Chapter 6: I, Dog-bot

Back at David's house, Charlie and the Professor were sitting on the living-room couch. The sounds and lights, blaring and shining from the television, formed a distraction from the mission which had been occurring on the other side of town.

Just as the programme cut to a regular commercial break, there came another knock on the front door...

"Hm?" Charlie got up from the sofa, and made his way to the door. As he pulled it open, he was greeted by the sight of Bess, the Cocker Spaniel, standing out on the porch in the pouring rain. As she raised her head, the wide-pupilled look in her eyes filled the Shepherd with doubt.

"So?" he continued. "What happened?"

"It's not looking good..." the Spaniel replied, allowing her eyes, which were running with paint, to close as she shook her head. "The others didn't make it out."

Upon hearing this, the Shepherd's face fell.

"Killer managed to lose me in a crowd," Bess resumed, shaking herself dry as she stepped inside. "When he got back to the shop, I could hear him shooting at them."

"Oh, gosh... They didn't get themselves killed, did they?"

"I don't know, Charlie. It would have been too dangerous for me to go in and see."

After about a minute of hesitation, Charlie allowed Bess to go up to David's room. Stepping back into the lounge, he slumped on to the sofa again.

"Charles?" said the Professor. "Should we retire as well? It's getting rather late."

"You can go up, Prof - I'm not stopping you. I'll just be staying down here; it's not as if I'm going to be getting much shut-eye anyway. Wait a sec... 'Charles'? Only Annabelle calls me that."

"... Annabelle?"

"Uh... Never mind."

As a bright light shone down from above, Itchy's eyelids slowly pulled themselves open. Raising his head upwards, he allowed his pupils to constrict as his vision swam into focus.

Ah, how that light made him smile... but, at the same time, it made him feel uneasy. It took several seconds for him to make the grim realisation - that if he were, in fact, dying, then this was far from the right time.

Then, he tried to move himself... and that was when his wrists and ankles ceased to budge.

"Ah!" he gasped, taking his gaze away from the light. He was not rising. Nor was he ascending. In fact, he was entrapped in a chair, and the light had been but a simple ceiling fixture. Now, his train of thought had slammed itself into reverse - he was relieved to still be alive, but this now meant that he was in a very troublesome situation.

Looking ahead, he saw a large, black operating table, with the body of the robotic Irish Setter laid down on its back. Turning his head to the right, the Dachshund now saw Killer, sitting at the operating seat of his mainframe.

"Okay, the compiling's done... Writing to disk, dah-dah-dahh... There!"

He then ejected a stack of floppy drives from the main tower unit, and carried it over to the table, placing it down by the robot's side.

"Hmmm!" he continued. "Ah, Itchy. It's nice to see that you've woken up, just in time to witness... the rebooting."

"Huh?" the Dachshund groaned.

Next, Killer rolled the metallic dog on to its side, revealing that the back of its neck had been seamlessly repaired.

"Good as new, eh?" he said. "A couple hours of soldering and welding - nothing too major."

Itchy then looked right again, further over this time, and saw that his swords had now been secured on a wall-rack, adjacent to the Gaussbuster, and were encased within the same kind of black, metallic cage which had been used for the windows.

When he looked back, Killer was about to place the stack of drives inside the robot's chest, when...

"Hey! What about Agent 9?"

"Hm?" the Schnoodle hesitated, looking up. "That darn monkey, you mean?"

"Yeah! What did you do with him?"

In response to this, Killer reached down under the table. When his paw came back out, it was holding the monkey's lifeless body by the shoulder. He briefly raised him up high, before tossing him down to the floor in front of Itchy's chair.

The Dachshund was horrified by what he saw. Agent 9's body was riddled with shotgun pellets, and his clothing was horribly damaged - his suit was ripped, the soles had been torn from his boots, and his gloves were left hanging from his fingers.

As Itchy looked back up, a wide snarl spread across his face, and he gave a most enraged growl.

"God rest his poor bastard soul..." the dastardly Schnoodle said.

"No!" Itchy retorted angrily. "The only 'bastard soul' around here... is you!"

Bzzzzzzzzt!

"Eeyaaarrrgh!"

