The Only Easy Day

by MidgetWarlord

A United States Navy SEAL Team finds themselves in a strange, new world after a mission goes VERY sideways. They are told that this world needs help, but are they up to the task? And do the inhabitants agree? Or will they try to stop the ones destined to save them?

4. Chapter 3

Not gona lie… I completely forgot I hadn't posted this chapter, and it's been done for almost a month… Sorry about that, but it'll be ok, because I've got a great plan for the next one, and I'm already at 10k words, and motivated to get it done!

(Also ended up taking the chapter down quickly after posting it because the Links didn't work (No idea why)

Alright, real quick before this one starts, I'd like to point out that I have no idea how the ranking system among the City Guards works, so I'm just treating it like how the US Army works, but there are still several differences, so if you're a military nut, please don't leave comments like "That's not how the Army Works" because I know. I'm Enlisted. I know how it works, thank you. Also, unlike my last stories regarding this game, Warfang is a BIG city, with a military (though ravaged by the attacks of Malefor)

Also, I've recently started a new system for writing these stories. I've actually got three stories going right now, this one still being my priority. However, to avoid getting bored, and forcing myself to keep writing, I've got a new system where I jump between which ever story I want to write on, and put on a few pages before changing to another, and the cycle repeats. It's working fairly well, but my current priority is actually leaning more towards the other stories, as I would like to get them started up strong. I won't reveal what these stories are about just yet, only that one of them may be a 1-page story… and still the same length as a normal story. I might split it up into chapters simply for organizational purposes, but rather unlikely. I actually started it nearly a year ago, but it was lost in files and such. But then the new Jurassic world movie came out, reminding me I had this story I could work on… so far, it's on 62 pages, and almost 25,000 words, and only probably half way done story wise. The other I started much more recently, late September (I have no idea when this chapter will be posted, so all these number may or may not be relevant anymore) and it's on about 10 pages and about 9,000 words. It's an XCOM Story, if you're interested in those, you can go check it out…

He dreamt vividly while he was asleep, and they were all nightmares. More like Memories, but twisted to show only the worst parts. Gunfire. Pain. Other men in uniform around him going down after a spurt of blood, only to struggle to their feet, fire off a few more shots, then have their chest explode in red blood as bullets tore through them. He saw other men with different guns and uniforms enter the picture; Russian Spetsnaz. Their mission was going horribly wrong. Down goes another man. Two Spetsnaz drop dead, three more take their place. One was suddenly standing over him, smiling as he raised his rifle. But, he hesitated, and spoke into his radio. He was then issuing orders, and his soldiers looked panicked. A door burst into splinters off to the left, and a number of soldiers entered the building. Navy SEALs. They quickly dispatched the hostile forces, and one approached him, and called, "He's alive, but barely."

The dream very suddenly ended, and after what felt like years of darkness, he finally calmed, and awoke.

When he awoke, he was at first horribly terrified, as he still couldn't see. But, he managed to push the fear down, and waited patiently for something to happen, as he hadn't moved yet, and the last thing he remembered was being in combat, so he couldn't afford the possibility he was captured. So, he was still.

Thankfully, his vision came back to him soon, and everything faded into existence. He was in a brightly lit room made of cut stone, and was lying on a bed. He was not restrained, so he figured it was safe to assume he was not captured. He lifted his head, and looked around.

He was inside some sort of hospital room, with beds lined up on both sides of the large room, and big open windows were lined along the walls, letting the sunshine pour inside. He was also alone in the room, laying in a new, clean uniform. He saw all his gear sitting on the bed to his left, and he slowly sat up, trying his best to ignore the soreness in his body. He put his legs over the side, and his socks hit the ground. He noticed his boots next to the bed, and he grabbed them. As he was tying the laces, he noticed a shadow fly past the window, followed by another quickly after. He knew someone was coming.

He saw his sidearm in its holster, which was apart of his vest, and grabbed it. He still wasn't entirely sure he was safe just yet. He held it in hand, and ran to the door, and waited on the right side of it for it to open. He heard approaching footsteps, and the door creaked open slowly at first, but then it stopped, and he heard someone whisper, "Wait, he's gone."

Then he heard a somewhat familiar voice yell, "WHAT?!"

And the door flew open, almost hitting him. He saw Spyro and Cynder sprint towards the bed, and come to a sliding halt next to it. Joyce sighed silently, and put the pistol in the back of his pants, the handle still sticking out, and moved his shirt to cover it. He then heard Cynder ask, "Where could he have gone? Should we tell the others?"

"Well, you can tell them, but I'm right here." Joyce said, a smile creeping into his features as he saw the two astonished, young dragons stare at him, wide eyed. However, they then reacted quickly, and Cynder ran over to him, while Spyro smiled happily and walked over. Cynder came to yet another sliding halt at his feet, actually hitting his legs, almost making him fall over.

She had gotten bigger, as had Spyro, he realized. They were now both about an inch taller than the last time he saw them, and clearly heavier, and now Cynder's shoulder came up to his stomach, and her head to his chest. She didn't jump on him, but was clearly looking him over.

"What're you looking for? I'm fine." Joyce said, but she continued to look, as she said, "No, you aren't allowed to say that for yourself anymore."

Surprised, he asked, "And why is that?"

"You know what Cooper told us for why you passed out?" She asked, but didn't wait for a reply, "He said you had simply pushed your body too hard. Your wounds got the better of you, and you passed out from both blood loss and pure exhaustion. You almost died." She said the last part with true concern in her voice. However, she finally looked content that he was ok, and turned to Spyro, who simply smiled and said, "I'm just glad you're alive now. We could really use the help."

Joyce's face went serious as he remembered the situation they were in, and said, "What all has happened since? And how long have I been out?"

"Well, you were out for almost a Month," Cynder said, catching him off guard, but before he could say anything, Spyro said, "The attacks have become much more frequent, but mostly small scale, not much happens. But the storms are starting to get worse. We've lost several buildings to fire, and a few to high winds, but not much else. Almost like the city was designed to handle extreme weather."

"Well, this isn't the first time this has happened, according to that Dragon from before. Speaking of which, we may need to speak with him some more." He replied, but the look on Spyro's face said that that wouldn't happen again, and was confirmed when he said, "Actually, both those dragons were killed… well, rather mysteriously. No-one knows who killed them, they were just found, throats cut in their sleep."

Joyce knew what had happened, he could put two and two together. He didn't think he needed to say anything, so he didn't.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Well, your team was helping out with everything, but other than that, there isn't much news."

"Well, ok, I'll get geared up, and we'll go take a look, meet up with everyone else."

Spyro had a look that he was hiding something, but it disappeared quickly, and Joyce didn't push it, he'd find out soon enough.

"I don't think you need your full combat gear..." Cynder said, and he replied with, "Are there still attacks happening?"

"Not right now, but occasionally, yes, but-" she said, but he interrupted, "Then I'll be wearing full Combat Gear."

He put his vest on, and checked his rifle. In total, the Mag in his rifle had 22 rounds, he had two more full ones on his vest, and when he checked his bag, he found four more that he put into his chest carrier, along with two frags, his FAK (First Aid Kit), another flash, and two Smoke grenades, along with approximately 30 lbs. of other miscellaneous gear. He needed a restock, and soon. He could do a lot with 142 rounds, but in a survival situation, such as what he's been in the last few weeks, he wouldn't last long.

"So where's my truck? I gota get some more gear before we get into another fight."

"Hold on," Spyro said, "Things have become a little more complicated."

Joyce sighed, realizing this was going to be bad, and asked, "Complicated how?"

"Well, your friends were placed under arrest for refusing to follow orders-"

"WHAT?!" Joyce roared, "Who the FUCK Placed MY TEAM UNDER ARREST?"

"I did." Said a calm voice.

Joyce turned towards the door, and saw a familiar Dragon standing In the door way; Fenrir. Joyce made a deliberate threat, and flicked his rifle off safety, and gripped the handle with his right hand, while his left was hovering just over the knife on his hip.

"You're going to release them. Now." Joyce said with a nod, but the Dragon seemed unintimidated, and Joyce realized he must not know the true power of his firearm. He was completely confident that he could mortally wound this dragon in less than a second, and kill it in three, and the dragon clearly disagreed.

Spyro and Cynder, however, had already seen the deadly accurate power of these weapons, and attempted to intervene.

"It was just temporary-" Spyro started, but the Dragon interrupted him, "Actually, because Terrador gave me full control of you and your friends, I'm extending it to a much longer sentence. We can't trust you."

Spyro himself looked infuriated, but before he could protest, about a dozen armed moles entered the room.

"Arrest him." Fenrir stated, but Joyce immediately raised his rifle and said calmly, "Take one step towards me, and you're dead."

These moles clearly didn't know either, and showed no fear, despite his threat. And they also clearly believed what Fenrir said, and showed no regret. They drew swords, and one took a step forward, but before Joyce could put a bullet between his eyes, Spyro jumped and pushed his barrel lower, causing the mole to get hit in the leg instead.

"Stop it!" He shouted at them, "If I can trust him, you can trust him. You WILL trust him and his team!" He shouted, but Fenrir simply laughed and said, "I don't take orders from you, Savior or not, you betrayed us when you helped her." He said "her" with an immense amount of disgust, and looked at Cynder. Joyce glanced at her, and saw the confident Dragon he had always seen, turn into a sad, small, and regretful Dragoness. He didn't like that. This Dragon just turned her into a different Dragon, and he despised him for it. Even Spyro seemed speechless.

"You son of a bitch," Joyce said calmly, "This is between you.. and me. Leave her out of it, and Spyro. You owe them your lives, all of you."

"And you owe him yours as well." Spyro said, confusing them, but Joyce knew what he was talking about.

"Who do you think single-handedly destroyed the ape fortress, and enabled the forewarning of the attack that no doubt would have killed most of you. And, he survived to save the lives of 16 hostages just weeks ago. He pushed himself so hard for us, for our city, that he almost died. You still want to arrest him?"

The moles looked among themselves, rethinking their orders. However, Fenrir stated, "Yes. Now arrest him."

At this point, only two moles were still following orders, and as they approached him, Joyce decided to take a non-lethal approach, and shot them in the leg. As they rolled on the ground in agony, Fenrir snarled, and roared a challenge at him. He immediately followed it with a fireball. Joyce pushed Spyro out of the way, and hoped Cynder would see it, too.

He came out of the roll, and shot a round into the dragon's leg, and he heard a roar. But then, he heard the fireball explode, and a cry of pain. Cynder did not see it coming, and got hit in the face, completely unprepared.

"No!" Spyro shouted, and ran to her unmoving form. Fenrir, meanwhile, managed to stand in his feet, his injured leg limp. Rage filled Joyce.

He dropped his rifle, and drew his knife and sidearm. He was going to kill this dragon, but it wouldn't be fast. He fired several more shots into the same leg, causing the dragon to roar, and Joyce ran at the Dragon. Fenrir noticed this, and attempted to hit him with his wing, but Joyce just ducked under it. However, when Fenrir flared his other wing in anger, Joyce jumped at it, and pinned it to the wooden door frame with his knife. Fenrir again roared in agony as Joyce put two more rounds into his back. Joyce focused in his legs, and soon the large Dragon fell to the ground in defeat, but not yet death.

Joyce wanted him to see what he had done before he killed him. However, the Dragon refused to open his eyes, so Joyce simply said, "Fine, be like that."

However, before he could pull the trigger, he hesitated a moment, and looked up. However, he only saw looks of approval from the Moles, but what solidified his resolve, was seeing Cynder still unmoving on the floor and Spyro standing over her body. His face became stone, and he pulled the trigger. The bullet landed right next to the Dragon's head, and Joyce ran to help Spyro.

As he approached them, he realized Cynder was awake, just not moving. Then he noticed that she was infact moving a little, as her wings and paws would occasionally move slightly.

"I have no idea what's wrong with her, she's awake, but she's not responding to anything. It's like she's dreaming, but she's awake."

Joyce knelt down next to her, then looked to Spyro and told him, "Fly as fast as you can, get Cooper, and your best doctor over here!"

However, he looked hesitant to leave her, and glanced at Fenrir, who was beginning to stir slightly. Joyce hit Spyro to catch his attention, and yelled at him, "I'll stay with her, now Go!"

Spyro jumped into action, and ran as fast as he could out the door, leaving Joyce alone with the other soldiers, Cynder, and the moderately conscious Fenrir. The soldiers stood, awkwardly, and waited for someone to tell them what to do, so Joyce took advantage of this, and said, "Watch Fenrir, should he try to so much as move, you knock him on the head, and stay at the door. Stop anyone that isn't Spyro, My team, or the guardians from entering."

They only hesitated for a moment, then jumped into action and did what he told them too. Several minutes later, Joyce heard heavy wing-beats, and he hoped it was Spyro returning with another Dragon or someone to help. While he didn't genuinely care for Cynder, he barely knew her, but he did know she didn't deserve this, so he would do everything he could to help her.

Suddenly, there was shouting from the door, as someone tried to get in. Joyce looked up and saw River and Timber in the doorway, trying to get past. Joyce called over, "Let them through! They're ok."

The moles looked back at him, and he nodded confirmation, and they stepped aside. The two were immediately sprinting towards Joyce, and he stood, and was forced to catch River as she jumped into him, and yelled, "We thought you were going to die! We heard the shots just now, and were confused, and… and you slept for almost-"

"A month I know, but now is not th-" However, it was then her turn to cut him off, and she said, "Oh, while you were out, Timber and I managed to work something out. You can make your decision on which of us you want any time yo-" But was cut off when Joyce pushed her back, and yelled, "Excuse me?!"

Surprised at his reaction, and simply took a step back, and let him finish, "I can choose? What the hell is wrong with you two?!" However, this was more directed towards River, as he saw Timber clearly disagreed with what River was saying, so he gave her a quick look, and she understood. He then gestured to Cynder and said, "Can't you tell see I have bigger problems? And we're still in the middle of a Fucking War!"

He sighed loudly, and held his head in his hands for a second, calming himself. He didn't even look at them, and said, "Even if I wanted to choose one of you, we have a war to finish. Maybe, just maybe, after everything has settled, if we're even still alive, maybe we can talk then. But for now, I don't want to hear another word on this subject. Especially from you, River. I never agreed to a relationship with you, you forced me into it. You both have a long way to go if you want that from me, and I warn you, I am not an easy person to get along with, let alone live with for the rest of your life. But for now, let's concentrate on Cynder, Ok?"

They both nodded, River looked ashamed and stunned, but Timber just looked a bit embarrassed for her. Joyce turned back to Cynder, and found that her eyes were focused on him. A little surprised, he leaned forward and said quietly, "Cynder? Are you awake?"

She was on her feet in an instant, and actually clawed at Joyce's face. He hadn't expected such a violent reaction from someone who was so concerned for his well-being not 10 minutes prior, and could only avoid the attack enough for him to avoid going Blind. However, Cynder managed to land three gashes on his forehead.

She jumped away from him, and stood on defense, but didn't move to attack. Timber went to draw her sword, but Joyce stopped her, having noticed the confusion, terror, and anger in her eyes, it was even etched across her entire body. Timber stopped, and shortly noticed this herself. River, however, simply backed up to the other side of the room. Cynder's eyes remained on him, clearly seeing him as the biggest threat, but there was also a small amount of recognition in her gaze, and Joyce knew he could work off that.

"Cynder, do you know where you are?" Joyce asked, but she only responded, "How do you know my name?"

"Because, Cynder," He said slowly, trying to look unthreatening, "You know me, and I know you. You and Spyro have been traveling with me And my team, we've fought side-by-side."

Joyce could tell she was beginning to remember it, but she seemed to be repressing the memories; refusing to believe them. She shook her head and asked, "Where's Spyro? How do you know his name?"

"The same way I know yours, and he's actually coming back with help right now. You got hit in the head during a fight with that dragon," he said and pointed towards Fenrir's still unmoved form. Joyce knew she was beginning to remember these events. However, she still refused to believe them, so Joyce asked her, "You don't believe me, why?"

"I… I… I want too, and Something is saying that I should believe you… but… I can't."

"Why?" Joyce asked, and she actually got angry, punched the floor and said, "I don't know!"

"If you don't know why you can't, then maybe just try trusting me. You might find it a bit more believable. Or, we can wait until Spyro gets back, and he can tell you, but either way, let's just calm down, ok?"

As he said that, he suddenly had to wipe the blood from his eyes, as the gash on his head began to pour blood, his heart rate being as high as it was. Cynder suddenly looked down at her claws, and was stunned to see his blood on her claws. Joyce noticed her gaze, and started, "It's fine, it's not a big deal-" But she cut him off, "I hurt you that badly… and you didn't retaliate?"

Surprised at the direction that she went with that, he said, "Well, of course not."

"I could have blinded you, and you did nothing to hurt me in return…" she said, more to herself than to Joyce. Joyce saw as she put this together, realizing that he really didn't mean her any harm. She relaxed immensely, and the tension in the room dissipated all together.

However, Cynder wasn't completely uninjured, and had a gash on the top of her head. Joyce beckoned her closer, and she slowly approached him, and he said, "Hold still, let me look at this."

He took her head in his hands and held her still as he peered closer at the wound, and she tensed, but let him. Evidently on the top of her head, there was less scale, and made more of this leather-like skin that had the same color as the scales. There was a two inch cut across the top of her head, and Joyce told her, "You'll probably need stitches."

However, Cynder said, "No, a healing crystal will do much more, and much faster."

Joyce had yet to hear about these healing crystals, and his features were lined with confusion when he asked, "Healing Crystals? What are-"

However, he was cut short when he heard more wing beats. He turned to the door, and waited to see who had arrived. He saw Spyro run inside, along with another Cheetah, and Terrador right behind them. As Terrador came to the doorway, he stopped and yelled, "By the Ancestors! What did you do?!"

