BONUS CHAPTER
Zach Reon Omake

Finding himself on some twisted magical Earth with no warning had been weird enough, but Eelesia and Lyn were with him so it didn't really matter so much where they were. Unfortunately even that didn't last.

A sudden intense pressure had swept over him, and it had felt like he'd been torn out of his body. A moment's examination while he tumbled through some bizarre tunnel of pulsing green light had revealed much the opposite, however. Zach Reon was back to his normal appearance, the way he'd looked before being magically summoned to Sunnydale.

Well, normal was relative. Zach had reinvented his appearance every decade or so, searching for a form that both reflected him and that he wouldn't get tired of. Currently, he was just under six feet tall, with a muscular bishonen physique, lustrous red skin, pure white spiky hair, thundercloud-grey eyes, and three-inch pointed ears. He'd looked this way for just over six years, and still wasn't really sure if it was 'him' or not.

Despite that, being back in his own body was more comforting than one might think, given that he was currently tumbling like a leaf through some kind of green negative space wedgie. And if that wasn't strange enough, he was starting to hear a girls voice speaking a hybrid of french and english that he'd never heard before.

"Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, but at her words the raging chaotic not-wind seemed to start pushing Zach in a particular direction.

"My familiar that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant. Follow my fate, hear the wish of my heart, and come forth!"

And just like that, Zach was sucked into a void of nothingness, and a moment later his world lurched and he found himself standing on solid ground.

"Now where am I?" Zach muttered to himself.

A thick cloud of dust surrounded him, and he felt the prickles of Earth-grass under his feet. He parsed the girl's words, and rubbed his forehead when he realized he'd been magically summoned again. Twice in one day. At least this time he'd been aware it was happening.

From within the blinding dust, Zach heard more voices, some of which seemed to be jeering, accompanied by a good deal of coughing.

"Haha! Another failure for Louise the Zero!"

"Hey, Louise! You're supposed to summon your familiar, not blow it up!"

"I toldya the Zero would screw this up too."

Extending his Utility Cloud, Zach formed an electrostatic bubble around himself and flexed it outward. The expanding electrostatic bubble rapidly swept the dust from the air with an eerie subsonic whisper.

Zach was greeted by the sight of a pink-haired girl in a uniform of some kind stumbling back from the sudden outward blasting of dust. Looking around in the cleared air, Zach blinked in astonishment. He was standing on a grassy lawn enclosed by stone walls, and surrounded by a sparse crowd all wearing a similar uniform, and scattered among them...

"Okay, two questions," Zach muttered to himself. "One, where am I? Two, why are there pokemon everywhere?"

At a second glance, none of the actual fictional species were represented, but he'd be gambled if anyone who'd seen a Charmeleon or a Sandslash wouldn't immediately think, Pokemon! if they found themselves seeing what Zach was.

Zach's whimsical musing was interrupted as the crowd started babbling. The pink-haired girl was stuttering incoherently, in some mix of terror, anger, despair, and wonder.

"Eeek! What is it?" someone shouted.

"He's so red!"

"Ahh! He's naked!"

"Are those pointed ears?"

"So... big..."

"E-e-e-elf!"

"Ack! What's it doing like that! It's some kind of pervert!"

"It looks like a demon!"

"Kirche, you're drooling."

"Oh Brimir! Louise summoned a perverted demon elf! We're all going to die!"

It took Zach a few moments to parse all of that. Once he worked it out, he rolled his eyes. These people took jumping to conclusions to whole new levels. While he was trying to figure out how to introduce himself and ask what was going on, a tall balding guy wearing a high-collared blue coat and glasses came over to the pink-haired girl, who was apparently named Louise.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise stammered. "I... this can't... it has to be a mistake! Can I please start over and try again?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Valliere," the man called Colbert told her. "The Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred tradition. You must complete the ritual."

Louise whipped her head between Colbert and Zach, gesturing wildly. "B-but he's naked! And..." incoherent noise as she pointed at his crotch, "and possibly evil!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Valliere," Colbert said. "This being is what your summoning brought forth. The tradition is inviolate. You must complete the binding if you wish to remain a student at Tristain Academy."