By pressing a small red button in the corner of the table, Killer had sent an electric shock into the chair.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo!" he laughed. "May the wrath of Annabelle crash down upon you!"

"Not funny, Kill!" the Dachshund snapped, reeling from the shock. "Urgh! What do you think this place is - a mental institution?"

"Ooh! You ain't seen the best part of it yet. Now, where was I? Ah, yes."

He then proceeded to lower the stack of drives into the chest compartment. Once it had been secured, he pressed and held his finger against a small grey button in the top of the compartment.

Then, after about ten seconds, the apertures in the robot's eyes slowly opened. Not long after, the rings of green LEDs began to switch on, and Killer closed the lid of the compartment, knowing that he needed to hold the power button no more.

Then, the robot rose slowly from the table, and looked up to meet the eyes of its creator.

"Ah-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! CyberSasha lives! CyberSasha LIVES!"

Itchy's mouth changed to a wide gasp as he witnessed this. He was now filled with the sting of a missed opportunity - had he had a little more time before Killer returned, he could have done more to put the robot into disrepair - by chopping off her head, perhaps, or splitting her right down the middle... but it was too late for that now.

"Now that I've installed her with a new AI build," said Killer, "she'll be even more deadly than ever!"

Once CyberSasha was up on two legs, she and her creator approached the imprisoned Dachshund. She extended her sword towards him, but Killer commanded her to remain at ease.

The Schnoodle then reached over to the back of the chair, where a large, hemispherical dish was positioned, standing upright. Taking off Itchy's cap with his other paw, Killer pulled the dish down until it was level over the wiener-dog's head.

After that, a set of clamps extended from the apparatus, and as they secured his head in place, a strange force seemed to overpower him...

... And that was when his mind went blank.

"Ah-ha!" said Killer again. "Now it's a mental institution!"

Once Itchy's mind had completely fallen under, Killer moved his mouth up closer to the Dachshund's ear, and whispered:

"So... where are the twerps?"

"D-... Dav-..." Itchy stammered. "D-David's h-house..."

"You heard the dog," the Schnoodle continued, turning to CyberSasha as he put Itchy's cap back on. "Set destination to 'David's house'."

"Affirmative."

With that, the robotic Setter made her way out of the shop, and at the same time, Killer stepped back to his mainframe; both pairs of robotic legs clunked as they went.

Reaching over to the paper tray, the Schnoodle pulled it open... revealing the Mask of Belladonna inside.

After taking the Mask in his paws, he carried it back to the centre of the room. Removing his glasses, he then stared down at the object, viewing it from the back.

Those eye-holes... those empty, empty eye-holes. Despite the blurring of his vision, Killer could have sworn that they were outlined with a sinister green glow. A second later, the inside of the mask appeared to jump out at him. However, this was more than the simple concave-mask illusion - it really did appear, to his eyes, as though the face of Belladonna herself were leaping out towards him.

Once he had taken a great gulp, Killer slowly raised the Mask up to his face. It was just an inch from his skin, when...

"No..." he said, forcing it away from himself. "I can't do it. No, I just can't..."

But, the very next second, that all changed.

"If you can't, then I'll do it for you!"

"Huh!?"

Suddenly, the dreaded tendrils shot out from the edges of the Mask. The Schnoodle let out a violent scream, as they latched firmly on to his face.

"Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the Mask laughed maniacally. After that, it was fully attached, and its laugh, now became his laugh...

Inside the living room, Charlie was laying, half-awake, on the sofa. Looking up at the clock once more - five o'clock, it read - he began to slowly raise himself up from the cushions.

Gee, he thought. I should be getting some water - I'm feeling kinda thirsty.

Surely enough, he proceeded to step through into the kitchen, before making his way to the sink. As he turned the cold tap slowly to the left, however, he could feel a strange tingle creeping down his spine - as though he were being watched.

Re-closing the tap, he stepped to the side, to look through the door to the patio. Plucking up the courage, he undid the latch, and gently slid it open...

... But, even after taking a good look around, giving a thorough check of the surroundings, it appeared to Charlie that there was no one around. Sliding the door back, he gave a quiet whistle as he returned to the sink.

Once his glass was full, he turned back towards the lounge, quietly sipping the water as he walked on his hind legs. But, then... there came another chill.

