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Well, to calm the death threats I keep getting to finish this chapter; here is the 24th installment of The Spyro Chronicles. At first, it was looking like its predecessor with it being short, but now its turned out to be one of my longest, if not then my longest chapter to date.

Chapter 24: Night Patrol

Spyro awoke with the nudging of someone and sleepily yawned. He looked up and saw the form of a human standing above him. Spyro tried to make out what he was saying but couldn't. He strained harder and noticed the human was whispering.

"Spyro, c'mon we need to get up and move."

"Ah... what, what time is it..." Spyro asked almost in a daze like state. He noticed that it was still night and that a lot of the Marines were already up and getting their rifles ready. He noticed Allison waking up Cynder a few feet from her. He looked up and saw that it was Karson that was waking him up. He yawned and stretched as he slowly got up.

"Karson, what's going on?"

"Nothing, Wagner just wants to move under the cover of darkness that's all. The apes won't be able to see us so this is the best time to get moving."

Spyro yawned before moving to Cynder who was still half asleep. She smiled at him and he did the same. He saw Wagner standing in the center of the opening, giving orders to the other men.

He saw Wagner walking to the group of Lakadors and knew this was going to be trouble. The Lakadors didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of following a human commander so Spyro got closer to make sure there wasn't going to be a fight.

"Look, use our rifles." Wagner said to them.

"Those? You're kidding me; I would rather die then give up my weapon." Sondohwa replied, folding his arms on his chest.

"Yes well, your weapon makes to much sound when it fires. Ours can be silenced and are better for night attacks." Wagner retorted.

"Even so, this just means we have to use superior tactics. Just stay out of our way." Mitinie snapped.

Wagner glared at them as they walked off towards the direction they were advancing. He turned to Yahade'.

"You could be of more help you know." He said to the Lakador commander.

"It would be like talking to a wall. They won't listen to you and if I told them to they would think of me as a traitor and well, it wouldn't go well after that." He replied in a calm voice, much to the contrast of Wagner's.

"Just try and keep them under control tonight, I would rather like to have no casualties." Wagner replied, his voice beginning to calm down a bit.

"I will try my best but I cannot guarantee anything." Wagner turned to Spyro who had watched the whole thing.

"Ah, Spyro. Glad you are awake."

"I might be awake, but not all the way." Spyro said right before yawning. Spyro wasn't used to getting up this early and fighting to his fullest. This was new to him and he wasn't going to let his sleep get the better of him.

"Well let's hope you are awake for this mission. Karson, Allison, get ready. We are going to move out in a bit." Lt. Buckman walked up and whispered something in Wagner's ear. Wagner nodded and Buckman went back to the Nighthawk.

Wagner ordered all the men to the center of the clearing and Spyro noticed some of them had put leaves on their uniforms as well as grass and other things. The Lakadors wore nothing but their shiny silver armor.

"Silencers on." Wagner whispered. Spyro saw each of the soldiers take out a small cylinder from their packs and attach it to the end of their rifles. As Spyro watched the Lakadors huffed at them, all except for Yahade', who like the marines, wore some camo on him.

"Move forward, 1st, go!" Wagner whispered again. A small three man squad went into the foliage and was promptly followed by some more men. Wagner sat in a crouched position and Spyro saw him motion to him. Spyro looked at Cynder and she shrugged. They both went and entered the brush where the Marines had right before them.

Spyro saw the silhouettes of the Marines in front of him as they trudged through the trees and brush. They moved quietly and slowly. Spyro saw that each of the men and women moved with silent grace, each being cautious as they moved. The night concealed their movement and the moonlight broke through the trees, momentarily reveal a Marine moving through the forest.

Spyro turned his head and saw Wagner running in a crouched position to the front of the patrol. Behind him were the Lakadors who, besides Yahade', were paying no attention to stealth or even caring that the moonlight reflected off of their armor and made them one big glowing figure moving through the night.

Cynder was right behind Spyro and Spyro couldn't help but notice how she moved in the night, her scales reflecting the moonlight and creating a brilliant display of blacks and silvers. Her eyes shown beautifully as the moon's light shown over it. He smiled and kept looking at her before his front paw caught on an exposed tree root and he stumbled and lost his footing.

He recovered to see Cynder giggle at him and here a Marine whisper to be quiet. Spyro felt a little embarrassed but kept going. The Lakadors sneered at him but he paid it no mind.

