Chapter 25
The sun rose over the eastern tree line birthing the earth with light and life. Activity in the Joint High School camp was bustling. Each tank crew was tasked with the tearing down and packing up of their own camp gear. The storage space of one of the tanks varied based on size. However so did maximum occupancy. The camp was stripped of all sign of human interference and with the gear secured the four schools split into their respective squads. The mountain squad and the valley squad.
Kay and Rivers eased their column along the mountainside. It was more of a wide goat trail. The rocky terrain was stable enough for a tank as strong and heavy as the E-75, but the weight of the heavy tank made things a bit bumpy. The Sherman's had a much easier time crossing the path, with their weight several tons less and the width of the tank smaller to it was much more manageable. The only thing not manageable was the arguing.
"Can you move that fat tub of metal any faster!" A Saunders girl named Hina yelled. Her Sherman was tailgating an E-75 commanded by a Montana boy by the name Terrance.
"Oh, I beg your pardon ma'am, but my fat tub of metal is currently working up the courage to jump off this mountain just to get away from your excessive nagging!" Terrance yelled back.
Yep, Kay and Rivers had opted to take all the boys from Montana and all the girls from Saunders who had beef with each other. It was going to be very excruciating listening to all the arguing and slander but with the plan in mind it would all be worth it.
"Show some decorum. We're ladies after all, you should be the man and keep your mouth shut." Hina's Gunner Fuka said.
"Bite me!" Terrance yelled.
Rivers sighed and dragged his hand across his face. he was already regretting his decision to bring these insufferable children.
Oh the price I pay for these brats." He muttered to himself. However Kay over heard him.
"It's a steep one for the mantle of Commander right." She said.
"I just wish they'd stop arguing while we're trying to work our way across a dangerous mountain side." Rivers said.
"I say let them argue. Its no more then those girls deserve." Ark said from within the tank.
"Thank you Ark for your input." Rivers said.
The mountain wasn't even a long one. The pass was about a mile and a half, or almost two and half kilometers long. The road was very stable so there was no risk of falling, but the way down was likely to echo the noise of the engines, so the Commanders opted for a slower advance through the pass.
After another half hour the column made it through and with some good fortune. From a small ridge from where the tanks were parked there was a fantastic view. A view that happened to show off a good position of Federation tanks. The numbers were shrouded by the trees and the make would be obvious as the Federation had yet to change from the English origin Challenger models. However the Cannon had yet to be sighted.
"Rivers this is Davis, do you copy?" Davis called over Radio.
"Yeah I copy D. where you at? I got a good view of Federation forces from our position." Rivers said.
"We're over by a long stretch of open tree lines. There's a creek to the right side of the north eastern face of the mountain. Can you see it?" Davis asked.
Rivers took out his binoculars and scanned the eastern area heading south. He saw the opening of the tree line where Davis and his team were heading towards. However no Cannon in sight. He noticed a gap in the trees and followed it down away till he made out a creek of water running southwards.
"Yeah I got it in my sights. However your location is still unknown." Rivers said.
"Don't worry I think I can see you. Can you put your hand in the air?" Davis requested.
Rivers then shot his hand in the air while also taking the effort to stick his middle finger out as well. Kay, being nearby and hearing the conversation, stifled her laughter.
"Ha, ha, very funny Rivers. Ok don't worry about our position. We're heading north still. Try to find an area with good elevation but plenty of tree coverage. That would be the most likely place the Cannon is stored." Davis said.
"Roger that. Good luck out there." Rivers said.
"Where should we go next?" Kay hummed to herself.
"Without a good sense of where the Cannon is I cant say for sure. however if we can't see it here then it has to be either north or north west of Davis and Darjeeling. I think we should continue heading north, that way we can inadvertently find some signs of Federation presence and give us an idea of presumable locations." Rivers said.
"Ok you're the mathematician, I'll follow your lead on this one." Kay said.
Both commanders walked back to the column entering to another argument.
"With cheaters like that on your team it's no wonder you girls haven't won a tournament in so long." Terrance said smugly.
"Oh please, in war time honor is of little importance. You win by any means necessary. I thought what Alisa did would help clear our way to victory." Hina said.
"And how did that work out for ya, huh? You got destroyed in the first match." Ark said.
"Like you could do any better. Least you forget who the ones were that beat you back in Hoja City." Fuka said.
Both boys snarled and looked as if they would charge the two girls. However both Rivers and Kay made it in time to break up the squabble.
"Enough, all of you. Get back to your tanks and get ready to move." Kay ordered.
"You don't order us around; we take orders from Rivers." Ark said.
With a firm grip on Arks shoulder Rivers said in a deep voice. "Then from now on consider any order from Commander Kay an order from me, understand."
Both boys nodded and ran towards their tanks. The two girls would have made some snarky remark or a rude gesture if not for Kay staring at them the way she does with anything that disappoints her, and she hated being disappointed.
"God I bet Davis doesn't have to deal with anything like this" Rivers said.
Over with the valley team, Davis would preferably give anything to get away from the absolute cringiest lovey dovey talk he has ever heard. Rivers and Naomi weren't the only ones to make a relationship out of the whole joint high school thing. One of Darjeeling's girls, Rukuriri if Davis remembered correctly, had fallen in love with one of his best tank commanders, Andrew. In fact the two of them had both fallen so much in love with each other that it seemed as if the two were acting out a scene. It was so cliché that it made Davis go mad.
"Ne'er in any lifetime have I gazed upon the beauty of the stars only to see the whole of the gorgeous universe in your eyes my dear. I would stare at them for eternity if I could." Andrew said to Rukuriri.
"Should the particles of radiance glisten from your ever-glistening smile I would follow your eyes and match our universe in the dance of the souls." Rukuriri said to him.
