Dog Days: Vanguard!!!

A world where demons and humans coexist, where wars are nothing but fun and games. A world of eternal peace, prosperity and dreams. That's what it was like now, but then. There was blood. People died, anger rised and the flames of hate consumed the land.

That was the dark history of the world called Flonyard. Now, in the present, built on the bodies of their ancestors, a world peace reigns. The only thing to attack this peace are what are known as Beasts, or Demons. There are groups that specialize in the sealing of such beasts, but that's a story for another time. This story is one of joy, one of despair and one of sorrow. Now, let's get to it!

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A large pyramid of rock sits upon a floating isle high above the mainland. There are Earth Gods that resemble fish that run around it in excitement. They leap about, having a good time under the shining sun. There, in the center of the ivory structure, is a pink glowing circle made of magic. In another world, the circle has opened up, awaiting the hero to enter Flonyard.

"Huff...huff..." Millhiore, the princess of Biscotti, ran up the steps as fast as she could. Her tail wags left and right in excitement that she just can't help. She ran faster, nearly tripped over her own feet, but she still stood.

A group of footsteps thumped against the side walk. A short haired girl clad in a boy's uniform idly walked down it with her hands in her pockets, her little posse trailing behind her. Today had been uneventful, she just wasn't in the mood to start any trouble. There was definitely an uncharacteristic lethargy about her that no one could really explain, not even she herself.

A long drawn out sigh escaped her lips. Maybe it was those female hormones kicking it into overdrive. God, she hoped it wasn't that.

"Hey boss, what's the matter with you?" One of the guys asked out of concern. He was a scrawny guy, with slicked back hair and a cheesy smile. He always hung on Michi's every word and didn't have much of a backbone. In a way, it was both endearing and annoying.

She shrugged, "It's nothing. Probably just one of those days," She then turned around, walking backwards, "Hey why don't we head to the gym for a bit? Who wants to go a few rounds in the ring with me?"

There was uneasy glances, obviously indicating none of them wanted to dare go into the ring with her. Many of them were still bruised from the last time.

Michi scowled at this, continuing to walk backwards. She couldn't possibly notice the dog in front of the school, or the knife it held in it's mouth. It wasn't until it was too late, when she saw the looks of shock on her friends' faces as she fell through the portal. Looking up as she fell, she saw a blonde haired boy coming down toward her before everything disappeared in the purple depths of the portal.

Fear gripped at her in a way it rarely ever did and she closed her eyes shut, her mind going completely blank from the shock. It wasn't until she was safely on a flat surface that she started to calm down and her thought process kicked back in. The first thing she noticed was an odd, frog-like creature. She blinked several time. This was a hallucination, right? Looking at her surrounding... she wasn't in the city anymore, that she knew for a fact.

Millhiore finally ran up the steps, into the summoning area that called the hero from another world. Shinku Izumi, was his name. A boy that she watched from afar, a boy whom she admired for his determination, for his own heart. The boy she fell in love wi- who was this girl sitting there.

As if washed clean of all her hopes, Millhiore frowned. "Eh..." completely defeated, she lost all of her energy. Where was Shinku? Where was he? Was she with the girl? It was rude to act like this, but WHERE was he?

The dog, Tatsumaki, walked forward with its tail wagging. "ARF!"

"Tatsumaki," the princess leaned in, talking close to his ears. "W-where is Shinku?"

"ARF!"

Her tail didn't wag. She simply stood up, strengthened her resolve and walked forward to introduce herself. "Welcome to Biscotti, Hero!" her already hollow heart became a gaping hole. The disappointment overtook her body in no time. "No, that's not it... uh... there was a mistake, I am so sorry!" Millhiore bowed down, her eyes closed.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I'm so so sorry!"

Michi was still trying to get her bearing on what exactly just happened, when a girl appeared from the steps. The cross-dresser stared blankly, baffled by the pink hair and ears the other girl seemed to have. Was she a cosplayer? Somehow, she doubted that. Opening her mouth to say something, she uttered some indistinguishable noise before closing it back. No, she had to get a grip on things. If she panicked, then nothing good would come of it. It didn't seem like she was any immediate danger. At least, that's what she hoped.

