Chapter 11: Volga

"Don't fall asleep, we'll be there soon enough." Impa stated gently as she checked her phone. It had been a few weeks since she had gotten a letter from her old mentor, Rauru, saying that he was moving to Hyrule from his tower in Labrynna Bay in order to keep a better eye on the new Miraculous keepers. By great serendipity, or maybe some careful planning on her part, the ninja/secretary had managed to arrange to visit Rauru during a weekend where Zelda was free to come along. Her friends would be busy in their own lives as well, so they weren't available to 'kidnap' her again for fun.

"Yes, Impa." Zelda stated quietly as she watched the world around her pass by from her window. She felt a bit cramped in the family silvery blue Lincoln Continental, more used to riding with Impa in the limo. Byrne was still driving them to their destination regardless of what vehicle they were using. She let out a silent sigh as she watched the bare deciduous trees and healthy evergreens move in and out of her sight. She was nervous about meeting this Rauru person since she wasn't sure how much he's heard of her exploits with Sheikhan, but wasn't too sure if she could voice it to the Athena before her about this anxiety in her heart. She trusted Impa, she really did, but opening up about the heroic side of her life...it seemed too daunting and she found herself running away from even trying.

The car soon pulled in front of an apartment complex that was a few stories high, made of lightly weathered, red brick and looked fairly welcoming. The ladies exited the car and paged that they were in the building to see Rauru. One phone call at from the receptionist's later, came an older man with very little hair on his head, but plenty of fluffy, snow white facial hair in the form of a mustache that extended into his matching sideburns. His attire was odd since he had a orange robe that looked more meant for lounging and an amazingly bright red fanny pack.

"Impa!" Rauru chortled as he came over and gave her a light hug. "It's so wonderful to see you after all these years! Come, come. I've finally finished unpacking." He started leading the way to the apartment elevator with both Impa and Zelda following. "Forgive me for taking so long coming to the city, I hope Huut hasn't burdened you with his voracious requirement of sardines."

"It helps that they're typically cheap and come in packs." Impa shrugged lightly.

"Excuse you!" Came a muffled voice from a small purse Impa had brought with her.

"Oh...right." Impa opened it up and out flew the small, brown owl Kwami himself.

"Rauru!" Huut promptly attached himself to his chosen's face. The keeper of the Owl Miraculous only chuckled in response and stroked down his back with his finger. He had to hide again when the elevator doors started to open, but opted for the fanny pack instead of Impa's purse.

A few doors down the hallway later, Rauru unlocked his and lead them inside. It was a quaint area with a decently soft rosy red carpet and soft, cream yellow walls that had a few owl paintings displayed. Aside from a loveseat upholstered with a sun themed fabric and a recliner that matched his robe's coloring near a somewhat old TV, the living room was fairly sparse of any other furniture.

"It's cozy." Impa said.

"A little less elaborate than my previous domain, but home is home. Would you two like some snacks or something to drink?"

"Yes, please." Impa nodded.

"Yes sir." Zelda nodded as well.

"Get yourself comfy while I dig around." Rauru walked off into the small kitchen area nearby, whistling a bit as he worked on snacks.

Huut took this moment to come out and explore the apartment and a few seconds later, his old protege, Brawynn, followed suit in said exploration. The two chatted about how things have been since the new holders were picked, and spoke of times past, but took on a more hushed tone when speaking of past users. Even Impa's time wasn't spoken of aloud despite her being there.

"Sorry for the wait there, still trying to get used to where I put some things." Rauru walked in with a tray of sandwiches and two bowls in one hand, and some plastic root beer bottles in the other. He offered the sandwiches to the ladies, bologna from the looks of the meat peeking out, and the bowls had mixed seeds in one and sardines in another.

"Thank you." Impa took hers with a slight bow and started to eat.

"Thank you very much." Zelda did the same as her bodyguard.

The Kwamis were quick to dive into the bowls and eat their food, Huut being a bit louder than Brawynn due to the slippery nature of sardines.

Rauru sat in his recliner after giving out the snacks and let out a small sigh while he relaxed. "I've been trying to keep up on what you and your Wolf have been up to thus far, Miss Callaghan. It helps that there's someone out there trying to keep track of everything on one of those blog sites. What was it called again…?" Rauru had to think a bit on the name. "Ah yes, the Athena and Sheikhan Post. That cucco attack seemed frightening."

