Hello everyone, it's mid-2022 and a lot has changed. I am ever so sorry for the lack of updates with my stories but, ever since losing Mom at the start of this year I hadn't felt much like writing. Add to that the stress of moving to an apartment here in Natchotoches and then my job keeping me busier than normal and I just haven't had the time.

I've been adjusting, no need to worry on that front. I've started my Youtube channel, LauncesMechanist where I do gaming videos as well as some home movies when I get the chance. I've also been doing a little online gaming. Nothing too serious, just playing No Man's Sky and World of Warships: Legends on PS4. Gamertag is SOWxRogueDragoon (I may change it to LauncesMechanist or some variant in the future but for now my original tag serves just as well).

Anyway, for those who have waited patiently, I thank you for your patience. For those of you who grew tired of waiting but jumped right back in once you saw I had updated, again, I apologize but I thank you for checking in. Now then, on with the story!

This is an updated version because some of the motions I used were kind of stale. Hopefully this has addressed most of them and made the chapter a little more fluid. If not, then I still have rust somewhere that needs clearing.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OR ANYONE IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE. ONLY MY OCS.

Chapter 58: Texas

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(inside USS Texas, anchored at Warfang Harbor)

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The first stop for the group as they entered the massive dreadnaught was the boiler room. From the main deck down past the second deck, the half deck, to the third deck, down into the hold, the group came to a set of massive doors built to allow dragons access to the boilers if needed. The hatches opened easily enough and once inside everyone's jaw dropped.

Standing in perfect rows were fourteen massive boilers each standing as tall as a dragon with a thick steel door covering the opening into the firebox. The boiler crews smiled and started for their stations, opening the boilers as Danny placed a hand on the metal, then looked to the water dragons who were with them, standing at the ready.

"Alright, each of these boilers can hold roughly five-thousand gallons of water. We need all of them filled with fresh water, nothing fancy. Once the boilers are full, the stokers and firemen will light the boilers and start the steam buildup. Send word to all of those going with us to get their equipment and grab a cabin or a bunk on the third deck." Neal looked to his brother who had become serious and nodded.

"Time to get the plan into action?" Danny frowned, remembering what was at stake.

"Goro told us what Shadra and Malefor's plan likely is. We've already lost who knows how much time preparing. The sooner we get underway the faster we can foil their plans and come home." Neal grimly concurred.

"Except this time you'll be going by sea and I'll be going by land."

"One Forger per strike group gives us the best chance that one of us will be where we are needed most. Besides, the majority of the dragons will be travelling with you along with the newly recommissioned Dracoknights. My force is mainly canines, humans, two water dragons and Ash's squad."

"Ash's squad?" Danny gave a small smile.

"With his return to the Guard to accept Magma's old post, he was assigned a squad of dragons to assist him. Flame's a member of that squad, just so you know, so he won't be with you this time around." Neal nodded understandingly.

"Good, those two need some time to bond as Father and Son. Wait a minute, if Ash is going with you then it will be just Terra watching Magma."

"Well on the bright side you have a Guardian going with you as well as Spyro and Cynder. What are you worried about?" Neal glanced to one of the boiler crews starting their work and frowned.

"I'm worried about what happens if we encounter Vesuvius somewhere. Nevermind, is there anything else you can think of needing before we go our seperate ways?" Danny thoight for a moment, scratching his chin, then shook his head.

"Nothing really comes to mind. We'll get our strike group situated and stocked up and we'll be underway." Neal gave a small smile and, pausing for a moment, then embraced his brother.

"Good luck." Danny chuckled.

"I should be saying that to you. You're the one trekking across the continent with a lava dragon and half an army with you. Not to mention an entire wing of dragons who may have more on their minds than the coming battle." Neal waved his hand dismissively.

"They're focused on the fight ahead. It's just that while we're going to the fight they may get ideas. Then again if dragons and their mates want to take a moment to themselves as they head off into the unknown that's their perogative. The less they have to fret over the more focused they'll be." A cough came from behind and the brothers turned to see Tremor and beside him Alliea smiling.

