The Neko and the Tank

The SDC freight train's crew, unaware of the situation that unfolded beforehand, drew closer and closer to the outskirts of the city of Vale. They had to unload their goods in the nearby rail terminal, where it is further distributed to an urban distribution center deeper within the City of Vale. As the city walls were closing in, the train conductor sounded the horn to announce their presence in the city. Meanwhile at the backmost part of the train was an increasingly damaged tank riding across the rails attached to the last car of the train.

The train was at the northern side of the City of Vale, more specifically it was heading straight to the commercial district where it would give out its dust before heading towards the industrial district to give out its weapons to buyers.

'Looks like I'll get off from here.'

Hanns let the tow cable detached from the train's coupling and skidded to a stop letting the train go further and further away as he grinded what remains of his mangled tank treads away from the train rails. He did not want to get into Vale yet despite his earlier enthusiasm, he had unwillingly confirmed at what part of the canon he was when he accidentally knocked Blake out. So there was no reason to try and find out the timeline. However, there was still a problem at hand for Hanns.

'Now what to do with you?'

He looked towards the cat Faunus still wedged in between his turret and hull. He brought up his menu to look at his account. He had been thinking for a while about what tank he should go for next. He wanted to keep the firepower and speed while having enough armor to resist a few attacks. Which led to the choice he had in mind for the new tank. All he needed was some research points but he needed to grind.

'I shouldn't leave you around like this. I don't know if grimm are going to attack you while you are unconscious.'

The choice he had in mind was the Pz. III Ausf. F, unlike his current Pz. II C he could fire further, punch harder, move faster, and take blows more often. Although compared to other tanks he could get it was very slow at turning the turret. Which meant it was harder at close quarters like he was doing with his Pz.II C. To his credit, the choice to fight close quarters was one out of necessity rather than preference.

He would rather snipe a target from afar than risk fighting at close range. All of these would be fixed if he knew how to change vehicles. Checking the timer left on the help page he sighed at the time left.

'4 hours left, guess I'll plop down Blake somewhere I could see and try to snipe grimm nearby. At least it'll help my target practice.'

Hanns took the time to repair his tracks, the chipped, bent, and warped metal in his tracks began to go back into shape while forming new metal on spots where it was missing chunks of metal

'100 SL? Fair enough.'

The tank drove up to a hill, Hanns stood for a moment to admire the European-looking city in the distance. Vale itself was inspired by old European architecture, it reminded him of his ancestor's home. He stopped at a stump on top of the hill and tried to get Blake off him.

'Right, how should I do this?'

He tried slowly going forward but to no avail, Blake was stuck in between the turret and the hull of the tank. With nothing else in mind, he decided to drive his tank backward a good distance from the stump.

'Sorry about this Blake.'

He floored on the acceleration and as his newly repaired tracks dug at the ground he could feel his speed increasing. Just as he was drawing closer to the tree stump he braced as he hit the tree stump and Blake's unconscious body was finally removed from him and chucked into a nearby tree.

Seeing that Blake was finally moved he turned his turret around feeling relieved that he could finally turn it without something blocking it. Hanns took a moment to survey the area around the hill he went to. Numerous packs of grim were nearby with more numerous ones further down away from the hill. It was quite far but constant readjusting and range finding will do the work.

'Alright, time to hunt.'

He felt his inner workings moving and the charging handle of his machine gun pull back and go forward with a resounding 'kar-chunk'. He felt his engine act up and his muffler letting out more exhaust. He aimed a pack of beowolves and eyed its distance before unleashing his first shot.

3 hours later…

The cat-eared Faunus woke up with pain in her neck and aches all over her body. She had not been expecting to wake up upside down and crashed right next to a tree. She grabbed her head trying to soothe the pain she felt.

'What happened?'

She let herself up and felt her clouded memories come back.

'That's right after I left the White Fang I wanted to apply at Beacon to help the Faunus in a different way than what Adam was doing. Then after that…I'

*THAG*

Hearing the sound of a cannon nearby she immediately recognized it as the same cannon from when she was in the train car. Her brain sobered up from the daze she was in earlier and her battle instincts made her reach for Gambol Shroud which was still attached to her with the ribbons she was using to fight.