Louise took a nervous step towards Zach, her eyes slipping down to his manhood, making her blush and gulp. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides, with one hand grasping a wooden rod.

Zach just looked at her, not bothering to hide his confusion. His lack of hostility (or amorous intent) made Louise bolder. She raised her rod and swallowed.

"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere," she intoned grandly. "Pentagon of the five elemental powers! Bless this creature and bind him as my familiar!"

Louise closed the distance between them, her face set with determination, until she was close enough that Zach could have poked her chest with his penis if he'd wanted to. She looked up at him, went up on tiptoes, and promptly scowled in annoyance. Behind her, a mocking murmur was starting up in the crowd again.

Zach finished parsing what he'd heard, and blinked. "Wait, what's this about 'binding'?"

Of course, Louise couldn't understand him. She just grabbed his arms and pulled. Zach didn't think to resist, and bent down. Louise went up on tiptoes again, and kissed him.

Zach startled when a bright silver light suddenly shown from the back of his right hand, followed almost immediately by his pain receptors cutting off. He pulled away from Louise and held his hand out in front of him, staring at it warily. For his pain receptors to go numb, it had to be actually damaging him somehow, and that didn't bode well.

Zach looked around suspiciously, but neither Louise, Colbert, or any of the spectators looked like they expected him to be flailing in agony. Maybe it was just supposed to be some kind of magical tattoo.

Louise let out a sigh of relief.

"Congratulations, Miss Valliere," Colbert said. "And that concludes this Springtime Familiar Summoning!"

Zach's hand was still glowing, and he was still numb. As the rest of the students and their familiars began to disperse, Louise took off her jacket and demanded that he tie it around his waist. He rolled his eyes, but made the small concession to the local's sense of propriety.

Once he was covered to her satisfaction, Louise finally took notice of his still-glowing hand. She grabbed Zach's wrist and tugged him over to Professor Colbert. Zach went along. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Besides, he couldn't do much until he'd heard enough of the language to feel confident speaking.

"Professor Colbert, is my familiar's rune supposed to be doing that?" Louise asked.

"Hmm?" Colbert inquired. "Oh, that is unusual. It seems your contract is still in the process of being established."

"What?" Louise demanded. "Does that mean I did it wrong?"

Colbert studied Zach's hand for a moment. "I don't believe so. It appears you cast the spell properly. It simply hasn't finished yet. Most intriguing." He met Zach's eyes. "Do you perhaps understand enough to tell us what you are?"

Louise got impatient. "Well? Answer him, familiar!"

Zach parsed Colbert's question, and pointed to himself. "Zach Reon." He made an expansive gesture down his body. "Fae."

"Fae?" Louise repeated. "What's a fae? Does he mean he's a fairy?"

"I do not know, Miss Valliere," Colbert said. "I don't think I can tell you why the spell is taking so long to complete without further observation."

"Oh," Louise said. "So should I just wait for it to finish?"

Zach followed Louise into a spacious and well-furnished dorm room. Zach studied her in concern. She looked increasingly tired with every passing minute, and stumbled leaning heavily on the doorlatch as she staggered inside.

The professor, Colbert, hadn't seemed particularly concerned by the rapidly developing dark circles under Louise's eyes, but... Zach shrugged. Maybe he just wasn't used to humans.

Zach was still numb, with that glow of silver blazing away on the back of his hand. He leaned against the wall and watched Louise stumble.

"Alright, familiar," Louise said. "This is my room, where you'll be living." She pointed at a pile of hay. "That is where you will sleep. You will, will wash my clothes and have a fresh outfit ready for me every, every morning. You will have..." She swayed. "You will..."

Louise stumbled to the side, eyes rolling up into her head. Alarmed, Zach lunged forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. Zach shook her gently, but she didn't respond at all. Picking her up, Zach yanked the door open with his Utility Cloud and hurried out into the hall.

Looking around for help, he spotted a blonde boy and a brunette girl flirting in an alcove. They were startled by the sight of him, but he managed to ask where the infirmary was.

Zach leaned against the wall of the infirmary, watching several people who were apparently teachers or hospital staff, and an older man with a long beard and grey robes, fuss over Louise's comatose form. Zach had translated that much. She was actually in a coma.

