Zero's Dog
Chapter #6
Author's Notes "A"
I've received enough complaints, about Louise having a functional Code of the Lifemaker, so I'll tell the readers this now instead of telling each reviewer individually. I have a plan for the plot to explain why it works within the story. That part of the plot won't happen until later so it might not be explained for a little while in the story but it's better than just telling all the readers who don't like the 'instant game breaker' of the Code: "Louise has divine power in this story. No [the readers] don't get a reasonable explanation as to why other than 'because it's cool'. Deal with it". Don't worry I DO have a plan to resolve it in-story.
"Princess," Kotaro exclaimed, "What're you doing here—"
"Relocate: Kotaro Inugami"
"—so late at night?" The dog-boy found himself in the stables. "I can't wait to hear how she'll justify this," Kotaro thought as he shadow-travelled back to Louise's room.
The scene he came upon was reminiscent of a reunion between long-lost friends, with the two girls embracing. The Grand Master Key was leaning against the wall next to the bed. Kotaro grabbed the artifact and dismissed it.
"ABEAT."
The girls then noticed his presence, Louise reaching into her breast pocket to find that her card was in Kotaro's possession. "Give it back."
"No. I'll be keeping it for a while," he replied while tucking the card into his pocket.
"Louise am I interrupting anything?" the princess asked. "Is he your lover?"
"WHAT? NO! He's just my familiar."
"But aren't familiars animal servants?" the princess asked curiously.
"I'm an exception for some reason or another," Kotaro answered, "Now will someone please explain what's going on?"
"Ah, yes," Louise stammered, "When we were young children, I had the honor of being chosen as the royal playmate."
"You were more than a simple playmate, Louise Francoise, you were and continue to be my best friend," the princess said unabashed.
"Princess Henrietta, I'm unworthy," Louise said with a bow.
"So what's the current tally?" Kotaro asked.
"Tally?" the girls questioned in unison.
"Yeah, tally. How many Henrietta victories, Louise victories, and ties?"
"Why would we have something like that?" Louise responded incredulously.
"Well you're rivals too aren't you? Aren't best friends also rivals?"
"NO, where did you learn friendship? Somewhere barbaric I suspect."
"Hey, I had to fight and struggle to live until I met my best friend. We're also rivals so I could do without your biting remarks. Our tally is 16 Negi victories – 5 Kotaro victories – 1 draw."
"That's a unique form of friendship Mr. Familiar. Do you and your rival get along?"
"Of course! Our friendship isn't merely defined by rivalry. Fighting is just another shared interest."
"Barbaric," Louise commented.
"Well, you nobles compare magical ability and power, so what's the difference?"
"Enough," Henrietta politely interjected, "everyone defines friendship differently. So Louise what was that black key? It seems your familiar is keeping it from you; why is that? "
"That was supposed to be a secret," Kotaro growled. Directing his words at Louse, he continued, "I provided you with it and taught you one way to use it, assuming you'd not bandy it about like some mystic title, and the FIRST person you reveal it to was not only without permission but the ROYAL FAMILY no less."
"What's wrong with the Royal Family," Henrietta defended.
"Too high in the government. The key is of the magic of my homeland, so I am the only one with knowledge on it so it's 'new'. When a government finds something 'new' first question is: 'Can we strengthen our army with it?' When the answer is 'yes,' all of the required resources are seized and put to work on improving the army. Then you have a stronger army, but that can only be confirmed in battle so someone starts a meaningless war just to prove a point and with the most trivial of reasons. I don't trust those who wield great power and treat it like a shiny toy that can be abused forever. I will never trust a government to not be avaricious," Kotaro explained.
Henrietta's eyes fell, "I can understand your position completely, Mr. Familiar. Five years ago, a vast silver deposit was discovered within our borders. Almost immediately, the wealth was spent to increase the number of Tristain Dragon Knights and it was successful. We went from 34 dragon knights to 153 in four years. Then last year, a certain General in the palace sent the knights to demoralize Albion, with neither the Royal Family's knowledge nor consent. He was hanged for his crime but the damage was already wrought. Thanks to that fool we lost all but 19 dragon knights and discontent was stirred within the Albion nobility," the princess stated bitterly.
"My condolences, but I feel we're on a strange topic. Pardon my bluntness, but why are you visiting so late at night?"
"I wanted to meet Louise without the scrutiny of my guards. Considering your impression on them this afternoon, Mr. Familiar, it's probably better this way."
"Yeah," Kotaro said while holding back giggles, "Someone would have to drag each of them to the infirmary after I finished with them."
