Chapter IV

"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Edward stood and watched as the Archer pulled into firing position. It slowly leveled out the cannon and there was a moments pause before smoke and fire exploded from the barrel. The shell traveled at high velocity through the air with a high pitched scream. The group turned to watch as it smashed into an old and broken truck. The truck was ripped apart by the force of the blast, smoldering pieces of metal flying across the open field. Edward nodded and looked back. The Archer then started to drive ahead and Wilson, the gunner, loader, and commander, poked his head out if the top hatch, looking around and smiling.

The Archer pulled back into the line of tanks. The hum of its engine being silenced. Wilson and Richard popped open the hatches and climbed out. The two of them said something to eachother and walked over.

"Quite and impressive shot Wilson." Grumbled Weber as he wrote something down in a note pad. "Alright, the crusader is up next..." The three members of the Crusader team nodded and jogged over to their tank and a tow truck pulled a wrecked jeep into the firing line.

Peter Smith, Wilsons younger borther, was the commander of the tank. The two were almost identical in everyway other than that Peter hadn't shaved his head and had curly blond hair. Lucas was driving the Crusader, he complaned that the other tanks were too loud, but everyone had guess it was because the Crusader was nice and fast, something Lucas liked. The gunner was Liam Durand, he was muscular french boy, he died his hair blue and had it tied back in some kind of ponytail. The trio mounted the tank and soon the Crusader let out a gental purr. It advanced quickly and spun around into the firing postion, kicking up grass and turf.

Edward could see Peter poke his head out for a moment before he dissapeared. The crusader did quick adjustment before it opened fire. The shot wizzed through the air and took the right mirror off the jeep, bouncing off the ground and flying off into the trees. Edward sighed and watched the crusader's turret make a tiny roatation to the left.

The tank recoiled again as another round was unleashed. This time the shell found its mark as it crushed the hood of the jeep, there was moments delay before fire filled the vehicle, blowing out the doors and windows. Edward smiled as they drove back and returned the group. Weber scribbled some notes on a paper and grumbled.

"Alright, Crusader, you gotta practice taking aim faster, be precise, you guys will mostly be shooting on the move, so you need to practice that. The Archer, nothing really of note, being there is only two of you, you will probably play a support role. For the Grizzly, I recommend you have APCR and high explosive rounds at the ready, the high explosive will be able to take out lightly armored tanks, and the APCR will be effective against more heavily armored tanks. The Pz. 39, same note as the crusader, your two tanks will be playing the flanks. The K-Wagen, we need to keep you guys driving at an angle, it will increase your effective thickness, and make sure one turret always has a target" Edward nodded and took note of the last sentence.

"What would you boys think of having a practice match?" Weber said and winced as he stretched his back. There was a long pause before Edward cleared his throat.

"I personally don't have an objection, anyone not up for it?"Everyone mumbled in agreeance in some form or another. "Okay boys, mount up..."

Edward wiggled in his chair a bit. He placed his headset over his head and tapped the button on the side.

"Alright, system check..." Edward sighed and waited for reply.

"Turret one is up and running."

"We are good to go on two."

"I got a second delay on turret three, I can manage."

"Four is doing fine."

Edward smiled, and spoke again. "Good, engine room, are you hearing me clearly."

"Yes sir I am, do a light check just in case we lose connection." Edward nodded and pulled on all the wires.

"Yeah, lights are good." The voice cracked back.

The K-Wagen was supposed to operate with a crew of twenty seven, but with some slightly updated equipment and a bit of hope, they could get her running with eight, four gunners, two loaders, one driver, and one commander. Edward was the commander, he had spent a solid week learning everything he could and installing an on board com system. Johnny, Walter, Mike, and Conrad were the gunners, all of them were good shots. Viktor and Nick were both the loaders, one for each gun room. Finally, Ludvig was the driver. Weber's voice came cracking over the radio.

"Excuse my lack of formalities, start the match." Edward nodded and pressed the button on the side of his headset.

"Start her up." Edward could hear the quiet sound of the crank turning.