"Not to worry Lord Forger, we can handle ourselves. You need not fret over us." Tremor chuckled, turning his gaze from the brothers to Allia, winked, and then turned back to them.

"Besides, dragons in the Dracoknights want to affirm their love for their mates as soon as possible. We'll be able to focus our full attention to whatever tasks you require of us." Neal chuckled understandingly and grinned.

"Just keep the private stuff private and out of earshot when we make camp while en route to our patrols and everything will be fine." Tremor huffed indignantly, eyes narrowing.

"You make us dragons sound like rutting adolescents." Neal's grin became a full blown smirk as he crossed his arms.

"In the days since the Ancestor's Night, how many times have the Guard been called to the Dracoknights Barracks for noise complaints? In fact, how many female members of the knights, dragon and other species, have already announced they're expecting?" Tremor, caught aback, coughed and blushed sheepishly while Alliea strode forward defiantly.

"No more than seven." She gave a glance to Tremor who had turned to look at one of the boilers that had not been lit, and smiled back to Neal.

"Myself included."

"WHAT?!"

With that exclamation, Tremor's head shot up so fast at that announcement that he struck an vent pipe which echoed with a resounding 'CLANG!' and was actually dented by his horns. As the shocked Earth dragon groaned and rubbed his head, Neal smiled and gave a nod to Alliea.

"Congratulations, however, wouldn't that mean you are out of action?" Alliea crossed her arms and strode towards her dragon mate, scratching a place under his jaw.

"I will only be 'out of action' when I can't jump into the saddle and that won't be for several months. This patrol will last, at the most, one or two and we'll be back in no time. Until that time, I'll still ride circles around you Lord Forger." Danny smirked, seeing Alliea had won the arguement before it even got started.

"She's got you there brother." Neal dropped all seriousness and chuckled.

"That she does. Meanwhile don't you yourself have a dragoness waiting for you in your quarters?" Danny gave a small nod.

"Darte said she would explore on her own time, right now she wants to just rest for a moment." Neal took a moment to grasp his brother's hand in a firm handshake.

"Then let us disembark so you and Texas can get underway."

"Where shall we meet up at?" Neal produced a map and pointed to the southern part of the continent.

"After we've secured the Hatcheries, and IF we've encountered no foes, we'll head further south, into the old human lands and we'll meet at the ruins of Aurora." Danny glanced at his route be sea.

"After leaving Warfang, we head south through the Eastern Ocean to the Oceanic Water Dragon City, Atlantis, then west to Dogram's Port, south to Granite Cliffs, then we'll go north to Aurora. Here's hopeing the trip's uneventful... ah damnit... I think I just cursed us." Neal eyed his brother and smirked.

"That you did brother, that you did. Still, don't forget to let me know what's happening. Our Books are just as good, if not better than radios because Eve connects them both. Anything happens, you let me know." Danny gave a final nod before turning away to leave the boiler room to inspect the rest of the ship.

"You got it. Stay safe Neal."

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As Neal and his group disembarked, Danny went over the remaining sections of the battleship with the crew. To say that they were impressed would be an understatement. After setting his Book in the control room, an image of Eve appeared and began walking around the ship with him as he examined some areas of note, a pleased look on her face.

"This has to be close, if not borderline, to a Legendforge. The only thing missing is the various enchantments that would make it so." Danny understood her being impressed, but sighed as he still felt the toll of using so much mana at once.

"It was still a group effort though. My brother and I simply don't have enough mana to pull off something like this by ourselves at this point in time yet." Eve glanced at him reassuringly.

"I know that. I'm just saying is that you both are growing stronger. Compare what you can do now to when you first started using Forge magic and the differences are almost bordering miraculous. It is almost as if, even though the Forge magic was transferred to your family's bloodline, those of your family were born for it." Danny chuckled as he inspected one of the casemate secondary cannons.