Wait, what was pinky saying? "Biscotti? Hero? What do you me-" Oh god, she was crying now, wasn't she? This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. "O-oi, don't cry! What ever I did or you did or whatever... gaaah... just please don't cry."

This was why she couldn't deal with girls. Touchy feely stuff was not something she was familiar with. In fact, she was probably flailing like an idiot about now. It's not that she didn't want to do something to comfort the crying girl. That kicked puppy dog look of hers would tear anyone's heart apart. Michi just didn't know how.

"N-no, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to summon you, I wanted to summon 'him' but..." the princess minced words. She couldn't figure out what to say at this moment in time. "I'm sorry." she muttered again, repeating herself like she had been. She supposed she should explain what was going on because apologizing over and over wouldn't make the situation any better.

She had to reap what she sowed and deal with it. "Uh..." problem was she didn't know how to start. The dog girl pulled herself up, took a step back and breathed in. "Welcome to Flonyard and the Biscotti Republic! I'm the Princess of this kingdom, Millhiore Fillianno Biscotti." she introduced herself with a curtsy. "Uh.." she placed a finger on her lips as she looked around. "You're our hero, even though it was an accident, you're still Biscotti's hero!" Millhiore closed her eyes and smiled. Her tail began to wag back and forth, her ears twitched.

She still smiled, but that hollow feeling still existed in her own heart.

Oh good, she seemed to be calming down no- Her eyes suddenly began to follow the wag of Millhi's tail. She quickly shook her head, bad time to start developing an attention disorder. Michi had something much more important to deal with right now. "Wait, give me a moment to wrap this in my head. You're a princess and you accidently summoned me... to be the hero of your kingdom? You're kidding right? No? I.... didn't think you were."

Now this was just a great day she was having. Simply splendid. For some reason, she didn't really think the girl was lying. Pinky didn't seem like the type.

Her dad was gonna flip out. Agh, he might even get himself in trouble trying to find her. She had to get home as soon as possible. There was no way she could leave that hopeless man on his own.

"Alright, I got it! I'll just go back, drag the guy you do want here, and then I can go on my way," Michi stood up, finally feeling more energetic than she had all day. Simple enough, finding one guy should be easy. "By the way.... how do I get home?"

Get her back? Yeah, that should be simple enough. After that, she could meet Shinku and get back to the ensuing battle in a little bit. Millhi breathed in, then out, gathering her thoughts. "Haaaah!" the princess held her hand outward, in which a large pink circle of mana appeared before Michi. It was large enough for her to walk through, and it SHOULD link back to her own world.

"There you go, I did my best!"

If she tried to get through it, however, it'd most likely force her out...

Okay, this was good. She'd just get back home, get this guy, then get to her dad before he panicked. This was going to be a piece of cake. "Here I go, it was nice meeting you Pin- I mean Millhiore!" She then darted for the portal.

She was going now, going back to her friends and her dad. That other guy could deal with being a hero. She definitely wasn't one. There was no way someone like her would make a good hero. Even she knew her own flaws and accepted them for what they were. Everything was covered in purple now, that meant she was going home right?

Suddenly, she shot back out of the portal, landing a lot less neatly than she had before.

She sat up, rubbing her head as she winced in pain. Well that felt wonderful.... did it work? Was she home? She looked around eagerly, only to droop in disappointment. Her hands balled tightly into a fist, feeling of anger and frustration finally kicking in. She tried to speak, but everytime she would force herself to shut her mouth again. Her vision started to mist over and she furiously wiped at her eyes. No, she refused to cry. She was stronger than that. She wasn't like Pinky, she wasn't going to let a stranger see her cry.

The urge to lash out her anger at the other girl was definitely there. But she... just couldn't bring herself to. Maybe if Millhi hadn't been crying about not being able to summon the right 'hero', she would have.

It hit the young dog princess like a sack of bricks. Michi couldn't get through the portal. It should have worked, really. What kind of spell works one way but NOT the other? "Uh..." she quickly scraped the recesses of her mind to find a solution. Although, deep down, she knew it wouldn't be that easy. She could get Rico to perform some research and find a way to send her back. That was the only solution, as of now.

