Sorry about the long wait people. My computer is giving me problems again (stupid computer). Anyway, I'll keep trying to update every weekend like I've gotten into the habit of doing, so expect my next chapter by Sunday.
Advanced Wars: Chaotic Ultimatum
Chapter 7: Mountain Mayhem
"B6"
"Miss. G8"
"Hit! E7."
"Miss. A2"
"Sink! You win sir."
"Again? Wow, this must be the 7th time I've beaten you with no misses and an undamaged fleet."
"How do you do it sir?"
"Believe me; you get pretty good after going through a few Battleship sessions with Drake. Being who he is, he knows every winning strategy in existence. He taught me a few things"
"Wow. Do you think he'd be willing to teach me too?"
"Well he's always up for a game. Just challenge him and he'll give you tips every time he annihilates your fl-"
"Sir! We've sighted air units ahead! You might want to come and look." Eagle jumped to his feet.
"Thank you. Give me the binoculars." Eagle walked to the window and focused on the units. A large group of copters were moving east just ahead of them. "Wait. I think I recognize those copters. Contact them immediately."
"Yes sir. Right away sir." The soldier ran off. A few minutes later, the intercom in the room came to life.
"Sir, we've contacted the copters."
"Ah, good. Patch me through from there."
"Yes sir." A brief moment later, the intercom emitted a small static noise, and a new voice came on the line.
"This is Sonja of the Yellow Comet Army. Who am I speaking to please?" Eagle smiled.
"Sonja? I knew I recognized those copters! This is Eagle of Green Earth."
"Eagle! So it IS you. We saw air forces coming up behind us. I thought I recognized the Green Earth insignia, but I wasn't certain. Why are you out here? Did Nell contact you as well?"
"Yes. She said she needed or help, but Drake and Jess had to stay behind and better prepare. I went ahead to scope out the situation for them and provide aerial support for Orange Star."
"Same here. Father will be leaving in 2 days time. I was going to provide him with some early intel, and what little assistance I could in battle. Plus, I'm not alone." Eagle puzzled for a moment.
"... Oh, you mean-"
"Yes. Sensei is with me! With his copters, your planes, and my intel, we should be able to make a real difference in this war. Since we're going to the same place, why don't we travel together?"
"Well I would, except your copters aren't fast enough to keep up with the jets and bombers. I'd have to slow my pace, and time is of the essence."
"Now, now Eagle. What I lack in speed I make up in maneuverability." Sensei was grinning. "I bet I could teach you a thing or two." Eagle laughed.
"That sounds like a challenge. Are you saying your air skills outmatch mine?"
"Did I say that? No, I would never DREAM of challenging you Eagle. Your abilities as a pilot are far too excellent for me to match right?" Sensei started laughing.
"Ah, so you're challenging me after all! Well how about this! My speed V.S. your maneuverability. We're closing in on Blue Moon land, and we'll hit the Eastern point soon. There are mountains on that point. If we stay on course, they'll be directly in our path. Whoever can get to the other side of them first wins. Does that sound good?"
"Whatever works for you Eagle. Heh heh, I'll just get a copter ready, and then off we go." Sensei had a rare glint in his eye from the old days. "Oh, and Eagle?"
"Yes?"
"If I win, your troops have to polish my copters after the battle is over." Eagle was silent for a few seconds.
"...Fine. However, if I win, your troops have to polish my jets. Deal?"
"Deal, now prepare to witness brilliance!" Sonja was surprised.
"You two! Don't be so immature! We don't have time for this!"
"Now Sonja, there's always time for racing! I'm sure the air veteran will agree."
"Well not always, but you know Sonja, I could use a little practice before we get to Orange Star. I'll see you on the other side, okay? I promise." Sonja
"Targets confirmed. Yellow Comet and Green Earth are approaching. Sir, how do you know they'll travel through here? It seems more sensible to just circle around the mountains, doesn't it?" Hawke looked at the soldier, making him stiffen. Even on screen, a look like that from Commander Hawke gave a guy the shivers.
