TLoS: World at War Ch. 49

Takeo took off the now empty fuel tank on his back.  After unstrapping it, he threw the tank and the nozzle away from him.  He moved his shoulders around and felt lighter.  

"Much better..." Takeo sighed with relief.

"I still don't understand how your equipment works," Spyro inquired, sniffing at the empty fuel canister.  The smell of napalm was still there, but Spyro didn't know what it was.  "Are you sure it's not magic? It seems to act like it."  He then turned away and walked back to Takeo.

"It is not magic. That," said Takeo, pointing at the flamethrower, "and this Arisaka are tools for me to use.  Powerful tools.  They bring me great honor to the battlefield..."

"You seem to hold honor in high regard." Spyro remarked.

"Such is the way of the Bushido code...but enough lollygagging, we best be moving." Takeo went over and shook Richtofen awake.  

"Nein...I don't vant to go to school..." Richtofen grumbled sleepily.  

"Enough doctor.  We need to go." Takeo urged while shaking him.

Richtofen opened his eyes and looked up into Takeo's face.  His eyebrows furrowed.  

"Oh it's you.  Vell, alright zhen." Richtofen stood up and stretched his back.  He picked his MP-40 up off of the ground and scowled at it.  He was down to one clip.  "I hope zhis character you're trying to find can solve our ammo problems...it vill be hell trying to fight later on vithout bullets."

"Maybe.  We can always hope..." Spyro assured.

"Hmmph."

The three of them looked over into the center of the room where the pad was.  It started to glow.

"Strange, it didn't do that before..." Spyro muttered.  He moved closer to it with Takeo and Richtofen right behind him.

"Expose your heart to summon ghost, then face what you fear most..." came an eerie voice.  

"I gotta bad feeling about this..." Sparx whispered.

"Don't vorry Herr Sparx. Zhey von't be able to last against me." Richtofen chuckled.  

Spyro stepped onto the pad and he vanished with Sparx.  Takeo and Richtofen were wide-eyed with surprise.

"Zhese teleporters function much like the one in Der Riese..." Richtofen remarked.

"Let's follow him..." Takeo stepped onto it and disappeared as well with Richtofen joining him.

--

Spyro appeared in a massive black void.  He landed on some sort of platform.  After regaining his balance, he looked around.

"Takeo? Richtofen?" he called.  They were no where in sight.  Sparx was the only other one beside him.

"Did they stay behind?" Sparx asked, turning his head around.

"I don't know.  Where are we?" Spyro looked infront of him.  There was nothing.  However, as he stepped closer to the middle, a massive pillar of fire shot up.  Spyro, backing away, could see a red dragon dragon paw stretch out and pullt itself up.

"C-Cynder?!" he exclaimed, wide-eyed.  Infront of him was a glowing red-orange dragon that looked just like Cynder when she was under the Dark Master's influence.  "No...you're not Cynder!" he growled.  The Cynder look a-like had curved horns instead of straight ones, also there was the obvious color difference of the scales.  The Elemental Dragon took a step to Spyro and roared.

Spyro gulped, but held his ground.  Without warning, the Elemental Dragon charged towards him and swiped him with its paw.  Spyro shrieked in pain as he was struck in the side.  The claws rended his scales and blood was coming out.  

"Argh..." he groaned.  The Elmental Dragon raised its paw again, but this time Spyro shot ice at it.  The Elemental Dragon hissed and backed away before shooting a stream of fire at the purple dragon.  Spyro rolled to the side and shot more ice at it.  Though it hissed in pain, it really didn't seem to have a tremendous effect on it.  Spyro then shot a fire ball at it while it was backing away from the ice.  The fire, much to Spyro's surprise, held an even more devestating effect on it.  Instead of a hiss, it let out an loud shriek of pain as the flames burned it.  Its color all of a sudden changed to emerald green and it renewed its attack on Spyro, by charging at him.  Spyro shot a fireball into its face, but it really didn't seem to do anything.  The Elemental Dragon hit Spyro, taking one of his horns off.

"Oh by the Ancestors that hurt!" he yelled, blood streaming from his other wounds.  He felt for the missing horn and shot more fire at the Elemental Dragon.  It was rather ineffective as it failed to slow it down.  He then tried attacking by using his Earth Flail on it.  The moment the ball hit it, it shrieked in pain and the colors started to flash.  It rested on icy blue and attacked again.  

"I wonder..." Spyro mumbled to himself.  He shot ice spikes into the Elemental Dragon.  The Elemental Dragon let out the same shriek and changed to yellow.  

"I've got you now!" Spyro then let out a stream of electricity. The Elemental Dragon trembled as it was struck.  After one minute of trembling, it collapsed, dead.

Spyro panted and felt his wounds.  

"Huh?" The wounds were gone.  He felt for his horn and the horn grew back.  "How in the...?" Spyro was then teleported back into the same chamber where they just were, but the two humans weren't there.

"Where are they?" he mumbled.

--

Richtofen appeared in a giant science room, with machine parts and research papers all around.  He stepped forward and looked around.  The machines were broken and papers scattered everywhere.  

"Vait...I know zhis place.  It is my old lab back in Berlin during the var." Richtofen said, nostalgia coming to him.  

Something moved in the corner of his eye and he aimed his gun immediately at it.

"Who's there?" he growled.  He moved closer to where he think he saw the movement.  A little girl holding a teddy bear walked out from behind a table.  The girl had long hair and looked up into Richtofen's face.

"SAMANTHA?!" Richtofen exclaimed, backing up. "How?! But...!"

"Mister Richtofen...why did you do that to Fluffy?" Richtofen gulped and backed away.

