Me: What up my homies, i'm back.

*Silence*

Me: And the backstage audience is dead. Anyway, I'm so so sorry if you thought I'd abandoned you. I'd never do that, just took a long leave of absence. Anyway, I won't bore you, because i'm sure you want to keep reading.

ON WITH THE SHOW

Taylor stood on the forward bow of his transport ship, quietly puffing on a cigarette. It was still roughly two hours before dawn and a heavy fog had rolled in, effectively blocking his view of the approaching island of Boyzitbig. This was both a blessing and a curse. It hid their advancing fleet from prying enemy eyes, but at the same time, obscured the enemy defenses. They'd be landing blind. All lights had been doused aboard the transports and their escorts, rendering them almost invisible in the fog.

Taylor took a final puff on the cigarette, then tossed it over the side and made his way back along one of the walkways to the bridge. On the bridge were several officers, including the captain, a short burley mole who had to stand on a step ladder to see out the windshield. Spyro and Cynder had curled up in a corner of the bridge and were sleeping soundly. "Still all silent." Said Taylor as he walked in. "I was sure they'd have sent a patrol out by now."

"Yeah." Said Cook, who was manning a lookout post on the far side of the bridge. "I can make out the top of the cliffs and the landing beach, but no movement so far."

"Tell the tank crews to mount up, we're going ashore in 10." Cook nodded and moved off. Taylor turned to the Captain. "Tell the crew to man the prop, we're going to need all the power we've got."

There was some muffled shouting from below and Cook kicked open the bridge door, carrying a sack that appeared to be struggling. "Look what I caught stowing away in one of the Ruskie tanks." He opened the sack and out fell, Ciro.

"Ciro?" Said Taylor. "What are you doing here?"

Ciro looked up sheepishly. "I wasn't being left behind again. I fought in Warfang, why shouldn't I fight here?"

Taylor face palmed, then took a deep breath. "Know what, fine. You're coming ashore with us, but your staying either on my ass or behind Spyro and Cynder." Ciro bobbed his head obediently. Taylor grumbled something about dragons before picking up a pair of binoculars and scanning the coast. "Looks like the flags are working a charm, if they can see us, they still think we're one of theirs." The last word was punctured by a distant explosion and a small yellow flash on the coast. He leant out of the bridge.

"INCOMING!" The shot fell just short of the bow, hurling up a huge spray of sea water. All hell erupted at once. The shore line became illuminated with tracer rounds and the flashes of tank guns. Everyone on the deck of the transports returned fire with rifles and sub-machine guns.

Cook ran over to the coms tube linking the bridge to the prop room and shouted. "Flank speed, flank speed." The men stationed below began to haul the crack and the ship steadily began to increase speed.

One of the escort ships turned slowly into the wind and delivered a rippling broadside onto the shore line, the two 88's on its deck joining in. A line of explosions covered the beach and threw up a large cloud of dirt and smoke. On the transport, someone cut the Maleforian flag loose and hauled up a Soviet red flag.

"Let's ram it down their throats!" Shouted Cook over the roar of cannon fire.

Spyro and Cynder were already standing and looking through the windshield. "They figured it out all ready?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what gave us away." Said Taylor, he then leant out of the bridge. "Return fire!" He shouted.

On the deck, one of the Sherman firefly's shook as it sent a high explosive shell flying towards the beach from it's 17 pounder gun. Likewise, other tanks on other ships began to fire as well. There was an enormous explosion from behind them. Taylor turned to see one of their escorts ablaze, having been hit broadside by a large shell.

"The Celestial's been hit!" He shouted. He looks back at the beach. "20 seconds to impact. Brace yourselves!" There was a loud grinding sound as the ship scraped over the sand and onto dry land where it came to a halt. The ramp on the front was cut loose and men and tanks poured onto the beach. The same was happening all along the beach as the five transport ships beached themselves. Taylor loaded a fresh clip into his Lee Enfield and ducked as a bullet shattered the windshield.

"Spyro, Cynder, Ciro. Stay on our asses until we reach the target." He said as he threw open the door to the bridge. He stepped out onto the deck and narrowly avoided a bullet that hit and destroyed a lamp. "C'mon, let's move." They ran down the deck of the ship, down the ramp and on to the beach. The tanks and tank destroyers were dueling with the tanks on the ridge, which was already dotted with several smoking hulks. Infantry was advancing slowly up the beach, fighting from shell hole to shell hole. Many Reptalons had abandoned their human weapons and had charged down onto the beach with swords and spears. Bloody melees were breaking out everywhere.

A Soviet unit was making progress on the right flank, advancing up the beach quickly behind a SU-152 tank destroyer. Two Panthers and a Maus sat in flames before it. On the left, the Canadian and German units were embroiled somewhere in a mass of struggling men and reptalons. They had absorbed the brunt of a counter charge and were slowly fighting towards the sand hill line. In the center, the American and other Russian units were struggling forward with the support of the remaining tanks.

A group of Reptalons had entrenched themselves at the base of the sand dune barrier with crossbows and submachine guns and were pouring fire down on the advancing troops. Taylor dove down into a shell hole and the others followed. He was surprised to find Schlesinger and Schmitt in the same hole. "Well, this is a coincidence." He said.

