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Chapter 26: The Road South Dragon Realms, Uncharted System March 11, 2204 1324 Hours Rally Point

The Marines retreated along the path, ushered on by the mysterious figure. The loud winds slapped against the soldiers as they dashed towards their objective, the beam of purple spiking out of the ground and into the dark skies.

"So what's going on? What is that thing?!" A Marine asked.

"It is one of the keys, the Dark Master has unlocked one of the gates to the Final Solution. He has found their locations with his Gems and now seeks to unlock each one of them! If he does, the weapon will finally surface and he can use it..." Blaze said, stopping as he did so and using his sword to smash a wall to ribbons.

"So what're we to do about it?" Lorain asked, checking for anything trialing the group as they moved back to the village.

"We must warn the others, they must put a stop to him."

"How'd you know where we were, where'd you come from?" Another asked.

"My name is Blaze, I am an ancient Warrior. I was called upon by the villagers, they thought you could use some help... they were right..."

"Yeah... help..." A Marine muttered.

"Can we stop that thing?"

"I'm afraid not, the beam will continue to output energy until the gates are all unlocked or the main switch is pulled. I cannot say where it is, even that information is lost. We must make it back to the village and get the others out of this area before it is completely overrun." Blaze dashed through the debris from the wall and the others followed suit.

Lorain stepped to follow but stopped mid step and turned to Yahade' and the other Lakadors who were bringing up the rear.

"You guys can follow or go to your Commanders. As much as I don't like it, there're two wars going on, we've got this one to fight." Lorain said in an almost grunt-like manner before following the rest of the platoon.

"What are we to do Commander?" A Lakador asked.

"There are bigger things at work here, and our petty war can wait. Whoever wishes to go back to the main Battalion can, I think that our help would be greatly needed in this task. Follow if you will, I don't expect many of you to do so." Yahade' turned to leave with the Marines and a few Lakadors turned to leave but most of the group remained.

As Yahade' expected, Sondohwa left with a few others back to the main Lakador encampment. He sighed before walking off. He knew that he had a duty to win this war, but at this point in time, what cost was it to him to kill all Humans on sight? This was something more important, a greater crisis. This was of a higher priority then everything else. He'd be damned before he let others tell him otherwise.

They dashed through the rubble and met up with the Marines on the far side.

"This is the path." Blaze said silently as he looked at a large stone door embedded into a cliff face within the city.

"What path?" Lorain asked.

"This leads out of the city, to the fertile plains of Mandobara, and towards the southern mountain range. From there it is a straight path to Warfang."

"That's perfect... we can funnel the survivors out through here!"

"Exactly. Have your men get them here as soon as you can. I will hold this spot." Blaze said as he stood near the door.

"Alright, let's go get our villagers, Jacobs, Harrison , stay with Blaze and cover the door! We'll be back soon!" Lorain said. Seeing as how the Sergeant in their platoon had been killed, it looked like Lorain had to assume command now...

"We will aid the defense. I doubt they will let Lakadors near the village." Yahade' said.

"Right. Try not to get shot." Lorain said with a playful smirk as he and the others dashed off towards the village.

They arrived back at the village, everyone already funneling out of the village with their belongings. Most only had enough stuff to fill a bag per villager. The small forest creatures didn't look like they'd be able to make it far without an escort. This wasn't going to be easy...

"What the hell did you guys do!?" Sergeant Reyes said as he leapt down from his watch tower, referring to the beam of purple light dominating the skyline.

"Wasn't our fault! This place has really gone to hell, we need to get everyone out ASAP!"

"So what's the word on the LZ then?"

"We found a better way out of the city for the villagers, we need to get everyone towards this new passageway."

The blue dragoness from before walked up, Ingrid.

"So did our friend help you?"

"Oh, Blaze? Yeah, how'd you get him to help us?"

"It wasn't that hard... was his armor that summoned him back... one of the villagers had it in deep storage and the armor started to glow. The rest just... happened."