As they went through, they reached the end of the plateau they were on. A wooden bridge connected that one to another just a few dozen yards away. Wagner motioned Karson and Allison to the front and they started to move up the bridge as quietly as they could. They were followed by more Marines who followed quickly behind.

Spyro and Cynder took flight and flew over the chasm. As they reached the other side, they saw several Atlowa structures and pottery scattered around the ground and carved into the rock. This plateau, like the one they were just on, was mainly forest and temples. Spyro noticed the Lakadors still not showing any degree of stealth or even seemed to care that they might give the Marines away.

They moved slowly into the brush and it wasn't long until they reached a clearing. The clearing separated the forest from a large rock formation on the opposite end. The clearing was surrounded by a box canyon formation so they had to move through the clearing. However, the clearing was filled with tall grasses which would provide perfect cover for the Marines to advance.

Spyro saw Wagner motion the men forward into the grass while a small three man squad kept an eye on the rocks. Spyro and Cynder slowly followed, trying not to make to much noise. Spyro noted that each of the Marines were crawling through the grass. The Lakadors moved in a crouched position to the right of the Marines. Spyro saw a few figures moving down the rock formation and heard a faint whisper ordering to "hold here".

Wagner raised his rifle and used the 4x scope reflex scope he had taken with him to get a better look at the contacts. They were Apes, about 5 of them, all moving sleepily on the rocks. It was about the equivalent of 4 in the morning so each of them was probably just on a bathroom run.

"Hold fire until I say so! We have to keep our stealth!" Wagner whispered to the men as he formulated a plan in his head.

He ordered Henderson and Powers to advance into the grass and sneak up on the Apes. They had to find out just how many they were fighting before they did anything risky.

As they moved through the grass Spyro watched closely as the Apes started to do their "business", oblivious to the two Marines sneaking through the grass. There was only one problem though, and Spyro managed to catch it at the corner of his eyes before it happened.

A very impatient Mitinie raised his dark energy rifle and opened up. The whine of discharged energy broke the silence and small spheres of dark energy raced towards the Apes on the rocks. The burst struck and killed two of the five on the rocks, and also it alerted the rest of the apes.

One of the Apes carried a M10 SMG and swung it into place. He targeted the two advancing Marines, who were now apparent due to the moving grass. The grass exploded around the two leathernecks and Spyro watched as they both went down and didn't get back up.

"Son of a bitch!" Wagner said in a semi-whisper. Spyro moved quickly and tried to close the distance between him and the two down Marines as quickly as he could. Cynder followed and the Marines each raised their rifles. Small silent pops and coughs broke into the night and the other three apes toppled over and fell into the grass at the base of the rocks, right into their own piss.

Spyro reached the two Marines and found them both lying in a pool of blood.

"Shit..." Spyro muttered, barely noticing he had used the word. Mclowsky, the Corpsmen, rushed passed him and inspected each of the fallen soldiers. Wagner ran up as well to see what had happened.

Before Wagner could ask how the situation was, he saw three Apes emerge from the top of the rocks. They had heard that burst of SMG fire from the Ape and had come to find out what was going on. One of the Apes fell from a silenced rifle and the other two began to panic. They were both silenced by silenced assault rifle fire though, and they too tumbled into their comrade's piss.

"So how we doing?" Wagner asked as he noted the ape's deaths.

"Not so good, Powers is dead and Henderson was shot in the left arm."

Henderson moaned and clutched onto his arm where it had been hit.

"Henderson, you think you can still fight?" Wagner asked in a fast manner.

"His arm will heal, it's not that serious. Though it will hurt like hell for a little bit." The medic said before grabbing a cylinder with a needle at the tip from her bag and inserted it into Henderson's arm. Spyro had seen this before; they had done it to him when he was aboard the Archilles.

"Yes... sir... I'll still fight. Agh! Hurts like hell..." Henderson said, trying to stand back up. Wagner collected Power's dog tags and looked at the fallen Marine.

He held up his arm to signal the rest of the Marines to move forward. They approached the rocks silently and found a small ape camp on the other side. Having already killed the apes in their previous engagement, they moved in and made sure the area was secure.

Linburg approached Wagner after they had secured the camp.

"Sir, what happened to Powers, I can't find him anywhere." Wagner sighed before responding to the soldier.

