:: Dear Diary… In the past few days, Nello and I have gotten a lot closer. No, we’re not dating, so stop giving me that face or I’ll pinch you. Ahem, as I was saying, Nello and I are becoming more of a cohesive unit. We have been training non-stop, me with shooting practice with my rifle and Nello with learning hove to be more evasive despite his heavyset. As much as we rely on his armor too much, there are times where he has to be quick on his feet…tracks… wheels, anyway, the important thing is we need to know when to move at a moment’s notice! Just like Mother told me ‘Smooth as a Cadillac Panther - Sting like a Sabre Wasp, and that is how you get your man’….GAAAAAH! I WAS SUPPOSED TO OMIT THAT USELESS LAST PART! DELETE THAT! DELETE THAAAAAAT! ::
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<< Nello is stricken with FEAR. He is unable to move. >> << Please seek therapy from a Psychologist regarding his troubled childhood. >>
“You can do it Nello! Come on! Jump!”
“…………………………..Big Sis… I really don’t want to drown.”
“No you won’t!! Did you not see me hopping over the steps? If I can do it, you can do it too! Now jump over the river!”
"... Uwaah! I-it's 20 meters deep! I-i can't do it!"
"Don't look down! I keep telling you, don't look down or you'll ruin your courage! Now jump already!"
The Half-Elf Girl could be seen waving her hands up and down as if flagging down a plane. The way she moved her slender arms was a nice way to emphasize how buoyant her breasts were to the world. As there was no man in sight, she didn’t have to worry about them attempting to fall out of her brassiere or igniting unnecessary fantasies for people.
It was because she had her tank friend with her. He’s not a guy… kind of. He sounds like a little boy, but has zero interest in her sexy Half-Elven body... right?... Yeah, zero interest. Too flat.
"... I feel like I want to punch someone, but she's way beyond my reach for some reason."
Gulp.
"...Big Sis. Let's not do this. I-I want to go home...even if Stalingrad is scary."
“Nello! You have to do this! There’s going to be time in our future quest where the terrain is not to your favour! We tested you in the sand, and you couldn’t get out of a ditch that was no deeper than a sand pit in one of those golfing courses important doctors play at!! Not to mention, you sink when you stand still on the mud.”
“I-I know I’m getting fatter every time the Russian Army shoves more artillery shells into my pockets, b-b-but this is too much! Th-there is no way I could be as light as a Mink a-and these sticks standing in the middle of the river are too small for me!”
“They’re not sticks, they’re logs. They used to hold a bridge until an old war 10 years ago blew it up, leaving only the supports. They’re big enough for my two feet to hop across! Do you not see me twirling around over here. You can do it, Nello, you think you can! You think you can! You think you can!”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I don’t think so!”
“NELLO!”
The T-34 Tank wasn’t by the Half-Elf's side. Blasphemy, simply blasphemy! Her beloved tank should always be right behind her no matter where she went. Always following three steps behind her with head down and will only speak when it is necessary…Oh sorry, this narrator was thinking of the Yamato Nadeshiko… the ideal Japanese wife. Excuse her. Cough.
So in summary, Nello the Soviet Tank could be found sitting on top of a perch that was curled over a deep ravine. Like Pastrache mentioned, there used to be a wooden bridge to allow wagons and carts to come to and fro over that river, but like she said again it was completely blown away.
Only the pegs, the wooden logs, and the surviving beams were left standing through the river, holding up a phantom bridge. They were packed close enough, so a certain Half-Elf Girl could skip over them as if playing hopscotch. That was why the T-34 Tank could see his friend, waving at him on the other side of the ravine.
His iron cannon was shaking.
“…I-I need to go to the bathroom!”
“Nello.”
“I-I’m allergic to the moss!”
“Nellooooooo.”
“…LOOK AT THAT RAT!”
“Neeeeeeelllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.”
“Uwoooh!? B-Big Sis sounds scary when she bellows like a fog horn!!”
“……………………………….What did you say?”
“N-N-N-N-N-NOTHING! DAH!”
Nello jumped off his 900+ pound tracks and fell back onto his perch when he saw the Half-Elf suddenly began to clench a slender fist. Although she was three time smaller in his vision due to the distance, she seemed to have this ability to expand her 'aura' across a wider area of effect. Even his turret head was rattling like a knight who p*ssed himself.