Lorain could only frown at the statement, though it was nothing new to him. This whole place was nuts. Glowing armor? Just another box to check on his list. Oh well.

"Come on, we've got to get these villagers out of here." Lorain said

"Right, let's move 'em out!" Reyes ordered. The Marines and other warriors with them helped the villagers to move down the broken road and towards the door.

"Sir, contacts!" A Marine said. Reyes dashed towards the front and saw the contacts in question. Several Orcs and Grublins, as well as other unnamed foes walked in an eerie fashion towards the purple beam. They walked slowly through the city streets, as if in a daze.

"Hold your fire, they haven't seen us." Reyes said.

"What're they doing...?" Another Marine asked.

"Don't know, don't care. We got stuff to do, come on!" With that, the Soldiers ushered the group into a few alleyways to bypass the streets filled with hostiles. Slowly but surely they worked their way back to the stone doorway.

"Look more of the beasts!" A Warrior proclaimed.

"Looks like we got back in time for the party!" A Marine said as they saw several grublins dashing towards the door, the Marines and Blaze already engaging them. The Marines fired bursts from their Assault Rifles while Blaze unsheathed his sword and slashed it once, a huge shockwave enveloping the blade and spiking out towards the Grublins. The creatures were swallowed whole by the wave and incinerated upon contact.

"Holy shit, he kicked their ass!"

"Can it, let's go!" They continued to run towards the door and came to a halt.

"We must make haste, the passageway is open!" Blaze said as he opened the stone and the doors slid open.

"Everyone through, let's go!" Heyes said. He turned to Lorain and his squad.

"What about you guys?"

"We'll get out on an evac bird, the rest of you guys gatta get these guys to safety!" It was then the Marines there noticed the Lakadors firing from a small fallen porch above.

"What the hell, Lakadors?!"

"Don't shoot, they're with us!" Lorain said.

"Yes, we must hurry!" Blaze said once more.

The villagers dashed into the passageway as quickly as they could, the Marines firing at Grublins as they rushed them. Several other Orcs and other unnamed foes charged the group.

A Marine yelled as an arrow sliced into his arm, the soldier falling in pain.

"Man down!" Another yelled.

"Keep up the fire!"

"Cover me!"

"Fire in the hole!" A Marine chunked a fragmentation grenade into the midst of rushing enemies, the explosive device shredding them to pieces.

"Alright, you guys go, we'll find another way!"

"Soldier." Blaze stated, getting Lorain 's attention.

"Yes?"

"Once you regroup with your forces, alert the purple dragon to the events here. Tell him that his target lies to the west, you must take that key. Tell him that the Dark Master moves his forces, just like before."

"Alright!" Lorain said as the winds began to pick up from the beam spitting out from the center of the city.

Blaze entered the passageway and the door sealed behind them.

Echo 3-3-7 come in! Do you read me?"

"Finally, what the hell's going on down there, energy is off the charts!"

"Later, can you still land at the LZ?"

"Yeah, LZ looks secure, we're inbound."

"Right, we're on our way!"

"You guys better hurry up, we're low on fuel, if you don't get there in 3 minutes, we'll have to leave without you."

"Don't worry, we'll be there! Come on guys, let's move it out! We've got 3 minutes!" Lorain yelled. The Marines stood up and dashed from where they were.

They dashed over the rubble and fallen pillars, trying to get there as fast as they could. They arrived where the road became a balcony like overhang tier that ran parallel to a courtyard. In the courtyard were hundreds of hostiles.

"What the..." The grublins and Orcs in the courtyard looked different then the ones they had been picking off all day. These looked stronger, tougher, and more sinister. Dark energy pulsed from their bodies, an evil red glow in their eye.

At the end of the courtyard, there was a stairway leading to their level. On those stairs a large figure presided over the large group of enemies. It spoke in a tongue none of the Marines knew. It seemed to be giving out orders and chanting something.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Hey, I've got a question... if those Lakadors were here, weren't there going to be more? Where are they?" Webster asked.

"Good question..."