"Powers is KIA, got it from that ape with the M10." The officer said with a heavy heart.

"No... no..." Linburg said as he stepped back. Wagner had noticed that he, Karlos, and Powers had been close. Ever since Sirus they had been good buddies. Now all of his buddies were dead. Before Wagner knew it, the Marine had drawn his side arm and was approaching Mitinie.

"You stupid fucker!" He yelled as he approached. The Lakador huffed at the oncoming human and prepared for a fight. Picante and Riley grabbed Linburg and kept him from killing the hybrid.

"C'mon Linburg, drop the gun!" Riley said to him.

"That bitch got him killed! He deserves to fucking die!" Linburg said, tears strolling down his cheeks.

"Your pathetic friend got his treat for following that human's orders. I have nothing to do with it." Mitinie responded back.

"C'mon Linburg, he ain't worth it!" Picante said while trying to restrain the private.

"Linburg stand down." Wagner said while approaching. Spyro and Cynder also walked up at this time, as did Yahade'.

"Sir, that bitch got him killed!"

"He may have gotten him killed but this isn't going to solve anything. Powers is dead and nothing can change that." The officer said back in a rock solid voice. Linburg dropped the pistol and he was released by the other two Marines. He walked off, his anger portrayed in his steps.

"Dammit Yahade' control your god dammed men!" Wagner said, anger now building in his own voice.

"Control us from what? Defeating the enemy?" Gardenah inquired the human officer.

"Controlling you from disrupting this assault and letting every god dammed ape in this forest from attacking us! It's a wonder the Darkmaster himself hasn't attacked us with you blastin away at anything that moves! Haven't you people ever heard of stealth?!"

"What we have heard of is honor and attacking like a true soldier should."

"From what I have seen the only thing you have managed to do is get men killed!"

"Well maybe he got it because you are such a lousy commander."

"The only thing lousy around here is your lack of discipline." Wagner retorted.

"Discipline? If you or your men had as much as us you would have had this thing won already. So far you can't even hold onto one of your pathetic colony worlds or even the Dragon Temple. From what I have seen your ranks have no discipline at all!"

"ENOUGH!" Yahade' bellowed, anger and frustration showing on his reptilian face.

"You will show this officer respect as a fellow commander!"

"Give me a good reason to!" Sondohwa growled.

"Why are you siding with this human and not with your own men?" Gardenah asked bitterly.

"Because my own men don't know when it is time to attack honorable and when it is time to be stealthy. Your actions have cost them one of their soldiers and you three are starting to act like arrogant fools." The commander responded sharply.

"You are only saying that because one of them is your brother!"

"That may be, but right now you need to learn how to act towards a fellow officer and commander. You will treat everyone of these humans as your own or so help me..." Yahade' growled, dark energy starting to form at his fists. The Lakadors glared before finally nodding to him.

"Enough fighting, we will set up an OP here and hold here for the rest of the night. Karson, Allison, your on patrol. The rest of you, get a bit of shut eye, we move out before dawn." Wagner said before removing his helmet and walking off to a nice grassy area and resting.

Yahade' simply walked over to a rock and placed his back up against it. The other marines sat down in the grassy area and tried to get as much sleep as they could.

"Weak minded human sympathizer..." Sondohwa muttered before sitting in the grass and trying to get some sleep himself.

Spyro sighed as he watched the Lakadors lye down into the grass. They had only been a coalition for about a day now and they were already at each other's throats. They didn't need the Darkmaster or his forces to attack them; they would probably kill each other before then.

"Spyro?"

"Yes Cynder?" The young dragon responded a bit lazily, the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up to him.

"I'm scared..."

"Why, what's wrong?" Spyro asked, his fatigue suddenly gone.

"Well, what if Wagner gets into a fight with the Lakadors and what if he gets hurt? I don't want him or anyone else to get hurt..."

"Cynder... Wagner will be able to protect himself; I just have a gut feeling, but don't worry. I won't let anyone else get hurt."

"Don't say that Spyro... you know you can't protect everyone..."

"But I can try though, can't I?"

"Yeah... but I'm really worried about Linburg. I heard Wagner mention that Powers was his best friend. Karlos was also his friend but he was killed a few days ago as well..."

Spyro didn't really know what to say but he looked up and saw Linburg sitting on the rocks, looking at the stars.