The questioning had been simple. Zach hadn't been able to say much more than that she was tired and then she fell down. Finally, it seemed they came to a conclusion.

"Yes, I understand what I was seeing now," Colbert said. "The familiar contract is still attempting to complete the marking process. For reasons unknown, burning the rune onto Mr. Reon's hand has proven difficult enough to drain all of Miss Valliere's volonte."

"How can this be?" a woman asked. "It is a simple branding. It cannot possibly require more than a token amount of volonte."

"The how is not our immediate concern," the long-bearded headmaster said. "Miss Valliere's life is in danger. Her body has shut down and is doing little more than generating volonte to complete that brand. I fear that she is unable to generate it quickly enough to meet the demand, and the spell will soon begin consuming her very life."

"Would killing the familiar save her?"

"Perhaps, though I do not think we ought to deprive Miss Valliere of her familiar unless we have no other choice."

After parsing this, Zach scowled. So he was a slave, then. Worse, even. He'd wondered, with the way Louise had suddenly stopped being afraid of him once the brand on his hand lit up, and ordered him around like she expected him to obey without thought.

Zach looked at the back of his hand with two parts worry and one part anger.

They talked about killing him like he wasn't a person, because to them he was nothing but a magically-controlled tool. Even if they could bind him or kill him, that was not the kind of thinking he was going to quietly cooperate with.

Colbert spoke up. "I think our best option is for several donors to lend enough volonte for the spell to complete."

While the professors discussed the practical risks of such a procedure, Zach quietly slipped away. He felt bad about Louise, but he simply wasn't willing to give up his life to save her from her own mistake.

Distance was no obstacle when one had all the time in the world. Maybe he'd find somewhere with more respect for a being's personhood.

Zach didn't wait around. He pulled Louise's jacket from his waist and left in on the floor as he leaped from a window and tucked into a roll as he hit the ground. He was currently incapable of feeling pain or pleasure, but his sense of touch and balance still worked just fine.

He startled a chubby blonde boy as he landed, making the student fall on his butt. Zach didn't pay him any mind, and started jogging. A few of the students who were milling around took note of him, by Zach just kept running faster and faster straight at one of the outer walls.

Zach reached the wall and leaped, running three steps straight up the wall and grabbing the top edge. He pulled himself up in once smooth motion, his arms exerting enough force to throw him clear of the wall.

He hit the ground and rolled to his feet, continuing on at a sprint without slowing down or looking back.

Ten hours and more than three hundred kilometers away, Zach's hand stopped glowing. Four hours after that, the markings were gone completely. Louise Valliere was dead, and Zach was free.

Meanwhile...

Saito Hiraga was having a normal day. He most certainly hadn't been abducted off the street by some kind of magical portal. His classmates were still throwing wild ideas about what the mysterious elliptical object that had drifted across the sky had been. The official story was a weather balloon, but the otaku were insisting it had been a space ship or something.

Whatever, the point is, Saito was having a perfectly normal day, walking down the street, not being abused by a pink-haired tsundere in another dimension or wherever. So, when a girl with wild dark hair in twin tails, green eyes, and glasses stepped into the street without looking where she was going, Saito was there to see.

Blaring car horns. "Look out!"

Saito collided with the girl before he realized he'd moved, and then, to his complete astonishment, blinked and found himself face down on the side-walk with his arm bent behind his back.

"Oh," the girl, who now had a knee in his back, whispered, quickly letting him go. "I'm sorry! Many apologies!"

Saito clambered to his feet and gave the girl a disgruntled, sour expression.

The girl winced, and bowed. "Very sorry! It was a reflex! But, thank you so much. You saved me from that car! Please let me repay you for your trouble!"

"Some reflex," Saito grumbled, but then he smiled. "And you're welcome. I saw you about to be hit, and well, I'm not sure what happened. I am glad you're not hurt."

"It was careless of me," the girl admitted. "See, my younger sister recently left home for a, um, ... in a... very far away place. I've been missing her terribly. Thank you again for saving me!"

Saito rubbed the back of his head. "Well, um, what's your name? I'm Saito."

"I'm Miyuki," the girl introduced herself. "Miyuki Takamachi."

(I do not own Familiar of Zero, Pokemon, or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.)