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Here is the 28th installment of The Spyro Chronicles. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 27: Unwelcomed Guests

A blade of grass swayed in the wind. It was quickly trampled by a purple claw that ran over it. It was soon followed by several pairs of boots.

Spyro skid to a halt and looked around. Nothing. Wagner ran up beside him.

"See anything Spyro?"

"No, there's nothing." He said back to the human. Wagner sighed and looked around. They were in a forest of some sort on top of a mountain. Their Nighthawk had been pulled down by something and they had landed there just a few minutes ago. They couldn't get the Nighthawk airborne again so they decided to just work with what they had.

"Dammit... something just doesn't want us to reach the Final Solution does it?" Wagner asked himself.

"Looks like it." Cynder said, walking up to them. The forest around them was a bit more lush then Tall Plains and the warm sunlight penetrated through the leaves, warming up the coalition of creatures.

"Well, first off, we need to find food. Most of us probably haven't eaten in about a day or two and we won't be able to fight off the dark armies with no energy."

"Well, I'll go look for some food then." Spyro volunteered. He and Cynder ran off into the lush forest, the grass swaying behind them.

As they walked, Spyro noted the birds chirping, grass swaying, and the sound of water running. It was a much welcomed change to the snowy Mendobara Pass. It was much warmer in the forest, and now he hoped that the chances of food were higher. They hadn't eaten in a couple of days.

"Spyro?"

"What is it Cynder?"

"I want to apologize for what I did earlier. I shouldn't have done that. I'm just so worried and scared of loosing another friend."

"Cynder, we are all scared. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I am happy that you are still with me. I hate loosing friends too... but, we just have to go on... But still, I miss Ignitus and Sparx real bad. The only thing keeping me here is the knowledge that I have a family. And that I have you." He stopped walking and looked at her. She stopped as well and looked him in the eyes. It had been a while since she had indulged in his eyes; they were pools of purple joy for her. She smiled, laughed, then kissed him on the cheek.

"Spyro, I love you too... just promise me that you won't leave."

"I promise. Can you promise me the same?"

"Sure, I promise never to leave your side and you the same."

"Cynder, I love you so much that I would never think of leaving you again. I have caused so much pain that I want to right my wrong. With you, I can do nothing but." He said, staring into her emerald eyes.

"Oh Spyro..." She rubbed her muzzle against his and they began to feel each others love.

"Well, we should be looking for food." Spyro said, suddenly breaking their embrace.

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot." Cynder said, scanning around for potential food to catch. They walked around searching, but they couldn't really find any animals. It was odd, the environment was lush and warm, yet there were no animals. There weren't even any berries or eatable plants for them. After about an hour of walking through the tall grass and trees, they returned to the Marine CP to find them lying around, resting.

"I take it you didn't find anything then?"

"No, there isn't anything in this forest!" Spyro said, getting frustrated with their lack of luck during this trip.

"Well, let's start to move, we have to get to the Final Solution. 1st squad, your with me, let's go scout out the area and see if we can't find out just how far we are from the Final Solution." After Wagner said that, the Marines from 1st sprung up, and even the Lakadors tagged along.

"Sir, permission to stay behind to take care of Allison?" Karson asked, him being a member of 1st squad.

"Granted, give her all the care you can Karson."

"Yes sir."

"Spyro, Cynder, want to tag along as well?" Wagner offered, turning to the two dragons.

"Sure."

"Well let's go then."

"Jason, take point."

The electric chosen one moved forward, followed by the rest of 1st squad. They moved through the tall grass and it wasn't long before the Marines had to take a breather. Spyro himself felt tired as well. They hadn't eaten in a while and it was starting to take its toll. Spyro could go on some more, but soon hunger would catch up with him as well.

"God, I'm freaking hungry..." Riley said as they moved along.

"Stow it, we have to keep moving." Jason said to him. Jason had taken over Malarkey's platoon, or rather squad now, so he had to show a degree of control over the men. The Lakadors trudged behind them, it seems as though even the Lakadors had to eat. Mitinie followed closely, despite his wound on his leg.

They all sat down in the grass, they had barely moved a few dozen yards from the Nighthawk. Some of 1st squad laid down in the grass for a nap while others lazily walk around.

Spyro was about to fall asleep himself when he heard a sound in the background. The other Marines heard it too, turning their attention skyward. Cynder stood up and yawned and walked up next to Spyro. They saw something coming from in the distance. It was a Lakador Drop Ship. Yahade' keyed his mike to try to contact it, but to no avail. It flew over them and turned as if to make another pass. This time however, it banked lower and crashed into the forest just ahead of them.

"C'mon, let's go check it out!" Wagner yelled. The Marines scrambled to get their gear and Spyro and Cynder ran off to the crash site. They ran through the forest and stumbled upon a cliff. The whole forest seemed to be perched on a plateau. It looked as if they were about as high up as Tall Plains was, but it turns out its just that the valley below is incredibly low.

