《Fire and Frost: The Tanks of New Hazelfield》


 Chapter 1

    Deep within the seventh floor of the Shifting Woods, a lone tank crept through the snow. The howling blizzard made visibility extremely limited for the crew, but also provided a small benefit to the medium tank''s stealth. Its frostbane armor naturally blended into the never ending flurry, its soft white hue and ice blue highlights were difficult to spot in the world of dark and white. Camouflage wasn''t its only form of passive stealth, its tracks had been made from shadow steel, greatly reducing the noise emanating from the tank as it rolled along. Shadow steel had also been used in the creation of the main gun, muffling the sound and flash it made. Rocket racks adorned the sides of the turret, providing additional firepower to the three and a half inch, fifty-four caliber gun.


    Inside the tank, Nash could feel her heartbeat inside of her vulpine ears. Her long raven hair was as dark as the inside of the metal box she was driving. Only the faint glow of neon blue holographic screens provided illumination inside the tank. These screens were created by the crew¡¯s magic and provided important information for their roles. While her sapphire eyes couldn''t find anything in the great expanse of white, her gut told her something was out there. Something large and dangerous was close. The fox girl¡¯s ears and tail twitched nervously at the uncertainty.


    Her co-driver, Alex dutifully plotted a course on the grid map he had created using his navigation skills and mana. He used landmarks and his best guess to determine where they were and record where they had been. His most important role however, was to keep track of the next shift in the Woods. It was a job Nash refused to do. The thought of having all of your work undone and starting over and over again was unbearable.


    Nash could easily look at his screen, but it filled her with anxiety. She didn''t like the countdown timer or the guess work, she left it all to Alex. She just wanted to drive, it was the only time it felt like she was in control of her fate.


    ¡°From the information I''ve gathered, there shouldn''t be anything dangerous on this route. Well nothing that could pierce our armor.¡± Alex said with a comforting smile. Unfortunately, she saw more kindness than confidence in his brown eyes. ¡°That look¡¯s not actually reassuring, Alex.¡± Nash thought to herself. She inspected his face for more information, but didn''t find anything that would calm her nerves. Instead she found her anxiety growing as the awkward silence stretched on. ¡°Do you use the same shampoo as your sister?¡± Nash asked, pushing the last thought she had out of her mouth as a last ditch effort to end the silence. It was a valid question. His brown hair had a nice sheen to it, like his twin sister Sam. Alex responded with a surprised blank stare.


    As the awkwardness rose from the hull and into the turret, Liora realized she was going to have to do something. The busty elf with striking curves, amethyst eyes, and thigh length cyan hair, was the tank commander, loader, and gunner. She wanted to be the one to pull the trigger, and she could load with magic faster than some grunt. This tank was her steel kingdom. Its crew were her subjects that were there to take her from A to B and give her the information she needed to bring down her enemies. Having taken notice of her driver''s nervous twitchiness, she did the most natural thing for a leader to do, she delegated.


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    Sam suddenly found Liora¡¯s elbow inside of her back. ¡°Oww!¡± The ponytailed brunette yelped. She turned around to give Liora a piece of her mind when she noticed her brother¡¯s pleading eyes. The awkward silence hadn''t yet reached the rear of the turret were the comms and radar station sat, facing away from the rest of the crew. This arrangement gave Liora the ability to look at Alex''s map data when facing forward or turn around to see Sam¡¯s radar screen. The headphones she wore, had initially insulated her from the awkwardness, but it was now time for her skill set to come into play. ¡°I haven''t gotten anything on my radar returns and there''s been no radio contact.¡± She sent the information on her screen to Alex. He breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°See Nash nothing to worry about.¡± His smile brightened and his eyes filled with confidence. Nash trusted her gut more but she found it difficult to argue with the twins. They had all the evidence and were C-Rank adventurers. Nash was just a D-Rank starting out. She had jumped at the chance to join a tank crew with an A-Rank adventurer as the commander not realizing the kind of person Liora was. As the daughter of a kitsune and human paladin, her ability to detect evil creatures was overwhelming. She knew they were wrong she just couldn''t prove it.