She observed her surroundings looking for the vehicle that attacked her. She held a stance for a second before considering her circumstances.

'Didn't I land on the vehicle after getting my aura broken? I don't recall Atlesian droids to have ever released someone in their custody after catching them. Was it not part of the SDC?'

*THAG*

Another shot was heard and she turned her head in the direction of where it came from. Her superior hearing made her pinpoint sounds with better accuracy than a mere human.

*THAG*

She could flee right now if she wanted to, but she wanted to know why it left her here rather than taking her into prison or something similar. She followed the sounds and went down the hill before reaching a clearing with it embroiled in a battle with an Ursa Minor.

There were already the decaying bodies of grimm littering the ground near where the machine was fighting. Blake was curious about the machine and climbed atop a tree to see it fight an ursa.

Hanns was at this point 3 hours deep in fighting grimm. He had gone in all directions after the initial waves of grimm around the hill were all eliminated. He strayed further from Blake as he was confident that he had taken out the vast majority of the grimm populace around her.

*THAG* *THAG* *THAG* *THAG*

Hanns launched another volley at the exposed underbelly of the Ursa as he baited another attack from the Ursa and sped away.

'Damn these things are really durable.'

The Ursa was weakening and tried to chase after Hanns but couldn't get up from the multitude of damage it received to its joints that Hanns targeted.

It was a strategy Hanns developed after fighting a few while waiting for Blake to wake up, he would target their joints before closing the distance. The ursa was getting tired of getting pelted by Hanns and tries to swing with its powerful paw only to fall short because Hanns stayed far enough to immediately retreat on seeing the obviously telegraphed strike.

Getting rid of their mobility would make it easier to dodge its attacks. He needed to bait them into an attack for him to shoot its weaker unarmored belly. Its fur on the outside was very tough compared to the belly so to save on cannon shots he used it up on times where he could target the underside of the Ursa. While in battle, he only had a limited supply of ammunition until he could get a refill after the battle.

After a final drive-by the Ursa attempted one last desperate attack but after another volley of shells hit its chest and pierced through the skin layer, the shells lodged themselves in its fur before detonating its explosive within which churned it's inside and hunks of decaying flesh was blasted out from a gaping hole, the Ursa finally dropped down on the ground after a few minutes in battle.

[Mission Accomplished]

Air Targets Destroyed: 0

Ground Targets Destroyed: 106 / 1,578 SL

Enemy Kill Assist: 0

Critical hits: 48 / 406 SL

Hits: 153 / 573 SL

Zones Captured: 0

Battle Time: 7:40 389 SL

Activity: 100%

Reward for winning: 607 RP 1706 SL

Achievements: 500 RP 600 SL

Total: 1,107 RP 5,252 SL

Modifications research: 1,107 RP

Vehicle research: 369 RP

Time: 13:53 Convertible RP: 978 RP

'That's the 6th massive wave today, it seems like the edges of the city are good places to grind in. The smaller battles are good but it's good that the longer ones gave much more SL and RP'

SL = 9,206 SL + 3875 + 1869 + 1456 + 3436 + 1539 + 1473 + 5252 → 28,106 SL

MOD RP = 347 RP → 4,508 RP

VEHICLE RP = 1,679 + 675 + 335 + 593 + 396 + 315 + 273 + 1,107 RP → 5,373 RP

CONVERTIBLE RP = 3,067 RP → 9,028 RP

GOLDEN EAGLES = 0

'YES!'

He had finally done it, he reached enough RP to obtain the Pz.III Ausf. F. He looked at the timer on the help page to see it had 1 hour left for another question to the moderator. He smiled to himself and got ready to leave for the stump he left on the hill.

'Gotta go back to Blake, I still need to mime out an apology and show of peace…. somehow.'

Hanns reengaged his engine as he traveled slowly towards the hill where Blake was lying knocked out. He reached his destination but didn't notice the presence of missing cat Faunus lurking at the top of the trees.

