Chapter 1
"The hell is this thing?"
The youth reached out a hand to touch the strange green disk-like spatial aberration that hovered above the sidewalk, before pausing and glancing at the crowd as it parted around him. Pedestrians as far as the eye could see, but seemingly none of them perceived the disk like he did. A few gave him strange looks as he stood there, his hand outstretched into empty space, but no-one gave the disk so much as a glance.
'It seems I'm the only one who's able to see this thing. I wonder, does it have something to do with…?'
"Only one way to find out I suppose," the youth quietly grunted to himself, running his fingers through his bright red hair before shoving his hands into the pockets of his old leather jacket. A moment later, he removed a stopwatch and clicked the button to start it, a quiet 'beep' echoing the action, "better to be safe than sorry."
For a moment, the youth paused. Then, "I'll just have to have my 「Daft Punk」 check it out for me!"
Instantly a tall figure materialized before the youth. Clad in a featureless black helm and matching armored plates accented with lines of glowing gold, it struck an imposing figure at just over seven feet tall. Beneath its armor, tightly compacted muscles tensed before uncoiling with all the quickness of a striking cobra as the figure lashed out at the disk-like presence with a lightning-fast right hook, accompanied by a loud "Kurah!"
For a moment, the youth almost expected the disk to retaliate. However, when ten full seconds went by without a reaction of any kind he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and chuckled to himself.
"Well, that's a relief. I know the folks at the Speedwagon Foundation told me I might run into other users, but I've had 「Daft Punk」 for less than a month! This must be something different; maybe I should ask them about it…"
The youth made to dismiss the figure that floated before him unseen by the masses, but his relief quickly turned to confusion, then panic when he realized that, whatever the disk-thing was, the dark figure's hand was trapped inside it.
"Hey, let go!"
Again he tried to dismiss the figure that had sprung from him, but the disk's grip was relentless and had even started to pull the dark figure inside itself, and him along with it.
"W-wait! Stop! SOMEBODY HE-!"
The youth's cry for help went unheeded as he was forcibly sucked through the disk, the people within close vicinity briefly taking note of the boy that had disappeared in front of them before dismissing it as a bit of impromptu street magic and returning to their thoughts, the youth going entirely forgotten.
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"Is there anyone left who has not completed the ritual?"
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière gulped and tried to make herself as small as possible. Not exactly a difficult feat when she physically was smaller than almost everyone else, but even so it seemed that luck was not on her side today.
"Professor Colbert, Louise has yet to try!" she heard from the other side of the group, and as one her classmates all turned to stare at her.
'Damn that Zerbst. Why couldn't she have just kept her big mouth shut!?'
Slowly, the young girl made her way to the front of the group. The breeze that blew through the grounds of the Tristain Academy of Magic ruffled her pale strawberry-blonde hair and cooled her skin as her blood pumped ever more furiously through her veins. She stopped only once she'd reached the summoning circle, and even then she took a moment to observe the overseeing mage, Professor Colbert, as he stood off to the side.
The sun reflected off of his balding head, and he looked at her with a mix of apprehension and pity. She couldn't blame him. After all, she'd pity her too. Were she capable of casting any kind of spell that didn't result in an explosion, things might have been different. But unfortunately for her, she was, always had been, and most likely would continue to be a failure.
Deciding to just get the unpleasantness over with, Louise cleared her throat and raised the hand that clenched her wand in a death grip as she began to recite the aria that would (supposedly) call forth her destined familiar.
"Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar!"
As was to be expected, the explosion that resulted from her attempt at a spell launched her back a few feet, and she landed on her rear as the class collectively groaned at her latest magical foible. Ignoring the unflattering mutterings of her classmates, she glanced over at the summoning circle and was more than a little surprised to find a figure kneeling in the middle of it, hunched over and coughing.
Looking more closely, she observed as the smoke lifted to reveal a red-headed boy perhaps a year or two older than her dressed in strange clothing. He was adorned in pants made of some sort of unfamiliar blue material, and she could see his knees through the spots where the garment had worn through. On his torso, he sported an old jacket seemingly made of leather over a peculiar shirt that matched his hair in color and sported a series of strange gold symbols- a heart, a cross, and a funny-looking circle with a line running down the middle of it that split off into three as it approached the bottom.
As her classmates whispered among themselves, Louise got to her feet at the same time the boy did and walked forward to address the human that had apparently been called to serve as her familiar.
"Who are you?"
The boy started at being addressed so suddenly, but quickly regained his bearings and looked back at her.
"John Goode. Who are you?"
"Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière."
The boy gave her a puzzled look before turning to gaze at his surroundings, "Riiiiiiight…"
Slowly, the boy named John took in her classmates as they continued to whisper about 'failures' and 'commoners', "So, Louise Francine de la something-or-other, where am I exactly?"
Louise glowered at the taller boy, "It's Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, and you're at the Tristain Academy of Magic. Apparently, the summoning ritual thinks that you are best suited to be my familiar."