The hollow feeling expanded from her heart, to her legs and she could hardly stand. Excitement turned to despair.

No.

No. She couldn't let it overtake her! There was hope, after all! "I.. didn't know about this." Millhi closed her eyes, then placed a clenched hand in her palm. "But I'm sure we can send you back! I'll get Rico on the job! We'll do it as soon as possible, I promise!"

"Shut up..." It was just a murmur, barely audible. Michi's fist clenched tighter and her temper seemed to be getting the best of her. She spoke again, this time in a much louder and clearer tone, "Just stop, you've done enough! I.... I can't..." Again she forced herself to hold back the tears. All hope of getting back to her dad has been diminished by now.

She was angry at Millhi AND she was angry at herself. If she had just been watching where she was going, none of this would have happened. It was stupid, it was all just stupid. She knew yelling like she did wasn't gonna do anything but make things worse, but she just couldn't control herself.

Millhi's ear twitched. She hear every word Michi said, but hanging onto it won't serve any purpose. The dog princess merely ignored it. "N-no, I can't shut up or stop." instead Millhi did the exact opposite of what she was thinking. "I'll help you, no matter what! It was my fault for going into this unprepared, and now you have no way back now. You have nothing to blame yourself for."

She then began to rethink this whole summoning business. Why was there a summoning yet no way to go back? She'd discover the truth sooner or later, but now that wasn't important. "I'll do everything I can to get you back safely, I promise!" she nodded to herself for self-assurance. This was quite the pickle, but no use despairing over it. They were both alive, healthy, so there was hope, right?

"You..." Michi looked like she was going to yell some more, hit something, do anything to release that ever growing frustration. Instead, she let out long, calming intake of breath. "You're really naive, aren't you Pinky?"

She finally stood back up, crossing her arms over her chest, "Okay, if I ever want to get back home then I'll just have to believe in that naivety of yours. Sooo... until you can get me home, I'll be a temporary hero of Biscotti and do heroey things. Just don't expect much, I'm not exactly the hero type."

"Ah, almost forgot," She pointed her thumb to herself, "Nakamura, Michi. Feel free to just call me Michi."

"You're going to be Biscotti's Hero?" Millhi was taken aback by Michi's declaration. She meant to summon Shinku, and then she agreed to be a 'stand-in' sort of hero? How was Leo going to react to this? Well, it was certainly going to be a surprise. "T-thank you!" she walked forward and took Michi's hands into her own. She gripped them, smiled wide and nodded. "Thank you so much!"

And then she went off on a tangent and just kept thanking her. Classy, Millhiore, clasys.

"W-woah, hold it before I change my mind. You don't need to thank me so much," Well, she didn't have that much of a problem with it. It was just kinda embarrassing to be thanked so much by someone she was just rude to a few moments ago. This girl was really something. In a strange sort of way, it reminded her of that hopeless dad of hers. Michi really did hope he would be fine until she gets back. "Ahem, just tell me what I need to do as a... uhm.. temporary hero."

"O-oh, I'm sorry. Wait." she realized that she did it again. Millhiore was a broken record at this point. She had more to her vocabulary than simple 'thank you's after all. "Uh.. you'll be fighting in the Flonyard war games." she said that in such an upbeat tone that it could be taken a 'few' different ways. "We're about to participate in a battle with the neighboring kingdom of Galette who's ruled by the fierce Queen of Beasts, Leomitchelle."

She paused for a moment to make sure Michi got all of that.

Meanwhile, in the Galette Dominion, a certain lioness stood over her subjects, preparing to give her big speech.

"They seem awfully riled down there, don't they Godwin?" she said with a satisfied smile. The warcat simply grunted. "Alright then! Where is the hero? I'd like for them to take part in this personally!"

"Alright, alright, gonna have to do this." Melody said as she walked on, the large Guitar-Sword strapped across her back. She waved to the people that she had passed by with a grin on her face. "One, two, three..." she began to perform cartwheels. One, two, three.

They moved into backhand springs. One, two, three, four- she ended it with a jump! Melody performed a corkscrew flip as she landed perfectly on her feet. "MELODY CADENCIA, HERO OF GALETTE, REPORTING FOR DUTY!" she stuck her tongue out and grinned.