"Our family has always been inclined to machinery and other things industrial. At first, I believed that it was the latent Forge Magic embedded within our bloodline but maybe... maybe there was something else... something more..." Eve cocked her head to one side inquisitively.

"Destiny? Fate? Divine Providence?" Danny smiled and ducked through a hatch leading back towards the aft bridge.

"All of the above, and then some. What would our family have done if we were not so inclined towards machinery?" Eve coughed and glanced aside sheepishly.

"Given the amount of time you and your brother spend at Lyca's tavern either drunk bar flies, bartenders, or perhaps brewers and distillers." Danny's smile broadened.

"Funny story there, apparently our great-grandfather, on our Mother's side, was a bootlegger during Prohibition... that's the period of time in America when all alchohol was outlawed supposedly for a good reason but it led to a horrendous spike in organized crime. Anyway, he ran this busted old Model A Ford between El Paso, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana. Never once got caught. Broke up his shine rig once Prohibition ended but folks around the ranch swore he'd buried his last batch of shine, aging it for generations to come."

"Any possibility of that?" Danny shrugged.

"Possibly. My Grandpa once said he had to rescue a cow that had fallen through the roof of an abandoned root cellar one time back before my brother and I were born. Inside the cellar was at least six dozen barrels that at one point in time held sour mash whiskey but had leaked out slowly over the decades." Eve sighed.

"Seems a shame it was gone." Danny chuckled as he stepped into the aft bridge and saw two crewmen there idling for the time being.

"Not all of them were empty, if I recall the tale correctly. Either way, it was already long gone by the time Neal and I came into the picture. Either way, I doubt we'd become barflies if not for our Forge magic." He went over to a nearby wall that had gauge readouts for the boilers, water tanks, and ballast; tapped them to make sure they weren't stuck, and nodded to himself.

"Seems all preparations are complete, what say we head to the bridge and get the ship moving?" Eve gazed around, obviously either not satisfied with or thinking about, something else.

"You go on ahead. I have a few last minute checks to go over as well as check over Neal's equipment before departing." Danny nodded and left the room as the Forge dragoness studied a map of the land drawn in the Book.

"The Forge dragon homeland, Foundry Mountain... There is where all this began and soon, hopefully, this will end..."

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Coming through the main hatch entering the bridge of USS Texas, Danny was met not only by several wolves and canines but cheetahs and moles as well who were at various positions around the room. At the center, near the helm was Captain Gregory who motioned him to the helm, a mix of exasperation and excitement on his face.

"Once again you Forgers come up with a vessel that I have absolutely no idea how to sail. She's even bigger than the Guardian! How in blazes are we supposed to sail her?" Danny placed a hand momentarily on the wolf captain's shoulder then walked to the helm controls.

"First, we have to leave port. Thankfully we are already facing out to sea so we don't have to worry about maneuvering until we are clear of the port. To start with, the Guardian had one centerline engine, Texas has four. Guardian was mainly made of wood and thinly plated for defence. Texas is a vessel called an 'ironclad dreadnaught' meaning she is solid steel from stem to stern and is signifigantly heavier." He pointed to the four devices slightly ahead of the steering helm.

"Those four devices there are called the 'engine operation telegraphs', or EOTs, which tell the engine room what speed we want. We also have these-" Danny walked over to the wall where a series of trumpet-shaped tubes were bolted in place.

"These are called speaking tubes and allow us to speak with the various sections of the ship so that we don't need to send runners everywhere. There's also another purpose." He motioned for a young human with a strange looking instrument in his hand.

"This young man is going to be the ship's bugler. If there is something that must be said to the entire ship such as going to battlestations or emergency orders, the bugler will play into the speaking tube to get everyone's attention." Danny flipped the cover over the tube that bore a plate marked 'Boiler Room'.

"Bridge to Boiler Room, status report." A reply was not long in coming.

"Pressure is at full, Bridge, we are ready to depart on your orders." Danny nodded and turned to the helm and took the wheel, motioning forward two wolves and two canines to the EOTs and then to stand by. He then turned to the wolf standing on the outside observation post facing the dock.

