Ghosts of the Past(Language, Violence, Gore, Dark Themes)

Chapter 1

Yoshiro hopped off the Dragon's back as he walked to Rogelio's house, he held his best friend's sword tightly in one hand and looked at the door, this was the hardest part of his job and of his life. He looked down at the sword and tried to keep himself from crying, but he couldn't. He knocked on the door, and whispered, "Please be home, Tatiana... please." Yoshiro sat there for what seemed like an eternity, time seemed to pass extra slowly for him. Suddenly the door opened and Yoshiro looked up to see Harumi instead, "Father, Elena and Tatiana are in the back yard. Father? What's wrong?" Yoshiro looked at her, he couldn't stop the tears, "Harumi, come on." Harumi looked at the sword in Yoshiro's hand and gasped, "Father!?" Yoshiro wiped his face on his own sleeve.

Harumi frowned and led Yoshiro through the house, and into the back yard, upon seeing Rogelio's wife and his daughter, the tears threatened to start up again, "Tatiana, Elena, I have something to tell you, this... this..." Yoshiro was overcome with grief, he figured that his best friend was going to go peacefully and he'd be the one told of this, not the other way around, the two Mofeta women looked at him, Tatiana frowning, "Yoshiro, what is it?" Yoshiro sighed and tried to internalize his grief, he wanted to look professional, but he couldn't speak confidently anymore, all he could do was speak softly, "This is never easy for me, I've always thought that Rogelio would find retirement and be happy with you. He always spoke about how he'd visit Elena from time to time, just to see how his daughter was doing, he always spoke so highly of the two of you, he loved you both dearly and now..."

Yoshiro tried to look Tatiana in the eye, but couldn't as he presented her with Rogelio's sword, "Rogelio was taken from us by my own half-sister. To the very end, Rogelio was a true knight, his final words were to urge me to go to my family. Tatiana, Elena, both of you are part of my family through my daughter, but even if that wasn't the case, I was close to Rogelio to the point where I saw him as my own brother. I tried to save his life, but his wounds were too severe, I want the two of you to know that he didn't die a coward, he sacrificed himself so that I could live. Though it's not in my authority to do so anymore, I respectfully request that Elena and Harumi restore Rogelio's honor guard status."

Elena looked at him, tearfully, "I can do that, but Yoshiro, why did you not fight back, why didn't you try to keep my dad from dying?" Yoshiro frowned, "There's nothing I could've done, Elena. Rogelio and I both knew that if I showed myself, Aiko wasn't going to spare either of us. Elena, he chose this, willingly. Listen, I promise you that Aiko will not get away with this, she will face justice." Tatiana looked at Yoshiro, "Rogelio always spoke so highly of you, Yoshiro. Listen, I know it will be hard for you, but can you do something for me?" Yoshiro looked at her, "If you or Elena have any requests, I'll be willing to hear them out, we're all grieving, but I know this news doesn't hit me half as hard as either of you." Tatiana nodded, "Yoshiro, please take Rogelio's shield with you." She started to choke up, her own tears starting to form, even though she held them back, "He had wanted to give you that shield for the longest time."

Yoshiro frowned and closed his eyes, "I'll have to go recover the shield, but it's something that I can do. Listen, wherever you want Rogelio to be buried, I'll have him buried. Whatever monument you wish to have placed to mark his grave, I'll have it commissioned and placed myself." Tatiana shook her head, "You were his lord, through most of his life, Yoshiro. This decision is up to you, not up to us, he made that clear long ago." Yoshiro nodded with a frown, it felt like the weight on his shoulders was only getting much bigger, he felt terrible about this and none of this was helping right now, "I'll figure everything out later. I just, I just need to be alone right now." Elena nodded as Yoshiro opened his eyes and walked over to the fence, hopping it and entering the street. He walked slowly to the Kitsune castle as he knew of a tower that he could get to.

Once at the gates, he passed through, ignoring any questions as he looked at the castle itself. As he walked into the castle, he made a beeline for the stairway to the tower itself. It took several minutes for him to get to the top at his pace, but he didn't care. He looked out towards the kingdom through the window and then down at the yard where he and Rogelio would train the younger soldiers. He felt empty inside, none of this seemed to matter now that Rogelio was gone, he no longer had his friend. Anger swelled up inside of him, he turned to throw a punch at the wall, but saw his baby sister there, "Big Brother... what's wrong?" Yoshiro looked away, "I want to be alone." Minako's voice spoke up, "That much is apparent, but you seem angry and hurt badly, wait where... where's Rogelio."

Yoshiro leaned against the window, "In a morgue. His life left him less than two hours ago." Minako looked at her youngest child, "Setsuko, I know you want to hug him, but don't." Yoshiro folded his arms as he leaned against the window sill, "I came up here to be alone, while I think. It's the sole reason I'm not with my son right now." Yoshiro thought about his son and suddenly the image of Aiko hurting him came into his mind, without hesitation he shoved his fist through the window, the glass cutting him up and snapping him out of the rage as he gasped. He carefully withdrew his hand and looked at the blood, Setsuko gasped, "Eww! You're bleeding!" Yoshiro closed his hand into a fist, "I know you're young, but I just watched my best friend bleed to death from a hole in his chest!" Minako looked at Yoshiro, "Yoshiro! She's not even an adult yet!"

Yoshiro looked at Setsuko and and then at Minako, "I'm sorry, I just lost my best friend, I've known him since way before you were born, since before any of your nieces or nephews were born. He's always been there for me when I needed him, even when I didn't want him there. He died as he lived, a true knight and one of my personal honor guard." Setsuko hugged him and Yoshiro hugged with his right arm, so as to not bleed on his little sister, "Thanks, sis. You take a bit after Reiko, not a surprise as you stay near her and mom all the time." Yoshiro nudged her away and took off his shirt, he didn't wear armor that day since he figured it was a rumor and nothing more. He wrapped his shirt around his wounds and sighed, Setsuko gasping, "You have lots of scars!"

