Darjeeling had gotten rather good at that as of late.

Even so, she would have to be careful during the match against Árpád. Unlike Oarai, Árpád's team was far more experienced, as well as had a proud history of Sensha-do. They also treat their tanks like they treat their horses, with great care and respect. They are by far one of the best sensha-do teams in Japan. It's just that most of their tanks were, unfortunately, obsolete back when they entered service, and still are compared to the tanks fielded by other teams. But as Orange Pekoe said, their Turán II's do carry HEAT rounds, which can knock them out, and they have their Turán III's and the Tas. But, despite their tank's flaws, Árpád can still win if underestimated, as they have shone before. Kuromorimine learned that the hard way during the 62nd National High School Sensha-do Tournament, Árpád came very close to knocking them out during the first round, and could have won if it wasn't for a lucky shot at their flag tank. But that was against their previous commander, Bory. Their new one, Vajdahunyad or Vajda for short, was untested and had yet to command their team in any sensha-do matches this year, due to an unfortunate accident with their school ship. But that did not mean she wasn't a good commander.

Their match was shaping up to be quite interesting.

Chapter Text

Árpád Girls Academy VS St. Gloriana Girls' College. Pre-match

Yokkaichi. Mie Prefecture.

Vajda sat up in the cupola of her Turán III as it drove at the front of a line of tanks on a very hot day. There were only ten tanks, one 43M Turán III's, two 41M Turán II's, three 40M Turán's, the 44M Tas, a 43M Zrínyi II, and two 42M Toldi IIA (B40).

Behind the convoy of tanks were several Rába 38M Botond trucks, owned and operated by the Völgyzár's sensha-do support team. There were only a few of them, each one fulfilled a specific purpose, but unlike Saunders, they only brought what was necessary. There was a maintenance truck, ambulance, portable restroom, and two passenger trucks carrying the rest of the support team, plus several armoured recovery vehicles based off of the 40M Turán hull, plus, due to how hot it was today, a water truck with a large tank of freshwater.

To her left was Árpád Girls Academy's school ship Tegetthoff, docked in its spot at Yokkaichi port. To her right was St. Gloriana Girls' College school ship Ark Royal, which was in the process of docking. But she could just see a few of St. Gloriana's tanks, driving to the rear of their ship to be offloaded.

“So, what's St. Gloriana's lineup going to be?” Abaúj, the tanks gunner, asked.

“They're going to have one Churchill, at least four Matilda's but they may bring more, as well as a few Crusaders” Vajda replied before wiping the sweat off of her forehead. She was wearing an Australian slouch hat in addition to her sensha-do uniform.

“So at least five Infantry tanks and about four cruiser tanks” Bácsalmás, the tanks radio operator, remarked, “We'll have to protect the Turán two's, the Tas, and the Zrínyi. They are going to be among the only things that can damage their heavier tanks”.

“Yeah, our standard Turán's have rather pathetic guns” Esseg, the tank's loader, added “They'll be like pea-shooters against their heavier tanks”.

“It's not their Infantry tanks I'm worried about, it's their cruiser tanks,” Vajda said “We can deal with the Infantry tanks if we handle them correctly. But those cruiser tanks can tear us apart”.

“You sure about that” Nagyhalomi inquired “I watched the compound team exhibition match in Oarai city, and Oarai's panzer four was able to take out three Crusaders”.

“Yes they did,” Vajda said “But I'm no Nishizumi, and this isn't a panzer four. Yes the Turán three is comparable to a panzer four, but it's only comparable, not a full-on panzer four”.

“Plus I don't think I can pull off that kind of shooting” Abaúj added “Miho's gunner, Hana, is a lot better shot than I am. I think the only one in our team who's comparable to her is Eszter, and she's in the Tas. It'll be a miracle if I can do the same”.

“Exactly, that is why I'm more worried about the cruiser tanks,” Vajda said, “They can use their speed to get around us quickly and flank us. The only advantage we have is that we will be mostly be fighting on flat, open ground. That will make seeing them coming much easier”.

“It'll also make ambushes difficult” Esseg added “They'll be able to see what we're doing just as well as we can see them. There won't be much cover, apart from in the city,” she said before she took a sip of water “And this heat. How hot is it today?”.

