Saunders Shining Star!

(Main Story) Saunders vs Rushmore! Mid-Match Heart to Heart

Alisa's crew regroups with the others.

"That's most of them down"
Alisa says popping out of the hatch of her tank

"I don't get it... They're incredibly disorganized"
Naomi pondered as she stepped out of her hatch as well

The wind blew hard, sending cold shivers down their spines

"All I know is that they're planning something. I just can't tell what?"
Kay said joining the two outside

"Best not to stand here thinking about it you know. If they got somethin' planned, best we get a move on before they put it in action"
Lee popped out of his hatch to tell them

Little did they know, it was already in action...

There was a point in the center of the field, a small elevated portion of land. Thanks to the rain, tank tracks can't dig in to the muddy slopes to climb it. And the plateau's height and the way they were formed allowed them to shoot at them without the risk of them getting shot themselves

A shot goes of in the distance before Kay's radio flickers to life

"Ms. Kay, we found them. But they got us first"
One of the Locust commanders says

"They're all on the plateau at around G6 to H6 region. Good luck"
The second commander patched through

Kay's face scrunched up. She knew it would be impossible to push them, and if they didn't get their flag the match would draw.

Kay stormed out of her tank and into the woods, her head low to hide her tears

"Kay! Hey! Wait!"
Lee chased after her

"Where the hell are they going?!"
Alisa shouted

"Let 'em be."
Naomi placed her hand on Alisa's shoulder

"Huh?! We're in the middle of a match! Why would they just-"
Alisa's mouth was covered by Naomi, but. It wasn't her hands that shut her up

Lee chased after Kay, but lost her after she ran into the brush. Lee focused on the sound of muffled crying, leading him to a sobbing Kay, her face dotted with mud.

Lee sat down next to her, his mind wandering back to when they were kids. Kay did this sort of thing alot, running off when she couldn't do anything. Lee knew how to help the old Kay but how about the current Kay? She's not a kid anymore, promises of ice cream won't work anymore. Lee knew one way to get her out of this state now...

"G-Go away"
Kay said through sobs

"Not doing that."
Lee snapped at her

"S-top it! Stop trying..."
Kay sobbed more

"Not gonna."
Lee continued

"I don't know what you want from me-?!"
Kay shouted

"Forgive me, Kay."

Her lips closed as Lee pressed his onto her's. Kay's shocked turned to a calming warmth, inspite of  the weather.

"I'm sorry! I'm just your bestfriend! I shouldn't have done that!"
Lee panicked

Kay pulled away and buried her strawberry red face under Lee's raincoat

"I don't know what to do..."
Her tone seemed... Depressed

"You could've told me you know!"
Lee tried to regain his composure

"I made a bet with them. I didn't tell anyone about it."
Kay said

"What was it about?"
Lee asked

"Something... Dumb. As our sister school, they wanted to integrate some members of our tankery into theirs if they win. And out of the ten's of members they chose, they also wanted you."
Kay started to cry once more

Lee sat silent. Kay wouldn't have just lost a few members of her team. She also would've lost him.

"Even if they won!"
Lee shouted

Kay looked up at him through the raincoat

"I wouldn't have went! Unless you were right there next to me, Kay!"
Lee proudly annouced

"Hehehe!"
Her laugh bubbled up

"There she is."
Lee hugged her

They both got up. Lee wiped off the remaining tears on Kay's face including the mud.

Lee held his hand out in a fist

"Don't leave me hanging~"
Lee smiled

"I'm gonna do it~"
She walked away

"No fun!"
Lee walked after her

The two emerged from the treeline. Regrouping with Alisa and Naomi, who for some reason have their uniforms all ruffled up. Alisa only having a single pigtail while Naomi's buttons were on wrong.

"Hell happened to you two?"
Lee asked, titling his head

"We had a... Heated argument of sorts"
Naomi blushed as she fixed her buttons

Alisa silently walked back to her tank, as the others did the same

"You gals know what happened to Nao and Ali?"
Kay asked her crew

"Not really."
Her loader responded

"All we heard was some, pretty violent sounding, grunts so we didn't check"
Her gunner said

"Huh. Guess they did fight."

"We- uh. All clear to move out?"
Lee asked over the radio, instead of Alisa, who sat silent in the fetal position

"Yeah. We are. Everyone! To G6!"
Kay announced, her attitude returned

"There's our Kay!"
Lee's voice brims with enthusiasm

To be continued