Chapter 7: Going Nuclear

Warehouse- 6:57 PM

Dylan turned out to be very valuable, now I knew of my means to clean this world, it seems my theory about these foolish humans crafting a weapon powerful enough to wipe out these vile creatures was true. He called them "Nuclear Missiles". Projectiles loaded with radiation and when they impacted they released a powerful enough explosion to wipe an entire city clean in seconds. However if a number of them were to detonate, it could clean the entire planet. I need but launch one at another territory, or "country" as Dylan referred to, and a nuclear war would be wages, these fools taking care of the rest. It was perfect, and was nice poetic justice, undone by the very sins they committed daily.

However naturally a weapon so powerful was heavily guarded, but that was of no concern to me, these fools couldn't hope to stop one as powerful as myself. I just needed to gain access to a computer, and with my dark magic, manipulate the device to access the nuclear missile's console. It was perfect. "You've been quite helpful young man, however I require one of these "computer" devices, get me one." I ordered him, he obeyed, still under my influence.

Later

New Harmony- 7:33 PM

We searched all over town for him, but we couldn't find him. We were losing time, and naturally Dylan wasn't answering his phone. "How much control do you think Malefor has over him?" I asked. "I hate to say it, but he probably has full control over him now." Spyro said, I was afraid he'd say that.

That's when, thank god, we found him. He was...stealing computers? Yeah he was just walking out of a computer store with several boxes of computers in his arms. "Stop! THEIF!" The store owner cried. "Shove it." Dylan snapped back continuing to walk off.

"What the hell is he doing with those computers?" I asked. "Stealing them." Sparx answered. "I CAN SEE THAT!" I snapped. "Malefor must need them for something but what?" Spyro theorized. Oh god what would Malefor need a computer for? I don't think I want to know.

We landed in his path and I got off. "Dylan whatever it is Malefor is doing to your brain you have to fight it!" I said to him, he put the computers down and punched me in the face. "Yeah I don't think so." Dylan said. Man he never hit that hard! I think Malefor did more than just infect his mind. I popped my jaw back in place. "OW!" I exclaimed. "Oh suck it up you big baby." Dylan chastised me, well he was still Dylan, just evil now. "Dylan come on! It's me! Zack! We used to torch action figures together!" I tried to appeal to him. "Bored now." Dylan replied before grabbing me by the shirt and throwing me to the ground. He then approached me, but Spyro stepped in the way.

"I don't want to hurt you Dylan, but I will if I have to!" Spyro warned. "Really? Cause I have no problems hurting you." Dylan said before punting Spyro like a football. "Dude! You just punted a beloved gaming icon like a football!" I exclaimed. "Tell it to someone who cars carrot top." Dylan replied.

Okay, that tares it, no one calls me carrot top! I rushed him and punched him right in the kisser. "Oh so now you grow a pair." Dylan taunted. We got in a tussle, if you're picturing an epic martial arts duel then you're way off, it looked more like two drunks getting in a fist fight. We were both bleeding in no time. My face felt like hamburger, and I bet Dylan felt the same. Worse was he was always tougher than me, he actually had muscle, while I had sissy noodle arms. I doubted I was gonna win, but Dylan was my friend I had to try.

I managed to shake the cobwebs, it seemed Malefor's mind control had increased Dylan's strength, but he was still human, which meant if I wasn't careful, I could seriously hurt him, but I couldn't sit this out either, Zack wasn't doing too well against him. I had to appeal to him somehow. I think I knew how, I didn't like it, but I had no choice.

"Dylan you have to stop! You've already lost your father, you'll lose everything else if Malefor gets his way!" I shouted, I got his attention, I kept going, praying it would work. "We're your friends Dylan... we want to help you, I may not have known him, but I could tell by what you told me your father was a goodhearted man, but what would he think of you now? Seeing you throw everything away and for what? Because some people are horrible?" I continued, I could tell I was getting to him, he seemed unsure, and then he clutched his head and screamed.

"Spyro's right Dylan! You can't just destroy everything! You have to protect what you have!" Zack added. "Shut up! SHUT UP! It's pointless, we can't stop him!" Dylan protested, now writhing on the ground in pain. "You never give up Dylan! That's what I always appreciated about you, I always wished I was like you in that regard, always having the will to keep fighting even when it seemed hopeless. Why change that now? We can win this... together." Zack said. Dylan's hair began to lighten, and his skin regained it's pinkish color. "Oh god...what have I done?" Dylan asked, he was back to normal!

