• Published 9th Jul 2017
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For Honor, Glory and The Empire - Bronycommander



Pacific 1945. The Japanese fight bravely against the Americans. But for one Japanese squad, it's not fighting the enemy but to keep a lost foal save.

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Chapter 7 Black Cats

Chapter 7: Black Cats

After her injury, Flute was brought to the sickbay on a Fletcher-class destroyer together with other wounded marines.

James brought a vegetarian sandwich. “Thank you.” She took it with her magic and took a bite, smiling how delicious it was.

“You’re welcome. I should show you my home town once we arrived in the USA.” He smiled back.

“I would like to see it but wouldn’t the people freak out when they see me?” She told her concern.

“Let be this my problem, my dear.” He stroked her mane.

While making her recovery, James checked her regularly, bringing her chocolate and other sweets.

She was pleased every time.

A few days later, the destroyer started his journey to the US coast and Flute tried to walk again.

The pain was still there but less than it was before, still, she could only limp.

“Try not to put too much pressure on it.”

“You’re the medical expert, James.”

She favored her uninjured side anyway. Her Burn injuries get also slowly better and her fur started to grow back.

James showed her to the ship, she enjoyed the tour. One of the Crewmen even made a life vest of her size. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Flute, I have a little surprise for you.”

She followed the Corpsman into a cabin where he turned a gramophone on.

It played a jazz song. “May I have this dance?” The young soldier asked her.

“Of course!” she exclaimed in joy.

They danced together, smiling happy and enjoying the music. The young man watched that she wasn’t overdoing it.

After this song ended, Flute danced to The Andrews Sisters - Victory Polka.

Like with the song sung by children, she singed along it.

“There's going to be a Hallelujah Day

When the boys have all come home to stay

And a million bands begin to play

We'll be dancing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’



And when we've lit the torch of liberty

In each blacked out land across the sea

When a man can proudly say 'I'm free

We'll be dancing "The Vict'ry Polka’



And we will give a mighty cheer

When the ration book is just a souvenir

And we'll heave a mighty sigh

When each gal can kiss the boy she kissed good-bye



And they'll come marching down Fifth Avenue

The United Nations in review

When this lovely dream has all come true

We'll be dancing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’



Dance, dance, dance ‘The Vict'ry Polka’

Join, join the merry throng

Sing, sing, sing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’

Raise your voices loud and strong



There's going to be a great Hallelujah Day

When the boys have all come home to stay

And a million bands begin to play

We'll be dancing "The Vict'ry Polka"



And when we've lit the torch of liberty

In each blacked out land across the sea

When a man can proudly say 'I'm free

We'll be dancing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’

And we will give a mi-mi-mighty cheer

When the ration book is just a souvenir

And we'll heave a mi-mi-mighty sigh

When each gal can kiss the boy she kissed good-bye



And they'll come marching down Fifth Avenue

The United Nations in review

When this lovely dream has all come true

We'll be dancing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’

We'll be dancing ‘The Vict'ry Polka’”



Then she singed and danced to Praise The Lord & Pass The Ammunition - Kay Kyser.

“Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

And we'll all stay free



Praise the Lord and swing into position

Can't afford to be a politician

Praise the Lord, we're all between perdition

And the deep blue sea



Yes the sky pilot said it

Ya gotta give him credit

For a son of a gun of a gunner was he



Shouting Praise the Lord, we're on a mighty mission

All aboard, we ain't a-goin' fishin'

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

And we'll all stay free







Praise the Lord (Praise the Lord) and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord (Praise the Lord) and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord (Praise the Lord) and pass the ammunition

And we'll all stay free



Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

And we'll all stay free”

The last song they danced to was Louis Prima - Che la Luna.

After this sing was over, Flute yawned. “That was fun.”

“Yes it was.” James looked out of the porthole. The sun was setting.

“I think is it time for you to go to bed.” Flute didn’t reply but let out another yawn.

James carried her into her cabin and tucked her in. "Goodnight, sweet dreams.”

He went to his cabin, Flute fell asleep.