"Well, I'm going to go talk to him, maybe that will help him." Spyro got up and walked over to where Linburg was sitting. The Marine didn't notice that he had been joined by two dragons and continued to stare up at the stars. Spyro saw two streams of tears coming down his eyes.

"Linburg? You doing alright?" Spyro asked the Marine. The soldier let his view fall from the sky and he looked upon the dragon and he frowned.

"Yeah..." He said in a choked voice. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it." Spyro responded back.

"Well... I don't know. I just don't know..."

"You don't know what?" Cynder asked, moving to sit on his right just as Spyro positioned himself on Linburg's left.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this... I mean... he was my friend..."

"You know he isn't really gone Linburg." Cynder said in a low loving voice, almost like a mother's. The soldier turned to look at him.

"He will only be gone if you want him to. Part of him will always be with you. That part is his memories and the drive to keep you going in his name." Spyro said in a very stern voice. It had the trace of a father's guidance in it.

"That's right, true friends aren't separated forever, they are just in different forms." Cynder said again. Spyro had noticed her voice had become increasingly loving. Linburg's face started to become wet as more tears filled his face. He pressed his face into his legs and let out a small cry. Cynder put her hand on his back and Spyro sat down completely on his left.

"You know... I have lost my family and friends too. Sparx and Ignitus had been the only true family I had ever known before I met Karson and Yahade'. Now, they are gone."

"I also lost my family... I never knew them really. I know its hard Linburg; no-one said it would be easy loosing them." Linburg sobbed before letting his head rise up. He looked out to a field just on the other side of the rocks and sighed.

"I lost my mom when I was 6... and my dad struggled to take care of me... I had always wanted to be loved but he was always at work to help pay for food so he could take care of me... I had to lie to get into the armed forces so I could help pay for the food too..." The marine's eyes twinkled as he spoke, small droplets of water dripping down his cheeks as he once again looked at the stars.

"Then I met Karlos and Powers... they were my best friends and for once in my life, I had someone to be with, someone to be friends with... Now thanks to those fucking Lakadors and Plague they're both gone..."

"Well you are never alone unless you want to be." As Cynder said this, Linburg turned to face her and she smiled at him.

"Ah shit... I thought I would never have to talk like this to dragons... thanks..." The soldier finally said before they went into a hug.

Karson and Allison sat on the rocks adjacent to the ones Linburg, Spyro, and Cynder were on.

"Karson?" Allison asked, getting a turn of the head from Karson.

"What is it?"

"Well, I have been wondering... Spyro and Cynder... they seem really young you know..."

"Well, what about them being young?"

"Well, they are getting into love real fast and... well... do you think they are ready for a family?" There was a pause before Karson responded.

"Yes, yes I think they are ready for a family."

"How do you know?" She asked him, who simply motioned her to look at Spyro and Cynder sitting on the rocks where Linburg was.

"That's why. Plus, they seem to be mature for their age; apparently he's only 14 years old. Any human kid his age wouldn't be anywhere near ready for parenting. Yet, it seems natural for him to help others. That's what I like about Spyro; he helps others without wanting anything else in return. I wish I could do that, but I guess that's why he's purple dragon."

"Don't forget, he is supposed to be the leader of the chosen ones as well."

"Ah yes, though it seems hard to believe he is also my brother as well..."

"Try not to think of him as a dragon, but only as your family."

"I have tried but he seems too different from me, he is so young and mature compared to me."

"Well, I still love you."

"And I do too."

Karson kissed Allison on the cheek and she smiled. Karson looked again and saw Spyro and Cynder asleep next to Linburg who was asleep as well. He turned his head again and looked out to the forest. Allison sat up, giving her more view of the area to keep watch. Karson was looking at the forest, noticing how the moonlight reflected off of the leaves, leaving a nice sheen on them. He saw a shimmer of something but passed it off as a large leaf. Though this shimmer was accompanied with another shimmer that ran along the length of a cylinder which he thought was a shiny tree branch. He noted that it resembled the rifle barrel of a...

Karson reacted quickly, he reached for the whistle he had with him and raised his rifle. At the same time that he squeezed the trigger, he blew into the whistle and every Marine in the area was awoken from their slumber.

Karson's silenced rifle blew away at the leaves and he saw the rifle barrel retract and saw a figure retreating into the woods. He had escaped, again.

"What's going on?" Wagner asked as he walked up, still groggy from waking up like that.