"Ah...yes...that certain Gufuu was something else." Zelda had a mini-flashback to earlier in the school year, on that fateful day when she realized her partner's phobia of them and his pretty legitimate reason for it. "Mr. Cucco brought out the worst in Wolfie, I'll admit…" 'Not that I can blame him. I hate spiders with a passion and would freeze up like he did if, Sacred Realm forbid, any larger than my hand came into my presence.'

Rauru let out a hum of thought at that. "I see. Not much was posted on that day, probably because the person running it couldn't follow you two that well."

"Yeeeeeah…" Zelda muttered.

"She's taken to being the hero quite well." Impa stated after a drink of root beer. "Of course, it helps that she's had archery experience ever since she was old enough to hold a bow and pull back the string."

"A serendipitous skill set." Rauru gave a nod. "And flying?"

"It's exhilarating!" Zelda beamed. "Sure, it might not have been the brightest of ideas to have my first flight done from my bedroom since it's a few stories up, but I just couldn't help myself to get out and feel the wind around me!"

Impa nearly choked on her sandwich upon hearing that.

"Now now, Impa. If memory serves, you purposely sought out a high place to try out your maiden flight." Rauru had a knowing smile.

"My high school,...which is...sort of higher than the mansion…" Impa frowned.

"I wouldn't be surprised if all the past Miraculous wielders did it at one point or another." Rauru chuckled.

Zelda couldn't help but giggle a bit at how Impa was being lightly scolded.

"Forgive me for backtracking in our conversation, but…" Rauru pulled out a phone a few generations old and pulled up a somewhat recent post, around when Phantom Boarova attacked. "This particular Gufuu…" He showed a blurry photo that someone had managed to take in the chaos.

"Phantom Boarova." Zelda explained. "He turned people into paintings as revenge for getting a not-so-critical art critique." She held her tongue to avoid remembering how she found Hilda's portrait.

Rauru made a long hum of thought. "It may be...you will need some help."

"But how?" Zelda asked with a knit brow. "Boarova has one Miraculous, Sheikhan has the second and I have the third. How else can we get help if all three have been claimed?"

"My dear girl, who said that there were only three Miraculous?" Rauru asked as he stood up and shuffled out to another section of the apartment.

"..." Zelda had no answer to that. "Brawynn…?"

"You never asked." Answered the blue Kwami.

"Impa…?"

"My Wolf and I never found a need to recruit others." Impa explained. "And you also never asked me either."

"O-Oh…"

Eventually Rauru returned, this time with something in his hands. It was a fairly sizable, square box that was a powerful red and covered in intricate gold swirl details. Just above the keyhole was a dazzling, circular multicolored crystal. The old man lowered himself and the box to the ground, sitting on his knees before the two. He seemed to click something and the upper half of the gem unfolded and revealed a keypad with several unmarked buttons inside. He pushed a few and then rotated the whole face of the gem, which caused the top to open with some light streaming out of it and several shelves to fold out. Each one held a smaller chest that rested on velvet, which matched the colors of the Miraculous tucked inside. "Take a look, young heroine."

Zelda slowly put her food aside and joined Rauru on the floor. She looked at each chest very carefully, along with the colors of the velvet they sat on. Unlike the box she found Brawynn in, these ones mimicked the chest that hid them, but had less gold detailing and their gems seemed to act as the keyholes. "Amazing…!" She breathed out quietly. She found that 4 shelves had no chests upon them. "A powerful red, a sky blue, an airy green and…" She couldn't quite make out the fourth color.

"A powder blue." Impa leaned over enough to take a look.

"Ah yes...poor Lynn went missing a some years back…" Rauru explained sadly.

"How?" Zelda asked as she felt both avian Kwami land on her shoulders.

Silence.

"Another story for another day." Rauru finally said as he started to fold up the shelves.

"Wait." Zelda hesitantly held out a hand.

"Hmm?"

"...Would it be okay to take one?" Zelda looked as surprised as the other two at this.

"That's only when there's emergencies!" Huut explained frantically.

"But coming out here would take a long time, even as Athena." Brawynn pointed out cooly.

