Advanced Wars: Chaotic Ultimatum

Chapter 10: Olaf's Story

Max was on a roll. As his neotanks closed in on what was left of Andy's soldiers, he grinned.

"Nice try Andy, but it looks like I win this one. FIRE!" All the neotanks fired, decimating Andy and his small group of infantry. As smoke began rising from the spot, Max laughed. "He should have known better than to try to match me with tanks! I'm unbeatable on land!" Max spoke too soon though, as a flurry of missiles suddenly shot from the right, taking out some of his neotanks. "What the!" Before he could react, another round of missiles came, taking out even more of them. Max turned to see Sami's forces shooting at him. "… She just caught me off guard! I'll just make more neotanks, and then-" But he was struck speechless. He had looked to see most of his bases under enemy control, and the remaining ones quickly being captured.

"Max, Max, Max… when are you going to learn that your army won't count for anything if you lose your bases? And who's better at capturing bases than me?" Sami smirked, watching the helpless look on Max's face turn into a smile.

"Heh heh, guess you got me this time Sami. Don't think this is the end though! Next time I'll completely crush-" Once again his words were cut off, except this time it was because missiles had annihilated his neotanks, and him along with them.

"Victory!" Sami cheered as the simulation ended, and the three of them took off their virtual reality helmets. "That's the third time in a row! Man, you guys stink!" Max shook his head and laughed.

"Say what you want, but I wouldn't have lost if Andy hadn't given you a handicap bonus when he was setting up the simulations!"

"Hey, I never did that!" Sami laughed.

"Yeah Max, why would Andy do that? I don't need a bonus to beat you!"

"Oh come on! Your units were doing more damage than normal and you know it. Andy did it in secret because he's in looooove! Right Andy?"

"Wha! I never… I mean, you can't…" Andy fell silent. The only reason he would have denied it just a day ago would have been so Sami didn't know, but as of now, denying it would just complicate things, now that he knew she liked him. Instead, he just looked up at Sami, who was smiling at him. She was so beautiful…

"…uh… Andy? Hellooooooo? Anyone home?" Andy snapped out of his spell.

"Huh? Uh, yeah… yeah I'm fine." All of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Max was about to say something, when Nell came into the room.

"Hello everyone!"

"'Morning Nell! Any news for today?"

"Yes actually. As we speak, Blue Moon approaches from the South! They'll be here in a matter of hours!" Everyone cheered. "Wait wait! That wasn't all of it! Blue Moon is coming from the South, but Black Hole is closing in! They'll be here in about 40 hours.

"What about Green Earth and Yellow Comet Nell?"

"Oh, they're coming too, but they won't get here until mere hours before Black Hole strikes, if we're lucky. In case they don't come in time for the start of the battle though, we need to be prepared for battle! Begin deploying units, and I trust your CO powers are charged up?"

"Mine is! My infantry will capture every base before Black Hole can blink!"

"Mine too! If they deal us damage, I'll be ready to repair our units in 3 seconds flat!"

"Mine is… well… uh…" Max fell silent. The others laughed.

"Start charging it up Max. We could really use the extra power to our tanks." Nell chuckled to herself and left the room.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that…" Max looked embarrassed.

"Don't sweat it Max. Just relax and charge it up now. You've got plenty of time, and it'll go even faster if you keep playing the simulations. After all, Co powers charge up fastest during battle."

"Yeah Andy, you're right. So, ready to go again?"

"Actually I was gonna go start on my units. Also, I want to be out ready to meet Blue Moon when they come."

"Yeah, uh, me too." Andy turned to Sami, and he saw her looking at him hopefully." Max looked back and forth between them, eyebrows raised. He grinned.

"Oh, I get it. Okay, you two go do whatever. I won't interfere in the love-fest." Andy whipped in Max's direction, his face bright red.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Andy looked back at Sami, and he saw that she was blushing too.

"Ha ha ha! Oh, nothing. Tell me how to set this thing up. I'll play against AI versions of a pair of lovebirds I know."

"Okay. All you have to do is… Max!" Max started laughing, and Sami, giggling, grabbed Andy by the back of his shirt and dragged him away from Max and toward the door.

"Don't worry! I'll figure it out!" yelled Max after them as Sami dragged Andy out of the room.

"Stupid Max…" Andy grumbled as they made their way down the hall.

"Forget about it. He was just fooling around. It's not like he knows that we…" Sami fell silent. Andy looked at her.

"That we what?" Sami looked at him.

"Andy… about last night-" Suddenly, a door in front of them swung open, and Nell stepped out. She looked really sad. As she closed the door, she turned and noticed Andy and Sami standing there.

"Oh! Andy! Sami! How are you two doing? Going to start on those units?"

"Yeah… hey Nell. What's wrong? Are you okay?" Nell looked at Sami and smiled weakly.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that… with Blue Moon coming and all… I've been thinking a lot about Grit."

"Oh… yeah…" They all fell silent.

"Hey. Do you think Olaf and Colin will still be broken up about it?"

