Chapter 8: The Infernal Machine

As the trio of male dogs stepped up on to the sprawling roof of the foundry, the atmosphere around them underwent an eerie transition - from red light and noxious fumes, to the cold, dark, and empty night outside.

As they turned towards the far side of the roof, they were met with the sight of the large, turret-like structure which, the previous day, Carface and Killer had worked together to construct. As it slowly rotated about its base, the males could see that Sashadonna - the fusion of Sasha and Belladonna - was sat in the seat, with her paws firmly grasping the controls.

"Mwa, ha, ha..." she laughed. "So, this is it - the Giant Dragon Whistle... Mark Two!"

Killer lowered his head, and shook it slowly from side to side.

"What have I done... Oh, God, what have I done?"

"You may have had an intelligent mind, Killer," Sashadonna replied, "but you followed Belladonna's voice like a sheep. Oh, well - looks like it's too late for you."

She then climbed out of the seat, to stand over the barrel of the Whistle.

"This puny island is as good as mine. Once all the humans and dogs of Sodor hear the song of the Dragon, they will become my very own army of zombies! But, this time, there's more: anyone else who hears their voices, will be zombified as well. You know what that means, twerps - easy world domination... starting with the likes of you!"

She then jumped back into the control seat, and, once she had pulled the power lever, the machine warmed up with a low whirring sound...

"Quick!" said Killer, as the noise rapidly intensified. "Everyone, cover your ears!"

The party clasped their paws against their ears, and, seconds later, a cone of green waves began to diffract outwards from the dragon's head which adorned the muzzle of the Whistle. The machine was now emitting a mixture of bizarre and disturbing frequencies, which had the power to mind-control anyone who heard them.

The male dogs' attempts to keep the hypnotic waves out of their ears were, unfortunately, quite ineffective. Before long, the sound was finding its way past their eardrums; even though their eyes were closed tightly, green and yellow bands were beginning to spread out from their pupils.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Sashadonna laughed evilly. "Your minds are beginning to turn to sludge!"

... But, just when it seemed that all hope was lost, there was a brilliant white flash, in the space between the Dragon Whistle and the party of dogs.

"Gah!" the Demon yelled, turning away as the bright light dazzled her. After that, the light dimmed slightly; it was still quite bright, but not too bright to look at. When Sashadonna looked again, she saw a familiar figure levitating in the centre of the burst.

"Annabelle!?"

"Ah, cousin..." came the reply. "My, what have you become - a Seppet, perhaps? Or maybe an Irish Whitter?"

"Cousin... Phuh!" Sashadonna said in response. "I should take that as an insult."

She then tried to crank up the intensity of the Whistle, but she soon found that Annabelle's aura was dispersing the bizarre waves, preventing them from having any effect.

Fortunately, the initial white flash had been so dazzling that it had woken the party of males from the trance. By this time, they had all regained their senses, and huddled together behind the good pink Whippet, as her celestial aura protected them from the so-called 'song of the Dragon'.

"Why, you!" the possessed dog said to Annabelle in frustration. "Why won't you be hypnotised?"

But, the Archangel did not answer this question. Instead, she said, "I know you're in that body somewhere, cousin. Leave Miss La Fleur alone!"

"Never!"

After saying this, Sashadonna flicked one of the switches on the Giant Dragon Whistle's control panel. The mind-controlling noise quietened down, and the dark green waves slowly faded away. Tramp and Itchy tried to move out to the sides, but Killer pulled them back in - he knew what was up.

Sashadonna wrapped her paw around a small trigger just under the panel, and gave it a light squeeze...

Suddenly, a jet of flames shot out from the muzzle of the Whistle. Annabelle reacted quickly, flying high up to avoid the embers, but the males had been slower to act - even though they had all jumped away in different directions, they had been lucky to avoid being badly burnt.

"Darn!" said Sashadonna. "You twerps should have fallen for that!"

She then tried to aim the Whistle - or, as it was in its current mode, a flamethrower - upwards, but there was a limit to how far it could pitch. She squeezed the trigger again, but Annabelle was hovering well above the line of fire.

"Aaargh!" she snarled. "Get back down here, so I can toast you!"

"Ah, but cousin," Annabelle replied. "Why should you be so cowardly? Can you not fly?"

Sashadonna gave another snarl as she flew up out of the seat. "What did I tell you? Stop calling me 'cousin'!"

She then formed a yellow fireball between her paws, before shooting it forcefully towards the good Whippet.

Fortunately, Annabelle was able to dodge to the side, and the fireball flew far off into the distance. In return, she threw a small sphere of light at Sashadonna, but she dodged that as well.

Before long, both of the immortal dogs were high up in the sky, with each of them trying to hit the other with her projectiles.

Meanwhile, back down on the roof, Killer stepped towards the Giant Dragon Whistle Mark Two, with Itchy following close behind.

"You sure this will work?" Itchy asked, referring to what Killer was about to attempt.

"Heh - it should..." the bespectacled dog replied. "After all, I designed this machine. Problem is, it'll take too long to completely deactivate, but I should be able to take out enough vital components to stop it functioning correctly."

He then held out his right paw, which was still holding Carface's spare revolver.

"Here - take this. Remember what I said about that ammo cache; you'll have to go to the back of the foundry to find it."

"Well, thanks, Kill..." the Dachshund replied, as he took the handgun in his mustard-coloured paw. "But, what will I be needing this for?"

"If you're going to help the mutt get his kids back," said Killer, "then you'll have the big guy to deal with."

Itchy nodded in acknowledgement, before walking back to Tramp.

"Come on," he said to the mongrel. "Let's save those pups."

They then stepped back into the building through the hole in the roof.

Once they were inside, Tramp could just about see the cage on the shelf, through the veil of fumes. He climbed up on to the railings of the scaffold, as though he were preparing to jump.

"You better be careful," Itchy advised. "Killer said something about... er... 'the big guy'."

"Don't sweat it," the mongrel replied complacently. "I'm sure I can make this jump."

But, Itchy was not so sure. As Tramp squatted in place, the Dachshund stood well back, and his mouth opened slightly in a quiet gasp.

After almost five seconds, Tramp finally straightened out, launching himself from the railing. Itchy watched in amazement as the mongrel appeared to soar through the air, like a pouncing tiger.

However, at the end of the jump, Tramp had not quite been high enough to land on the shelf. Instead, he had had to quickly grab on to the edge, leaving himself hanging precariously above the hard floor.

"Daaad!" came the male pup's voice from inside the cage.

"I'm all right, Scamp..." his father replied. "Just gotta... climb up..."

But, when he tried to do so...

Ker-clang!

"Hah, hah! Gotcha, twinkles!"

Tramp's heart sank like a stone when he realised what had grabbed him.

"Not so fast, 'daddy'!" said Diesel Ten. "Looks like the only thing you're going to rescue, is a dip in the pool - the pool of molten metal, that is!"

He then began to roll slowly along the rails. Tramp struggled to break free, but he was far too weak to prise open the jaws of Pinchy.

Eventually, the malevolent Diesel engine stopped just before the pit...

"Any last words?" he asked.

Tramp said nothing - he had no last words.

"Fine, then. Into the pit with you, scruffy!"

But, then...

Bang! Hissssssssss!

"NO!"

A jet of pressurised water was now spraying forth from one of the hydraulic pipes in Diesel Ten's grabbing arm. The sudden loss of pressure caused Pinchy to quickly snap back, catapulting Tramp through the thick air towards the back wall.

Unfortunately, though, the grey dog hit the wall hard. The force of the collision caused the struts supporting it to wobble, and the vibrations spread to the shelf above. As he lay on the ground, although his joints were riddled with pain, he just about managed to turn his head to look up, giving a silent gasp as the cage slipped over the edge.

Tramp tried to get up, but his nerves and muscles were too fraught with pain for him to even stand. He could only watch helplessly as this hollow cube of metal, in which his puppies were enclosed, plummeted towards the ground...

Then, when the cage was less than ten metres from the ground, Tramp could bear to keep his eyes open no more. As he screwed up his face in despair, he waited for the sound of a crash...

... But, there was none.

Though the mongrel's eyes had been closed for only four, maybe five, seconds, when he finally opened them again, it felt to him as though it had been an eternity. To his immense relief, he now saw the familiar shape of a wiener-dog standing before him, with a smoking revolver in one paw, and the cage in the other.

"Huhhh..." Tramp panted. "I can't thank you enough... Itchy..."

"You knew you could count on me, eh?" came the reply. "Here, let me help you up."

Diesel Ten was now on the move again...

"Curse you, canines!" he said, with Pinchy's water supply dripping over him like a fountain, as he disappeared through a small gap which led into another, more uncharted section of the foundry.

After that, Itchy carefully helped Tramp back up to the top of the scaffold. As the Dachshund left the mongrel to rest with his pups, Itchy made his own way back up to the roof.