"Rauru, you wouldn't let her...right?" Huut asked with a ruffle of his feathers.

"Miss Zelda Callaghan," Rauru looked at her with a very serious expression, "do you believe that something may come that requires a third user on the battlefield?"

Zelda folded her hands in front of her as a means to avoid gripping them with anxiousness. "Yes, I do. I can't say when or how, but...trouble will be on the horizon, too much of it for Sheikhan Wolf and I to take on ourselves."

"Usually I'd wait for the right time...but as Brawynn stated, it'd be too long to come out here no matter how you try." Rauro stoked his facial hair as he let out a hum of thought. "You may pick one for now - on the condition that you have the user return it after they've used it."

"Why do they have to return it?" Zelda questioned with a bit of a dumbfounded expression upon her face.

"With the Miraculous of Power giving Boarova his powers, it isn't safe to keep any others out in the open." Rauru explained, something in his voice implying that something bad will happen if Boarova had more than just one Miraculous Stone in his possession.

Zelda gulped down a bit as she gave a nod. "I understand, sir." Doubt was now etched into her features. 'Should I really take one now? I don't want to endanger anyone with a careless mistake. Lynn's disappearance hit Mister Rauru pretty hard.' She thought while her gaze blanked out on the open chest before her.

"Miss Zelda?" Rauru asked gently.

"Ah! Uh, s-sorry." Zelda snapped out of it. "I was just...thinking. A-About the Miraculous to take...or if I should."

"She shouldn't, plain and simple!" Huut huffed. "Not unless she has an idea of what to pick! It's not like setting things on fire will always solve your problems."

"...Is there a Kwami with control over fire?" Zelda asked. She saw various warm colored shelves but wasn't sure which it would be.

"Scarlet-colored shelf." Rauru nodded.

Huut let out a groan. "That's just like these young heroes, they think fire solves every problem." He muttered while becoming an angry puff ball of feathers. At this point, he decided to perch on Rauru's head and just glare at the young heiress like a disgruntled cat.

Zelda looked for the aforementioned scarlet velvet shelf and picked up the chest on it. "I'll take good care of…"

"Finntan." Rauru and Brawynn said in near-unison.

"Finntan." Zelda repeated with a little smile.

After the chest was put away and things turned to more pleasant conversation for a spell, eventually Impa and Zelda had to head home when it hit the mid-afternoon. Impa instructed Zelda to go ahead of her as she wanted to say one more thing to Rauru, but said Zelda would have no interest in what would be said. Once the young heiress was out of earshot, they looked at each other with fairly serious expressions. Huut's presence on Rauru's head by no means lightened the mood.

"Do you know who her Wolf is?" Rauru questioned with a somber tone.

"Oh, you're gonna laugh…" Impa crossed her arms and shook her head. "He's my old friend's kid, Zelda's childhood friend, my protege and he's crushing on her. Poor guy can't speak a word to save his life, since he has selective mutism around her and her only."

"An interesting combination that Bleddyn has decided to go with, for sure."

"The cub's probably driven him nuts by now." Huut mumbled.

"Try to arrange for him to visit, it's important that they both know of me, but cannot know that they both know me." Rauru instructed.

"He has less activities in his life compared to Zelda, I just need to ask his folks if I can borrow him for a morning." Impa assured with a firm nod.

"Very well. You don't need to bring him immediately, just soon."

"Will do." Impa shook his hand, hugged him and then headed out to the car where Zelda and Byrne were waiting to head home.


The weekend ended all too soon as school began once more on Monday. There was catching up, cramming in and attempting to get a few more extra Zs in being done for every student. Except for two, who were discussing something as far away as possible from other students and teachers. This was best done in the creative arts wing of the school, as there wasn't much activity first thing in the morning, at least until everyone rushed to their respective classes.

"So, Groosie dear…" Cia looked like she was the cat that ate the canary as she held her phone in her palm, one recently manicured nail tapping on the casing that surrounded it. "We both know why we're here…"

Groose seemed oddly small under her gaze. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You caught me, recorded it and I want it deleted!"

"Ah, ah, ah." Cia tutted. "One wrong move, or rude commentary, and it's going up this very second. You don't want everyone to see you make a fool of yourself singing-"

"SHHHHHHH!" Groose looked around frantically in case someone happened to hear them. "Don't say it!"