'Hmm?'

Noticing the stump and using it as a landmark he spun his turret trying to search for the missing cat faunus that was launched towards a tree hours ago. Figuring the worst has happened he dropped his barrel in disappointment.

'I see… she must've left already.'

Turning around he was surprised to see the cat faunus he was looking for moments ago reappearing right behind him.

'Woah! I thought I looked there a moment ago, where did she come from!'

Remembering what he wanted to do when she wakes, he immediately circled his barrel hoping that she didn't become aggravated like before at the gesture.

Blake meanwhile, was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that this hunk of metal was circling its barrel. She recalled that it did the same thing when she first saw it and stared wide eyed at the implication.

'Is it… trying to be friendly?'

Not knowing if the gesture worked or not, he transitioned to swaying its turret left and right. Blake got an answer for her question earlier, the question of if it was Atlas who created this, since it was acting very unusual the answer to that was no. Blake was dumbfounded and she couldn't help but ask.

"Are you talking to me?"

'Yes finally oh my god!'

Hanns rapidly made his turret go up and down, trying to signal a yes to the cat faunus. Blake was amazed.

'Was this artificial intelligence?'

Blake was nervous but it didn't let it show as she slowly approached the machine pointing its barrel directly at her face. With a calm exterior she ignored her instincts at the barrel pointing down at her as she approached.

Step after step she slowly strode towards the intimidating figure. Raising her hand towards the machine's hull she felt the steel it was made out of slowly seeping its cold temperature, chilling her warm hand.

'Guess this means we're friends now.' Hanns reacts.

Blake finally lets her guard down and lowers Gambol Shroud as she fully understands the situation. She was curious as to what this thing was not to mention how it looked.

Never in the history of Remnant had a thing been made. Bullheads were the main transport in Remnant, it could fly and some models could dish out damage but this was different. It only had a small turret with what looked like a lot of metal wheels turning some sort of metal band of plates.

"So are you some sort of AI?" Blake asks.

'Oh God I haven't thought about how to respond. Umm, let's go with me being the tank itself, no possession or something. Don't want Penny's father dissecting me to improve her daughter's human-like emotions.'

Hanns swayed his turret left and right as if to show denial on the question.

"Are you… human?"

Hanns once again did the same motion as before.

"Then what are you?"

Hanns shrugged, if only he could.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Hanns turned himself towards the city of vale and nodded with his barrel.

"I see…"

The conversation went silent, as expected, Blake can't really hold a conversation with a mute much less a tank but she tried nonetheless.

Sensing the current awkwardness of the mood, Hanns opened up his tech tree and looked for the medium tank he'd been wanting to get. He mentally pressed the research button and his RP went down considerably followed by him pressing the purchase button respectively.

VEHICLE RP = 5,373 RP → 1,373 RP

SL = 28,106 SL → 26,106 SL

MOD RP = 4,508 RP → 0

[Notice: Each vehicle has a separate pool of modification RP]

'Alright now I just need to ask the moderator how to switch vehicles.'

He was about to navigate through the help page before being bombarded by a multitude of notifications. Hanns skimmed through the notifications before staring wide-eyed, if he had any, at the descriptions.

*Ding!*

[Congratulations!]

Description: You have done it! You have successfully braved the first moments in your first world! Showing your resilience and skill you have unlocked previously locked content!

*Ding!*

After reaching a milestone you have received the following new functions:

*Ding!*

[Crew management]

*Ding!*

[Squad]

*Ding!*

[Perspective Change]

*Ding!*

[Events]

*Ding!*

[Daily Tasks]

*Ding!*

[Special Tasks]

*Ding!*

[Gaijin Marketplace]

*Ding!*

[Inventory]

*Ding!*

[Simulator Battles]

[Notice: Help Page was updated accordingly]

'Holy shit.'

HANNS ACCOUNT:

SL = 26,106 SL

MOD RP = (4,508 RP)

VEHICLE RP = 1,373 RP

CONVERTIBLE RP = 9,028 RP

GOLDEN EAGLES = 0