"Well there's some of them right there..." Lorain pointed to a pile of dead Lakador soldiers thrown together near the edge of the courtyard.

"Damn..."

"Guys, we're running out of time, let's go!" Lorain said as he remembered, ushering the men to keep moving.

Suddenly a shriek was let lose from the group and they turned as they ran to see that one of the enemy soldiers had spotted them. The large figure that seemed to be commanding them let out a sharp hiss and pointed at the Marines as they ran.

"This won't end good!"

"Keep going to the LZ!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!"

"Recon, this is Echo, you have 90 seconds to bingo fuel, over."

"I know, we're on our way!"

Several hundred creatures poured onto the pathway behind them, dashing at speeds Lorain didn't think were physically possible.

"Keep going!" Lorain yelled as he backpedaled, firing his rifle at the same time. The bullets struck one of the creatures and caused it to stumble but kept going at him. Another burst sank into the creature's head and caused it to flip end over end from its own momentum before skidding to a halt on the ground.

This didn't halt the others as they continued forward, the other Marines firing rounds as well.

60 seconds.

They entered the courtyard, but they still had to descend to the level where the Nighthawk would land, which meant hopping down stairs and small entryways to get down.

The creatures caught up with them, one soldier catching a sword strike to the chest as the massive version of the Orc cut through them. The soldier yelled in pain and tumbled down, another Marine carrying him off while Webster brought up a shotgun and let the creature have 2 shots of 8 gauge buckshot into its chest. The creature pivoted and flew back from the impacts, its armor and chest blown open.

"Let's go!" Lorain yelled again, firing a burst before leaping down a flight of stairs to avoid being overtaken himself.

As Lorain turned, he saw the Nighthawk sitting in the center of the courtyard, its engines flaring and a few of the Marines in his squad already boarding.

"Hurry!"

30 seconds.

Lorain rolled down another flight and behind what used to be a statue as arrows and bursts of dark energy conjured by the menacing creatures smashed into the ground nearby. He armed a fragmentation grenade and lobbed it over the statue before he dashed for the railing and rolled over, landing on the bottom level. He landed and went into a mad dash just as the grenade detonated, dirt and rock falling onto him as the explosion blew two Grublins and a handful of Orcs into ribbons.

10 seconds.

Lorain leapt towards the Nighthawk's troop bay, the door gunner firing his machine gun at the hostiles as the Army GI drew closer to the aircraft.

"Hurry!"

Lorain stumbled but continued to run.

He threw his rucksack into the troop bay from his spot.

An arrow slammed into the hull, as did another burst of energy.

The Nighthawk's engines flared once more for take off.

Lorain leapt into the troop bay and the others caught him before he slid out the opposite door and dragged him to the safety of the protective hull.

"All right, we're out of here." The Nighthawk flared its engines a second time, the force kicking the aircraft off the ground and into the air, clouds of dirt and debris being kicked up as the drop ship sailed upwards into the black angry sky, several Grublins, Drones and Orcs in the courtyard hissing and roaring at them.

"Nice run; that was close." Webster said.

"No shit..." Lorain said, closing his eyes and falling asleep from exhaustion.

1645 Hours Outskirts of Mandobar

1st Sergeant Heyes walked through the tunnels, leading his rag tag company of Charlie. They were escorting the battle weary villagers of about 100 or so smaller and young dragonlings, bi-pedal squirrel, otter and mole creatures. Most were too small to put up a fight and would never reach 'Warfang' by themselves.

They needed some help. Plus, the Marines from that recon group said there was a Marine CP in Warfang. Plus the Typhus was sitting there so that was the place to go for him and his men.

They walked through the tunnels for a long time until they finally reached the end where light poured into the tunnel. They emerged on a ledge overlooking a gulley. Trees and timber growth engulfed the local area and beyond the gulley lied a mountain range.

The mountains were tall, but looked passable.

"On the opposite side of those mountains lies the fertile plains of the Dragon. To the south lies Warfang. Though these travelers might not be able to make the full journey alone. There may be alternatives." Blaze said.

