*insert witty greeting here*!
Ash was stirred to life as the light of the sun crept over the castles walls and began the slow and painful process of cooking his eyes through their closed lids. Normally, he would roll over and pull his blanket over his eyes to shield them from the oppressive golden rays. However, for two reasons, this was currently impossible. First, he was sleeping outside with only a short jacket as a pillow. Second, a heavy weight was draped over his body, preventing him from moving.
Groaning in morning drowsiness, Ash stretched out his hand to push off the weight. To his surprise, he felt the smooth pattern of scales. "Get off me, Charizard," he mumbled, trying have half-heartedly to remove the weight from his body. Charizard usually didn't settle on him when sleeping, and dual fire and flying-type wasn't with him when he went to sleep, but Ash's sleep-laden mind didn't even register those facts. Only when a screechy growl emerged from the long neck he was pushing did Ash realize something was wrong. Charizard's growls were low, throaty rumbles like coal tumbling down a hill. This sound was much shriller. Still unmistakably draconic, but not from his longtime Pokemon.
Opening his eyes, Ash found himself staring into a pair of large emerald green eyes. The reptilian face that carried the eyes was covered in blue scales. The top and sides of its face were framed by protruding studs, each large enough for Ash to wrap a hand around it. The dragon raised its neck, shielding Ash's eyes from the morning sunlight and allowing him to see the white scales that covered its underbelly.
"Woah!" Ash exclaimed as he snapped awake and attempted to sit up. Even with most of the dragon's neck elevated, the remaining mass on his body firmly held him in place. He looked down from the dragon's emerald eyes and pearl white neck, and finally realized the sheer size of his new acquaintance. The blue dragon was the size of some legendary dragons, though quite a bit slimmer. Its wings were mostly folded in, but Ash could tell that each wing was almost the size of its body.
"So cool," he said breathlessly. "You're a pretty large dragon-type, aren't you?"
The dragon gave a chirpy growl, opening its mouth wide. Ash squirmed, eyes flying open, and then laughed when a long pink tongue swept up half his face. "Ha ha, no stop—ha! It tickles!" After a few more licks, the dragon got the message and stopped the assault on his face.
Ash couldn't help but chuckle as he wiped the dragon slobber of his face. "Mind letting me up?" he asked. The dragon looked at him curiously, then raised its upper body to let him squeeze out. "Thanks."
Finally, free to stand to his feet, Ash was able to take in the full size of the dragon. As he suspected, it was the size as a small building. "I wish I knew what Pokemon you were," he wondered. "You're definitely bigger than a normal dragon-type Pokemon."
The dragon looked offended and nipped at his shoulder.
"Ow! Okay, I meant it in a good way," Ash protested. The dragon chirped happily as it gently flapped its wings. The resulting gust forced Ash to hold his cap against his head lest it fly away. "You remind me of an old friend of mine," Ash chuckled. "Actually, more than one. Girls tend to always get offended when you talk about how they look."
A deep rumbling drew Ash and the dragon's attention to the young trainer's stomach. "And that means it's time for me to find something eat," Ash commented sheepishly. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find some food, would you?"
The dragon tilted its head to the side with a thoughtful look in its eyes. It sniffed the air and curled its lips into a slight smile. Then it raised its leg and pointed a clawed toe in a direction.
"Thanks, I owe you one!" said Ash. He jogged off in the direction the dragon pointed. "I'll see if I can bring you something back!" he called over his shoulder.
The dragon made a happy rumbling sound in response.
True to the blue reptile's directions, Ash's nose twitched as it took in a plethora of delicious scents. The young trainer couldn't make out what his nose was picking up, but he knew that whatever it was, it smelled absolutely divine. His stomach growled in agreement. With great haste he approached a large set of doors, only to pause when he noticed a midget with pink hair standing next to the entrance. Her normally cute face was pinched in a frown, and her rosy eyes bore into his with intense disapproval.
Ash's pace slowed to a crawl as his mind worked in overdrive to come up with a suitable greeting. "Uh… hello," he tried, plastering a lopsided smile to his face. "Nice weather we have this morning, am I right?"
Louise did not look the slightest bit impressed. She had spent the morning looking for her familiar, only surrendering to her hunger when it became apparent that he was no longer in the student dorms. She had waited by the dining hall entrance for almost half an hour now, waiting for her familiar to follow his bestial nature and come to eat. And when he finally showed up, he was smiling and brushing off his actions with a criminally pathetic joke. Needless to say, she was far from pleased. "Where were you last night?" she demanded to know.
"Outside," Ash answered promptly.