"I also wanted to wish Louise luck for the Evaluation Ceremony tomorrow," the princess said heading for the door, "Bye Louise, bye Mr. Familiar."
(Scene break)
The next morning at the Familiar Evaluation Fair, Louise and Kotaro were the final pair to perform. Initially they were near the middle but Kotaro was pleased that the other students were more afraid of him than performing in front of a large crowd. Besides the princess and the entire academy, various family members were in attendance.
They walked onto the stage and the crowd fell silent except for a few who shouted, "Hey why's that dog got a sword on its back?" and "What, Louise? Did your familiar run away because you're a failure? Or was it that he was so pathetic that a mere dog is more impressive?" Kotaro cast a glare of malice so strong into the crowd that it silenced the ones who made the remark, despite that it was only coming from his dog form. His dog form was separate from the wolf form he'd displayed back when he fought Guiche mainly by size; he was the size of a large dog instead of a small building.
When they reached the center of the stage, Louise halted and faced the crowd. Kotaro stopped as well, on her left, and likewise faced the crowd. "Lay down," Louise commanded. Kotaro obeyed. "Sit," Louise commanded again and Kotaro pushed himself up from where he laid, Derflinger's scabbard scraping against the wood. "Speak."
"You know, this is really demeaning," Kotaro said outright, stirring a few gasps from the crowd. "I'm going to change, be back in a moment," the dog declared while disappearing behind the stage.
He returned 5 seconds later in human form wearing the same outfit he dueled Guiche in, sans his orange hat. His hands and lower torso were wrapped in cotton. His appearance drew several wolf-whistles from the crowd. "Okay, I'm back, now for the REAL show," Kotaro grinned, drawing Derflinger and stepping off the front of the stage towards the audience.
The audience became suddenly quiet as the familiar approached with a naked blade, but ten paces from the stage Kotaro drove the long weapon, blade-first, into the soil like some honored warrior's grave marker. He then walked away from the buried blade, perpendicular to the audience's gaze before pausing, declaring he just remembered a pressing issue and then disappearing. He appeared moments later behind the person, who made the cutting remark towards Louise earlier about failures and pathetic familiars, placing a hand on their shoulder.
"I don't like what you have to say, mister," Kotaro told the young man, who screamed with a shrillness that rivaled a five-year old girl. The scream was perversely humorous, since the young man was physically imposing, with a standing height of at least 6'2'' and muscularly built, if the beefy arms and shoulders were to be believed. Kotaro continued his lecture, which could be heard by nearly everyone else, "so refrain from using your cutting tongue when referring to me or it'll become my second trophy, the first being an arm I ripped off a bronze golem." He then returned to his sword and began a repeat of distancing himself from the erect sword.
After fifteen paces, the dog-boy spun on the spot while leaping towards where he planted his sword. He hung in the air, twirling and flipping as he arced towards Derflinger. It looked like he was going to land on the weapon up till the late moment when spirals of darkness erupted from his ankles, rendering him suspended upside-down above the sword. Kotaro laughed at the audience, "You seriously thought I'd hurt myself? Just who the Hell do you think I am? I'm no amateur," he declared while extending an arm down to grip the pommel of the sword and dismissing the spirals.
He did several one-handed push-ups before admitting to the ease of the exercise, "Can anyone conjure up a boulder for me? I could use some extra weight."
A young blond-haired man stood up in the second row, "Why certainly," he told the dog boy, "I'll give you enough weight to CRUSH you for harming my little brother and restore the name 'Gramont'! " the man said brandishing his wand. Kotaro heard a faint thud from the other side of the central tower.
"You must be that Guiche's older brother," Kotaro said nonchalantly, hopping from his perch on Derflinger to face the man, "Three things: First, Guiche challenged me expecting it to be one-sided. Second, had I NOT held back against him and changed my attack to a glancing strike at the last moment, instead of that gash on his cheek his head would've flown across the courtyard as if fired from a cannon," "Do they have cannons here?" Kotaro wondered. "And third, work on your aim, that boulder you conjured landed on the other side of the tower."
"But I didn't conjure anything," the mage admitted.
Another 'thud' was heard from the tower's far side.
Kotaro turned back towards the tower, canine ears becoming erect from where they were concealed. Most of the crowd gasped. Since Kotaro had been forgoing the bright orange hat due to the repetitive questions it drew, he'd been hiding his ears in his mane of black hair. Two doppelgangers rose from the familiar's shadow. "Finally, something possibly worth fighting," the first Kotaro said while drawing Derflinger from the ground, "I'll be back shortly," he said turning back to Louise before all three Kotaros raced in the direction of the 'thud's, leaving many people whispering amongst themselves.