"This is hard..." Ludvig wheezed into his headset and Edward chuckled. The crank turned quietly again but this time it was followed by the engines roar. He ordered the tank forward and they advanced through the forest, knocking over small tree's and dodging large ones that the K-Wagon couldn't easily crush. They reached an open field.

"Halt!" Edward yelled, having them stop on the tree line. He opened the hatch and pulled himself up. He looked around and saw a small dust cloud just beyond a small hill.

"Something is just over that rise...advance at a forty five degree angle to the right. That will put guns three and four on the side that the dust is coming from." Edward spun his chair as the tank rotated and slowly advanced into the field. Edward ducked his head down a bit as they continued the push forward. When they flanked around the hill Edward pulled up his binoculars. He peered into the dust cloud and snickered a bit. The Crusader and the Pz. 39 were chasing each other around, firing blindly as they tried to get on each others rear.

"Walter, do me a favor and blast one of those tanks."

"Affirmative." Edward watched as Walter tried to lead the shot. "Alright, I got the Crusader lined up...no wait, now its the Pz...fuck this is hard. They are too fast..." Edward paused.

"Load a high explosive. The shot will breakup their circling, then just pick off one with an armor piercing."

"Copy that." Edward smiled and waited for the new shell. The high explosive propelled itself from the barrel with a bang. Edward followed the shot and watched it collided into the center of the circling. Almost immediately the two tanks broke off and Edward waited for Walter to fire the follow up shot.

"Catch..." Walter mumbled and the second shot went off. Edward watched it crash through the side armor of the Crusader. The little flag popping out the top.

"GOOD SHOT!" Edward yelled and smiled. He watched as the Pz. 39 drove off. He heard a faint whistle and his smile faded. The whistle flowly filled the air and he he ducked down.

"BRACE YOURSEL-" The whistle drown out all noise and the tanked rocked to the side from an explosion. Edward fell out of his commander seat and fell to the floor. He stumbled up in a daze and heard a faint voice.

"What do we do!?" Ludvig yelled and Edward mumbled.

"Full reverse..." Edward rubbed his head, ringing in his ears. "Status report..."

"Turrets one and two are down. Our right side is completely compromised" Viktor yelled and Edward pulled himself into his chair.

"Awww, they are running..." Wilson said and sighed as the K-Wagen moved behind cover. Richard was next to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You hit them right?" Wilson nodded and took of sip of water.

"Yeah, probably took out two of the turrets...oh hold on...the Pz. 39 is right at the tree line, I'm gonna line them up..." Wilson said calmly and slowly adjusted the cannon. He did the math and reached down and grabbed a high explosive round, sliding it into the firing chamber and sighed. He took another sip of water and opened fire. Wilson looked away and grabbed another shell, putting it in the chamber. Wilson looked down the sights and saw the Pz. 39 billowing smoke, the flag waving from the top.

"That's how the cookie crumbles." Richard smiled. There was silence for a moment before it was broken by a bang, the Archer shook as if it had been hit by a train and flipped onto its side. Tossing both its occupants around like rag dolls before stopping it's rotation Wilson sighed as he heard the sound of the flag popping out the side of the tank. He reached over and grabbed his water bottle.

"And I guess that's how we crumble..." Wilson sighed and took a sip of water, looking at Richard.

Edward rubbed the side of his head as they pulled back into the trees. Once they got into cover, Edward groaned.

"Halt..." He slid out of the seat and staggered against the side of the tank. He made his way to the narrow passage and looked down. Johnny and Mike were unconscious, slumped over in the passage way. Victor was helping Nick, who was stumbling out of the first firing room.

"Ammo rack went off, turrets three and four are the only ones working..." Nick groaned and slumped against the wall, sliding down onto the floor. Edward nodded and coughed. He went back to the commander position and sighed, pulling himself back up. He poked his head out and scanned their surroundings. Edward pressed the button on his headset.

"We are all clear, if we turn right, we can go through the trees and out flank the Archer on the hill." The tank turned slowly and Edward guided it through the frees.

"Edward, can we please install a periscope in this, it would be so much easier to drive." Edward groaned and responded.

"Yeah, okay fine, we will see what we can do..." Edward looked around. "Just keep going straight, you got nothing in your way" They kept on their advance until they reached the position of the Archer, it was flipped over on its side , the small white flag waving in the wind.