During the heroic male dogs' encounter with Diesel Ten, Annabelle and Sashadonna had continued to fight. However, by this stage, the battle was quickly approaching a stalemate, with neither of the two immortals managing to make any decisive blows.

Before long, the combatants had backed away from the fight, and were now levitating in place opposite each other.

"This match is going nowhere," Sashadonna observed. "A-ha! I know of something that could break this monotony!"

She then reached towards the black strap which encircled her neck, before discreetly flicking the switch...

"Of course! This is more like it," she continued, as she faded into invisibility. "Now, Annabelle - let's see how you fight against an opponent you can't even see!"

But, the Archangel had something up her sleeve... literally. As she reached one arm into the opposite sleeve, she pulled out a small, glowing handle. With a simple flick of her wrist, a shining, celestial bronze blade extended from the hilt.

"You may think you're invisible," she said, "but not to the Sword of Light, you're not!"

As she wielded the weapon, she slowly rotated around, keeping her eyes trained on the reflections which appeared in the metal of the blade.

After a few seconds, she saw the image of Sashadonna lunging towards her from behind. Annabelle, reacting quickly, gave a powerful swing of the sword, striking her enemy cleanly across the chest.

"Eeyagh!" the possessed dog screamed as she recoiled, with the blade's light briefly illuminating her. But, she was far from finished.

"Huh! Lucky strike!" she snapped. "Let's see you try that again!"

She then continued to circle around, but this time, she made sure to avoid being in a position where Annabelle could see her reflection.

The pink Whippet tried to catch a glimpse of her opponent, but no matter which way she turned, Sashadonna was always keeping to the other side of the sword. After some time, the evil half-Whippet made her move, flying silently through the air, until she caught her former cousin by surprise.

"Mwa-ha-ha!" Sashadonna cackled, as she gripped Annabelle by the neck. The Archangel tried to swing the sword, but the Demon's sharp reflexes enabled her to use her other arm to catch her by the wrist.

"Not so powerful now, are you?"

She then began to throw Annabelle around like a ragdoll, attacking with violent slashes of her claws in between throws. At the end of this montage of strikes, she finally hit with a powerful smash, sending the good Angel plummeting diagonally downwards towards the roof.

Once Annabelle had hit the surface, she skidded and bounced for several yards, before finally grinding to a halt just before the edge. Soon after, Sashadonna had touched down as well, and as she turned visible again, she snatched up the Sword of Light from the spot where it had dropped, on the second-to-last bounce.

"A-ha!" she laughed, as she approached her former cousin again. "A little 'fweesh-fweesh-ullah' ought to finish you off!"

Annabelle tried to protest, but all she could muster was a muffled cough. As Sashadonna stood over her, she held the sword up high, pointing it straight down. Her powers caused the bronze blade to become enveloped in a veil of flames, which began to intensify gradually.

Annabelle closed her eyes tightly. She tried to roll away to the side, but her injuries prevented her from doing so. She could only listen to the fweesh, fweesh, fweesh of the flames as they built up around the Sword of Light, as she waited for the inevitable strike.

"Without you in my way," the Demon shouted, "the Angels won't stand a chance! This puny planet will be mine to rule!"

By this time, a huge cone of fire had formed around the blade, and the flames were now almost powerful enough to finish Annabelle once and for all.

Then...

Bang!

Sashadonna's head suddenly tilted back, as a splurge of red and green jumped out from the side of her skull. The blazing sword fell at her side, and the spot where it landed turned red, as the metal of the roof conducted the heat away.

Sashadonna was now lying on her back, with her front legs flopping limply to the sides. With a great heave, Annabelle slowly lifted her head, to see where the sound of the bang had come from.

"Ohhh..." she said, with heavy panting. "Mis... ter... Itch..."

"It's all right, Ms. Annabelle," the Dachshund said as he stepped over, blowing the smoke from the gun as he went.

Once he was next to her, he placed his paw behind her shoulder to support her.

"Mister Itchiford..." the Archangel panted again. "What have you done?"

"I had to do it," he replied. "To save your life."

Annabelle then gave a deep breath, before continuing.

"But, we have to save Miss La Fleur. You must retrieve the sword."

Itchy walked over to the sword. When he picked it up, he had to force himself not to drop it, as the handle was still carrying a lot of heat. Then, he pointed it towards Sashadonna.

"Now what?"

"Focus your mind," the pink Whippet replied, "and fire a beam of light!"

The Dachshund did as instructed. Closing his eyes, he pictured in his mind an image, of light radiating from the blade of a sword...

Then, just as he expected, the Sword of Light fired a concentrated beam towards Sashadonna. Her body began to glow pure white, before slowly morphing into two separate shapes.

When the glow finally disappeared, it could be seen that Sasha and Belladonna had now been separated, though they were still unconscious. Itchy knelt next to the Irish Setter, and gently shook her in an effort to wake her.

"Sasha..." he sighed, almost crying. "Sasha, say something. Are you all right?"

Sure enough, she opened her eyes, and looked at Itchy.

"What the... where, who...?"

"It's fine, Sasha. You just... how should I say this... weren't yourself."

"Hmph," she sighed, as she turned towards Belladonna. "What's up with her?"

Belladonna's fur had now turned a dull grey. She was still lying down, but Itchy still dared not approach her.

"Uuuuugh..." the Arch-Demon groaned as she finally awoke. But, a second later, she crawled frantically over to Annabelle...

"Fire!" she said, thrusting her paw forward... but, no flames appeared.

Annabelle smiled, knowing that her cousin's powers were now inactive. Belladonna was mildly angered by the smile, and she looked at her own paw in frustration.

"How did that not work?" she growled. "Feu! Fuego! Feuer!"

"I'm afraid that's not going to work, cousin. Can you not see the absence of violet in your fur?"

Belladonna got to her feet, giving a sharp 'Damn you!' as she made her way over to the Dragon Whistle.

"What do you think you're doing?" she said to Killer, who was face-deep in the inner workings of the Infernal Machine. "Get your paws off that!"

She then grabbed him by the collar, before throwing him away to the side. She then climbed into the seat, and pulled the mode switch.

Itchy and Sasha were about to gasp, until they noticed the smirk on Killer's face.

After about five seconds, instead of a hypnotic cacophony, there came a dreadful grinding sound, like a car struggling to start.

"Work, darn ya, work!" said Belladonna, slamming her paws against the controls. Then, to Killer, she said, "Why, aren't you a smart little saboteur?"

"You might wanna watch out," he advised. "Is that some billowing smoke I see, coming from the cooling vent?"

No sooner had Belladonna looked back at the Whistle, than a sudden explosion had erupted from the vent, blowing her away. Soon after, however, she was back up on her feet, and trying to run...

... But, she was interrupted by another beam of light...

"No!" she yelled, tripping over her own feet. She tried to get up once again, but this time, her hind paws felt numb and stony. As she tried to crawl, the numbness quickly spread up her legs, before progressing to her waist and chest.

"Erraaagh!" she continued. "I'm petrifyi-i-ing!"

... And she was right. Within seconds, the stone of petrification had completely enveloped her arms, wings, and neck. By this time, her face had been twisted into a most horrifying scream, and it stayed that way as the stone finally left her completely frozen in time.

Itchy and Sasha now stood well back, as the Whistle exploded again, this time in an even more powerful blast, with such force that it tore a hole in the roof.

"Uwaaa!" Killer yelled, as he made a running jump away from the blast, being lucky not to have been injured. "We've got to get away from here!"

Itchy then turned towards Annabelle, asking her if there was anything she could do.

"I may not have much strength left," she replied, "but I should have just enough for... this!"

A layer of magenta then formed around her, before inflating to form a large, protective bubble.

"But, wait!" said Sasha. "Where's Trampy?"

"Who?" the two males said simultaneously. "The mutt, you mean?"

"Yes, that's him. Come on, where is he?"

Her query was answered soon enough; Tramp came rushing out from the already-existing access hole, with the cage's handle held firmly between his jaws.

"Hurry, everyone!" Annabelle continued. "Climb inside the bubble, and you will be safe."

The mongrel tried to run over, but Itchy held out a paw - a gesture for him to stop.

"Stay there, Trampy!" said Sasha. "We'll pick you up, we promise!"

Before long, she, along with Killer and Itchy, were cooped up inside the bubble. Tramp waited on the spot, and as the bubble approached, he prepared to jump.

At just the right time, he sprang up, passing through its filmy wall, before it quickly tightened up behind him.

Now that everyone was safely inside, the bubble floated away in the wind, and the nine-strong party (including the puppies, of course) watched as the heavy building began to collapse, with molten iron leaking out at the sides. Struts failed, scaffolds buckled, and girders fell from the ceiling as the metal that had been displaced by the fallen Dragon Whistle destroyed all in its path.

Killer lowered his head, full of guilt, as the foundry eventually became nothing but a gigantic pile of rubble...

A/N: Did you spot the Super Smash Bros. and Symphony of the Night references in this chapter? If you did, then go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back.