darkSpyro

"Okay, okay," Lucina did as told, hugging the puppy gently.

The puppy bit Lucina's hand, growling.

"Hey, hug him nicely!" Natsu complained, pouting. "They're delicate you know!"

"Lucina withdrew her hand with a yelp of surprise. "I did!" she exclaimed.

"Mmhmm. Try again," Natsu spoke gently this time, nuzzling Lucina's puppy's head gently, calming him down.

Asuna walked over to where she noticed the remained of some kind of ritual, where Henry waited. "What happened?" she questioned.

Lucina did, more hesitant this time.

"I performed a ritual to summon puppies for Natsu, duh!" Henry grinned.

This time, the puppy jumped up to Lucina's face, and all three heads began licking all of the skin they could see.

Asuna sighed, "these...things," she held up the puppy Natsu had dropped for her by the scruff, "are not puppies. In any way."

Lucina gave a cry of surprise at the change in behaviour.

"Yes they are!" Henry argued. "They're demon puppies!"

Natsu grinned, "see? If you're nice to him he'll love you!"

The puppy began bouncing on Lucina's stomach, one of the heads giving growls of delight as it went up and down.

Asuna shook her head, "and what made you think demons were okay do bring here as pets?" She threw the puppy down to Henry's feet, causing the tiny creature to whimper.

"Um, okay," Lucina stared at the puppy.

"They're only little demons!" Henry grinned

Natsu thought for a moment, "do you want me to put you down? And can you even carry your puppy if I do? They're heavier than they look."

"Little demons that will grow into big demons. You can't just summon whatever you please! You may be putting others in danger." Asuna sighed, shaking her head.

"I probably can," Lucina told him. "Yeah, put me down."

Natsu carefully dropped Lucina to the ground, giving her the puppy.

Lucina picked it up gently.

"Come on then, let's find something to do!" Natsu smiled, holding the other four puppies.

Finally, without anything to do, Viridi warped back to where she last saw Dark Pit in the camp, hoping he hadn't gone very far.

Mikasa finished counting, "okay, that's enough. Have a five minute water break and come back here."

"Okay," Lucina shrugged.

Dark Pit hadn't gone far. "You came back again," he muttered. "What a surprise."

Gladion practically collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

Natsu looked around, "what did you do in your world when you had free time?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Viridi questioned, looking around. "There's just nothing to do anywhere!"

Mikasa rolled her eyes, "do you need me to carry you back?"

"Well... I didn't usually have free time," Lucina shrugged. "We didn't do much other than chat. Sometimes we'd watch Inigo dance or fail at flirting. That was about it."

"Okay, geez, calm down," Dark Pit grumbled.

Gladion glared at her. "I'm fine," he snapped between breaths.

"Inigo? Who's that?" Natsu asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"I'm perfectly calm, thank you very much." Viridi snapped, glaring at nothing in particular.

"Whatever," Mikasa watched as Gladion struggled to breath.

"He's one of my friends from back home," Lucina explained. "He can dance, though he says he's bad at it. And he's a real flirt. He invites every girl he meets out for tea. No one ever goes with him though."

"You sure don't seem calm," Dark Pit muttered.

Gladion lay back in the grass, breathing heavily.

Natsu laughed, "that's kinda funny. Does that mean he has never been on a date? Ever?"

Viridi sighed, turning to the girl's sleeping building. "Then you are terrible at reading people. Now, if you're not going to entertain me, I'm going to sleep."

Mikasa rolled her eyes and picked up one of the water bottles Asuna had left. She walked over to Gladion and poured the freezing liquid onto his face. "Drink," she commanded, dropping the remainder of the water next to him.

"That's exactly what it means. He tries all the time, he just never succeeds," Lucina nodded.

"I don't really care, so okay," Dark Pit shrugged.

Gladion gave a shout of shock as the water was splashed on him, coughing and gasping for air as he sat bolt upright. "What... was... that... for?"

Natsu just laughed, "I have a friend like that too. Except he always takes off his shirt and then asks girls out. Don't think he's ever been on a date either."