"Very well then." Cia mock pouted. "In which case...how good are you at spray painting and squating at the same time?"

"Uhh…" Groose gave a large shrug. "Never had to do that before, so I dunno."

"Guess we'll find out then." Cia lead him along down the vacant hallway. "So, as you know, the first school dance is coming up in a few weeks…"

"I'm so pumped, I'm gonna show off my moves!" Groose flexed a bit.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Cia rolled her eyes. "But! I need to make my grand gown the most amazing to ever grace this school!"

"But you've got a few more years and dances to do that…" Groose grumbled with a confused and mildly grumpy expression on his face.

"So I need Zellie out of the way! Then Link's eyes will be on me all night~!" Cia finished up that statement with her signature laugh.

"Seriously…?" Groose groaned under his breath.

"Or the video goes online!" Cia threatened.

"Okay, okay! I'll do the thing, geeze." Groose put his hands up in a non-defensive way.

"Excellent~! Now, here's what I need you to do for a week or two…"

And so began Groose's task: collecting pictures of Zelda in various poses, various colors of spray paint, some disposable latex gloves, and photographing a couple walls at certain points of the day if and when possible. There was a knot in his stomach with each picture taken on his phone, but Cia's threat loudly rang in his ears whenever he had second thoughts about it. It was only after he had sent all the files to Cia that he had a bit of peace with himself. But he got curious…

"So...what do you even need all of this stuff for anyway?" Groose asked at lunch once he managed to find her after finishing chowing down on his fattoush salad and lamb shawarma.

"Mmm, you'll see." Was Cia's mildly cryptic reply. "At about tomorrow morning."

"Do you watch soaps after school or something?" Groose asked bluntly.

"Of course not! Those are for old ninnies with nothing better to do on their social security checks!" Cia looked at him like he had just punched a baby animal.

Groose huffed but figured to just wait and see at this point. He let her be and went back to hang with whomever seemed done eating to kill time. What he failed to notice as he left was the sly, fox-like grin on her face and the mischief in her eyes…

Come the next day, Groose finally figured out what all the spray paint and gloves were for: he was going to spray paint a wall in the main hall. He had to get up super early, which messed with his internal clock and pre-school time a bit, but he managed it nonetheless. There seemed to be no students present, let alone any teachers out and about. Cia was quick to find him with a few quick texts and began the deed. She was quite demanding in how much he had to lower himself for the deed, but she at least kept quiet enough to prevent getting caught. After a couple photos taken by Cia on her phone, he was instructed to dispose of the evidence and stay away from the crime until further notice.

Groose ended up doing some light running in the empty gym to keep his mind off of what he did. Aside from getting a good cardio workout in before things got busy, it really didn't do much to help that knot in his stomach that was coming back. When he started to head for class, that's when he heard about what his work had done: Zelda was going to be banned from the school dance! Apparently, Cia had managed to provide photographic evidence of Zelda doing the deed and, through some supposed begging on Zelda's part, would still come to classes but could not participate at the dance. The icing on this cake was that the embarrassing evidence that Cia had on Groose was also posted online, which he confronted her about once school was over for the day…"YOU LIED!"

"And your point?" Cia was either playing it cool, or knew this was going to happen, and had prepared herself for this.

"I get we're not friends, but are you so disconnected from everything you think that going back on someone is okay!?"

"Did I ever say I would keep my end of the bargain?" Cia retorted with a sly yet icy smirk.

Groose has to stop and think about that. His face shifted from confused, focused and then slowly changed to realization. "You didn't. Not once."

"It's your own fault for not having any legal binding." Cia had a devilish smile.

Groose growled. Steam started to come out of his ears. He wanted to punch something, anything, to get this anger out! He had enough reason in him to know lashing out at Cia would get him in trouble - maybe doubly so if she ratted him out as the true perpetrator. All he could do was leave in a huff and work out his emotions the only way he knew how: weight lifting.


