Girls und Panzer: Downfall

Mock battle

"Now, we'll move on to a mock battle. The two teams are as follows: the first team will be composed by a Tiger, a Panzer IV, a Jagdpanther and a Panzer III. The other team will be made by a Königstiger, a Panzer IV and two Panthers. I will supervise and be the judge. It will be an annihilation match." 
After Maho divided the commanders into two teams and after the two teams drove to their starting points, a shot was fired. It was Maho's Tiger announcing the match had begun. Michael was in team with Miho and other two girls. 
"What are your ideas?" Miho asked, turning to look at Michael, who got caught a bit off guard.
"Me?" He asked, taking his headset off and crossing his arms. 
"Yes you! My sis…the Commander told me you got a 94% score on the strategy test!" 
Michael thought he'd misheard. Had he really done that good? 
"A-are you serious?" Michael stuttered, still incredulous.
"Yeah! So…any thoughts?" 
Michael thought intensely for a minute. He considered the tanks at his team's disposal and the terrain around him.
"So…let's send the Panzer III to scout. Each of the teams has a long 88 with them, so it's a fair fight. The Jagdpanther is impenetrable to every gun they have from the front though, so it should be the spearhead of our formation, or something. I'll flank, you provide cover for the Jagdpanther. Sounds good?" 
Miho thought splitting their forces wasn't exactly the best, but she was confident. She trusted Michael.
"Alright then. You should…stay in the area around the hills, around hill 009. Don't go too far and don't expose yourself unless I say so." Miho ordered in a serious tone that Michael didn't know she was capable of.
"Jawohl. Ren, step on it and get to hill 009." Michael ordered. The Panzer IV started moving and disappeared behind the treeline in a few minutes. 
"Panzer III, go ahead and scout. If spotted, retreat and do not engage." Miho ordered. The Panzer III turned on its engines and went the opposite direction of the Panzer IV. 
"Alright. Jagdpanther, lead the way and get us to H13." 
For Miho, that wasn't her first battle. She already had plenty of experience, and she wasn't nervous at all. She thought Michael's idea was different from how she'd usually go about things, but she trusted him. His style was more that of a…Guderian. He was eager to split his forces to pincer and confuse the enemy, while the strongest forces broke through enemy lines. Miho was a lot more cautious with her fighting style, at least in those times. The wind was blowing, it was a cool and nice breeze, which kept the temperature mild enough, since the sun was shining very bright, with not a cloud in the sky.
After 10 minutes or so of driving, the Tiger and Jagdpanther reached their position, which was hidden behind some bushes and overlooked a big grass plain in front of them. 
"Panzer IV, what's your status?" Miho asked.
"We're in position. No enemies spotted yet." Michael answered through the radio.
"Hold your ground for now. Retreat if more than one tank attacks you." Miho commanded.
"Roger. Over and out." 
"Panzer III, status update." 
"We spotted all the enemy tanks in a line. They don't seem to…we've been spotted!" 
"Try to reposition as quick as-" 
Miho's sentence was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. She knew one of their tanks was down. 
"They got us! They're heading to the field!" The Panzer III's Commander said.
"Understood. Let's wait for them here." 
Miho waited, waited, and waited, intensely looking in her binoculars around the field ahead of her. Seconds quickly became minutes. 
"Michael, how are you doing?" She asked at some point, not being able to hide a note of nervousness in her voice. 
"All good here. But we lost a tank. This can't be good…if you look to your slight right, about a kilometer away, you'll see me. Let's keep an eye on each other." 
Miho observed the treeline to her right down in the plain carefully, and she saw the small silhouette of a tank.
"Yes, I see you. You should try to regroup and come to us." Miho said, wanting to get her forces regrouped and reorganized.
"I don't know if that's a good idea...either I go back the way I came, and waste a ton of time, or I go through the open field, and I don't think I need to say why that's bad." Michael explained. Miho reflected for a second and figured Michael was right. There was no point in him coming back. 
"You're right. Hold your…all enemy tanks spotted! Heading north east, 1500 meters!" 
Miho kept looking in her binoculars and saw clearly all the enemy tanks in a line. They stopped and aimed at Miho's position. They fired a volley and started moving again, straight at them. None of the enemy shots hit.
"They're firing! Return fire!" Miho ordered. The two 88s fired and missed. 
"I see them! Should I open fire?" Michael asked at some point.
"Yes please!" Miho shouted, knowing she had the high ground advantage, but was outnumbered. As she kept her eyes on the enemy tanks, she saw a Panther's track being destroyed, and the tank drifting until it gave Miho and the Jagdpanther a broadside: she had a perfect shot on it. Michael on the other hand wasn't very happy the shot had only taken out the enemy's track. 
"It's looking at us!" He yelled. 
The Panther fired. Michael covered his ears and saw the shot flying by his tank and going past it. 
"Load it!" He shouted. 
"Where should I aim?" Sakura asked, sounding strangely calm.
"Um…try the turret ring. But please do not miss." 