While never being to Manehattan before, she dreamed how amazed she was by New York.

She enjoyed the view from the Empire State Building, enjoyed ice cream with James in the park and visited the Statue of Liberty. She couldn’t help but smile in her sleep, as she looked forward it.

In the middle of the night, an alarm tore the child out of her sleep.

“We are under attack! All men to their stations! I repeat, we’re under attack! This is not a drill!” an intercom warned.

It caused her to fell out of the bed, hitting the ground on her injured side.

She let out a sharp cry of pain, as James ran in. “We’re under attack!”

He gently picked her up to avoid that she would be in more pain.

Shortly after James started to make a run to the exit with the scared filly in his arms, an explosion erupted in the ship, causing them to fall to the ground.

“They’re must have hit the Ammunition chamber! The ship's sinking! We've got to go, now!” James picked her up again as water started to flood into the ship.

The floor was littered with crewmembers that died in the explosion or from the smoke. James putted a cloth over his and Flute’s mouth.

Water bursts in, making them lose balance and pipes on the walls began to burst.

“We're almost there!” The Corpsman took a right and reached the exit.

Other crew members were already preparing the lifeboats and putted their life vests on. “You made it! Quick, get your vests on and get in!” a crewmember shouted.

“Watch out!!!” another crewman shouted. Flute saw a Japanese aircraft for a second. It crashed into the destroyer, causing James to lose his balance and Flute fell out of his arms.

Then the ship tilted to the side, capsizing.

Flute almost fell overboard, The Corpsman tried to grab her hoof but it was too late.

Another explosion knocked her into the ocean in shellshock, passing out in the water.

After a while, she felt a burning in her lungs.

Realizing that she was about to drown, she emerged as fast as she could.

Gasping for air at the Water surface, she looked around and was shocked.

Crewmen were floating on the surface, dead or dying as they got shot by the Japanese planes in the sky. Almost all ships the destroyer was traveling with were destroyed, only 4 vessels had survived, James was nowhere to be found.

Then she saw a plane with the American emblem landing on the water.

“Enemy PT boats! Swim for your life!” A survived sailor shouted as Japanese PT boats moved in, also killing the survivors.

In panic, the filly swam as fast as she could to the American plane.

“PLEASE! I DON’T WANNA DIE! HELP!” The child pleaded for help, panicking, not wanting to die.

She saw how the US-plane destroyed hostile planes and boats with his guns while she swam towards it.

As she reached it, the filly tried to climb aboard, but couldn't do it on her own. She missed the strength for it .The gunner at her side pulled her in. After saved she rested in one of the bunks in the crew's sleeping quarters.

“There's more coming! Get me out of the damn water! Get me out!” James’ voice ringed in her ears as he coughed and got pulled onboard by the same gunner.

He looked exhausted; his left arm was injured but only light.

He was glad that Flute had also survived.

“Zeroes!” One of the pilots shouted.

“3 o'clock! High!” The second gunner fired.

“Damn…More PT Boats! 5 o'clock!” The pilot pointed them out.

This is Black Cat Hammerhead 45... The fleet is down. Repeat, the fleet is down! We have multiple casualties in the water! Taking heavy fire from enemy aircraft. Requesting immediate support!” The radio operator tried to call for help.

“John! Any word on that air support?” The pilot asked him.

“I'm getting nothing on the radio.”

“Keep trying... We better pray that they show up! INCOMING! LEFT SIDE! That was close!” the pilot said as a zero smashed into the water next to the ship. The first gunner switched from the right to the left turret, firing at enemy boats and aircrafts, rescuing sailors whenever possible.

“9 o'clock! Take out those damn PT Boats!” The pilot ordered to they couldn’t kill any more survivors.

“Where the hell's that support?” the second gunner shouted in frustration, overlooking that a child was onboard. But Flute was too shocked and cold to hear it.

“There's no response!” The radioman replied.

“We gotta go!”

“Not yet, Jack. We can't abandon our men!”

“9 o'clock! 7 o'clock! 10 o'clock!” Jack warned the other gunner who fired at everything hostile.