"Sir, that sniper that we encountered earlier? Well, he's back and he's still after Spyro."

"Son of a bitch... We need to get to a better location and find out just where the hell that sniper keeps coming from!"

"Well sir if I may..." Karson was cut off as a smoke cloud burst from under them.

"What the hell?!" Wagner said as he began to feel drowsy. His eyelids became lazy and he fell to the ground unconscious. Karson fell right next to him as did the other Marines and Lakadors. Spyro tried to fight it, but he too collapsed onto the ground. Soon all of the coalition had fallen victim to the cloud of dust.

Spyro slowly opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the ground. Cynder was lying next to him and he lifted his head up. He saw that they had moved and were in a field filled with grass. The surrounding area was made up of Atlowa buildings and pottery. He saw the Marines and Lakadors all tied up and were tossed to the side. Spyro was confused until he saw a familiar face.

"Kane!"

"Ah Spyro, I was wondering when you would wake up."

"What's going on here?"

"I couldn't let Spyro, our savior, taken by these creatures that have only brought war and destruction to us. I am surprised you were even amongst these apes without attacking them..."

"They are not Apes, they are Humans and they are my friends."

"Humans? What are those?"

"That is us... now cut us loose." Wagner said hoarsely. Kane looked at Spyro, asking for his go ahead. Spyro nodded and Kane in turn nodded to the other Atlowa tribesmen who cut them loose. Wagner sat up, slowly rubbing his wrists where the ropes had been.

"I am sorry for that, you looked like apes..." Kane said to Wagner.

"That's alright, just as long as nothing bad happened."

"So Spyro, what brings you to Tall Plains?"

"We are looking for a temple, made by the Ancients. It is supposed to house a light crystal which we need to fire a weapon called the Final Solution." The human officer walked up as he cut off Spyro to explain why they were there.

"A temple with a light crystal in it? I think I know which one you are talking about."

"Can you show us where it is?"

"We Atlowa used to use it for worship before building the Shrine. Though I think the Apes have taken that temple."

"Figures..." One of the Marines whispered.

"The temple is just over past that Plateau. The temple was built into the rocks and its entrance is located deep in the forest."

"Right, Henderson!"

"Sir?" Henderson clutched onto his arm where the bullet had hit him the night before.

"Radio Lt. Buckman and get him to move the rest of the supplies including the Nighthawk over here. We will set up here and attack in a bit."

"Yes sir!" Spyro saw the human pull out a microphone and speak into it.

"Spyro, we want to help, it's the least we can do for you helping us." Kane said to the young dragon.

"That would be fine." Spyro said with a smile. Cynder was still a bit groggy, but she too managed a smile. Kane looked at her oddly, he had seen her in adult form, but he had yet to really see her in her 'young' form. He still had an uneasy feeling about her.

Wagner had issued patrols and had found a small band of apes that had followed them to where they were. They were dispatched quickly; however, the ape commander in the area probably knew where they were now and would stop at nothing to let them reach the temple. It was only about an hour before everyone's attention was turned to the sky as a UERMC Nighthawk drop ship sailed in, using its pivoting jets on the wings to stabilize the craft.

It landed, creating a dust cloud and several Marines came out from its troop bay. The Atlowa armed themselves as well, arrows, spears, knifes, whatever they had they armed themselves with.

"Load SM rounds!" Wagner ordered. Each Marine unloaded their assault rifle and placed a clip of Special Munitions into it. These rounds would literally blow the enemy apart. They hadn't used them before because the SM rounds don't work well with a silencer. The metal used in the SM rounds created so much noise when fired with a silencer that it was more efficient to use regular ammunition when using one.

"Right, lets stay here for the night and get everyone fed and ready for tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan." Ackmar said with a smile.

When dusk fell, the Atlowa had a feast for the Marines and Lakadors. Many of the Marines hadn't eaten in hours so the meal was welcomed. It consisted of birds, animals, fresh fruit and other well prepared meals. Spyro felt that he had never eaten anything better in his life, well; the cheeseburger still was his favorite.

After the meal, some of the Marines were stationed on guard duty and the others, along with the Atlowa and Lakadors, sat in small clusters discussing things and conversing with each other. Spyro saw Wagner tell something to Picante and O'Brian who disappeared into the brush and he didn't see them again for a while.

Spyro and Cynder sat together in their warm embrace, not really wanting to leave it. Spyro heard laughing and saw a few Marines sitting together.