There must be someone here. I can sense it.

Turning to face the sliding door once again, he lowered his drink, and stared intently towards the centre of the pane. After almost ten seconds of this, he'd had enough, and turned his back yet again...

SMASH!

The very moment the Shepherd was again facing away from the patio, the glass of the door was suddenly shattered by the cold steel blade. In shock, he dropped the glass of water, leaving the floor at his feet wet and covered in shards. When Charlie made his fourth about-turn, he was met with a sight which filled him with dread - CyberSasha was now charging straight towards him, brandishing her sword and flamethrower as she went.

Upstairs, the sound had been heard by everyone else in the house - David, his father, step-mother, and step-brother, as well as Spyro, the Professor, and Bess, were all awoken by the loud smashing of the glass door.

"Ooh! Ooh!" said the Professor, the loudness hurting his sensitive ears. "What was that awful racket?"

Meanwhile, inside the master bedroom, David's young step-brother had been greatly disturbed by the smash.

"Waaaaah!" he bawled. "Mommy!"

As his mother jumped out of the bed, dressed only in her nightgown, she hurried over to try and comfort the little toddler.

"Shh-shh-shh!" she whispered. "It's all right, it's all right..."

"Huh?" said David's father. "What the heck is going on?"

He then dashed over to the bedroom door, and sharply pulled it open. However, he could now see that Bess, the Spaniel, was beginning to make her way down the stairs, with David following closely behind.

"David, no!" his father said. "Don't go. It could be dangerous!"

"But, Dad..."

"No buts, son. Let Dad take care of this. I'd rather you stayed in the master bedroom."

"... Okay..."

Reluctantly, the boy made his way in there, to join his step-relatives. As he helped his step-mother with the toddler, his father trotted down the stairs to follow Bess.

When the Spaniel reached the doorway of the kitchen, she saw that Charlie was being chased around the room by the robotic Setter. As she slashed at him with her deadly blade, all he could do was to avoid her. At one point, she had even set fire to the table and chairs, and tried to throw them at him, but still with little success. Bess watched nervously from the sidelines, until, after several minutes of this death-defying dance, CyberSasha finally made a connecting hit...

The tip of the cold blade raked through the skin of the Shepherd's chest, leaving a long, narrow scar. After spinning around from the hit, he fell down on to his back, leaving his legs and arms splayed out to the side.

"No!" said Bess as she witnessed this, but once CyberSasha turned towards her, she had to stifle the scream welling up in her throat by taking a bug gulp. However, she, miraculously, did not fail to notice the wink in Charlie's eye - though he had only been injured, he had feigned death in an effort to lose the robot's attention.

Bess could not play cat-and-mouse now - she would need to fight back against this metallic menace, or else the rest of the gang would be put in jeopardy.

Dashing forward, she engaged the robot in combat - as she ducked and dodged to avoid CyberSasha's sword swipes, she replied with a flurry of scratches, though these did little damage apart from making dull scratches in the livery of the exoskeleton.

Before long, the fight had progressed into the lounge. Even though CyberSasha was continuing to slash wildly with her blade, Bess was agile enough that the best the robot could do, was to make tears in the fabric of her dress.

After about two minutes, the Spaniel had managed to get around to behind her enemy. Grabbing the metallic being by the neck, she attempted to throttle her - but, again, this did little to appease CyberSasha.

It did not take much of a struggle for the robot to shake Bess off, and, surely enough, she had thrown the Cocker to the floor, before punishing her with a blast of flame. Bess tried to roll frantically on the carpet in an effort to extinguish herself, but CyberSasha immobilised her by stomping her metallic foot against the Spaniel's head.

Next, she reached down with her sword-arm, and rested its sharp tip against Bess's forehead. But, just as the robotic Setter was about to drag the blade through her vulnerable skin...

"Hey, tin-can! Over here!"

CyberSasha raised her head, and looked towards the kitchen doorway, taking her attention away from the Spaniel. There stood David's father, continuing to pelt her with epithets and taunts.

"Come on, you big hunk-a-junk! You may not be ugly, but darn, are you a threat! Think you can catch the birdie?"

In response, the metallic Setter moved away from Bess, and made her advance towards the human man, brandishing her weapons as she stepped up.