"Oh my darling, I cannot believe that never meet any sooner than dreaded wartime. I cannot possibly begin to imagine my life without your presence beside me. Do say you will never let go." Andrew pleaded.
"For you I would forsake the name given to me by both Tea Garden and my family. I would give up my life as I knew it." Rukuriri said.
"Oh darling I love you." Andrew said.
"Oh Andy I love you to." Rukuriri said.
The two, who were sitting on top of each other on Andrew's M6, kissed each other and made quite a show of it. This would normally earn giggles and glee from the St. Gloriana girls and hooting whistles from the Virginia boys, but the twos love show had quickly become annoying.
"Oh my god, I bet Rivers doesn't have to go through this torture." Davis said wiping his hand down his face.
"As old as it is, I still say it's cute how affectionate they are with each other." Darjeeling said from the hatch of her Churchill.
"I'm happy for Drew don't get me wrong, but its gotten so damn annoying. Tim how are you holding up?" Rivers asked his loader.
Young Tim seemed to be spaced out as he was just seated in his seat with an aw struck grin on his face. the boys didn't even hear his commander speak.
"Timothy, are you alive. If so say ouch." Davis said as he kicked the kid in his arm.
"Ow, Commander what is it?" Tim asked.
From the look Davis saw on his face he knew exactly what was going on inside Tim's head. "Oh for the love of god are you still thinking about that Pekoe girl?" Davis asked.
"Shh. She might hear you D." Tim said blushing madly.
Davis only let out a huge groan and, once again, wiped his face with his hand. The level of aw struck on his face was astounding. He was so shocked that nearly half his team had come forward saying that they might have had their attention be caught by one of the girls from St. Gloriana he thought that battle and maintenance performance would be off. The same could be said for Darjeeling. The prim, proper, and elegant girls of St. Gloriana were no stranger to getting dirty when necessary, but the mass of them were falling for strikingly handsome, and filthy, mechanics. Of course Darjeeling didn't think of that in the literal sense. The Virginia boys were almost entirely inside the garage's working on the tanks. Cleaning out oil filters, brushing up the engines and motors, or just straight up cleaning the whole thing. Clean and neat with dirty and messy. What could go wrong.
"I swear to god if I have to listen to this for the whole trip, I'm going to go crazy." Davis said.
"Or is it just because you haven't found a love interest yourself." Darjeeling said giving him a teasing look.
"ha, please. I've enough love troubles going on in life without actually going to look for one." Davis laughed.
"Why is that if you don't mind my asking." Darjeeling said.
"My family is filthy rich. In fact their snobby to the core. I'm the only one with some common descent sense in the family. My parents own a multi-million-dollar corporation. Brown Business Brokers. God I hate that name. they make deals and sign off contracts with companies who want to invest into projects. My parents company gets a decent size cut of all profits and spends it to make more money. Pure economics with a silver top. My parents are so snobby they actually signed off on a 'legal' document when I was a toddler to marry me off to some chick from another rich family. This way our two family's will be joined one day and the profits from merging and the selling assets would make us close to billionaires." Davis said.
"So why does this sound bad to you." Darjeeling said hearing the dread in his voice.
"I have no desire to marry that woman. She's just as snobby and mentally constipated as her parents and mine. Not to mention she's a huge bi-hmp. She's a hugely possessive person who is only keeping me around to get the money my family has. She only agreed to this because she wants the money from the family's merging. I have no desire to do any of that." Davis said.
"So when did you tank Sensha Do? Oh sorry, I mean Tankery?" Darjeeling asked.
"My freshman year I meet a guy who played the sport. He was a senior and he introduced me to the one thing I never experienced. A hard days work. I had a silver spoon in my mouth since my birth and when I took mechanics I fell in love with hard work. And when he should me the tanks, I fell in love with working on vehicles. It made me see things more clearly to. When you put effort into things you tend to value it more. My parents only use their tongues to goad people into signing off on contracts that will make them more money. They don't care about the projects they are assisting in. they don't care. But learning what it was like to value something was amazing." Davis said.
"I bet your parents didn't approve." Darjeeling said.
"Give the girl a prize. They were livid. They marched into the school and threatened to sue if I don't stop taking Mechanics. Let me tell you, Principle Hawthorne staring my parents down and threatening them with fake words was the best day of my life. I never stopped doing what I wanted to do, and I never will." Davis finished.
"Quite an amazing story Mr. Brown." Darjeeling said.
"Thank you Miss Darjeeling, it was truly a spectacle I shall never forget. By the way, what about you? Why have you taken an interest of old ww2 relics and armored warfare?" Davis asked.
"My great grandfather fought in the war. He died when I was young, but I was old enough to remember him. He was English actually. He came to Japan some years after America ended the war and rebuilt what was destroyed. He meet my great grandmother there. He taught me about the things he saw and why he fought against them. he fought alongside the Americans when they stormed through Normandy. His experience and stories were not lost on me. He told me of Winston Churchill and how he kept the fight for the British people high. He also told me about his first experience in japan. He was enamored by the sights and would walk through the streets and gaze at the beauty of the rich culture of the country. He was the one who founded St. Gloriana. Originally it was supposed to be a co-ed school but less and less boys seemed interested in going to sea after hearing about the war. So St. Gloriana Academy became St. Gloriana Girls College, and my family were the ones who introduced Sensha Do to the school when it became popular. My family has been attending our school ever since." Darjeeling said.
"Quite the story you have yourself there Darjeeling. I can say I'm enamored myself." Davis said.
"Hopefully one day we can all enjoy a quiet day of tea and talk. Until then we must continue fighting." Darjeeling said.
"Unfortunately." Davis agreed solemnly.