    By adjusting the dials next to her, Nash could control what type of fuel was going into the engine. In this case, she was mixing predominantly, shadow and wind mana, with a small amount of fire mana. The tank slowly began to lighten and it''s treads left a fainter track in the snow. ¡°Nash at this rate, we''ll make it to the palladium mines but we''ll only have five minutes to gather before the next shift.¡± Alex said. His polite smile waivered for a second before returning. Nash understood and reached to change the dials, but hesitated she didn''t know what to set the fuel mixture to. In order to up the speed she would have to compromise stealth. ¡°Are you sure there''s nothing on radar?¡± Nash asked Alex in a small pleading voice. ¡°Hey Sam you got anything?¡± Alex yelled at his sister. ¡°Nothing but a lousy older brother.¡± Sam yelled back. ¡°According to my worthless sister we have nothing to worry about. I have to agree with her this time. FrostBreaker was built to withstand the conditions on the thirty-seventh floor. It''s doubtful we''ll come across anything that will be a challenge for our tank here.¡±


    ¡°You heard the Twins, there''s nothing out there. Now giddy up!¡± Nash felt Liora¡¯s grey knee boot connect with her shoulder. ¡°I''m not your horse!¡± Nash wanted to snap back but instead she held her tongue. Liora the Excommunicated had a formidable aura around her and was the only one who offered her a job. So Nash was willing to deal with her, even though the offer came with taking on twenty percent of the debt owed on the tank. A small price to pay for her dreams. ¡°If our fearless commander wants some giddy up, I''ll give it to her alright.¡± Nash thought to herself. Alex squirmed in his seat. Although he couldn''t see the evil smirk on her face, but he could feel a change in her mood.


    Nash adjusted the dials, completely depriving the engine of all shadow mana and instead adding light mana to the fuel. The tank''s armor improved slightly but more importantly it''s engine would be temporarily stronger. Next she flipped a switch and drained one of their three high class health potions into the tank. Finally she maxed out the fire and wind mana, increasing them far beyond the maximum amount. The tank suddenly lurched forward fast and hard. The sudden acceleration almost threw the elven commander from her seat. Liora¡¯s annoyance gave way to shock. She never imagined the tank could hit fifty miles per hour in a blizzard. ¡°You might actually have some talent Nash.¡± Liora said with a faint smile.

 Chapter 2

    Another volley of cannon balls caused Nash to groan as she tried to keep the tank under control. She felt the tank shake hard and she could hear the wheels inside the track unbending themselves as the last of the health potion in the line was used up. Nash knew they couldn''t take too many more hits from the ship. Because of her they only had two healing potions left for the tank and on top of that she had used some of their precious light mana. ¡°Darn it!¡± Nash said under her breath. Without radar the rest of the crew was blind to the threat and without the compass, Alex couldn''t give her an escape route. Nash''s heat began to heat faster and faster as fear and panic began to take over her mind.


    ¡°Panicking is never an option. You must have faith in your abilities and find the path the Lord has chosen for you.¡± Once again her grandfather''s words came to her in her time of need. Nash closed her eyes, settled her beating heart and began to meditate. She needed to clear her mind and embrace the gifts she had been born with and the discipline her clan had instilled in her. She may not be able to hear, smell, or even see the enemy but there was another way to track it, astral-tethering. ¡°Manifest my miracle. Turn my faith into divine guidance.¡± Nash said in a silent prayer. She let her other senses go dull and only focused on detecting the energy around her and driving. She didn''t need her sight to drive, she had grown comfortable enough with the tank to know where the controls were by feel and muscle memory.