“…C-Can we do this tomorrow!? M-My body isn’t ready for this training!”
“No. It has to be today! I’ve decided to take on an important quest and I’ve already registered. We have to start and complete it on the same day tomorrow, so I want you to be prepared in case we run into highway bandits or gangs who are trying to rob a steam-magic train. There can be no room for failure!!”
“S-Still…I-it’s too much! M-my legs will crush the pillars and I’ll fall into the river! I-I’ll be swept away!”
“No you won’t silly.”
“Y-you mean I’ll break the pillars?”
“You won’t be swept away. The water is barely up to half my calves. There is no way a river that give Buccanneer and Diamond Salmon a hard time to climb up stream will wash you down like a hair in a bathtub.”
“…………………………………………..”
“NELLO! RETURN TO YOUR STARTING POSITION! THAT IS AN ORDER!”
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.”
At the last minute, the T-34 Tank tried to go in full reverse and disappear. Too bad he wasn’t fast enough, his Big Sister Half-Elf caught him in the act. All she had to do was point to the opposite perch over the ravine she was on…and the Soviet tank obediently rolled back to his starting line.
“Sniff.”
“…………Nello. I know it’s scary. I was worried too when I was your age…I mean…Um…When I was little. I would fall into the river dozens of times because I was too scared to properly jump without slipping. But do you know what my mother would tell me to get me crawling out of the river?”
“What?”
“She would say: 'sweety, if you don’t hurry and climb out, the Sea God will snatch you away and make you his 30th bride.”
“………………………………………………………….”
The Soviet Tank started to go in reverse.
“NELLO! SIT!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah... I-I don’t want to do thiiiiiiiis! I don’t want a Sea God to take me as a briiiiide. I-I’m not a giiiiiiirl!”
Pastrache bit her lip.
The same way mothers would do when she had to be hard on her child to finish her homework, or at least see through riding his bike for the first time to the bitter end. She wanted to cry when she saw the tank reluctantly roll back into position across his perch. She really wanted to up and surrender and say ‘let’s go home and buy donuts’.
But she can’t! Not even if they were family, she can’t let him go that easy!!
“…Nello.”
“Sniff.”
“Do you know why I wanted to become an Adventurer?”
“So-so you can be rich, famous, and buy pretty dresses.”
“Yes. But there is one more thing I haven’t told you.”
"...Um...W-was it that you also wanted an army of girls with bunny ears?"
"........................ There is... also one more thing I haven't told you. Cough."
The Half-Elf confessed to all those greedy things in life, but the true problem wasn’t in her selfishness. She could be seen opening and clenching her fists, her lips moving then going still. She didn’t know if she should breath or hold it altogether.
Then, she let it out in one big cry.
“I-I’m…I’m looking for my father!”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“……………………………………………………………….Heh?”
“That’s right! My father! H-he…he left my mother and I when I was your age! H…he just up and disappeared one day! No one knows why, not even my mom. And I know she isn’t hiding some messed up back story from my innocent mind! We searched for him, to the guilds he once worked with or even the armor stores he often visited in the past. They either kicked us out for being a nuisance, or tell us they don’t know him! W-we even have his picture in our hands god-d*mn it!”
“……………………………………………..”
Pastrache dug her nails into her palm. Deep enough to pierce through the skin and draw fresh blood. She gnashed her teeth so hard, she practically stuttered as she kept forcing herself to keep talking. All the while, staring at the calf-high river 20 meters under her feet.
“……I don’t know why he left…I…I’m not sure if it was something mother said or…something I had done that made him angry. H…he used to talk to me, about everything, his days as an adventurer. The heroic tales he had with his former colleagues. H-he……….he even told me every detail of how he and mother gave birth to me. Th-that man f**king drew down the very positions of what likely made me appear in my mother's womb, until she would drop kick him to stop corrupting me!"
“…………………………………………………………………………………….”
“…So why!? If a man was willing to show to his daughter how he made sure that he impregnanted his wife properly…….WHY WON’T HE TELL ME IF HE HATES THE H*LL OUT OF HIS DAUGHTER OR NOT!?"