"Alternatives? What do you mean?"

There was no response. Blaze was gone.

"The hell did he go?" Heyes asked as he looked around. The other Marines and Lakadors looked as well but there was no sign of him. They were on their own now.

Heyes sighed.

"Alright people, looks like we need to get over these mountains. Let's get moving..." Heyes said as he motioned for them to start moving. They all followed as they walked into the small gulley and began to climb to the adjacent ledge, continuing on towards the where the slopes began to rise, the foot of the first mountain.

They began the grueling climb up the mountain, which luckily had a small forest path that lead upwards. The temperature had began to drop slightly, even though it should have been Summer time here, or, at least, it should have been. The beam of purple energy still poured its light into the sky, creating the clouds and probably altering the weather. Though Heyes had a feeling the beam wasn't behind it entirely.

They continued moving through the forest until they reached a clearing where what sunlight remained in the sky beamed through the trees and sat itself on the blades of grass and foliage in the clearage. The clearing was large enough to accommodate them with their small group of 100 or so and 50 Marines.

Heyes turned to one of the smaller warriors by his side, Hymous, was his name if he remembered correctly. The warrior was a squirrel, with blue fur, a small cape, leather armor and a golden helmet that only covered part of his head and not the fur that came directly out of the top. The only real connection between him and the nut munchers on Earth was his long bushy tail, ears, and teeth. That and the fact that he resembled one in minute portions.

"Tell them this'll be a good spot to rest Hymous." He said.

"Right, alright everyone! Let us rest in this clearing!" He said and everyone set their belongings down and began to set themselves down. The Lakadors in the group stood near a rock on the edge. Heyes didn't really know what to make of them, other then they just made him nervous. He had to know why they were helping them. Wasn't everyday one of your enemies decided to help you.

Sighing, Heyes stood up and walked over to the one he presumed to be the leader, for every one of the Lakadors seemed to revere him with dignity or honor.

He wasn't sure on what to say exactly, but they noticed him and the Lakador turned around to see him. Heyes opened his mouth to talk but the Lakador raised its hand to stop him.

"You are going to ask why we are helping you, yes?" He asked.

"Er... yes..."

"It's simple really."

"How so?"

"Well, most of us in this group, including me, find that this war makes absolutely no sense."

"Sense?"

"Our leadership have us blast another intelligent race of creatures under the pretext that they don't think you'd be a peaceful race, and that you are dangerous."

"Really now? I was under the impression we just did something to anger you guys, or just the whole stereotypical alien invasion..."

The Lakador looked at him curiously.

"Nevermind."

"We find that these attacks, although ordered by our superiors, is useless to uphold in the face of this obviously higher threat."

"Right... seems this place is teeming with dangers..."

"Which is why we think its best to help you Humans get rid of it rather then fight over something like this. In other words, we'd rather fight and die for a cause we'd be able to justify."

"I would to. Seems this is something bigger then ourselves."

"Seems like it." They turned to look at the purple beam spitting out of the ruins and into the angry storm of clouds overhead.

They all sat down and rested, drinking the water available from the river and the pond nearby. The squirrels and moles climbed the trees to get berries and fresh fruit while the other dragons went out to hunt for meat. As Heyes sat on a log, cleaning his rifle, he felt something in the air. It was like a spike of cold that ran down his spine.

He looked up and saw the others going about their business. He flexed his hands a bit, feeling the air more. Ever since they had left Mandobar, the temperature had been slightly falling. Now, it felt like it spiked downwards. It was like an ominous feeling hung in the air. He just felt something... something coming...

"Hymous! I think its time to move." He said as he stood up and placed his rifle over his shoulder.

"Are you sure? We've only just began to rest..." He asked as he walked up, spear in hand.

"There's something here... I don't like it..." Heyes said as he looked around more.

"I feel something too. We should move with great haste." As Hymous turned to get the others ready, Heyes looked down into the forest and for a second, he thought he could see two beady eyes, watching him. He looked at it for a while before the eyes faded and was finally brought too.