"Don't question me. I trust your "sensible" way of doing things hasn't included a lack of the forces I told you to assemble."
"N-no sir, everything is here, just as you ordered."
"These aren't just my orders soldier. These come from someone higher up than me. Don't mess up, or it will cost you dearly."
"Y-yes sir." The trembling man turned back to the sea and raised his binoculars. "Uh, sir?"
'What is it now?"
"Well... it's just like I thought. Both Yellow Comet and Green Earth are traveling around the mountains instead of through them."
"Of course the armies are dolt. They aren't your target. Look again and tell me what you see." The soldier looked again.
"There seems to be... one stray battle copter and one stray jet flying directly this way sir."
"And do you know who is inside?" The man shook his head.
"Two of the most important CO's of their armies. Without proper firepower, they won't be able to defend themselves. This is the perfect chance to destroy them without interference. Can I trust you?"
"Yes sir! We'll take them out right away!"
"You'd better soldier. You'd better."
"I see you're fully armed too. Same reason as me?"
"Well Eagle, if you mean to knock out annoying mountain peaks, then yes. Besides, you can never be too careful can you?"
"No, you sure can't. Anyway, are you ready? I'm going to take off my headset now."
"Yes I'm ready. Whoever gets to the other side first. 3.
"2."
"1"
"GO!" Both pilots yelled in unison. Eagle was in first already.
"Heh, I told him, but did he listen? NooWOAH!" Eagle swerved to the right, just missing the first mountain. He looked to the left to see Sensei passing him and smirking. "Okay so you know more than I gave you credit for!" said Eagle watching the back of the copter disappearing into the peaks. "That doesn't mean flying fast is all I can do." Eagle sped up, tearing after Sensei, spirit reborn. Meanwhile, Sensei was well into the mountains.
"Eagle almost crashed. If he's having trouble already, he'll never beat me. When it comes to mountains, good maneuvering skills are more important than speed. I have the upper-hand already."
Sensei may have been focused on flying, but while thinking about Eagle's mishap, he failed to notice the anti-airs armed and ready on the cliffs below.
"He's almost in position. Prepare to fire. After all the trouble we went through getting anti-airs over these mountains, you'd better not miss him."
"Yes sir. Give us the order."
"Almost...almost... fire... NOW!"
"I wonder where Eagle is." thought Sensei. "After all, his skills are at least good enough that he should have-" Sensei was interrupted by the sound of the tail of his copter getting blown off, followed by violent shaking and a swift fall toward earth.
"A direct hit sir. He's going down."
"Excellent, now just wait for... wait, here he comes! Prepare to fire again!" Eagle appeared around a mountain top.
"Darn it, where is he? I can't be far behind. Maybe... what the!" Eagle saw smoke rising from the wreckage of a battle copter.
"Oh my god! I have to get down there! He could still be alive! I just need to find a good landing sp-" Eagle too was interrupted, as a huge hole was blown in the right wing of the jet.
"ARGH! GOING DOWN!" The nose of the jet tilted downward as Eagle's jet started a dive into the same valley as Sensei's wrecked copter. "The controls aren't responding! I'm going to crash!" Eagle didn't have a parachute, and he realized he would never survive if he stayed in the cockpit. "Have... to get to... the rear..." Eagle was out of his seat in seconds, turning toward the back of the jet. "Wait!" he turned and plucked the photo of his father off the dashboard, then made a wild sprint for the limited safety of the jet rear. Seconds later, his jet scraped the side of a mountainside and slid down the steep rock face into the valley below.
"Another direct hit! Both targets have been eliminated sir!"
"Good. Now, get the anti-airs to the westernmost point of these mountains, save one or two. Orders from Commander Hawke. Move out!" As Black Hole's units pulled back and began moving west, no one seemed to notice a small amount of movement down below.