Within the darkness of a cavern, the soft clicking of metallic shoes could be heard walking through it and to the fire that was slowly glowing and coming to life. "My dear bishop has managed to corner a pawn once more." Boarova turned to the drawings on the wall and strolled around while absentmindedly twirling his trident. "One with a more physical prowess at that. Now, what could match it in speed, intelligence and ruthlessness?" His eyes then fell upon a carving that seemed to be a humanoid creature, baring dragon-like features and was spewing what appeared to be flames from its maw, while wielding a long, trident-like spear that somewhat matched its physical liking. "Perfect." He held out his hand and summoned forth the picture, it soon taking shape into a Gufuu that had a burning fire shining within its eye. "Make sure not to fail me as the others have." He watched it fly away and began to cackle with a disturbing and devious grin to match his mood. "Go forth, and claim another victim from the ashes of betrayal!"


Today was not Groose's day. Even after pumping iron and doing a light walk to cool down after, the fury in him hadn't subsided. If the school had a boxing team, he'd so use one of their punching bags to try and see if that would help! Wherever he walked, people parted due to seeing the anger just radiating like him like an flaming aura. At some point during his exiting of the building, he bumped into Ravio and his bros and practically shoved the poor purple guy, which caused him to elicit strangled squeaks as he flailed a bit in attempt to try and find his balance again.

"What's his damage?" Ravio grumbled as he straightened himself out.

"It's hard to say with Groose." Darunia sighed.

"Lemme see." Link speed walked after him. "Hey, Groose! What's going on man?"

Groose looked back at the shorter boy with an uncharastically furious look in his eyes. "None of your business, that's what!" And then continued to huff and puff until he was out of the building.

"Ooh no…" Link pinched the bridge of his nose with a long sigh. "This looks like Cia's handiwork…" From his hood, he heard a soft wolfish noise of agreement. He turned to his friends. "I just remembered, I gotta go find Zelda for something! I'll see you guys tomorrow!" And then he was off.

"...You think he's gonna yell at Cia before or after?" Ravio asked. His only reply from Darunia was a shrug.

Link looked around once he was outside. Despite Groose being so big and having such a large, pointed pompadour, he was still easy to lose with enough distance put between them. "Oh great...maybe he's at the parking lot?" He started to run there.

Hilda was nearby and was reading under the shade of a tree when she thought she heard someone running. She looked up to see a blur of green. "Link? What's going on?" On hearing no response back, she put a bookmark in and followed after him as best as she could. "Whatever could get him to run so quickly...aside from Zelda?" She then started to wonder why he was headed to the parking lot and followed as discreetly as possible.

Groose almost made it to his car. He almost managed to keep it together. He almost could have said that Cia didn't get under skin, but he unfortunately melted down in the form of a roar when his keys slipped from his grip and hit the ground with a small 'clink!'. During this time, the Gufuu spotted him and slipped in quickly and easily through his pompadour. His body became rather limp as a mask of black scales formed around his face.

"Good afternoon to you, young sir. You may know me by my reputation from a few of your classmates...but what they conveniently forget to explain is that I offer you the power to get back at those who have wronged you! In your case, I can amplify not only your strength, but your speed and dexterity as well, in order to seek your revenge. I only ask that you retrieve the Miraculous of Athena and her cur, Sheikhan Wolf. Do we have a deal, my boy?"

"YEAH!" Groose didn't hesitate.

"Very well then! Go forth, and return the favor of those who do you wrong, Dragon Knight Volga!"

Groose's body was soon covered by a thick layer of black scales, which soon reformed his outward appearance. Track jacket and jeans were replaced by blood red armor with a reptile scale design imprinted into it, his glorious pompadour was now hidden away under a helmet that had a dragon's skull on the top and covered the rest of his face with protective plating. A large, flame-colored ponytail materialized through the skull, mimicking the motions of fire as it blew in the wind. The final touches were clawed gauntlets and matching, red-armored boots. A spear that resembled his new aesthetic soon appeared in his hand and shot off a bit of fire from the spearhead as it did so. "PREPARE TO FEEL THE BURN, CIA!"

'I'm too late!' Link had only gotten there after the transformation as he didn't know where Groose typically parked. He almost would have gotten ran over by Volga as well, was it not for a timely pull from Hilda behind the cover of a larger car. "Gyaa! Oh, hey Hilda."

"Hello. I take it another classmate has been possessed by a Gufuu?"