Yoshiro frowned and nodded, "I know, I've also seen lots of battles. Look, can I be alone for about an hour." Minako nodded, "You can have all the time you need, Yoshiro." Setsuko nodded, "Bye, big brother." Yoshiro nodded and turned back to look out the windows again, he was still angry and the cuts to his arm weren't making it better by stinging. He sat down against the wall next to the window and looked up at the ceiling, "If I knew that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have let you come out on that mission. I guess I'm not being fair, neither of us had any intel about the dangers we could possibly face, gathering it was to be our jobs. Rogelio, I'm sorry, I know you wanted me to stay out of active duty, but, I'm going to have to rejoin active service now, Aiko's that much of a threat. I hope you'll forgive me someday." Yoshiro sighed slightly and looked towards a window to watch as birds flew by, and he began to try to work through his thoughts and his sorrow.

Chapter 3

It had been hours since he had arrived and there was still no Takeshi in sight, Yoshiro sighed and laid down on the couch. He closed his eyes, "Mamoru, I'm going to get a little shut eye if you don't mind." Mamoru nodded, "A nap will do you good, Yoshiro." Yoshiro tried to go to sleep, but for some reason his internal clock wouldn't let him do so, so instead he tried to meditate a bit. He calmed down slightly, but was still on edge, however a voice broke him out of his meditation, "Father." Yoshiro opened his eyes to see Takeshi standing there, "General Misawa, it's good to see you again." Takeshi sat down in a chair, "Once my stepsister and your daughters get here, we can begin the daunting task of planning this out."

Yoshiro was confused, "Daughters?" He knew of Harumi being in the city, but suddenly Hiromi and Misaki walked into the door, followed by Yoshiko, "Sorry Stepfather, oh, hi Takeshi." Takeshi nodded as Hiromi looked at her father, "I came as soon as I heard the news, Dad." Yoshiro sat up and sighed, "That Rogelio is dead, or that I've quit being part of the Kitsune military, because your uncle Masaru is a prick?" Hiromi frowned, "The former and Uncle Masaru isn't a prick!" Yoshiro sighed, "I lost my best friend, Hiromi and your uncle and I fought, he threw me out of the castle." Hiromi frowned, but Misaki shrugged, "He's an ass, I was never one for royalty, but Masaru is quite uptight and doesn't let shit from the past just go, he always holds onto it, as if it was supposed to be his life."

Yoshiro stood up as Yoshiko entered the house finally, "Alright, Mamoru, what's our plan?" Mamoru handed Yoshiro a datapad, "Aiko thought that I was on her side and wanted to kill you, since you normally avoid me, that wasn't exactly a hard deception to pull off, she gave me this information." Yoshiro looked at the datapad, he recognized the schematics, "This is a Menschilche bunker, according to the coordinates, this would be seven thousand klicks to the south-east. She's operating on another continent." Hiromi blinked, "Father, you don't have experience fighting on another continent, do you?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I have, but nothing like this. Usually when I was chasing someone down with the dracoknights. She was at least smart enough to not give you the strength of her forces."

Mamoru nodded, "Yes, that's troublesome, the reason that Hiromi is here though, is so that you can get support from the Kilvish forces." Yoshiro shook his head, "I will not weaken the defenses of the Kilvish kingdom. Even though there are few safe paths an army could possibly take into the capitol, the other cities, which are newly built if I understand." Hiromi nodded and Misaki placed down a map and Yoshiro pointed at the cities which were marked, "They're still partially within Dragon Territory, but they're less well defended naturally. Bahamut was working on a new armor for me when I retired, I should go see if he had completed it, tomorrow." Yoshiko looked at Mamoru, "What's my role in all of this?" Yoshiro looked up at her, "You're a mage, from what I know on this continent that we're going to, mages are highly respected."

Mamoru nodded, "It's true, I have some contacts on that continent, and Yoshiro, with your renown, it should be easy for you to get a sizable force to storm this base." Yoshiro sighed slightly as he looked back at the schematics, "No one has stepped foot in one of these since our liberation, how is this thing still functional. Aiko would never pick a base that she had to do a massive repair job on. Mamoru sighed, causing Yoshiro to look up as Takeshi spoke up, "Yoshiro, my father and I have seen some of the things that were in these bases, my own little brother was a bio-weapon that was genetically engineered by the Menschilche. All we faced were mechs and other things like that, but..." Yoshiro narrowed his eyes, "How do you know that Hiroshi is a bio-weapon, if you never saw the data." Takeshi folded his arms, "Yoshiro, think carefully about this."

Yoshiro remembered that Hiroshi was a psionic, this was a trait that wasn't innate to the Verbanan peoples, nor was it innate to the Eltiranans. Dragons and the Menschilche were the only ones capable of being psionic, while the Verbanans got magic. Then it suddenly hit Yoshiro, "Aside from being psionic, what was what clued you in on this?" Mamoru frowned, "The fact that Minako was taken in by a Menschilche Scientist for a month. That was sort of the last straw for me and I decided to lead a revolution against our slavers." Yoshiro nodded, he knew full well about that part of their history, not a single verbanan didn't know of the name Mamoru Misawa. Takeshi frowned, "Yoshiro, are you not curious as to what my role happens to be?" Yoshiro stood up and extended his hand to his half brother, Takeshi just looked at it.

This continued for a moment and Yoshiro sighed, "Takeshi, you've more combat experience than I do, you'll make a far better leader than I will. Your role is to be the commanding officer of this operation." Takeshi blinked slightly, "Yoshiro, that wasn't originally my role, I was supposed to be your advisor." Yoshiro shook his head, "You know these bases better than I do, far better than I probably ever will. Takeshi, I'm handing command to you. I work better as a soldier anyhow, never did like directing a battle from afar." Takeshi smiled slightly, "Alright then, but how long do you wish to wait before we head out to the continent to the south east?" Yoshiro shrugged, "A couple of days at most, I want to be able to establish a base there and build up our forces from there, but there are a few things that I need to do."