"Busy, will explain later." Joyce said, hoping he wouldn't have to explain later. He motioned the cheetah over, as he assumed she was the Doctor Spyro had brought.

"What's wrong with her?" The female cheetah asked, and Joyce responded with, "Well, earlier she was awake, and moving a little, but unresponsive, and just a few minutes ago she became responsive again, but didn't remember me. She remembered Spyro, but didn't know any of us."

"I still don't." She said.

"She's also got a nasty cut on her head." Joyce finished, and Cynder added, "And a hell of a headache."

Her last statement surprised them all. The only ones they had ever heard the word 'hell' from was Joyce and his team, and Cynder noticed their odd gazes. She then realized the same thing, and admitted, "I guess I remember more than I thought."

"Hmm, yes, well what can you do for Fenrir over there? Not that I wouldn't like to see the slimy bastard bleed to death, but I think that'd look bad on my Rep." Joyce stated

The doctor approached him, and looked over his wounds a bit. After a few minutes, she simply pulled a small, red crystal from her bag, and touched it to his side. Joyce watched, astonished, as most of the worst wounds closed up. The doctor then took a step back, and said, "That should keep him alive for now."

However, she looked down at the Crystal in her hand, and gasped loudly, and dropped it. It hit the ground with a bounce, and settled on the floor a few feet away, but she still backed up even further away. Curious, Joyce approached it, and saw that half of the originally red crystal had been turned into a deep blackish purple color. Joyce went to pick it up, but then remembered the way the Doctor reacted, and put on his gloves first. Once he had it, Terrador approached as well, but when he saw it, he too went wide eyed and took a step back.

"Wh… what? How did that happen?" He asked, then turned his gaze on the still unconscious Fenrir.

"What is it?" Joyce asked, and Spyro answered, "A Dark Crystal. Evil. They drain the powers of dragons. No-one quite know how they work, because every time someone has tried to study them, they've gone insane…. Or tried to kill everyone."

Joyce watched as the black portion of the Crystal slowly ate its way up the rest of the Crystal, until there was no red left. It was beckoning him to touch it. To take off his glove and feel the darkness within. He was almost tempted to do just that. However, instead, he dropped the Crystal to the ground, and used his boot to crunch it into dust.

"Anyone wana tell me why this son of a bitch turned that Crystal black?" Joyce asked, but clearly none of them had an answer, so he said, "Alright, I want him locked up in the strongest prison you have, and reinforce it. No-one is to so much as touch him, and anyone who does, or he touches, is to be placed in a cell separated from others until it is known if they are affected by it. We have no idea what this is, so let's treat it like worst case scenario, and that it's transmittable."

Joyce left them to do their work, then turned to Terrador and said, "Now that I'm back on my feet, I need full operational authority, and I need all your soldiers at my disposal." However he saw Terrador hesitate, so he added, "Your commander is a traitor, you have no idea who else among your ranks is in league with him, best thing to do is to hand over the authority to someone outside."

Terrador finally nodded, and asked, "What do you need?"

"A command Center, My Truck, my Team, and all your Officers for a briefing." He replied simply.

"Any Preference on your Command Center?"

"Somewhere easily defendable, high windows, few doors, unobstructed line of sight to the street. Also needs to be on the main street so we can get our vehicles in and out of the city."

Terrador nodded, and set out to do just that. Joyce followed Spyro to the jails, and went inside to free his team. As they walked in, several of the guards stood to stop them, and Joyce unsnapped his sidearm, his rifle hanging on his chest. However, they saw Spyro, and relaxed, and one asked, "Why are you here?"

"To free my team. I've been given full Operational Authority over every soldier in the city. Your last Commander was a traitor, so I'm filling his place."

"Really?" One asked, confuses, and another added, "Why not Luna?"

"I don't know who Luna is, but Terrador gave me the authority. Now, I'm freeing my team-" However he was cut off by a female voice that said, "And we're just supposed to take your word for it?" He turned and was stunned to see a beautiful, young, dark blue dragoness in the doorway, "How do we know Terrador actually gave you the authority?"

Joyce hesitated, completely caught off guard by this stunning looking dragoness, "Uh, uhm, well…" He shook his head slightly to clear his mind, realizing she was waiting for an answer, "What reason do I have to lie?"

"To free your friends and leave." She said, and he scoffed, and placed a hand on the top of his rifle, and said, "What exactly makes you think I couldn't come in here and take them? I'm trying to be nice here. And Besides, why would Spyro be here with me?"

She walked into the room, confidence in her every step, and Joyce studied her features. She was clearly an adult Dragon, but still a young adult at that. Her shoulder came to the lower portion of his chest, and her slender neck held her head only a few inches above his own. Most of her body was protected with dark blue scales, but her belly and wing membranes were various shades of light blue. Her horns were long and made of white bone, and slender and curved up only slightly in the middle. Her tail was long and Elegant, and unlike most other dragons, held no blade on the end. Her face was a series of perfect edges and curves, each complimenting the other, and her blue eyes sparkled like diamonds, even in this low light.

"That's exactly what I was just wondering… Why are you with him, young Dragon?" she asked, tearing Joyce from his examination.

Spyro clearly looked a bit offended, seeing as she wasn't a great deal older than he was, but swallowed his pride for the time being and replied confidently, "Because it's true. Terrador knew he was the best one for the job, seeing as how he's already saved the city once, and saved countless other lives numerous times."

She looked a little surprised, and said, "Well, if that's the case, I'll take your word on Terrador's decree, and I would certainly like to hear more about how he did this, but I'm sure you're just as busy as I am. Another time, perhaps." She said with a teasing smile at Joyce, who only looked down and scratched his neck. She chuckled, and walked out the door, and Joyce couldn't help but notice the mesmerizing motion of her hips as she walked out of sight. He was snapped back when Spyro whacked him with his tail and said quietly, "Eyes up." And then louder, "Lets do what we came here to do, and then let's get to work."

Little to both their knowledge, she had overheard this, and glanced back to see Joyce's slightly red face, and she smiled.

Joyce nodded, and cleared his throat, and spoke to the mole closest to him, "Take me to where they're being held." And the Mole complied. They soon came to a rather plain looking cell, and the two were inside. Bull was busy doing some Push ups, while Cooper was sleeping. However, when Bull saw Joyce, he smacked Cooper's leg, waking him. Bull didn't wait for Cooper, and stood as Joyce unlocked and opened the door. Bull greeted him with a bear hug that lasted only about a second before the two separated.

"Good to see you on your feet!" Cooper said, and stood up to greet Joyce as well, however, he did so in his own way, which consisted of just a slap on the back.

"How are ya feeling? You took some pretty big hits, and pushed yourself for way too long. Let's try to avoid ever having you go so close to the brink of death ever again, ok?" Cooper said, and Joyce nodded, and replied, "Well, I'm still feeling rather tired, and I'm pretty hungry, so let's get our business done quick and maybe we will have some actual food tonight. Sound good?"

Real food always sounded good, as a majority of their diet had been MRE's. They exited the Prison, and waited outside for Terrador to come get them, so Spyro took the time to catch Joyce up on events. Evidently there had only been small skirmishes between the guards and apes at the wall, and only one other event inside the walls. Apparently that is when his team was put in jail, as they refused to follow orders other than Joyce's. In total, four guards had been killed, another two dozen injured, and three civilians had been killed, including the elder Dragon who gave them information. However, Bull and Cooper had also put eight moles in The hospital while they were trying to arrest them.

The storms were another deal entirely, however, and had killed atleast five guards and civilians alike, with either lightning or flooding or nocking things over with high winds. However, he had been informed that the weather had improved the last few days, and looked to be clear for a few more.

Perfect time to regroup and organize, and Joyce knew it, and so did everyone else. Terrador returned swiftly, and led them to their trucks. Once there, Joyce listened as he spoke, but was rearming himself, as was his squad, who had their gear stripped away.

"I've got every Colonel, Major, Captain and Lieutenant in your Head Quarters waiting for you."

"Good, thank you." Joyce replied, but Terrador wasn't quite finished, and he told him proudly, "We've got an Army of two Brigades, a total of nearly 9,000 troops on standby. We did well to ensure we had a greater army after Malefor's attacks."

"Well done, but are they well trained?" He asked skeptically.

"Well, the First Brigade is the one we have for Active Duty, and that one consists of 3,500 maintained and trained soldiers, but the other one is more of a reserve. They're trained as well, but just not maintained."

"Got it." Joyce said, then looked to his team, who had finished collecting their gear, and said, "Alright, let's load up and get to work!"

He jumped in the truck, and with a twist of the key it rumbled to life. He saw a few of the civilians who had been watching take a few steps back. Then the Humvee started up, and pulled infront of the truck. Bull was again in the Gunner's seat, while Cooper was driving.

"Alright, lead the way, Terrador!" Joyce yelled out his window, and watched the Dragon take to the skies. Joyce honked the air horn on the truck twice, and they started moving at a steady pace down the busy street. There were confused stares, scared looks, angry glares, and everything in-between as they went down the street. Joyce simply stared ahead, however he smiled and waved at a few who smiled and waved at him as well. Joyce could clearly see that Bull was on edge, his head twisting and turning at every movement that caught his eye.

"Something wrong up there, Bull?" Joyce asked over the radio, and saw Bull jump a little, but then heard him respond, "No, just a lot of angry looking creatures out here."

"I'd be more weary of the scared ones, if I were you." Joyce said, and Bull didn't respond. Soon, they arrived at a large, stone building that was exactly what Joyce was looking for. It was two stories, and had a small balcony on the second floor in the middle of the building. There was a small courtyard out front, which the two trucks pulled into and stopped. It was surrounded by a ten-foot brick wall on all sides, and appeared to stretch out toward the back as well. The Truck's air brakes hissed as he came to a stop, and jumped out after turning it off. He looked around, and noticed the intricate design of the house and the yard around him. Terrador approached him, and said, "Is it what you were looking for?"

"Yes, it's perfect… but is this someone's home? I wasn't looking to evict someone.." He replied, and Terrador replied, "Actually, the owner of the home offered it up as your HQ the second they heard you needed one."

"Really?" He asked, then added, "I'd quite like to meet this generous home owner."

"Soon, but first you need to meet with the officers. They're in the back, waiting for you."

Joyce nodded, and walked around the house, flanked by his team on both sides. As he walked into the back, he noticed immediately the large number of creatures out here. Most appeared to be Cheetahs, but there were a few dragons and Moles as well. There was a large, stone wall that went around the large grassy area, and a Podium and a small, makeshift stage stood on the right side of the yard. Joyce walked up onto the stage, but handed his rifle off to Bull, and everyone else stood, but hesitated to salute, causing him to wonder if they saluted at all, or if they had yet to hear his position. Terrador walked up, and called, "Yes, its true, I have appointed Joyce here, to be your new acting General on account of Fenrir's traitorous actions."

With that, they all snapped to attention, and Terrador looked at Joyce and said quietly, "They're all yours."

Joyce stood behind the podium, and noticed Luna standing on the ground to his right, and facing the crowd with vigilant eyes.

"Alright, at-ease, take your seats… or stand, what ever you do normally." He said a little nervously, not having realized he would have the label of General. A few in the crowd noticed his nervousness, and glared with disapproval. Joyce sighed and said, "Alright, let's be frank. I know you all very much disagree with me being put in charge, but it is necessary. We don't know how deep, or if at all, Fenrir's traitorous roots reach." He paused, then said, "If any of you have been involved with Fenrir's actions, or know of anyone else involved, please, I urge you to step forward, and admit it or turn them in now. The punishment will be far less severe if you do so now." However, when he saw no-one stand, he warned, "If we have to find out the hard way, there are only two ways it will end for you; Death, or life in Prison. You come forward now, you will simply loose your rank, and walk away." He waited several seconds, and asked, "Anyone?" But no-one stood, so he continued, "Good. Now, moving on. First and foremost, I do not know everything that is going on, yet. I will soon, but for now, if you feel I've made a mistake in your assignment, feel free to voice your opinion."

He looked to the two Colonels sitting in the front row, and said to one, "I want you to split your men into groups for assisting in City Watch and protecting the citizens, Patrols, and training the untrained soldiers." He turned to the other, and said, "I need you to divide your forces into those trained, and those not trained. Those not trained, will be trained by members of the first Battalion. Your trained troops will be responsible for recon and missions that myself or you will assign."

However, he wasn't quite done, and a particular cheetah caught his eye, "Captain Frelin, stand up and step forward."

The cheetah was surprised, and hesitantly stood before slowly walking to the front, until he finally stood before the podium.

"Congratulations on your new Promotion Major." Joyce said, and the cheetah was baffled beyond response, "I have a task for you, we will speak about it later, you may take your seat."

Everyone else in the crowd looked just as confused and surprised, but didn't have much opportunity to protest when Joyce said, "Alright, Colonels, you have your orders, split your forces accordingly. You're all Dismissed-"

Joyce saw it coming, but didn't think he'd be able to get out of the way; an arrow was shot from a rooftop across the street. However, he didn't have to move, as a large body slammed into him, pushing him out of the way. He quickly maneuvered his body so he wouldn't be landed on, and hit the ground with a roll. As he came to his knee, he drew his sidearm and fired at the figure across the street, hitting it several times in the chest.

There was a commotion among the officers, having just witnessed an assassination attempt, but Joyce quickly looked to see who had pushed him out of the way. And he saw none other than Luna standing behind him, scanning everything within her sight. Joyce gave his team a quick rally symbol, and as he came off the stage, Bull tossed him his rifle, and Joyce quickly chambered a round, and they moved to where the shooter was last seen.

They found him on the sidewalk, having fallen forward after being shot. It was another Ape. Joyce gave another symbol with his hands, telling them that they were going to sweep the building. However, as they stacked up on the door, he noticed Luna had joined them, and stood right behind them.

Rather than argue and get her to leave, which would cost precious time, he simply sighed, and counted down with his fingers; 3…. 2…. 1… He closed his fist in an execute sign, and Bull quickly opened the door, and they moved inside. It was a simple hallway, three doors and a set of stairs at the end. Joyce led the group forward, and they stopped at the first door, where Bull entered the room and cleared it. He exited the room, signaling that it was clear, and they moved to the next door, where Cooper then entered and cleared it. It was silent for several seconds, then Cooper exited the room, signaling it was clear. Then came Joyce's turn to enter the room. He knew there was someone in this one, he could hear movement from inside. He reached down, and quietly tried to open it, but it was locked. He pointed to Bull, who took position in front of the door. Joyce again counted down with his fingers, 3…2…1 and Bull kicked down the door, and Joyce quickly moved inside, and he heard a scream of a young child.

His flashlight landed on the huddled forms of three Cheetahs; one elderly, one adult, and one child. Joyce quickly shushed them, and lowered his rifle.

"How many are in the building?" He asked, and the adult female replied, "Th-there were four. The-they took my husband away! I don't know what they did to him! Find him please!"

"Its Ok, I'll find him, just stay here, and be quiet." Joyce whispered, and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him, then whispered, "At least three more hostiles inside, looking for an Adult, male Cheetah, too."

He then turned around, and the approached the stairs. Bull went first, and peered up, then continued to make his way slowly up the stairs. Once at the top, he gave the all clear, and the rest moved up.

Joyce personally wanted to turn around and ask Luna to leave, but she was obviously staying out of the way, and Joyce did want to show off a little in front of her. So, she followed them up the stairs. Once at the Top, Joyce saw only two more doors, and a ladder at the end of the hallway. They approached the first door, and Bull entered.

Joyce heard three muffled shots, knowing that he had contact. Cooper immediately entered behind him, and they determined the room clear, but before they could come back out, the door down the hall opened, and out came an ape. Joyce fired once, hitting it square in the forehead, and watched it slump dead in the doorway. However, he heard scuffling and a struggle from inside the room, and he moved up. When he looked in the room, he saw the Male cheetah being held by the last ape, a knife to his throat. Joyce could see the fear in both their eyes, so he acted before the Ape could solidify his stance.

He fired once, hitting the Ape in the fore-arm, causing him to drop the knife with a howl of pain. However, the bullet went through the ape's arm, and into the Cheetah's shoulder, causing him to drop in pain, giving Joyce the shot he needed. An opportunity that did not go to waste. Joyce didn't hesitate to put a bullet between the ape's eyes, and it dropped dead.

Joyce immediately rushed forward to the cheetah, and apologized before swiftly bandaging the wound. It wasn't serious, Joyce actually quickly picked the bullet out with his fingers. It looked worse than it was, he concluded. However, the rest of his body was clearly not as ok. The cheetah had obviously been tied up and tortured or beaten.

"Cooper, keep an eye on him, we'll go clear the roof." Joyce said, and Cooper nodded. The roof was clear, and just as Joyce had expected, they found a bow and a few arrows, but no other hostiles.

"How did they get in? And how did they hear of your promotion so fast?" He heard Luna ask, and Joyce, having already given it some thought himself, replied quickly, "They probably didn't. They had every reason to try and kill me without knowledge of my new position. No, what I can't figure out, is why they were here. There was no way they knew I would start living across the street, probably still didn't know, so they must have been here for something else… the downstairs area was completely trashed.."

"Probably a fight between the apes and the cheetah."

"No.. that was far to organized, they flipped everything, and opened every drawer. They were looking for something, and didn't find it, so they tortured the home owner, the Male cheetah, to find it." He said, just speaking as the thoughts came to mind. He had an idea, and he ran back downstairs. Cooper has set up a lamp in the room, and was stitching the wound in the cheetah's shoulder, while he sat in a chair.

Joyce walked up, and knelt down in front of him, and asked, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Uhm… my name is Dawson."