"Signal the deck and dock: cast off mooring lines." The order was passed and the sounds of several splashes were heard as large ropes were dropped. Danny then opened the speaking tube labeled 'Anchor Captan Control'.

"Hoist anchor!"

A loud Clang! resounded from inside the ship as her bow chains began pulling the four massive bow anchors out of the water. Once the anchors were secured, Danny looked to the crew beside the telegraphs.

"All engines: Ahead Slow, Port Speed: one-third." The crew paused for a moment until Danny chuckled and went to the closest one. He gripped the wooden handle and moved it full fowards, then full backwards, then forwards again and stopped the indicator marked 'Ahead 1/3'. Each time he moved it, the sound of a bell resounded from the device.

"Move the handle forward and back to get the engine crews' attention. Then move it over the desired speed setting. They should respond-"

Two dings from a bell came from the stand and the needle that had been sitting at the 'Stop' position moved forward one notch into the '1/3' position.

"Like that." He finished and then looked to the others.

"Set your EOTs just like I did this one." The crew did as instructed and soon all four telegraphs were at 1/3.

Texas shuddered and groaned as the engines came to life down below. The vents on the funnel were opened and a plume of grey-white smoke shot from the top and started making a trail as the ship moved out of port.

Underneath the water, the massive dreadnaughts four three-bladed propellors, or screws, had creaked to life and slowly spun up to the desired speed. Back in the bridge, Danny looked to Gregory.

"Once we're out of port, I'll steer us onto course and then once we're in open water, she's your ship, Captain. Just one thing to remember, a ship this big doesn't stop on a dime and isn't very maneuverable. It takes some anticipation and patience to get her moving." Gregory nodded in reply, still astounded that such a massive ship could move at all.

"Well the crew are all mighty intelligent, as your brother proved with the Guardian. Just show us what to do once and we've pretty much got the gist of it. From then on it's training and repetition." Danny smiled in agreement and, with a slight adjustment to the wheel, started to bring the Texas out of port.

"Forger! Look there on the dock!"

Danny turned the helm over to a nearby wolf and went to one of the windows and smiled. There, on the dock, was Neal who had created a massive Texas flag, handed it off to Lyca who waved it back and forth and stood beside a large ceremonial cannon. The denizens of Warfang were cheering and shouting in celebration. In answer, crew and dragons on the ship's decks answered with their own yells and cries of farewell.

He glanced over to Gregory who had come alongside him.

"Do we have any crews in the turrets yet?" Gregory shook his head and, moving to the window pointed out the turret crews on deck waving to the dock. Danny then left the bridge and all but vaulted down to the deck where a turret crew stood.

"My brother intends to salute us going out to sea. I need three gunners to come with me to the forward casemate."

This caused a pause as the gun crew, having been on the Guardian had not yet assigned themselves or had been assigned to a turret yet. Almost immediately however, one grizzled wolf stepped forward and extended a finger.

"Halif, Greymane, Yorck, you will accompany the Forger and I." The wolf then turned to Danny and extended his hand.

"Name's Graf, I oversee these pups." Danny grasped the wolf's hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you. So, you're going to be getting the gunners organized, correct?" Graf nodded.

"After working on the Guardian and getting used to her weapons, these newer ones are a bit outside of my knowledge. Especially those monsters." He indicated the cannons in the main turrets which Danny completely understood.

"Well once we're out to sea we'll start getting everyone squared away. First though, we shall go to the casemate behind us." Danny pointed to a hatch and sticking out from the hull Graf would see one of the secondary cannons.

"A salute is simply firing a blank shell; nothing but powder. Makes a heck of a racket but no shell or shot." The selected wolves followed him into the casemate and stood beside the cannon in question.

"This is a five-inch diameter cannon. Texas has six of these, three starboard, three port. These cannons use singular shells, not like the big guns which use shells and then powder seprately. We will load that one here, angle it up and out, and fire this-" Danny paused to create a blank shell, basically a brass casing that looked like an overblown shotgun shell but was has a wooden plug or 'wad' covering the end.