Mamoru nodded, "The sun's going down, would you all like to stay here for the night, we have more than enough beds." Misaki and Hiromi politely declined, while Takeshi smiled, "Thanks, Dad." As Mamoru and Takeshi walked out of the room, Yoshiko looked at Yoshiro, "You put on a brave face and you act like you know what you're doing, but you're scared and want to give up." Yoshiro laid down on the couch, "You got that right, Yoshiko. I just lost my best friend and I feel lost without him, he's been part of my life for the past four hundred and something years, and now he's suddenly gone, taken from me by Aiko. Anyhow, I'm going to try to get some sleep, I recommend that you do as well. Good night, my clone-cousin." Yoshiko patted him on the head with a smile, "Good night, my original-cousin."

Chapter 5

It had been hours into the new day, Yoshiro noticed both of the suns of their system overhead, signaling the start of summer. The red dwarf didn't appear in the sky often, being overshadowed by the main yellow star. He was flying on Minerva for the first time, the two of them upset at the death of Rogelio, so she decided to let him ride her for the first time in their lives. The two of them were on a high speed course for the dragon kingdom, Yoshiro hadn't been there in almost a hundred years now, but he didn't care that much, he just enjoyed the wind in his hair and the sight of the ground moving beneath them. Very shortly though, they entered the Dragon kingdom and Minerva headed towards a specific part of the kingdom.

Once she landed, Yoshiro hopped off, and walked into the particular den, "Bahamut, I've returned." A large dark gray dragon looked at him with violet eyes, "Yoshiro, it's been a hundred years since you last came here, when Julius arrived alone, I thought you for dead." Yoshiro sighed, "I happen to be alive and right now, I'm finding it fortunate that I am." Bahamut nodded, "So, you've come for the armor, huh?" Yoshiro frowned, "As much as I wish I could say that I was just visiting and my kid was all grown up, that's not the case. Surely you know of the threat that's risen?" Bahamut sighed, "That damned Kitsune has no idea what she's dealing with right now. I assume that your desire to protect people has to do with you trying to stop her?" Yoshiro tried to look inward, "No, she killed Rogelio."

Bahamut turned around and grabbed the suit of armor, it looked like normal plate mail, except Yoshiro noticed that it was modified, "These, they're not real, are they?" Bahamut nodded, "Yoshiro, you are one of the only ones that we have allowed to use real dragon scales for armor, they're the scales of a dragon you know very well. Don't worry, they're shed scales." Yoshiro nodded and started to put the armor on, that's when he noticed the next modification, "What's this?" Bahamut chuckled, "Magitech, you know how Mana works?" Yoshiro nodded, "I learned from Yoshiko, she taught me how?" Bahamut sighed, "Do you know how to manipulate mana?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yes, but it's very weak for me." Bahamut nodded, "Because you are untrained, this magitech serves two purposes, it removes that handicap. You will not be as powerful or as skilled as someone that is actually trained. In addition, through you, we will be testing the Verbanans as a whole, to see if they're ready for our tech."

Yoshiro nodded, "There's someone that I want to see before I leave." Bahamut nodded, "You're an honorary dragon, you're free to wander our territory as you like." Yoshiro waved and headed out, "I think I'm going to go search on foot, Minerva, I need to clear my head a bit." Minerva chirped slightly as an acknowledgement, Yoshiro chuckled and headed out into Dragon Territory. He noticed dragons playing around, but was looking for one particular dragon, before he could find him though, he was tackled from behind, "Si ehtaha jacion, opsola!" Yoshiro was thankful that young dragons were light, or he'd be in serious trouble, but he heard Julius' voice speak up, "Itrewic stoda dout iosta." The young dragon got off of him and Yoshiro stood up, "Uncle, huh? So have you been practicing your common?"

A female dragon spoke up, "Lord Bahamut has been making all of us learn it, he says that it's time that Dragons rejoin galactic society." Yoshiro turned around to see two fully grown green dragons, with several young dragons, "Been a long time, hasn't it, Julius?" Julius shook his head, "Forty years or so, give or take a couple of years." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I see that you've raised a family." Julius nodded and looked at the female, "Coretta, meet Yoshiro. Yoshiro, meet Coretta." Coretta bowed her head, "Julius has told me a lot about you and it is an honor to meet you." Yoshiro folded his arms, "Stop with that, there's no reason for it, I'm just like any other kitsune with a military record and that was formerly a king." Coretta chuckled, "Julius told me that you're humble as well." Yoshiro sighed a bit and looked at Julius, "Can I speak to you?" Julius nodded, "Of course." Yoshiro pointed away from them, "Alone, Julius."

Yoshiro and Julius walked over to a place where they can be alone and Julius looked at him, "Where's Lilah?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Last I heard, she was operating on the continent that I will be going to." Julius nodded slightly, "Alright, but where's Rogelio." The memory of Aiko killing Rogelio went through his head, and his seemingly calm demeanor became one of rage, he balled up his left hand into a fist and clenched his teeth. Julius took note of this, "I see. I'm going with you." Yoshiro shook his head, "I have Minerva." Julius stood on his hind legs and folded his arms, "Yoshiro, Minerva is only going with you because Rogelio is dead. She only ever listened to him, you and I have been partners for hundreds of years." Yoshiro pointed over at the young dragons, "You have children over there that need you!" Julius sighed, "And Balthoron needs you, Yoshiro, but you're still going to go off on your own and try to make things right."

Yoshiro looked at his right hand, "This isn't about making things right, or saving anyone. This is purely about revenge." Julius picked Yoshiro up and hugged him, "I know this isn't truly about revenge, Yoshiro. Some part of you, which always has been there, wants to protect people. I know that you'll end up doing the right thing, which is why I'm coming with you." Yoshiro sighed, he knew that it was pointless to argue with Julius, "Fine, but we have to link up with Walthari, who I suspect is in the centaur kingdom right now." Julius nodded and put Yoshiro down, "Alright, so what's the rest of our plan, little brother?" Yoshiro sighed, "I don't have a rest of the plan right now, I'm making things up as I go for now. We have no intelligence, only that Aiko is operating out of a Menschilche base." Julius nodded, "Alright, Dragons will be a big help for you, I'll go talk to some."

