Back to Fauleki

The rest of the ceremony passes regularly, or as regularly as it can when it seems every other student is summoning a dragon or a naga or some other magical creature that you're certain, under normal circumstances, would be trying to eat everyone present. However, despite the prevalence of mystical beasts, it doesn't take the Wizened Wizard to note that no one else's familiar incites the same kind of reaction as yours did. You aren't quite certain whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. With any luck, once you get back and have a chance to read up on slimes, you'll know.

Once everyone had summoned the familiars (or in the case of one particularly bad case, failed to summon their familiar [mental note: seek out that guy and become his friend]), you began boarding the long-carriage (a carriage that acts more like a train, enchanted to not require horses or any other form of power besides magic) back to the academy. You decide you'd rather not have to deal with any mocking, so you and your familiar head as far back as you can.

The trip started smoothly enough. As you took your seat, your familiar oozed up to rest beside you, and currently had a tentacle wrapped tightly around one of your hands, and you can't help but smile from the waves of happiness you could feel radiating from... it? Him? Her? Yet another thing added to the list of things you need to research: do slimes have genders?

However, whether from your own bad luck or from some curse placed upon you at birth (that second one would actually explain a lot...), the peace didn't last long, as you begin to hear a trio of laughing voices. The laughter grows louder until it reaches your cart, revealing the smug smiling face of Davis Masterson and two of his cronies.

Davis was basically everything you weren't. You were rather plain looking, while Davis looked like his features had been carved by the gods themselves. You were thin and willowy, while he was big and muscular. You had a nice head of honey blonde hair, and he had a mop of jet black hair. And, most damning of all, you were atrocious at magic, while Davis was a natural born prodigy.

The trio walked in, laughing at some joke one of them must have told, and Davis' familiar plotted along behind them. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a regular salamander, but with a few keys differences. First of all, it had an extra pair of legs emerging from its sides, giving it 6 rather than 4. Secondly, its scales were varying shades of red, and moving gave it the illusion of being coated in flickering flames. Thirdly, and most importantly, it was MUCH larger than any normal salamander, being about the size of a donkey. All in all, while it wasn't the dragon you had expected him to summon, that by no means meant it WASN'T formidable.

As the trio's laughter died down, Davis scanned the cabin and his eyes fell upon you. Immediately, you felt your familiar's grip tighten, and you knew it must have become alert (perhaps it had sensed your dislike for Davis? Add it to the pile of things to find out). Davis began walking towards you, flashing his stupidly perfect smile. "Hey, if it isn't Little Toby! How ya doing bud?"

His tone was casual enough, but you knew from past experience that it was all lies. It seemed there was nothing Davis loved more than using you as a punching bag, sometimes literally. This is what drove you to give as short and curt an answer you could. "I'm doing well enough, Davis."

He smiled and nodded. "Good, that's good. Hey, Toby, you think you could do me a favor? I need you to stand up. I wanna show you something."

The request kind of came out of nowhere, but you couldn't immediately think of any way he could use it to hurt you, so you decided to grant it. You stood up from your seat, breaking contact with your familiar as you did so, and stood in the center of the aisle. Your familiar seemed to shift its attention to Davis and bubbled threateningly at him, though he didn't pay it any mind.

He approached you and nodded once more, flashing you another smile. "Thanks, pal." Suddenly, he wound his fist back, and before you could react he slammed it straight into your stomach. The wind is instantly knocked out of you and you collapse to your knees, wheezing. Davis bends down and grabs the hair on the back of your hand and pulls you up just enough to see his now angry face. "Let that serve as a lesson, ya little shit! I don't give a damn WHAT you have as a familiar! You'll always be nothing, not good enough to even clean my clothes! And if you ever, EVER, think anything different..." He gives an almost psychotic smile and kicks you in the side. "Well, let's just say no one will care if you go missing. Ya got it?" You want to say something, but you're still trying to catch your breath from the hits. Luckily, you don't have to answer, as your familiar does so for you.

It suddenly extends a tentacle from its body, slamming it into Davis' face and forcing him off of you. You collapse to your side, allowing you to see the action. Your slime begins to undergo some sort of change, bubbling up off the floor and straightening out. Within seconds your slime had adopted a vaguely humanoid form, though it was very rough, as its 'skin' was constantly dripping into a pool at its feet, only to be swept back up into the body.

Davis straightens up, and he and the slime stare at each other for a brief moment. Then, he winds back for another punch, but your slime manages to extend a hand and catch his fist, at the same time using its other hand to deliver a punch of its own into his face, followed by a swift kick to the gut. Davis bends over double, and your familiar decides to end the fight, raising up its arm and slamming its elbow into Davis' back, sending him crashing to the floor, moaning in pain.

His two cronies stare at your slime, their mouths wide in shock. Quickly, one of them reaches down and grabs Davis' familiar while the other grabs Davis himself around the shoulders. With their boss and his familiar in hand, they made their way out of the cabin as fast as they could.

The danger having passed, your familiar seemed to calm down. Its body relaxed, easing out of the fighting stance it had adopted, before collapsing into a puddle once more. It quickly made its way over to you and wrapped part of itself around your upper body, and you couldn't help but smile slightly as you felt your familiar's concern.

Davis' goons must have told everyone who would listen how badly your familiar had kicked his ass, because nobody else even came near the cabin you were in afterwards, and the rest of the trip passed by peacefully.