The earth shook as a thunderous explosion rocked the nearby students' senses, covering the courtyard in a thick black smoke obscuring any onlookers view of the summoning ceremony.

Covering her eyes, Louise was amid a coughing fit, as she waved her arm in front of her in an attempt to dispel the dark fog that stung her eyes throat and pride.

It wasn't a sight that was too uncommon for the academy, every single one of her spells ended the same way.

A sudden gust of wind battered her back, knocking her off balance and forcing her to step forward before she would end up face first into the ground.

As the smoke was blown away, she saw it. In front of her stood a hulking green beast that looked like nothing she had ever seen before.

It stood on two rows of interconnecting black metal on either side of it that ran into the ground.

Its frontal plate was sloped back curving underneath the beast at the bottom which stood around at least a foot off the ground.

Various bits on the front plate drew her interest.

The musket looking barrel was poking out of a metal ball on the left side of the plate. The small A shaped piece of metal that held a short cannon that was mounted in the dome atop the metal monster which looked to be opened up at the top if that small circular piece of metal that jutted out of the top.

Just what was this thing? The cannon pointed it to be military but what purpose would a gun that small had? And wouldn't you need someone outside of it to load it?

Louise slowly stepped forward towards the mon- Her familiar, until she stood directly in front of it.

Raising her arm, she cautiously extended and placed an open hand on the frontal plate, flinching slightly at the cold metal.

This was her familiar, this weird metal turtle.

"Miss Valliere if you would complete the contract." The voice of her professor breaking through her trance.

"Right," Louise told him refusing to break eye contact with her familiar.

Glancing up at the dome she realized that she couldn't just kiss it anywhere. She needed to find the right spot, and that wasn't out here.

Leaning forward she grabbed hold of the cannon's mount and raised her foot onto the where the metal began to slide back in on itself.

Taking a moment to adjust her footing, she pushed herself up onto it climbing grabbing at the cannon itself once she passed the mount until she stood at the dome itself.

The circular piece of metal that had been sticking out that she had assumed covered a way in was just that. However, it wasn't what she expected, instead of being just a normal way in there was glass that circled the opening, she couldn't fathom a reason.

Stepping up onto the dome she crouched down over the hole. Placing both hands on either side of her, she brought her legs out from under her and slid them into the hole, slowly lowering herself until her feet were planted on something strangely soft when she was halfway into the hole.

Raising both arms above her head, she crouched down until she was sat in the dome proper and to say that what she found confused her would be an understatement.

If she had to describe the feeling, she got from within the metal box she would describe it as lived in. There were pieces of art hung on the walls of various women, some of which were wearing hardly any clothing at all.

On a small rack in the back of the dome was filled with bottles filled with what looked to be wine, as well as a few that were filled with this odd-looking brown liquid and wrapped goods which upon closer inspection were various kinds of cheese.

The floor itself was a complete mess with mud and large brass cylinders covering the floor.

But the genuinely puzzling aspects of her familiar were right in front of her.

Taking up most of the room was a large oddly shaped piece of blackened metal that had a thin white shield that went down along it before passing it and looping around to the other side where it was opened up down the middle allowing easy access to the back of the cannon.

Standing up she moved to the seated position directly in front of her which had a multitude of levers, hand cracks and what looked to be two spyglasses.

One which was hooked to the top of the dome just in front of the seat, the other looked like it pointed through the front of the dome.

Grabbing the top mounted square spyglass, she pressed her head up to the padding that surrounded it and gazed into it, finding that it allowed her to see her class who looked absolutely out of their mind bored as they waited on her to finish up with the branding her familiar.

Turning in her seat sh-

A sudden loud boom rocked the dome sending smoke and the strong stench of sulphur into the cabin. Causing her to fall back and bang her head on the side of the turret.

Yelping, she brought both her hands to the back of her head as she sat back up. Rubbing the no doubt bruised part of her head she sat back up.

What had she done?

Glancing down at the floor she found a new casing on the ground. Only this one had smoke emanating from it.

Ignoring it, she Moved over to the opening she climbed onto the seat and poked her head out. "Leave it to Louise to summon something as destructive as herself."

Destructive?

Looking around she found most of the students scattered, with their familiars at their side.

As she turned to face the front of the metal beast, the blood ran away from her face.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the academy's wall, only now it had a large hole in the side of it.

"Louise finish the summoning now!" Her professor shouted in a fury that she had yet to hear from him.

Eyes wide she swiftly ducked back into the tank planted a quick kiss on the shield and backed away.

'That should do it.' She thought to herself.

Turning to get out, she felt an odd warmth in her core that grew in intensity.

Hotter and hotter.

A scream escaped her lips, "My. Hand." She muttered, clenching her left wrist. It felt like someone was pressing red hot metal on her left hand.

Pain obstructed any rational thought, and in a single moment, it ended.

Louise fell back into the commander's seat as a wave of fatigue washed over her.