Yoshiro watched as Julius walked away and he sat down as some of the young dragons walked over to him, one of them asked, "Are you really Uncle Yoshiro?" Yoshiro placed his hand on her head, "Yeah, I'm really him. Though I'm not like your father told you, right now, I'm just a man, broken and driven by revenge." Another dragon nodded, "What's revenge?" Yoshiro sighed, "Revenge is, I want to repay my half-sister in kind for killing my best friend." The young Dragons all curled up next to him as if to try to make him feel better and Yoshiro absentmindedly stroked their wings gently, while he waited for Julius. Though it took a couple of hours, Julius finally returned with a few dragons, "Alright kids, Daddy and Uncle Yoshiro both have to go now." The young dragons all nodded and walked away as Julius put Yoshiro on his back, "Just like old times, eh?" Yoshiro nodded as Julius took off to the skies, "Just like old times..."

Chapter 7

The next day had come and Yoshiro was on the back of Julius, flying over the ocean, Julius seemed to have no issue with this, so long as he'd be able to rest the night. The flight was peaceful, but Yoshiro knew that they wouldn't make it there that day, he decided that he wanted to be on the ship with the others. Yoshiro directed Julius to the dragon carrier and let his brother rest along with the other dragons, "We won't arrive until tomorrow or even the next day, Julius, get some rest." Yoshiro sighed and walked along the deck, he was surprised that Harumi was willing to offer some of the Sea Elf military might to help him, but it shouldn't have done so. Yoshiro walked to the tower which had a lift that would take him below deck.

Yoshiro sighed as he took the lift to the living quarters of the ship, which is where the mess hall was located, it was about supper time for him. He closed his eyes and sighed as he exited the lift into the hallway, opening them only to walk through the ship. Most people left him alone, but a Lupine ran up to him, "General Miyamae! General Miyamae!" Yoshiro looked at the Lupine, he was no more than a couple of hundred years old, "Don't call me that, Lieutenant Muller." The Lupine sighed, "But you're a General." Yoshiro shook his head, "I gave up my rank, the only reason I'm here is that I'm ex-military and this is personal for me." The Lupine nodded, "So then what do I call you?" Yoshiro gritted his teeth as this was getting on his nerves slightly, he wanted to talk to Walthari and Bruno and have supper, "You call me Yoshiro, or you don't talk to me at all, Adalwulf."

Adalwulf growled, "You're being awfully rude for someone that's supposed to be polite. I've heard stories about you." Yoshiro stopped, the anger in his mind reaching a point where he couldn't contain it, he turned to look at Adalwulf, his ears pressed against his head and his tail lashing, "You heard nothing but tales of heroism! You never hear about the people who sacrificed themselves, everything they had just so that I could complete a mission. You never hear about Major General Rogelio Sanez Lorca or Major Kanutte Berlinski! Those are the people who should have the tales, not me! Without them, I wouldn't be here right now, I'd be in a hole with the rest of them! Every single one of you fucking rookies think that some day you'll be some one-man army!" Yoshiro shoved Adalwulf against the wall, who started struggling, but Yoshiro's adrenaline let him keep the Lupine pinned.

Yoshiro growled and leaned in, "Get it through your thick skull before you go out there and throw your life away for no reason. War isn't pretty, war is hell, people die in war. You will see your friends and possibly your family die. There are no heroes in war, just people who are unlucky enough to survive when their friends don't. People like me, the survivors have to see a therapist once a month because we suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Yoshiro dropped Adalwulf to the ground, "In war, there are three outcomes. One, you die. Two, you live long enough to see your friends die and realize that it is pointless. Three, you live long enough and you become blood thirsty enough to become a killer. There are no heroes, stop living a fantasy, boy and join the rest of us here in reality." Yoshiro started to walk away from Adalwulf but the younger Lupine called him out, "So you pick a fight and yet you walk away! You're a coward!" Yoshiro turned his head back, "Kid, I choose not to fight you because I have more important things to do right now."

Yoshiro continued walking away as Adalwulf swore at him, he didn't pay the Lupine any mind as he walked into the mess hall and got his food. He walked over to the table where Walthari and Bruno were sitting, and placed his food down. Walthari looked at him, "Who were you yelling at back there?" Yoshiro sighed, "Adalwulf, he's a typical rookie." Bruno blinked, "Yoshiro, that's our cousin." Yoshiro shook his head, "Not mine." Walthari sighed, "He was talking about me when he said our, Yoshiro." Yoshiro started to pick at his food, "I'm sorry, it's been a long couple of days." Erasmus placed his hand on Yoshiro's shoulder, "This isn't anything new for you, Yoshiro. Mind if I sit down here." Yoshiro shook his head, "I don't mind at all, Master Erasmus." Bruno started to cough from choking on his own drink from that, "When did you start training under Master Erasmus!?" Erasmus sighed, "He's training with me so that he can better cope with what he's become."

Yoshiro didn't really feel up to eating, but knew that there wasn't a limit on time to do so, so he just continued picking at his food. Walthari took notice, "Yoshiro, something's bothering you and it's bothering you badly." Yoshiro looked up at the ceiling of the room, "I know, just... nothing's the same without Rogelio, he's been with me in most of everything since the Kitsune Civil War." Walthari nodded, "Even stranger that we're working with Mamoru now, back then, he was our enemy." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "He's changed, definitely changed. Yoshiko and Sumiko have had a profound effect on the man. I'm glad that I gave him the chance at redemption, but, I don't think I can give Aiko that same chance, she's tried to kill me far too many times and has killed someone I care about even after coming out of a coma." Bruno nodded, "So what do you plan on doing?" Yoshiro didn't answer, it would seem the answer was clear.

Erasmus sighed, "I know you're blaming yourself for his death, Yoshiro. I know it's hard not to, but you need to realize that it wasn't your fault, he chose to give his life so that you may live on." Yoshiro sighed slightly, "I'm sorry, it's just, look at all these faces, they're new. A lot of them are expecting to find glory when all they're going to find is death. The officers know what's coming as do the veterans, but all of these rookies, they're going to either die or be broken by the events in the next few weeks." Walthari nodded slightly, "I can understand that, Yoshiro." Yoshiro picked up his food tray, "I'm going to head down to my quarters, I need to be alone for a bit if the three of you don't mind." None of the others voiced any complaints as Yoshiro stood up from the table and walked down the hallway to his room.