“The weatherman said that it was going to be the hottest day of the year,” Nagyhalomi said “I'm so glad that we've got air-conditioning on our tanks. It would be difficult to fight in this heat without them”.

“Agreed. They're not the best, but at least they work” Vajda said before looking back up at St. Gloriana's tanks “Knowing St. Gloriana, all their tanks will have great air-conditioning. Maybe we should think about getting a few for our tanks”.

St. Gloriana Crusader III

“God it's hot in here, desu was,” Rosehip said as she fanned herself with her hand, trying to cool herself down in her blistering hot tank, having undone parts of her uniform to help keep herself cool, and even then, she was considering removing everything but her undergarments because it was so hot. It was like an oven in here.

She wasn't the only one who currently felt like they were currently fighting in the Africa campaign, her fellow tank crew, Rosemallow, Rosemary, and Roselle, were also baking inside of their Crusader. The problem was that the air-conditioning unit was broken thanks to a recent crash that was completely not her fault. That parked car came completely out of nowhere. Anyway, whilst they had been successful in repairing the tank, they did not have enough time to repair the air-conditioning unit, so they were going without it.

“Of all the things we didn't have time to repair, why did it have to be the air-conditioning unit?” Rosemary asked as she took off her red coat.

“We just didn't have time to fix it” Rosemallow replied “There wasn't much time between the crash and the match”.

“Well, at least we're not the only one having air-con problem,” Roselle said before speaking into the radio “Nilgiri, how's your Matilda's air-con doing?”.

“It's holding, but we only have it on half power” Nilgiri replied over the radio “I don't understand, it was working perfectly yesterday, why is it playing up today? It's new too”.

“I don't know” Darjeeling replied over the radio “Just keep an eye on it and inform us of any changes. It's a good thing that we decided to test the new air-conditioning unit on only one tank, just in case”.

“Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on it,” Nilgiri said.

Rosehip sighed before she took a large gulp of water. She would have preferred tea, but in this heat, water was more important. Maintaining their hydration was important after all. She then spoke into the radio “Hay Yorkshire, how are things over in the Cromwell desu wa?”.

An audible sigh was heard over the radio “We're doing fine over here” Yorkshire replied over the radio “Looks like Árpád have already unloaded their tanks. Always thought Hungary never made their own tanks”.

“A lot of nations made tanks during the second world war, only to be overcast by the ones made by the major powers,” Darjeeling remarked over the radio “Whilst not all of them were good, they can still be formidable foes in the right hands. Being underestimated is one of the biggest competitive advantages you can have. You best remember that during our battle against Árpád. Remember our first battle against Oarai. I underestimated them, and they managed to take out four of our tanks” she explained “Let's try and not make this a repeat of that battle. We know what Árpád is capable of, so let's not be caught off-guard by them”.

“Don't worry. I'll keep my eyes open” Rukuriri said over the radio “Although, Rosehip, your sure you can fight in this heat?”.

“Don't worry, we'll be fine desu wa,” Rosehip said with a smile “Nothing a good amount of water should help fix” although, she couldn't help but wonder if Árpád was having difficulties with the heat.

Árpád Girls Academy. 41M Turán II.

“Woo, it is hot today,” Buda remarked as she fanned herself with her hand “Good thing we brought plenty of water with us today”.

“Yeah” Cserép, the gunner of Buda's tank, said, “Why did we agree to have a match on such a hot day anyway?”.

“We didn't know it was going to be this hot when we organised the match” Cseh, the tanks Radio Operator, replied “At least we were prepared for it, unlike last time”.

“Yeah, that summer match was hell” Petke, the tank's loader, added “That unexpected heatwave really ruined that match”.

“Well, the heat won't ruin this one” Tótfalu said “Although I am worried about Eszter, this is her first match after all. It's all been practice matches so far. I know she's a good shot, but all her combat experience was gained during practices matches against ourselves”.

“This will be the first proper match for a lot of us. We did not exactly have a great first half of the year, what with the incident with our school ship preventing us from training” Buda said with a frown “Damn that idiot. He should not have been put in charge of a school ship, or any seagoing vessel for that matter”.

