Author Note: Chapter 9, eh? How time flies...anyways, I'm gonna start to wrap this story up. It'll probably finish with Chapter 10...

Disclaimer: Advance Wars, Advance Wars 2, and their content are copyright Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Red Mesa and its CO's are my intellectual property.

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Advance Wars: Red Mesa – Chapter 9: A Problem Solved, A Problem Found.

By CO Shade.

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Location: Red Zephyr, Above the Red Mesa/Orange Star Border.

Time: 1200 Hours OS Time, 2 days after the destruction of the Zynkov POW Camp.

The Red Zephyr was hovering in the clouds directly over the Orange Star/Red Mesa border. Everyone was silent as Shade paced - well, wheeled himself backwards and forwards on the bridge, detailing his plan. "Put simply, we need to find the heaviest concentration of Black Hole forces, land the Red Zephyr, unload all our ground forces - actually, we won't have to land, will we, we have dropships - and destroy them. It would give their morale a kick in the-"

"Shade!" Swift said warningly. Shade grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. It would destroy their morale, and probably force them to retreat. So, any questions?" He clapped his hands together and looked around at them all - Grit, Cougar, Diesel and Swift, along with the Cobras. No-one said anything. "Good." He turned to the helmsman to his right. "Set a course to the Alara Plains. That's where Hawke's forces are mostly stationed at the moment." The helmsman nodded and tapped in the coordinates. "Course set, sir," He said. Shade grinned. He always wanted to say this. He raised a hand and pointed out of the bridge windows. "Engage," He said, with a vaguely British accent. He started giggling as everyone turned to look at him. "Sorry, always wanted to say that." Cougar chuckled. "Whatever you say, Captain Picard," He said, chuckling gruffly. "You want some Earl Grey Tea now?" Shade frowned in mock annoyance. "I didn't say I wanted to be Picard, Cougar," He said, still in the British accent. "I just wanted to say 'engage'." Diesel rolled her eyes. "Can we please rise back up to normal IQ levels? Your stupidity is contagious." Shade looked hurt. "We are not stupid! We are merely acting like nerds for comedy purposes." Diesel didn't look convinced, so Shade decided to stop playing around. "Okay, back to normality then. Estimated time of arrival, please?" He said to the helmsman again. "Approximately 5 hours," He replied. Shade nodded. "Thank you. Okay, this semi-briefing-type-thing is over, people. Dismissed." As everybody walked off, Swift walked up to Shade. "You okay?" She asked. "Sure," Shade replied. "Why do you ask?" Swift looked past him and out of the windows, at the clouds below them. "It's just...you seem restless," She said hesitantly. "I know there's something bothering you." Shade thought about explaining it away as the coffee they served on the RZ, but he knew Swift would see through it. "Well, it's just...this," He said, gesturing towards his wheelchair. "I'm getting fed up of being wheeled, or wheeling myself, everywhere. It's getting frustrating, especially when I see you guys walking about freely."

"I can guess," Swift said softly. "But you've been recovering faster than the last time you used a Lambda EMP. You're roughly six months into recovery. Last time, you were still in intensive care." Shade nodded. It was true. Then a thought came to him, along with a swelling feeling of hope. "Sarah...do you think I'm far enough along to be able to walk yet?" He asked. Swift looked down on him sadly. "Not yet," She said softly, shaking her head. "Even if you can, it's not wise to try. You could set your recovery back by months if something goes wrong." Shade sighed. He knew it was true. "Fine, I'll wait," He said resignedly. He started to wheel himself towards the bridge elevator. "Wanna go for a walk on the flight deck?" He asked hopefully. Swift chuckled at his comical puppy-dog eyes and followed after him. "Sure, I need a breath of fresh air." While they were in the elevator, Shade sniggered to himself. "What?" Swift asked slowly. "What's so funny?" Shade sniggered and looked up at her. "Well, I got a call from Sonja early this morning. It mainly consisted of her pale and speechless, pointing madly to pictures of the Red Zephyr. Then Eagle butted in," He said grinning. "Oh great, Mr. I've-Got-The-Best-Air-Units," Swift said, frowning. "What did he want?" Shade smiled. Swift didn't exactly like Eagle much – scratch that, she despised him. "Well, his transmission was mainly him ranting on about us having the most advanced piece of aeronautical technology on the planet, when HE's the best air specialist. Naturally, I pressed the mute button until he had calmed down." Swift grinned happily. "The show-off deserved it. Anyway, what did he say after that?" The elevator came to a stop and Shade and Swift went out onto the flight deck, the wind howling past them as they made their way down the deck towards the nose. "Well, he said something along the lines of 'Got to go with Drake on a fishing trip'. He looked a tad nauseated at when he said that..." He looked around. They were halfway down the flight deck, the bridge quite a way behind, and the nose a way off in the distance. "Once again, I am not happy about the size of this thing..." he mutttered. "Only because you're too lazy to put some effort into anything," Swift said. "Come on, or do I have to push you?" Shade looked at her, smirking. "Now that you asked..."