"Despicable human!" she said through her crackly voice-box. "If I have to make you shut up, I will!"

As she stepped into the kitchen, David's father backed away from her slowly.

"There we go," he whispered. "Keep going..."

"What are you playing at!? Fight me, you fool!"

But the man kept going. Briefly glancing behind himself to avoid both Charlie and the burning furniture.

Before long, he was up against the worktop in the back corner, where the sink, microwave oven, and toaster were positioned, with the top cupboards looming above them.

"You big coward!" CyberSasha continued. "That damn Spaniel could have run a quarter-mile in the time you've wasted! Oh, well... looks like I have no choice, but to END YOU!"

She then made her final advance. As David's father stood helplessly in the corner, the Setter raised her sword-blade high above her head, bringing her left hand back out to support it.

Then, just as she began to swing down, David's father reached quickly behind himself, grabbing the toaster with both hands. Just in time, he managed to bring it up to his face...

As the cold blade slashed into the top of the appliance, the current in the heating elements started to flow up into CyberSasha's arm. Before long, her entire body was coursing with excess charge, overloading all of her vital circuits.

Recoiling from the shock, David's father threw the toaster away from himself, leaving the robot to collapse down to the floor, and writhe violently on the tiles. This continued for a whole minute, before CyberSasha had gone completely still.

"Dad?"

David was now standing in the side doorway of the kitchen, which led in from another room.

"I told you to stay upstairs, son," his father replied. "What are you doing down here?"

But, the boy gave no answer. Instead, he turned to the burning table and chairs, and then to Charlie.

"Ah!" he gasped. "Dad, get the fire extinguisher!"

"Wha-? Oh! I forgot!"

Once the burning furniture had been extinguished (fortunately, Bess had already managed the same for herself since CyberSasha had left her alone), David and his father turned their attention to the sleeping Shepherd.

"Charlie?" David asked. "You all right?"

"... Huh?" he groaned, rising from the floor. "Is it over now?"

"Yes. Come on, we've gotta make sure Bess is all right."

The three of them then moved into the living room, and saw the Spaniel sitting and panting on the rug.

"Bess?" Charlie asked. "Are you okay?"

"Huh... huh... mmm. Not too bad - just a few tears and singe-marks here and there."

"Come on, Charlie," said David's father. "We've gotta do something about that scar."

Upstairs, in David's room, Charlie and Bess had been moved into the boy's bed. As the Cocker rested herself under the covers, David's step-mother was working hard to sew up the scar which ran across Charlie's chest, cleaning the blood from the wound as she went.

Once this had been finished, David said:

"So... what now?"

"There's only one thing for it," Charlie replied. "We'll have to return to Killer's."

But, upon hearing this, everyone stood back reluctantly.

"Nuh-uh!" said Bess.

"Aw, come on, guys," the Shepherd continued, getting up from the bed, and walking to the door. "We can't just stand around and wait, or things will only get worse. Killer still has the mask, and we've got to stop him. So, who's with me?"

However, out of this small crowd of onlookers, only one stepped forward.

"I'll go."

"But, Spyro," said the Professor. "Without Sparx, you're vulnerable!"

"I know, Prof..." the dragon replied. "But it's times like these, when, you know... you gotta..."

"... Believe?" Charlie interrupted.

The purple dragon turned back towards the Shepherd cross, and a small smile crept on to his face.

"That's right..."

The two of them then came up face-to-face, and yelled...

"You gotta believe!"

"So, it has been settled," said the Professor to conclude. "Spyro and Charles..."

Charlie gave him a stern look.

"Err... Spyro and Charlie, a-hem, are going to go out there... and fight the good fight!"

"Yeah!" David, his father and step-mother, and Bess, all rejoiced. With that, Charlie, the German Shepherd cross, and Spyro, the purple dragon, made their way out from the bedroom, down the stairs, and out through the front door.

"So..." said Charlie, once they were outside. "You ready?"

"Heck," Spyro replied. "I was born ready."

"... And so was I."

Upon saying this, Charlie lightly tapped a finger against his nose, and a small pink glow could be seen. After that, he and Spyro began the journey to Killer's Curios, with the sun rising majestically over the horizon as they ran...