Glancing at her hand, she found runes had carved themselves into her skin.

Fatigue was replaced with panic.

Why did she have Familiar runes on her hand? Wasn't this tank her Familiar?

The clacking of boots on steel alerted her to the fact that someone was ascending the tank.

"Miss Valliere are you alright!?" Professor Colbert shouted.

Panic grew; she couldn't be seen with these runes.

Shooting her hand over to the loader's seat she grabbed a pair of gloves that had been left there and quickly slid them over her hands just as Colbert came into view.

"Are you alright?" He repeated.

Louise only looked up in nodded. "Just banged my head professor."

A soft smile formed on the man's face. "That's good. Based on the glow that we saw, I'll assume that the summoning was a success. Now, do you think you can get your familiar to the stables?"

Her gaze fell to her feet. "Maybe, I'll need to get to the driver's seat."

"Driver?"

"My familiar isn't beast. It's like a cannon in a sense, it needs a crew?" 'How do I know this?'

"So, you were the one that fired the cannon?"

Louise paled. "I-I-I didn't mean too, I was just moving around, and the cannon fired-"

Colbert let out a sigh and raised a hand cutting off her constant apologizing as I can tell that this was a simple accident and no one was hurt I will ignore it. However it would be best if you moved your familiar, I can get the runes tomorrow."

"R-Right." Stepping on the commander's seat, she poked out of the top of the tank, using her arms she hoisted herself out of the tank, sitting down on the side of the hatch, to pull her legs out.

There were only two people left in the crowd. Kirche who stood with her arms crossed and a small grin on her face and Tabitha who was showing a large amount of interest to her 9-foot-tall tank.

As she spun to the front of the tank, she paused to take another look at the destruction caused by her tank. "The stables if you would?"

"R-R-Right." She blurted up, quickly dropping off the turret and pulling open the driver's hatch and dropping into position and immediately took note of what was needed to get the thing moving.

Pushing her seat up so that her head stuck out of the hull, she grabbed both brake levers and planted her feet on the clutch and gas.

Grabbing the fuel primer pump, she pulled it back and forth several times sending fuel to the engine.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to the instrument box and prayed that her tank had gas.

Reaching over she pressed her thump up against the starter switch and pushed it.

The entire tank rocked as the engine struggled to turn over.

Letting go of the button, she let the engine rest for a moment before attempting once more.

The engine roared to life, alleviating the fear that had crept up.

Pressing down the clutch, she shoved the gear shifter and pushed it forward into first gear.

Looking around to make sure she wasn't going to hit anyone, she pressed down on the gas pedal as she pulled in the left lever.

The tank instantly began to spin around, until it faced the stables itself.

Letting go of the lever, she began to speed up accompanied by an ever-growing smile.

Stepping off the gas, she pressed the clutch and shifted to second gear, making her go even faster.

The roar of the engine engulfed her in an endless sea of joy.

Was it the wind?

The roar of her Familiar?

Or just the fact that this was the product of her first successful spell?

In the end, it didn't matter to her she wanted just to drive.

If only the stables weren't so close.

Depressing the gas pedal, she slowed down and quickly followed up by pressing down on the clutch she shifted down until she was in natural.

Pulling back on both levers the tank ground to a halt just outside the stable, sliding her foot underneath the rocker, she pushed it up, locking the brake levers in place.

Letting go of the levers she reached down and pulled the engine off lever, which killed the engine instantly before she lowered her seat until her view was entirely that of the hull.

Pulling her left hand's glove off she inspected the runes.

"Gandalfr." She muttered to herself.

Her ancient Romalian wasn't the best, but that's what I looked like.

But what did it mean?

Perhaps this was the reason why everything felt so second nature, but that didn't why she was branded.

"Miss Valliere?" Her professor called out to her. Shoving her glove back on she pulled herself out of the tank finding Colbert walking over to her in a brisk pace with stars in his eyes. "Is your familiar powered by an engine?" He asked.

"I thi- Yes, it is."

"Do you think I can see it?"

"Y-Yes." She said with a stiff nod, cautiously descended the front of the hull.

As she stepped off, she looked back at her Familiar, and a single word came to mind.

Sherman.

xXXXx

High above, the Courtyard, Old Osmond silently observed the tank, a small smile on his face.

"Shall I send the invoice to the Valliere manor?"

"Oh no, her familiar was just being a bit rowdy as all. It's not the first time something that had been summoned caused such damage."

xXXXx

Over the past few months, I've become more and more infatuated with tanks, specifically ww2 tanks, so I began to wonder what would happen if I gave Louise a tank which leads to her getting the Gandalfr runes because she needs a way to use it.

As for my other fic, I'm still working on it, but this is something that I can casually write as I can use canon to help guide me, all though it will most likely end up off the walls.

Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed it. since these chapters are going to be shorter they will (hopefully) be less time consuming to make.

Have a great day.