The drop ship had crashed into the side of the cliff and there was movement down there. As Spyro was about to take flight down there to check it out, 4 plague jumped from the cliffs edge and all slung themselves onto Spyro. Each of them had a hold on him and the one on his back bit him on his neck.

"NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Cynder yelled as she watched. A few more Plague leapt from the cliff's edge and a few were about to latch onto Cynder, but assault rifle fire blew them off the edge.

Spyro slumped over, the Plague releasing him. He started to fidget, his muscles spasming and his motions more in-coherent. Cynder slashed at the Plague that had just bit Spyro, cutting one cleanly in half. Another was silenced as Anderson put a burst from his M23A into it. The triple clack of its report echoed throughout the valley. Another was killed as it tried to jump onto Wagner, only to get a rifle butt in the face and a kick off the cliff. The last was silenced by a combination of Cynder kicking it and Riley pumping a shotgun shell into it.

When the area was clear, they all rushed to Spyro. The purple dragon was still fidgeting and lying on the ground. The bite wound on his neck was spurting out a purple cloud. Amongst the purple however, there was a small trace of gold. It was subtle, but it was there.

"Tamez, come with me!" Wagner yelled as he grabbed a rope from his pack and started to rappel along the cliff's face. Tamez joined him and they both placed grenades on the roof of the drop ship, near the cliff's edge. They could hear lots of movement inside and Wagner pulled the pin on one and they all jumped onto the rope and started climbing. They both pulled themselves over the cliff's edge before the grenades went off. The explosion engulfed the drop ship and sent it into the deep abyss that was the valley.

After that was taken care of, they all went back to Spyro. He was unconscious now and the dark cloud had disappeared, a small glint of gold escaping the wound.

"Spyro! Spyro wake up! Please Spyro..." Cynder said as he continue to lay there.

"Riley, go a get Mclowsky down here on the double!" Wagner yelled. Riley nodded and ran off to get the medic that was sitting back at the Nighthawk."

"Don't worry Cynder, the medic's on her way." Tamez said, patting her on the shoulder. She started to cry a bit and a few tears fell onto Spyro's chest.

"Sir, if Spyro's been bitten by a Plague then that means-" Ackmar said to Wagner.

"I know damn well know what it means..." Wagner said as he upholstered his pistol. He clicked the safety off and looked at the weapon. Could he really bring himself to kill Spyro if he did turn into a Plague? Could he really shoot the dragon he had been fighting with for weeks now? Could he kill Cynder's mate? All these questions flowed into his mind as he stared at the weapon and back down to the purple dragon who lay on the ground, a gold mist coming from his wound. If he did turn, Spyro would jeopardize all their lives and the mission could possibly end here and now. If that happened, the Dark Master would win. He couldn't let him win. But he also couldn't kill Spyro. He felt an obligation to protect Spyro. Why? He didn't know, there was just a buried feeling inside him that obligated him to protect him. It was his duty in a matter, just like it was for him to watch over Cynder and Karson and Allison.

Cynder saw Wagner holding the gun and she let out a shriek. She jumped on top of Spyro's chest.

"No! I won't let you kill him! You can't kill him!" She said as she sobbed. Spyro flinched a bit, but showed no signs of other movement.

"Cynder... I-" at that moment, the corpsmen ran up, followed by Riley. She made a motion for Cynder to get off and she started to observe the wound. She started to probe his wound with a small metal device. She was rewarded by a trickle of blood, gold mist, and a small trickle of black liquid. She shined a flashlight into his wound and looked around.

"Sir, this is odd..." Mclowsky said as she shined the light around.

"What is it?" Wagner asked, crouching next to her.

"Well, out of the dozen cases of Marines getting bitten by the Plague, this is the first I have seen that is different. I don't know it it's just the anatomy of a dragon or if it's something else."

"Well what's different?"

"The whole wound itself, there is very little dark energy and there is a new thing here. It's like some sort of gold thing. I can't tell what it is though."

"Gold thing?"

"Yeah, right here, this small gold mist. I don't know what it is."

"What the hell, I thought dark energy was dark, not gold."

"That's what I thought to sir, maybe it isn't dark energy."

"Then what is it if it's not dark energy?"

"I don't know sir, I don't know."

Cynder sniffed. How could Spyro have gotten bit? Was he going to forever be evil? Turning dark is one thing, becoming a Plague is another. Being dark, like he had before, you retained yourself; you just were in a state of evil. As a plague, nothing of your former self remained. The former entity was essentially erased and replaced with a dark form. She couldn't let this happen to Spyro. She just couldn't... She didn't notice that the gold mist began to get bigger and flow more fluently from Spyro's neck.

Spyro sat in darkness. He didn't know where he was and as he lifted his head, he felt like something was holding him down, sapping his energy. Even with this, he picked himself off of the ground and looked around. He was standing on nothing essentially. Everything was just pitch black. He kept looking for anything other then the inky blackness. He was rewarded by more blackness. As he walked along he began to feel cold.