Viridi yawned as she saw her bed and collapsed into it almost immediately.

"Dehydration will kill you," Mikasa answered, glaring at the ground. "Especially someone as pitiful as you."

"Inigo's less crazy than that," Lucina smiled a little. "He actually acts pretty normal, but in the middle of war tea isn't exactly the first thing on a girl's mind. Also, he can be a little overwhelming. He talks a lot."

Gladion stared at the water bottle for a moment before drinking some of it.

Natsu grinned, "you have a point. Does that mean you were in a war for his entire life?"

Mikasa hid her smirk as she watched Gladion. "Careful, your time is almost up."

"Most of it anyway," Lucina nodded, her smile gone. "Most of mine too. All of us were born not long before the war started, and far too many of us lost our parents when we were young."

Gladion groaned, before drinking more of the water.

"Can I ask how exactly that war was drawn out for that long? Someone should have eventually annihilated the other side sooner than that." Natsu commented, noticing Lucina's serious face.

Mikasa gave Gladion a light kick, "I want five hundred situps. Go."

"A war between gods isn't so easy to win or lose," Lucina sighed. "We had the Divine Dragon on our side, and we were against the Fell Dragon."

Gladion groaned, but knew better than to refuse at this point.

"Hmm..." Natsu thought for a moment, "why would gods put humans in their wars? It just seems cruel. They should have fought among themselves..."

"Well, Grima isn't exactly a pro-human god. He eats his followers," Lucina explained. "Naga didn't ask us to fight, we took it upon ourselves to try to kill the Fell Dragon. He was sending hordes of Risen after us, we weren't about to just let them kill us."

Natsu nodded in understanding, "some gods are buttholes." Natsu's face brightened again, "do you wanna race the puppies?"

"Sure, why not?" Lucina shrugged, a small smile on her face again.

After some preparation, the six puppies were lined up at a starting branch, all facing the end branch, which had a piece of cheese waiting for the puppies. Natsu's arm was containing them, and after a while, the he lifted it, yelling "go!" as he did so.

Lucina watched the puppies race for the cheese, jumping over each other in their rush to do so. She couldn't help smiling at how honestly adorable they were.

Finally, Lucina's puppy reached the prize first, gobbling it in one bite. All of the other puppies tackled him, growling.

Lucina couldn't keep herself from laughing. She'd never done anything like this before, never having had time to own or care for a pet, and it made her happy. It was odd, but she wasn't going to complain.

"So," Natsu began, "what are you gonna name him?" He picked up his own puppies, saving Lucina's from being squished.

"I'm not sure," Lucina admitted. "I've never had to name anything before, much less a three headed dog."

Natsu laughed, "it'll come to you. Now, I have four puppies here that want a home. Wanna help me ask around? I don't mind keeping them all, but I think everyone should get the chance to have a puppy!"

"I'm not sure everyone wants a three-headed demon puppy, but you can ask around if you want," Lucina said.

"But they're cute and friendly," Natsu whined, cuddling the creatures.

"Not everyone likes demon puppies, hate to break it to you," Lucina said.

Natsu looked at the creatures sadly, "well they are cruel people." He smiled again, "I'm going to ask around! You can stay here and play with your puppy for a while, if you want."

"All right," Lucina smiled.

Natsu began walking back, the puppies in tow. Once he entered the food hall, he looked around at everyone. He first approached Jodie, who was sitting there with nothing else to do. "Hi!" Natsu grinned.

"Hi," Jodie waved. "What's up?"

"Do you want a puppy?" Natsu asked cheerfully, carefully dropping one onto her lap.

The puppy stiffened, glaring up at Jodie before letting out a 'terrifying' bark and licking her face.

"Um... I'm good," Jodie replied.

Natsu glared at Jodie, "and why is that? Why don't you want something this cute?"

"Actually I guess I'll take it...." Jodie could tell from the glare that refusing would have consequences.

Natsu smiled happily, "yay! I don't know what they eat or anything, but I promise they're super friendly!"

Ryuko noticed Natsu holding four puppies with three heads and smirked. She stood, walked over, snatched one up and walked back to the girl's room.