(Scene break)
The team returned minutes later, each carrying something. The leader carried an unconscious, cloaked figure with green hair. The one who followed on the leader's right was holding an ornately carved wooden box and had a wand clenched in his teeth. The third, which was behind and on the leader's left was carrying Derf in one hand and had something clenched in the other.
Osmond sprinted to the leader with a speed abnormally swift for a healthy man of thirty, let alone a man in his seventies, "Ms. Longueville!" he cried out, before turning on Kotaro, "What the Hell did you do to my secretary, young man? Yesterday, you said that striking a woman was against your principles. Was that just another lie?" the ancient headmaster demanded.
"So she's your secretary? Then you'll love this," the lead Kotaro spoke jubilantly, "I found this person, hiding their face and holding this," he gestured to the wooden box, "as they rode a giant pile of moving dirt away from the gaping hole on the other side of the central tower. Since they were obviously stealing, I attacked but didn't know the thief was a 'she' until the literal last second before knocking her out."
"Is this true, Tabitha?" the old man asked the petite reader.
Tabitha had been another person to check out the disturbance with Kotaro, but Tabitha had observed from the back of her dragon familiar Sylphid. The blue haired girl nodded.
"Then why couldn't you have simply adjusted that strike like with Mr. Gramont then simply restrained her?" Osmond asked, turning back to the trio of Kotaros, the rage leeching out of his voice.
"Because the knockout point I was aiming for was the solar plexus, center of the body mass just below the rib cage. Had I altered my punch, I probably would've given much worse injuries like fractured ribs, fracture sternum, or even physically damaging organs such as a kidney, a lung, her heart, her liver, you get the idea. It was either give her a brief moment of pain followed by unconsciousness, or an agonizing injury that might kill her and she'd be awake and aware the entire time as I brought her back for questioning. Which do you think is the better choice?"
"I suppose you're right," Osmond said glumly, "though I never expected my secretary would try stealing the 'Staff of Destruction'."
"The 'what' now?" Kotaro asked.
"The 'Staff of Destruction,' that's what's in that box. A magical staff that is capable of killing an adult rampaging dragon with a single spell. You may open the box to look at it if you like."
The Kotaro carrying the box set it down and opened it while the other two looked on. A moment later the wand dropped from his teeth and his voice could be heard, "WHAT THE HELL?" In an instant the Kotaro was on his feet and Osmond was lifted off of his feet by the front of his shirt, which was gripped by Kotaro. The audience gasped and screamed at the event.
"WHY IS TECHNOLOGY FROM MY HOMELAND HERE? HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING ME IN THE DARK ABOUT A WAY HOME? WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?" Kotaro's hands grew white-ish fur and morphed into muscular appendages that resembled talons, the long, pointed fingernails evolving into dangerous claws. The transformation ceased mid forearm. Also half a dozen hounds composed of darkness manifested behind the enraged hanyo.
"That's what I saw yesterday," Guiche yelled.
"The Staff of Destruction belonged to my savior who appeared forty years ago and died of his wounds days later. I don't know how he got here but he carried the Staff of Destruction with him," the headmaster replied calmly. "I'm sorry but I don't know how you can return home."
"You mean, not only did it happen forty years ago but the only witness is long since dead?" the dog-boy asked, the red in his face remaining, but the snarl was no longer present as his eyes started to glisten.
"That's right, I'm sorry," Osmond answered solemnly.
Kotaro returned the elderly man to the ground, gazing at his own feet the entire time. The pseudo-talons reverted back to human hands before Osmond's toes reached the grass. When Kotaro completely released the headmaster, many of the teachers rushed forward to confirm the headmaster's well-being, casting fearful glances at the down trodden familiar. Meanwhile, Kotaro had sat on the ground, pulled his knees to his chest and hidden his face.
Wardes stepped forward from his position protecting the princess and pointed his sword-wand at the crouched dog-boy, unnoticed because of the drama that had just unfolded. With a brief flick he sent Kotaro flying twelve feet as if Wardes had struck the boy with a giant invisible hammer. Immediately the shadow dogs and the other two Kotaros vanished, dropping the unconscious woman, Derflinger and a small bundle of cloth, like a handkerchief.
The crowd gasped yet again, this time at Wardes' actions rather than at Kotaro. "Wardes what are you doing?" Henrietta demanded.
Wardes ignored her as he continued advancing on the downed boy. He raised his wand and started chanting a new spell. The sky began to darken despite it only being mid-morning.
"Partner," Derflinger screamed from where he was dropped, "That spell is Lightning Cloud, get up now or you might never get up again!"
"Viscount Wardes, stop it," Louise cried as she stepped between the advancing spell caster and the unresponsive familiar.
"Out of the way Louise, that monster dies NOW!" Wardes roared, pushing the pinkette out of the way.
"But he's not an elf, he's my familiar," Louise begged, but her words didn't move the man.
Kotaro pushed himself up and faced the advancing predator, hair standing on end from the charged atmosphere. "You attack distracted man, Wardes? You'd better hope this spell puts me out of my misery 'Wardes the Lightning' or rip a few things off."
"Kotaro, what are doing? Stop this madness!" Louise tried begging her familiar since the Viscount was ignoring her.
"I just found out that this little 'excursion' to Tristain isn't as short as I'd hoped. I may never see my friends again. I need some way to vent that isn't me crying. Men shouldn't cry. Fortunately, this poor bastard decided to sucker-punch me due to arrogance that he's better than me, so I use him as a targ—"
"Lightning Cloud," Wardes incanted. Several large bolts of lightning flew from his wand and struck the dog-boy midsentence. The attack continued for several seconds. As it ended, the scent of ozone and burnt flesh filled the area. Everyone was silent as all eyes fell upon where the familiar had stood.
Kotaro's body remained standing as he had been before the attack. The only things that changed were his hand wrappings which were charred on the edges, his sarashi which had a bolt go through it and was burning, and the four black and bleeding circles on his torso where the arcing electricity struck him. Steam rolled out of the open mouth. After another moment standing the body fell backwards.
Among the gathered crowd, silence hung like a shroud over a corpse. Children sought comfort from their parents. Mothers shielded their children from the scene while averting their own eyes. Fathers comforted their wives while looking on the scene with sympathy for the boy and the girl who was the master. Girlfriends buried their tearful faces into the chests of their lovers who likewise sought comfort. When the body hit the ground, angry glares focused on the griffin knight commander, with two notable exceptions.
Henrietta strode to where Kotaro lay to find Louise already kneeling there, crying. The princess drew her wand, to be interrupted.
"Healing that beast wouldn't be wise, Majesty," Wardes suggested.
"Piss off, Viscount," Henrietta retorted and she turned back to the burned body, noticing Louise's trembling arm drawling a familiar looking card from the boy's pocket. Immediately Kotaro's arm shot out and seized the pinkette's hand.
"Stupid idea. Not worth it," he whispered, "and not possible if I was dead."
"KOTARO!" the two girls happily cheered in unison, drawing the crowd's attention back to the boy, who sat up. Cheers erupted in the crowd which fell silent as Kotaro stood up and signaled for quiet.
"Let me heal your burns," Henrietta pleaded, drawing closer to the boy, with her wand prepared.
"No, Princess," Kotaro said, gently brushing the young woman away, "I'll be fine, I've always been a fast healer. Don't look down on the dog tribe."
"Idiot," Louise shouted, "You took four lightning strikes to the chest! You WILL let her heal your wounds."
"No I won't because . . . wait did you say four?"
Louise nodded.
"Like I said, she will NOT be using magic to heal me. I've had worse, though I did black out for a moment this time, and was still fine. Ten minutes and they'll have healed without a scar."
"You better not be lying," Louise growled.
"I'm not lying, it's only four, now please back away, both of you. I have unfinished business with that man," Kotaro declared pointing at Wardes, who was completely dumbfounded. "You can heal him when I'm finished," Kotaro told Henrietta as he glared at the griffin knight.
The girls were about to object when Colbert and one of the other griffin knights grabbed Louise and Henrietta respectively and carried them each to safety. The crowd watched in amazement and horror as the dog-boy familiar began to change.
The first change was Kotaro's hair, which bristled as it changed from onyx to ivory and grew into a mane. Short fur also sprouted all over his body. The canine ears lengthened and shifted to the sides of his head. The hands returned to a pseudo-talon form. Kotaro's sarashi, which concealed his dog tail was ripped off as the tail had grown in length and girth. Additionally, the muscles in his arms became more well-defined. "Dog Tribe Beast Transformation," Kotaro called out.
"B-b-but how?" Wardes finally stammered.
"Dumbass! My aim is to eventually catch lightning, grab fire. Do you think I'd fall so easily to a minor spell that only casts four bolts?"
"Minor spell? That spell was square class," Wardes was starting to show stress.
"Think of it this way, you did hurt me and knocked me out briefly. Congratulations! Now I highly suggest pissing yourself," Kotaro added, lunging forward.
Wardes stepped back just in time to avoid the swipe Kotaro made at his legs causing the attack to hit the ground instead. The slash carved deep furrows in the ground. Less than a minute later and Wardes was exhausted but had managed to dodge all of Kotaro's attacks. As he stood over the beaten man Kotaro uttered "Checkmate," before bringing down one final attack.
Halfway into the attack, Kotaro's vision flooded blue and heat seared his face and wrists. "That's enough both of you," Henrietta's voice shouted, "Your lust for battle can wait till another day."
"Come on I haven't even drawn 'first blood', yet! Can't I at least accept his challenge of 'duel to the death'?"
"Fine," Kotaro yelled, reverting back to his most human-like form, "It was too much to expect fighters on par with Kosmo Entelecheia anyway. This day's just perfect! I find a weapon from home, only to learn that I needed to be here 40 years ago for a way back. I hit a woman, I cried. And now I find that all of my possible sparring partners are squishier than bread dough," he ranted. "You're out there laughing right now aren't you, Thousand Blades?" he shouted skyward, moments before collapsing forward, unconscious.
The rings of blue fire vanished from the hanyo's body and from Wardes, who had been likewise enchanted. "Thank you, Colbert," Henrietta said.
"No need princess, I was just as eager as you to end that one-sided joke of a fight, especially since that boy sounds like a battle fanatic," the bald teacher replied.
"Hey everybody," a voice called from the ground, "this thief needs to be locked up. Partner said a woman should do it though."
"Why's that?" Louise asked the sword.
"Because she's been de-pantied."
Immediately, half the males in the crowd craned their necks to see the would-be thief better. The action was quickly ended by each girlfriend slapping in unison.
"HOW!" Louise screamed.
"Partners last attack. He told me he planned on distracting the thief by 'pants-ing them', as he put it, from behind and attacking from the front. Then he found out they were wearing panties after pulling them off the standing thief. Hoho you all should've heard the shriek. Like he'd never held a pair of panties before."
"So he ripped them off?"
"I don't know, check for yourself," the sword said.
After a moment of awkwardness, Kirche stepped from the crowd and strode to where the sword lay. She picked up the scrap of cloth and examined it. "Wow. Not a single stitch is broken. Hey Tabitha was she really standing when he took 'em off her?"
Tabitha buried her face deeper in the book she was reading.
"Darling has amazing skills," the redhead declared passionately upon confirming the sword's story.
A great number of the male students looked at the unconscious familiar jealously.
Author's Notes
So now it's out, Kotaro isn't the simple, subservient, ever-calm familiar previous chapters may have set him up to be. This is my second attempt with this chapter since I lost my only copy of my first attempt on October 6, 2011, almost two weeks ago, along with my only copies of 5 and 7.
The first time I wrote this chapter Kotaro was still standing when Wardes sucker-punched him and was lying on the ground until the last moment before Wardes cast Lightning cloud. In the last moment Kotaro was on his feet with a grip on Wardes' throat, which Kotaro used to floor the mage. One short lecture about combat ethics and a threat with a Kuonbakusaiken (Howling Burst Knuckle) later Kotaro collapses again but Kotaro gets protected by most if not all the audience from the murderous wrath of Wardes. I think I like how I handled Wardes attack of Kotaro better than the first time. It was fun to write about Kotaro's Blood Knight (see for explanation, but be warned TV tropes is a website you may spend hours on because of all the information about works of fiction) tendencies and have him anguish that there are few 'worthy opponents' to fight. This may play out n future chapters.
I liked the exchange with Princess Henrietta. My two favorite parts of that scene are the 'friendship=rivalry' argument and the story Henrietta tells about the dragon knights. The argument was meant to be humorous moment as it displayed two different methods of friendship, 'Defeat Means Friendship' and 'Childhood Friends' (again ), clashing. Henrietta's story was completely fabricated by me to give Kotaro the start of a reason to trust that he would not be sold out if he revealed some of his secrets to her. It also suggests that Tristain is recovering from having lost all but half its original number of dragon knights (strongest singular unit in the military) after multiplying more than four times over. The numbers I chose were arbitrary but 19 is about one-eighth of 153 so yeah really heavy blow. The discontent stirred in Albion will also play a purpose in future chapters.