Hello All,

Here is a teaser for my next tale. I have a lot of stuff going on in the next few weeks, but I wanted to post this little morsel to give you all a taste of whats to come. I am very excited for this fic. So much potential for suspense and romance, if I can pull it off properly.

I chose the title based off the meaning of the word bastion...it has the idea of a fotress or a castle, a place of safety and refuge. Since Natsumi is the creator of this refuge, I decided on The Bastion Heir for this tale.

This is set in an alternate universe. I have cut out Fuyuki, Aki, and Momoka (much as I love them all) for plot purposes. Natsumi needed to be the last surviving member of her family. Kululu will be portrayed as slightly more insane then he already is...for a very good reason that you will find out later. Koyuki will be present as well, but she has yet to meet Blue (aka. Dororo).

The platoon is named after their respective color and rank. I altered the ranks to make them a bit more readable. :)

Since this is an AU and not completely humourous, there will be no narrator.

I do not own Sgt. Frog or these characters. I just really love to play with them ;D

Thoughts

Speech

Emphasis

The Bastion Heir: Prelude


Death is something that happens to everyone.

She didn't want to die.

If she died here no one would be able to save earth from those who would invade it, imprison its people, destroy its beauty.

The girl raised her eyes to meet those of her assailant.

All she could see was the light glinting off his glasses and the knife pointed at her chest.

Her assailant laughed demonically at her fear, "Kukuku..."


With a gasp, Natsumi Hinata set up in her bed.

The room was still dark and quiet; stars still shone outside and an owl gave a lonely hoot.

Her breathing settled and her heartbeat decreased.

Just a dream…

There was a quiet knock on the window and Natsumi spotted the face of her bodyguard Red Gocho. He was peering through the glass of the central window on her wall. Her bedroom, like most of the rooms in her home was a spacious 3 windowed thing at ground level.

She walked over and lifted the sill.

Red poked his head through the opening.

"Is everything alright?"

His blunt statement calmed her further. He could've rushed to her side and taken her hand, fussed over her sweat-drenched state, and offered to get her some tea, but such a response wouldn't have been like him at all. Red was pointedly blunt.

"Yeah...nightmares again."

"I see."

She eyed him, his blonde hair was ruffled, the corners of his narrowed grey-blue eyes were droopy. His tall, lean body was covered by only a white t-shirt, shorts, and the ever-present blue belt he buckled over his chest. He had obviously just woken up too.

She could hear his feet shuffling on the grass, he might have been uncomfortable with her stare, but Natsumi couldn't tell.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed.

"Thankfully, I know the end to this one. It was the day you saved me."

Red pulled his head back into the shadows, blushing lightly.

"I didn't do anything special."

Natsumi's eyes widened and she no longer felt sleepy.

She poked her own head out the window and waggled her finger in his face irately.

"You put your life at risk. If you hadn't jumped him that maniac would have murdered me!"

She shuddered. He would've enjoyed it too…

Red Gocho shrugged it off like he attempted to do with most her praise.

"I was the only one around and you needed rescuing."

His almost smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. Natsumi had very rarely seen Red smile…you had to watch for his mouth to slant and his eyes to squeeze. That was his sign of merriment.

"You always need rescuing."

Natsumi poked him in the center of his solid chest.

"I do not."

Red merely shrugged, too sleepy to challenge her.

She glared at him.

"How did you know I was upset?"

Red grunted and held out his arm.

A band was secured over his wrist, her code name scripted over the top. 723.

"This monitor tells me if your heart rate accelerates dramatically. It also checks your breathing. If anything is wrong a small shock is administered to the wearer. "

Natsumi made a face.

"Well, I guess that accounts for your hair."

The blonde strands were not only ruffled. They were standing on end.

She couldn't help but giggle.

Red wrinkled his nose.

"I'd like to see how your hair looks after getting shocked."

Natsumi struggled to regain control, but her smile was undiminished.

Her smile is so lovely…

"Hnn...If you're feeling better you should try to get some sleep. Just because you defend this planet doesn't mean you can let your guard down during college courses."

She yawned and withdrew into her room.

"Of course you would say that…will you be driving me then?"

"Yes."

She smiled, the sleep returning to her eyes.

"Sounds great…night, Red."

"Good-night Natsumi."

She shut her window and withdrew from sight.


Red waited until he saw her climb into bed before headed to the front of his tent. Natsumi never closed the shutters on the central window, since his tent obscured most of it.

Rounding the front of the tent, Red paused and stood silently for a moment, staring at the stars.

"I know your there Zeroro, so come out."

The tent flap was pushed aside. If any human had seen it move it would've seemed like the flap had merely been pushed by a gust of wind. To Red's trained eye though, a small, blue frog-like alien in ninja-like apparel stood behind him.

"Don't say my real name…Green wanted me to tell you that you are getting too attached to the Pekoponian girl."

"Green wanted me to get close to her," Red growled.

"Yes, but not attached."

Red sighed, "I'm not attached and the mission comes first."

"Have you learned the secret of her powers?"

The blonde-man shrugged, "She's a worthy guardian and a very careful one at that…I've never seen her restore the Bastion Field."

"You admire her."

A blush crept unbidden to Red's cheeks, "I admire any warrior who is good at what they do."

Blue sighed, "Well, you better stop admiring and get to observing…Green is getting impatient, he's been threatening to let Yellow loose again."

Red glared down at his comrade.

"He wouldn't dare…we were barely able to restrain him last time. He might have destroyed the planet, before we even had a chance to conquer it."

Zeroro shrugged, "You know the rules, Red. If we can't take it over, then we have to destroy it…although, even I must admit that this planet is very beautiful."

Red shrugged and stared with furrowed brow at the sky.

"Well, I'll be off then and Giroro," Red looked down at him, "Don't let your emotions get the better of you."

Giroro smirked, "I'm not the one who has troubles in that department and I thought we were using our codenames."

Zeroro's eyes watered, "What's that supposed to mean and I was only giving you a fair warning…"

Giroro turned and ducked into his tent.

"Goodnight Blue…tell Green that I'm making progress."

The blue assassin sighed and faded into the night.


Corporal Giroro lay down on his cot. Over the past year that he had served Natsumi Hinata he had learned a whole lot about her and almost nothing about her abilities.

On the outside, she seemed to be the typical college student. Smart, athletic, pursuing a degree in music and art; but Natsumi Hinata was also the Bastion heir, the only human capable of creating the shield which defended the planet from invaders.

Invaders like him. He and his platoon had only just managed to penetrate the Bastion. The effort had taken nearly every last scrap of power that the entire Keron army had been able to offer. Not to mention that, unless the shield came down, they were stranded there forever.

Giroro scratched absently at the wrist cuff. He longed to remove it, to be able to shift to his true form. Headquarters had assigned the device to him in order to fool the Bastion heir and to conceal his true form.

His heart gave a familiar lurch associated with the deception and he squelched it joylessly.

Natsumi might care for Red Gocho, the tall blonde bodyguard with grey-blue eyes, but she would never care for Giroro, the red keronian weapons specialist with slanted grey-blue eyes and a scar over his left.

Giroro sighed.

Living a double life was utter shit.


Well, are you sufficiently teased? Curious to know what happens? I know we have another fic with Giroro posing as a human, but in this one he is not actually turned completely human. He has a sort of body shift, much like Pururu. At least I think its Pururu that has a device which shifts her into a human form...

I am making him a blonde to be true to the anime human version of him. I also like his eye color...so I'm keeping that as well.

This story is written by me for your enjoyment. So let me know if it tickles your fancies :D

If it pleases you Review!