    She embraced the dark world behind her eyelids, she could no longer see the physical world, but now she could see the unseen. Underneath them were enormous pockets of malicious energy. She could see ten feet wide red fish shaped blobs swimming below them. It was like a massive lake filled with evil monstersous fish. Even more interesting than that was Sam and Alex¡¯s energy. Inside of Alex¡¯s mana pool slept a golden wolf cub. It was almost like Alex¡¯s mana had been turned into an egg for the wolf. Sam had the same kind blue energy as her brother''s but it didn''t have some strange creature inside of it. But there was an extra aura next to her, like her violin had its own agenda. It had red malicious energy but it was becoming lighter almost pink. Like it was slowly being tamed. Nash wasn''t very interested in Liora¡¯s energy. It was a raging purple flame with a black flame burning in the center of it. It''s exactly what she expected to be there. Finally she found the ship. It wasn''t very hard to find a giant frigate sized mass of malicious energy. She shot out a thin rainbow like line, that looked almost as fragile as fine glass, but it would keep her aware of the ship''s movements as long as her concentration held.


    ¡°Nash open your eyes! Don¡¯t resign yourself to this fate. We still have time to... to figure something out.¡± Alex had started shouting worriedly but he didn''t know what to do either. He could see her calming herself down and muttering something with her eyes closed. It looked like she had already excepted the inevitable. He needed to do something. He needed to find a way out of this situation. ¡°Don''t bother her Alex!¡± Liora interrupted his thoughts. ¡°But look at her! She''s given up. We still have time to find away out of this. I can find something or maybe Sam can fix her radar.¡± Alex argued weakly. Sam shook her head. ¡°There''s too much interference. I can''t lock on to the wood and the cannons are made from premium grade shadow steel. I can''t find anything for my radar to lock on to. I''m mostly worthless right now. I can play you a song request on my violin but that''s about it.¡± Alex was stunned. He was having a hard thinking of something, anything that could fix this mess. Well anything that didn''t involve invoking the Moon¡¯s power. Even worse Liora seemed to be happy about the situation. ¡°Your underestimating our driver.¡± Liora chuckled. ¡°She hasn''t given up, in fact she''s found away. Take a look for yourself.¡± Liora said while sending over her screen.


    Alex could see a volley of cannon balls bouncing all around them on Liora''s turret screen, but somehow Nash dodged them with her eyes closed no less. ¡°It''s a skill called astral-tethering.¡± Liora began. ¡°It''s often used by paladins and templars as a way to see through illusions. Instead of relying on one''s eyes, this skill allows the user to view the enemy with their soul. It''s not very easy to use or practical, because of the concentration required. It''s actually surprising she can use it and drive at the same time.¡± Liora said pleased with the absolute bargain of a driver she had acquired. ¡°Nash is already at her limit, so you two need to come up with a way to find that ship through any means necessary.


    ¡°I can''t track it but Nash can? That''s totally unfair. My radar can''t track via soul vision.¡± Sam complained. ¡°Wait my radar can''t track the soul connection but Ingall can.¡± A light bulb suddenly went on in the female twin¡¯s head. ¡°Hey Alex! I got an idea.¡± Sam said as she sent a copy of her radar screen to him. ¡°What am I looking for?¡± Alex asked. Nothing yet. I''m going to use Nash¡¯s connection to find the ship and then update its location on the radar screen. I know you don''t want to do it, but can you use the moon, to get a direction and plot out the ships attack patterns and routes?¡± Sam asked already knowing what the answer was. ¡°Nooo! Absolutely not!¡± Alex shouted but ¡°I... I don''t a choice do I.¡± Alex could feel his sister''s smile, he didn''t have to look to see it was there.


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    ¡°Mother Moon in all your grace and beauty, please give this lost apostle direction.¡± With a sudden jolt, he could feel the moon¡¯s influence seeping in, but now he knew which direction he was headed in. His eyes ached as they slowly changed from amber to gold. His scalp itches as, silky sliver strands slowly pushed out the spikey brown hair. His hair wasn''t shoulder length yet, but he hoped to finish this fight before he transformed too much. The moon pulled on his ears, slowly pulling them upward and into a less human shape. More triangular with sliver fur forming on the tips.


