Girls und Panzer: Downfall

Baptism of fire

"Since this year Kuromorimine is striving for its tenth consecutive victory, an exhibition match has been scheduled for next week. It will be against Jatkosota High School. I want you all to give your best." 
"Yes!" All the students yelled.
"Good. Today, the first years will have a match against the second and third years. It will be a…baptism of fire, to say it creatively. It will be an 8v8 flag match. Choose your flag tank wisely." 
After all the preparations for the match were done, the commanders of the two teams were given their starting positions and they drove to them. After the shot announcing the beginning of the match was fired, Michael started to get a bad feeling. He thought his team was going to get obliterated. He took a look at his hands and saw they were visibly shaking. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it was easier said than done.
"Beruhige dich, Michael…alles ist gut…" He muttered, trying to convince himself that everything was fine. In truth, everything was actually fine. He wasn't at war with anybody, which meant he wasn't going to get blasted to bits, and the first years were expected to lose against the older students, so there was nothing to worry about. Michael put on his headset, his throat mic and his hat, and sighed deeply. 
"Michael? Are you doing alright?" 
Michael turned around and glanced over to the Tiger beside him. Miho was looking at him from the commander's hatch.
"Ah…yeah I'm fine. Just a little nervous. Like…actually I'm very nervous." He admitted.
"Ah, don't worry, you'll do fine! It's normal to be nervous, but what's important is that you don't give in to your emotions and maintain your temper. You'll be fine as long as you don't panic. Your tank might be slightly inferior to the others, but it's perfectly capable of doing its damage. It's not the tank that matters, but the Commander. Wittmann or Carius didn't always have their powerful and shiny Tigers with them. Carius had a 38(t) at first, and Wittmann had a StuG. So you see, the skills of the Commander make a tank dangerous. You can't just give a Königstiger to the first person you find on the street and expect them to do good. Do you understand what I'm saying Michael?" 
Michael once again remained very surprised by what Miho'd said. She was proving herself to be a wise and strong Commander. And he was willing to follow her in battle.
"Jawohl." Michael answered reassured. 
"Good. Now let's roll out and show the senpais what we're made of." 