Once in his room, he sat at his table and slowly ate, watching the seas from his window. He would prefer to be on the back of Julius right now, but knew that Julius wouldn't be able to make the entire trip by himself. These dragon carriers, at full speed were faster than any dragon, but allowed the dragons a place to stay while they were being transported. He sighed and finished eating, pulling out his pistol and checking it, it had been heavily modified to use different types of energy ammo, including the Verbanan staple, Photonic and the Menschilche staple, Plasma. In addition, they had figured out how to make Incendiary energy rounds and Tesla, as well as figure out how to make a cryo 'energy' round. His pistol was one of the first modified to use these rounds. It didn't matter to him though as he put the pistol in a drawer and flopped onto the bed, closing his eyes and finally going to sleep.

Chapter 9

Adalwulf was excited, this was his first true foray into combat and he was going to be able to finally get to do his ancestors proud by fighting in battle. He checked his gear as he waited eagerly for the landing ship to finally let them onto the shore. They were being deployed near the city that they were tasked to defend so that they could catch the enemy in a pincer attack with the aerial troops giving them support from above, the plan was simple and in his mind they couldn't fail as he was part of the good guy team while these bio-weapons were the bad guys. His commanding officer looked back at the group, "All troops, you know the mission parameters, we are to help the defenses of this city drive back the invading Menschilche bio-weapons. Do not try to be a hero! I repeat, follow the briefing!"

The landing ramp went down and Adalwulf ran down it with the rest of his squad, he looked up slightly to notice a large green Dragon in the sky, he was annoyed that Yoshiro was part of this battle, but he looked back down to focus on the threat in front of him. He readied his rifle and started to open fire before diving into cover. Enemy fire started to rip overhead and because of his actions, the rest of his squad wasn't ready, he saw a few of them drop, he wasn't exactly prepared for this, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins caused him to keep going. Once there was a lull in the firing, he popped his head over his cover and started firing, killing several of the enemy soldiers. A friend of his came close to him and started firing alongside him.

Once the enemy stopped reloading, they started firing again, forcing Adalwulf and his friend to duck back behind cover, before they did so, they noticed that half the enemy forces were concentrated on the other flank. Suddenly fire erupted from the city, creating three fronts for the enemy forces to attack. Adalwulf felt confident and told one of his friends to move up, as he popped his head up to give him covering fire. All this accomplished though is that Adalwulf saw that particular friend die, this shook him up quite a bit, but he continued firing into enemy ranks, even throwing an activated grenade at them. He ducked behind his cover as the grenade detonated, he knew that it had killed a few of the enemy soldiers. He felt truly alive for the first time in his life as adrenaline flooded through his system.

He laughed a bit, "Hey, we're going to win this fight! They can't beat us! We're the good guys! We'll win by default!" Adalwulf popped his head from cover and started firing again, this time, his energy pack ran out, so he ducked behind cover to reload. However, he saw one of his allies back up and fall over his cover, with a hole burned through her head. The sight started to sicken him and his friend looked at him, "Adalwulf, I think we're in deep." Adalwulf laughed, "Nonsense, Ebert! We'll win this battle yet." Ebert sighed, "Listen to me, you're going through a combat high. You don't know what you're doing and it's clouding your judgement!" Adalwulf's tail started wagging, "If this is a combat high, I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in my next battle." Suddenly an object landed near them, Ebert recognized what it was immediately and grabbed it to throw it away. Before he could, it detonated and everything went black.

When Adalwulf came to, he felt an immense pain on his left side and noticed that he couldn't see out of his left eye, he started howling in pain causing medics to come over to him and try to sedate him, but he grabbed at one of their throats, "No needles! Just... stop the pain!" Yoshiro walked into the tent, "I was wondering when you'd rejoin the land of the living, your friend Ebert will be getting the Planetary Medal of Valor. He gave his life in an attempt to save the two of you from that grenade. It was his body that shielded you from the blast, though not nearly enough as you can probably guess." Adalwulf looked at his hand, it was badly burned, "How... how many of my unit made it out?" Yoshiro sighed and looked at the datapad, "Thanks to your eagerness to play hero, you're the only one to survive."

Adalwulf closed his good eye, "Yoshiro... I felt so good in the middle of battle." Yoshiro sighed, "All rookies get a combat high, it's when adrenaline floods your system, you can't think very well and all you can focus on is killing your enemies." Adalwulf started to cry from his good eye, "I feel like their blood is on my hands." Yoshiro placed the datapad next to the bed, "Welcome to war, Adalwulf, if you want a gun to blow your own brains out, there's no shortage of them around here. But if you want to redeem yourself, then leave this war, leave the military and try to be a civilian. There's no shame in it and your fallen friends will be able to rest easier knowing that you're no longer in danger." Adalwulf opened his eye, "Then why don't you choose to be a civilian?"

Yoshiro sighed slightly and leaned in, "Unlike you, I've learned about the harsh realities of war and I accepted them. You're just some two hundred year old Lupine that wanted to play hero like in all of the tales you hear. It cost everyone in your unit their lives, it got your friends killed and it got thirty percent of your skin second degree burns and another five percent of your skin third degree burns. Your eye is also completely useless and cannot be repaired. There are no heroes in this world except for those that give the ultimate sacrifice so that others may complete a mission." Adalwulf sighed, "You were right back then, you were right to tell me about all of that." Yoshiro grabbed a chair and sat down, "Kid, I'm sorry for the way that I treated you then. Nothing can justify what I said then and to be honest, I'm being rather harsh with you right now. But I'm doing so, because I'm tired of seeing young people like yourself throwing their lives away."

Adalwulf frowned, "Tell me, will I see the dead in my dreams?" Yoshiro nodded, "All of the time, Adalwulf. Because of what has happened to you today, I do not doubt that you'll have post-traumatic stress disorder. Look, I'm going to leave you alone for a bit, I got to go help with the search and rescue teams for a while, but I'll be back later to hear your decision." Adalwulf nodded as Yoshiro got up and walked out, he didn't want to show it to the older Kitsune, but he felt extremely guilty that he got his entire unit killed, and he really did want to kill himself. He looked at the scalpel on the table next to him and grabbed it with his good hand, and turned it against himself. Before he could stab himself with it, a medic wrestled it out of his hand and injected a sedative into his body, putting him to sleep.