"What do you mean?" Zack asked. "I told him everything! Malefor's gonna start a nulear war! And it's all my fault! I even told him how to do it! I stabbed everyone in the back!" Dylan said overwhelmed with guilt. "It's not your fault Dylan, Malefor had you under his control, he could have made you do anything he wanted to." I tried to reassure him. "I doomed the whole world! No one will forgive me." Dylan said. "It's alright, we'll fix it dude, together." Zack said.

We got Dylan home, but he was still racked with guilt. Me and Zack tried out best to reassure him it wasn't his fault, but he wasn't hearing it. I couldn't blame him for feeling this way, after all he did give Malefor the means to destroy his world. But he was under Malefor's control when he did this.

Terrador was waiting for us when we returned, I guess he put two and two together. "How bad is it?" Terrador asked. "I told him everything... I... I'm such a piece of sh**." Dylan explained. "It's not your fault young one. You were under his influence." Terrador said. "Doesn't change the fact I f***ed everything up for everyone." Dylan replied. Terrador then looked to Zack. "Zack take Dylan to his room, he's earned a rest, I want to talk to Spyro for a second." He told Zack, he complied.

"What is this about?" I asked. "He seems to feel allot of guilt." Terrador stated. "I know, me and Zack, we tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, but he won't listen." I told him.

It seemed Spyro had returned, he and Terrador were talking about Dylan, he was feeling allot of guilt over what he had done for Malefor. I knew the feeling all too well, it's exactly how I felt when Spyro had freed me from Malefor's control. I had to talk to him, I was the only one who could truly understand what he was feeling. I silently followed Zack to Dylan's room.

I waited for Zack to leave before entering, listening to their conversation. "Dylan you know none of us blame you right?" Zack asked. "I do." Dylan responded. "Dude what part of "mind control" are you not getting here?" Zack asked, that was the thing about Malefor's mind control, it didn't feel like mind control. You thought you were in complete control, that' why I felt so horrible for what I did because I felt like I did those things. And I'm sure Dylan felt the same.

Zack finally left, allowing me to talk with the poor little primate. "Go away.." Dylan groaned as he heard me approach. "Dylan it's not your fault." I told him. "Everyone keeps saying that but I remember everything I did! I did those things! I stabbed everyone in the back!" Dylan said. "Dylan, you should know I know exactly what you're going through." I told him.

"Spyro forgave me for what I did as the Terror of the Skies, and I'm sure he forgives you too." I added, Dylan remained silent for a moment, as if contemplating my words, he was turned away from me so I couldn't see his face. "How do you do it? How do you live with it? All those things I did... I robbed a goddamn electronics store! I told Malefor how to start World War 3! I'm such a jerk..." Dylan said. "You know, it's not always easy for me to live with it either, my days as the Terror of The Skies still haunt me. But it wasn't my fault, Malefor controlled my actions, and that's what he did to you. Besides, you didn't do nearly as much damage as you think. He was bound to find out how to carry out his plans eventually, and we can still stop him." I explained.

I got why Cynder was talking to me, she saw that our situations were similar and wanted to help me. But I couldn't shake the guilt, no matter how hard I tried it still nagged me and nagged me. I told him how to wipe out the human race and how to get a nuke to do it. How could I not feel like an asshole? "Then what do I do?" I asked her. "Put it behind you, you weren't in control when you did it so it doesn't matter." Cynder answered. I wanted to belive her, I really did, but something deep down outright refused to let me.

She left me alone after that, for some reason I had managed to doze off, I guess being mind controlled by an evil dragon took allot out of me, I woke up the next day. I still felt like ass but I had improved a little, Cynder did have a point after all, I really wasn't at the wheel when Malefor decided to play puppet master with me.

I slowly got up and looked outside to see everyone talking outside, including Amber and Erin. Whatever they were talking about, it had something to do with what she had in her binder. Amber had told me she called it her "Journal", it's where she writes down all of her "discoveries". However I could tell by the looks on the dragon's faces that whatever it was wasn't good.

I made my way downstairs, I had to know what they were talking about. So I managed to get onto the lawn, everyone noticing my presence, especially Erin, who seemed pretty excited about something. "Hey! About time you got up! What was being mind controlled like?! Was it weird? Do you even remember it? Give me all the details!" Erin said whipping out a pen. To be frank, I'd rather not recount my time serving the dark master. "Erin trust me, I don't think he wants to talk about that." Cynder chimed in.

"Killjoy." Erin grumbled putting the pen away. "What's going on here?" I asked. Terrador stepped forward. "Erin has made an unsettling discovery." Terrador stated, Erin then flipped the pages of her binder showing me the page she was looking for when she found it. "The US government is planning on having a test bombing at a military outpost in the New Harmony dessert. Don't ask how I found out about this, I promised my source he'd remain anonymous." Erin explained. I don't think I want to know how she found this out.

Man, of all the times the military chose to test their newest doom bomb it had to be now?! Here?! Why are we testing nukes?! On second thought I think it's better if I don't know. Great, and with how powerful Malefor is, I doubt the military is going to be able to stop a 10 foot tall purple death machine from getting to it either. "When is this testing supposed to happen?" I asked. "Tuesday." Erin answered. Well at least we had a day or two to prepare for this madness. "Well if it's so secret then how could Malefor possibly find out about it?" I asked.

"We aren't certain, but we cannot risk assuming he doesn't." Terrador stated. Well yeah I couldn't fault that reasoning, but I think he was overlooking the little factoid that we were going to break into a top secret military nuclear testing site, and if Malefor didn't show, then we just pissed off the US government and the dragons would probably be hauled off to Area 51 and dissected like frogs while the rest of us are shipped off to prison.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "We drive to the test sight, park a good distance outside it, and watch for Malefor." Erin explained. Wow that was actually kinda smart, that way we wouldn't have to barge in if Malefor no-showed. But there was still the part of the military finding it suspicious that a group of teenagers where hanging out near their nuke test.

Oh well, it's still preferable than nuclear Armageddon.

"In that time, we need to prepare for the fight ahead, yes this includes you humans as well, we need as many fighters as we can get." Terrador said, uhh... was he serious? We barely had 200 pounds between us and he expected us to go toe to toe with one of the most badass dragons in the dragon realms? Was he insane?

"Training begins this afternoon." Terrador added before he and the other guardians walked off. "Did I hear him right? Because it sounded like he said we needed to train to fight Malefor." Zack asked. "Yeah... that's definitely what he said." Amber confirmed. "He does know that Malefor could easily snap our spines in two like a twix bar right?" Zack asked. This was gonna suck, but I could understand why Terrador would want to have as many fighters on the field as possible, but we were still just humans, humans who were about as useful in a fight as a bunch of balloon animals.

The others just sort of wandered off after that, leaving me alone in the front yard, well I was until Cynder came up to me. "You feeling any better?" She asked. "Yeah...but I still feel kinda crappy." I told her, it did help me to know we had a plan in place to fix the mess I made, but I was still the idiot that made this mess in the first place. "Well it's good you're at least improving, you know you really had Spyro worried." Cynder pointed out. I should have figured he would, dude was a bit of a worry wart. However then I remembered Cynder's bizarre avoidance thing with Spyro. Bad time to ask? Perhaps, but some things you just have to know. "Speaking of Spyro, why have you been avoiding him lately?" I asked, yeah I definitely caught her off guard with that one, with any luck I hadn't completely offended her.

"I...I'm not avoiding him." She tried to defend herself. "Dude you had me hide you under my shirt once. That's not normal." I pointed out. "Promise me you won't tell him." She said. "Uhhh..." I began. "PROMISE ME!" She barked. "Okay okay I promise!" I replied. She then checked to see if we were alone and then looked at me. "I...I may have... feelings for Spyro." Cynder admitted. "And this is cause to avoid him why?" I inquired. "I... I'm afraid he doesn't feel the same way about me... and if I tell him my feelings he might get freaked out and... I don't want to ruin our friendship." Cynder elaborated. You know I should have figured this, she did say 'I love you' to the guy as he was fixing the world, I doubt he heard her. Ah the wonders of young love.

"If you tell ANYONE about this mop-head, I will tear through your squishy pink flesh until you're a pile of unidentifiable GORE on the floor! You got that?!" She threatened me, "I uhh..." I stammered. "I SAID DO YOU GOT THAT?!" She screamed, you know for such a small dragon she was extremely terrifying when she wanted to be. I nodded with a very unmanly whimper. "Good..." She said before walking off. That's what you get for being nosy Foutler...

A/N- Well kids it looks like next chapter we're going to have ourselves a little TRAINING MONTAGE! *plays 80's training montage music*

Dlyan's little trip to the dark-side may still come up again in this story, so keep watch for that... *Grins evilly*

Yeah I'm pretty sure all of you knew from the start the exact reason Cynder had been avoiding Spyro. Them having a relationship seems to be required in pretty much every Legend of Spyro fanfic by law. (I hear they send a team of ninjas to beat you with cricket bats if you don't at least mention it.) Not that I have a problem with them being an item though (The games ending basically flat out told us they were going to be together after all, it was about as subtle as a nuclear bazooka, yes those actually exist.)

Until next chapter folkes... watch out for cricket bat wielding ninjas... they could be anywhere..