"Oh no, no way!" Swift said. Shade did his best puppy-dog eyes. They looked solidly at each other for what seemed like an hour, until Swift caved in. "Oh, fine," She said, sighing, "But don't expect me to do this all the time!" Shade grinned. "I don't! But look at poor, helpless me. I neeeeeed help!" Swift shook her head, exasperated. "Please let him heal soon, please let him heal soon..." She murmured under her breath as she wheeled Shade along. Eventually, after a long time (and both of them getting soaked after the Red Zephyr flew straight through a cloud), they reached the very end of the flight deck, at the craft's nose. Swift sighed and leant against the railing. "My arms are killing me," She moaned. Shade grinned and leant back in his wheelchair. "Well, my Super Power nearly killed me, so you can't talk, eh?" Swift shot him an exasperated look at him and clipped him round the ear. "Ow! What was that for?!" He cried. "That's for making ME push you all the way down here when you were perfectly capable of doing it yourself!"

"And?"

"Argh! What would you do if the others and me suddenly dropped dead? You'd have to do everything by yourself! Then we'd see-Matt?" Swift stopped mid-rant to see Shade looking stricken. "Are you all right?" Shade looked at her, still stricken. "Never, ever, say that again," He said, his voice breaking slightly. "Because every day I pray with every fibre of my being that it doesn't come true. You and the others are fellow CO's, and my best friends. I care about you all, but I don't think we'll leave this war without losing one of us. So don't let me hear you say that again, because it may just come true." Swift was taken aback. "I didn't think you cared about us that much," She said softly. "Do you really think that one of us will-" She couldn't bring herself to say it. Shade nodded. "It could be any of us. It could even be me..." Before Swift could reply, an alarm klaxon went off all over the ship, and Shade's radio crackled. "Incoming Black Hole fighters!" Cougar yelled. "Hawke's throwin' a major temper tantrum! Shade, Swift, get back to the bridge NOW!" Shade sighed and rolled his eyes. He gestured to the handles on his wheelchair. "Would you?" He asked Swift, who sighed resignedly. "This is gonna be a long day..." She moaned.

Location: Orange Star Field HQ, Alara Plains.

Time: 1230 Hours OS Time, the same day.

It was a hot day on the Alara Plains. Very hot. Nell was fanning herself as she leant back in her chair, Sami was sleeping on the couch, and Andy and Max were fighting for control of the area near the ventilation fans. "I've been working out for two hours and I need to cool down!" Max said as he pushed Andy out of the way. "And? I've been tuning up my units for the whole morning! In the baking hot sun!" Andy replied as he advanced on Max, wrench in hand. Nell sighed as she watched them pushing each other out of the way – well, Max pushed Andy, but retreated when Andy came back with his wrench. "Will you two just quit it?" She cried. "Go to the canteen's freezer section or something! Geez..." At this, Andy and Max's eyes lit up, and they ran out of the room. "You weren't meant to take that seriously!" She called after them. "Boys..." She shook her head, leaned back further in her chair and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, sirens went off all over the HQ, and Max and Andy came pelting back in. Nell got out of her chair and crossed wearily to one of the computers, grumbling about not getting any rest. "Incoming transmission," She said to the others. "From...Red Mesa? What in the..." Sami, woken by the sirens, crossed over to Nell, who patched through the transmission to the main screen. Cougar's face appeared on the screen, with the Red Zephyr's bridge in the background, as well as Shade, Diesel and Grit. "Nell," Cougar said, nodding. "Thank god someone's got the time to patch us through." There was a muffled explosion and the view shook slightly. "What's going on? Are you in that flying fortress you launched?" Nell asked. Cougar nodded. "We were on our way to attack Hawke's forces in this region, but he's throwing everything he's got at us. Fighters, Bombers...our Anti Air guns are coping with some of it, but Hawke's still getting through..."