"Want to go join them?" Cynder asked, almost reading Spyro's thoughts.

"You want to?" He asked back, getting a cute smile from her already perfect face.

"Sure, I'd love to." They both got up and walked over to the Marines sitting on logs surrounding a fire. One of the humans saw them approaching and immediately moved stuff off the log to let them sit down. Though a bit hard for them, Spyro and Cynder managed to sit on the dead tree.

Spyro noted each of the Marines sitting there as best he could. He saw Prozjowski, Ackmar, Henderson, Spears, and Linburg sitting in the circle around the fire. Ackmar saw Spyro and smiled at him. He smiled back at her.

"So Spyro, I know this must sound stupid, but you and Cynder are... what do you call them... mates?" The female Marine asked, which got a bigger smile from Spyro who looked at Cynder, who looked back at him.

"Yes, yes we are." He said and she smiled seductively at him.

"And we could never be happier." After Cynder said this, they both kissed. Ackmar let out a small giggle.

"How about you, do you have any mates back where you live?" Spyro asked, now returning to his original posture.

"Well, I have this boyfriend back home, but we are just still seeing each other, we haven't really gone into anything real romantic."

"Ah, why not?" Cynder inquired.

"Yeah, why not?" Henderson asked rather sarcastically. He was lying on his back with his arms folded behind his head. Sgt. Spears, who was sitting next to him, hit him in the gut to shut him up. Henderson grunted and moved his hands to grasp the area where the Sgt. had hit him.

"Keep it up Clp. and you will have another wound to go with that arm of yours."

"Eh, heh... yes sir." Henderson replied, the wind obviously knocked out of him. Cynder let out a giggle and everybody turned their attention back to Ackmar who blushed.

"Well, I have only been seeing him for a bit, most of the time talking but I don't think we would really do anything like get into a really romantic sort of relationship right now."

"What do you plan to do after all of this?" Prozjowski asked.

"Well, I might see him some more and I plan to go back home to Desmal and take some collage so I can get some jobs in computer engineering."

"You want to work on computers?" Spears asked.

"What's a computer?" Spyro inquired with a confused face.

"And collage?" Cynder inquired as well. Obviously, both dragons were stumped.

"A computer is... well, I can't really explain it but it's a machine that can do a lot of stuff, that's all I can really say."

"Collage is a school, er place, where you learn how to do stuff so when you go to get a job, er thing you do to get stuff called money, you will be more likely to get the spot." During Spears explanation, he had to explain some more since dragons like Spyro and Cynder didn't know what School, Jobs, or money were.

"Well, what about you Prozjowski? Do you want to do anything when you get out the Corps?"

"Well..." The female Marine trailed off while trying to think of what she really was going to do after the war.

"Well, my husband and children are probably what I am going to go home to. I joined the Marines as a way to get a job. Couldn't really get a job anywhere else and I couldn't just sit around. When I get home, I want to be with my family." She finally stated.

"And you?" Ackmar asked, motioning towards Henderson.

"Me? Well, I will probably go home to Cirmain. I joined the Corps. as a way to get away from home, but now I feel like I want to go back. I don't know really. Hell, I might just stay in the Marines."

Some of them chuckled a bit when they heard Lt. Buckman approaching.

"Hey you guys, remember to dowse those flames and get to sleep soon, the assault tomorrow is important and we don't want you guys tired."

"Ah come on sir, we were just... conversing amongst each other." Henderson joked, which got a frown from Spears. Cynder let out a giggle as did Buckman who looked at the ground with a smile.

"Why don't you join us sir, y'know, just for a bit?" Prozjowski asked.

"That depends, what exactly are you guys 'conversing' about?"

"Well, we were just talking about what we were going to do after the war and all." She responded.

"Well, I plan to go back to Earth and marry my special woman. I just want to settle down with her and not have to worry about war or anything like that. Get a small house or something like that. Something away from the cities, something in a nice little corner of the world."

"Sounds like you got a plan sir." Ackmar said with a smile.

"Yes well, that is what I plan to do if we ever leave here."

"Well, hey, what about you two." Ackmar motioned to Spyro and Cynder.

"We don't really know much about you two, why don't you tell us about yourselves?"

"Well, we are mates..." Spyro started, thinking of what to say.

"Happy mates at that." Cynder said next to him.

"So are all dragons purple?"