Chapter 11

Yoshiro woke up in a hotel room, he yawned and blinked slightly as he rubbed his eyes as Walthari walked over to him with his new cybernetic arm, "Hey big brother, I know you stayed up late last night, but it's time to get up." Yoshiro nodded and looked at Krezsentia on the other bed, "We need to keep her and the other orphans safe." Walthari nodded slightly, "Agreed, bout all I'm good for right now anyhow with this arm. I will warn you though, there's a crowd of people that heard that you're here and they're just waiting to pounce on you." Yoshiro sighed as he looked out of his window to see that Walthari wasn't lying, "Dammit." Yoshiro walked over to the closet and put his formal uniform on, "I have to go meet with Nefari and Bruno. Apparently an Eltiranan is at the Palace as well. I'll be back in a few hours, make sure that she stays happy."

Walthari nodded as Yoshiro walked out of the room and he walked to the door across the hallway from him. He pulled out a lockpick that he kept in his jacket pocket and looked around him to be sure that no one was watching as he started to pick the lock. When he heard the lock click, he turned the knob and entered the empty room, withdrawing the lockpick from the door and closing it behind him. He silently thanked Lilah for teaching him this as he opened up the window and climbed out of it, silently closing it behind him. He looked at the distance between him and the next building's rooftop and climbed onto the rail before leaping towards the roof of the adjacent building. He landed and tucked and rolled to avoid injury, standing up at the end of the roll with a smile as he brushed off his uniform.

While he didn't know this city as well, he was able to keep to the rooftops and generally out of sight of everyone as he made his way to the palace. Once near the palace, he finally returned to the ground so that he could walk into it without any sort of hassle. The guards looked at him and opened the gates, closing them behind him as he walked through and towards the front door where a Kani was standing there, the Kani spoke in a heavily accented voice, "Yoshiro, it is great to have you here." Yoshiro sighed, "I hope we're not going to get into hero worship while we're here, because frankly, I'm tired of it." The Kani shook his head, "Yoshiro, people need heroes to have hope, as a former king, I was hoping you'd know this." Yoshiro sighed, "Just... just take me to Nefari."

The Kani led him into a meeting room where the young Kani King sat at one end of the table, Takeshi and Bruno were both standing on one side, as an Eltiranan of the Ram Tribe stood at the other side. Yoshiro sighed and stood at the end of the table that was closest to him, "Where's Lilah?" Lilah walked into the room, carrying a datachip, which she placed into a computer on the table, showing that it was a screen, everyone looked down as she started to show pictures which Takeshi exclaimed, "I've seen one of these facilities. I raided one when I was younger. This is a facility that houses bio-weapons. Normally they engineer these children to be super soldiers or psionics, but I've seen some horrific experiments go on here." Bruno sighed, "How many soldiers are in this base?"

Yoshiro started to look at the diagrams of the base and the statistics, which included the purpose and the number of people in the base, "If we assail this with our current forces, it'll be a one sided blood bath. None of us will survive." The Eltiranan female looked at him, "That is why I'm here, in the next kingdom over, a Porcupesa kingdom, Lady Tiamat is waiting. Whatever lies in this base and bases like this are a threat to Eltirana, the Dragons and Verbana as a whole." Lilah spoke up, "I would like to keep my contacts alive if at all possible." Yoshiro nodded, as Takeshi placed his hand on his chin, "I'm getting too old to lead forces into battle, Bruno?" Bruno shook his head, "Out of the four Verbanans here, Yoshiro has the most experience on the field." Yoshiro sighed, "If no one else will be able to do so, then I'll once again lead Verbanan forces into battle." It wasn't something he wanted to do, but it was something he had to.

Nefari spoke up, "Yoshiro, if I may ask you something?" Yoshiro looked up, "Yes?" Nefari nodded, "Thank you, you speak with an elvish accent, rather than a Kitsune accent, why is that?" Yoshiro chuckled slightly, "Well the reason for that is simple, I spent most of my life around elves and only a part of that around Kitsune. My accent changed because of this." Nefari nodded, "Would you like to go speak to the troops?" Yoshiro sighed, "I might as well get this over with now, rather than later." He walked out and onto the balcony where he saw the troops that were still healthy, it wasn't a large amount, before he could even open his mouth though, someone screamed out, "It's Yoshiro! There's no way we can lose now!" This immediately pissed Yoshiro off, and he heard Bruno speak up, "Oh shit..."

Yoshiro slammed his hand against the railing, "Shut up! I'm tired of everyone treating me as if I'm this messianic figure that will deliver them to victory into war. Do you even know how many people sacrificed themselves just so that I could win all of my victories. Do you know how many people I have to look at their families and just say, 'I am sorry that your son or daughter died for nothing, because we couldn't win this war.'? No! None of you people even consider it! All you people do is listen to stories that people make up and expect people like me to come and pull your collective asses out of the fire that you get yourself into! I'm tired of it, this has been going on for over a hundred years now and it's getting real old!" One person in the crowd spoke up, "But you're a hero!" Yoshiro pointed in the direction of the warriors' graveyard, "Those people are your heroes! The people who gave up their lives trying to hold the line so that you could have enough time to succeed!"

The Eltiranan woman walked out onto the Balcony, "Don't mind them, Yoshiro, the younger generations give into hero worship." Yoshiro didn't even listen to her as he continued, "This is the problem, the living get remembered for the deeds that they do and the dead? They get nothing, if they're lucky, they get mentioned in passing and that's about it. All of you who think that I'm this great hero that can do all of this on his own, leave now, I don't want to fight alongside you. Those of you who know that I can't do this on my own, because a unit must stand united, come join me in fighting this threat, in fighting what my half-sister unleashed! I will not lie to any of you who choose to stay, some of you will die, maybe even most of you, but I would rather die fighting than roll over for someone like her. Those of you who choose to fight, meet me outside the city walls in two hours. Those who choose to leave, go home, there is no shame in bowing out of something you are not ready for."

