Not all places are like Shear. Not all where coated from head to hem in combinations of dangerious fauna, poisons permeating the planet like the immune system on a celestial scale, weathers that could deluge a flood within minutes or bury a colony in sand and dirt, and creatures that are practically the incarnation of the planet's will..
Some where almost exactly like our own land of Terra.

Halkgenia is one of them. Odd as it's civilized life is, and... well, odd is sadly the best word that can be used, if compared to the peoples of our earth or of the Shearian colonists'. Though, that doesn't need to be described any farther, it is known fact. What does need to be extrapolated on farther is one particular inhabitant of this land.

One pink-haired youngest of a Duchess and Duke of Vallière, and student of the magic arts.

Louise the Zero

Tomorrow was the day, the day that I proved myself a world above all the ridicule, the names, the downcast opinions of every other noble in my life! Tomorrow I brought my familiar into this world, and gained a creature that would blow away even the most wretched of my tormentors -one fat-chested Germanian slut came to mind- and gained my rightful respect as a noble...

If my nerves would allow me to think for even a moment, that is! It had been like his for the past week, forcing my academic performance to plummet to a level much like my magic, and a few whispers of a new nickname had reached my ears. Being 'Zero' was bad enough, but this new one -'Total Zero'- was even worse.

I pushed those thoughts down to a dark pit in my mind, and threw a boulder down after them. I looked back to the books laid out before me, I'd managed to squeeze info out of Tabitha on the best books of summoning -one of the few good things I could extract from my reputation, a certain level of pity when I 'pleaded' for aide- to see if I could find an unconventional structured spell. I had a theory about my magic, something about the standard array of leylines within the spell caused my magic to backlash and caused the explosions I had become sadly well-known for.

So, in theory, if I could find a spell that used unconventional leylines, I may be able to successfully enact the spell!

...I may have also prayed to Brimir a few times, just in case.

So far my searches had turned up fruitless, all the summoning spells I'd found within the library -from the simple Spawn Beast, to the master-challenging Incarnate Element- used the standard arrays, maybe the slightest deviation in the formulation here and there, an extra rune or two, another verse to the incantation, but it all remained fairly consistent. All of it set to cause a detonation if I tried.
Something needed to change, fast. If only I could just inscribe a new spell on to these blasted pages, use a spell set with leylines that I knew would work!...

Wait.

That's it! I couldn't find the spell, so there was only one other choice; make it!

It was a simple answer, though it would be... complex in enacting, I would have to gather the materials both basic and fantastical such as the ink, parchment, and the small doses of gem dust needed for inscribing, along with a few drops of dragon blood for potency, a griffon feather for the quill, a few drops of manticore venom to prevent the blood from clotting until I was ready, and finally a bit of powdered hhimera horn to allow the ingedients to intermix properly.

I pushed the chair I was sitting upon back, making it crash to the ground as I rushed out of the library. I had to find professor Colbert, get a letter to mother, clear my work with headmaster Osmand. Ooooh~! I'm so excited!
But my elation was cut short when I ran facefirst into a certain tall Germainan bimbo's cleavage.

I growled, and pushed my head out of Zerbst's monster tits to be greeted with her smug visage "Well well, Louise. I hadn't expected something that bold from yourself." she said, crossing her arms under her fatty mounds and pushing them outwards. I grit my teeth in a sneer "Don't flatter yourself, Zerbst! I was just more occupied with a little project I'm brewing up for the summoning ritual, something that will show up anything you could possibly dredge out of the muck of the earth!" I bit back, clenching my fists into a white-knuckle grip.

"Oh? What exactly is it?" she asked, cocking a curious eyebrow. Oh, no no, I'm not letting her know that. She just wanted to know so she could swipe it.

"None of your business, you big-breasted harlot! It's my idea, and you can't have it."

"Oh, your words wound me, little Louise! I'm just showing a little bit of innocent curiosity, is that so hard to believe?" Kirche adopted what could generiously be called an 'innocent' poise and expression, though the effect was... lessened, by the fact that the way she clasped her hands in front of her squeezed her oversized chest like her many bedmates had before.

"Yes." I dropped my voice as flat as a board, and hooded my eyes at the fellow noble. Pained me as it did to call her that.