"And why were you outside?" she pressed. "Not only did you neglect the one duty I gave you for the night, but you also completely ignored the sleeping area I had set up for you. How ungrateful!"
Ash winced, remembering the "duty" she had bestowed him. What was wrong with this time period? What kind of girl just gives her dirty underwear to people? "The pile of hay?" he asked in attempt to keep his mind on the less disturbing aspects of Louise's behavior.
"A suitable sleeping arrangement for a familiar, is it not?" Louise said. Her tone displayed the absolute certainty she had in her words, which made Ash all the more concerned.
"Maybe if we were out in the wild," Ash replied carefully. He had slept in beds of hay a few times in his travels, but normally when he was camping out on a farm. And even then, the pile was usually large enough to serve as comfortable padding and was covered by a soft blanket. If the hay that had littered the corner of Louise's room was put in a proper pile, it would be enough for a familiar the size of Pikachu, but not someone even as small as himself.
Ash sighed. "Sleeping on a bed of hay isn't what people do while indoors. And offering me a pile of hay to sleep on without so much as a blanket is a bit insulting." That was an understatement, but he was trying to break it to her gently.
"I see," said Louise. Indeed, it did appear that she was considering his words. "Then I will have the maids procure a sheet or old tablecloth for you to cover yourself." Unfortunately, she had yet to understand what he actually meant. And his friends called him dense!
Ash facepalmed. "One step forward and two steps back," he muttered from underneath his hand.
"Speaking clearly," Louise ordered. "I have no time for your antics."
"Yes, Lou—Miss Louise," Ash corrected himself. "I think you're missing the point."
"How?" Louise asked. "It's a master's job to provide for their familiar, and that is what I'm doing."
"And as a human, my needs are closer to yours," Ash replied, feeling as though he was explaining himself to a child. "I'm not a pet and I don't like being treated like one."
Louise's rosy eyes grew cold as Ash finished saying his piece. "Let me make this perfectly clear," she said. "You are my familiar, and I am your master. If I say you should do something, you should do it without question."
"That's not how you're supposed to treat people," Ash pointed out.
"You are a familiar, not a person," Louise responded.
Ash's patience was quickly waning under the noble girl's sheer audacity. "I'm a human," Ash said insisted. "How could I be a human and not be a person?"
"Familiars are supposed to follow their master's orders," Louise insisted stubbornly. "None of the other familiars complain."
"Maybe because they don't talk?" Ash deadpanned.
"Exactly!" A small smile graced Louise's face, but it only made Ash feel sick. "Maybe you should learn from them."
Dumbfounded, Ash could only gape in response as the girl turned on her heel and strode into what he assumed was the cafeteria. "Is she really this crazy?" he wondered aloud. "How spoiled can you be?" He slapped his cheeks. "Right, back in the day nobility could do pretty much whatever they want. But treating a Pokemon like this wouldn't build a good bond and doing it to a human doesn't even make sense. Is this place that messed up, or is it just her?"
With a depressed shake of his head, the trainer finally stepped inside. The scent of tantalizing foods flooded his nostrils, but it wasn't enough to clear the cloud that blanketed his mood. Ash found Louise seated at a long table, where other young mages were also dining. A maid—one of the many who were bustling around the large room—set a large platter in front of Louise. Bread, jam, meat, and drinks were arranged in an elegant spread before her. Ash's eyes widened as he took in the sight. The meal looked like it was enough to fill him up; it was impossible for him to believe that this dainty girl who summoned him would be able to consume everything that was set before her.
"That looks delicious," he said hungrily as he pulled back a seat next to her.
Louise's glare froze him in his tracks. "Familiars don't sit at the table with nobles," she said primly.
Ash sighed. The cultural differences were beyond annoying at this point. Sure enough, as he looked around, he found familiars perched on their masters or seated by their chair, but not one was seated properly in a chair. "So where should I eat?" he asked, exasperated.
Louise pointed at her feet. Sitting on the floor was a simple wooden bowl. Its contents: a slice of bread. "I had one of the maids fetch this for you," Louise said.
"A single slice of bread?" Ash asked incredulously. "That's not a proper breakfast!" His stomach rumbled in agreement. "Look at everything you have in front of you! I could eat half of it and you'd still have enough."
"That's not proper," Louise insisted, indignant that he would dare question her eating habits. She was a growing girl; she needed every edge she could find if she wanted to overcome her late growth spurt.
"Really?" Ash asked, leaning closer. "Because I'm seeing plenty of familiars stuffing their faces, and none of their partners seem to mind!" His waved his arm to across the table where, true to his word, familiars were freely helping themselves to their master's food. In fact, some of the mages were even hand feeding their familiars. Joy and contentment radiated from the scene, unlike the tension between the two.