"Alright, we are moving again! Everyone get ready to move!" Hymous said to the others, the creatures awakening from their naps or from eating and getting up to leave.

"Sir, something wrong?" A Marine asked Heyes.

"Yeah... I'm fine... let's move."

They moved for a while, a few hours having passed since they first left Mandobar. The sky was getting darker and darker and it was cold to the point where some of the Marines were shivering. The smaller fur coated creatures had little discomfort to the cold, they had fur!

They finally reached a pass that would let them descend out of the mountain range, and soon they'd be able to see the entire peninsula beyond the mountains.

"Look, we can see the great dragon city!" A smaller creature called out. Heyes and the other stood up and walked to where they were, seeing what they saw. Far off in the distance, miles out, a city sat along the edge of the peninsula. It looked grand and majestic, sitting out along the water's edge. Above the high towers in the city was the UERNS Typhus. The Frigate sat above the city and Heyes knew that was the place to go.

However, it was what was in-between them and Warfang that scared Heyes. A large ocean of lava filled land and black smoldering rocks lied between them and the dragon city. The molten expanse looked to be several miles in diameter. The trip to Warfang also looked to be more then 10-20 miles. Maybe even more. This would be a tough trek. Then Heyes thought back to what Blaze had told him. "There may be alternatives..."

"Alternatives..." Heyes sighed and looked at the massive expanse. They had to find a way.

"Well let's start moving down these mountains. The better we get moving, the better." With that they started to move down the mountain, using the paths to get down faster then when they came up. A wind began to whip against them as they descended, the yellow light blazing from the star in the sky shining its final rays upon them. The visible sky was a yellow hue as the star broke through the thick cloud cover that was enveloping the land, adding a more ominous feeling to the already weary situation they were in.

As they went down, Heyes caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned, but only bushes and trees caught his vision.

"Something the matter?" Hymous asked, seeing his head turn rapidly.

"No." Heyes simply said in return. The smaller warrior sighed a bit before continuing on. They had to keep moving, they only had a few hours of daylight left.

"Sir! I've got eyes on a contact!" One of his Marines said from the front of the group. Heyes ran over and got into a crouch position as their decline met a drop off. The area in front of them was a small gulley, with a little river running through it. A raptor creature with several markings on it was taking a sip of the water and lapped up at it.

"Hymous, do you know if this thing is hostile?"

"Not sure... we've never seen any of these before... a few of our older tribesmen have talked here and there about a few 'creatures' lurking in the wooded area beyond Mandobar, but we never saw anything..." Heyes thought for a moment. He wasn't willing to bet whether these things were hostile or not. They'd just have to bypass the creature altogether.

"We'll just have to pass him up then... I don't think it'll be a good idea to alert him..."

"Right..." Hymous said.

"Sir, more movement on the flank." Heyes turned to see the bushes rustle and a few low growls emenating from the brush.

"Hymous, get these people out of here!" Heyes said just as another one of the raptor creatures leapt from the brush and landed feet from Heyes.

"So these are the meaty flesh creatures they were talking about..." The creature said in a growl-like voice.

"Seems so master... they do look tasty like they said..."

"What the hell do you guys want..." Heyes said as he raised his rifle, his other men doing the same, Yahade' sprinting to join him and the others getting swords as their weapons lacked ammo.

"Seems you meat sacks have a high bounty on you... some will pay handsomely for you as slaves... or dinner... or just to get rid of you altogether..." The creature said with a grin.

"The hell with that!"

"Oh I don't think you have a choice in the matter... you see... my pack mates have been awfully hungry... meat has been... scarce. Looks like we found our new dinner. Come on boys! Enjoy!" With that, the raptors screeched and dashed at them.

"Oh shit!" A Marine said as he fired his rifle, as did several of the other soldiers. The bullets impacted the creatures and several Raptors fell face first in the dirt from the armor piercing rifle rounds. The warriors in the group, although small, leaped to action and grabbed onto the Raptors, inserting swords into their face and eyes. The Lakadors withdrew to a rock and fired on the Raptors from their cover, while the Marines fell back as well to form a semi-circle of sorts.