"Yeah...it was Groose this time. I have a bad feeling it was Cia's fault."

"Has it not been thus far?" Hilda asked with a straight face.

"...Fair. Might wanna text Ravio and give him the heads up."

"Whatever do you plan on doing if you're not the one texting him about this?" Hilda questioned as Link got up and started running.

"Find Cia, I guess!?" Link hoped that was a good enough lie.

"Be careful!" Hilda sighed to herself and texted her boyfriend of what would come. She could have sworn she heard his noises of panic despite him being in the school, last she checked anyway, and her being out in the parking lot. "It may be a good idea for the police to come as well, at least for crowd control?" She dialed the number and hoped they would take the claim seriously.

Link managed to find a big tree to duck behind. "Please tell me we can contact Athy somehow."

Bleddyn zipped out from his hiding spot with a thoughtful hum. "Only thing I can figure is to howl extra loud and try to call her on the Miraculous later. Sound good?"

"It'll do." Link sighed while shaking his head before snapping into hero mode. "Bleddyn, time to howl!" One transformation sequence and an extra loud and long howl later, Sheikhan Wolf was out to save the day!

"Sheikhan Wolf!" Hilda ran over to him. "He went into the school!" She pointed to the exact direction she saw Volga go off in.

"Thank you, miss." Sheikhan gave her a polite bow and ran into the school. Sure, he knew where Volga ran into, but he still needed to be polite to a friend, heroic persona or not.


Zelda had been brought home long before the events that were currently transpiring at school even began. The good news is that her father, Impa and Byrne believed in her when she had to explain herself about the graffiti. The bad news is that there wasn't much they could do to fix what had happened, aside from comfort her. Said comfort was in the form of some soft plush toys and fancy cherry chocolates as she worked on her homework, Brawynn perched on the top of her head and offering some advice on how to answer a problem when it seemed Zelda was stuck. It was only when they heard a faint howling that they realized that something was wrong.

"Sounds like Sheikhan needs some assistance." Brawynn removed herself from Zelda's head and waited for her charge to rise.

"Out of curiosity, is that what his howl is saying?" Zelda asked while scooting her chair back and then getting up.

"More or less."

"Very well then." Zelda hurried to her window and opened up the biggest window. "Brawynn, spread your wings!" And out Athena flew.


Sheikhan Wolf had managed to get people out of the building. He even managed to equip some with fire extinguishers he could nab from the science labs. But this Gufuu was more than a handful by himself. Thanks to Cia getting Groose so angry that he'd get Boarova's attention, the wielder of the Miraculous of Power ended up picking something that complimented the seething rage way, way too well. Volga barely left any openings to attack, could breathe fire, and transform his hands into dragon claws.

This was not Sheikhan Wolf's afternoon. How would he explain this to his folks once he got home? He couldn't even focus on how to work that out as he had to avoid some fireballs being sent his way. "Where's Athy?!" He asked himself under his breath, hoping that he wouldn't end up singed anytime soon. "Any day here!"

"It's useless to fight, cur." Volga stated as he morphed his free hand into a dragon's claw. "Once I exact my revenge on that traterious wench, your Miraculous Stone is next!" He had a wicked smirk as an idea came to him. "Or maybe I'll simply cut your wrist off and save myself some time later!"

Sheikhan made a frantic whimpering noise as he found himself having to get creative with his shield to block the flurry of spear attacks hitting him. "Ever consider taking a chill pill?" He retorted with a small smirk. He regretted that remark within a few nanoseconds when he found himself getting pushed back with a few sharp jabs. 'Right, no witty banter for this fight. Got it.' "Zu'u praag hiif!"

"No amount of gibberish will save you!" Volga declared with a hard strike that caused the green-clad hero to be send flying, his shield being separated from him in the process. He ran forward, flame developing along the spearhead, ready to claim his prize when he thought he heard something flying at him. In the blink of an eye, he used the momentum to change targets and sliced an oncoming arrow through the arrowhead, and cleaved the shaft. It then dematerialized into blue, glitter-like dust at his feet.