As the time passed, he began to feel as though parts of his body were numb, almost non-existent. It was then that he realized he didn't have feet anymore. They were just gone, he could interact with the floor as if they were there, but he couldn't see them. However, there was no blood. It was as if he was being erased. He started to panic a bit, running off into the darkness. More and more of him began to vanish, and he began to loose himself. He had to remind himself who he was, for his own memories seemed to vanish.

He fell onto the dark floor, his body beginning to cool down. His legs were gone and now his tail was beginning to vanish. His energy was also being sapped and he wondered if this was the end. He used all his might to lift his head up. He had almost completely forgotten who he was. Who was he anyway? Why was he here? What is his purpose? All of this started to flow into his mind and he felt more and more of him disappear. His chest slowly began to vanish into the darkness as well.

As he stared into the darkness, he saw something. It was a face. It looked like a black dragoness with 3 sets of horns. One in the back of her head and two along the side of her face. She had a purple and white pattern on the top of her head and she had emerald eyes. The eyes are what struck him the most. They intrigued him and he wanted to know more.

"Who are you?" He asked the being. It didn't respond. The dragoness closed her eyes and looked away. The image began to fade.

"Wait! Where are you going? Do you know who I am?" He started to crawl towards the face as it continued to fade into the darkness. Suddenly something popped into his head, a name.

"Wait, is your name Cynder? Cynder, do you know me?" He continued to chase after the face. Suddenly, he felt more things coming back.

"Cynder, is my name Spyro? Wait, please tell me!" The face turned, it still had a sad look to it, but she opened her eyes and muttered something: "Spyro..."

"So my name is Spyro! Where am I? Can you tell me more?" The face disappeared and Spyro saw a white light behind where she was. He rushed to it, hoping to learn more of himself. As he touched the light, he felt memories return to him. His body began to take shape again and he felt more energy. Suddenly he heard voices all around him.

"So what should we do sir?" a voice said. Spyro felt like he was lying down and he couldn't open his eyes.

"We have to take him with us!" another yelled, very similar to the one he had heard in the darkness.

"What if he turns into one of them? What will we do?"

"We just need to shoot him now... we can't take a chance."

"You can't! I love him!"

"Sorry... but if he does turn we have to do it, right sir? Sir, are you there?" Nobody responded to his question. Spyro felt more energy return and he coughed.

They all heard Spyro cough and looked at the dragon that lay on the ground. He slowly started to move and all the Marines, including the Lakadors, had their rifles pointed at him instantly. Wagner was the only one who let his pistol sway downwards. Cynder jumped on him and shrieked.

"I won't let you kill him!"

"Cynder... what happened...?" Spyro said weakly. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, and whispered: "Nothing Spyro, everything's going to be fine."

Spyro smiled, his eyes still closed.

"Cynder, I know you're lying, what happened." Cynder lifted herself off of Spyro and noticed something. The wound in his neck was gone. It had healed entirely.

"Spyro? You feel ok?" Wagner asked as he crouched next to him.

"Yeah, I feel fine. Why?" Spyro said, slowly opening his eyes.

"You were bit by a Plague Spyro, not many can talk about it afterwards."

"I felt myself being erased... my memories being taken away... though after I saw Cynder's face everything was coming back to me." After that he thought about it for a second. Had Cynder saved him again? Just how powerful was their love? Apparently it is powerful enough to cancel out the effects of a Plague. Then again, Jason had done the same thing. He had reverted back to humanity all on his own without any help after being bit by a Plague. Maybe it was something about being a chosen one that helped them. Whatever it was, he was glad to be back with Cynder.

"Mclowsky?" Wagner asked the medic. She examined Spyro to make sure nothing was amiss.

"Everything's normal sir, it's as if he was never bitten."

"Well I am glad..." Cynder said as she kissed him lightly on his cheek.

"Oh please..." Mitinie muttered as he limped away.

"I hate to break up your little thing but I think we have a problem."

"What would that be Tamez?" Wagner asked, standing up.

"Uh sir, I don't know about you but I don't think castles are supposed to float in mid-air."

"What the hell are you talk...ing... about..." Wagner started to trail off as he noticed that a castle was indeed floating in mid-air in front of them. It was positioned over the valley before them and there were several floating islands surrounding the main one with pieces of castle on them. Wagner couldn't believe he didn't see it before.

"Riley... get back to 2nd, tell them to get here ASAP..." Wagner said, still staring at the large castle before them.

"Uh... yes sir!" Riley said before dashing into the forest to get second squad.

"What do you think it is sir?" Ackmar said in disbelief.

"I don't know... Spyro?"

"Well, welcome the dragon realms Lieutenant. There are castles like this everywhere. There is a big one near the center of the realms, that's where me and Cynder went before we fought the Dark Master. Though I have never seen this particular castle before."

"Think we should go check it out?" Jason asked, walking over to Wagner.

"Wait for 2nd then move your squad over... though first we need to find out just how the hell to get there."

End of Chapter 27

Sorry it was so short. Because of a surprise road to trip to Dallas which I will not return until Sunday, I had to cut this chapter in half. The other half is being written and I will finish up when I get back and post it online. The ending is near, I can just feel it. Can you?