Finally, Ash's words appeared to get through to Louise. A faint blush crossed her cheeks as she said through clenched teeth, "You're not supposed to act like this."
"Act like what?" Ash asked loudly. He didn't even notice as the students' attention was being drawn to his and Louise's argument. "A person who can talk and think like you do? I don't know where you learned about taking care of Pokemon, familiars, or whatever you call them, but what you're doing is not right."
"And who are you to say what I'm doing is wrong?" Louise hissed, rising from her seat. "I am your master. You are my familiar. You are not supposed to question me."
Ash groaned, rubbing his temples as he fought back from snapping at her any further. "When I first got my partner, Pikachu, I was just like you," he admitted. "I tried to force him to do everything I wanted, fought with him when he didn't do everything I said, and didn't treat him like he had his own feelings. It took several days and a very scary experience for us to learn to work together. I don't know about you, but if we're going to be working together, I'd like if we'd learn to get along before our lives depend on it." Knowing his luck, he'd probably end up in some crazy adventure sooner rather than later.
"And I'd like it if you would go back to acting like a proper familiar!" Louise shouted. "Even when you were clueless, at least you had the decency to act like you knew your place. And now you think you can talk to me as if we have equal standing!"
"Partners are supposed to talk to each other—"
"I am your master," Louise insisted. "Not your partner. If you want to partner with your Pinkathing that someone gave you as a pet, go ahead. But I summoned you to be my familiar!"
"And I didn't ask to be summoned!" Ash shouted back. "If you hadn't summoned me, I wouldn't have been separated from Pikachu!"
"Well, I wish I hadn't summoned you, so I would have a proper familiar and not a stupid mutt of a commoner!"
"Then why don't you just send me back?"
"I would if I could, idiot!"
"You're useless!"
"Not as much as you! You're a terrible familiar!"
"I may not be a good familiar," Ash growled. "But at least I'm a good trainer, and I try to be a good person. That's more than I could say for you, a complete failure of a mage, a noble, and a person, Louise the Zero!"
Shellshocked, Louise stood frozen as Ash dashed out of the cafeteria. Neither she nor the young trainer noticed the growing whispers from the students. The rumors and insults slid off Louise's ears like water on a duck's back. She had long grown used to holding her head high despite what others said about her. Yet, something was different this time. Holding back tears, she sat down attempted to continue her meal. But the food tasted as bitter to her tongue as Ash's words felt to her heart. "Stupid familiar," she muttered half-heartedly.
Ash kept his down as he pelted away from the cafeteria. A tall redhead tried waving him down as he ran, but the boy didn't even notice. "What do you think has him in a rush this early?" she asked her petite blue-haired companion.
The smaller student briefly looked up from her book to observe Ash's retreating form. "Unsure," she replied curtly, before resuming her walk.
The redhead's eyes lingered on the human familiar for just a few moments longer, but eventually followed her friend into the cafeteria. "He looks interesting, but I suppose I'll have to snatch him up another time," she lamented.
Ash continued to speed down the walkway, not losing any speed as he dashed around a corner of the building. His forehead was immediately met by a soft, springy cushion. Ash rebounded, landing butt first onto the ground as a metallic crash sounded.
"Ow," two voices said simultaneously. Ash looked up into the blue eyes of a young lady in a maid uniform. Her black hair fell barely past her chin, and in front loose bangs stopped right at the tops of her eyes.
"Sorry, that was my fault," Ash apologized, pulling himself to his feet and offering her a hand.
"No, I wasn't paying much attention either," the maid said hesitantly accepting his hand. To her surprise, despite his young appearance, he had no trouble pulling her to her feet. Facing him, she could see that she stood just slightly taller than he did.
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have been running around a corner without being careful," Ash insisted.
The maid giggled. "How about we both accept that we're both at fault?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Ash said with a laugh.
Smiling, the maid picked up the tray she had dropped. "Oh no," she lamented as she saw the croissants, she had been carrying were all scattered across the floor.
Seeing her picking up the scattered pastries, Ash bent down. "Let me help you with that," he said, scooping some of the scattered treats.
"You don't have to do that Mr. Familiar," the maid said quickly. Seeing Ash's pained expression, she looked even more embarrassed. "Sorry, are you not the human familiar Miss Valliere summoned yesterday?"
"I am," Ash replied slowly. "But please don't call me a familiar. I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town."
"Siesta, of Tarbes," she introduced herself. "I've never heard of Pallet Town, is it in the countryside?"
"Yes, but technically no," Ash replied. Seeing her confused expression, he explained. "I'm from the Kanto Region; it's very far away from here."