"Uh-oh." Athena breathed quietly as she witnessed that. She soon found that she was Volga's target and worked on flying away. This was difficult because Volga also sprouted wings and quickly caught up to her, grabbing her by the ankle and then throwing her into the nearest wall. Her Miraculous' magic kept her from getting anything like a shattered skeletal structure or worse, however, she had gotten the wind knock out of her and was attempting to catch her breath.

Volga stood before her and grasped her by the base of her wings to force her to her feet. "Now, if I was a little broken birdie girl, where would my Miraculous be?" He looked her over and eventually settled on her choker. "There it is…" He plunged his spear into the ground for the time being and used his newly freed hand to try and take it away from her. He found his task incomplete as he felt cold steel pressed against his neck.

"Release her. Gently." Sheikhan's tone was extremely serious.

Volga growled in response. "Hard to set her down with a blade so close, wouldn't you agree, Wolf?"

Sheikhan Wolf made an angry grunt in response to that. He slowly removed his weapon from the other's throat, and then quickly took the spear and threw it as hard as he could. While his opponent was busy reclaiming his weapon, he gathered up Athena into his arms and ran off to help her recollect herself. Once they were safe in an abandoned classroom, far from any sort of window, he set her down and an animalistic whine escaped his lips while looking her over.

"Wolfie?" Athena responded hoarsely. "Where...are we?"

"I ran us into an empty classroom, so you could recover from that blow." He explained while occasionally looking to the door. "I don't know how much time we have before he gets us, one way or another, out of here."

"If that's the case, we need to get moving." Athena worked on trying to get up, but was gently pushed back down by her partner. "Sheik,...my suit prevented anything major in terms of damage. I'm fine, really!"

"Just a few more minutes, my goddess?" Sheikhan asked while, unintentionally, making big, begging puppy eyes.

"...Fine. A few more minutes." Athena laid down and hoped he didn't see how badly she was blushing. 'Curse those blue eyes and genuine concern!' "But you're to rest as well."

"Yes mom." Sheikhan rolled his eyes a bit and laid as close as her wings would allow. He actually did start to doze off eventually due to the now quiet atmosphere around them.

'Just like a real dog…huh.' Athena sat up enough to observe him. 'He has such long eyelashes…' Her face flushed a bit and looked away from him. 'Don't be such a creep, Zelda!' Her mental repremends were interrupted when she started to hear voices. She got a bit tense and got up as carefully and quietly as possible to see if she could find the origin of them. She relaxed only a little bit when she pieced together that neither sounded masculine, which meant Volga wasn't nearby thank goodness, but now she had to figure out what was going on.

"And your irresponsibility is going to get us endangered, AGAIN!" Hilda remarked rather loudly as she tailed after Cia, who was trying to find a hiding place after her impromptuly ended history tutoring and the beginning stages of damages to the school.

"No way you can pin this on me!" Cia retorted with a shrill tone.

"I heard Groose scream your name after he transformed! Whatever you did, it's your fault for Volga!"

"It's not my fault that he can't control his temper." Cia huffed with her nose turned in the air.

"Funny. Darunia's pretty good at keeping his, even after you broke his geode...look at how that ended up." Hilda crossed her arms and gave the other heiress an indignant stare. "Yup. Ravio told me what, or rather who, caused the Fyrus incident afterwords."

"That was different, he had a bunch of fake rubies! Who would be proud of fakes?" Cia hissed as she crossed her arms as well.

"You seem pretty proud to be surrounded by fake friends." Hilda stated in a cool tone of voice.

Cia stared at her with wide eyes and an unreadable expression. "What...did you say?"

It was at this point Athena decided to step out to break up the potential cat fight. "It would be best to keep your voices down, lest Volga hears you and decides to use you as bait."

"Athena!" Hilda gasped softly and looked like she just met her favorite celebrity. "It's been nearly two months since I last saw you in person, how are you?"

'We just saw each other today.' Athena had to suppress a giggle. "It's good to see you again, Miss Driscoll."

"Please, just Hilda is fine!" Hilda had such a big smile on her face.

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Cia snarled as she looked at the two of them.

'Yes.' Athena thought with a mental sigh.

"Where's your partner? Is he okay?" Hilda questioned with a worried expression on her face.

"He's fine, I promise. I'm just having him rest a bit for fighting Volga before I came."

"Typical of sidekicks, they slack off and then swoop in for the glory at the last second." