Girls Und Panzer Tankery's End

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Nonna woke up from no external means. Her eyes fluttered open and she recognized the cave. Immediately she looked the boy, Austin, wanting to check his condition. He hadn't moved all night, still lying on his stomach and his breathing seemed normal enough. Though Nonna knew she'd have to wait for him to wake up before continuing on. He could still be in too much pain to walk.

Nonna stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave. She looked eastward and saw the sun was barely peeking the horizon. She knew someone was coming for them but as soon as Austin woke up, they'd have to start moving. Hopefully they would find either team and get the other a ride back to friendly lines.

Nonna heard groaning inside and heading back in to check on her fellow 'castaway'. Austin had woken up and was trying to raise himself off the ground. He still felt some discomfort in his back, but he would be able to walk.

"Are you ok?" Nonna asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can walk. Thank you for what you did." Austin said giving her jacket back.

"No, thank you. Forgive me if I'm mistaken but the whole time it felt like you were trying to keep me out of harms way." Nonna said putting her jacket on.

"Yes, I was." Austin said.

"Why did you take that hit on the ground? The damage could have been worse." Nonna explained.

"I don't know. I just thought that I couldn't let you get hurt. Besides I'm fine now." Austin said.

Nonna didn't know what to think upon hearing that. She was a little confused. No one back home would do that for her.

"We should get going. If I remember correctly the wild animals inhabit this mountain, they'll be waking up soon, I wouldn't want to become breakfast for a pack of wolves." Austin said.

Nonna didn't know either to laughed or sigh. His attempt at humor was surprising to her. Normally she would be surrounded by the stoic students of Pravda High School. Humor was very little and nonexistent in these situations.

Austin and Nonna began moving. They chose to move east. Hopefully the others were already searching for them. Though the snow made walking somewhat of a chore it was a manageable one.

Nonna took this time of silent walking to further study her companion. He seemed very focused and headstrong. Americans were always like that in her eyes. Stubborn and wild, like an animal. Yet her mother had visited America before and she told her of a people so 'patriotic' that they would fight for their rights and beliefs. This was very foreign for Nonna, most Japanese wouldn't consider fighting or anything like that as a form of proving your point or defending one's belief. Granted the Japanese history is full of war, however after the war when America intervened and forced Japans surrender, they introduced new means of things. Giving power to the common people and making a nation so lovable it was historical.

But now Nonna was seeing that in the Americans as they fought on this island. They were fighting either to prove a point or to protect something. And she had a very good guess as to what it was.

"Why did you accept the challenge given to you by the Sensha Do Federation?" Nonna asked.

Austin turned around somewhat surprised at the question. "Well, your Federation is trying to dismantle a sport in another country because it believes it can. So, I accepted to participate because I want to protect my sport." Austin said.