I'm finding a severe lack of representation about Advance Wars in the world. And now, with the dawn of Macro Tactics, a spiritual successor on Steam Greenlight, coming ever closer, I feel it's as good a time as any to get this out! The prologue should introduce the main antagonist, and stretch into Lash and Sonja's relationship since AW3.

The events of this fic take place two years(?) after AW3. Black Hole has their own land now, and Hawke is their leader. Von Bolt and Sturm, obviously, are both dead. The Allied Nations are experiencing prolonged peace, but that won't stop evil from rearing its ugly head...

PROLOGUE PART 1

"So, as I was saying," Lash said, with her usual goofy smile, "you've gotta stop something if you wanna start it! Make sense?"

Sonja face-palmed. She'd been spending too much time with Black Hole's supergenius. The whole reason they were both in this area was because Sonja had decided to check out a meteor crash site.

"Why the silence?" asked Lash. "Usually you tell me that I make no sense, and try to explain simple* science, and then I go like, 'oh yeah, I knew that,' and then we laugh and have a good time! What's wrong?"

Sonja sighed. "A few weeks ago, my father was unwell," she said. "He told me, if he didn't live through it, that I should do everything in my power to lead in his place."

"So if your pop dies, you take over..." Lash put her finger to her chin. "So you need someone to off him?"

"Yeah, that's what I-" Sonja caught herself. "NO! I do NOT need someone to kill my father! What is wrong with you, Lash?"

"Just kidding," Lash said, taken off guard by Sonja's outburst. The girl WAS a bit of a scoundrel in endeavors like these. Ever since the "Von Bolt Incident," the two had grown to be close friends, but that still didn't mean that Lash wouldn't pull out a nasty joke like that one every once in a while. "Jeez, learn to take a joke, Sonja."

"That wasn't funny, Lash. I seriously thought you were going to kill my dad!"

"Hey, take a chill pill," Lash said. "Look, we're almost there."

The two COs looked up to see the crater stretching in front of them. It was wide, with sloping sides. In the center of the crater was a massive sphere of metal- something neither of them had expected to see.

Lash stared at the sphere. "Whoa... that wasn't here before."

"Huh?" Sonja said, flabbergasted. "THAT'S the meteor? It looks... unnatural."

"It's no hunk of rock, that's for sure," Lash added.

The pair stared at the metal ball. What could it be? It was almost like some other planet had fired a cannonball at them. It was solid, almost like a prefectly crafted marble.

"Only one way to find out what it is," Lash said. And with that, she slid down the wall of the crater. The princess of Yellow Comet followed, knowing that any day spent with Lash would be a long one...

By the time the two reached the metallic sphere, the sun was setting. They stopped to catch their breath, then stared at the marvellous object in all of its pure glory.

Sonja was the first to speak this time. "This definitely isn't natural. No mere gathering of minerals in subspace could make this... thing."

"I wonder if it's a spaceship," Lash said. "Although it's highly unlikely..."

They looked at it again, and took a few steps forward. Sonja looked around, making sure there weren't any government officials guiding the effort. No, it was just her, Lash, and the giant pinball.

She reached out, and touched the sphere.

As if by reaction, the sphere opened up to reveal a hallway. Sonja blinked a few times, then looked back.

"Hey, Lash," she said, "I think your spaceship theory was right on."

The two were walking down the hallway, and it was freaking Sonja out. The hall was filled with capsules, each one filled with a green liquid substance. Encapsulated in the liquid were several different life-forms, almost as if they were held captive. Reptilians, mammalians, avians, pisceans, even semi-amphibian creatures, in the liquid. They all seemed asleep, apart from a few, who seemingly had resigned to their fate. Sonja thought it was extremely freaky, while Lash merely questioned whether the sleeping ones were alive, or whether the beings were even real in the first place.

The line was drawn between mildly creepy and utterly terrifying when a desperate looking insect-like humanoid smashed against the wall of her tube, which Sonja had been leaning against. She appeared to be screaming, but Lash and Sonja heard no sound- merely the panicked, desperate thrashing of the creature. She pressed her hands against the tube, obviously wanting the girls to free her from her slimy prison. As she thrashed, though, a white mist began to fill the chamber. She inhaled the mist, as she was breathing heavily, and within moments, had calmed down to a sleepind state, her segmented body curling almost into a ball.

"Sleeping gas?" wondered Sonja aloud.

"This alien is some kind of twisted zookeeper," Lash said. "They're not playing some game. Which is too bad, I like to play around."

"So do I, but that's not why I'm here."

A figure appeared in the hallway, a short, feminine figure with blue-tinted skin. She wore a blue denim jacket, typical of human teens, and a short, black, military-grade commander's skirt, like the type Sonja wore. She had long ears and vibrant red hair, and three fingers on each hand. Tubes connected from her chest to air tanks on her back, suggesting that she didn't breathe oxygen.

"Who are you?" asked Sonja, still startled from the bug girl.

"My name is Deiku," replied the alien. Her voice sounded half-mechanized, but if that monotone were gone, she would sound like a typical human. Her eyes met Sonja's- deep, green retinas behind golden irises, staring almost into Sonja's soul. "I am a collector and conqueror, but more importantly, I am here for revenge."

"Revenge for what?" Lash asked. Now even she was becoming frightened. "What did we do to you?"

"Your kind took my father from me," Deiku said. "And for that, you will pay."

"Your father? What do you mean?" Sonja was visibly confused.

"Three years ago," Deiku stated, still in a half-monotone voice, "my father was killed by you humans. I am here to return the favor."

At first, Sonja was confused, What alien had been killed on Earth three years ago? That was during the second Black Hole invasion-

-wait, there was the answer.

Sturm.

*"Simple" meaning extrordinarily complex theorems that anyone outside of Sonja and Lash would just see as letters and numbers.

So, here are the outlines of the CO's appearing in the chapter...

Sonja: Extra vision in fog, reduces enemy DEF when countering. Bad luck.

Lash: Terrain defense is also used offensively.

Deiku: ?

(Not to worry, I have her skill planned already)

Anyways, let me know what you guys think of these characters and my portrayals. and I'll see you soon.