"Why are you so mean?"  The room started to darken and her skin grew more pale as she looked down.  She then looked up at him with red glowing eyes.

"WHY???!!!" She then floated into the air and vanished.  The room was silent, but then it started to turn grey.  Richtofen looked around, panicking and he heard a demonic cackle.

"Samantha! Vhat are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

The cackling came back and shouted, "Fetch me his soul!!!"  

"Oh no! Not zhat!" He begged.  "NOT THE PUPPIES!!!"

A burst of electricity appeared and a hellhound growled.  Richtofen gulped as he stared at the hellhound.  The hellhound looked like a German shepherd, except it was in late stages of decomposing and it was on fire.  The eyes glowed red and it started growling again.  It then charged and leaped for Richtofen.

At the last minute, Richtofen ducked and the hellhound jumped over him.  He quickly grabbed his Wunderwaffe and aimed it, but it jumped for him again.  He hit square across the face with the butt of the gun and it fell.  The fire died out and the eyes became white.  However, there were more bursts of electricity and more hellhounds appeared.  

"Oh god!"  Richtofen shot the Wunderwaffe at the hellhounds and they exploded in flame, fur and blood.  Three more spawned and he shot again.  Before they were killed, one of them managed to bite his arm and draw blood.  Richtofen clenched the arm and looked for anymore.  There were none, but that didn't stop him from panicking.  

Another cackle soon rang out.  

"Till next time!" And then there was silence.  Richtofen was all of a sudden sent back to the same chamber where they all started from and found Spyro sitting in a corner.

"Richtofen!" Spyro got up and ran to him.  "Are you ok? You look shaken..."

"I'll be fine...just..." Richtofen sat and sighed.  He looked to his forearm and the bloody bite wounds were gone.  Spyro laid down infront of him while they waited for Takeo.

--

"Let me out!" Takeo called.  He was teleported into some kind of prison.  American soldiers passed by and they laughed at him.

"Look at the wittle Jap...aww he is in a cage.  How cute..."

"I'll kill you for this!" Takeo growled.  The guard laughed and continued patrolling.  Takeo sighed and sat in the corner.  

"Was it all just a dream? Spyro, Sparx, Ignitus..." Takeo wondered.  The prison seemed real enough and the guards' mockings seem to reaffirm it and yet he could remember the war ending.  

"Am I going crazy?" He looked outside.  He recognized where he was.  He was in the Philippines.  He was left in charge of a small garrison in a section of Manila.  But he couldn't remember being captured.  There was a conflicting thought that he was evacuated from Philippines when the Americans were pushing in, that gnawed at his head.  He also couldn't seem to get the thought of Spyro out of his head too.  It all seemed so real to him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sounds of artillery fire.  They had struck the prison and shook the foundations.  American soldiers were rushing left and right while Takeo looked on.  Ten minutes of constant shelling went by and then he could hear gunfire.  Rifle and submachine gun fire were being exchanged and all he could do was speculate.  He looked out of his cell and saw the Rising Sun Battle Flag on the hill with countless of Japanese soldiers rushing the compound.  They got in and found Takeo.

"You surrendered!"

"Coward!"  some of them shouted.  Takeo was surprised at the hostility, but ordered them to let him out.  They did so and escorted him to their command officer, a rather slim Captain Toyotomi Ieyasu.  

"Captain Takeo Masaki.  You let yourself be captured by these American swine." he shot at Takeo.  Takeo was completely caught off guard despite earlier hostility from the Japanese soldiers.  He didn't remember being captured.  All he could do was just stare blankly.

"I thought you were a man of honor.  I thought you would purify yourself before ever being captured, but you instead choose the coward's path and save your own life.  I was wrong about you."  Ieyasu growled.

Takeo was speechless.  He could offer nothing.  They attack on his honor was like insulting his mother.  He almost said about the dreams about Spyro and everyone else, but he knew that would get him nowhere.  

"I can explain..." Takeo began weakly.

"You can explain to the General.  He will decide what is to be done with an honorless dog like you.  You shame your family.  Not even performing seppuku will you be able to redeem yourself."

"No..." Takeo whined.  Being accused of having no honor is one thing, but to be taken to a general with these accusations was another.  To make it worse, performing ritual suicide, seppuku, wasn't going to work.  He remembered Captain Ieyasu as very persuasive and he could sway anyone.  Takeo couldn't go back.  

He would rather die then be officially declared honorless.  He wished he could to his dreams and just live there, but reality prevented such wishes.  He then flew into a rage and attacked a soldier.  He broke the soldier's neck and took the Nambu.  Taking aim, he fired the Nambu and the bullet went into Ieyasu's head.  Instead of falling, Ieyasu turned into mist and blew away.  

"How...?" Takeo looked around and the scenery was dissolving into mist.  In his hand, the Nambu dissolved as well.  After it cleard, he found himself in the same chamber where he started off with Spyro and Richtofen sitting in a corner, waiting for him.  He sighed with major relief and looked at the ground where his Arisaka was lying.  He picked up and held it close.

"Never lose honor...never." he growled to himself.  

"There you are Takeo." Spyro said, smiling.

"Yes...sorry for taking so long...it's just...nevermind." Takeo walked to them.  Richtofen stood up.

"Now vhat?" he asked.  As if to answer his question, the one remaining door with no marks suddenly opened up to reveal a giant library and a big blue hourglass inside.

"Whoa..." they all said.  Sparx flew in and admired the hour glass.

"Hello? Genie, are you there?" he said, staring into the hourglass.  Spyro walked with Takeo while Richtofen stood at the doorway.

"This is incredible! The entire history of the dragon race! It looks like it's all here!" Spyro said excitedly, while looking around at the books.  

"It is.  Well, most of it..." said a voice.