“Well, at least our ship now has a new captain. One who hopefully won't make the same mistake as the previous one” Petke said.

Buda nodded before she took the radio and spoke into it “Hay Eszter, how you feeling?”.

“To be honest, nervous” Eszter replied over the radio “It's halfway through the year and I'm only just having my first proper match against another team. I may be a good shot, but I've never shot anything as fast as a crusader before, so I don't think I'll be able to hit them as well as their infantry tanks”.

“Don't worry, we'll focus on the faster tanks,” Vajda said over the radio “You just focus on hitting the slower tanks for now. Leave the cruiser tanks to the Turán's and Toldis”.

“Understood,” Eszter said.

“Good,” Vajda said “Now then, onwards to the battlefield!”.

Five miles away from Yokkaichi. Mie Prefecture.

Árpád's tanks stood in a line in the middle of an open field, the commander of each take standing in a line in front of them. In the distance, they could see ten tanks from St. Gloriana driving towards them. One Churchill, four Matilda's, four Crusaders, and one Cromwell.

“A Cromwell” Vajda remarked, standing close to the middle of the line, Buda and Eszter standing beside her “Didn't think they'll be bringing that. That will give their cruiser tank platoon some additional firepower”.

“That just made dealing with them that much harder” Buda added “It's faster than the crusader's, and has a much more powerful gun”.

“I know, I saw their Cromwell in action when Gale Earl Gray was in charge of St. Gloriana sensha-do team,” Vajda said “I wonder who's commanding it now?”.

“Well, we'll find out soon,” Eszter said as St. Gloriana's tanks stopped in a line in front of them, and the commander of each tank climbed out of them.

Vajda noted a few things as the girls of St. Gloriana's climbed out of their tanks. The main one is that they too looked to be suffering the effects of the heat. Rosehip more so as she looked like she was in the process of putting her uniform back on. Did she take it off inside of her tanks? Why on earth would she do that? Another thing she noted was the commander of the Cromwell, she was a tall girl with snow-white hair tied into a long ponytail. She definitely looked like she belonged in St. Gloriana, but she looked, familiar.

She quickly turned to the group of three judges, as well as the JGSDF captain who was standing with them. Ignoring the Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle behind them.

The captain was an adult woman with white hair tied into a bun and was wearing the standard JGSDF uniform.

“Is it just me, or does the JGSDF girl looks a lot like the Cromwell's commander, just older?” Vajda asked quietly, leaning her head towards Buda.

“No, your not the only one” Buda replied quietly “I can definitely see a resemblance. But, we shouldn't inquire. It'll be impolite after all”.

Vajda nodded before focusing back on the St. Gloriana girls, mainly on Darjeeling “Darjeeling. Good to see you again”.

“Good to see you too, Vajdahunyad,” Darjeeling said with a polite smile “I'm glad to see you girls are back and able to participate in sensha-do again”.

“I'm glad we can as well,” Vajda said “The incident with our school ship really hampered our training. Sorry we weren't able to help out with Oarai's battle against the All-Stars University Team”.

“No need to apologies,” Darjeeling said “It's not your fault you couldn't send anyone to help, your ship was damaged after all”.

Vajda nodded. She really wanted to help Oarai in their battle to save their school, they just couldn't access their tanks. At least the entire school came along in force to provide them moral support.

“Is everyone ready?” the JGSDF captain asked, waiting for everyone to say yes before continuing “Alright then. The match between Árpád Girls Academy and St. Gloriana Girls' College will now commence. Everyone bow” she said. Everyone then bowed, turned, and got back into their tanks before driving off to their assigned starting positions.

Meanwhile: Yokkaichi. Mie Prefecture.

The stands were packed full of people, a mix of citizens of Yokkaichi, and students of Árpád, Völgyzár University, Carpathian Academy, and St. Gloriana. The stands also had large covers put over them to protect those watching from the heat. There were also people sitting about the place as well, mostly they were sitting in the shade due to the heat.

Among the Árpád students in the stands were the other half of the sensha-do team, watching in support of the girls who were taking part.

“You think we'll be able to with this?” Pusztatorony, one of the 40M Turán commanders asked.

“Not sure” Hont replied “We haven't exactly had a lot of training this year. Plus we've only deployed one Turán three”.