"Well, I know I still am a little, so, Grit being their fellow CO and friend, I would imagine so." Nell tried to smile. "But we shouldn't let an unfortunate accident get in the way of our preparations! Let's win this war for Grit!" With that, Nell walked past them and down the hall.

"Not accident… murder…" Andy had a bitter tone in his voice.

"I know it's hard Andy, but Nell is right. If we really care about Grit, we should honor his memory by beating Black Hole! Don't you think so?" Andy didn't say anything, but he nodded. Part of him was a little angry at himself, having forgotten about the death while focusing on his new invention. He had been known to forget things when focused on a new project, but this wasn't just anything. Andy felt really bad, and was about to tell Sami about it when suddenly a red light flashed above them, accompanied by a siren.

"Intruders!" Sami ran down the hallway, with Andy following behind.

"WAHOO! Now I'm kicking some serious butt! Look out AI's, here I… huh?" Max was puzzled by the sudden termination of the simulation he had been doing. He stepped out of the virtual reality chamber and saw the red light and heard the siren. "Huh? What's going on?" Nell ran into the room.

"Come on Max! There's an intruder approaching!" Max ran up the stairs behind Nell, and the two of them set off down the hallway. As they reached the reinforced doors to the outside, Nell slipped an access card in and out of a slot quickly, and they opened. Andy and Sami were already outside, watching a single transport unit, accompanied by a few recon units, driving steadily toward them. The units slowed to a halt a few yards away.

"Who's that?"

"No idea Andy. You know who it is Nell?"

"I have a guess, but…" The side hatch of the transport unit opened slowly, and two figures stepped out. One was short, and the other was taller and hardier. Everyone smiled as they saw who it was. Walking directly towards them was none other than Olaf and Colin, big grins on both their faces.

"Well well, look at the welcoming party for us. You all look surprised!"

"Olaf! I'm glad you're here, but we didn't expect you for a few hours. Where's your army?" Nell was puzzled, and the others noticed this too and began wondering.

"Oh, well first of all, my army is still a few hours away from here. As to why I'm here so soon, well we decided the sooner, the better. So, we sent out a few recon units to check for dangers ahead, and when none were found, Colin and I took the fastest transport unit we had over to here. That's not a problem is it?"

"Oh no! We were just surprised!" Olaf looked around at everyone.

"Well, I see the whole gang is here. Andy, Max, Sami, and of course you Nell. So, how have things been going in preparation for Black Hole?"

"Why don't we discuss this inside?" I'll have the lounge ready for us"

"Hey Nell ?"

"Yes Colin?"

"If it's alright with you, we've been traveling a long way, and I'm a little tired. Is it alright if I lie down?"

"Oh, sure! I'll have a bed ready…" As everyone was walking back into the building, Andy and Sami trailed behind. Andy leaned over and whispered to Sami.

"Well, he sure doesn't SEEM broken up." Sami shrugged.

"Maybe he's found a way to cope with it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, Olaf was never much of a waterworks kind of person. He holds it all in, and releases his stress in battle."

"Or on Grit. Remember when he used to yell at him all the time? Grit would never pay much attention." Andy laughed.

"Well, in any case, it's good that they're here. Come on, let's get inside." So, as Blue Moon's units were making their way toward the garage building, Andy, Sami, and all the others entered the base and settled in the lounge. After refreshments had been passed around, Nell and Olaf began discussing.

"So Olaf, how were things on the way here?"

"Well, there were a few bumps along the way, but we made it with virtually no trouble."

"Bumps?" Sami was interested to find out what Olaf had been doing on the way here. "What kinds of bumps?"

"Well, there were a few minor attacks from some Black Hole forces stationed in our path, but we took them out without too much trouble." Nell looked surprised.

"Attacks? Nothing too dangerous right?"

"Well I suppose so. Our first assailants were a bunch of medium tanks. Probably the worst was when we almost got ambushed though." Everyone was interested now. Max voiced what everyone was thinking, and what Andy had been wondering since Olaf's arrival.

"No offense Olaf, but you seem to be in a pretty good mood for somebody who went through all that."

"Yes, I know. I suppose you want to hear the whole story." Everyone nodded.

"Alright, here's what happened…"