    ¡°Manifest my music! It''s time to begin our concert Ingall!¡± Sam said as her dark brown and midnight blue violin appeared in her hands. The strings and bow produced violent orange sparks as they made contact. Nash groaned as the horrible noise assaulted her mind and ears. Her soul vision blurred as her connection was rattled by the violin¡¯s discord. ¡°I¡¯ve hit the connection!¡± Sam said with glee. ¡°I don''t think that was a good thing.¡± Alex responded. He could see the agony all over Nash''s face and they had barely missed the volley by a quarter of an inch. ¡°It¡¯s a great thing. It means I''m on the right track. I just need to find the harmony.¡± The strings sparked with purple flames as she drug the bow across. Nash groaned less loudly. It was less awful and distracting, but still not helpful. It felt like an off key song. It was like a friend doing a poor job at singing their favorite song. Slightly painful but somehow enduring.


    Sam brought the bow against the strings once more, this time blue flames roared. Sam''s smile widened. She had found her muse. Sam began to play a fast energetic folk tale like song. She could feel her inspiration surging. Her fiddle burned hot with an energetic blue flame. Nash could feel it too. Suddenly her connection was more solid than before. It was no longer like glass waiting to be broken it was now solid as steel and able to withstand anything that came its way. She no longer had a vague idea of where it was, now not only did she know where the ship was but when exactly it was going to fire.


    Alex saw the ship pop up on radar and breathed a sigh of relief. There was now a good chance this fight would be over sooner than later. He could already feel his waist narrowing and hips widening. He could even wiggle a nub of a tail that was growing. But now wasn''t the time to worry about it. ¡°B9!¡± Alex shouted, while sending a grid map of the lake to Liora. Her amethyst eyes sparkled and her smile widened.


    ¡°Its time to begin the counterattack! Manifest my will! Command cards active!¡± Liora¡¯s voice boomed. The obsidian colored leather pouch on her hip glowed with a purple hue and then five dark cards materialized in her hands. Her cards contained the crest of her family on the back. An ice shield with a proud amethyst jewel in the center. ¡°Enter draw phase!¡± A sixth card appeared in her hand. ¡°Hmm...¡± She mulled over her options. She had drawn two smoke shells, which weren''t useful in this situation. A dragon fire rocket barrage and an ice lance rocket barrage. She wasn''t sure how far the four and a half inch rockets would penetrate the Kidd¡¯s Revenge¡¯s wooden hull. The last two cards were an HE shell and a super heavy AP shell. Ideally she would have liked to get a normal AP shell first and test the penetration.


    ¡°Enter load phase!¡± Liora commanded. The breech mechanism opened on her command. ¡°Load HE!¡± The HE shell card disappeared from her hand and then the shell appeared in the breech, after which the mechanism closed. ¡°Load ice lance barrage!¡± Again the card disappeared from her hand, followed by the once empty forty-four rocket racks filling with four and a half inch ice blue rockets. ¡°Enter Fire phase!¡± The rocket racks came to life, firing all the ice blue rockets in an impressive volley of fire. They screamed like metallic banshees as they head in the ship''s direction. Nash smiled as she felt the ship become rocked by a series of explosions. Massive shards of ice now covered the hull of the ship and prevented some of the cannons from being able to fire on that side. After seeing the rockets detonate, she fired the main gun, now knowing for sure where the ship was. Orange flashed from the barrel and moments later a large explosion rang out.


    While impressive the counterattack had failed to take down the ship and soon more cannonballs were dancing around FrostBreaker. ¡°It looks like they''re turning to get in front of us! D9!¡± Alex said giving his best guess at where she should aim.