“Yeah, about that. Osowiec inquired why we weren't deploying both of our Turán three's?” Pusztatorony inquired “Why is that”.

“I think Vajda wants the Turán one and two crews to have a little bit more experience” Louis, one of the radio operators for the Turán, said, her guide dog sitting beside her “Most of them are first years after all and don't have much experience fighting against other teams. They need the training after all”.

“I suppose you're right,” Hont said “A trial by fire for the first years. At least they'll have some experience before our match against BC Freedom”.

“Yeah,” Pusztatorony said, “I wonder if anyone from BC Freedom is watching this match?”.

“Probably not” Louis replied “We're a bit too far away from the current location of their school ship for them to send someone to watch the fight”.

“Excuse me, but is this seat taken?” a woman's voice asked.

The girls turned to see an adult woman standing beside an empty seat beside them. She had long white hair but a pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. She was wearing a white top and a long dark green skirt that almost went to the floor. She was also holding a white cane.

“Oh no, it's free” Pusztatorony replied “You can sit in it”.

The woman smiled “Thank you” she said before she sat down with some difficult “Always nice to come ashore and watch a sensha-do match, even if you can't see it with your own eyes” she said before she was quiet for a few moments “Huh, sounds like St. Gloriana brought out the Cromwell”.

The other girls turned towards her with surprised looks on their faces “How could you tell they have a Cromwell?”.

“I recognised the sound of the engine” the woman replied with a smile “When you've been around tanks as long as I had, you learn to tell the differences between tanks by the sound of their engines. I may not look it, but I was quite the good sensha-do commander in my youth. Could have started my own style, but. Well, accidents happen after all” she said with a slight frown “But that's enough about me, my past isn't all that interesting anyway, and far too depressing. There are far more interesting things going on at the moment, and it would be rude of me to distract you girls from it”.

The girls nodded before turning their focus back towards the match, waiting patiently for it to start.

Meanwhile. Elsewhere in the stands.

“Looks like St. Gloriana has a strong force deployed,” Oshida remarked as she watched the two teams arrive at their starting locations “Sturdy infantry tanks supported by fast-moving cruiser tanks. Árpád is going to struggle with this fight”.

“Not to mention all of their first years are still green” Andou added “This is their first proper match this year”.

The two BC Freedom girls were sitting in one of the stands, wearing casual clothing with nothing that could link them to BC Freedom. Their goal is to observe Árpád's new commander, Vajdahunyad, in action. Since their previous commander Bory left Árpád last year, their new commander has been unable to participate in any matches after the accident with their school ship. This would be her first match as the commander of her team, and since BC Freedom has a match against them next week, this would be the only time to observe her in combat. So, Marie had sent them to watch the match and observe how Vajdahunyad commanders her team.

“I doubt they'll win this one, but it won't be one-sided,” Oshida said “I think Árpád will be able at least knockout half of St. Gloriana's tanks”.

Andou nodded before having a look around them, noting the large number of boys wearing a uniform close to the one worn by Árpád students “Why is Árpád sharing its school ship with a boys-only school?”.

“Probably to share the cost of running their school ship,” Oshida said “They are expensive things to run, after all, being floating cities. Having a university onboard also helps, gives them access to a lot more funds to run their ship and their schools, and make applying to a university easier”.

“A bit like our school in a way,” Andou said, “Just minus merging the two schools together, or the Escalators being smug bastards looking down on everyone”.

“Or the Examination girls protesting all the time about the cost of meals or what's available to eat” Oshida added.

The two were quiet for a few moments. Marie ordered them to keep a low profile, and fighting each other would do the opposite of that. So, to comply with her orders, they decided (without saying it of course) to shut up and watch the match.

Of course, one of the Carpathian Academy students decided to hit on them “Why hello ladies,” a male voice said behind them as the owner of said voice leaned in between them, hand on each of their shoulders “You girls wouldn't-”.

“No,” both Oshida and Andou said in unison, turning him down as quickly as they could.

A quiet 'damn' came from the boy who had just tried to hit on them before he leaned back in his seat. They had no time to bother with 'boys' at the moment, they had a match to watch, and a commander to observe.