"About 2 days ago, Colin and I were still on the move, a little ways from Orange Star. We were fatigued, having weathered 3 minor battles already. We were also running low on fuel, and knew that getting to Orange Star would depend on a straight path with no more battles. Obviously we were worried, because the way things looked, another battle could have broken out at any time. We became most worried though, when we spotted more enemy units up ahead. We knew our only hope of finishing the journey was to keep from wasting any more fuel in a battle, so we halted our units and started to strategize. Finally, we decided on a plan; we would use infantry to lure them closer, until they came within range of our missiles. Everything was going smoothly, and we managed to take out their units as they approached. We thought it was over, but it wasn't. During the short battle, a group of medium tanks that had been hiding in the woods had slowly snuck around, until they were right behind us. This is the ambush I was talking about earlier. Before we could react, the tanks had started a quick charge toward us. We noticed them in time enough to fire, but it did no good. Apparently Black Hole had designed a new type of medium tank. This new model is almost the same as the normal types, except for a few major differences. The first was that they held a lot more ammo. The second was the amount of added armor on each, making them tougher to take down than neotanks, if a little slower, and still lacking in comparison to the amount of damage neo-tanks can do. It also seemed that the design made them easier to make, and in more quantities than neotanks. All these added features came with one price though; the lack of internal room meant that not all of the engine components could still be secured under the armor. On each tank, a few lightly armored fuel lines ran along the side, covered by simple safety glass to ensure no jarring, but so the protection didn't throw off the balance of these metal monsters. This wasn't much of a price though. The lines were very small targets that could only be hit if we either sniped the unarmored connection valves on them, or if we landed a good missile hit and caused the tanks damage enough to destroy the lines from inside the casing. This became a big problem because we had no sniper rifles, and because, despite all our efforts, we barely scratched them with our missiles. Soon we were out of ammo, and we had made minimal progress against the tanks. Slowly they circled around us, playing with us because they knew we couldn't do anything. They played just a little too long though. As they stopped circling, preparing to destroy us for good, a gunshot rang out, and one of them suddenly blew up. Another shot was fired, and yet another tank exploded in a blaze of fiery shrapnel. Shots began going off at a very high speed, and tanks were exploding all over the place. The metal titans began to scatter every which way, but it did them no good. They're heavy armor was their own downfall, because it drastically cut down the speed of their escape. As the last tank was taken out, the shots stopped firing. We were all stunned momentarily by what had just happened, but soon recovered. Colin is developing into quite a CO, and before I could say anything he organized a small recon team to check out the woods where the shots had come from. While the recon team was searching the woods, another team had been organized to examine the wreckages. Sure enough, what was left of the safety glass cases had single bullet holes in them. When the recon team returned, they reported that no-one had been found. All that had turned up were tire tracks from a single off-road motorcycle, headed in the same direction we were going. Colin asked me how anyone could be good enough to snipe such small targets on moving vehicles from that distance, but I didn't answer him. I was too shocked. I simply told him to order everyone to keep moving, reflecting on what I had just realized. It was amazing enough that someone could snipe with that kind of skill, but what was even more astounding was that they hadn't used a sniper rifle. The rate of fire on the gun that I had heard was far too fast to be that of any sniper rifle. It had been a machine gun. What kind of person could pull off such a difficult sniping job using a machine gun as a weapon, when machine guns are suited to much closer range, and aren't designed with scopes for focusing on targets? It was certainly puzzling, but I had more pressing matters to focus on, so I put it aside for later and continued to focus on the journey ahead."

Everyone in the room was silent as Olaf finished his tale. Max was trying to work out how this event had put Olaf in such a good mood. Maybe a content mood, but…

"Anyway, if that answers your question, I'm happy because Colin and I are alive, and because we have a new ally." Nell looked a little skeptical.

"Olaf, we can't be sure the person who saved you is necessarily on our side. He ("Or she!" Sami put in) could be on his own side, and just left you alone because you were basically helpless, being out of ammo and all." Olaf chuckled.

"I guess "new" isn't exactly the right choice of words. The man who saved us is in no way a "new" ally. And by the way Sami, yes he IS a man."

"How do you know? Who is it?" Olaf almost looked surprised.

"I thought it would have been obvious. Only one man has the kind of marksmanship to pull off the stunt I witnessed mere days ago. The one who rescued me, as usual, was Grit." Everyone gasped.

"How could it be Grit! You told me he was…" Olaf nodded.

" I know. I told you he was killed, and he should have been. That's why I didn't tell Colin when I came upon the conclusion that he had survived; I didn't want to get the boy's hopes up. After all, we can't really be truly sure until we see him in flesh and blood." With that, Olaf got up and stretched.

"Wow, is it afternoon already? If it's alright with you, I'd like to turn in early too. As you've heard, it was a long trip here." Nell nodded weakly, and she got up and left the room, with Olaf following behind, chuckling again to himself.

"Good old Grit, stubborn as a mule. He doesn't even expire when he's supposed to…" Only Max, Sami, and Andy remained on the couches, exchanging surprised looks.

"Wow, so Grit's alive."

"We don't know for sure Andy. It might be someone else."

"Yeah, but Olaf was right. Andy, can you honestly think of a sharper eye than Grit?"

"Nope. I still remember that first battle with him a long time ago, when Blue Moon was trying to take over Orange Star. Even then, when we were enemies, he had a sort of care-free air to him. It made you like him when you were supposed to hate him."

"Yeah…" They all fell silent, thinking about Grit, and holding on to the hope that he could be alive.

"Well… uh… I guess we were all busy with things."

"Oh yeah! I still need to kick butt and charge up my CO power. I'll see you two later." Max got up and left. Andy stood up, and so did Sami.

"You know Sami, we may not know for sure, but the fact that it's possible is good enough for me. What about you?" Sami looked at him, and then smiled.

"Yeah it is. Come on, if Grit really is alive, we want him to see us ready and waiting when Black Hole comes." Andy grinned.

"Got that right. Let's get on those units right away. And that's just what they did.