“INCOMING! LEFT SIDE! Take out those damn PT Boats!” More PT boats were moving in but destroyed by the gunners.

Hammerhead shook violently by a hit.

“DAMN! We're hit! Jack! Make sure we're not taking water!” The pilot ordered.

“I'm on it!”

“Riley! Take his place on the dual 30.”

Riley moved from the left to the bow turret.

“Port side's pretty torn up, but we're holding!” Jack reported.

“Zeroes!”

“They're all around!” John realized that they were surrounded.

“Keep 'em off what's left of the fleet! Riley! You need to take out some of those Zeroes before I can take us up! Stay on that trigger. It's all on you...”

“I try my best, Lee!”

“1 o'clock!” Lee warned as Riley fired.

“Damn! Ammo's running low! Right 50 Cal.'s almost out!” Jack noticed that they’re almost out of ammo.

“That ain't good!” John was worried.

“Damn... Our right wing's torn up! 1 o'clock!” Jack pointed the Zeros out. He fired but then, his turret made only clicking sounds. “Dammit! I'm out! Right turret's out of ammo! Left 50's almost out!”

The Black Cat crew held their ground for some time, not noticing that Flute was greatly trembling.

“We got fire in the engine! Damn! We're out! Left turret's out of ammo! Lee, we gotta get out of here!” Jack shouted.

“There's too many Zeroes! Let's hope there's enough left on the front! Riley! Make those shots count! 12 o'clock! We got Zeroes! Coming in fast!”

Riley fired but also his turret ran out of ammo.

3 Zeros closed in on Hammerhead but they exploded and fell into the ocean.

3 F4U Corsairs passed over Hammerhead.

“Black Cat Hammerhead 45. Havok 115, coming over you now. We'll take it from here... Get yourselves back to base...” One of the pilots said on the radio as they took care of the remaining zeros.

“John, prep for takeoff! Jack, patch us up as best you can. Okay... Taking her up...”

The Black Cat moved forward and started to fly.

“How did we do?” Lee asked.

“Bunks are full. Thanks to Riley, we got five men and the filly everyone was talking about,” John answered to Lee.

“Okay... Taking us home.”

“I’m…so cold…” Flute got James’ attention by this.

“Flute, what’s…Flute!” She passed out in his arms.

He checked her pulse, it was very weak. “Severe hypothermia, get me a blanket, quick!”

John got one and laid it over the Unconscious foal, James hugged her to keep her warm.

“Hold on, sweetie…please…Don’t die.”

At the base, doctors and a vet took care of the filly, while James waited outside.

After a while, which felt like an eternity, a doctor came out. “How is she, doc?”

“I’m afraid, she fell into coma. Her injuries, the Hypothermia and the Tuberculosis she suffered from the cold, were too much for her immune system.”

“Tuberculosis?” The Corpsman couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Yes. We administrated penicillin but as she is a child, her chances that she survives or awakes are low. But we warm her up as per regulations. While we have enough supplies, we don’t know if she’s ever gonna wakeup, so, it was decided that she gets transferred to a hospital in the USA where she’s out of danger of a Japanese attack.”

“Can I see her?”

“Yes.”

In her room, James almost collapsed. The poor filly was on life-support, an EKG kept track of her heartrate, the beeping sound filled the room together with the constant pumps and rhythms and hiss of steam of the CPB, a tube in her mouth to supply her with oxygen.

“Flute, I don’t know if you can hear me, but listen to me. You have to be fight to come back. You can do it, I know you can. You gotta tell yourself over and over, ‘I wanna wake up.’ You can do it, I know you can. But you gotta fight to make it happen. I know it’s though. For your life. And your life is everything. Please, Flute. Otherwise, nothing make’s sense.”

Unfortunately, they all had to play the waiting game. They couldn’t do nothing…but wait and pray.

Author's Note:

Poor Tootsie, let's hope and pray she makes it. I hope you have spme "Get well soon" cards with you. This chapter was based on the mission Black Cats from Call of Duty World at War.