Familiar of the Stars

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Trace Carter only owns his OC

Z sighed as Louise stormed up to him. She looked like she was angry that he had accepted a duel from Guiche.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" yelled Louise.

Yep, she's mad.

"Louise," said Z, "he challenged my honor, so I must face him."

"Why?" asked Louise, "You could just apologize!"

"Why should I apologize when I have done nothing wrong?" said Z, "All I did was return an item. It was his fault for playing with their hearts."

"But," protested Louise.

"Look," said Z, "I intend to fight Guiche. So you can either get out of my way, or tell me which way is Vestri Court."

"Fine," sighed Louise reluctantly, "are you sure you can win?"

"Of course," said Z.

Louise sighed again and wordlessly raised an arm to point the direction of Vestri Court. Thanking Louise, Z headed to meet Guiche. After he had gone, Louise decided to follow him, if not to pick up the pieces, then to see Guiche get what he deserved.

xXsceneXx

Z arrived early at Vetsri Court and sat down in a meditative pose to calm his mind while he waited for the pompus brat to arrive. As he meditated, he connected himself to the unifying force and the living force and felt it flow through all the humans and familiars around him. The humans had a sort of forign power flowing through them and the a few of the familiars did as well. Soon he felt the aura of Guiche and the other students arriving and he got to his feet.

"So you're finally here," said Z.

"I'm surprised you had the guts to show up," said Guiche, "I'm glad you did though, now I can teach you your place, commoner."

"You talk too much," yawned Z, "let's just get this over with."

"Agreed," said Guiche as he waved his rose with a florish, "my runic name is Guiche the Bronze, so a bronze Valkyrie shall be your opponant."

A petal fell from Guiche's rose and formed into a feminine, broze suit of armor.

"So you call upon a construct to fight me," sighed Z, "whatever. I guess I should end this quickly."

Suddenly Z's form began to shift. His muscles expanded and he fell on all fours as his arms and legs became animal like and his hands and shoes became claws. His back grew several spines and a tail sprouted. His entire body grew fur and his face grew and his mouth expanded and was filled with razor sharp teeth and he gained two more eyes. Z now resembled some sort of beastial demonic feline.

"Wh-what are you?" stammered Guiche in terror.

The beast that was Z roared and charged at the Valkyrie. Guiche was barely able to pull himself together in time to command his Valkyrie to dodge Z's claws. The Valkyrie was fast, but Z's new form was faster and forced the bronze golem to use it's speed to keep from being shredded by his claws. Guiche decided to even the odds a bit and created five more golems to fight Z.

Guiche felt confident that he would win...until he swore that the beast smirked and began to change again. Z stood up on his hind legs and his body became bulkier and the fur retracted. He gained grayish thick skin and spines, tusks and claws. He no longer resembled a feline, but he did resemble a demonic beast.

Z's new form blocked the stabs of the Valkyries' spears with its thick hide and sent them flying with a swing of its arms. With speed that surprised the observers, considering the beast's bulky appearence, Z attacked the downed Valkyries and crushed their bronze armor, before turning to face Guiche.

"S-s-stay b-back!" stammered Guiche with a pale face as he counjured a sword and swung it wildly to try and stop Z's advance.

The blade didn't even phase Z. In fact with a flick of a claw the blade was flying from his hands in two pieces. Guiche was visibly sweating as Z got close and picked him up and brought Guiche to his maw. Z let out a loud roar and Guiche promptly passed out and went limp.

Z dropped the blond and his form shifted back to normal, clothes and all and he walked over to Louise.

"Told you I'd win," smirked Z.

Louise could only nod blankly and follow Z as he walked back to the castle, the students parting in fear as he approached.

xXsceneXx

Once the master and familiar were back at Louise's room, Z checked his scanner for the results of the blood test he ran on Louise. He noticed that Louise was staring at him intently from her bed and had been ever since the end of the fight.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Z.

"...what are you?" asked Louise, "I mean you can't be human."

"Correct," said Z, "I am not human. I am a Shi'ido."

"What is a Shido?" asked Louise.

"Shi'ido," corrected Z, "and to answer your question, I am a species of shapeshifter from the planet Lao-mon, or Sh'shuun in my native tounge."

"Wait," said Louise, "what do you mean? Are you really from another planet?"

"Yes," said Z, "you honestly didn't think that humans were the only sentient species in the universe."

Honestly, Louise had thought that, but she didn't want to admit it, so she changed the subject.

"You said that you're a shapeshifter. Is that how you were able to transform into those beasts to fight Guiche?" she asked.

Z nodded, "The first one was a species from the planet Cholganna called a Nexu. The second is a creature created by the dark side of the Force known as a Terentatek. I'm not sure if it has a home planet."

"Can you change into other things?" asked Louise. The fact that she summoned a man that can turn into beasts that looked like they could give a manticore a run for its money was making her day.

"I can change into many things," said Z, "I've seen many beasts. I could even transform into a rock if I wanted to."

"Amazing," said Louise.

"Well, the results of your blood test are in," said Z, "it looks like you have more than enough Medi-chlorians in your body to harness the Force. If you wish, I would be happy to take you as a student and teach you about them."

"Really?" exclaimed Louise, "I'd love that."

"We should start then," said Z.