"Ok, Dawson, I'm my name is Christopher Joyce, and I have a few questions for you."

"Yeah, sure, I'll answer any questions you have, but I'd like to see my family first."

"You'll see them in just a moment, I only have one question for you." He said, and the cheetah nodded, so Joyce asked, "What were they looking for? Why did they torture you?"

He was at a loss for words, and stuttered for a moment before saying, "I don't know. They just kept asking about someone named Fox."

All three humans froze, went rigid, and were silent for several seconds, and sent looks in each other's directions, catching Luna's attention. Joyce then asked, "What about him?"

"Uh, they wanted to know where he was. They seemed to think that I knew."

"Do you?" Joyce asked, and he immediately shook his head, so Joyce stood and said, "Alright, your family is downstairs. We'll get you a doctor to treat your wounds, I'm sorry this happened to you, but please, speak nothing of what they wanted to anyone."

And with that, they left the building. Outside it was chaos, and Terrador asked urgently, "What happened in there? I heard shots."

"Four dead apes, a terrified family." Joyce said, obviously wanting to avoid the other event.

"It's clear, but we need a doctor inside to keep an eye on the Male cheetah inside."

He heard someone say, "I'll get one." But he didn't see who. He didn't say anything, as his team followed him back across the street. Joyce realized that everyone else had been expecting something from him. Annoyed, and wanting to speak alone with his team, he quickly yelled, "You all have your orders, now get to it!"

As he said it, he watched all the officers scramble to do what he said. He opened the door to the house, and moved inside. He failed to notice Luna follow them, as he let his guard down and stopped trying to hide his astonishment, confusion, and hope.

Not even turning to his team, he asked, "Did he really say Fox? Or am I going god-damn insane?"

"Who is Fox?" Luna asked, and he quickly spun around, wide eyed. She realized he hadn't wanted anyone else to hear this conversation, and smiled expectantly.

"Shit…" he mumbled, knowing he had to tell her now. He knew he had to, but now he debated lying to her. He knew he had to give her some trust, and something told him he really should trust her. He had a feeling he would come to trust her either way, but before he could figure it out, Terrador walked in.

However, the roof was a bit low, and he had to slouch a bit to fit inside. As he entered, everyone turned their attention to him, but Joyce shot Luna a quick look, telling her to shut her mouth. She smiled at him, but kept her mouth shut.

"One last thing, Joyce. In order to keep you supervised, I've assigned Luna here to be your personal guard. Less because I think you need a guard, and more because we've decided you need help with the social aspects of being a General of this army. Plus, this is her home. She's generously volunteered her home to be your head quarters."

While the last part had slightly astonished Joyce, but he ignored it and instead asked, "Wait, social aspects? Generals are not friends, they are superiors, and rightfully so."

"Exactly, and you haven't proven to them that you are rightfully their General. She has. Hence, she will be your close second, and I hope you two will become close friends."

Joyce glanced at her, a blank expression, but silently hoping for the same. Luna, however, gave him a flirty look and said jokingly, "More than friends, I hope."

He rolled his eyes, and she laughed. Terrador looked confused, and said, "Well… I guess I'll leave you alone for now. We'll check in every few weeks, but try to socialize with your troops."

Joyce nodded, and watched as Terrador left. The moment he was gone, Joyce sighed in relief, unraveling tension Luna hadn't even known was there.

"Ok, now you have to tell me who Fox is, and why you are clearly hiding it from everyone."

Joyce sighed yet again, and thought over his answer. He looked to his team mates, and they both gave him hesitant looks. He shrugged, showing them he didn't have much choice.

"Fox… where to begin.." He said, "Well, first off it was the Code-name for another member of our team, specifically our leader. His real name was Jackson, but he preferred Fox. Very few people knew his full name, and in recognition of his traditions, I will not tell you his full name." He said, and she nodded understanding, and asked, "What happened to him?"

Their moods grew somber, as the events of his death came back to them in force, and the atmosphere grew sad. Eventually, Joyce managed to reply, "He got killed during the mission we were on, right before we were sent here, along with another member of our team. Just a few hours before, in fact. I don't know if this is the same person… actually, it can't be him. We buried him in the sand. He was Dead."

"So who is this new Fox, then?"

"I have no idea," he replied, and looked around at his team, before saying, "But we plan to find out. We're going to follow every lead we can to find him. I doubt he's the one we're thinking of, but we have to find out. And if the Apes are looking for him we have to find him first."

"Of course, but for now, you rest. You may think you're healed up, but you really do need to take it easy for a little while." Luna said, reminding Joyce of Cynder's concern, however much more difficult to detect.

"I'm a SEAL, I don't take things easy. And if I did, I wouldn't be where I am now." He replied stubbornly, causing Luna to slightly roll her eyes. It was silent for a few moments before Joyce said, "But for tonight, we'll sleep and relax."

Bull smiled and said, "Amen to that."

Joyce turned to Luna and asked, "Since this is your home, would you point us to where we will sleep?"

"Yes, of course." She said with a smile, and led them up a set of stairs. They came to the first door, and she pointed to it and said, "Two of you can stay in there, there are two guest beds in there. A little further is the Master Bedroom, one of you can stay in there."

"Where are you sleeping?" Joyce asked, and regretted asking almost immediately, and she flashed a flirty smile, and a look in her eye that made him nervous, as she replied, "The Master Bedroom."

With that, she walked down the hall, and again Joyce glanced at her hips, which she was now taunting him with. Bull and Cooper, having noticed the look she was giving Joyce, replied rather childishly, "We'll take the guest beds."

And despite Joyce's protests, they scrambled inside the room, and shut the door in his face. Joyce groaned, and made a silent promise that he would get them back for this. He sighed, and approached the door to the master bedroom, then knocked and said, "I'm coming in."

He got no response, so he entered, and looked around the room. It was a warmly lit room, as the light from the fireplace jumped and danced about the room. There was a very large bed in the center of the room, clearly made for a Dragon to sleep on comfortably. There was also a large rug off to the right side near the fireplace, and there was a small couch-like piece of furniture in front of the fireplace. It was largely flat, with low walls on one side, and was clearly made for a Dragon to lounge on. There were also a few book shelves on that side of the room, and were filled to the brim with books. To his left, the other side of the room, there was another door. It was closed, but light seeped out from underneath it, indicating this was likely where Luna had disappeared to. He quietly walked over to the couch, and laid his bag next to it, and took off his combat gear.

He looked at one of the book shelves, and approached it. He then pulled a book off the shelf, and opened it, but was rather disappointed to find it was in a different language.

"Don't worry, they're not all like that." Luna said, surprising him.

"What is this?" He asked curiously, and she smiled and replied, "Its an Ancient language, the name of which was lost to time. I'm one of the very few who still know how to read and write it. No-one can speak it anymore, unfortunately."

"Wow, how long have you been studying this unknown language?" He asked, genuinely impressed.

"I don't even remember when I started, but it must've been when I was around 15 or so." She replied, and Joyce then asked, "And how old are you now?"

"I'm 54, turning 55 next month." She replied, and while it still astonished Joyce, he had actually expected such an answer, as Dragons lived for a long time in almost all legends of them. However, she continued to speak, and said with a smile, "Lots of personal questions... my turn to ask a few."

He nodded, but knew he would likely have to lie about a few.

"First question, how old are you?"

"Well, I'm actually only 28, but I'm pretty sure you live a lot longer than we do. I'm an adult, and still considered young, but I'm starting to get up there in years. Especially working the job that I do.

She nodded, and asked, "How long do you typically live?"

He realized this was one He would have to lie on. However, his hesitation to lie to her caused her to visibly notice his reaction, and she gave him a look that changed his mind instantly.

"Well… normally, humans live to 75 or 80 years old…." He said, and she continued his sentence with, "But….?" And he sighed, and said, "But the lifestyle I live is a bit complicated. I'm fit, and always in shape, but with the stress I put my body through, I probably won't live past 60 or 65 years old. And that's if I don't die in Combat."

She seemed rather unaffected by the answer, for which Joyce was partly grateful. However, unknown to him, the only reason she appeared that way, was because she was too astonished to show it. However, she moved on.

"Ok, next question. Spyro said you already saved the city once, and numerous other lives several times… How did you do it?"

"Oh, wow, that's a bit of a long story.." He said, and she smiled, and looked around and said, "I don't see anything else to do around here…" However, he saw her gaze stop on the bed, and she glanced back at him. Wanting to avoid more of her flirtatious comments, he decided on story time.

"Well, we were sent on a mission to do some scouting for Ape forces, and we came across a large fortress built into a mountain. It was being held by apes. However, almost immediately after, we found the wolves. We followed them back to their camp, and they explained the situation they were in. We decided to help them out, and that night we assaulted the fortress. One thing led to another, we blew it up, I got trapped under rubble." He paused a minute, as he remembered the fear that gripped his throat when he realized he would be buried alive by the collapsing fortress. He continued, "They thought I was dead, and I don't blame them for leaving. They hauled ass back to the village, and attempted to hold out while Spyro and Cynder flew back to warn Warfang of the attack coming their way. I actually managed to escape the rubble, and trekked back to the Village myself, and helped out a little bit before I passed out. After that, we made our way to Warfang, and I'm sure you already heard about what happened during that hostage crap."

"Actually, they kept that mostly under-wraps. I don't know what happened, only those that were there saw it, and they were forced into silence."

He was surprised, and replied, "Oh, well, in that case, my team were the ones to storm that building and save them, but I, uh, kinda passed out during the raid."

"Why?" She asked curiously, to which he scratched his neck, a bit embarrassed to admit he had reached a limit, but then said, "Well, I uh, I had lost too much blood in recent days, hadn't slept hardly at all, and taken too many hits, and my body simply shut down."

She simply nodded, and to Joyce's astonishment, her good opinion of him not only didn't decrease, but if anything, it grew. She now had a glint of admiration in her eyes whenever she looked at him.

"Next question," she said, "Where and how did you get that scar?"

As she asked it, she gently ran the back of one of her claws across his face, next to the scar. Joyce shuddered slightly at the sensation, that being the most intimate thing he'd experienced in a long time. Luna now had a sad expression, and he decided to tell her the story.

"Well…" He paused, and was silent for several minutes as he thought of how to respond.

"Shrapnel." He said, "Several years ago, back when I was still a soldier in the Army. We were out on a mission to search and seize a weapon cache in Iraq, but the mission went sideways. We were ambushed by a Russian Spetsnaz team, who clearly wanted the cache for themselves. We were 16 men strong to begin with, and after the initial ambush, we were down 9 people. It took them less than three minutes to kill 7 of us... After that, we managed to hold them off for backup. A team of Navy SEALs were the only ones in the vicinity who were qualified to face the Spetsnaz, but they were almost too late. I was the only survivor." He paused a minute, and looked at the floor, the memories flooding through his eyes. He saw the Helicopter fly overhead… the distant explosions, as well as the close ones… the tracers flying through the air… He quickly snapped back, but not before Luna had seen more than enough to know what he was seeing.

"Anyways, I went down pretty fast, a grenade went off, and I got lucky enough to catch only two pieces of shrapnel. One across my eye…"

"Where'd the other one go?" She asked after he didn't tell, and he replied, "Well, it went into me."

He then lifted his shirt, having already taken off most of his gear, and she soon spotted the scar. It was on his lower abdomen, on his right side. It was small, and somewhat circular in shape.

"It went into my lung after nicking my stomach. I got real lucky it didn't cause any permanent damage. If it had, I wouldn't be where I am today." He said, and she looked up at him again, this time with a new look, one He couldn't explain, and wouldn't be able to for quite a while.

"Last question," she said, however she couldn't bring herself to ask the question she wanted, so she quickly came up with a different one, "Do you want the bed, or the couch? Because I'm taking the bed no matter what, but I can share."

As she said this, her flirtatious smile and lightly mannered mood returned, replacing the sad, quiet one. However, much to her disappointment, he replied, "I think I'll take the couch."

Not even her flirty and fun manner could lift his dark mood. She looked at him, a bit concerned. She didn't know what was bothering him, but she had an idea.

"So who was Fox… to you? He clearly meant more to you than you're admitting." She said, and while he said nothing, his reaction said it all, as he silently sat on the edge of the couch, and put his head in his hands. She sighed sadly, realizing she had hit her mark dead on.

"C'mon, say something. It's no good to keep things like this inside, and it doesn't matter what kind of warrior you are." She said, hoping to get a response. However, she soon got more than she had ever thought would come from him.

She began to see his shoulders and chest tremble in a sob, and heard his breathing quicken. He was crying. The battle-hardened warrior that she had just witnessed kill two apes with deadly precision, and not an ounce of remorse, was now sobbing on her couch.

And she was frozen. She had no idea what to do. Leave him alone? Or comfort him? And if she tried, how far would be too far?

However, he quickly brought his head up, and made a successful attempt to calm himself. And while his chest still trembled occasionally, he was now wiping the tears from his face, and wiping his nose. He cleared his throat, and said, unable to look her in the eye, "Sorry… about that. Its just… with his death… it all happened so fast.. and we've been so busy… I guess we- I mean, I never had time to mourn him." However, it looked as if the tears would come back, and he said quietly, fighting the urge to break down again, "We didn't even get to call his Family.. they'll never know. He was buried in an unmarked grave, in an unknown and foreign country, doing a classified and unknown duty to a country that likely disapproved of his actions."

She decided to take a shot in the dark once more, and asked, "Then why did he do it?"

He hesitated a moment, then replied, "Because he knew it was the right thing to do."

She didn't have to prove her point any further than that, seeing the understanding in his eyes, which still focused anywhere other than her.

"Hey, look at me." She said, and he complied. She almost lost it then and there. The second they made eye contact, she could see the pain, sadness, and agony in him. Instead of loosing it herself, she strengthened her resolve, and brought her head against his; her forehead against his, and she pushed lightly against his. She then whispered, "You don't have to mourn alone. Not anymore. Understand? From now on, you feel like crying, you talk to me. You feel like your emotions are bottling up, you talk to me. You need anything, and you talk to me." With emphasis on anything.

Joyce wasn't sure if he'd be able to do that, it wasn't a normal thing at all. But, he decided that he would make an effort to trust her.

However, then she yet again took a chance. She stepped even closer to him, and wrapped her wings around him. It was a bit awkward at first, and Joyce tensed up a bit in her embrace. However, after a moment, he relaxed, but not entirely.

'This is wrong' he thought, 'I'm a human, she's a Dragon. This isn't how things work…'

But then he thought about the way he felt when she held him like this; safe, warm… loved… and he had another thought, 'Screw how things work, nothing about us being here should have happened. We should have died in that explosion, but we didn't. I was given my life, and I'm going to do what I want with it.'

He smiled at his realization, and accepted her embrace even further. The next morning, after a fairly awkward awakening, where he found himself laying on the couch with her curled up around him, wings still wrapped around him. They both awakened rather simultaneously, and both got up rather quickly. It was a somewhat uncomfortable silence, but not nearly as much as the day before. He quickly got ready, and walked outside. Bull and Cooper were outside their room, waiting for him, and they smiled when they saw him, and teased him lightly with, "How'd ya sleep?"

He knew exactly what they meant, and he wasn't going to humor them. Downstairs, Luna had quickly prepared a breakfast for them, which consisted of mostly fruits. Now, they sat at a table, discussing the day ahead of them. However, they could all see the new manner in which Luna looked at him. It was still flirty, but a bit less, and now had a new look mixed into her features. It was a mixture of genuine care, and another, happier feeling that they couldn't identify. She herself, knew she had just met Joyce, but also that she knew far more about him than anyone else.

"So what's the plan for today, boss?" Bull asked, and before Joyce replied, he considered what Terrador had told him.

"Well, first off, I'd like to check up on the wolves, in how they're being introduced to the public, their housing, all that. After that, I think we'll observe the progress of the Colonels, and then we'll pay Frelin a visit, and explain more of his job to him and what's expected."

"What exactly are you expecting of him?" Luna asked, confused.

"I want to see if he's capable of leading." He replied simply, and Luna shot him a look that said, 'Continue,' and he sighed and explained, "Well, he's clearly very young, too young to be such a rank without being extremely qualified, so I'm going to see if he's capable of the next step. My end goal for him, I hope, will be leading the best of the best of the troops into combat."

"Why him though? We have a number of older, more qualified officers." She asked, still confused.

"Exactly, he's young, capable of combat. Let me ask you this; would you rather follow an officer who fights with you, or one that sits in the back and will likely run if the time comes?"

"Well, obviously the one who fights with me, but that isn't practical, especially if the officer is wounded or killed."

"That's why he will be leading the best of the best. They'll keep him safe, even on the front line."

Joyce finally saw understanding in her eyes, and she nodded, but then frowned and asked, "How will you determine the best of the best, though?"

"Well, I was hoping you could help me find a few, and we'll go from there." He replied, and she could clearly see he wasn't telling her something. However, she decided not to push him to disclose everything, knowing she would find out soon enough.

"Alright, let's get started." Joyce said, and stood. As they walked out the door, they were wearing the same thing they always were; full combat gear; Rifles, side-arms, Tac-Vests, and their packs. Joyce had planned on taking the truck only, thinking that taking the Humvee would be unnecessary. So, the three men clambered into the truck, while Luna decided to fly ahead and lead them.

However, the streets were much more crowded today, and they were slow to get through the crowd. Luna couldn't keep such a slow pace while flying, so she gracefully landed on the cab of the truck, and occasionally popped her head inside through the window to relay instructions. However, soon the crowds began to clear up, as they made their way to the outskirts of the city. The streets grew narrow, and the buildings towered over them, greatly restricting their view of the sky, so Luna remained on the truck. Soon, the city turned almost abandoned, many of the buildings run down, and a few collapsed.