Yoshiro walked away from the balcony, exasperated, "Tammy, I'm sorry that you had to see me like this. Time hasn't been exactly kind to me since I found out that Aiko still wants me dead." Tamara gasped slightly, "Wait, you recognize me?" Yoshiro nodded, "The Human-Verbanan war and the founding of the Eltiranan-Verbanan Alliance. The years have been kind to you, milady." Tamara nodded, "And you look as if you have been run ragged." Yoshiro sighed, "I have. With the death of my best friend, after having lost so many friends. Even fighting with my own brother in law, it's just, everything has been going wrong for me this past year, you know. I keep trying to think things will get better, but they never seem to do so." Tamara nodded and placed her hand on his shoulder as he sat down, "Don't give up, Yoshiro, you're stronger than that." Yoshiro nodded and looked at her, "I hope so... I honestly do..."

Chapter 13

Yoshiro was flying on the back of Julius as they were heading to the Menschilche installation, Verbanan Wyvern Riders and both Verbanan and Eltiranan Dragons were flying behind him. He was going through the plan in his head and he started to crunch the numbers, unfortunately it finally hit him and he started to speak in Kitsune, "Julius wa, karera no zentai no chikara no taihan o ushinatta namamonoheiki wa, wareware wa hijō ni sorera o uwamawarimasu." Julius nodded, slightly, recognizing that Yoshiro wanted to keep this between them, Yoshiro sighed slightly and leaned in to whisper with his radio off so that he speak in private, "Julius, this is going to be a massacre... only one person need to die today." Julius whispered back, "I know, Yoshiro."

Yoshiro sat back up straight, he could feel the rage eat at his mind, but no sooner did he turn his radio on, did Fumio's voice come over it, "Yoshiro, are you there?" Yoshiro sighed, not even bothering to hide his annoyance, "What is it?" Fumio sighed, "Listen, I know Kimiko and the others have forgiven me, I know Emiko has forgiven me, but yet you hold onto your hatred of me. Why is that?" Yoshiro scoffed, "Anata ga kirainahito, watashi ni hijō ni chikakatta hito o koroshimashita." Fumio was silent for a minute, "The Kani girl." Yoshiro yelled into his radio, "She had a fucking name! Her name was Katriina! And she gave her life so that I could live, do you realize how many people have done that since! Every time someone does so, I have to relive that horrible moment! It's torture and it's because of you that I have that memory! I hate you for everything you did to me!"

Fumio just sighed slightly and Yoshiro took a breath, "I hate you, when I saw you again, I wanted to put you back in a coffin. I still do and the fact that I'm working with you sickens me." Fumio's voice spoke up, "Look, nothing I can say will undo what I've done, but I've worked to turn myself around, Yoshiro. I want to redeem myself and I want to earn your forgiveness, I'm asking for a chance, my great-grandson. Please, give this old deity a chance." Yoshiro sighed and looked at Julius, "Isthasy, jalla si onelka Fumio?" Julius turned his head and looked at him, "You hold onto your hatred of him as if it sustained you, Yoshiro. If you continue to hold onto it, it will eventually consume and destroy you. I want to see you forgive him, if not for his sake, do it for your health."

Yoshiro closed his eyes with a sigh, "Fumio, you're lucky that Julius was willing to tip things into your favor, otherwise, I wouldn't have even given the idea of forgiving you a fleeting thought. I am only the last person to even consider this, because you've been avoiding me." Fumio sighed slightly, "I know you'd never forgive me, and I know that you'd be more than happy to burn a hole through my skull with that rifle of yours. Yoshiro, you are not a killer, no matter how much you want to tell yourself this. You have always been willing to forgive people, always have been willing to extend mercy to them. You were even willing to spare some of your greatest enemies in the past, but yet you're going to go kill Aiko without a second thought. Yoshiro, what happened to cause you to be like this?"

Yoshiro sighed as he saw the enemy installation, it wasn't all that impressive, he noticed people on the ground with weapons, "This is going to be a bloodbath..." Fumio's voice spoke up, "What is?" Yoshiro sighed slightly, "If only I could broadcast my voice, Julius, I need you to speak to them." Julius nodded, "What do you want me to say?" Yoshiro sighed slightly, "Tell them that they're outnumbered and that they cannot win this battle, that the only way they're going to walk away from this alive is if they put down their weapons and surrender." Julius nodded and repeated what Yoshiro told him, yelling it out so that the enemy forces could hear it, Yoshiro watched as some of the enemy forces dropped their weapons and Yoshiro switched his radio to the frequency used by the Verbanan forces, "Listen, attack only those that remain armed."

Yoshiro saw something fly towards him at high speed, he didn't know what to make of it, but Julius moved out of the way as Yoshiro spoke up into his radio, "Do not engage the lone aerial bogey, that's mine." Yoshiro watched as Julius turned around and Yoshiro got a good look at what it was, "I'm flattered... someone made a combat droid in my image." Yoshiro pulled out his pistol and switched to the tesla energy pack, "Ready, Julius." Julius nodded slightly as the combat droid looked at him while flying, readying its sword. The two of them started flying at each other, Yoshiro firing at the combat droid as the sword caught him square in the chest, the armor keeping it from going through, but the force was enough to knock him back, Julius raising his tail to prevent him from falling off. Yoshiro coughed slightly as he sat back, "That thing's electronically shielded. I can't fry its components."

Yoshiro moved up on Julius and he put his pistol away as the dragon flew away from the battlefield to turn around for another pass, "Hmm. What do you think we should do, Yoshiro?" Yoshiro sighed slightly, "I don't know." Yoshiro watched as Tiamat landed on the ground and looked up at the combat droid, "Looks like she wants to watch how I deal with this." Yoshiro breathed in and concentrated, he felt his mana flow through his body as Julius started flying towards the combat droid, his own light magic formed a sword of his own thanks to the magitech within the armor, "Hopefully this will be enough. Ready, Julius." Julius nodded, "As I'll ever be." Julius flew at high speed with the combat droid flying at them, the combat droid adjusted course to hit Yoshiro instead of Julius, Yoshiro noticed where it was aiming and leaned slightly to force it to make a correction.

