Third Person POV

Shells continued to pound the building the Ooarai team except for Caboose were in. The sound was deafening and small bits of rock fell onto the tanks added to the torture. The crews of the tanks continue to hunker down but then the noises stopped.

Miho: The bombardment has stopped.

The crews poked their heads out of their tanks and they saw two girls coming to the building. One of them held a white flag of truce and they stopped in front of the building.

Girl 1: We bring a message from Commander Katyusha.

Miho got out of her tank as did the student council.

Girl 1: "Please surrender. I'll forgive all of you if you bow before me." so she says.

Miho was taken aback but Momo got pissed.

Momo: What was that?! NUTS!

Girl 1: The commander says that she has a big heart, so she will wait for three hours for your response.

The two girls did a shallow bow before they started to turn around.

Girl 1: Good bye.

With that the two Pravda girls left the building as the rest of the team came to the entrance.

Noriko: Who's going to bow down to you!

Momo: She just wants to make everyone smaller than herself.

Erwin: We're fighting this until the end!

Azusa: Let's fight our way out of this!

Miho: But we're surrounded on all sides...If we fight our way out all at once, someone might get hurt....also there is-

Caesar: Wait, where is Caboose?

Erwin: Yeah where is he?

The girls looked around but they couldn't find him or his tank.

Yuzu: Where is he?

The girls turned towards Miho who is started to tear up again and looked down.

Miho: He didn't make it into the building...

This revelation stunned the Ooarai team except for the Anglerfish team.

Aya: You mean he's....

Miho looked outside the building and simply nodded slowly. The rest of the girls simply tried to digest the news however Hana decided to speak up.

Hana: I'll follow your orders commander.

Saori: Me too. I don't care if we have to bow down to her.

Yukari: Me too.

Mako: It's impressive we made it to the semifinals. Don't over do it.

Miho smiled at them but morale is still low.

Momo: No! We can't loose! We're fighting till the end!

Momo was visibly shaking and she begun to loose her cool.

Miho: But...

Momo: We're going to win! We have to win!

Her outburst brought confusion to the girls.

Miho: Why do you want to win so much? We made it so far when it was just our first time out here. I think that's amazing. Senshado isn't war. There's more important things than winning.

Momo: What's more important than winning?!

Miho: I came to this school, met all of these people, and learned for the first time what it meant for Senshado to be fun. I've fallen in love with both this school and Senshado. That's why I want to end this tournament keeping those feelings intact.

Momo stood up in shock and turned to Miho with tears in her eyes.

Momo: What are you saying?! Our school is gone if we loose!

Miho: Our school will be gone?

Momo simply looked down as tears threatened to fall out.

Anzu: Momo is right. If we don't win the nationals, our school will be shut down.

This news brought shock to the entire team.

With Caboose.

Caboose's tank is seen in a shell crater outside the village hidden from the outside. He is sitting inside the tank and has his arms around his legs which were up against his chest. He rocked back and forth waiting for help.

Caboose: Happy thoughts......happy thoughts.....

Freckles: Caboose, your body temperature is decreasing at a slow rate. You might have frostbite or even hypothermia if you don't keep yourself warm.

Caboose: I don't understand but ok.

Freckles: Get out a jacket.

Caboose: Ok.

Caboose went into his box and got out a jacket and his mittens. He put the mittens on and laid the jacket over himself like a blanket.

Freckles: What is your decision?

Caboose: I don't know...

Freckles: Do you want to surrender?

Caboose: I don't like that idea.

Freckles: They don't know where we are so we can hide for now until we come to our decision.

Caboose: I'm scared.

Freckles: I'm not sure for myself but I guess I would also be scared.

Caboose continued to think then a thought came out of his head.

Caboose: Freckles?

Freckles: Yes Caboose?

Caboose: Is surrendering going backwards?

Freckles: Yes I believe so.

Caboose got up and got into his driver seat and got his radio on.

Caboose: Well then.....I will not be surrendering.

Freckles: Caboose?

Caboose: Time to do some sneaky sneaky to the building.

Earlier with the rest of the Ooarai team.

The student council told the team about the deal they had made with Tsuji, the head of MEXT and what will happen if they don't succeed. When they finished the team's morale went lower.

Miho: So that's why you started Senshado back up...

Anzu: I also heard we would get an endowment for doing senshado so I could use that endowment to help lower operational costs.

Noriko: You mean you lied about the world tournament?!

Momo: That was true.

Azusa: But we can't just take first place our first year running!

Anzu: Well, I thought if we had such an A-rated team in the past, we'd have better tanks lying around but... They didn't have any cash, so they sold all the good ones.

Miho: So that means all the tanks here are...

Anzu: Yeah, the ones that didn't sell.

Noriko: Doesn't that make it near impossible for us?

Momo: We couldn't think of any other way..for an old school. With no special characteristics to stay alive...

Anzu: We might have bit off more then we can chew. We wanted to try to have hope, instead of spending our last year crying, it would end together.

Yuzu: I'm sorry we kept quiet and didn't tell you all.

There was a long silence but then Noriko spoke up.

Noriko: We wanted to get our volleyball team back, but if the school goes away...

Oryou: Unconditional surrender.

Yukari: I had no clue that was what was going on.

Hana: I wonder if we'll see each other again, if the school closes down.

Saori: I don't want that!

Mako: I guess I'm never going to get those units.

The Rabbit crew cried and morale dropped even more.

Miho: The match isn't over yet.

All attention is brought to Miho who has a new smile on her face.

Miho: It's not like we've lost already.

Hana: Miho...

Miho: We just have to do what we can do. I mean, I want to do Senshado next year with this school, with everyone here and Caboose.

Silence followed her words the Yukari got her fists up.

Yukari: Me, too! I feel exactly the same way!

Saori: Yeah! Let's do this! It's all over if you give up! Tanks and love!

Hana: I can still fight!

Mako: Yeah.

Miho: We won't surrender. We'll fight till the end. However I'm going to do it with a cool head, and make sure none of you get hurt.

Anzu: Right.

The air felt a lot more warmer however it was cut short by an explosion and the girls all ran to their tanks.

Momo: What! It's been three hours already!

Yukari: No I don't think it has been.

Miho: Everyone get into your tanks!

The team got into their tanks and started to listen.

Hana: They're not aiming at us...

Miho: What's going on??

Earlier with Caboose.

Caboose: Sneaking......sneaking......

Freckles: Are you sure this is the way to the building?

Caboose: Not really.....hey we can ask them.

Caboose drove his to a group of girls all in uniform and stopped right in front of their tank.

Caboose: Hi, do you know where the Ooarai team is?

The girls turned around and they all started to freak out.

Girl 1: Enemy sighted!

Girl 2: Get into battle positions!

Caboose: Oh no!

Caboose quickly turned the other way and drove away. He continued to drive when he came across more tanks all with red markings. Soon girls started to run to their tanks and they began to shoot at him.

Caboose: Running running running!

Caboose maneuvered his tank and then he saw it. The building.

Caboose: There they are!

Caboose then puts his tank into a full charge and rushed for the building. Suddenly a shell hits his side armor and he skids to the right.

Caboose: Uh oh.

Caboose redirects the power and began to straighten out however another shell made his tank drift and flip over again and again.

Caboose: I'm getting dizzy!

By some miracle he managed to get into the building still capable of fighting. The tank slowly rested on its tracks and the girls slowly got out of their tanks. Caboose slowly got out of his tank as well dazed and this surprised the girls.

Saori: Caboose?!

Caboose: Hi!

Momo: How....

Caboose: I don't know!

Freckles: Well against all odds we made it.

Yukari: We're all here!

Miho: Great! You ok Caboose?

Caboose: I'm dizzy.

Miho: Any cuts?

Caboose: No.

Yukari: Glad you made it!

Yukari went up to Caboose and gave him a hug which he returned. Miho smiled and cough to get everyone's attention.

Miho: Now that we are all here let's get to work.