Yukari's Equal (OC in Girls Und Panzer)

Exhilaration

Rin clenched his fists, his brows lowered. The Cromwell was giving way, and there wasn't anything to do about it. A final stand is the only way now, he wasn't going out without a fight. Rin breathed out sharply. No. Calm down. Nothing's over yet. What do you do when your mobility is rapidly decreasing? What do you do if your enemy is slowly gaining? Rin shook his head, none of these questions gave him good trains of thought. He needed to simplify the problem more. What do you do if you're slow? No..

"What do you do if you can't run?" Rin's brows furrowed. "You hide."
Rin scanned his surroundings. The terrain around them was mostly even, with large, tall pine trees decorating the forest, and dirt paths carving their way through the grassy thick ground. Ahead came a field, to the right a path that led into a long-eroded gully, and to the left the density of the brush increased so greatly, you couldn't see the ground. A shell zipped just barely past the Cromwell and destroyed the ground ahead of it. The Cromwell rocked violently as it grappled with the change in terrain, mud spitting onto its front. Another shell raked past into the ground at a low angle, flying back off the ground and hitting a stray tree. It creaked and howled in the windy rain like a wounded animal as it fell to the dirty ground. There was a loud thunk followed by a ringing clatter as a shell was ejected, and the Cromwell groaned on its suspension. The shell glanced off of the Panzer IVs Armour like a coin across a table.

"Loader, dispense a smoke grenade behind us! When that's done; Driver, turn left and head for the brush!" Maria turned hastily to the bomb-thrower, which was located to the right of her periscope. It was a funny looking thing; a small, single-action, revolver resembling gun pointing through a long barrel into the outer hull, but instead of being millimetres thick, it was a full 2 inches thick in order to fit the smoke bombs. Maria quickly put her finger on the trigger, and gave it a harsh pull. The bomb-thrower made a little thunking sound, not much else could be heard of the smoke bomb's existence outside of the hull, so Maria assumed it had worked and yelled;

"Smoke deployed!"

"Turning!" Tsuchiya carried out her orders, turning in a wide curve, trying desperately not to lose speed. The till now consistent fire of the 38(t) and the Panzer IV dwindled as their vision of the Cromwell obscured and a large bellow of smoke covered them, shifting, twisting, and turning with the wind and the pummelling rain. Dirt and mud caked the tracks as the Cromwell roared, fighting the muck and rain. Rin prayed the smoke would stay for just a moment longer.

Miho furrowed her eyebrows again, and ordered her tanks to hold fire. Smoke? Rin knows that smoke dissipates quickly in the rain, right? She kept her Tanks steadily and speedily advancing, going through the smoke, shells loaded, ready to.. Fire at nothing. The Cromwell was no longer in sight. Miho quickly opened up her hatch and poked her head out. Like a wolf smelling for the scent of a wounded prey, she kept her ears peaked and her eyes darting, but the sound of her own tanks made it impossible to make out the Cromwells engine, and still no sight was seen of the Cromwell along the horizon. Mihos eyes sharpened, her brows furrowed even more. There's gotta be some sort of evidence, some sort of track the Cromwell left.. Miho paused. Track! Mud! She hastily looked around, and surely enough, the tracks of the Cromwell could be found, now clear as day in the muddy ground, turning in a wide curve into an area of dense bushes, tall grass, and large-leafed plants to the west. They've got to be in there somewhere. Miho ordered her tanks into the brush.

The engine of the Cromwell was groaning and murmering. Rin had ordered the speed to be lowered to make it harder to hear the noise, but they couldn't stop, staying still for even a minute was a terrible idea. Miho isn't an inexperienced commander, and will pick up on the only logical choice between the available terrains, and start combing the brush. If the Cromwell wasn't as puttering as it was right now, perhaps Rin would use this opportunity to try and ambush Miho, but the engine seemed to be getting worse by the minute.