As the two of them started barrel closer and closer, Yoshiro leaned back at the last and lowered his head to duck under the arm as he stuck the magic sword into the chest of the combat droid, solidifying the light once it was in. Yoshiro let go of the sword the moment he did so, his mana no longer connected to it meant that it would fade away. As he turned around though, he found that he had done significant damage to the combat droid and switched his pistol to incendiary rounds, firing a few of them into the chest cavity, overheating and destroying the droid. He watched as it fell to the ground, breaking upon impact and Julius landed in front of the base. Those that had surrendered had been led away from it, those who didn't were dead, he sighed slightly as he looked at the door where Lilah was standing, "Well Julius, this is it. I'll see you in a little bit. Lilah, come with me." Lilah nodded and walked into the base with Yoshiro.

Chapter 15

A couple of months had passed and Yoshiro had found himself back in the Kitsune kingdom, except this time in front of a military tribunal, the judges looked at him, "General Miyamae, do you understand why you have been called here?" Yoshiro folded his arms, "You're going to tell the court whether I say it or not, so doesn't that make the point rather moot?" The lead judge sighed, "Whatever, it's not like this is your first time in front of a military tribunal, is it?" Yoshiro shrugged, "First time being the defendant. Let's just hear the charges, sooner this gets over with the sooner the rest of you get to go home." The judge to the lead judge's left looked at him, "You really do expect to die here, don't you?"

Yoshiro shook his head, "As nice as that might seem to some people, I have a wife and kid that need me still and I'd rather be home with them. I already know what I'm guilty of and I already know that I'm going to be in a rehabilitation center for a while." The lead judge sighed and slammed his gavel, "I will have order in this court, am I understood?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Fine." The judge sighed, "Disrespectful bastard." Yoshiro looked at him, "I will have you know that my parents were married at the time of my birth, disrespectful asshole would be more fitting." The judge shot him a glare and Yoshiro sighed. The judge looked at his paper, "Yoshiro Miyamae, two months ago your best friend, Rogelio Sanez Lorca was killed on a reconnaissance mission, is this correct?"

Yoshiro shook his head, "It wasn't a recon mission, it was a trap." The judge sighed, "After the death of Rogelio, you proceeded to act hostile towards our own king, threatening him with harm. You also tore your patch off your uniform and left the kingdom to go gain soldiers from our allies which created tensions between the Sea Elf and Kitsune kingdoms. From there, you engaged in an unannounced war with an unknown faction and reports indicate that you were there at the time fighting. From there, when Masaru found you again, you were threatening to kill another king. Your actions are not those of a soldier of the Kitsune military, these are the actions of a bloodthirsty Lupine mercenary! How do you plead!?" There was silence for a moment, but Yoshiro spoke up, "Guilty of all charges, your honor." One of the judges, a female spoke up, "You're not going to defend yourself?"

Yoshiro sighed, "I'm guilty, you have more witnesses than you'll ever need, there's no point in me trying to lie my way out of the situation. Everything you have mentioned, I've done." The lead judge nodded, "Yoshiro, in spite of your actions, you alerted us to Menschilche black ops sites around this planet and you have managed to get several hundred of their bio-weapons to begin integrating with Verbanan society. You also stayed behind in order to help with the reconstruction of several cities that were damaged by the war. Yoshiro, your actions cannot go unpunished, despite your great deeds. However, because you have a kilvish child at home who hasn't even hit puberty yet, we will not separate you from him. Yoshiro since you have pleaded guilty to your crimes, how do you think you should be punished?" Yoshiro arched a brow, "Why me?"

The lead judge sighed, "Because we would like to hear your opinion, is that so wrong?" Yoshiro shrugged, as he sat down, "Twenty years in a rehabilitation center." The female judge spoke up, "As my boss has said, you have a young child at home and your wife is opening up an orphanage, you will be needed to take care of your child." The lead judge nodded, "General Miyamae, stand up." Yoshiro stood up and his handcuffs were unlocked, the judge looked him in the eye, "You are hereby stripped of rank and position in the Kitsune military and dishonorably discharged. If you wish to work as a soldier again, you will have to find some other military to do so." Yoshiro looked at him, "Can I keep the medals?" The judge sighed, "You can keep your uniform for all I care. It's not really a priority to get those things back. Anyhow, court is adjourned."

The lead judge slammed his gavel down and Yoshiro walked out of the courtroom, one of the soldiers saluted him, "Sir, if I may, will you allow me to escort you off the base?" Yoshiro sighed at the young recruit and placed his hand on the shoulder of the kitsune, "Kid, don't salute me. I have no rank, nor position. As for if you may escort me, I know my way off the base." The young soldier nodded, "I know sir, but, I was just thinking about how nice it would be to escort a veteran soldier off the base." Yoshiro blinked in disbelief, "Wait, what did you say?" The young soldier looked at him, "Veteran Soldier, I know you don't like being called a hero, sir." Yoshiro raised his hand slightly, "Just... just Yoshiro will be fine, kid." The soldier nodded, "Yoshiro, wait, the Yoshiro?" Yoshiro sighed as he thought this was going to go into hero worship territory, "Yes, what of it?" The soldier smiled, "It is an honor to meet the same person that runs the cafe that brews my favorite coffee in the morning."

Yoshiro rubbed his eyes, "What's your name?" The soldier laughed, "Kazuki." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Coffee's on me, Kazuki, you're the first person that didn't immediately go into hero worship when you first met me." Kazuki nodded, "Thank you, sir. I'll be there tomorrow morning like always, where are you going to go?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Honestly, I think I'm going to grab my son and take him on a vacation, it's been a while since I've gotten to relax and he hasn't seen some of the beautiful beaches yet." Kazuki nodded, "That sounds nice." Yoshiro turned around and waved, "Take care, kid and remember, don't do anything reckless." Kazuki called out, "Thank you, Yoshiro!" Yoshiro smiled slightly as he left the base and grabbed his motorcycle. As he put his helmet on and started it, he looked up at the sky, the sun was starting to set, "Fitting that I'll ride into the sunset to get home..." Yoshiro looked down and rode off into the sunset towards his place.