"Uhnnn… Damn. I didn't even know they were there." Eagle was climbing out of the wreckage of his destroyed jet, dazed and angry, but unharmed. He looked back at the jet and sighed. He was sad to see it destroyed this way. It had been his father's jet; the very one he had been flying the day he crashed in the ocean. They had managed to find it and bring it up, but Eagle's father was not as lucky. There had been no one in the cockpit when the jet surfaced. Eagle had the jet repaired, and even as new models came out, he refused to let it go. It had been his companion, and a memoir to remember his father by. "I'll miss you my friend. You were a good… ARGH! How could I forget Sensei?" Eagle whipped around and ran toward the copter remains. The cockpit was intact, but the rest of it was gone. Eagle bent over and peered in. To his surprise, there was no crumpled body. There wasn't even an arm or leg. It was empty. Suddenly without warning, a hand grabbed Eagle's shoulder. Eagle spun around to face this new threat. "… Sensei! What the heck do you think you're-" Sensei began to laugh.
"Oh the look on your face! You looked ready to jump 20 feet in the air! Ha ha ha!" Eagle was fuming.
"That isn't funny! You could have been… if I hadn't… stop laughing!" Eagle was staring directly into that smiling face. He didn't mean for it to happen, but watching Sensei laugh brought him to do it. His mouth swiveled a little, then slowly turned into a smirk, then a smile. Then Eagle burst out laughing, and the 2 just snickered and guffawed for a few minutes. After regaining their breaths back, Eagle wiped a tear out of his eye and turned back to Sensei. "So, how did you survive? At your age, that kind of crash should have been fatal, but you don't even have a scratch on you!" Sensei grinned.
"Eagle, if you remember, I used to be a paratrooper back in the day. I always have my parachute with me. As my copter shot toward the ground, I evacuated and landed safely on a nearby cliff. Took me forever to get down here on foot let me tell you." Now that Eagle could concentrate on the situation, he looked at both the wrecks, a sense of despair hitting him.
"Now what're we going to do? Both our units are smoking piles of metal, and flying is our only way out of this. I doubt we could survive a hike all the way through, with no food, no water, no shelter, and some of Black Hole's units with anti-airs hidden in the mountains. We don't even have weapons to fight off infantry!" Eagle sat down on a rock, his head in his hands. Sensei looked around too, frowning.
"You're right Eagle. Our only hope now is to fly out of here…" Sensei kept looking back and forth between the units. Suddenly an idea hit him, and yet again, he smiled. "… and that's exactly what we're going to do!" Eagle looked at him like he was crazy.
"And how do you suggest we do that? Neither of our units has sufficient working parts to fly." Sensei didn't stop smiling.
"You may be right there Eagle," said Sensei. "But I'm willing to bet we have sufficient parts together!" Eagle slowly lifted his head, and as he took a better look at the wreckages, he saw Sensei's plan. Sensei's cockpit was intact, but there was no rear. The rear of Eagle's jet had survived, but the crash had demolished the nose and cockpit.
"A jet/copter combo… it's a good idea, but will it work?" Eagle saw Sensei's hand in front of his face, and he looked up to see Sensei offering him the hand.
"Well it's worth a shot! No harm in trying is there?" Eagle stopped frowning, a fresh sense of determination rushing into him at these words. He took Sensei's hand and Sensei helped him up.
"You've got that right! Since the back of my jet is still intact, the power generator and the spare tools and parts I had back there should still be okay. Are you good with a wrench?" Sensei shook his head.
"Heh heh, nope. I haven't fixed an air unit in 20 years! Never know till you try though!" Both started laughing, as Eagle opened up a rear hatch and they pulled out tools. Eagle was ready, and so was Sensei. The sun went down, and they started a fire.
"It's a whole new contest now; a contest of survival. Us against Black Hole, and they have anti-airs."
"But we'll be ready with a few surprises of our own won't we?"
"Yup! They've never seen an air unit like this!" And so, piece by piece, the two worked together, building well into the night.