I did not wait for her next response, and slipped past her minor attempt to block me in. She couldn't hold me up, if I was going to do this then expedience was key. If I forestalled then Mother would not be able to send me some of her familiar's venom in time, and Colbert couldn't dredge up the other more exotic materials.
Time to go to work.

A full three hours later, I had my materials ready.

Though I may have been a bit ambitious with my list of materials. Mother had given me a few droplets of venom with only a small kerfuffle, professor Colbert had also come through with the griffon feather, but shied to supplying me with the chimera horn or dragon blood, claiming -not wholly untruthfully- that they where extremely dangerous ingredients, and I was not yet fully trusted with their usage.

Though the professor did attempt to supplant me with an equal amount of wyvern blood and hippogryph talon. I took what I could get, this spell was wholly vital for my life. I grabbed up every scrap of paper, every drop of ink, and every single mote of gem dust procurable after that. Now was the time, I had to begin my work.

I fled to my room, sealing the door both with the physical lock and a few scroll-based spells -the sole type of spell I could cast, though it was considered sort of cheating by nobility- to add a layering of magic blocking away the world.

I lay the paper out before me, spreading it over every available surface; my desk, bed, floor, and even the walls themselves. Once I had appropriate canvas up, I started to draw. Lines, runes, verses, motions, going as far as to even dictate how I was to breath while I casted, how my heart would beat, and each thought that I would send through my mind as I casted.

Some my call my preparation hyperparanoid, but this was not something to half-bake! My honor, status, and whole of my future depended on it! If I failed at something like his... I'd be carted off a some failure of a mage, just like everyone has called my. Married off to some disgusting perverted nobleman outside Tristainian borders before my shame became public.
Or worse, I would be disowned and cast off.

Droplets of water stained the lattice I was sketching, I rubbed my eyes. This wasn't a time to weep, I had to be strong. Strength is what Vallière women are best known for, strength of magic, strength of mind, strength of spirit, and strength of will. All of those are the halmarks of our family, and I must embody them just as my sisters do, just as my mother does.

"No, you can't think about that. You need to...need to focus on making this spell, it's my chance." I whispered to myself, clenching my eyes shut for the briefest of moments. I saw my family's faces flash by within that moment of darkness, Mother's stony gaze looking down her nose at me, my eldest sister Eleanore's biting words whenever I tried and failed a spell... and then, my middle sister Cattleya, offering words of comfort and a shoulder to cry on when I needed it, and my father, ever-vigilant to anything that would come to harm me and ready to lay his life down for my own.

I found the resolve to continue.

I resumed with gusto, griffon feather quill furiously scritch-scratching away at the paper, each line moving me closer and closer to the completion of the spell. My body was practically moving of it's own powers now, it was a blurring array of motion.

This carried on late into the night, and early into the sunrise.

It worked! The morning had taken a turn for the rocky as I was nearly late for the ritual's opening ceremony and gaining a swift ejection from the academy in entirety, Zerbst fell into that particular pitfall to my boundless joy, and the following summons of the other students had been worthless beasts unfit to even be called vermin.

But when it came to me, I showed myself as an master amongst mice.

When I spoke the verses, the ground trembled. When I began the motions, the ground trembled. When the runic circle appeared before me, I felt the very magic in the courtyard shift to my wills. It was indescribable, even my wording here lends it to the modest side of the spectrum, it was something that one needed to be present for to truly appreciate.

I stood astride my familiar's back, it's great frame standing tall above all others within the courtyard, the grandiose beast risen tall and proud. I basked in the awed, humbled, and dumbfounded looks cast upon me "Behold and observe, students of the academy, what a true noble has as a familiar. What a Vallière has as a familiar!" I called out, spreading my arms out to my sides, wind billowing below my cape.

Adulations rained down upon me, coupled with apologies and pleas for mercy from past discretion against me, like a torrent of rain. One that I took as a dried patch of field would to summer shower bringing new life and a new chance. A true chance.

A chance to be something, something greater, something that I would be proud o be, the chance to be l-

Knock-knock-knock!

