Chapter Text
“A dog?”
”Yes.”
”You’re bein' serious?”
”Yes.”
”You’re telling me that you went into a dungeon, discovered some freaky mana-cloaked room, and found out it can turn human beings into other living things?”
”Yes.”
”And that dog there is Finral Roulacase.”
”…yes.”
Captain Yami sighed out a puff of smoke as he stared at the brown and white canine, sat happily between Vanessa's legs with its short fluffy tail sweeping against the floor, staring back up at him with pink-purple eyes that were unmistakably Finrals'. Yami folded the newspaper in his hands and put it to the side, taking the cigarette between his fingers, inhaling a long drag and standing up off the common room sofa as he comprehended the situation.
"We think its transformation magic," Charmy said unsurprisingly around a mouthful of food by the kitchen door, the first place she'd headed as soon as they walked in, "and thought maybe Grey could try to do something about it." She quickly disappeared back inside, shouting orders at her sheep cooks to be quicker and it was an emergency.
"Well, Grey and the others aren't back from the Castle Town yet so that's gonna have to wait," Yami considered, scratching the scruff on his chin, then sighed. This was supposed to be a pretty straightforward mission, so he'd let the rest of the team have the day off. Julius had promised a simple dungeon and claimed it would be less dangerous than the last one, hence why the Golden Dawn or any other Magic Knight Squad hadn't been there this time. But, as expected for the Black Bulls, "supposed to be" was almost always a "not going to be".
"I'll send a message to Julius in the meantime. He might have more information on the dungeon to explain why it would have a transformation room." He took the cigarette out of his mouth, looking back at the puppy nestled between Vanessa's ankles sitting all quiet and polite. He put his hands on his hips. "Any idea whether he knows what's happened to him?"
"We're not sure. We didn't have a problem other than basic traps up until this, and Finral went in first. Only a few seconds later, he came running out of the room with two more legs and a fur coat straight to me. Also, his clothes came off during the change." Vanessa wiggled the neat pile of clothes in one hand, clutching his ridiculous classic green boots in the other. "We know he responds to his name, but when I asked whether he understood what had happened, all he did was curl up by my feet and whimper," she explained.
Yami grunted. Then, one hand on his hip, bent forward and closer to the dog. "Hey Finral, you in there?" he asked clear and blunt.
Dog Finral only stared up at him with an inquisitive noise, head tilting to the side and ears perking up just slightly at the use of his name.
Yami straightened up, not too surprised by the lacking answer. "Well, that didn't work. Guess we'll be having a dog on our hands until we figure out how to get the human version back."
"Well, there's not too much of a rush, is there? I mean, he is very cute like this." Vanessa put down his boots and scratched under the puppy's chin, the dog immediately panting and rubbing against her hand with happy little mewls.
Charmy skipped out of the kitchen with a large supper bowl in her hands piled high with strangely shaped food bites. She knelt down and pushed it in front of him. "And such a cute dog like you deserves a full bowl of delicious and yummy treats! Eat up, my sheep cooks made these especially for you!"
Dog Finral didn't need to be told twice, moving away from Vanessa's hand and diving into the food like he was starving. Being turned into a dog must've really increased his appetite... and taken away most of his noble manners as well. Someone was gonna have to bathe the little thing after he'd finished getting more of it on him than in him.
Frowning at the cutesy attention the women were giving him, Yami said, "Just make sure to you both remember that that's your squadmate. Human squadmate. And if this is transformation magic, we don't know how else it might've affected him, or wanna risk waiting too long and the chance of it being permanent."
Dog Finral's head immediately snapped up alert and he whined, face and mouth stained with sticky dog food matting his fur.
Yami raised an eyebrow. Hm. So maybe he did understand a few things they were saying.
"It would be a shame to go on without our regular Spatial Mage," Vanessa said, almost pouting. "Trying to get us all back here was difficult enough without using Finral for a shortcut."
Yami could imagine that, chuckling gruffly to himself at the image of Vanessa flying a tree branch as a broom with a small Dog Finral curled up in her lap and possibly finding he had a new fear of heights.
In any case, "I'll send word to Julius now. Even if he can't give us anything more on the dungeon, this is definitely something he'll wanna see."
Knowing the Wizard King as his usual magic loving nerd self, Yami couldn't see how this wouldn't interest him. And he might have some useful advice on how to take care of a dog, once he managed to stop Julius from squealing and lavishing the pup with attention like he knew he would as soon as he laid eyes on him.
Yami began walking into the rest of the base, only to realise he had a small follower. The soft padding noises of paws hitting the floor as Dog Finral trailed behind him had him turning and looking at the curious little furball.
"No, Finral. Stay with Vanessa and Charmy," he instructed, but Dog Finral stayed where he was, staring up at Yami with those big wide eyes filled with wonder. Yami took a few steps backwards, and so did the pup. "Finral." He wasn't listening, padding straight up to the Captain and putting a paw on the toe of his boot as if weakly attempting to keep the Captain in place. Yami heard Vanessa chuckling, and gently pulled his foot away and walked back into the corridor, finally snapping "Finral, stay." at the dog.
The young puppy froze on the spot and immediately plopped back onto his butt, quiet and waiting for his next command.
Yami let out a sigh before crouching in front of the dog. He reached out a hand and Dog Finral ducked his head a little, wary of the incoming attention. The Captain held his hand in the air and allowed Dog Finral to lean up and sniff him before pushing his head up into his palm happily. Yami petted him, surprised at how soft his fur was, the brown encircling his head and ears like a little crown but leaving his nose and face white. "Good boy," he told him, and Dog Finral yipped happily in response.
"Looks like he doesn't want you to go, Captain." Yami could hear the teasing smile in Vanessa's voice without having to look up.
"Make sure he doesn't go gettin' into any more trouble while I'm gone. We still need him around," Yami instructed, and a little reluctantly managed to tear himself away from the puppy, standing up and walking to his room to find his communicator, leaving Vanessa and Charmy to take care of their new pet for now.