"Now then, open the breech."

The wolf Yorck stepped forward and opened the breech, marveling at how, since it was a smaller cannon than the Guardian's 9 in cannons, it was easier to operate. Greymane was there without prompting and hefted the blank shell onto the loading tray and then pushed it onto the breech. Lastly was Halif who, grasping the traverse and elevation gears, swung the secondary cannon out and then elevated it up as high as it would go.

Standing back on the deck, Danny saw Neal point out the secondary cannon's movement and then went to stand by his salute cannon. With a quick tug of the lanyard, a loud BANG! echoed across the port, a thick plume of smoke spewed from the cannon as Neal dropped the lanyard, came to attention, and saluted the departing ship. Danny half-turned to the open hatch and shouted to Graf.

"Shore salute is fired! Return salute! Ready? FIRE!"

The report of the 5 inch naval gun resounded throughout the harbor, eliciting a cheer from those on the ship as well as those on shore. Danny faced back to port and, seeing his brother holding the salute, returned it swiftly, and then gave a wave farewell. He then turned and started back up the mast to the bridge.

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Neal sighed as he saw the Texas sail out of the port and around the cape. Near him were members of the human cavalry as well as the Dragon Knights who stood patiently waiting for him to move. He gave a final nod and turned to Alliea.

"Have all Dragon Knights and cavalry ready to move by the end of today. Tomorrow, we set out for the first hatchery on our route." Alliea nodded but paused as one of the cavalry captains approached.

"Forger, forgive me if you've stated before but what is our first destination?" Neal nodded understandingly and outlined the plan for the land-based forces.

"Our combined force will be moving in three seperate groups. Danny and his strike force will take a southerly route and shall check on the hatcheries for the Oceanic Water Dragons before heading west to Dogram's Port to procure some large vessels for transport purposes and then to Mole Territory before meeting us either in the old human capital of Aurora or the hatchery of the Fear Dragons, Howling Grove, depending on how things go."

"A centralized force comprised of wolves, Ice and Fire Dragons, will be heading north into Wolf territory before crossing into Ice Dragon territory and then moving south into Fire Dragon Territory."

"Our force shall be taking a more direct route. Going through Poison Dragon Territory into the territory shared by Earth and Wind Dragons before continuing into Fire Dragon territory. If the enemy has not presented itself at any of these locations, we shall ourselves shall cross the Dark Lands, the former Forge Dragon Territory, and enter the Shadowed Forest where the Shadow Dragons live. The main force will continue west into Electric Dragon territory and then south to Howling Grove."

"Again, if no hostile forces present themselves, we shall then head south to Howling Grove, link up with the other land force, then follow to coast into the former human lands to the ruins of the capital Aurora, lastly then from there crossing the sea to Shadra's Citadel for the final confrontation with her."

The young cavalryman nodded before saluting and turned away as Alliea moved to prepare her forces.

Either way, the campaign to protect the Hatcheries was just beginning...

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Division of Forces:

North Force: Commanders: Cyril (overall Commander), Furnace. (Comprised of Wolves, Ice Dragons, Fire Dragons, some Cheetahs, and Atlawa.) Largest force.

Central Force: Commanders: Neal (overall Commander), Alliea (Dragon Knights), Terrador (Dragon Commander), Volteer, Spyro, Cynder, Skylar (Cheetah Commander) Magma, Terra (Squad assigned to guard Magma). (Force Comprised of Humans, Multiple dragons of various elements, Cheetahs and Moles. Organized for mobility and rapid response.)

Southern Force: Commanders: Danny (overall Commander), Leviathan (Oceanic Water Dragons), Ash (Dragon detachment on Texas), Flame, Gregory (Captain of Texas and Commander of Canine 'Marines'). (Force comprised of Humans, Dragons, Canines, and Wolves.) Smallest Force.