I snorted, pulling my head up from the parchment it had rested on for a fair portion of the hour. I was back within my room, the midmorning sun bathing it in a harsh light -harsh to my sleep-addled eyes in the least- that stung like hornets. The noise that had awoken me repeated, the source of which revealing itself to be my door, and I rose to my feet with a growl.
Whoever woke me was getting a shoe to the groin.

I slid open the door's lock, the spells had worn away early this morning -another disadvantage of scroll-based castings, their durations where vastly decreased in that form- so I didn't have to do more than get rid of the physical impediments in my way and could simply unleash my anger.

I flung the door open, and was met with the sight of one of the maids for the academy standing on the other side of it. Her hand was outstretched for another knock, and she was mid-swing when I opened the portal.

She ended up knocking on my face.

She yelped, and pulled away fearfully "O-oh dear, I'm s-so sorry lordess! I was just sent up by professor Colbert to awake you, it's almost time for the summoning ritual and he doesn't wish for you to be late." she squeaked out rapidly, then taking off down the hall towards the stairs. She nearly tripped over the hems of her own dress several times doing so.

Wait, but I had already preformed the ritual, I remember my familiar coming into existance and standing tall astride it's shoulders. I even remember the compliments payed to me, the pleas for forgiveness! Here, I'll quote one;
…

Wait….. Oh hells, that was a dream!

I shrieked, rushing back into my room and throwing on my clothing in a few moments. I had to gather up my work and notes quickly! It was all needed, if I lacked a page I doubted the spell would work in the slightest. Oh, hurry hurry hurry!
I didn't want to end up like Zerbst had in my dream, the irony would be horrible for me.

I tore down the hall, papers clutched to my bust and my eyes wild.

Barely.
I made it, just barely.

The oath was about to be sworn when I made it, I was that close to being ejected from the academy, that close to all my work being for naught. That close to my life- Nonono! Don't think of it! I was here, and that's all that mattered.

Professor Colbert started the ceremony, and I took this chance to start laying out my papers. I had to get the primary lattice laid out, then link the supporting runes to the lattice by spell lines, and finnaly fish out the list of verses, motions, and movements.

Okay, okay, calm yourself Louise. You let your heart race like it is, and you'll fail the spell, if you fail the spell then you'll be rejected from the academy like a persona non grata and end up a true Ser-

"Well well, Louise the Zero actually made it. Here I thought you would end up sleeping through the whole thing and save us the rouble of another explosion!"

I never thought I'd say this, but thank the founder for Zerbst's existence and my vast hatred for her!

My teeth grit again "Zerbst, do you actually have anything useful to say, or did you trade your brain for those udders?!" I shouted, whipping around to face the big-breasted Germanian with a look that would likely light her on fire if my gaze was imbued with magic.
A project for later.

Zerbst tittered haughtily, placing a hand over her mouth with a smirk she in no way attempted to cover "Do I hear jealousy in your voice, Zero? Because it seems to me that for brains and bust, you lack both." I resisted the urge to take a swing, that would get me in more trouble than seeing Zerbst curled up and howling on the ground was worth. Besides, the spell I had ready would prove her wrong without a doubt.

"We'll see about that." I grinned, turning back to my spell laid upon the ground.

When my turn came, I signaled the professor over to me -it would be a much harder effort to move the spell to him than vice-versa- and pulled out my wand. Alright, moment of truth.

Breathe in, wave up, breathe out. The magic starts to flow.

"Founder Brimir, who watches over us all in their infinite wisdom."

Ba-bump, ba-bump. Two beats of the heart, breathe in, circle.

"They who govern all magic, the lifeblood of nobility."

Swipe left, swipe up. Ba-bump, one beat of the heart, breathe out.

"I, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, plead to your mercies, and your guidance."

My heart started to speed itself, I had ot calm down. Breath in, breath out, breath in...

Ba-bump.

Now!

"Summon forth my familiar from wherever it may be withing the universe!"

A beat, and then... nothing. Not even an explosion.

"... Hahaha!" Someone laughed out, I didn't care who, they all started after that.

"She can't even summon anything! Not even a lowly rat!"

"Well hey, at least it didn't explode like the last time she tried a spell! They're still putting that classroom back together!"

"Zero, Zero! Louise the Zero!"