    ¡°Draw phase!¡± The image of a gremlin appeared in her hand. A potentially useful card but more importantly. ¡°Load phase! Load Super heavy AP!¡± The gun¡¯s breech once again obeyed her command and filled itself with the shell. ¡°Load dragon fire rockets!¡± The racks once more filled with rockets, this time of a crimson variety. ¡°Fire phase!¡± The shell left the muzzle at an incredibly speed. The shell ripped through Kidd¡¯s Revenge smashing two cannons out of ship. They hit the snow covered ice with a heavy thud before cracking the ice and sinking. A follow-up of dragon fire rockets collided with the pirate frigate and set off some gun powder and started fires. It was a short lived victory as the well trained skeleton crew quickly put out the fires.

 Chapter 3

    ¡°Looks like they felt that one.¡± Liora said with a smile. ¡°I think they''re trying to crack the ice around us. I''m noticing more and more hot shot rounds bouncing around us. Alex said as his voice became a little higher and sweeter sounding. The moon tugged harder on his ears, as his new sliver hair pushed below his shoulders. His wolf ears grew to their full size and shifted upward towards the top of his head. ¡°Hmm.¡± Liora ignored the sounds of Alex''s frame transforming and began to think of a plan to counter the pirates, she knew of a gamble she could take but she needed to know what the cards had to say first.


    ¡°Draw phase!¡± A new rocket barrage card appeared in her hand. Lightning rocket barrage. Not something too useful against a wooden ship. It was perfect for the mechas she had been planning to battle today, but also. ¡°Load phase!¡± Loader Gremlin load smoke shell! The gremlin card came to life and loaded something into the breech. He snickered mischievouslly and blew her a kiss. Two new cards appeared in her hands. Apprentice Alchemist loader maid and another super heavy AP round.


    ¡°Curse these pirates! I''ve could have been hunting mechas in leisure! I''ll make them pay for sure.¡± The maid was her favorite servant card and was an extremely expensive and rare card wanted by all. Being severed fine tea by a blonde maid with fabulous drill hair in cute twintails was the penical of luxury, when it came to dungeon crawling in a tank. She wasn''t too useful in this situation, since she placed mysterious alchemical shells into the breech for three turns. The trade off for not having to use shell cards for three turns was just how random the maid''s shells could be. Most of the time they were weaker than using a normal shell card but every now and then the maid shells were extremely powerful.


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    ¡°Load Lightning barrage!¡± The rocket racks filled with strange pulsing purple rockets. ¡°Fire phase!¡± Liora prepared herself for whatever the gremlin had loaded. Thunder clapped out of the tank¡¯s barrel and hurled itself into the ship''s hull. The ship rocked and some of the hot shot rolled over board into the ice below. The crew of the Kidd¡¯s Revenge were shaken at first but then noticed it was just a giant chunk of metal stuck in their hull. It''s bizarre electricical discharges wasn''t a problem for skeletons like them. Liora smiled at her luck and let loose her screaming metal banshees. The ship became engulfed in explosions and electricical discharges from the bits of metal stuck in its hull.


    The pirates crew misfortune didn''t end there, however. The ice beneath them cracked and groaned until giant monstersous eels slammed themselves into the ship. The skeletons attempted to thrust their swords into the beasts, as they tried to devour their now electrically chargered cannons. The skeletal sailors found themselves completely overwhelmed by the school of eels and were soon eaten or thrown overboard. ¡°Something¡¯s happening around the ship. There''s a huge number of returns!¡± Alex said while trying to lower his more feminine sounding voice. There wasn''t much time left before Moon finished shaving off his masculinity. He really didn''t want to know what type of body the Moon wanted today.


    ¡°Draw phase!¡± Liora''s smile turned into an evil grin. ¡°Gitty up!¡± Nash¡¯s connection instantly shattered and she returned to the world of the metal box once more. ¡°Why¡¯d you do that?!¡± Nash asked. She was too shocked to keep her mouth shut like normal. ¡°I''ve just drawn the card needed to end this battle, but I need you to take us to full speed so I can deliver the killing blow.