There was another explosion, and the screen shook again. Shade appeared next to Cougar, looked decidedly worried. "Swift's up there with our Archangel Squadron, and we're scrambling all our air defences, but there's just too many of them..." Sami raised an eyebrow. "Never thought CO's of your ability would need support..." She said, but Nell shushed her. "Do you need assistance?" She said, as the screen shook again. Shade nodded. "If you give us support, we'll send down a few dropships to help with any offensive you're planning." Nell's eyes narrowed. "Dropships?" Shade smiled. "Full of infantry, mechs, tanks of all types (including Heavy Tanks), and indirects. And if you need any more, just ask, and I'll send more." Nell smiled. "Deal," She said happily. "If we both hit Hawke at the same time, we'll have a chance of wiping out the Black Hole presence in this region." Shade smiled back. "Happy to be of service," He said. He was about to speak again when his radio crackled. He took it out and spoke into it. "Yes?" Nell and the others watched as his eyes widened in shock. "How many?! ...Great...just make sure you stay out of trouble, Swift..." He put the radio away and looked at the Orange Star CO's grimly. "Hawke's sending in five more squadrons. He's hell-bent on taking the Red Zephyr down." Max grinned. "I'll get my units ready," He said, and ran off. Nell looked back at him as he left. "Of course...Max's direct units...his Fighters and Anti-Air would stomp Hawke..." She turned back to the screen. "Help's on its way," She said. "See you on the battlefield." Shade and Cougar nodded, and Shade turned to the helmsman in the background. "Take us down below cloud level," He said. "Might as well intimidate any Black Hole units on the ground..." He turned back to the screen, nodded, and cut the transmission.

Battle 1: Surgical Strike

CO's: Cougar (RM) and Max (OS) vs. Hawke (BH).

Special Conditions: Red Zephyr support, under the captaincy of Shade.

Location: Alara Plains, Orange Star

Time: 1300 Hours OS Time.

As Shade promised, several Red Mesa dropships landed from the Red Zephyr to aid Max's ground assault. Hawke still has the superior numbers, with a massive army at least twice the size of the combined Orange Star/Red Mesa force. In the first few days, the only fighting was small skirmishes as the two sides tested each other's abilities. That is, until Shade got bored and fired the Red Zephyr's railguns right at Hawke's battalion of Neotanks. Then all hell broke loose, with Hawke causing major damage even as his forces were being blasted away by the Red Zephyr, the 35's Heavy Tank Battalion, and Max's main column of tanks and indirect units. Max's column just rolled right through Hawke's swarm of units, cheering every time the Red Mesa forces blew up everything to their sides, with Max's infantry following behind, capturing Hawke's properties to deny him any funds. The aforementioned Hawke finally unleashed a Black Storm and slowed the Orange Star advance, but Max and Cougar came right back with Max Blast and Surgical Strike, Cougar blowing up yet another Neotank unit, and Max pushing hard into Black Hole territory.

Hawke was in a bad mood a few days after he had used Black Storm. He was on 10 cups of coffee a day, and was extremely irritable and unbalanced. When Adder tentatively suggested a retreat, he got an entire table thrown at him. Flak and Lash left the HQ soon after that. Hawke knew he was losing badly, and he knew that this battle would probably make the entire Black Hole Army retreat in disarray. He decided to abandon his entire force there and then and leave for Black Hole at once. After rigging the C&C room in the HQ with several hundred pounds of C4, of course. He boarded a T Copter on the eighth day and left before the Orange Star attack force got to the HQ. Max headed straight for the Black Hole HQ while Cougar dealt with the remaining enemy units. Cougar contacted Max before he got to the HQ. "Max, watch out. Shade just scanned the Black Hole HQ and there's no life signs. It may be a trap, so I suggest you just level it." Max nodded, and relayed the order to his artillery. Several booms later, the HQ shuddered under the artillery fire, and the top floor was ripped apart by Hawke's C4. Cougar contacted Max with a jubilant grin on his face. "Told ya," He said. "Oh and, we won. Black Hole is retreating on all fronts." A cry of "Wahoo! We won!" Emerged from behind Max, who turned around. "Shut up Andy. We're not finished with them yet. It's on to Black Hole next." Cougar nodded, but Shade tapped him on the shoulder. "I've just sent something of interest to Orange Star. I want all of us to be at the Heaven's Eye tomorrow. No excuses." Max frowned. "Why? And why do you want the other countries to be there? This doesn't involve them..." Shade cut across him. "Oh it does, Max. It involves every damn country on Wars World. It's a threat to all of us."

"What's a threat?" Max asked, but Shade had already cut the transmission. "Sigh...better tell the guys..."

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End of Chapter 9

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Author Note: Chapter 9, and the fic's starting to come to a close.

Shade: Do I really have to...well...you know?

Yes, it adds a twist to the plot and gives me a reason to write a sequel. So stop complaining! Or you'll give the ending away!

Shade: *Humph* Fine.

Anyway...in Chapter 10, the final days of the war are shown...stay tuned!