I stopped listening... or at least, I tried to. It was just... it was true, all the things they where saying where true. Each time I tried a spell I destroyed something without fail, be it something a simple as my own garments to something as vital as one of the academy's towers! I couldn't even manage to pull myself together and gain something piddly for a familiar.

I may have had dreams of riding astride a great beast's back, people looking up to me in awe... but in truth, I would have been fine with anything. Even a lowly dog!

My legs gave out, and I dropped to the grass. Tears welling up in my eyes, I looked down at the papers before me. All of them laid out in my own patterns, my own lattices, my own runes, all of it crafted by my hand for my specific use... and yet I still couldn't cast a spell, just not cause an explosion.

Someone stepped close, and lowered themselves down ot my level "Vallière..."
It was Kirche. Of course.

I didn't turn "If you're here to ridicule me Kirche, just get it over with. Founder knows it will likely be your last chance, any who fail the ritual are expelled." I said, unable to summon any sort of my regular anger towards her. I was just... drained, I had nothing left within me. It was better that way, or I would truly feel the hopelessness of my situation crashing down on me.

"Louise." She said softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. Was that-?... was she pitying me?
Truly a new low.

I looked at my wand, still clasped tightly in-hand despite my loss of will, and felt one little burst of anger. To me, this disgusting piece of wood embodied all my failures, it mocked me, ridiculed me, spat upon my name. So I did the only rational thing I could.

I threw it.

The little magical channel touched the paper my spell's primary lattice was inscribed on, and then something very familiar happened.

KA-BOOOOOOM!

I hacked, coughed, and tried to wipe the dust from my eyes. Of course I'd cause one more detonaiton before I left this place, that was what a Zero does!

"Ach, gah! Of course she'd blow us all up again!"

"Had to get one last lick in, eh Zero!?"

"Will someone get her out of here before she brings the whole place down around us!"

"She's not a noble, she's a-!... What in the Founder's name is that!?"

A shadow loomed over me, and I looked up.

A towering figure stood there, almost human but... not, like some kind of giant.

Wait... It was standing -as best I could tell- where my spell had laid. Did I...? I rose to my feet, Kirche's hand going slack on my shoulder and falling away, and gazed up at the beast before me. And it looked back, eyes alight with fire-orange light like the pits of the hells.
I had summoned this... this creature was my familiar!

A smile spread across my face, and a sharp determination wiped away he last vestiges of my former sorrow. Time to finish this.

"I am Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, I have brought you here to serve as my familiar! And Now, beast, I order you to kneel so that I may enact the contraact of service!" I called out, scooping my wand up from at my feet and pointing it at the beast's eye-glow.

I looked down at me for a moment, head cocking ot the side from how it's eyes moved.

And then it swiped a claw down at me.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Cliffhanger! Haha!
Sorry, cheapshot I know, but I could not resist.

Now, before we go any farther I'd like to thank yo all for reading this. I've gotten almost four hundred views, ten follows, eight favourites, and three reviews already. More than any of my other stories have gotten in-toto. So thank you all, and I hope I make it worth it!

Now, on to replying to the reviews

KrabbyBallZ: Thanks for the good words, my friend. And worry not, for Foquet, the Reconquista, Cromwell, Sheffield, Jozef, and whatever other poor SoB crosses our favorite giant monster's path will rue the day of it's and their birth.

LordGhostStriker: I appreciate the feedback, and agree that Saito and Goliath's abilities are different. But not that one is more powerful than the other, sure Saito can use any weapon he wants and has an immunity ot magic. But the Goliath is more physically powerful, more intelligent, and more adaptable than Saito could ever hope to be, even with Derflinger and Gandalfr. Plus I doubt that the Goliath would go out of it's way to help people like Saito does.

And who said their would be other monsters in this fic? Not me, nope, nope. Definitely not me. No other monsters in the fic.

Whitewing: I'm glad you're liking what you hear -well, read, but you get the point- and I did think about doing an Evolve/Prototype fic, but I couldn't quite visualize the plot, so decided to go with Familiar of Zero. Though I haven't discarded the idea.

Be sure to vote for Saito's fate, the blind poll closes on the sixteenth of this month. You can vote on my Profile, in case anyone didn't know.

Stand tall and proud!

Your favourite writer, DinoholderX