_-_-_-_-_-_-

A few minutes later…

_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Enemies spotted! A group of…7 Panthers and a Tiger!" 
Michael thought their situation couldn't get worse. The teams weren't balanced, according to him.
"Is that even fair?!" Michael whined. 
"What? Why?" A female voice said through his headphones. It was Erika's.
"Well…they only have Panthers, and the Commander's Tiger, while we have-" 
"No, they're balanced. We have a Jagdpanther and a Königstiger, which means we have the advantage when it comes to firepower. Dil...vice-commander, any orders?"
Miho, who was in fact in charge, had to think of a proper course of action.
"We've been spotted. The Panzer IVs are to load smoke and fire it at the enemy's feet, a hundred meters in front of them. The other tanks will fire HE, to kick up more dust and smoke." Miho ordered. Michael thought that was a very smart idea and was up for it. 
"Load the smoke." Michael commanded. After a few seconds of silence, Michael heard the sound of the breech being loaded.
"Feuer." Miho’s voice spelled loud and clear. 
“Fire the smoke.” Michael ordered. He opened his hatch and stood outside, looking with his binoculars at the enemy formation. Two smoke shells landed in front of them and covered Michael’s line of sight. 
“All tanks except the Panzer IVs, hold fire. Panzer IVs, fire one more shot.” 
“Fire another smoke round.” Michael said. The other two shots added to the curtain of smoke, making it thicker and larger.
“All tanks, forward.” 
“Forward?” Michael questioned, thinking that advancing was the opposite of a smart plan.
“Yes, forward. They have the advantage, since they’re more experienced. We are aiming at nullifying that advantage, by engaging them in close combat. Forward at full speed.” Miho said sternly. 
“Jawohl. Ren, step on it.” 
All of the 8 tanks on the hill moved forward at full speed in a perfect line. They charged down without second thoughts or regrets. Well, except Michael. He didn’t think abandoning the high ground was a good idea. 
“We have to make it in time before the smoke clears. Fire more smoke.” Miho commanded. 
“Noriko load another smoke.” 
“We have…3 left. Should I really load it?” Noriko asked. 
“Yes. M…Commander, we’ll have 2 smokes left after this one.” Michael told Miho. 
“Yes, I know. The Panzer IV’s basic loadout of smoke shells is 5.” Miho answered like that was an obvious thing.
“I’m done loading!” 
“Good. Sakura, fire it again, same place.” Michael ordered. 
The two Panzer IVs fired at the same time, keeping the smoke wall alive. Miho’s tanks were nearing the cloud of smoke. As they were about 100 meters away from it, the whole enemy formation popped up in front of them, with the Tiger as the flag tank. 
“Scheiẞe…” Michael thought out loud. 
“Everybody, don’t panic! We can do this, don’t lose your cool. All tanks, feuer!” 
Michael once again felt mildly reassured, also since he thought he wasn’t going to be targeted first: his tank wasn’t as important as Erika’s or Miho's. 
“Ren, stop. Sakura, fire on whatever Panther you want.” Michael said trying to sound professional, while in truth he was damn nervous. The Panzer IV stopped and fired. The shot was low, so the 75mm round bounced off a Panther’s front armor plate. 
“That was low, shoot it higher!” Michael yelled almost shitting his pants. The Panther stopped and started turning its turret at Michael’s tank.
“Load it load it load it load it load it load-”
“It’s loaded!”
“FIRE!” Michael shouted as loud as he’d done in a good while. Sakura fired the gun, which penetrated the Panther’s gun mask and made it start smoking. The Panther’s turret stopped moving. 
“It’s not dead?! Fire again!” Michael ordered. 
As the Panther started reversing, Sakura placed another shot in the Panther’s gun mask, on the other side, finally disabling it. 
“Ah, that was stressful…” Michael muttered. As he was starting to relax, a shot flew over him, making him scream and duck his head. As he looked in the direction where the shot had come from, he saw another Panther aiming at his Panzer IV, but this one was giving Michael a broadside. 
“Fire at the Panther giving you the side!” He ordered. As the Panther’s hull started turning, Sakura snuck one between its track and its side armor, near the driver. As soon as Michael started wondering why she’d fired there, he saw fire blazing out of every one of the Panther’s hatches. 
“How’d you know the ammo was there?!” Michael asked astonished. 
“I just did.” was all Sakura answered. 
Michael finally found a moment to look at the battlefield around him, and saw the enemy had 4 Panthers and the Tiger left. His team on the other hand had a Panther, the Jagdpanther, the Tiger and him left. Noticing Erika's Königstiger had been knocked out, he thought they would lose the match for sure. As the boy inspectioned the enemy’s positioning, an idea came to his mind. 
“Commander I’ve got an idea!” He said. 
“What is it?” Miho asked. 
“Let’s all hide behind the Jagdpanther!” 
To Michael, the Jagdpanther was an impenetrable barrier. At least, for a gun that wasn’t bigger or longer or the same as a long 88. 
“That could work! Everybody, reposition behind the Jagdpanther!” 
In the process of repositioning, the Panther on Michael’s team got disabled, but the Tiger and Panzer IV made it. At that point, the enemy formation spread out and started moving, trying to flank the three opponents. 
“Shit…fire on the rightmost Panther.” Michael ordered. Sakura fired, but the shot was too high and ricocheted off the Panther’s gun mask. Three enemy Panthers fired at the Jagdpanther, but its armor still held up. The fourth fired at the Panzer IV, but missed by a hair. 
“They’re getting too close…” Michael whined. At that point, as he searched in his mind for every possible tactic to use, one stood out above the rest. It was nothing but suicidal and risky, but it was also the only idea he had.
“Miho I’m gonna rush it! You fire on the Commander!” 
“What?!” 
“Trust me! Ren, forward full speed!” 
“S-sorry?” 
“You heard me! GO! Sakura get ready!” 
The Panzer IV rolled forward quickly, but none of the enemy tanks seemed to pay it any mind. 
“Forget about that one, it’s a distraction.” was what Maho had said upon seeing Michael’s brave yet suicidal move. The enemy tanks focused on the Jagdpanther, and managed to take out its tracks. Both of them. Meanwhile, Michael had completely flanked the enemy position, but Maho didn’t seem worried. Michael looked at the enemies for a second and picked his target. A Panther that was aiming at Miho.
“Fire on the third one to the right.” 
At that point, a beautiful one-two happened. Michael’s shot hit a track, making the Panther drift, and Miho fired directly in its side. 
“Panther n.1, focus on the Panzer IV.” Maho said calmly. A Panther from the formation switched path and charged the Panzer IV head on. 
“Hit the track!” Michael ordered. Sakura fired and the shot was true, the Panther stopped and drifted until it was giving Michael a broadside. At that, Michael saw the Tiger pointing its 88 at him with the tail of his eye. 
Three shots were fired. One hit the Panzer IV right in the front, another hit a Panther in the side, the third one hit Maho’s tiger in the side. A white flag popped up on the Panzer IV, Panther and Tiger. 
Miho let out a sigh of relief and jumped down her tank, after giving compliments to her crew for the good match. As she walked to Michael's tank she saw all his crew members were okay. But Michael wasn't with them. 
"Where's Michael?" She asked a bit worried. The 4 looked at each other and took a walk around the tank to look for him. 
"Here he is…uh, that doesn't look good…" Sakura muttered on the opposite side of the tank, catching Miho's attention. She ran around the tank, and her heart dropped as soon as she saw Michael laying on his back on the grass. 
"Michael? Can you hear me?" 
She walked up to him and lifted him up. As soon as she rested his back on the tank's side, Michael's hat fell off his head, revealing an abnormally large cut on his forehead.
"Oh no…we need a medic!"