The confused look returned to the boy's face as he cocked his head disbelievingly to the side.
"Seriously?"
"Why wouldn't I be serious? Stupid familiar…" Louise answered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Whatever. And stop calling me that."
"Calling you what?"
"You keep calling me 'Familiar'. What does that even mean?"
"I can answer that one," the balding professor spoke up, approaching the duo from where he'd stood off the side, "a familiar is a magical companion that assists and protects the mage that it's bound to. Ms. Vallière here just completed the first half of the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual, and it seems that you are what was summoned." he finished with an amicable smile.
"So… what you're saying… is that you want to make me into some kind of pet? With magic?"
The professor's smile slipped just a fraction, "Well, that isn't quite the word I would use. But-"
"Save it; not interested," the redhead interrupted, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his still-running stopwatch.
Louise scoffed at the boy's presumptuousness. As if a commoner like him had the authority to make that decision. "You don't get a choice in the matter! I need a familiar, and you are what I summoned. That means you're my familiar!"
The young man ignored the petite mage, instead checking the face of the stopwatch, "Three minutes and seventeen seconds… easy enough."
"Hey! Are you listening to me!?"
John turned to face her with a cheeky grin as he manifested the black and gold armored figure.
"I'm sorry, do you think you could say that… 「One More Time」?"
Louise mimicked the taller boy's earlier action and cocked her head to the side in confusion at the odd emphasis on those last three words.
"What's that supposed to me-"
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The damn thing was following him!
John quickly rounded the street corner, pushing his way past the myriad angry pedestrians that impeded him as he practically leapt into a small bookstore, attempting with rapidly increasing desperation to dodge the crazy disk-portal thing that hounded him like… well, like a bloodhound.
'What the hell is this thing's problem!? Can't it tell that I want nothing to do with it!?'
Taking a moment to catch his breath, John slid down the nearest bookshelf into a seated position, carefully looking around the corner to find that the portal had neglected to follow him through the shelves, instead retreating to the middle of the store's entrance and taunting him with the promise of freedom if only he could get past it and out the door again. He looked down at his stopwatch.
"Four minutes, forty-eight seconds. Not enough time…"
Rising to his feet once more, he silently made his way over to the back of the store, where a bored looking high-school girl sat at the register reading a fashion magazine.
"Excuse me, are there any other ways out of this building?"
Glancing up in irritation at what must have sounded like a completely inane question, the girl glared at him, "No. Are you gonna buy somethin' or not?"
John glared back at the girl and turned to make sure that the portal hadn't moved. It hadn't, which was good. Unfortunately, it still stood between him and the outside world, effectively trapping him within the small shop, which was bad.
John quickly made his way back into the maze of bookshelves and contemplated his options. He could just have 「Daft Punk」 punch a hole in the side of the building and escape that way, but then he'd have to deal with the fallout of busting down a brick wall in front of both the register girl and whoever happened to be walking down the sidewalk on the other side. Or, he could wait a little while longer and then just not run into the bookstore at all...
Glancing down at his stopwatch, his heart soared at what he saw.
'Six minutes, twenty-two seconds… only twelve seconds left! Eleven, ten, nine, eight, sev-'
John's silent countdown abruptly came to an end when a flash of green overtook his vision and, for the second time that day (from his perspective at least), he vanished without a trace.
-)|(-
"Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar!"
As was to be expected, the explosion that resulted from her attempt at a spell launched her back a few feet, and she landed on her rear as the class collectively groaned at her latest magical foible. Ignoring the unflattering mutterings of her classmates, she glanced over at the summoning circle and was more than a little surprised to find a figure kneeling in the middle of it, hunched over and coughing.
Looking more closely, she observed as the smoke lifted to reveal a red-headed boy perhaps a year or two older than her dressed in strange clothing. He was adorned in pants made of some sort of unfamiliar blue material, and she could see his knees through the spots where the garment had worn through. On his torso, he sported an old jacket seemingly made of leather over a peculiar shirt that matched his hair in color and sported a series of strange gold symbols- a heart, a cross, and a funny-looking circle with a line running down the middle of it that split off into three as it approached the bottom.
As her classmates whispered among themselves, Louise got to her feet at the same time the boy did and walked forward to address the human that had apparently been called to serve as her familiar.
"Who are you?"
Instead of answering her question, the boy scowled as he aggressively began to approach her, causing her to step back in alarm and for Professor Colbert to begin moving to intercept him.
"What the hell! Why won't your stupid portal thing leave me alone!? I already told you people I'm not interested in being a pet!"
That brought her and the professor up short, and they gazed at him in wary befuddlement. What in the Founder's name was he raving about? She'd never seen him before in her life!
"I don't know who you think you're speaking to, but I suggest you cut the attitude, Commoner! I am Louise Fran-"
"Yeah yeah, Louise Francis Blank de la Whatever. I don't care! Just tell your stupid magic portal thing to piss off!"
