SWORD OF DARKNESS

by Red Alpha Wolf 1

the fallen knight Doberman Claw has long been known for his follies and failures, but what if at heart he was still loyal to the royal family and knighthood that evicted him? what if he must help the paw patrol rescue knights to find and destroy the evil twin of the mystic sword Excaliber known as Caliburn before the duke of flapping-ton can use it against the world!

5. SWORDOFDARKNESSRESCUEFIRSTRETREATLATER2

SWORD OF DARKNESS-RESCUE FIRST RETREAT LATER PART 2

(CASTLE THRONE ROOM/845HRS)

Claws lay on the ground unconscious and twitching as the duke watches on in glee for a moment then he walks off as Claws mind is reeling in the fears that are being brought to bear in a flash of memories. Then just as Claw about to question if his sanity will survive, the memory flashes stop and his worst memory is what Caliburn judges to be the thing to break his mind.

(MAGIC INDUCED MEMORY/1 YEAR AGO)

Claw is standing in the main castle foyer as the princess walks up to him after his latest attempt to ride a dragon, with a look of pure hatred on her face as the earl screams to the doberman "You blasted mutt! How many times will you try to accomplish this stupid mission to ride beasts that can never be reasoned with?!" Claw again tries to explain his self appointed mission to the earl of Barking-burg and princess Catherine, his owner and the one he is to protect with his life. "Your majesties, you must understand that dragons are not the loathsome beasts that you-" Now it is the princesses turn to give a shout "ENOUGH! YOU HAVE ENDANGERED THE PEOPLE WITH THIS POINTLESS WANT OF YOURS!-" She turned to the Earl and asked "What must I do with him earl?" The earl looks at Claw as he says to the princess "He is your pet, it is your responsibility to decide his fate." The princess looks to Claw and says the words that are burned in his memory "You are banished from the castle, you will-if you choose-live in the kingdom, as a commoner. And one more thing, I am revoking your status as royalty, you are no longer a knight. Leave the castle in one hour or I will have you hauled off to the pound!" Claw, who still in good training bows and says "As you wish princess." Then he does not gather any weapons that could attach to his pack, money or even supplies, he just walks off to the kingdom as the memory fades to black.

(END FLASHBACK AS CLAW ENTERS MAGIC BASED COMA LIKE BLANKNESS)

Claw is floating in a white void as the sword of Caliburn floats in front of him and the sword ask him through his mind in "Are you ready to give in yet?" Claw snarls at the sword and screams "HA, YOU THINK THAT THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE WILL BREAK ME?! I HAVE RELIVED THAT MEMORY EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST YEAR!" The swords reply was short and simple "Maybe this will break you." The blankness faded in a swirl of colors and a vision began to come to life in front of him. Claw braced himself for the coming trial.

(BACK OUTSIDE WITH THE RESCUE KNIGHTS AND DEATH DRAGON ACHEROS)

The knights are unsure of how to deal with the dragon as Ryder's statement echos through their heads. Acheros takes a step towards them yet again as he milked the fear in their eyes for all its worth. Acheros is now about to fill the city with his gas when a fire ball from Sparks flies through the air and hits Acheros in the back, doing no damage but still accomplishing its purpose in distracting the death dragon who turned his head for only a moment and regarded the other dragon as a nuisance as Sparks turn away. The black death dragon simply returned his head to the group of knights in front of him only to find they were gone. Acheros roars in anger as he takes to the skies again, but this time he knows that Sparks is a threat to his plan and must be eliminated as well.

(BACK INSIDE THE CASTLE/INSIDE CLAWS MIND)

The vision had come to in full as he is preparing himself for what he will see the blurry image clears as he witnesses the duke swing Caliburn at another blurry figure with a sword, the blurry one blocked it and returns with his own swing, which is blocked by the duke and Claw sees it is he himself as they stand together on the top of the mountain behind the castle. The Claw of the vision shouts something at Duke William which the real Claw could not hear. The duke shoves him back and stabs the rocks beneath the doberman and uses the swords magic to blowing the rocks causing half the small plateau to collapse in a large backwards L shape with him there and he screaming falls then using his pup pack sword he jams it into the rock wall of the mountain. The sword jammed into the rock stops him from falling to his death but the sword breaks as he lands in a belly flop flat on the large new plateau below with a "OOF!" Claw winces in pain and looks at his now broken sword in dismay as he hears Duke Williams call for Acheros who carries him to the new plateau below the now busted dragons perch of a mountain top.

The vision pauses as the real Claw is floating, watching all of this as he is shaking from head to feet as he whispers "This is not real, this is not real." The sword of Caliburn now decides to put in its own point "This is what is to come in your life, there is only one way to prevent this: You must go to the duke and beg for his forgiveness and pledge your life long loyalty." Claw is still unconvinced "Never! The future is fluid and always changing. Just like water it holds no shape." Claw returns his attention to the vision as it continues.