The Raptors managed to get through though, smashing into the Marines' line and breaking them apart. Heyes flew into the grass as a Raptor smashed into him, his M74D sliding away from him. The Marines left regrouped near the Lakadors as the Raptors threatened to break them up and eat them one by one. One unfortunate Marine was captured and yelled as he was dragged into the bushes by two Raptors.

The other Marines managed to stumble back into defensive positions but the Raptors came again.

Heyes felt a Raptor grab at his feet and grunted, pulling out his side arm and pumping several rounds of .45 ammunition into its head, causing it to roar and topple over. Soon the Raptors began to retreat into the forest, several of their corpses littering the ground.

"Let us make haste! The beasts will strike fast and again!" One of the Warriors called out.

"Let's go, if you can walk, run!" Heyes said while standing up and retrieving his assault rifle. 4 Marines were dead, 2 Lakadors, 6 Warriors and 3 more Marines were missing. This wasn't good. They had to move, now.

All of them moved fast down the hill, not turning back, the group of villagers just ahead in the forest. Heyes lost track of how long they had gone, but it was colder now. Before he or anyone else knew it, they had ran for at least 30 minutes. Looking out over the trees he saw they were close to the foot of the mountain.

The group finally slowed down to a halt and stopped at another clearing for a rest. Things went as normal as they had the last time. Everyone lied around resting and regaining their strength as the last rays of the day came over them. With night time nearly up them, Heyes decided it was time to call it a day. Wasn't long before everyone was asleep and the moon shined its own light upon them as the day left and night came. Nearly everyone was out before dark, and the campfire slowly died off in the center of the group, a cold wind washing over them once more.

March 12, 2204 1123 Hours

Heyes cleaned his rifle and looked around. Most everyone was up by now, only a few stragglers remained asleep. They would have to move soon again, who knew who else was looking for them. Hymous had been a great help though, ever since they left he was the unofficial second in command. His other Marine Commander, Corporal Howards, was a little unfit for command at the moment. The soldier lacked any real leading experience and fumbled and jumped the gun when it came to giving out orders. He wouldn't put him as a squad commander, let alone trust him with leading a company.

The Lakadors, they had been a tremendous help to them. Their leader, Yahade', was a field commander. He guessed it was the Lakador equivalent of a Marine Captain. Yahade' and Heyes had struck a sort of 'mini-friendship' so to say. As much as two races that had only a day ago held weapons of war at each other could muster, that is. Heyes could tell that there was a bit of tension with the Lakadors since they were only feet from their former enemy. Same could be said with the Marines. Many were not happy at all being this close to 'the bastards'. It didn't matter to Heyes, was less people to shoot in his opinion.

Though his little talks with Yahade', they had given him insight to something rare, the enemy perspective of the war. Yahade' was a bit less enthusiastic about the war but Lakador customs had him in the 'Imperial Army' regardless of his own personal views. His high leadership skills and rudimentary combat and physical skills dictated that he became a Field Commander. Sounded like the Lakadors had some sort of 'Communist' government or something. Or just some Imperial government.

Really, it didn't matter, not at this moment. At least for now, his worry was how to reach Warfang in one piece. Only yesterday he had lost at least 7 Marines out of his 50 or so. At that rate, they'd never make it to Warfang in one piece.

They'd have to keep moving. After everyone had eaten at least something they were on the move again. The forest was cold and the sun somewhat shined on them, the black angry clouds over Mandobar still isolated over the region, not spreading anymore but that chill was still in the air.

They were near the bottom when Heyes could make out a river near the base. Would be perfect for a resting break but it was still a ways out. They continued down and Heyes could make out more and more of the river below. There appeared to be an unused fishing hut nearby, and the area was thick with forest except for a clearing near the river. For sure this'd be a perfect place, they could even fish for food!