Louise stood in shock as the taller boy pulled out a stopwatch and muttered to himself. He already knew her? How was that possible?
"How do you know my name?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," the redhead irritably replied, "now, how's about we try this 「One More Time」!"
"Wait a minute, what do you-!?"
-)|(-
He'd tried to outrun it. He really, really, had.
But, like everything else in his life as of late, it just couldn't be that simple.
The moment he laid eyes on the portal he turned tail and booked it, running as fast as he could for as far as he was able. If he couldn't hide from it, then maybe it would just get tired of chasing him after a while? He'd hoped against hope that such was the case, but the thing pursued him relentlessly all the same.
If he didn't know any better, he'd have wagered that the damn thing was actually getting annoyed with him towards the end there.
"Who are you?"
John looked up and sighed in defeat before frowning at the strawberry-blonde girl that he was already becoming very tired of seeing.
"John. John Brennan Goode. Familiar ritual at Tristan Academy, right? Let's get this over with. I know when I'm beat."
"…It's 'Tristain' but… yes, that's correct…" the girl gazed back in surprise at the fact that he already knew where he was and why. She glanced over to the professor that stood off to the side, a desperate, questioning expression flashing across her features.
"Professor Colbert, do I really have to… with him?"
The balding mage offered the young girl an apologetic look and nodded, "I'm afraid so, Louise. The Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual is a sacred tradition; it must be upheld."
The girl sighed, and John was just about to ask what the rest of the ritual actually entailed when Louise tapped him on the head with what he could only assume was supposed to be a magic wand before grabbing him by the collar and kissing him straight on the mouth.
Unprepared as he was for the spontaneous make-out session, John froze up and stood there as the young girl finished whatever it was she was doing and took a step back.
Then the pain hit.
Pure agony flowed throughout his body and mind as whatever the girl had done to him did its job, frying his nerves and cooking him alive from the inside out. So great was the pain that his 「Daft Punk」 manifested of its own volition, releasing a thundering roar of pure unbridled fury at whatever had deigned to put its user through such torture. Moments passed, and the pain slowly began to fade as John looked down to discover that strange markings had appeared on the back of his left hand.
"The hell… are these…?"
Slowly, he glanced up towards the one person who could better explain what had happened to him, only to find her sprawled backwards in the dirt, mouth hanging open in a wordless scream of terror and her shaking hand held forward to point at him.
"W-W-WHAT IS THAT!?" she cried, scooting as far away from him as she could, as fast as humanly possible. Looking behind him, John saw nothing but his 「Daft Punk」 silently hovering in patient expectation. What could she possibly be so afraid of? There was nothing… there…
"Wait, you… you can see my 「Daft Punk」? You can see my 「Stand」!?"
Louise said nothing as the professor rushed to her side in alarm, seemingly content to do nothing aside from opening up even more distance between them.
John was just as lost as the rest of the class as they stared at the young girl shaking in fear of something nobody else (besides him) could see. After all, the people at the Speedwagon Foundation had told him that only people who had a 「Stand」 of their own could see ones belonging to other people. Then again, the Louise girl hadn't been able to see his earlier. It wasn't until she'd kissed him that she'd been able to perceive his 「Daft Punk」. Or perhaps it had something to do with the markings that had shown up on his hand…
Either way, there was one thing he was sure of.
His life had just gotten much, much more bizarre.
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STAND NAME: Daft Punk
STAND MASTER: John B. Goode
POWER: C
DURABILITY: C
SPEED: A
PRECISION: A
RANGE: D
GROWTH POTENTIAL: C
ABILITIES:
-One More Time: Sends the user's consciousness back in time, but cannot be used again until twice the amount of reset time has passed (i.e. going back 5 minutes = 10 minute cooldown). At his current level of experience, John can only go back about an hour at most.
AN: Hey everyone! It's been... quite some time since I last uploaded anything.
Yeah. Sorry about that. Though in my defense I've been pretty busy with work recently, and I'm already on record as stating that I prioritize real life over fanfiction. If you take issue with this, then I'm afraid I've got nothing to say to that but "oh well" :/
Anyway, this story is just something I've been using to keep the creative juices flowing in my spare time while I get the next chapter of Starting from Zero out. I AM working on it by the way. I won't give you a date or anything like that, because I'd prefer not to make a liar out of myself when I inevitably fail to meet the deadline, but hey, steady progress is better than nothing right? Regardless, I won't be investing nearly as much time and effort into this as I am into SfZ, and that probably shows. I just hope you guys get at least a laugh or two out of it. That'd be enough for me.
In short, business as usual- You guys are the best, Starting from Zero IS coming, and if you have any criticism (constructive or otherwise) then you know where to leave it!
And as always, thank you for reading.
Disclaimer: I own neither Zero no Tsukaima/Familiar of Zero, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, nor any associated characters and settings.