“…N…no Big Sis. H-he doesn’t—“
“OF COURSE HE HATES ME! I’M A DIRTY HALF BREED LIKE THE VILLAGERS KEEP TELLING ME! WHY ELSE WOULD HE LEFT!? I-I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING! I-I WOULD OFTEN IMAGINE HE WAS A SECRET SPY FOR SOME COUNTRY AND HE HAD TO SAVE THE WORLD! O-OR HE USED TO BE A BARD WHO SWEPT AWAY MY MOTHER FROM HER ROYAL KINGDOM AND FAMILY AND WAS BEING PURSUED BY MY KING AND QUEEN GRANDPARENTS! THAT, OR HE GAMBLED EVERYTHING AWAY ENOUGH FOR LOAN SHARKS TO COME HOUNDING AFER HIM…...but……….I don’t know why he left mother……or myself…I…I just don’t know why….why?”
“……………………………………………………….”
Nello watched. His 3 meter long cannon stared at the Half-Elf who suddenly drooped to her knees, slowly collapsing. Whatever strength she had been relying on to stand on her two small feet were giving away. All the pain she kept locked up was eating away her supports like wood to termites. She had nothing left to keep her up, not even hot air from the fake pride she puts on.
She fell to her knees…like a dead doll left forgotten on the bookshelf.
“……Huuh…Huuukk………I know…leaving mother behind…to go advantures… is selfish…I-I know that if anything happens to me, n-no one in the village will cry except for her. I know they’ll all hold a festival to know that a… a b@stard child was dead……………. I…I know I won’t last three months in this new life…but I really want to know………why…why did he leave….please… tell me Nello….Do you know the answer?… As to why my father left without a single word………………………………………N…nello?”
“………………………………………………......... *Cricket*”
Pastrache cried. She tried to hold it in, as to not scare away her one and only friend she had in this cruel world.
In the end, the perch she looked up at was empty. Only a set of heavy tracks were left behind on the dirt and down the hill, into the forest.
Nello was gone. He wasn’t going to come back. That was what Pastrache thought.
“…….I…it’s okay…Nello isn’t like my father……that boy left… because….. of how ugly I look right now…..I’m so path—“
"(--- --- ---- -----)"
“…Wh-what? What was that noise?”
"(Big --- Stay ------)"
“……Is that…Nello?”
Soon, the sound of rumbling thunder started to grow in the air. The louder it grew, the more it sounded like... a V12 Diesel Engine?
……………..*vvvvvvvvvvVVVVVVVVVRRRRRROOOOOM!*
“…H…H…HOLY SH*T!”
"BIG SIS! STAY BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"
The T-34 Soviet Tank charged.
Having pulled back in full reverse for at most 15 meters, it shoved its engines at 150% to kick off like a bullet. Running at his maximum velocity of 53 km/h, it ran over a wall of trees, it ran over a barricade of rock, and it ran over and up the hill that was on end of the phantom Bridge.
Somehow, the stomping of thos hurried iron legs, caused one log to snap and keel over. Like a dried twig.
“…...W-wait! Nello stop! I-I’m sorry, th-this is too dangerous! D-don’t come to my side or you’ll definitely fall!”
“I’M HERE FOR YOU! BIG SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!”
Pastrache covered her mouth.
That was all she could do. Seeing this big and heavy 26.5 ton Russian Tank leap off of the perch…and onto the ancient logs that used to hold up a wooden bridge.
One by one, they snapped and shattered under its weight. Instantly.
“Nuwooohggg!?”
“NELLO! STOP! TH-THE LOGS ARE BREAKING! I-I WAS TOO OVERCONFIDENT!”
The girl watched as the massive vehicle charged over to her. His tracks gripped onto some of the logs, and the moment he moved onto the next one the previous support crumble into dead wood.
“NELLO! I-I’M SORRY! I WAS STUPID! D-DON’T-DON’T DO THIS TO SHOW OFF!”
“WAIT FOR ME! BIG SIS! B-BUT STAND TO THE SIDE OR ELSE I’LL RUN OVER YOU!”
“NELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The T-34 Tank continued on. Even with its front or hind tracks slipping from the collaping logs, he still kept on going. 160%. 170%...H*ll, 250%!
“BIG SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!”
"O-OH MY GOD! H-HE'S FLYING! HE'S ACTUALLY FLYIIIIIIIING!"
<< Accessing PASTRACHE's POV for 'Travelling Reader'...................... COMPLETE! >> [https://media.giphy.com/media/CclQbrSBTRxm0/giphy.gif]
*GON-GON-GON~CRACK--GON-GON~CRACK--GON-GON-GON-GON-GON!~GUSHAAA--CLONK...Pssssst....*
“……………………………………………………………………”
“…. Big Sis…Cough…I’m okay now…Y-you can open your eyes. I won't hurt you.”
“N……Nello…You...m...made it...”
Pastrache had her eyes closed the entire time. She was too scared too look. She was worried that the moment Nello sunk below her eyes sights and into the ravine, she would have faint. She would never be able to forgive herself if anything terrible happened to her friend. Even if he was an animated tank from another world.
Yet, when that familiar voice called out to her, and the tapping of a familiar iron barrel patting on her skull…she opened her eyes.
Sitting in front of her kneeling body was the T-34 Soviet Tank. Covered in mud and shredded moss.
"... I did it."
"N-Nello... I...I'm so proud of you..."
“Y-you were right, Big Sis. I-I can do it if I put my mind to it…..I think…D-did I do good?”
"Of course! You did super good. Y…you were amazing good, sweet Nello!!”
“Uwaaaah. Big Sis praised me. M-my nose is turning redder than when I’m shooting at a German Panzer tank.”
The barrel turned away, as if a small face shying away in emberassment. Yet a small slender hand stopped him from turning entirely, guiding his ‘eyes’ onto a pair of blue eyes covered in thick tears.
“…….You deserve a reward.”
“H-heh? B-but I didn’t do anyting special. I-I mean, if Big Sis could jump over the logs th-then….I guess I can too!”
As if to support his words, the former logs and moss covered beams that once held onto an old bridge could be found drifting down the river. Only one log was left among the 30… half of its original length.
Nello’s nose flicked up when he felt a hand touch the armored front of his body. It was built so that the slope and the density of the compact iron was enough to deflect artillery shells from piercing through his body, thus protecting it from enemy fire.
The palm of a young girl glided over those old scars where such shells had glazed off his skin. She could count over 100 different scars, from anti-tank rounds, rifle bullets, and artillery cannons.
“………..So many scars.. you fought so hard in your old world.”
“…Yeah…”
“You had no parents…”
“Um…Can…Can I call Mother Russia a parent?…......No?”
“…….You had no friends.”
The tank’s 3 meter barrel turned left and right.
“…….Nello……..I love you.”
To Nello’s surprise, the Half-Elf Girl lying across his body wiped away the mud and the moss… to plant a pair of gentle kiss onto his armor, where a deep scar was there. It wasn’t that of a lover’s kiss, it didn’t hold that same amount of passion. Neither was it a simple peck on the cheek to get a guy’s attention.
Family.
The love between a hard working mother doting over her child. Knowing he or she will grow up to become a fine man or women who will soon face the same challenges she had in her youth.
That sense of bonding. Belonging.
Pastrache had always cried since the day she was born to even now. She won’t hide that simple fact.
Today, kissing this tank… was the hardest she had ever cried in her entire life.
“……Big Sis…I…I know we’re not really siblings…And I’m a tank from Stalingrad so…I don’t know what family is like. But please… let me be with you…to find your papa… I… I’ll do my best to be Big Sister’s shield!”
“You’re not my shield, Nello…You’re my friend…My best friend… my first friend…my only friend.”
“…Th…thanks Big Sis. A-and...I love you to—Ah.”
*CRACK*
The Tank made a small sound, when he heard something cracking. He was afraid, he thought he accidentally ran over a squirrel's acorn. That would make him sad…
[https://static.businessinsider.com/image/53d64b0cecad04f53893ea6e/image.gif]
…Only it was the entire ledge he landed on. It started to split from the main ground that held them above the ravine. It was a 20 meter drop.
“………..I’m sorry Big Sis. I promise to go on a diet.”
“It’s alright Nello. We’ll both become the Sea God’s 30th and 31st Bride, together.”
“…Nn..Big Sis…”
“Hey. If we survive… let’s go on another bizarre adventure too. Okay?”
“Huzzah! Big Sis!”
*SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH*
<< You and Nello fell into the GRAND CANYON River. Please swim to Shore. << Party took -20 Fall Damage. You both are now WET. >> << Nello gained +200 EXP for being under water. Submersible Skill is now Level 3!! >> << Your relationship with Nello is now 150%!!. You are now ellegible for Marriage Registration!! >> << Your Status is now Prone: Enemies have advantage over your body. Please seek counselling. >>