Chapter nine

Enemies Rise

Tokyo Japan: January 1944, Emperor Hirohitos Palace...

It was a brisk morning when a well respected soldier and his dog walked through the halls of the Palace and came to a door where another soldier greets them...

"Good morning Oki, the Emperor has been expecting you"

And opened the door that led into the Emperors throne room

The man named Oki takes his hat off and carefully steps towards the throne silently, when he reaches the throne he bows before the throne and asks...

"You sent for me, Emperor?"

The Emperor Without hesitation responds...

"Yes Oki, you may arise"

Oki stands up at attention

"I suppose you're asking yourself why I sent for you" the Emperor asks

"Yes my lord" Oki replies

"I'm sure that you're aware that the Americans have been pushing through our island defenses in the south by means of 'island hopping'"

"Yes my lord"

"Alright I'll get to the point then, one of the reasons for them being able to avoid our traps, mine fields and camouflaged defenses is there canine units. I know that you served your country well in the Alaskan campaigns with your canine platoon, which is why I want you to go to the Philippines and slow the Americans down maybe even stop them, whatever the cost...take out the American canine units, is that understood?"

"Yes my lord" Oki says with a bow

"It's settled then, the fate of the Japanese empire rests in your hands to slow the American advance down"

"Yes my lord"

"Very good. Start preparing immediately, you ship off next week." The Emperor concludes

"Yes, thank you my lord" Oki says with one final bow and was heading out the door when the Emperor calls out to Oki once more...

"Oki, don't fail the Empire"

Oki swallows a knot growing in his throat and keeps walking until he's out the doors.

Back at Okis hotel room, he and his dog Edo begin laying out plans for stopping the Americans in the Philippines...

"Okay Edo, if we set up traps here and here they would be forced to take this route instead where we will be waiting for them" Oki said looking at a map of the Philippines...

"Of course, we really won't know what we're up against until we get to the Philippines" Oki finished walking away from the desk

Oki sat in a chair and began studying a couple of photographs taken from the island hopping campaigns of the American canine platoon, all the while with Edo looking over his shoulder...

"Looks like your typical American canine platoon...diverse in breed and arrogant thought" Oki mumbles to himself

After studying the photos Oki sets them down on the desk with the map, let's a yawn out in the middle of a stretch, bids Edo goodnight and goes to his personal bedroom and turns out the light

After watching his master do his usual bedtime routine, Edo trots to the desk to study the photos one more time, the lamp over the desk was never turned off so he had one last chance to find something out...

"Now, where was that photo? Aha, right here now let me see, hmm German Shepherd...no. Yellow Lab...no. Ah, their he is... the red Husky, now something about those eyes tell me I've seen him before...but where?"

After studying the photo for a while something in Edos mind clicks... and all at once everything falls into place and an evil grin appears on his face, he then looks at the world map and finds Alaska and in the already dim lit room whispers with a scary tone of voice...

"I've got you, right...where...I...want you"

Tarawa island: same night

Yukon was having a hard time sleeping under the star filled sky, for the past couple of weeks he could barely get any sleep and when he did, all he could think about was the weird dreams he had...

"something about a wolf? Or maybe it was a raven?" Yukon thought to himself, Either way He was just hoping to get some sleep without being interrupted by these crazy dreams

So as Yukon was drifting off to sleep he began hearing a voice, a rather familiar voice actually. He knew he was dreaming when he saw snow covered mountains surrounding him. suddenly the voice seemed to be coming from all directions and he had no idea what was going on! At first he couldn't hear the voice clearly...

"Great, here we go again" Yukon thought while rolling his eyes

But after a couple short seconds of jumbled sounds Yukon heard a voice crystal clear. At first he was to scared to comprehend what he had just heard, but after piecing his mind back together he heard the voice call him...

"Yukon"

Yukon now terrified replies back...

"Who...who are you? And what do you want?"

Before Yukon knew what was going on, he was blinded and knocked down by a flash of white light, when he regained his sight, the first thing he spotted was a white wolf, he examined the wolf with questioning and curiosity filled eyes until finally the white wolf spoke...

"Yukon, I am Aniu, you don't know much about me and probably never will...Yukon, I don't have much time but I must warn you of an evil force that has risen up against you and your family..." the wolf says

"Aniu??...what evil force??" Yukon asks

"Yukon, you must stop this opposing force before it reaches your family"

"Aniu...I still don't know who you are or what forces you're talking about, it all sounds crazy!"

Aniu let out a sigh...

"Yukon...I was your fathers mother"

Yukon couldn't believe it and when he could finally speak he could only stutter...

"Y...you're...you're my...my...grandmother?"

Aniu nodded...

"How?...Why?...When?...What???" Yukon replied

"I'm sorry but there isn't enough time to answer any of your questions, now you must go, fight for the right and stop this treacherous force" Aniu concludes

"But I still don't know what forces you're talking about!" Yukon asks

"You will know, in good time" Aniu finishes

"Aniu, how can one dog stop a force he can't even see!"

"Yukon, let me tell you something I learned from your dad; a dog cannot make this journey alone, but maybe a wolf can."

Before Yukon could ask another question he was blinded by white light and when he could see again he was back on the starry sky island...

"Oh, it was just a dream, but it all seemed so real" he thought to himself

"I'll forget I ever had this stupid dream, it's probably from lack of sleep anyways" Yukon concluded but throughout the nights and days that followed the more he tried to forget it, the more he remembered it

The platoon knew something was wrong with Yukon, but they didn't know what, they tried everything they could to help him but Yukon wasn't about to tell his friends about the wild, unbelievable dream he had. so his platoon over the course of time slowly gave up trying to help him, everyone except for Travis that is. when the platoon finally left Tarawa, there was a sense that something still wasn't quite right but they pressed on anyhow.

So what do y'all think? I know sorry for the short chapter, but hey shout out to Kepler11c for an awesome villain though