As the Panzer IV's gun got loaded, a shot landed right in the Panther's side, with a very loud metallic noise. A small white flag popped up on the commander's hatch. Michael relaxed and let out a long sigh, burying his face in his hands.
"Are you alright Michael?" Miho's voice resounded in Michael's head.
"Yeah…I'm fine. What should I do?" Michael asked, anxiously awaiting for an order.
"Do you see any of them?" 
"Yeah, I see them all. They're slowly falling back. They don't seem to know where I am exactly." Michael explained.
"Then fire on the one closest to you." 
"Roger. Noriko is the gun loaded?"
"Yes!" 
"Alright…then Sakura, fire on the Panzer IV. It looks to be about…" 
As Michael was about to finish his sentence, he heard the gun firing and landing perfectly on the Panzer IV's engine, setting it on fire and disabling it.
"Nice shot!" Michael yelled.
"Good job, Michael. Watch out, the other two are pushing you." Miho pointed out.
"Reverse back in cover. Now." Michael ordered.
"Roger." 
The Panzer IV started moving again. Michael thought he was safe, until the Königstiger popped out behind the carcass of the Panther and aimed at his tank. 
“OH, F-” 
Michael heard a boom, then he felt himself being thrown up in the air, and when he landed he felt a stinging pain in his back. He heard nothing but a strong whistling in his ears. He sat up, and his vision and hearing started slowly coming back. As he looked over at the Königstiger, he saw a round impacting its side and disabling it. Suddenly, a strong headache started pounding Michael's head. He stood up, staggering his way to his tank, and saw everybody was alright. 
"Hey there." He muttered, with half his face distorted in a grimace.
"Are you alright, Commander?!" The two twins shouted in sync.
"Yeah…more or less." He answered. He heard the sound of a tank's engine behind him, and turned around to look at the Tiger. Miho jumped down and walked to Michael with a worried look. 
"Are you alright Michael?" She asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. 
"I think I'd lie if I said yes." He answered, smiling to hide the pain he felt in his chest.
"You got hit with a long 88…I saw you flying off the tank. It was kinda funny, but I digress. Is anything broken?" 
Miho looked very worried. She felt guilty that she wasn't able to land a shot on Erika's tank sooner.
"No, I don't think so." 
Miho took a breath of relief and nodded. She still felt guilty about having let that happen to Michael. She should have ordered to fire sooner, even if the Tiger II wasn’t giving her tank a full broadside. She didn’t want to risk it. 
“Good to know. I’ll head back to the shed, you should wait for the recovery vehicle here.” Miho explained. 
“Jawohl.” Michael said saluting. He received a nod in response and a smile. 
“Let’s go.” 
Miho’s Tiger turned around and drove away, leaving Michael alone with his crew. 
I suppose I should give them compliments for their work…? 
That was the question in Michael’s head at the moment. He found shortly after that the answer was yes. He turned to his 4 crew members and cracked a smile. 
“You all did good, I’m...proud of you all.” He said a bit insecurely. He didn’t know how a commander was supposed to behave in that situation, nor did he know well how a friend was supposed to behave. Each of the 4 people in front of him thanked him profusely, making Michael think he’d had a good idea. 
“I guess we just…wait here until somebody comes for us, don’t we?” He started. 
“Yeah…” The twins answered together. Ren and Sakura nodded. Michael was about to go and take a look at his Panzer IV, when he heard footsteps behind him in the grass. He turned around and saw one of the new commanders making her way to him. She had light blonde hair and light blue eyes. Michael adjusted his hat and crossed his arms. She did the same once she was in front of Michael.
“Good match.” She said, holding out her hand. She didn’t seem very happy to be doing what she was doing. Michael shook her hand and cracked a smile. 
“Good match indeed…Itsumi, was it?” Michael asked. The girl took her hand back and nodded. 
“Itsumi Erika, that’s me. And you were…Shigure, if I’m not mistaken.” She guessed, guessing right. Michael gave her a nod and watched Erika climb on her Tiger II and leave.
“God, I felt my heart would beat out of my chest…” He whined once Erika was gone. 
“She was in middle school with me…I’ve never seen her smile once.” Sakura muttered, not to Michael’s surprise. 
“I bet…she’s got eyes only for the Commander…” Ren added. 
“You noticed too?!” The twins yelled together. 
“I noticed as well. I think those two already know each other.” Michael supposed. 
“Oh, they do. She’s not behaving differently from when she was in middle school. She was always buzzing around the Commander, to get noticed. And let’s say she and the Commander’s sister have never gotten along.”  Sakura explained, her long brown hair waving around with the wind. Her piercing green eyes were stuck looking into Michael's.
“You mean Miho?” Michael asked, not being able to hide the fact that he cared about it.
“Yes.” 
Michael asked himself why he cared so much about it, having known Miho for two days, but he couldn’t find an answer. Miho was such a nice and kind girl, her happiness was almost contagious. As soon as Michael was about to say something else, he heard the sound of an engine behind him and saw they’d come to pick them up. 
“Well, looks like our ride’s here.”