After almost 10 minutes of driving, the condition of this part of town only worsening, Luna leaned inside and said, "We're almost there-" But she cut herself off, and Joyce turned to see her head cocked, listening intently. He waited patiently for her to identify what she heard, but then her eyes went wide, and she said, "Go! Now! I hear fighting, and a lot of it!"

Joyce did just that, and sped through the streets until they turned a corner and saw the fight. There were nearly a dozen of the wolves in the street, and another dozen more on the rooftops with bows. They were fighting with nearly two dozen apes in the street, and thankfully winning. Joyce knew he was going to regret having not brought the Humvee with them.

He mumbled a curse, and his team prepped for combat. They came up right behind the line of wolves, and slid to a stop. They unloaded quickly onto the stone street, and opened fire on the apes they could hit. The fight was over relatively quickly, and the wolves visibly relaxed afterwards, instantly recognizing their saviors. They were smiling, and a few greeted Joyce and his team, but Joyce was not smiling or happy, and asked, "Where's Timber at?"

One pointed to a building just up the street, and turned to see Timber running down the street, flanked by half a dozen more wolves, and all looked beaten, cut, and battered by fighting.

"About time you showed up!" She yelled, partially relieved and happy, but also accusing and angry.

"What the hell's going on down here?" He asked, and she gestured to the battle-ridden street around her, and replied, "What does it look like? We're being attacked. They got through the gate to the East, took out the city guards within a few minutes, but one managed to escape and warn us. We've been fighting them off for the last 12 hours or so, in damn near every street. We started at the gate, but now we're a quarter of a mile from the gate and being pushed back constantly. Every time we try to push back, they hit us before we can solidify our defenses, and we end up loosing ground."

"Why haven't you called for the city guard?" Luna asked, and she turned to her, a bit irritated, "Does it look like we have enough wolves to send one across this abandoned sector of city? It's an hour walk before we'd find anyone to help us, and that's if the damn apes didn't get them first. They're hiding everywhere. It's a perfect staging ground for them; a mostly abandoned sector of the city, full of dark corners and empty buildings to hide and prepare in, and that's what they'd be doing right now if it weren't for us!"

"We'll get this straightened out later, for now let's work on solving the problem. Luna, you fly back and get reinforcements down here ASAP, we'll hold them as long as we can."

She looked reluctant to leave, but nodded, and took to the sky, flying as fast as she could. Joyce turned back to Timber, and asked, "Ok, I need everything you know."

"Well, they've formed three main attack routes, and I've split my warriors among them, but I've got a few groups patrolling, looking for new routes and those sneaking through, but we haven't heard back from one of the patrols." She then gestured to a spot on the sidewalk nearby, and he saw a makeshift drawing in the dirt, and she approached it.

She gestured to three different streets, and said, "These are the three streets they keep pushing on, but we've got scouts near the gate to tell us if they use a different route." She then circled a series of streets and buildings with her paw and said, "This is where the scouting party we lost was supposed to be."

Joyce quickly thought up a plan, and explained, "Ok, Cooper, you take the right street, and Bull will take the left. Pull a few warriors off both sides, and use them to reinforce the middle. I'll leave you my radio, and if you start to get overrun, just press the button and ask for help, and one of them will come if they can."

"What about you? I presume you're going to go find the ones we lost," she said, and he nodded, and she continued, "But what if you get into trouble, you won't have a way to call for help."

He knew this was a very real possibility, but instead he replied, "I won't need help, I'll be fine."

She looked doubtful, but shook her head, knowing that even if it did happen, they wouldn't have anyone to spare to help him. Joyce then unclipped his helmet, and removed the earpiece radio before handing it to her.

"Please don't break that." Joyce said, as he didn't have another to replace it. She nodded, and held onto it tightly. Joyce sighed, and turned to his two team mates. Bull smiled and said, "If you die, I will hunt you down in the after life." But then Cooper said with an even bigger smile, "Nah, he ain't gona die, no way Luna will let him."

Joyce laughed lightly, and while he bumped fists with both of them, he said, "Shut it." And they both smiled.

Joyce took a step back, and waved to Timber, who looked a bit confused. He turned around, and began to jog off in the direction of the search area. However, he heard Timber call from behind him, "Hey, wait up for a second!"

He stopped and turned around as she approached. She spoke quietly, "Hey, I just want you to know something first. I had no idea River was going to do that back in the hospital, and I honestly have no plans like that." However, she added rather quickly after that, "Not that I don't like you, it's just not like that…"

"Yeah, no, you're good. I kinda figured that by the way you reacted when she said it." He said, and she smiled and said, "Ok, thank you for understanding. You're a good person, you deserve to find someone that's right for you."

Joyce nodded his thanks, and said, "Ok, I gota get going." And she nodded back, but she hesitated, indicating she had something else to say. After a moment, she told him, "Amarok was in that patrol." And with that, she ran back to her warriors. Joyce turned around, and approached a side street. As he raised his rifle, and entered the alleyway, a memory flashed before his eyes; a similar alley… the only difference being the dead bodies in one being human, the other being cheetahs and moles…

He realized he had stopped, and shook his head before entering the alley. There were two bodies, a mole and a cheetah, both dead and surrounded with a pool of blood, and obviously their own. He quietly poked them both for a reaction, but determined them dead, and moved on. He came to a street, and after clearing both ways, he began to look for signs of battle, or a group of wolves. He found neither, and kept moving along the buildings. He moved several blocks over the course of nearly eight minutes, and found no sign of them.

However, he did start to hear distant gunshots, signaling the next attack had begun. He did his best to tune out the sounds of battle, and kept searching. Suddenly, just barely audible over the gunshots, he heard sounds of struggle, and a voice. He couldn't make out what they voice was saying, but they were just around the corner. He came to the corner, and slowly peered out from behind it.

He saw nearly a dozen apes standing around two wolves, both tied up and bloody. Joyce was relieved to see Amarok was one of them, and he began to formulate a plan. Most of the apes were distracted with going through the new armor and weapons they had acquired from the four dead wolves, but four of them were busy interrogating their prisoners.

Joyce didn't have a full idea yet, but the interrogation was heating up, as the Apes began to realize they wouldn't get any information, so he had to act quick. He grabbed a rock, and chucked it as far as he could across the street, and it hit a window, shattering it. He peered around, and saw that all of them had turned their attention towards the window. Joyce noticed that Amarok wasn't focused on the window, but was looking around for the source. He had probably seen the rock fly, and quickly caught sight of Joyce, who waved to him. Amarok silently nudged the wolf next to him, and nodded in Joyce's direction. Now that he had their attention, he made a motion with his rifle and hand that he was going to shoot the apes, and that they would need to stand up and run to him. They nodded understanding, and brought their feet under them, but stayed sitting. Joyce took aim at the only four apes who stayed near their hostages, as the rest had gone to investigate the window.

He opened fire, the five shots rang out among the buildings, and all four dropped to the ground, and the two ran as fast as they could towards him. As they came close, he unsheathed his knife, and gave it to Amarok and said, "Cut your hands free, I'll keep you covered."

He struggled to hold the knife between his fingers for a moment, but soon got a grip, and began to cut loose the other wolf. Joyce used the corner as cover, and fired at the confused apes across the street. He downed two before they reacted, and found cover. Of the five remaining apes, only two had bows, and they began to fire arrows at him, but most of them hit the wall and bounced off.

He waited and watched for one behind a stone pillar to appear again, and shot him once he did, but the other ape fired an arrow at him almost simultaneously, and it scratched his forearm, causing Joyce to move behind the wall once more. Once behind it, he said quietly, "Ouch."

Amarok and the other wolf were now free, and turned to Joyce and asked, "Now what?"

"Give me a second." He said, then turned back to the street behind him. He spotted the ape with the bow, and quickly dispatched him before taking cover again.

"We ready?" Amarok asked, and Joyce shook his head and said, "Not quite."

He waited several minutes, then peered back around, and smiled. His plan worked, and the surviving three apes had left cover to pursue him. He fired three shots, and they all fell to the ground. He then turned back, and nodded to Amarok, and said, "First off, do you know if there are more of them?"

"Depends…" he said slowly, "How many have you killed?"

"I've got 9 so far." He replied, and Amarok quickly said, "Yeah, there are definitely more. We were attacked by nearly 30 of them."

"Shit, ok, hopefully they haven't ambushed the others.." He turned to the unknown wolf, and asked, "What's your name?"

He stuttered for a moment, then said, "My name is Zan."

"Ok, Zan, I need you to run back to Timber and the main force, and warn them that there may be a large group that got through. Can you do that?"

The young wolf nodded quickly, and ran off to do what he was told. Joyce then turned back to Amarok, and said, "You and I are going to try and find them. Grab a sword off one of the dead ones, and let's get looking."

"Ok, I think I saw where most of them ran off to the first time, but I definitely know which direction they went."

"Good." Joyce replied, and waited for him to grab a sword, then gestured for him to lead the way. Joyce followed him down a few streets, all abandoned, but he soon heard voices. He gave Amarok a quick thumbs up and a smile, but was then serious, and began to search for the source of the voices. He quickly pinpointed their location with the help of Amarok's enhanced hearing. They were inside an old, abandoned shop building, with large display windows out front, a counter in the back, and a large open area in the center, where Joyce spotted the large group of apes. They were waiting for an order, Joyce realized, as most of them were lounging, napping, sharpening swords, or fiddling with equipment. He noticed three of them at the counter arguing.

"We can't wait much longer, how damn long does it take to interrogate a prisoner, anyways?" one said.

Joyce tried and failed to formulate a plan for taking out all 24 of them, and instead sighed, and pulled one of the frag grenades off his belt. He whispered to Amarok, "Alright, so I'm going to throw this, and its going to explode. Stay in cover, and I recommend you cover your ears."

Amarok nodded, and followed his advice. Joyce then appeared in the doorway and called, "Hey, catch!" and tossed it into the center of the room. He quickly ducked back behind the doorframe, and waited. He heard a commotion from inside, but it was followed by a loud explosion, and the windows next to him blew outwards in a shower of glass. There was the sound of debris falling, and then it was almost completely silent. Joyce moved inside, rifle at the ready just in case.

However, he lowered it when he saw the pure devastation that the explosion had inflicted on the apes. They were torn to shreds by the shrapnel, and a few were crushed by the ceiling when it collapsed in on them. Dust filled the air, and Joyce had a hard time breathing, but proceeded. Amarok appeared in the doorway, and was stunned by the devastation.

"Wow…" he said, and Joyce turned to him, prepared to say something, but Amarok yelled, "Look out!"

Joyce barely avoided being impaled on a spear, as it instead grazed his side. He quickly spun around and fired twice at the ape. He quickly looked around for anymore, and while he couldn't see any, it was not clear. One of the downed apes at his feet had regained consciousness, and now held his knife. He brought it down in Joyce's thigh, and he cried out in pain before he fired once and ended the ape's life. The Ape was covered in blood from the shrapnel cutting into his body, and a majority of the blood was wiped and smeared onto Joyce. He pulled the knife out, and proceeded to clear the room. He found no more survivors, and left the room. Once onto the street, Joyce leaned against a wall, and Amarok approached and asked, "You going to be ok? That looks pretty deep."

"I'll be good, more of a flesh wound." Ha replied, then pulled the first aid kit from his bag. He grabbed a packet of quick-clotting power, and tore it open and applied it. He groaned quietly as the powder made contact with the wound. He then held a bandage against it, and wrapped some gauze around it.

"Alright, good to go." Joyce said through gritted teeth as he stood up. Amarok knew he wasn't 'good to go' but said nothing.

"Lets get back to Timber, see if we've got reinforcements yet." Joyce said, and Amarok nodded and began to follow him. As he did, he noticed that Joyce didn't even run with a limp, despite the wound in his right leg. He also noticed a bit of blood seeping through on his side where the spear had caught him.

They soon arrived back where Joyce had first found Timber, and while they could hear gunshots coming from both directions, there were no attackers here. He found Timber, who looked relieved when she saw him. She ran over and asked, "What the hell happened?! I heard an explosion, and then I see you walking back all covered in blood!"

"Relax, I'm fine, most of it isn't mine." He replied, then asked, "Hey, can I get my radio back?"

"Yeah, sure." She said with a nod, and pulled it out of her pocket, and then handed it to him. Joyce put it on, and asked over the radio, "Ok, sit-rep, what's going on out there?"

Cooper came on the radio first, a predetermined order of communication, and said, "We're holding steadfast over here."

But then Bull came over the radio, a little bit of worry rising in his voice, "We're starting to loose ground! They're coming from everywhere, and we're loosing control."

"Alright, you've got back up on the way." Joyce replied, then turned to Amarok and said, "Grab a few warriors and head to them. I'll help Timber hold here, and Luna should return soon with backup."

Amarok nodded, then went and grabbed eight fighters and ran off in Bull's direction. Joyce then turned back to Timber and said, "So how many fighters do we have left?"

"Here? Probably 12 are ready to fight, but I've got 16 injured, and a few of them critically, and sounds like just as many in the other two locations."

Joyce nodded, and said, "We'll be fine, only have to hold them for a bit longer."

But he really was thinking, 'Luna, you need to hurry up.'

Luna was yelling at the poorly organized troops before her, "Come on! Let's go! Your General is out there fighting and Wolves are dying to save your city! Let's get moving, now!"

She had already organized one of the barracks, and now had this one up and going, bringing her troop count to nearly 150 armed moles, cheetahs, and two small dragons, not much older or larger than she was. She heard wing beats behind her, and turned around to see Spyro and Cynder flying towards her. When they arrived, Spyro asked, "What's going on? Another attack?"

"Yes, a big one in the Abandoned District." She replied, "Joyce and his team are down there now, the Wolves have been fighting them since late last night, and they're loosing."

"That bad? They haven't made a push like this since the beginning attacks… where'd they get the resources to do this?"

"I don't know, and it's not important right now!" She yelled at him, clearly worried, "We have to get down there, and fast! I don't know how long they can hold, or how big the force they oppose is."

"Ok, I'll stay here and organize more troops to send after you, just take these ones you have and go help. There will be more coming, soon." Spyro told her.

"I'll to with you." Cynder said to Luna, who nodded gratefully. Spyro, however, gave her a concerned look and said, "Ok, but he careful."

She said nothing, and nodded. Luna then called to the ones she had organized, "Alright, we're headed out. Follow me, and keep your eyes open!"

Joyce finished wiring the explosive he had set into the street, and took a few steps back. He had found three small, and rather old, anti-personal mines in the truck, and had decided this was a good time to use them. He had them set up in a line down the street, hidden in trash piles and garbage, at intervals of about 20 feet. He rejoined the remaining wolves, most of whom held bows, but four of them, including Timber, held swords. The archers were up on nearby buildings, and relatively out of harm's way, but Joyce was down on the barricade with the others.

"Hey, Joyce?" He heard Bull ask over radio, and Joyce answered with, "Yeah?"

"A vast majority of the apes over here disappeared… I think they're headed for you."

"Same here, a bunch of them are gone." Cooper added.

"Shit, ok got it." Joyce said, then yelled out for the others to hear, "Ok, we've got a bunch of them coming our way, get ready!"

No sooner than he said that, there was a large cry from down the street, and dozens of apes poured into the street from buildings or other streets.

"Don't fire yet!" He yelled to the archers, who were confused. He pulled the detonator from his vest, and armed the explosives, but waited to detonate them. He let the apes keep charging. The first ape passed the first mine. Then he passed the second. He was coming up on the third. The mass of charging apes was mostly inside the blast radius, and he detonated the mines.

Unlike the grenade, these went off with more of a thud than an explosion, but the effects were just as devastating. He watched some of the apes get literally blown to pieces, while the rest were thrown to the ground with cries of pain. Joyce stood from behind cover, and said quietly, "Just as horrifying and painful as a sword, but five times as efficient."

However, the smoke began to clear, and an arrow flew through it, planting itself inside a wooden table to the right of him.

"Shit! Get down!" He yelled, and peered over the table, and realized that the furthest explosive hadn't detonated, leaving still almost three dozen apes alive. However, he was prepared for a fight, and raised his rifle and popped off a few shots.

Luna had heard the explosion, and was both horribly worried, and grateful. Worried because that was the second explosion she had heard, and grateful not only because it meant that they were still alive, but also because it didn't sound all that distant. They were close. Within another ten minutes of walking, she heard Cynder yell from above her, "I see them!"

Luna leaped into the air, ignoring her sore wings, and looked to where Cynder was pointing. From what she could see, they might not have needed this many troops. There were no more live apes in the street, but there were many corpses. She saw wolves picking through them to ensure they were really dead, and a few others were working to clear the bodies, but she didn't see Joyce.

She landed, and while she was looking for Timber, and spotted Joyce, and gasped. She found him next to a building, laying on a stack of old bags filled with flour. And he was covered in blood, and his eyes closed. From this distance, she couldn't see his chest moving at all. She rushed over, and practically jumped on him, thinking the worst.

However, the second She hit him, he jolted awake and tried to throw her off. He looked around wildly, expecting an attack, but saw only her relieved gaze. He sighed in relief himself, and said, "Holy shit, you scared the piss out of me. About time you showed up."

She laughed, and said, "Well it looks like you didn't really need us."

"Oh, trust me, we could have used you guys about ten minutes ago." He replied, then stood up and grabbed his rifle. However, as he leaned over to grab it, he grimaced in pain, and groaned a little.

"You going to be ok?" she asked, the worry returning to her voice. He nodded and gestured to his bloody uniform and said, "Don't worry, most of it isn't mine."

"Most?" she asked, "Then how much of it is?"

Joyce shook his head and said, "Doesn't matter. Let's get this cleaned up. How many did you bring with you?"