FIREWORKS THEN WENT OFF BECAUSE FUCK YES FIREWORKS.

"I see, I see," It was partly a lie, because she didn't see. Michi barely understood it at all, but she was willing to go along with whatever. At least it was something to kill time until Pinky could get her home. Though, there was still one thing she needed explained to her, "I'm a bit dumb... so can you explain what 'war games' are? I mean I get the game part, but what does war have to do with it?"

"The war games are... I can explain on the way!" Millhiore walked on over and grabbed Michi's hand. She turned around and started to walk down the steps that led to her Senkuru. "The wars fought in Flonyard are competitions that separate funds that go to... well generally everything that's needed." she explained as the large bird came into view. It 'caw'd once as the princess boarded it. Tatsumaki, the dog that had been following them, leaped up into the air and took a seat, sitting snuggly on back of the bird's neck and in the princess' lap. "Hop on!"

Del was having quite a lovely morning. At the moment, he was enjoying some tea in the garden, breathing in the fresh sea air mixed with the scent of flowers and listening to the waves crashing along the shore. The Isle was really a beautiful place to live, in his opinion. Fresh sea air was good for the lungs.

The young queen's peaceful thoughts were interrupted when he heard the slight clanging sounds of armor that was heading straight for him. Setting down his tea cup, he turned to find Ritsu awkwardly adjusting his just-a-mite-too-big armor as he walked forward. Del had to resist physically wincing at the sight, though he didn't back in his mind.

"Otowa-san, you look rather... disheveled..." Del said, his voice light, neutral, and sounding quite genderless.

"A-Ah, sorry your highness," Ritsu said with an awkward smile. "It's just... there's no armor available in my size..."

The teen fidgeted a bit and Del thought he looked rather cute like that. "We'll arrange for a blacksmith to forge some armor for you," he said, waving over a servant to pass on the message. "We can't have you wear something so inadequate in battle."

"Y-Yeah..." Ritsu sat down at Del's invitation and watched as the queen gracefully poured him some tea. It was usually against conduct for a queen to serve an "undignified" person tea, but Del didn't really care about conduct. He was the queen, he'll do what he'll damn wish to do.

Ritsu accepted the tea and Del brought up some small talk, which the younger teen responded to gratefully.

Yes, despite events on the horizon, Del was having a pleasant day so far.

"Your wars are competitions...?" Michi questioned as she was dragged along by the dog girl. Well, that was a surprisingly peaceful way to settle disputes. She was starting to see where Pinky got her optimistic naivety. This place seemed to thrive on it.

When they came up to the abnormally huge bird, Michi blinked in surprise. Just what did they feed that thing? Wait, were they going to ride it? She paled slightly. Heights were not something she was good with. Even as a kid she would freak out if her dad pushed the swing too hard by mistake and sent her up too high.

She wanted to shake her head no, to run away. But she couldn't do that, she was the temporary hero of Biscotti now. She should just suck it up. Besides, she didn't actually want a stranger finding out her worst fear. So she climbed atop the the bird, granted a bit more cautiously than Millhi did.

"Alright now, let's get a move on!" Millhi said the bird's name, and it took off. It ran down the side of the hill as fast as it could before running along the cliff. Below them, there was a clear view of the forest, a lake. And if they look above, there were floating islands with greenery. "How do you like it here so far, Hero?" the dog wasted no time to start a conversation on back of the Senkuru.

"Oh, there's already a battle going on." Millhi said absent mindedly. "But we'll get you ready to go in no time!" she nodded to reassure herself and Michi.

Soon, they'd arrive at the battlefield!

Michi had to cover her mouth to suppress not only any screams, but the possibility of letting something a little more disgusting out. She was clingy to whatever she could get a good grasp on. This is why her father never took her anywhere they couldn't get to by car. When Milhi asked her another question, the boyish girl tried to answer but had to cover her mouth and again and gulp before letting out a weak reply, "I-I like it just fine."

Such a great and mighty hero she was turning out to be. She knew she wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Despite her fear, curiosity about the battle got the best of her and she peeked of the edge, only to get a sudden wave of dizziness. How she hated heights.