Suddenly, a new sound demanded their attention. The sound of rotor blades spinning and an engine dominated the area and they looked up to see a UERMC Sparrowhawk flying overhead, two more following it and they put down on the opposite side of the river on the top of a ridge overlooking the area. This was perfect! They had to find a way to get their attention though.

"Sir, look, choppers!" A Marine said.

"I know! We need to get their attention...."

"Well the radio is all static."

"Anyone got any flares?"

"I've got one in my M203 sir." A PFC walked up with a Grenade launcher equipped to his M74D. The launcher had a flare grenade variant in it.

"How many?"

"Just one sir."

"We're going to have to make it count then."

"Sir, whatever you're going to do, do it fast, the choppers are going to leave soon!" Heyes looked and saw that the people who had left were gathering their things and returning to the choppers. They didn't have much time left.

"Fire your flare, right into the clearing!"

"Yes sir!" With that, the PFC aimed his rifle and fired. The flare spat from the launcher and sailed towards the center of the field and bloomed a red glow. Heyes saw the people at the drop ships spot the flare and point to it. They had seen it.

"We've got to move, let's go!"

The group charged down the hill and through the forest. They were nearing the bottom when trouble stirred.

"Sir! I think that flare got someone else's attention!"

As they entered the clearing on the far side of the river, Heyes realized what the soldier had said. A large creature came out of the trees, what the others had referred to as a troll. It roared in defiance and charged the landing helicopters, causing them to fly off into the sky to avoid the creature's might.

"Damn it! Hammer that thing!" Heyes said. Gunfire erupted but the creature hardly seemed fazed.

It roared again and charged the group, leaping over the river and colliding into the ground hard. The Sparrowhawk above them fired its chainguns, pelting the creature with gunfire but it still roared and tore a rock from the ground and tossed it at the helicopter, causing it to sway.

"I'm out!" A Marine said, his rifle out of ammo.

"Me too!"

"Last mag!" They were running out of ammo altogether, and Heyes didn't think they could take this thing with their bare hands. Even the Lakadors seemed to have a hard time tackling the creature with their weapons.

A stream of fire hit the troll and this seemed to get its attention. It was one of the younger dragons, snarling at it. The troll roared and came towards them, only to be hit by more elemental breaths ranging from ice to water to wind to fire to electricity. The troll seemed stunned from these attacks and finally a missile fired from the Sparrowhawk caused the creature to topple over, dead.

The dragons cheered and ran ahead of the group. Dropping an empty magazine from his rifle, he looked at the young dragons. He had always personally looked down upon them. Was it their race? He being conditioned to think that from birth, Humans are superior to all? He didn't know. It was funny actually now that he thought about it. All his life, he had grown up thinking Humans, Humans, Humans. Now, here he was, surrounded by dragons half his height, taking down a freaking troll the size of a small office building. He was just glad they were on his side. He just sort of wished they'd have done that from the very beginning.

The helicopters landed nearby and a few soldiers came out, clad in special ops uniforms, the HACOs. They were followed by a cheetah as well, holding a bow and arrow at the ready.

"1st Sergeant Heyes?" One of them asked, walking over in a still combat stance.

"Yeah that's me. I was escorting these civilians to Warfang."

"Your unit has been commandeered by Colonel Dyke. You are under his command."

"Why, what's going on?"

"The Marine Task Force has intercepted hostile units bound south to a major city. We've held them off to a degree, but we've lost contact with a very special individual. Dyke is assembling a task force to locate this individual, you're unit is being drafted in. You are to move north with us immediately." The HACO explained.

"What? What about these civilians?"

"Don't worry about us, we've gotten this far. It'll probably be safer to stay here then continue to Warfang. This spot'd be perfect for a village." Hymous said.

"Well we've still got a lot of wounded." Heyes said, remembering.

"They can stay here until more birds come this way. You and the able are to move north with us, ASAP."

"Alright. Just out of curiosity, who's the important individual?"

"The Legendary Purple Dragon, Spyro."

End of Chapter 26