The visions resume as Claw clambers to his feet and barks to exchange his broken sword for his pincers as the duke jumps off Acheros, Claw knew he had to pry the sword from the duke even if it was from his dead hands, this was now his sole purpose in life. Claw screams in a mix of fear and anger as he charges forth to what he was certain was his death. The pincers wrap around Williams arm and closes with all its robotic strength and there is a 'CRUNCH' as the duke screams in pain from the now broken arm. The duke swings Caliburn and cuts off the pincers and then swings downward into Claws pup pack as Claw is powerless to stop it and he is driven to the ground. The pup pack and armor stop it, but the duke uses Caliburns magic to pierce through Claws armor and his insides beneath it as Claw spits out a large mouthful of blood because of the wound. Duke William closes in toward Claws muzzle quiet unafraid and asks "Any last words?" Claw weakly replies "You-you-threw away e-everything precious-" He tried to clear his throat in a violent coughing fit before continuing weakly. "-T-To you in exchange for th-that worthless p-power-" Claw weakly smirks at the Duke before spitting another glob of blood "-y-you are about to l-lose." Claws head falls to the ground as his eyes gaze at the duke for one last time and his body gives out and he closes his eyes and he finally lays there motionlessly as he died with a whoosh of outward breath. The duke wrenches the sword from claws pack and armor with his one good arm then walks off as he called his dragon one last time and the vision faded away to nothing.

(END VISION AS CLAW AGAIN ENTERS MAGIC BASED COMA LIKE BLANKNESS)

The real Claw stared at his own body body while the vision faded and right there where the Claw of the vision was the dark sword before him and asked him for what he wanted "Do you give in yet?" "I-I-I will never, the future is not written in stone. I-I must remember this! YOU WILL NEVER BREAK ME!" The sword said in a calm smug voice "I will break you yet." Yet another vision began to appear before Claw.

(BACK OUTSIDE WITH ACHEROS)

Sparks rolls right and banks left to avoid the short blasts of smog that are flying through the air past him as he looks back at the largest dragon he had ever seen behind him trying to kill him. Sparks dived low for the city streets and tucked his wings as tight as he could and still fly but it was in vain, he knew any tighter and he would fall from the sky. Sparks spread his wings again and took to the skies and aimed for the nearby cloud cover with Acheros hot on his tail giving a mighty roar. Sparks knows he must buy the rescue knights enough time to get to cover.

(STREET LEVEL WITH THE RESCUE KNIGHTS)

"We have to do something Wyder!" Zuma says as he watches the jet black dragon chase after Sparks into the cloud bank with a mighty roar. "No Zuma, Sparks knows what he's doing. We have to get to the base and find a way to help Claw, he has not radioed saying he has the princess and earl yet, according to what he said, he should have rescued them by now." Ryder looks out from behind the corner of the nearby building to see if the coast is clear, then motions for the pup knights to follow him toward where the statue was. Ryder looks to the into hole under where the base of the statue was and says "The internal workings are still intact-or so it appears anyways-lets go into the base for supplies. Rocky, use your pack claw and-" he looks at the system and points "-lift here!" Rocky follows the order and the statue base pivots back and reveals an entry point slanting into the ground lined with metal on all sides. Rubble looks back to find Sparks but he is nowhere to be seen as Rubble backs into the chamber then turns and runs down the chamber as it falls back level.

(BACK INSIDE THE CASTLE/INSIDE CLAWS MIND)

Claw watches the vision come to focus as Claw witnesses a strange landscape. The only reason he recognizes the city of Barking-Burg is because of Big Ben and the castle. The streets were lined with people who were working on a large number of projects at one time, some here, some there. There were statues of Duke William and Acheros throughout the city. Claw echos the only thought in his mind aloud which was "Who will stop this madman's reign?" What Caliburn said confirmed Claws thoughts "This is the world that is to come. I will take control of the dukes mind and use him to destroy all that is good in the world." Claw looks around to see the sword floating yet again nearby him to his right, just out of reach Claw screams in hatred to the jet black sword. "I WILL NEVER ALLOW IT, NOT SO LONG AS I LIVE! I WILL FIND A WAY TO DESTROY YOU!" Caliburns reply was blunt "I will like to see you try." Claw grits his teeth and concentrates on all his strength and screams to the sword of darkness "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Caliburn cuts the vision short and ends it right there.

(END VISION AS CLAW AGAIN ENTERS MAGIC BASED COMA LIKE BLANKNESS)

Claw stares at the sword of Caliburn through the white and screams "You will never drive me insane! You know why? Because I have a purpose in life that is pure and noble. GET OUT OF MY HEAD RIGHT NNNOOOWWW!" The sword fades out of existence from the spot where it was as the blank coma fades away and his mind becomes his own again.

(THRONE ROOM/END COMA BLANKNESS)

The magic leaves his body as he gasps awake and sits up then shakes his head for a moment getting his bearings. He sees he is alone in the royal throne chamber and after resting for a minute he stands up and runs to finish his plan. On the way Claw comes up with a way to get the others into the castle undetected as he continues to the dungeon stairway then he gets off at the storage halls one floor beneath ground level then activates his pup tag radio.

(WITH THE RESCUE KNIGHTS/INSIDE HIDDEN STREET CATACOMB CHAMBERS LEADING TO THE BASE)

"Well, here we are." Ryder says as they walk up into the base chamber where they see Marshall taking care of Chase. Chase was bound with so much bandages that his chest looks like a wrapped up mummy, but he is in high spirits as he asks "Did you get the earl and princess yet?" Rocky hangs his head and replies "No, we ran into a big problem, we were ambushed by Acheros as soon as we got to the castle-" Rocky raises his head and continues "-but don't give up hope yet because Claw is inside and trying to rescue the royalty on his own, but he is our best bet right now." At that moment their tags light up as Claws voice came over barely above a whisper "If you can hear me, use the underground catacombs to advance on the castle wall beneath the tower of the rising sun, there I will let you in."

(END SWORD OF DARKNESS-RESCUE FIRST RETREAT LATER PART 2)