"The Archer is already taken out..." The sound of cannon fire gave him pause when a shell bounced off of the ground in front of them. He ducked own and followed where the shot had came from. The Grizzly was behind a large rock and Edward yelled.

"ROTATE ONE EIGHTY DEGREES, THE TANK IS BEHIND A ROCK!" The K-Wagen slowly started to rotate as another round bounced of the frontal armor and up into the air.

"CONRAD, GET READY TO TAKE THE SHOT" Edward held his breath as they rotated. Conrad now had a shot and Edward crossed his fingers. They opened fire and the tank rocked to the side. It hit the Grizzly directly on its slopped armor and bounced off. Edward sighed and saw fire erupt from the Grizzly's barrel. Edward was able to let out one sigh before the round made impact. It hit the rear of the tank in the engine room and blew up. The rear of the tank lifted up a bit and Edward slammed his hand down, the little flag popping up next to him.

"That's the end of the match, the Grizzly wins" Weber grumbled over the headset. "If the Grizzly would be so kind, could you give everyone a ride back, Mr. Demo has a surprise for you."

Mr. Demo was standing next to Weber when the Grizzly pulled up. They jumped down onto the ground and Mr. Demo cleared his throat.

"Its good to see that you boys are improving. I have surprise." He opened a box that was sitting next to him. He pulled out a red military beret, he tossed it to Edward and Edward smiled. On the beret was blue metal pin, engraved was a image of the K-Wagen. Mr. Demo started to hand out the berets, each crew had an image of the tank on the pin.

"You got us uniforms?" Edward said and smiled. Mr. Demo nodded and also pulled out a brown and green camouflage jacket and some khaki pants. There were also some black boots, and a black scarf.

"Yes I did, hope you like them, because you will need to wear them soon." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"We will? Why" Mike asked.

"Well, seeing as it will be our first year entering for the tournament, we have to register in person so, the teams commander, and the sub-commander, and I have to fly out to japan. Edward paused for brief moment.

"Slight problem, we don't have either of those two people..." The group mumbled and Weber grumbled ad coughed.

"Then we might as well decide that now...Edward is the commander, and Simon is the sub-commander."

"What, why us?!" Simon said confused. Edward nodded and Weber sighed.

"You two are the best strategists on the team, that's why." Edward looked over at Simon. Simon McManus was tall, really tall, it was a marvel he even fit in a tank. He had brown hair that was slicked up in the front, and he always wore a pair of aviator sunglasses.

"Well I trust your judgement Mr. Weber."

"Hauptsturmführer Weber..."

"Yes okay...anyway, you boys get packed up, the rest of you, I want...Hauptsturmführer Weber, to instruct you and small unit tactics." Edward smiled and he looked over at Simon again, who grumbled something.

Edward felt the plane touch down and smiled. Simon was holding onto the arms of his chair and groaned. Mr. Demo woke with a jolt and mumbled incoherently before saying.

"We're here boys...what...what time is it?" Edward sighed and stretched a bit as the plane began to slow.

"Stewardess said it was six fifteen...five minutes ago, so its six twenty." Mr. Demo started to change his watch and the plane came to a stop. The Stewardess unbuckled and stood up.

"Thank you for flying Pan Am, it is currently six twenty two pm in Sendai. I hope you enjoyed your flight. Pan Am o tonde kurete arigatō. Genzai Sendai dew-" Edward tuned out the the woman talking, unbuckled and stood up. Simon did as well and pushed past Edward, running to the planes washroom.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Mr. Demo asked and yawned, standing up.

"He is just afraid of heights, he will be fine in a bit." Edward sighed and leaned against the seat. A minute later Simon came out of the washroom and groaned.

"You okay?" Edward asked.

"Yeah...I'm okay...I'm good." Simon nodded and grabbed his overhead luggage. Edward did as well and past Mr. Demo his as well . They got off the plane and walked around the airport, trying to navigate to baggage claim. When they finally found the baggage claim, there were only three bags. A man in a suit was putting them on a cart.

"Sir! Those are ours!" Edward yelled and ran over to the man. He turned and looked at them.

"Kore wa anata no monodesu ka? He said and motioned to the bags. Edward nodded.

"Those are ours..." Edward pointed to himself and the others. the man nodded and handed them their bags.

"Thank you." Mr. Demo said and went for a handshake. the man bowed. "Oh...umm." Mr. Demo looked a bit awkward and looked at Edward, who just shrugged. They left the airport.

Mr. Demo rented a car and they drove to Tokyo and pulled up at a hotel. They stepped out of the car and Mr. Demo checked the group in.

"You two are in room one ten, I'm in one eleven, be ready to leave at nine o'clock. We gotta be at the JSK building at eleven and I have no idea what traffic is gonna be like, and be in uniform. " Edward nodded and Simon yawned. The two went to their rooms and Edward sighed, sitting on one of the beds.

"So what do you wanna do, watch T.V.? Find a movie?" Simon shook his head and set his bag on the other bed.

"What's the point, it's all in Japanese anyways, we don't exactly speak the language." Edward frowned and Simon sighed.

"I'm taking a shower then I am gonna go to bed. You can do whatever you want." Edward nodded and laid down on the bed. He grabbed his phone and plugged it in. Edward put in some ear buds and started to watch some youtube. He looked up video's of the teams the participated. He didn't even take notice of the fact that Simon had went to bed, and when Edward checked the alarm clock next, it was two o'clock.

"Oh...it's pretty late...guess I can go to bed." He mumbled to himself and set his phone down. He laid down and sighed. When Edward woke up, Simon was shaking him.

"Get up Edward!" Simon yelled and shook his again. Edward opened his eyes and grumbled. Simon was already in uniform.

"What...huh...what time is it?" Edward sat up and looked around dazed.

"It's eight thirty." Edward sat straight up, suddenly fully awake.

"Half an hour!" He jumped out of the bed and stumbled over to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and put on deodorant. Edward then ran out to his bag, opened it, grabbed his uniform, ran back to the wash room and put it on. He stopped to look in the mirror and smiled.

"This uniform looks good." He smiled and adjusted his jacket, noticing the schools emblem of three white stars on a blue circle on the sleeve.

"Edward, lets go!" Simon yelled and banged on the door. Edward jumped a bit and turned off the lights.

"Yeah, okay yeah." Edward opened the door. Simon was leaning on the wall, chewing some gum.

"Slowpoke..." Edward frowned and opened the door of the room. The two walked into the lobby, where Mr. Demo was reading the newspaper on his tablet.

"Took you boys long enough, we gotta go."

"Yeah sorry, Simon was taking forever." Simon kicked Edward in the shin.

"Owww, jeez fine, I woke up late..." Mr. Demo shook his head and the group went to the rental car. They drove across the city, getting stuck in traffic along the way. When they finally reached the Japan Sensha-Dō Federation headquarters, Edward looked out the window and smiled up at the building.

"Wow...look at that." The building was far outside of the city, surrounded by trees. It looked like a rich mans mansion, painted pure white, but it was so much more. A fence surrounded the court yard, and a tank that Edward couldn't quite make out sat in the middle. Mr. Demo mumbled under his breath.

"I still can't believe we are doing this..." Edward rolled his eyes as they found a parking space outside. "Here we go."

"Relax, it'll be fine." Simon said and sighed.

"Sure it will, I am a Greek man in charge of failure of a school signing up a team full of mostly European boys for an all female sport in Japan. What could go wrong?" Edward chuckled as they opened the doors of the car.

"Well for an adult, you are pretty funny." Edward remarked and Mr. Demo laughed a bit.

"Lets just go, you two are making me sick." Simon mumbled, leaning on a light post. Mr. Demo waved them the forward as he led the way into the building. the group entered the open gate and Edward paused, looking a the tank in the court yard.

"Simon! Look, that's a Whippet!" Simon rolled his eyes.

"I really don't care." Simon mumbled and Edward frowned. Mr. Demo walked up the few steps to the door and knocked on it. Edward could here shuffling inside before the door swung open. A woman stepped out the door and smiled, Edward recognized her almost immediately from Tankery matches he had seen on television. She had short black hair, a pretty smile, and hard black eyes. She was wearing a JGSDF uniform and spoke to them in fluent English - thank god- her Japanese accent adding flavor to every word she spoke.

"We have been expecting you, I'm Ami Chōno, you must be Mr. Demo, and these two are..." She paused as she looked at the two boys. "Oh, I'm sorry, there must have been a misunderstanding. We said to bring your teams commander and sub-commander, maybe you mis-" Edward cut her off.

"And we showed up, we understood the email just fine." Edward smiled as she took a moment to realize what was going on.

"Oh...I...please step inside." She stepped aside for them to go in. "I assume you can understand why this is a bit confusing." Simon sighed and remarked sarcastically.

"I haven't the faintest idea." Simon grumbled and Edward elbowed him in the side.

"Don't be daft!"Simon frowned and Ami motioned for them to follow. She walked up a stair case and Simon raised his sunglasses, his mouth open just a bit.

"Damn..." Edward shook his head.

"Simon, have some respect." Simon lowered his glasses and frowned. Mr. Demo followed her up the stairs and Edward followed. Simon sighed and followed close behind. She was waiting for them at the top of the stairs near a door, she was no longer smiling, having obliviously heard Simon's comment. She opened the door.

"Please, you first." Mr. Demo nodded and Edward walked in, saying to her as he passed.

"Excuse my friend" She nodded and as Simon walked in, he made finger guns at her and a clicking noise with his mouth. Edward stuck his foot out behind him and kicked Simon in the crotch. He wheezed and crumpled to the floor.

"You son of a!" He croaked. Edward rolled his eyes and turned, a man was staring directly at him, and it made Edward's blood run cold. He was tall and well built. He was bald, and had a thin mustache. He wore dark robes and was holding a small white fan. It seemed like his brow eyes were judging every ounce of Edward's character.

"Miss Chōno? Who is this young man?" The man motioned to Edward.

"I don't know either sir, he has yet to be introduced to me too." Edward cleared his throat.

"My name is Edward Lewis, I'm seventeen, I'm from Wales, and, I'm the commander of my Tankery team." The man nodded and sat down.

"You are the commander, that is very interesting Mr. Lewis." He paused. "And where is your team?"

"Well I would assume they are somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Do you believe your team is ready for the tournament. Who trained your team?"

"My team is as ready as it will ever be once they reach Japan, and were trained by my friends grandfather, her operated a tank in world war two."

"And how many tanks do you have."

"We have five sir."

"What are your five tanks?

"We have a Grizzly, a Crusader Mk III, a Pz. 39, an Archer, and a Großkampfwagen." The man raised his eyebrows.

"A Großkampfwagen? Well I would very much like to see that when it arrives. I have the paper work you need to sign, and we will get you worked into the tournament." Ami spoke.

"Director sir, are we not going to address that their team is..well."

"Miss Chōno, I was already perfectly aware that their team is all boys, I have the internet...are you suggesting that we should not let a team that has come half way around the world compete simple because they-"

"No sir, I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect. I just thought that you would have more to say about it."He sighed and smiled.

"I think it is wonderful, you said before that the tournament could use some diversity, and some boys from around the world are the perfect team to do that. Now...I will get you your paper work." Edward smiled and looked over at Mr. Demo, who was fiddling with pencil. The director placed some papers on the desk and pointed.

"Mr. Demo, you sign here, and Mr. Lewis, you sign here." Mr Demo grabbed a pen and signed on the line, Edward took the the pen and signed as well.

"Now, has your team had a practice match against another team." Edward shook head.

"No, and the rest of the team won't be in japan till right before the tournament, the ship needs to refuel in Vancouver before it crosses the pacific." The man nodded.

"Well, you might be in luck, Ooarai Girls High School is on a cargo run and they might be able to have a practice match with you." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"Ooarai won the tournament last year. That would hardly be fair." The man sighed.

"I'm sorry, but if you want a practice match, they are the only team that could have a match with you." Edward paused and sighed.

"Well that settles it." Mr Demo stood up and sighed, the director stood up as well, they shook hands.

"Yes sir it does, welcome to the league, we will look forward to an interesting match"

((Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review and tell me what you think. And next chapter, well all I can say is, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas))