Girls Und Panzer: Up North and Down Under

Chapter 1: The Kangaroo and the Kodiak

When you make friends with some teams for the first time, sometimes they are just meant to be. I am Commander Molly Briggs, everyone calls me 'Briggsy'. I am the Commander of Team Sabretooth, and I am from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. That's right, folks, there is tankery up here, but we call it 'Armored Sporting'.

When you think of Canada and sports, you would mostly think something along the lines of hockey, Canadian Football, maybe speedskating or curling. Few would think that Armored Sporting would make it's way up north, but it did. I attend the Fredrick George Scott School of Armored Sporting where the cruiser tank is king of the field.

Our tank fits the mold of the 'Hunter-Killer'. Our friends over the border call it a 'medium tank'. I suppose it is one. The tank our students train in is the A34 Comet. With a '17 pounder' or 77mm high-velocity gun and a top speed of 51km/h, this tank is a handsome devil. Take my friendly advice, you do not want that gun pointed at you.

"Hey, what's up ladies?" I asked sitting down for lunch with the crew,

"Did you get the news?" asked Christine 'Chrissy' Wainwright, the team gunner,

"What news?" I asked curiously to the team gunner

"A couple teams from Australia are going to Japan, and they're inviting us to go along for the trip," said Tina Hu, the team driver,

"How neat, it would be a pleasure to go to Japan to compete in their competitions," I replied, Chrissy is pretty dark brown brunette that can probably hide a cellphone in her mane of curls. She usually keeps it tied back so nothing in the tank gets caught in it. Tina is a Chinese-Canadian driver with silky black hair and pretty brown eyes.

I am your typical blond and brown combination. In my best guess, my crew and I stand around 170cm tall and between 68 and 72kg. We're pretty big girls for you boys out there, "From all our time in the Euro League, it would be nice to see a change of scenery," said Olivia Reese, she is the blond and blue loader for Team Sabretooth.

"Oh! it seems we're not the only Canadians going to Japan," said Olivia, and handed me the notice of the teams of the schools attending the competition in Japan. My French is very rough, but it seems the name of the school is called the Mont Sainte-Eloi Girls School of Specialized Armored Sport. No doubt where these ladies are from.

"Quebec?" I asked with a light smirk of a grin,

"Oui," said Chrissy jokingly,

"Oh come on girls, how bad can it be to team up with a team of Quebecers?" asked Tina,

"Don't say that," Olivia reminded her,

Tank crews like ours have uniforms and we stay in dorms at these specialized schools. Our uniforms look like the Canadian Provost Corps uniforms from World War II. I was called into the Head of the Schools office with the crew, "Commander Briggs, good to see you," said the Dean of our School, Melissa Hawksley known as 'The Hawk'.

At 177.8cm and 77kg, she is a former student at this school, and trained as an Olympic speedskater. She competed in the Euro League when it was first starting out, and became the league's first Canadian champion, "The girls school in Gatineau seems to want to be in on this, they want a crack at the Japanese Teams," she explained,

With her slicked back, Trinity style black hair and brown eyes, Hawksley means business when it comes to running this special school, "We're the best in the west, and Mont Sainte-Eloi is the best in the east, it would be proper to send the best of the best to Japan just as the Australians are doing," she stated, and stood up from her desk,

"Interestingly, both schools use the same tank as us," said our school dean,

"Permission to speak?" I asked at attention, she nodded to grant it, "I feel that will make it easier to build tactics around,"

"Good point, it also eliminates the need for tank destroyer support," the dean said in agreement,

"By the way, when will we meet the team from Mont Sainte-Eloi?" I asked curiously,

"Right now," said the dean as she sat back in her desk, and from the side entrance to her office came a young lady about my size in a similar uniform with a blue stripe around the crown of her cap. We saluted each other. This one had short, boyish looking hair in chocolate brown with hazel eyes, "her team will be going with you to Japan,"

"Esmeralda Couteau, Commander of Team Wolfpack of the Mont Sainte-Eloi Girls School," said the French-Canadian in a thick accent to her English. I have faced her before in the Nationals, she is a heck of a commander. So there is a mutual respect between us. I shook hands firmly with her after we saluted, "good to see you off the field,"

"Good to have you with us, Couteau," I replied, Team Sabretooth and Team Wolfpack, what better combination of team names is there? As we got to know the crew from Quebec, I began wondering to myself. What were the teams in Japan going to be like? I wonder how they would feel about us coming to their country in order to compete?

"Four Comet tanks, two Canadian and two Australian," I said in approval,

"Look at it this way, you won't need a translator between our teams," Esmeralda joked,

"What do you think is waiting for us in Japan?" I asked the French-Canadian commander,

Esmeralda smirked a grin back, "Not sure, I guess we will have to wait and see,"