"About 150, and Cynder. Spyro will follow with more later." She replied, and almost on cue, Cynder landed behind her, and smiled at Joyce, who gave her a nod in response.

"You look like hell." She said, and Joyce laughed and asked, "Where's the sympathy you had for me earlier?"

He didn't notice Luna flinch when he said it, but he did see Cynder smile, and look at Luna quickly before she replied, "Well, it's not my job anymore."

Joyce squinted for a second, confused. However, he didn't get the chance to clarify it, as the rest of the troops came up, in need of orders. He turned to them, and, after dismissing their shocked reactions when they saw him, began to issue orders, "Ok, here's the plan…"

It took the entire rest of the day, but they finally got a handle on the situation. Once they pushed the main force out, they fortified the gate and started sweeping for survivors. It was dirty, slow, and ravenous fighting, as the small groups of apes had fortified the buildings they had taken, while others hid. They had to check every building, and even with almost 500 soldiers, it took a lot of hours, but Joyce was right there with them, clearing houses with his team and helping to break the few fortified positions.

Initially, he thought this attack had completely ruined his plans for the day, but he soon realized he had accomplished two of his three objectives. He also made sure that none of the wolves were Forced to help them clear the area, and instead were shown a new, more secure complex of buildings, and plenty of food and water. In fact, their new homes were not more than a five minute walk from the HQ. The injured wolves were given immediate medical attention, and Joyce was relieved and proud to hear that not one wolf died during the attack. Not even the members of Amarok's squad that got ambushed. They were found scattered across the sector in the hands of miscellaneous groups of apes.

Now, Joyce was in the truck with his team, driving back to HQ. It was almost 9pm, and the moon had started to rise. And while he couldn't see her, he knew Luna was sitting on the cab of the truck. He noticed that even at this late hour, there was still a crowd of civilians on the street, and as the truck approached them, they parted and made a path. He tapped on the roof to get Luna's attention, and she put her head next to the open window.

"Hey, what are they doing? Why are they still out here?" He asked her, and she replied with a smile, "Probably just heard about the fighting and are making sure we didn't loose, they'll probably disperse soon."

She was silent for a moment, then added, "Phew, you guys smell really bad."

He gave her a glare and said, "Really? I wonder why that is… and it's not like we can fix it-"

"What are you talking about?" she said with a laugh, "We have to bathe and clean up, too. A few of the newer houses even have a plumbing system for you to take a rain bath."

"You mean a shower?" He asked, and she crinkled her nose for a second and said, "If that's what you call it, sure, but here it's a rain bath."

Joyce hadn't even considered the possibility, and actually felt a bit stupid for not. A plumbing system wasn't that complex at all, and didn't even require technological advancements to achieve. All you need is a general understanding of physics, and a few moving parts.

She seemed to notice his thoughtful look, and asked, "You do have this technology where you come from, right?"

"Oh, yeah of course, I just… I don't know, I just never really thought about it here." He replied, and she disappeared again. They came out on the other side of the small crowd, and continued on their way. Once at the HQ, they quickly unloaded, and moved into the house at a slow pace, their bodies sore from the day of combat. They were all getting a bit out of shape, Joyce realized.

Luna came inside last, and closed the door. The moment it was closed, she asked, "Ok, so who's taking the first bath?"

"Hell yeah, I'm going." Cooper said, and followed Luna up the stairs. Within a few minutes, she returned, and found Joyce and Bull had out a few MRE's and were about finished with them. She scolded them, and said, "Next time you're hungry, tell me! You don't need to eat that crap anymore. I'm not a great cook, but I picked up on a few things from my mother."

Joyce was going to ask a question, but she continued before he could speak, she said to Bull, "There will be plenty of fresh water waiting for you after he's done."

Bull nodded, and Joyce was going to ask, 'What about me?' but by now, he knew better than to ask, and she clearly had a plan for him. All he could do was wait and hope it wasn't too bad. He finished his meal, and said, "Alright, well, I'm going to head up and wait for my turn."

"Ok." Was all Bull said, still enveloped in his meal. However, Luna's reaction was very different. She gave him a smile that made him nervous, and replied, "Don't worry, you won't have to wait too long."

He simply nodded, and hurried up the stairs. Once inside the room he had slept last night, he looked down at his cloths. He sighed, realizing he had ruined his last good uniform, and stripped down, but kept his pants on. He rummaged around his belongings, but didn't find what he was looking for, and looked around the room. He spotted exactly what he was looking for; the previous uniform he had. Last time he had it on, it was just as ruined as his current, but at least it wasn't covered in blood.

However, now it was a different story. It was folded and placed on the edge of Luna's bed. They were clean, but best of all; fixed. Someone had sewn and patched the rips, cuts, and holes, and while it didn't quite look 'good as new' it was certainly much better than it was before.

"I had someone get it all fixed up for you." He heard Luna say. He jumped a little at the sound of her voice, having not heard her come in, but relaxed when he recognized her voice. He turned to look at her, and her eyes quickly met his for a fleeting moment before she broke the contact and looked at his damaged body. Her eyes landed on his scar for just a moment before they moved on.

"Thanks." He said simply, and walked over to his couch. He slowly sat down with a groan of pain; his leg was on fire at this point. He knew he had to take the pants off, and he also knew he couldn't do it with Luna in the room… or by himself.

"Shit…" he mumbled. She seemed to hear him, and asked from the other side of the room, "Something wrong?"

He didn't reply, and was considering figuring out how to do this by himself, and didn't hear her walk over. She followed his gaze, and saw the bloody bandage on his leg, and asked, "What happened to your leg? Did you have Cooper take a look at it?"

"Nah, just a knife, barely got me." He replied stubbornly, and she glared at him and asked, "Then what's the problem?"

"Ah, just a bit sore, can't move it very well. I'll be fine." He said, and she smiled and replied, "Ok, then take your pants off."

He gave her a look, and said, "Why?"

And she replied quickly, "Because it's time for your…" and she struggled for a second to think of the word, but then said, "Shower."

Joyce glared at her for a second, then said, "I'll do it in the shower, thank you."

She shrugged and said, "As you wish."

He stood, and she led him to the doorway he knew she was in last night, and she opened the door and walked in. Joyce was partially stunned by the large and ornate bathroom. It was easily the size of the bedroom, and the floor was replaced by shining, white stone tiles. The walls were made of a similar material, but painted brilliant shades of red, blue, green and gold. In the center of the room was a large bulge, and in the center of that bulge, it dropped to form central bathing area with walls easily four feet high. Joyce noticed that there was a large box-like structure that was clearly intended to keep the ugly shower contraption hidden from view, and there were hundreds of small holes in the bottom.

Joyce realized that was why it was called a Rain Bath; it wasn't a nozzle that the water came out of, it fell evenly across the entire area.

"Wow.." He said, still looking around. She looked back at him, and asked, "You like it? Yeah, this is one of those newer houses I told you about."

"No kidding." He replied, still studying the colorful walls. She walked up, and gestured to two small levers on one side, and said, "There's hot water heated by a fire, and room temperature water, balance the two for a good temperature."

Joyce nodded, and noticed she had a doubtful look, and he realized he she still doubted he could get his cloths off. He gave her a look, and she immediately said, "Alright, alright, I'm leaving."

He watched her go, and the once she was gone, he went to work trying to remove his pants. His vest and shirt had been removed outside, but his pants were another deal entirely. Not only was the hole in his leg much more severe than he thought, but the dried blood was also making it more difficult to pull the pants off. Plus, the cut in his side made it hard to bend over. He tried and failed for a few minutes, then sighed.

He didn't want to admit it, but he had failed at removing his own pants. He felt like a child, needing to call for help. But then something else occurred to him; he didn't feel quite so embarrassed knowing it was Luna who would help him.

"Hey, Luna?" He called, and she opened the door again, a smile on her face, and she asked, "Yes?"

He laughed, and asked her, "Could you help me remove my pants?"

She laughed, and walked over to him, and said, "Sit down and lift your legs."

He did What she said, and once his legs were up, she grabbed the base of one pant leg with her teeth, and slowly pulled them off. Once they were off, she looked at the bloody bandage around his leg, and her smile turned to concern.

"Are you sure you'll be able to-" She started, but he cut her off and said, "I'm fine!"

She glared at him, and said, "Stop being so stubborn and actually consider it! I know that contrary to popular belief, I'm not trying to be flirty right now, I'm actually concerned for you right now!"

He sighed and said, "Ok, well… I appreciate the concern, but I am fine, I can do this by myself."

"Ok, fine. But after you're done, I'm looking at your leg." She said, then walked away and out the door. Once she was gone, he realized he actually hadn't truly wanted her to leave… but it was too late now, and he sighed sadly, then turned to the shower. His spirits lifted as he realized he would finally be able to take a shower. He quickly slipped his underwear off, and turned the water on. He didn't care if it was hot or cold right now, he just wanted to feel clean again, even if it was only partially.

"Damn, that's a dark thought…" he whispered to himself, and indeed it was.

He was never truly clean, not living the lifestyle that he did. He had done a lot of bad things in the name of peace and freedom, and there were times like this when he had to stop and truly think about all the things he had done. He shot an ape in the back today. Didn't even have a sword. It was running away, and Joyce knew it would come back, armed and with friends, but it still felt wrong to shoot it in the back like that. For all he knew, that was just some scared, young, stupid ape who got involved, or even forced to fight. He hit that cheetah when he tried to kill the ape in the house across the street. He was pretty sure he missed once today, and hit a cheetah in the leg.

Just days before he came here… they were setting up for the ambush, and he shot a child. Granted, the kid held an IED that blew the second he hit the ground, but it was an 8 year old child all the same. All these things had a nasty habit of bottling up inside him, but today was a bit different. He had a new start, a new opportunity, and he knew it. So, he let all these problems flow out of him, and like the blood that washed down the drain, all these mistakes, worries, and fears washed down with it. There were new rules he had to learn, new customs, new problems to face, and new things to accept… including Luna. He couldn't deny the fact that when he saw her, his heart fluttered and his mind focused on her even when he was doing other things. He knew what was happening; he'd have to be blind, stupid, and ignorant not to see it. But the real problem were the others. Would she accept it? Would his team still follow him? And what about everyone else? Her parents, she's spoken about them, would they have to approve? And what about other Customs? Was interspecies stuff banned throughout the city?

Of those questions, he knew his team would follow him anywhere, no matter what. He could be turned into a dragon, and they would still follow him, he knew and trusted that statement with everything he was. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.

As for everything else…. Well, the problems and concerns of the old world may have flowed out of him, but the new ones filled that space almost as soon as it was empty. In essence, he had about 30 seconds of true peace. But that was more than enough for him, because when he thought about it all working out, everyone accepting it, and seeing himself living with Luna the rest of his life, gave him a feeling not of peace, but a warm, happy, and blissful feeling. It was the hope of finding something like this that had kept him going all these years, and his patience had finally paid off.

He stepped out of that shower a new man, and a clean one at that. He knew he would make new mistakes, and had already made numerous, but for now, he was content to say to the world and all his problems two words; "Shove it."

He quickly dressed, and exited the bathroom. As he walked out, he found Luna laying on her bed, already asleep. He laughed quietly, and walked over to his gear. He knew his rifle needed a good cleaning; he had used it extensively today. However, a yawn convinced him that it could wait until tomorrow.

He simply stretched out on his couch, though not before he looked longingly at the bed Luna slept in. He sighed, and closed his eyes, the warmth of the fire that burned less than 10 feet away prevented the need for any blanket or covers, as the fire never seemed to stop burning. It was either that, or she just used some sort of unique wood that burned for hours apon hours. Despite his happy, slightly excited mood, the exhaustion of the day soon took over, and he was asleep in a matter of minutes.

His sleep was interrupted by a dream; something he hadn't had in quite a while. However, it wasn't a good one. It started off peaceful enough, he was flying through the air, but when he tried to look around, he found that he could not. He was stuck looking forward. He was flying over a forest, toward a small, lone mountain that seemed to be his destination. It was a long ways off, still, and could only barely be seen from where he was. However, he soon realized it wasn't himself he was looking through, when his gaze was forced to turn and look backwards. He saw massive, dark purple wings that kept the Dragon afloat, but he then noticed what he was supposed to see; the city of Warfang. It was also very distant, and he could barely see the towering walls and the glitter of windows in the morning sunlight.

The sun. The Dragon was flying East, towards the rising sun. The Dragon suddenly turned forward again, and time suddenly seemed to fast forward. He landed in front of a massive cave. It was easily 100 feet high and at least 200 wide. The Dragon lumbered slowly inside, into the darkness, but before his eyes could adjust to the darkness completely, he could feel he was loosing picture; waking up. Just before it all faded, he heard an unholy screech…. And a gunshot.

He awoke with a start, but remained motionless.

'What the actual fuck made that sound?' He thought. It was the sound of a thousand knives being scratched across a chalk board, and the sound of flesh tearing. He shivered even now, just thinking about it. He didn't even want to begin to imagine what kind of creature made that sound. And what about the gunshot? He attempted to push the thoughts from his mind, as the smell of cooked food came to his nose.

He sat up, and looked around, and saw that Luna had already gotten up. Sunshine flowed in through the open window, and a light breeze came through. It was a beautiful day. He got up, and walked downstairs.

As he came down, he found Luna, Bull, and Cooper sitting at a large table. They turned and looked at him, confused, and Cooper asked, "Why are you wearing your gear? And why do you have your rifle?"

He looked down, and hadn't even realized he had his combat gear. He was that shaken by the sound he had heard. They seemed to see it in his features, and stood up, ready to go into action.

"No, no, we're good for now, I think. J-…. Just a dream, got me all shaken up." He said, but obviously didn't convince them. It's kind of hard to convince others of something you yourself don't believe.

"I've never seen you so shaken by a dream, are you sure that's all it was?" Cooper asked, and Joyce replied in an irrigated manner, "What the fuck else could it have been? I've been upstairs the whole damn time! Unless you guys heard it, too!"

He realized he was shouting and had tightened his grip on his rifle. They noticed this as well, and Bull had taken a step back. Joyce felt a bit ashamed, and sighed before he put his rifle on the ground, and sat down against the wall.

"Am I going insane?" He mumbled, just barely loud enough for them to hear. They could clearly see that this was serious. Something was wrong with him, or that wasn't just a dream. They shared a look, and Cooper whispered, "Get Spyro and Cynder over here," and Luna nodded before she ran out of the room to do what he said.

"Not a chance." Cooper said, and approached him. He crouched down in front of him, and offered his hand to him. Joyce reluctantly took it, and he pulled him to his feet.

"I've known you for years. The shit we have been through- that you have been through, alone and without a team, was more than enough to make you crazy. This? Nah, this isn't anywhere near what it would take for you to go insane. We're going to eat while we wait for Luna to come back, and then you're going to tell us exactly what happened in that dream. Ok?"

Joyce nodded, but failed repeatedly to compose himself, and could only walk to the table. Luna reached the place Spyro and Cynder lived within a matter of minutes, and quickly walked in the door to find them just sitting down to eat as well.

"Luna? Is something wrong?" Spyro asked, but then both of them noticed the look on her face, and knew something was definitely wrong. She didn't have to say a word, and they followed her back to the HQ. Once there, they stopped her at the door and asked, "Wait, what's wrong?"

"It's Joyce… he said he had a dream… but the way he looked, he was terrified of what he had seen or heard in that dream. I don't think it was just a dream, something is wrong. I'm hoping that with your vast adventures outside the city, you'll be able to help identify something should he be able to describe what he saw."

They both nodded, and entered the house. They found Joyce at the table, and he had just finished a large canteen of water. Luna was glad to see he had recovered a bit, and while he still looked terrified, it was no longer senseless. He now appeared to be deep in thought. Spyro and Cynder could see this as well, and Cynder had a concerned look.

A few minutes later, they had a semi-circle around Joyce, who was sitting on his 'bed' in the room. The others were sat, or stood, around him.

"So, can you describe the dream?" Spyro asked, and Joyce nodded, and while he still seemed deep in thought, his concentration was divided now between thinking and explaining.

"Well, first off, I appeared to have been following the view of a large, purple Dragon-"

"Wait, what? Big, dark purple?" Luna asked, and Joyce nodded, but his full attention was now on the conversation.

"Oh no…" Spyro mumbled, stunned. Cynder looked flat out horrified, and Luna in disbelief.

"Who knows, it may be a coincidence." She said, but just like with Joyce, it's hard to convince others of something you don't believe yourself.

"Why? Who is this dark purple dragon?" Bull asked, confused.

"Well, it's a long story, but in short, he tried to destroy the world. Cynder and I stopped him a few years ago, and we thought we had him trapped forever… and he likely is, but… it's possible he's escaped."

"Either way, it's obvious the Dragon isn't what's got you, right?" Luna asked, and Joyce nodded and continued his story, "It flew east, probably 50 maybe 60 miles east, towards a mountain. It was a single peak. I entered a massive cave… it was dark and I couldn't see anything… but I heard… something. It was a horrible screech, unnatural…"

They were silent for several minutes before Cynder asked, "Can you describe the screech at all? Was it high pitched, low, how long it was, anything like that?"

He thought for a second, and said, "I.. I can't describe what it sounded like, but yeah, it was long, and loud. Just like anything terrifying would be-" however, then a similarity came to mind. He had no idea where or why this comparison came to mind, and they saw his confusion and asked, "What?"

"Spider. I can't explain why, but it sounded like a spider." He said, and saw Luna tense as he said it.

"Uhm, Spiders don't made loud screeches…" Cooper said, and Joyce gave him an irritated look and said, "I know, and I can't explain why I think it was… but even then, spider doesn't quite match it."