"Strange, I've never heard of Kanto. Were you summoned from another country?" she asked in surprise.
"Pretty much."
"Oh, that means you must have a translation spell on you. I was wondering why your words weren't properly matching your lips."
"Is it that obvious?" Ash asked.
"Not unless you know what to look for," Siesta replied with a disarming smile. "Serving as a maid, I have to be a bit more attentive than most people."
"That makes sense," Ash replied. The brief lull in their conversation caused the two to realize that they had long since gathered up the fallen food.
With a squeak, Siesta stood up with the tray. 'Thank you for your help, Mr. Ash," she said. "Sorry, but I have to throw these out and get replacements from the kitchen." With a quick bow, she turned back in the direction she had come.
To her surprise, she found the tray pulled from her hands. "Let me help you with that," Ash said with a smile.
"I couldn't possibly ask you to do that," said Siesta. "It's my duty."
"Well, I did run you over, so I need to make it up to you. Besides, I need something to do anyway." He picked up one of the croissants, rubbed it on his shirt, and then took a big bite out of it. "Plus, I'm hungry. The kitchen sounds like a good place to be right now."
Siesta's eyes lit up, but she still looked conflicted. "But I thought the students were spending time with their familiars right now."
The pained expression returned to Ash's face. "Miss Louise and I are having problems right now," he responded. "I think we both need some time to cool off."
"Oh, I see." Actually, she didn't, but Siesta was smart enough to know when not to pry. "Well, I guess I can't say no to an extra set of hands. The kitchens are this way."
Siesta led Ash to a non-descript oak door. When they stepped inside, Ash was floored by the number of delicious aromas flooding his nose. "This smells like heaven," he said, a strand of drool leaking from the side of his mouth.
"Remember, we're serving the nobles first, then we get to eat what's left over," Siesta reminded him.
"Right," Ash replied, wiping the drool from his face. "Let's do this!"
"Siesta!" A loud voice bellowed. "Why are you coming back here with my tray? HMM?"
Ash looked towards where the voice had come from, then had to crane his head to see the giant of a man who had spoken. Standing out amongst the kitchen staff like an adult in a group of children, a heavyset man looked down with piercing gaze. His maroon hair stood tall despite the chef's hat sitting atop it, casting shadows over the upper half of his face. Green eyes that twinkled in the shadows cast their petrifying gaze on Ash and Siesta.
Despite the intimidating the man was emanating, Siesta found the courage to speak, "Head Chef Hugo, I fell while carrying out the croissants and need a new plate."
"What!" The sound rang in Ash and Siesta's ears like the roar of a wounded predator. "How could you drop an entire tray of croissants! I gave you one tray, one tray! And do you know why I gave you one tray? Do you? So you could carry it with both hands. But no, you still managed to drop my precious croissants."
"Actually," one of the assistant chefs interjected timidly. "That was the batch I made—"
Chef Hugo's neck swiveled so quickly it made an audible snap. "This is MY kitchen! So everything made in MY kitchen is MINE! You understand, Pierre? Good, now get to work!" The now shaking staff member quickly began kneading his dough in the frantic frenzy of a possessed man.
The head chef's head snapped back to Siesta and Ash. "Now, care to explain how you dropped my tray of croissants and why you brought back an oddly dressed child in my kitchen? If your family came for a visit, they'll have to do their visit not on my time."
"He's not one of my brothers," Siesta explained. "He's the famil—ahem, he was summoned by Miss Valliere yesterday."
"It was my fault that Siesta dropped the croissants," said Ash. "I was running around a corner and wasn't looking at where I was going when I crashed into her. She didn't do anything wrong." Siesta opened her mouth to protest, but Ash nudged her leg with his foot and gave her a wink.
The mountain of a man focused his attention on Ash. "And how do I know you didn't do it on purpose?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Why would I do that?"
"To get a free helping." Chef Hugo pointed a meaty finger at the half-eaten croissant in Ash's hand. "If all the croissants dropped by accident, why are you eating one!"
"Because it's a shame to let good food go to waste!" Ash retorted. "This pastry is delicious! I'm no connoisseur, but as I food lover I can recognize the delicious flavor, the ideal fluffiness, and the flawless flakiness in this croissant!"
Chef Hugo stood silent. Siesta looked back and forth between the boy and the man, waiting to see who would make the next move. It was the man who broke the standstill. "The perfect croissant is baked with the love of the chef's heart," he said in a low voice.
"I can taste the passionate love that's wrapped in the many layers of this delicacy," Ash replied seriously.
Chef Hugo stepped forward and clapped a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Boy."
Siesta took a hesitant step back as Ash and Hugo looked each other straight in the eyes.