"No, Spyro is special. He is a special dragon born only once in a long time."

"So you're just a normal dragon then?" Henderson asked Cynder.

"I wouldn't call her normal..." Spyro said while looking at her. She smiled at him and let out a small, happy sigh.

"So, if you guys are mates, do you plan to have any children?" Spyro and Cynder looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, we may, but later." Cynder said, staring into Spyro's eyes.

"After everything has finished we may start a family..." Spyro said after her.

"Ah young love..." Buckman said with a smile on his face.

"What's that sir?" Henderson asked.

"Oh nothing..." The officer said with a smile.

Spyro smiled, having heard what the human officer had said. His smile suddenly changed to a look of sheer pain as he screamed out, a cloud of blood and smoke erupting from his tail. At that moment, two loud CRACKS blew through the silence of the night, causing everybody to seek cover. Lt. Buckman grabbed Spyro and tossed him to the ground, trying to conceal him from the sniper.

"Corpsmen!" Buckman called out. Mclowsky darted from her position and joined the Marines where they were. She grabbed Spyro and found that he had been hit on the tail by a .30 cal round. A sniper shot. The other Marines lay in prone positions and aimed their rifles out, trying to spot where the sniper was.

"All clear!" Wagner called out. At that moment they saw a figure tumble out of the trees accompanied by a scoped rifle. They had trouble seeing the figure but soon found out that the figure was an ape using some sort of invisible armor to conceal himself. His rifle was still visible though.

Two Marines emerged from the trees on the opposite side of the clearing. It was Picante and O'Brian, the sniper pair. Picante's rifle was still smoking from the round he had fired off. O'Brian limped from his leg wound he got back at the temple. Wagner and Picante both saw Spyro had been hit and ran over to where they were. The Marines stood up, knowing that the sniper had been killed.

"Corpsmen? How is he?" Wagner asked as he approached. Picante cursed as he knew his shot had been just a bit too late.

"He was hit in the tail sir." She said while bandaging up Spyro's tail.

"Nothing too bad, it will just hurt." Like Henderson, she took out a small cylinder from her bad with a needle at the tip. She inserted it near the bullet wound and pressed down on a little extension on the tip. Suddenly Spyro felt the pain just go away as he sat there.

"That would have been his head too, should have fired sooner..."

"What's going on?" Cynder asked, a bit confused with what the Marine sniper had said.

"Well, the sniper had been going on a pattern and I thought that I would set a trap for him. Have everything seem calm and have our sniper hide in the trees and wait for him to appear."

"I wouldn't have spotted him if it wasn't for the rifle still being visible." Picante said.

"Bastard was wearing some sort of invisible armor, made it impossible to see him." Wagner motioned towards the now semi-visible ape lying on the ground, killed by Picante's shot. Wagner sighed before talking again.

"Well everybody should get some shut eye, tomorrow is important. Picante, take up position again and watch for anything else. I will have Malarkey have some men from 2nd take up guard duty. Buckman, get you and your men some sleep."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on that." Buckman said before going to round up 3rd platoon.

"Spyro, how you doing? Still hurts?" Wagner asked the young dragon who lay on the ground. The morphine was probably more potent to a dragon; Spyro seemed to be dazed and started to stutter.

"What's wrong with him?" Cynder asked, now looking concerned from seeing Spyro acting strange from the morphine.

"He'll be fine; he's just reacting to the pain killer. He just needs some sleep. You should get some too." The human officer said before walking off.

Karson and Allison were running to where Spyro was but ran into Wagner.

"Sir, how's Spyro?" Karson asked as they stopped in front of him.

"He's fine, he just needs to rest, just like you two. Go back and get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us." The officer responded.

"Yes sir." They both said before returning to where they were.

"Oh Spyro..." Cynder said, watching as the purple dragon started to move in-coherently on the ground. He finally stopped after a few minutes and fell asleep. Cynder started do to the same, satisfied that he was asleep as well. She wandered into the land of dreams where she and Spyro could be together, no war, no death, no evil entity trying to destroy the world, just them. Just their love and nothing else. That is what she truly wanted. And in that dream, that moment of time, that is what she got.

End of Chapter 24

Whew, never thought this one would be THIS long. Though this is record time for me to type something this long and get it as good as I can do to get it out quick. The next one is looking good (in my head) so it will be out as soon as I can get it out.