"S… sp… spiders? D-did you say… spiders?" Luna asked quietly, and when he turned to her, and saw How terrified she was, he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. He nodded, but she said nothing. He was going to say something, try to comfort her, but Spyro spoke before he could even think of what to do, "Well, I do know what mountain you saw," Spyro said, "It was an old ape strong-point. It took days to crack that place after the war was over."

"What was there?" Joyce asked, and his look said the same thing his words did, "Bad things. Experiments, mostly with the evil energy of the dark crystals. We didn't really look into their progress much, but we destroyed everything we found."

"How many escaped?" He asked, and Spyro replied casually, "Well, obviously a few did, but not many."

"Shit… ok, we've got to go check it out. Even if it is nothing," he said, and looked to Luna for the next part, "And it probably is, but we've got to make sure."

He hesitated a moment, as another part of the dream came back to him, and he then said, "There was something else I heard. Just after the screech… there was a Gunshot."

It was silent, as everyone had their own interpretation of what caused it. He turned to Cooper and Bull, who were always ready to go, and said, "Get your gear. Stealth gear, suppressors, NVG's, extra batteries, flashlights, and IR Strobes. Bring a few grenades, as well, and we'll take the Humvee this time."

They were going in heavily armed, Luna realized. She then realized that it was probably not nothing, but she wasn't one to back down from a fight. Though she wasn't so sure how well she would hold up if they had to fight giant spiders…

Joyce saw her uncertainty, and looked around. Everyone else had left to go get ready. He approached her, and lightly touched her neck to get her attention. She looked up at him, and was immensely reassured by his again confident and cool manner.

"You going to be Ok?" He asked, and she sighed, and looked towards the ground and said, "I don't know…"

He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head to look at his. He smiled and said, "Wrong answer. The correct answer is: Yes, you're going to be fine. I don't care if it's spiders or Malefor himself we find in that cave, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She was stunned by his level of care and honesty; she had never seen it in him before. She was speechless as she looked into his eyes. She realized she had never noticed his eyes before… they were a shade of green she had never seen before. She instantly became lost in his eyes again.

Joyce seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, and said, "Hey, we should get going, dreamy Dragoness."

His statement brought her out of her thoughts, and she quickly looked away, embarrassed and said, "Sorry, I normally don't do that.."

Joyce laughed and said, "It's fine. Are you ready to go? We'll be leaving soon."

"Aren't we bringing backup?" She asked, and turned to look at him again.

"No, we can't afford to wait for them to get organized, and we'll be slower if we have to wait for them to walk. It's only going to be five of us; You, Bull, Cooper, Amarok, and me."

"What about us?" Spyro asked, and Joyce turned to them and considered for a moment, but then made up his mind.

"No, I need you and Cynder to stay here and start to organize an attack force, should we need one to take that place. You'll follow as soon as you're ready."

Spyro clearly disagreed, but nodded confirmation. Bull and Cooper came back into the room, armed to the teeth, and Joyce looked at them, asking a silent question. They nodded, and he said, "Alright, let's get going. We'll pick Amarok up on the way."

They nodded, and exited the building. They jumped into the Humvee after grabbing a few extra cases of .556 rounds from the storage truck and some empty magazines. Bull was on the turret, Joyce was driving, and Cooper was in the back seat behind Joyce. Luna flew above them for the time being, but he knew eventually she would land on the top and ride with them to rest.

It was already getting busy outside on the street, so Luna flew ahead, clearing the path for them. They made good time, and soon came to the housing complex that the wolves were given. As he pulled up front, he honked the horn a few times.

Timber and Amarok walked out, closely followed by several others. Joyce stepped out, and called to Amarok, "Get your gear, we're headed out. I'll explain on the way."

Amarok nodded, but Timber added, "I'm coming, too."

However, Joyce said, "No, sorry Timber, not this one. It may be nothing, or we could get into serious trouble, and either way, you're needed more here. If it turns out to be nothing, you'll have wasted a day in repairing and assisting your people. If we get into trouble, I need to know that there's still someone here who can gather her warriors and back us up regardless of the odds."

She sighed, and said reluctantly, but also smiled proudly, "Well, I guess you're right."

He knew he was. He had seen the way a majority of the surviving wolf population looked at him, and he knew damn well why they did, but it wasn't just him. His entire team, as well as himself, had put their lives on the line for their tribe numerous times, and it very nearly cost them their lives on several occasions. They had seen that Joyce and his team were more than willing to give their lives for them, and in turn, were equally prepared to do the same for him and his team.

He knew he wouldn't be able to ask them that, but it was nice to know that someone in this whole damn world could back them up. Joyce smiled at that thought. It really did feel nice to have a group of people ready to do that for them.

Within a few minutes, Amarok returned with light leather armor and his sword. Joyce nodded, and they got back into the Humvee, Amarok got into the passenger seat, and they drove off.

"So what's the deal? Why are you guys so heavily armed?" He asked, looking at them confused. It was true, however, as they all carried more ammunition now than before. Cooper had heard the word spider, so he had an extra gun strapped to his backpack: a Remington 12ga shotgun. He had sacrificed a spot on his vest that could have held an extra four mags for his rifle, and instead had shotgun shells strapped across the top part of his vest. There were 18 shells on his vest, 12 standard buckshot shells, and six slugs. He knew there was probably another box of buckshot in his bag. However, he still held his M4A1 rifle to be used first. The shotgun was for when things got messy.

Joyce himself had used the extra space for those extra mags, plus four frag grenades hung around his belt, as had Bull.

"Well… when I slept last night, I saw… no, heard something." He replied, and noticed Amarok's skeptical look, and added, "No, I'm not going insane, but according to Spyro, the place I heard it at is real, and it was an old research base where they did, and I quote, 'Bad things' using the dark crystals. So, we're going to go investigate. It's probably nothing, but we're going in prepared for a big one."

"Any ideas as to what we'll find or what you heard?" He asked, and Joyce looked at him hesitantly, then said, "Spiders. Don't ask me why I think that… just that the thing I heard… it sounded like a spider."

He looked confused at first, but then something clicked, and he looked terrified.

"What? Don't tell me you're terrified of spiders, too, are you?"

"No, no.." He said, shaking his head, "It's just… legends my mother told me when I was a pup… probably nothing."

"Dude, nothing about this is normal, just tell us what the legend is." Cooper said, and Amarok sighed and said, "Alright, fine. But I'm pretty sure all it's going to do is put ideas in your heads."

"Ok, well hold on a second." He said, then turned around and tugged on Bull's pant leg. He poked his head down and asked, "What's the problem?"

"Amarok might be able to shed some light on our situation. Tell Luna to come down here as well."

Bull said nothing, but disappeared back up into the turret, and he heard him yell something inaudible. He then jumped out of the turret seat, and into the back seat behind Amarok. Within a few seconds, there was a light thud on the roof, but thanks to the reinforced metal roof, it didn't dent. She then poked her head in through the turret hole, and asked, "What's going on?"

"Story time with Amarok." Bull said with a smile, and Joyce explained, "Amarok apparently was told a legend about… something he feels is related to this somehow."

"Well, it might. I have no idea." He corrected, but Luna just nodded and said, "Well, let's hear it."

"Ok, well, the Legend goes back to long before I was born, many, many generations. It was about when we first came to our home, the cave system. The legend goes, that it was not empty, but occupied by monsters of such horror and ferocity. While the legend never says the word Spider, but the description is similar; massive, eight legs easily 20 feet long each, and jaws capable of swallowing an entire wolf whole, and pincers made to tear them apart. Hard, almost un-penetrable outer shells. Only the strongest of warriors armed with the sharpest of swords could penetrate their hides. It says that we used War Hammers back then, and they were far more useful than swords, but even then, the creatures were incredibly fast, and fought with such ferocity that we lost dozens just to kill one. But the worst part were the small ones. The creatures laid egg sacks almost monthly, and out of them came hundreds of smaller ones that, if they survived, would eventually grow to become just as large as the ones who laid them. There were great battles between us and the creatures, but we eventually managed to kill them off."

"Does it say if any escaped?" He asked, and Amarok shook his head and said, "It doesn't, but I highly doubt it. According to the legend, these creatures don't surrender. They likely all died off. That is, if it's even true."

"Do you remember any description on sounds? A battle cry of some sort?"

"I don't remember anything like that." He replied, and Joyce nodded, then stared straight ahead, deep in thought. Everyone seemed to sense that talking was over, and Luna took to the sky again, and Bull got back in the turret.

Joyce sighed, trying to focus on the possibilities ahead of him. What if this legend Amarok speaks of is true? How will they fight them? Will bullets be effective? If they aren't, what other options do they have? They can use their grenades, but they don't have a lot of them. And what about the small ones? How many of those will there be? How will they deal with them?

He had ideas for this, but all of them were dependent on unknown factors. He sighed, frustrated, and focused on driving down the narrow dirt path. They took a few breaks on the way, and Cooper had replaced Joyce in the driver's seat, and he was now in the back behind Amarok. By nightfall, they had reached the cave.

"Ok, we're going wait until morning." Joyce said, and saw Amarok go to open the door, and said, "No, we're all going to stay in the Humvee. We'll sleep in here for the night, just to be safe."

Amarok sighed, and sat back in his seat. Joyce quickly rolled down his window, and said to Luna, who was waiting patiently outside, "We're all sleeping in here for the night, meet me near the back."

She nodded, and he rolled it up before turning around and climbing over the back of the seat, into the other compartment. Luckily, these Humvees were made to be able to fit a stretcher in the back for wounded, so there was plenty of room. He opened the back, and saw her standing there. She looked at him, confused for a moment, and he motioned for her to jump in. She smiled happily, and said sarcastically, "Such a gentleman," and then complied, and squeezed past him. She had to crawl to get further back, and she had to move her tail further in, and as she did, she brushed it past Joyce's chin. He closed the door, and turned around, and saw that she was having a hard time finding a comfortable position. Then another thing occurred to him; Bull would have to take the last seat. He was still in the gunner's seat, but Joyce sighed, and said to Luna, "Move over for a second."

She did, and he moved next to her, and sat down against the wall. She looked at him, confused, but then smiled, as she realized what he was doing. He pretended to be reluctant to do this, but a part of him was accepting of it.

"Bull, you can take the last seat. Close the hatch when you come down." He said, and Bull did so. Once he was down, he reached up, and pulled the hatch down, and by the time it slammed shut, Luna had already made herself comfortable, and settled down in his lap. Joyce himself wasn't particularly comfortable, but she clearly was, so he allowed it. She had her mid section off to his right, and her chest and front legs stretched across his lap, her head was lain across the floor to his left, and her neck curled back around so her head was next to his thigh, and her tail curled around and rested around his shoulders.

"Wow, so you'll let her sleep in your lap, but I can't even get you to pack an extra mag for me?" Bull asked sarcastically with a laugh. Joyce glared at him, but laughed as well. Luna looked up at him and whispered, "Do you want me to move?"

"No, you're fine." He whispered back, then said aloud, "Alright, let's get some rest. We have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, so let's be prepared for the worst."

However, after a moment, he said, "Hey, Coop."

Cooper looked back at him, annoyed, and Joyce said with a smile and a nod, "Lock the doors."

Cooper looked back at the door, and mumbled, "Oh, right…" but then spun back around, now slightly irritated, and he said, "There aren't any locks."

Joyce smiled and laughed a little and replied, "I know, and now you've got first watch for falling for it."

"Oh…" he mumbled, disappointed, but then added, "Ok, but I'm waking you next."

Joyce smiled, then leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, and fell asleep. Unbeknownst to him, this would be the last time he had a good night's sleep in quite a while, and even then, it wouldn't be a full night.

He was suddenly awake. He stopped, and listened, but heard nothing but the even breathing of everyone else in the vehicle. He looked down at Luna, who had somehow shifted positions without waking him. She now had her torso across from him, her head in his lap and tail still hung around his shoulders.

He looked around to see if Cooper was still awake, but was a bit surprised to see Cooper fast asleep, and Bull awake instead. He looked alert, as if he had heard something. Joyce was about to ask him something, but Bull noticed he was awake, and silently motioned for him to be silent as well, and to listen. Joyce stopped, and listened as well. That was when he heard it; a quiet skittering sound. It was quietly followed by a scratching sound.

Joyce reached down to his sidearm, which was still in its holster at his right thigh, and pulled it out. He silently set it down on the floor next to him. It was then that he noticed the sound had stopped, and that he hadn't truly been silent when he set it down, as there was a very, very quiet sound of metal hitting metal. A tap really, but what ever was outside, it likely heard it. He looked at Bull, who still looked alert.

Then there was a tapping. It came from directly below his sidearm, and while it was quiet, he could tell it knew exactly where his gun had made the sound. It tapped for several seconds, waking Cooper, but before they could notice he was awake, he asked quietly, "What is that sound?"

Joyce snapped his head in his direction and motioned for him to be silent, but it was too late. There was a loud screech, similar to that of what Joyce had heard in the dream, but much smaller, and more… ferocity than the other had. But then, the chittering faded away, and it was gone.

Needless to say, Joyce didn't sleep the rest of the night. There were no other sounds other than those of nature, but Joyce was wide awake and on full alert the entire time. Soon, dawn came, and sunlight began to brighten the surrounding area, despite the fact that it was still on the other side of the mountain. They roused the still sleeping Amarok and Luna, and opened the doors and got out.

The air was chilly, and had a bit of a bite to it. The ground crunched as they stepped on it, a thick frost having set in on the short grass. Joyce was astonished the trees around him hadn't lost their leaves yet, typically a frost like this killed them off. But, it was a question that would be left unanswered, like so many others.

"Alright, gather around." Joyce said, and they all complied.

"Ok, so, here's the plan; Since we know nothing of the interior of this place, we're going to stay close, and we're going to stay silent. We don't know who or what we will find, so be careful, and if you find anything, point it out. And Amarok," he said, turning to him, "Should your bow fail you…" He then pulled his silenced M9 from its holster and handed it to him.

"I know you've watched us use ours, so you should know how to use it, correct?" he asked, and Amarok nodded, and carefully took the pistol.

"You can fire that 15 times, that's all you've got in the mag. Line the back sight up with the front sight and squeeze the trigger, that simple. Don't loose it." Joyce explained, then pulled a spare pistol from the Humvee. However, this one was not silenced, so it was a true last resort.

"Alright, one more thing." Joyce said, and pulled two small flashlights out of his bag, and handed one to Amarok, and then proceeded to tie the other to one of Luna's horns.

"If you get separated from the group, flash your light twice in the air and stay put. To turn it on, there's a small rubber pad on the bottom, push it in until you hear a click, then release it. Same thing to turn it off. Now, if for some reason we can't see the light, and you get into trouble, make noise. A short yell or scream, anything like that, and we'll come running."

They both nodded, and Joyce looked around and said, "Ok, let's get going."

It was a five minute walk up the rest of the way to the cave, but soon they stood before it. They were a bit stunned by how large this cave was, but then shook it off, and entered. They were walking in a column, with Joyce at the front, Amarok five feet behind him, then Bull, then Luna, then Cooper. It got dark fast once inside, and the three humans quickly lowered their NVG's. However, Luna, being a Dragon, and Amarok, being a wolf and a natural hunter of the night, both saw relatively fine in the low light.

There were collapsed portions of the cave everywhere, indicating that there truly was a large battle here. The large boulders and rubble wasn't hard to navigate, however, indicating that someone or something had been here to clean it up a bit. The team's radio's were now attuned to a different setting, and rather than made their voices quieter when they spoke, it now amplified it. This was so they could speak bellow even a whisper and still be heard clearly through the radio, and Joyce spoke now, "Keep your eyes peeled, someone's been here to clean up the place."

Neither of them responded. While Amarok had already seen the team in action during their first assault on the Ape fortress weeks before, Luna had yet to see them like this, but had gotten a glimpse of it when they cleared the building a few days prior. She now saw how silent they could be, moving steadily and making such little sound that she could barely hear their footsteps, and she was only 5 feet away from them. She took a shaky breath in, trying to calm her nerves, when there was a rustle to her right.

She gasped, and turned to the right, causing the others to jump at the sound as well. The line had stopped, and while Bull and Cooper scanned for the source of the sound, Joyce kept his eyes moving, looking for anything else. After a few minutes of complete silence, the group began to move forward again. After several more minutes, Joyce suddenly stopped, and quietly approached something off to the side. It was then that Luna realized they had not been weaving through the rubble, they had been following a path.

Joyce approached a small lump on the ground. When they approached it, Joyce clicked on his own flashlight, and it revealed a transparent, Crystal-like material. It was a mass of eggs, each about the side of a softball. They looked around at each other, but Joyce was particularly concerned about Luna, who had clearly shown an inept fear of Spiders. She looked horrified, and completely frozen. He quickly snapped in front of her face, and she jumped, but looked at him, and he whispered, "Do you need to wait outside?"

He could see her hesitate, and she looked around for a moment, but remained silent, so Joyce said, "Ok, yeah, we're going to lead you out."

She looked a bit ashamed, but nodded and followed them out. It took quite a while, but soon they were outside again. Once out there, Joyce turned to Luna, who still couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Hey," He said to her, and she hesitantly looked up, and he continued, "We've all got our limits and things we're scared of. You will always be afraid of it. But you know what? It takes an exceptionally strong person to overcome their fear, but even then, that courage won't last forever."

She looked confused, so he decided to sum it up for her, "You don't need to face your fears constantly. You'll spend most of your life running from them. All it takes is a few minutes of courage to face your fear and do something right."

She seemed to understand it now, but Bull butted in and said, "Well, if you're done with your philosophical speech, just tell her what she needs to do and let's get back to it."