"You are a young lad after my own heart."
Siesta blinked and looked up to see tears running down Hugo face. "Chef Hugo?" she asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm feeling more than okay!" Chef Hugo replied heartily. "Boy, there are few who enter this kitchen knowing the true value of a meal cooked with love, less so ones your age! Once we're done serving up the noble children, have your pick of anything you like!"
"Can I help Siesta in the meantime?" Ash asked. "I want to make it up to her for running her over."
"Go ahead!" The man replied with a grin. "There's a spare uniform somewhere around here. Wouldn't be the first time we had little boy like you running tables. Siesta!"
"Yes?" the maid squeaked.
Hugo made a show of slapping Ash's back, nearly bowling the boy over. "Show the lad where everything is and then get back to work. These nobles aren't going to feed themselves after all!"
Ash and Siesta exchanged a bewildered look as the man walked away with a hearty laugh. "How'd you know how to get on the chef's good side?" Siesta asked in surprise.
"Oh, I've traveled with a couple of chefs before," Ash replied. Notably two that he regretted not meeting each other to have a cook off. "One of them was a very… enthusiastic connoisseur. I picked up a few things."
Siesta smiled as she showed Ash to where they kept the spare uniforms. The boy was an enigma, for sure. He was more well-mannered than a normal commoner, but he lacked the bearing of a noble. His words and actions were genuine and kind. While she didn't have any initial thoughts to how a human familiar would act, this was definitely not what she expected.
"How do I look?" Ash asked, stepping out of the closet he had gone to change in. The uniform was a bit of a tight fit but given the smooth muscles that showed from underneath the fabric, it looked perfect on him.
"You look like a perfect gentleman," she replied honestly. Siesta briefly wondered if he was old enough to be in a relationship but shook the thoughts away. While his musculature was tempting, given how young he looked, he was probably at least three years younger than her. And with the similarities of their faces, it was no surprise Chef Hugo had mistaken him for her little brother. She would have to wait a few more years before she could set her eyes on him.
But as she watched him serve the nobles that sat out in the courtyard, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he was a few years older. The easy smile on his face put her mind at ease. The graceful and energetic spring in his step made her want to fall in step with him. He wasn't like a knight from one of her storybooks, but at the very least, he was a joy to watch.
Just as she passed by one of the small tables, she noticed a small perfume bottle roll out of the pocket of a blond young noble's robe. The vial tumbled over the grass and came to a stop at Siesta's feet. The maid picked it up, quickly realizing that it was probably worth more than she earned in a month. She looked at the noble who dropped it, who was lavishly wooing his female companion. "Excuse me, sir," she interrupted softly, not wanting to intrude but knowing that she had best return the item immediately. Handing the vial to the blond young man, she said, "I believe you dropped this."
Sorry guys, I was going to have the fight scene this chapter, but it got longer than I expected. The drafted fight scene alone is already almost 3k, so next chapter is guaranteed to be at least normal chapter length.
As you can see, I'm going to make my own slight deviations from cannon. Saito interacted with surprisingly few of the staff, something that I understand for plot reasons, but it still urks me. I'm not going to make OC dominate the story, but I'm gonna flesh out the areas that are a bit dry. Ash is the kind of person to drop the main quest for two back to back filler arcs after all.
EDIT NOTE: I forgot that there already is a Head Chef named Marteau. But Marteau's few character traits aren't worth losing Hugo, so consider this a result of the Butterfly Effect.
Now to answer some general questions from my reviews/PMs:
Q: What will Ash's abilities be?
A: This is summarizing all the questions about magic, aura, runes, etc. Ash will rely on his runes and aura for combat, since those are the tools he has. Any techniques he'll develop will come into the story as he needs/discovers them (though I do have a few particular ones in mind). Just remember, while Ash may have a lot potential, true power requires training and experience. While's he's sitting in the academy, his ability to grow is going to be limited.
Q: How strong is Ash?
A: Kind of related to the first, but Ash physically is much stronger and tougher than the average mage. He can carry his own body weight, is plenty agile, and resists magic attacks. His aura reserves are approximate to a mage's willpower, and he has a ton and a half of that. Like I said, lot's of potential, but he still needs to learn to use it.
And that's all for this update. If you liked, leave a review! If you didn't, tell me why! Have a question? Ask it! I try to answer my reviews and PMs as much as I can. If you're a guest reviewer, making an account doesn't take long. I can try to answer your questions in the general responses, but that's all I can do since replying to each review would inflate my word count too much.
Speaking of inflating the word count, I'm gonna cut my rant here. Just remember, review are food for a writer's soul!