"Maybe a little." Said Schmitt, leaning over the lip of the crater to fire two shots at the entrenched enemy, then ducking back down as they returned fire. "We can't advance with all this fire. The tanks can't move up until we clear the area as best we can."

"Anyone got smoke?" Asked Taylor.

"Yeah." Said Cook, handing him a smoke grenade.

"Alright." Taylor took the grenade. "Spyro, get your fire ready. We're gonna clear that trench." Spyro nodded and crouched down to leap. "Fix bayonets!" Taylor called down the line. Everyone in earshot that had a bayonet fixed it. He hurled the smoke grenade which filled the area in front of them with a thick cloud of white smoke. "Let's go! Over the top!"

Everyone in the vicinity leapt over the lip of the shell holes and charged the enemy line. A few further down the line were hit and fell, but the rest threw themselves into the enemy trenches. Spyro poured his fire breath into a section of the trench, setting several Reptalons alight, while Taylor bayonetted the nearest Reptalon, then shot it at close range. Cook had embedded his rifle halfway up the barrel in a Reptalon skull, Schmitt had already dispatched his opponent and was firing his MP-40 at some foes who were falling back across open ground and Schlesinger was shoulder to shoulder with a Russian officer armed with a cavalry saber, fighting back two Reptalons.

A Panther tank rolled across in front of their position, turned it's turret and fired, but the shot went low and struck a small rise in the ground. Taylor looked around for armored support, but the nearest tank was a Panzer IV, which was still struggling to get up the sand hill. "Damn it." He cursed, ducking as machine gun fire raked the position.

"We need artillery support!" Shouted Taylor. "Where's the radio?" Someone pointed to a body lying on open ground, a radio operator with a radio on his back. "Damn it again."

"I got it." Ciro suddenly appeared.

"Where are you..." Taylor started to say, but Ciro was already racing towards the downed operator. "Shit! Covering fire." He raised himself up and fired off two unaimed shots before ducking back down, several other soldiers joined in. Ciro dodged between small mounds of earth, bodies and equipment until he reached the radio operator. He grabbed the man's shirt in his jaws and began dragging him back to the shell hole, bullets pinging off the ground around him and arrows sailing overhead.

Taylor fired at a Reptalon trying to aim a bow and struck him in the head, there was a shower of sparks as the bullet sliced through the Reptalon's armour and penetrated its skull. He ducked back down as Ciro crawled back into the shell hole. "Medic!" He shouted. A medic crawled in and began to treat the radio man as Taylor stripped the undamaged radio and a map from him.

"Ciro, that was very stupid." He growled. "You moved out without even waiting for the benefit of covering fire."

"Yes but..." Ciro began but Taylor held up a hand to silence him while he cranked the side of the radio.

He took the receiver. "Requesting heavy artillery support on sector," He looked at the map. "2,4,6,0, sugar, tare, indigo. One round." There was a dull thud of a heavy gun in the distance, then a shell arched overhead and exploded just behind the Panther. "Splash out." He said. "Drop 2, fire for effect." This time there were several thuds, including the dull boom of a Soviet 203mm gun.

Tyalor ducked down. "Here comes the thunder." There was a roar as half a dozen shells of various calibers flew overhead followed by an enormous explosion. The turret of the Panther flew over their heads and landed several meters away, upside down and smoking. It was obvious anyone in the tank was dead. Around them, the sound of battle was slowly dying out as the Reptalons retreated into the interior of the island. In the distance, Taylor could make out the remnants of buildings and small shapes as Reptalons scurried about around it. Behind it, the volcano smoked, vented traces of fire and ash.

"That must be the complex where Siverna is summoning her soldiers." Cook said.

"Yes." Said Taylor. He looked over to Spyro and Cynder. "You two stick with us. We need to clear out the area around the facility before we can call in the V2 strike. Ciro, you too. I'm not letting you out of my sight." The three dragons nodded.

"I hope Siverna is there." Cynder muttered. "If anything has happened to my child, then the ancestors themselves won't be able to save her."

"We can't start the assault yet." Taylor said. "We need to wait for our remaining troops and artillery to get ashore, then we make an assault plan, and then we go in."

There was a dull roar in the distance and suddenly, silence as everyone stopped to listen. "What the hell was that?" Taylor muttered, ejecting an empty shell casing from his rifle.

"Not any creature I've ever fought." Spyro said.

"Me either." Said Cynder. "Far to deep."

There was an enormous explosion at the base of the volcano and for a moment, it looked as though a side vent had blown. But then the dust began to clear and a sight that made many soldiers blood run cold could be seen. A pair of enormous guns, were slowly emerging from the darkness.

Taylor snatched a pair of binoculars from a nearby soldier and aimed them at the emerging guns. It almost looked as if a metal wall was emerging slowly from the cave. "What the fuck is that?"

Schlesinger took the binoculars and scanned the site for himself. He slowly lowered them. "A P-1000 ratte." He said slowly. "A battleship turret, on a 1000 ton tank."

There was dead silence across the front as the giant tank trundled in front of the factory complex. Then Taylor said the word that summed up everyone's thought process.

"Shit."