Joyce smiled, and threw a small rock at him and said, "Ok, fine. Luna, all you need to do is wait and watch. Should we not come back out, you need to be here to tell the others when they show up. If we're not back out within 12 hours, then leave. Go back to Warfang, and gather as many soldiers as you can."

She nodded, and then hesitated a moment, before saying, "Come back out, ok?"

He smiled and nodded, then said to the others, "All of us are coming back out. Let's get going."

With that, they turned around and entered the cave. Luna watched them until they disappeared into the darkness. She sighed sadly, and a feeling of dread came over her; this wasn't going to end peacefully. Not that it ever did with Joyce and his team, but this wasn't going to be a good one.

But there was nothing she could do but wait. So, she curled up on a rock outside, and made sure it was isolated enough to prevent anything sneaking up on her. She watched the mouth of the cave relentlessly, looking for any kind of movement, and listening for any gunshots… or anything else.

After nearly two hours, she began to get tired, and her eyes were sore. She almost missed it; a quiet chittering sound from behind her. Her head shot up, and she looked behind her just in time to see it; A medium sized creature, about two feet tall and a white pearl colored skin… and eight legs. It hadn't seen her yet, apparently, as it emerged from the forest and approached the cave. She was frozen in place for several seconds before she realized it would come up behind Joyce and the others, So she gathered a bit of courage, and fired an Ice-spike at it, impaling it. It screeched loudly in pain, and it's legs flailed about wildly for several seconds before it was still.

Luna merely stared, wide eyed as she realized Amarok's legend was true. She wondered if Joyce and the others had already figured this out, and as she turned to look at the cave again, she heard the echo's of gunshots deep within the cave; Cooper's shotgun. Then, there was an explosion that shook the air.

She was on her feet, and at the mouth of the cave in an instant, but hesitated to enter. She looked over at the dead Spider, and there she stayed, frozen for several minutes, despite the sound of Cooper's shotgun getting closer. Only once she heard Cooper yell, "We're almost out!" did she snap back.

She jumped up on a rock, and prepared to blow an Ice storm at the spiders if they followed the team outside. Suddenly, they burst out of the darkness, and flew out of the cave. They reacted immediately, as the spiders came into view next. Luna gasped in terror at the sight and the sheer number of them; there were dozens, probably almost 50 of the little bastards chittering and crawling toward them. She didn't even turn to look at the team as they opened fire, killing several at a time. Once they came close enough, Luna realized that she had to use her attack before she froze again, and let loose.

She had long ago perfected her breath weapon, and had achieved such a cold breath attack that she could have frozen Joyce and his team if they were in front of her, and the spiders were no match. She froze dozens at a time, and pretty soon all that remained of the once deadly menace was a field of dead, frozen spiders. Luna knew they were dead, but didn't want to take any chances, and jumped off her rock before swiping her tail through them, shattering a few. The others joined in crushing the little bastards, and soon were standing in a field of ice. Luna smiled, and looked around for Joyce.

And didn't find him.

"Wait, where's Joyce?" She said, the panic rising within her. She saw Bull and Cooper look around as well, and their expressions both said one thing, 'uh oh.'

Joyce was silently moving through a dark part of the cave. His NVG's were busted, and he was now using the narrow beam of the flashlight on his rifle. However, unlike in the movies, he noticed, the beam was not the only thing he could see. In fact, it was far from it. The beam reflected off the dull grey rock all around the cave, illuminating the area around him. However, it also unfortunately cast a number of shadows that moved and jumped every time he moved the flashlight.

He heard his radio click on as it received a signal, but all he got from the other side was Static. He had been separated from the others when they were chased by the spiders, and while they were likely outside at this point, he had been forced to change directions and take off down a different cave. However, now he was too deep in the cave to hear them over the radio.

He knew this wasn't by chance. It was too perfect. Something or someone had organized this, and he walked right into their trap. He felt like an idiot, and was still kicking himself about it. He sighed in frustration, but kept his eyes up.

Suddenly, a light came into view. It was a soft glow at first, but as he came closer, he found it to be a fireplace. It was in the center of a large, circular room, filled with book shelves. However, it appeared to be unfinished, and only two shelves were filled; one on the right, and another on the left. The second he laid eyes on the right bookshelf, he immediately felt drawn to it. He took a few steps forward, but then stopped.

It was an unnatural feeling that drew him towards it, he realized. So, he turned around and went to the one on the left. There was only one book that stood out from the rest; a large, dark yellow book. However, before he could grab it, there was a slightly familiar voice; one of darkness, like two mountains colliding, and it said, "Good to see you again."

He slowly turned to face the creature, which had the same appearance as before; a shifting mass with corners everywhere, and not a single edge. It glared daggers at him, and Joyce was mistaken in assuming he wasn't supposed to find this. He smiled and said, "You really shouldn't have showed me how to get here if you didn't want me here."

The creature took a moment to react, then laughed loudly, more like the sound of a train hitting a brick wall, but the creature laughed for several seconds, and then said, "Oh, you poor fool. Everything so far is going according to plan. I didn't show you that just for you, I could have simply shown you the mountain or the spiders and you would have come running. No, I showed you the picture of Malefor to get Spyro and Cynder to come running as well."

Joyce was confused, but the creature went on, "If they think Malefor himself is here, then they're going to bring everyone they can, leaving Warfang almost defenseless and without an army, generals, or their saviors. The city will fall within a matter of hours, and from there it's as simple as conquering the nearby villages. From there, it's only a few steps from the world. The only thing that hasn't gone exactly to plan, was you overpowering the spell that was supposed to trap you."

"What happens when Spyro and Cynder show up with a few thousand soldiers?" Joyce asked, and the creature again laughed and said, "I think you've already found the reason why they won't be a problem."

"You think a couple of spiders is going to stop them?" He asked stubbornly, and the creature glared at him and said, "You think that is all we have? The ones that chased your friends out was just one egg hatching! Dozens of those eggs hatch every day, and they're lain almost daily as well. There are already hundreds of thousands of them, and there will be millions within weeks!"

"So you plan to repopulate the planet with spiders?" He asked, and the creature again glared at him, but then it said, "That's none of your concern, for its time for you to die!"

Joyce raised his rifle, and fired three shots, and watched, horrified as they all went through it. The creature simply smiled evilly, and, lightning fast, flew towards him. It grabbed Joyce, and threw him backwards like a rag doll. He hit the book case, and destroyed it. The books fell down on him, and he quickly took notice the large yellow one. He quickly grabbed it and stood up.

"That doesn't belong to you." Said the creature as it grabbed him again. Just before it threw him, Joyce attempted to punch it, but his fist went through it. What kind of fight was this? He was thrown through the air again, and landed with a thud. He had another idea, and while he knew it was likely far fetched and useless, he had seen too much strange shit today for him to disregard the idea without testing it first. He quickly grabbed his rifle, and stood, pointing it at the creature, who asked, "I thought we established that your guns don't work on me?"

Joyce flicked on the LED Flashlight, and immediately saw the creature react. It screeched, a sound like a rusty nail on steel, and covered its eyes. Astonished, Joyce was unable to move as it quickly flew away from him, and left him alone in the room. It took him several seconds to break back to reality, but once he did, he reacted quickly. He grabbed the yellow book, and threw it in his bag before running out of the room. Once outside, he heard a chittering sound.

He flicked his flashlight off for a moment, and listened. He heard the clicking of the spider's legs getting closer, and he flicked it back on. The spider was 10 feet infront of him. But the second he flicked it on, the spider did something he had yet to see one of them do; it ran. It bolted to his left, behind a large rock, just as one of Joyce's bullets hit the empty ground behind it. He sighed, knowing he couldn't leave it alive, but not wanting to risk it jumping out at him. Joyce turned the light off, and slowly moved towards the rock. His boots scuffed a stone, and he heard a hiss. However, it was then followed by a strange sound, similar to that of something burning, but he saw no light.

He jumped around the rock, flicking on his flashlight, ready to shoot the spider. However, he was astonished to find not a spider behind the rock… but a Fox. Not an anthropomorphic one, like the cheetahs and wolves were, but a regular fox. It was a deep red and brown color, with white fur at the tips of its ears and tail, and it's paws were black with a touch of white accenting the black. However, it's eyes were blue, Husky blue. And they were staring up at him, terrified, hungry, and alone.

Joyce knew in an instant that this was no normal creature, and would likely bring trouble… but he also knew he couldn't leave it here. It was clearly scared of him, so he lowered his rifle, and hesitantly got down on one knee. He offered his hand to it, and it slowly stood.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." He said truthfully, and the Fox looked him in the eye for a moment, and Joyce got a sense of understanding, that it knew What He was saying. He knew it probably couldn't, so he asked, "You want to help me get out of here?"

It whined quietly, and again Joyce got a sense of understanding that told him, 'Yes.'

And then it began to walk off. He followed it for a moment, but then remembered; there were still thousands of spiders in here, according to that creature. He had to take care of them and get back to the City before Spyro left.

He had no idea how to do it, though. He thought about just collapsing the place, but he didn't have near enough explosives to bring down a cave this size. But then he remembered something; when they were ambushed by the spiders, Joyce had seen a crate with a symbol painted on it that looked like it meant an explosive. He perked up, but then looked down at the fox, who clearly knew he had something planned.

He knew this clearly wasn't a fox, and it possessed a far greater knowledge than he knew, but he didn't quite trust it. He got down on his knee, and whispered, "Hey, there are a few things I have to take care of first. I'll show you the way out, just meet me by the entrance, ok?"

The creature stared at him, wide eyed for several moments, and Joyce began to wonder if he had thought too soon on its intelligence. But then, it whined quietly, and walked up to him before sitting down. Joyce again felt he knew what this meant, 'I'll come with.'

"You sure?" He asked, then realized that while, for some reason he didn't feel silly talking to it, he knew it looked pretty damn silly. He had a conversation with a damn Fox inside of a dark cave filled with spiders, even if a short one…. And only one participant actually spoke.

He still had no idea what was giving him this feeling that he knew what it meant, nor how he had, so far, been correct in his interpretations. This was no exception, and as he started to move again, it now followed instead of leading. It also appeared to be on high alert, it's ears swiveling back and forth at sounds Joyce couldn't yet hear, but what had Joyce concerned, was the fact that when their eyes met, he could still very much see the fear and pain in its eyes. Not even Luna could tell him as much with her eyes as this creature now was.

He suddenly felt a pang of sadness and guilt, but then it looked away from him, and the feeling left only the memory of itself in his mind.

Suddenly, his radio crackled to life, and at first it was just static, but as he came closer to the entrance, it became more and more clear, "Joy-…. Wh-…. -ou?... Joyce? Respond… -amn it!"

He figured this would be a good enough time to attempt to speak back to them, and he whispered into his radio, "Bull? Cooper? Can you hear me?"

Back on the other side, they all sighed in relief, having been trying relentlessly to get a response for nearly half an hour.

Cooper then spoke into his radio, "You dumb, crazy son of a bitch! We thought you were dead! Where are you? What are you doing?"

Joyce had stopped where he was, to avoid loosing the signal he had acquired, and replied, "Well… I'm headed further into the cave to do something crazy and stupid."

It was silent for several seconds before Bull replied, "What? No, just stay where you are, we're coming in to help."

"No," Joyce replied quickly, "stay out there and wait for me. This will be easier with just me." As he said it, he got a glare from the fox, and he said, "Ok, fine, 'the two of us.'" But he didn't say it over the radio.

"Are you sure?" Bull asked, and Joyce replied, "Yes, I'm sure. Stay out there and he ready to cover my retreat."

There was no response from the radio, so Joyce hefted his rifle to a ready position and nodded to the fox and kept walking. Within another ten minutes of walking, they came across the site of their initial ambush, and Joyce was exceptionally careful.

They were in a narrow part of the cave now, the roof only reached about 15 feet above their heads, and there were several large chunks missing from it. They were clearly seen as the large boulders that block the way further into the cave, leaving a small crack between them. It was through here that the spiders had some from, and also through which Joyce had seen the crate he wanted to investigate. He hesitated to come close to it, and he could hear the chittering of spiders on the other side.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his pants, and while he knew it was the fox, he still jumped a little. However, thankfully the spiders didn't seem to have heard him from the other side. He looked down at the fox, who was beckoning him to follow. He hesitated, but realized he didn't have much choice. The Fox led him off a small path to the left side, and jumped up a few rocks. Joyce climbed as quietly as he could, and when he found the fox again, he found what it had wanted to show him; another space between the boulders. This one wasn't nearly as large as the other, requiring him to practically crawl through, but thankfully it wasn't a tight fit. He crawled for nearly seven feet before he finally came out the other side.

However, the second he did, he was hit with the sound of the spiders, and hundreds of them. Their chittering was probably the reason they hadn't heard him, it was so loud. He slowly stood and turned to the right to look for the crate, but left his light off. He didn't need it, anyways, not in here. Several of the spiders were emitting a soft, greenish glow, illuminating the entire cavern.

And as he turned to face forward, he froze, completely awestruck. The creature wasn't lying when it told him hundreds of thousands of spiders.

Before him, he saw a cavern easily the size of several football fields, and hundreds of feet tall… and all the spiders… there truly were hundreds of thousands, but it wasn't the small ones that got his attention.

It was the big ones.

Like giants among sheep, enormous versions of the previously thought 'large spiders' walked among and patrolled the fields of the glowing spiders. The large ones, however, were far brighter, and had large, glowing crystals protruding from their legs that glowed an intense shade of green-blue. He was absolutely shocked by the sheer size of the beings, and how gracefully yet powerful their strides were. They were easily the size of a house, and a pretty nice house at that. In total. There were 24 of the large ones that walked aimlessly among the smaller ones.

He heard a soft whine, and he turned to the fox, who had its tail between its legs in fear, and it's ears folded against its head. He kneeled down, and patted its head a few times, and it seemed to be confused at first, but then appeared to be content with the reassuring hand. He momentarily leaned against the rock wall next to him, thinking of a plan, when he noticed his hand was wet. Confused, he felt the wall again, and found it was covered in moisture.

There was a river on the other side of this wall, and probably how the spiders stayed alive. Their crystal bodies clearly showed high mineral intake, so they could have easily survived by eating the rocks and ores out of the mountain, and gotten their water from the river.

Joyce had an idea, and reached down and picked up a rock about the size of his fist, and looked around. Then, hoping beyond reason that this would work, he chucked the rock as far into the cavern as he could. He then turned and spotted the crate of dynamite, or atleast he hoped it was dynamite.

The rock somehow, among the field of spiders, found solid ground to hit, and crackled loudly as it echoed across the cave. At first there was silence. Then the cave exploded into activity as the small spiders rushed toward the sound.

However, then the big ones went into action. He heard several enormous screeches from them, and turned to see five of them charging relentlessly towards the sound. He turned back, and saw the path to the box clear. He took his chance, and jumped off the ledge and sprinted as quietly as he could towards it. He reached the box almost as soon as the spiders reached the rock, and he looked inside to see five cylindrical objects with fuses sticking out one end. He almost cheered with joy as he realized it was exactly what he needed, but he didn't even get the chance. He heard an enraged screech, and turned to see that one of the enormous spiders had noticed him. He didn't need any more incentive than the look that spider gave him. He pulled the lighting material from his bag and attempted to light the fuse, just as the spiders started to charge him. They were 70 feet away. One spark, no ignition.

60 feet away. Another Spark, no ignition. All he needed was one stick to light.

50 feet. A spark, a little bit of ignition, and it burned only for half a second.

30 feet, he tried again, and the fuse burned brightly now. He stood, and whistled to the fox, who had remained frozen on the ledge. It now turned to him, and ran towards him, and when he pointed to the larger crack to escape, it ran for it.

Joyce then tossed the stick to the wall he knew had the river behind it. He didn't even stop to see if it landed correctly, and started to run, the Spiders being only 20 feet from him. Just before he could squeeze through, he dropped a frag grenade to slow them, and dove through to the other side. He found the fox waiting for him on the other side, but the second he came through, it was up and running.

Joyce heard the frag go off, but still not the dynamite, and was scared that it hasn't worked. Either way, he couldn't wait around to find out, and pushed himself up and kept running. However, he didn't get very far, as a spider jumped on his back, taking him to the ground. It jumped off him just before he hit, but was back on him in a second, and Joyce had to try and keep its fangs away from him, but it's legs were scratching at his arms, chest and legs.

Suddenly, the fox jumped in out of nowhere, and tackled the spider off of him. He turned just in time to see it bite down on the spider's abdomen with a crunch. He nodded to the fox, but then the ground shook, as a massive explosion shook the air and everything around him.

The dynamite had gone off. He heard the sound of rushing water, and the terrified screeches of the spiders. He stood to run, but almost fell over as the ground shook violently. The cave groaned loudly, and suddenly, there was a sound like a thousand pieces of paper being torn

The cave was coming down.

"Shit!" He yelled, and looked at the fox and yelled, "Run!"

It hesitated a moment, but then bolted back down the cave, and Joyce quickly followed. He ran as fast as he could, stumbling occasionally as large chunks from the roof of the cave came loose and landed nearby with deafening impacts. He also soon heard the sound of rushing water catching up to him. He risked a glance behind him, and saw that the water was starting to creep up on him.

Unfortunately, during his glance backwards, he failed to notice the crevice forming in front of him. However, luckily or unluckily, he tripped, and while he slid, he saw it. He maneuvered his body, and as he slid over the edge, his hands found purchase, and he stopped himself from falling into the dark, shadowed and very deep hole. However, his rifle did not stop, and slid off the edge, the flashlight spinning wildly around before it disappeared. He gasped loudly, and pulled himself up. He looked to the other side, and saw it had widened even further, and was now nearly 15 feet across.

And there, standing on the other side, was the fox. It looked at him sadly, and hesitated a moment.

"Run! Go!" Joyce Yelled, but the fox hesitated still. But then, it turned around and ran, leaving Joyce to face the dangers alone. He heard his radio crackle to life, and for a moment, he ignored it, knowing he would die here, thinking, 'What's the point?' However, when he heard Luna's voice on the other side, it snapped him back.

"Joyce?! Where are you?! The cave is collapsing!" She said, and he reluctantly replied, "I'm… I'm trapped. I have no idea where."

"No, keep looking, there had to be a way-" She started, but he cut her off, "No! Forget about me! There is something more important I need you to do! The creature I saw before, the ones of evil that we were told about, I saw it here again. It planned this. Malefor isn't here, he really is dead, it just wanted to convince Spyro to bring as many troops as he could, to leave the city undefended. You need to get back and stop them!"

"What? But what about you? We can't just let you die in there!" She yelled back at him, to which he replied calmly and slowly, "Yes, you can. You need to hurry, go now." And with that, he removed the earpiece from his ear, and placed it in his pocket. He slowly turned around, as the water hit his boots. It flowed around his shoes, slowly rising, and flowed into the enormous dark barrier behind him. He watched the water flow towards him, an ever slowly rising tide, and the large boulders that crashed down into it. He heard another sound; one of the big spiders screeched in anguish as it pushed itself out of the rubble, and as it turned to him, Joyce could sense the pure hatred in it.

It screeched again, a battle cry, before it began to charge him. Time slowed, as Joyce accepted it; he didn't have a choice. He had no weapons left to hurt this creature. However, an idea came to him, and he looked down at his belt… at the single remaining Frag Grenade. He considered it, then slowly reached down for it, and grabbed it. He slowly raised it, and prepared to pull the pin. Atleast he would die fighting, he thought.

Suddenly, before he could pull the pin, three gunshots rang out, each hitting one of the creature's eyes. It screeched in pain, and halted its advance, bringing two legs to cover its face. Joyce turned around, and struggled to make out the figure behind him. But then, he gasped.

It was none other than Jackson himself. He smiled at Joyce, but then scolded him and said, "Hey! I better not find you in this kind of situation again! You have your team for a reason! And if I ever find you willing to die like this again, I'll kick your ass myself! Do I make myself clear?"

Joyce was still stunned, and completely frozen, but he managed a nod and he mumbled, "Yes sir."

Jackson then smiled warmly at him and said, "Good. Now get to it."

With that, he faded away, confusing Joyce. However, as he faded, he was blinded by a light, and he heard a voice yell, "Joyce! Jump!"

The light moved, revealing Luna standing there, horrified but determined.

"Luna? What are you doing in here?" he yelled, but then heard the enraged screech of the spider behind him, and turned to see it charging him again. He turned back to her, and she yelled, "Jump!"

"I can't make that!" He yelled back, to which she glared at him and yelled, "Just try it! I'll catch you!"

He wasn't sure how she would catch him, but he groaned and took a few steps back. He didn't need to turn around to know the spider was way to close to him, so he sprinted forward… and jumped.

It was an impressive jump, he went nearly 10 feet… but the remaining five feet were the problem. However, suddenly, Luna leaped out towards him, wings outstretched and legs open. He reached for her, but suddenly felt the claw of the spider dig into his leg. However, it found no purchase, and instead of dragging him backwards, it merely cut into the back of his leg. However, it was still a very deep cut, and he cried out in pain. However, Luna caught him in her legs, and wrapped all four around him. She then used her wings, and with one, powerful push of her wings, she pushed herself backwards.

With a thud, she landed on her back, and dropped Joyce to the ground. The spider could very easily crossed the crevice, but by some miracle, it never got the chance. With a sickening crunch, a large boulder came down, and landed in the center of it. It screeched in pain, but Luna didn't bother to look at it. And started to run. However, she then realized Joyce wasn't following her. She looked back, and saw him struggling to stand, blood pouring from his leg. She stopped, and ran back for him.

She reached him, and yelled, "Get on my back!"

She was sure she could carry him confidently, but she knew this wouldn't be a walk in the park. She would have to maintain her balance while running with him on her back, not to mention dodge the falling rocks.

A mental picture of her being smashed with him on her back flashed through her mind, but she shook it off, and yelled at him again, "Get on my back, Now!"

He climbed up, and she reached her head back and pulled him all the way by grabbing the back of his vest with her teeth and dragging him up. He was settled between her wings to keep him from moving, and he had his arms around her neck. She started running, and it was hard for the first few seconds, still getting used to him being there. Soon, she became used to it, but it didn't get easier. She tired much faster with the new weight, and her muscles protested quite a lot. She pressed through the pain.

Suddenly, she gasped, and Joyce had to peer around her neck to see what it was. And there, running for the exit as well, were 18 spiders. They hadn't seen them yet, but to get past them, they would be seen. Joyce groaned in pain as his arm protested the movement, but he quickly reached for his sidearm. He pulled it out, and yelled to be heard over the sound of the mountain literally falling in on itself, "I'm going to start shooting! Don't stop running!"

She didn't say anything, so she nodded quickly in response. He fired the first shot, but missed it. A few of the spiders stopped in their tracks at the sound, but the rest kept running. Joyce quickly fired twice more, killing two of the five that had stopped. Luna raced past the other three before they could react, but Joyce kept facing forward, and fired at one that decided to jump at them. He hit it, but it still landed infront of them, and Luna had to jump over it, almost throwing Joyce off. He quickly turned around and fired at the three coming up behind them, taking them all out.

He only had six shots left, and 10 spiders left to deal with, so he decided to save his shots. They could see the daylight suddenly, it was only about 150 feet, and Luna pushed herself harder. The spiders had stopped trying to attack them, and were simply trying to escape.

Ten seconds later, they burst around the corner and saw Bull, Cooper, and Amarok dispatching the remaining spiders. They spotted them, and Bull waved them on and yelled, "Come on! Run!"

Luna leaped out of the cave, and out into the forest. She didn't stop running until they reached the Humvee. The second she stopped, Joyce pushed himself off, and sat against the Humvee while they waited for the others .

Bull and Cooper and Amarok came out of the tree line, and ran up, and Bull asked, "Holy shit, dude! You're just an expert at evading death, aren't you?"

"Well, I've had a bit of help evading it." He said, and looked to Luna. However, then he remembered it wasn't just Luna, and kept looking.

"Who are you looking for?" Cooper asked, and Joyce considered replying with a no-one, but then he spotted it; the fox. It was standing just within the tree line, staring at them. Joyce smiled and pointed before he replied, "That."

They turned and saw the fox, and Bull turned back to him, and asked, "Are you ok, man? Because that's a fox…"

"No," Luna said, and smiled at the fox, "It led me to Joyce. I had no idea where he was, but it did."

"Yep, I found it after I encountered that creature." But then he frowned, and Luna asked, "Something wrong?"

"No.. just that… I think it may have been a spider at first, but it ran behind a rock, and when I looked, it was a fox. I heard a weird burning sound, as well."

Luna's eyes went wide with surprise, and for the first time he had seen, there was not fear of dread, but wonder. She turned and looked at the fox with a new sense of what it was, and Joyce added, "And for some reason, I mean, call me crazy, but I swear I knew what it was telling me, but it never spoke.."

"That's because it isn't a fox." She said, and walked towards it. It didn't run, but it looked a little nervous.

"Well then what is it?" He asked, and followed her.

"Well, the books I've been reading, written in the ancient Dragon tounge… it told of creatures like these. I thought they were just fairy tales… but now… let's see if it truly is what I think it is."

However, as Luna came closer, it began to back up a bit, so she stopped. The Fox looked at Joyce with its big, pale blue eyes.

"I think it trusts you." Luna said, and pushed him lightly with her tail. As Joyce took a step forward, the fox took a step toward him as well, and they met in the middle. Joyce crouched down, and again offered his hand to the fox, but it ignored him this time, and walked right up to him. He patted it a few times, then turned around and asked Luna, "So how do you want to find out if this is what you think it is?"

"Well… ask it a question, see if you get a response." She replied, but Joyce noticed Bull and Cooper were giving him uncertain looks.

"If that thing has rabies, and you get bit, you are so fucked…" Bull said, and Joyce glared at him, and to his surprise, so did the fox. However, when he turned his attention back to the fox, it turned its head up to him.

"What are you?" He asked, a bit awkwardly. The Fox cocked its head at him, and Joyce had the feeling again, and it told him, 'I don't know.'

He looked back at Luna, who was looking at him expectantly, and said, "I get this feeling… like she's talking to me… but also not. It's like a translation of sorts, I think, but she says, 'I don't know.'"

Luna smiled and said, "Well, the stories don't describe exactly how they communicate, but it makes sense she doesn't know what she is. They don't have a community, not even known parents. They just… appear. They make their way through the world."

"What are they?" Joyce asked, to which she said, "They're called Makers. A shapeshifting lifeform that, according to the stories, were responsible for life on our planet. They're creatures of an old magic, things that haven't been seen in thousands of years. They're said to use a very different type of magic compared to the Magic we have today, and rather than to harm, their magic was used to create… to heal… to mend. The tale says that several members of their population took specific forms; The Dragon, the Wolf, the Ape, the Cheetah, the Mole, and all the rest. Then, they committed their lives, sacrificing their immortality, in order to live as these specific creatures, creating their very own generations for each race. The tribes, the villages, everything… they were all created from the imaginations of these creatures, and their will to do something with meaning.." the awe in her voice was very obvious, and Joyce looked into the fox's eyes once more, and saw a deep intelligence, and as great understanding of the world.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we really do need to get going." Amarok said, and received a glare from Luna.

"No, he's right." Joyce said, seeing her glare.

They had a long ways to go before they reached Warfang, and they would need to haul some serious ass if they were to make it there before Spyro left. Joyce limped over to the Humvee, but tripped and fell with a groan of pain.

"Shit, why didn't you tell me about this?" Cooper scolded him, having seen the blood seeping from his leg. Cooper quickly lifted him into the back of the Humvee, and laid him across the floor. He went to close the door, but Joyce stuck his good foot in the way, and then whistled loudly, beckoning the fox to jump up, and she quickly did so. Cooper was a bit surprised, but simply shook his head and closed the door. He heard doors from the front open and close, and Bull started the engine and started driving. He was slow at first, and dodged the holes and bumps while Cooper worked. However, within a few minutes, Cooper had it bandaged and cleaned, and he patted his leg a few times before climbing over him and into the front, where he then climbed up into the gunner's seat. He noticed the fox had been staring intently at his wounds, and she now looked up at his face. He slowly pushed himself up to lean against the side of the truck, and watched her intently as well.

It was then that he realized he had been referring to it as a female. He had no idea why, and had no indication to weather or not it was female. He leaned forward, and whispered to her, "Are you what she says you are?"

The Fox simply stared at him with her calm, collected, and knowledgeable eyes for several seconds, then stood from her sitting position, and walked up to him. She stopped next to his wounded leg, and sat down. She ten looked down at his leg, and sniffed at it a moment, her nose briefly brushing against the bandage, causing him to wince in pain. She noticed this, and looked up at him and whined quietly for a moment before lowering her head once more.

She hesitated a moment, and Joyce got a sense that she was telling him, 'Brace.'

He did so, and she began to lick at the bandage. At first it tingled a bit, then then Joyce saw the rough elastic bandage become to come off like wet paper, and the burning started. It was an intense feeling, and he tensed up and closed his eyes, clenching his teeth to avoid crying out in surprise and pain. He didn't open his eyes until she was almost done, and what he saw was miraculous; the skin was now red and it itched like hell… but it was there. The gash was gone entirely. He had to stop himself from laughing joyously, and instead smiled broadly at her.

"Do you have a name?" He asked her, and she replied, 'Serene.'

"Serene?" He asked, but she didn't reply, giving him the answer he needed.

"Huh, ok, so.. are you male, or female?" he asked a bit awkwardly, to which he got a reply of, 'two.'

"Wait, choice two, or do you mean both?"

'Number.' She replied, and Joyce began to put things together.

"Well, thank you, Serene." He asked, and after several minutes of silence, he asked, "What else can you do?"

She seemed to be in thought for several seconds, and whether she was thinking of something to show him, or debating if she should show him anything, was unknown to him. However, then she looked him in the eye, and he felt, 'Look away.' Was what she said, so he closed his eyes. That was when he heard the burning sound again, but it was gone within seconds, and when he opened his eyes, he gasped, stunned.

Sitting next to him, was not the fox he knew as Serene, but was now a beautiful, midnight black wolf. Her fur shone even in the low light. However, she wasn't an anthropomorphic wolf like Timber, and Amarok, but instead a wolf like he had seen from back home. A wave of memories came over him; his home.

His parents owned a cabin in the Rockies, and a very large property. He was eight years old when he came across his first wolf up there, and as the memories came back to him, he remembered it looked exactly like the one before him; light green eyes, filled with curiosity and a hidden strength, long legs, enormous paws, and large ears, as was normal among wolves. Just looking at her brought back so many pleasant memories of his old home, and he couldn't stop smiling.

Unbeknownst to him, he had already bonded greatly with the 'Maker' before him, and as she watched how happy the form she took made him, she decided to keep it for a while.

Joyce was interrupted by Amarok, who looked back at them, and gasped as well, but more in fear.

"What is that?!" He yelled, and Joyce turned and smiled at him, and said, "That is Serene. The stories Luna read about her are true."

"Wait, that's the fox you were just talking too? But it's a… I don't even know what that is now! And how do you know it's name?" He asked in disbelief and confusion.

"Well, she can communicate in a way… I don't know why or how I know, but I do. And she's a wolf, now." He replied calmly, but Amarok yelled back, "No, I'm a wolf! That is not a wolf!"

"No, she is a wolf, just a different kind than you. We have these kinds of wolves back where I come from." He replied, then looked back at Serene, who looked a bit nervous, so he added, "And Amarok, relax a bit."

"How can I relax right now? We just escaped a cave full of giant spiders, and now we're racing back to Warfang to stop Spyro from leaving the city before an attack comes!" He yelled, to which Joyce yelled back, "Amarok!" and then continued calmly, "Relax. There's nothing you can do, and worrying is only going to make things worse."

By now, Cooper had heard the commotion from down below, and dropped down from his seat above and asked, "What's going on?"

However, then he saw Serene, and his eyes went wide, but rather than react like Amarok did, he smiled and said, "Woah, it can do that? That's pretty fuckin' sick."

"Right?" Joyce said, happy someone else thought it was a good thing.

"So what's it's name?" He asked, to which he replied, "Her name is Serene. Oh, and check this shit out," and he showed him his leg. Cooper's jaw dropped, and he was speechless. When he did speak, all he said was, "Holy shit…"

"What's going on back there?" Bull asked from the front, to which Cooper replied, "Joyce has another magical wolf friend that healed his leg."

"Wasn't it a fox earlier?" Bull asked, to which Joyce replied, "Yep."

He laughed when he saw Bull shake his head with a sigh, and heard him say, "What a surprise. Why don't I make any of these friends? I'm the big, lovable guy… you're the hard-ass with a gun that likes to boss people around."

"You want to see me be a hard-ass?" Joyce asked sarcastically with a smile, to which Cooper replied for him with a quick, "Nope."

"That's what I thought." He said with a laugh, then turned back when he felt something touch his leg. He saw Serene had lain down next to his leg, and leaned against him.

"Aww, she's so cute…" Cooper said sarcastically, to which Serene growled loudly at him and bared her teeth. Cooper jumped at the sight, and frowned before Joyce laughed and said, "Just get back up on the gun."

With that, Joyce settled in for a long trip back, and tried to get a little rest before his turn to drive or take the turret came. They traveled until nightfall, and rested for only a few minutes, then kept going long into the night. However, soon, they came across a scouting party, who led them back to the main force. As they rode into the camp, they found Spyro and Cynder, or rather, they found Joyce, and were confused but excited to see them.

"What did you find there?" Was the first thing Spyro asked, but Joyce shook his head and said, "Pack up everything, we need to get back to Warfang, Now."

"Why? What's going on?" Cynder asked, but he again shook his head and said, "No time to explain, we need to get back to Warfang ASAP, there's an attack coming."

"He's right, I think I already see fires burning at the city!" Luna yelled as she landed with a thump nearby.

"Please tell me you left the greater force at Warfang…" Joyce said, and Spyro nodded his head, still baffled, and said, "Yeah, I only took about 800 with me… I had planned on taking more, but Cynder convince me otherwise." But then he smiled, and added, "In fact, she made the comparison that the three of you each counted for 300 of our soldiers."

"Either way, we need to get back ASAP, 800 soldiers will make a hell of a difference, especially if they come from behind." Joyce said, and Spyro nodded and replied, "We'll get packed up and meet you there."

Joyce nodded, and got back into the Humvee. He hauled ass for the city, which was easily three more hours. He sighed, and then yawned. He had gotten so used to sleeping normally that he was starting get tired now. But, either way, he had a long day of fighting and running, as well as a lot of confusion, but much clarity, too.

But it wasn't over yet.

And That's the end of Chapter Three! I must apologize for the time it took to post this, but hey, it was a hell of a lot faster than the last one took! And might I add… DAMN… That's a lot of words… 32,080 words in total... Also, please forgive any mistakes I missed while editing this, As I said above, I'm just trying out a new system, so I might have gotten a few names and such wrong, and I might miss them when I edit. Also, as far as Serene goes… Yes, I know there is absolutely nothing detailing creatures like these in the real games, but I wanted to add something like this in. And honestly, I feel like I did it pretty smoothly… Anyways, for now, she will only be able to speak to Joyce, and even then it will only be through single word or short sentence responses. No paragraphs or stories, and no background story… yet. I have a plan for it all.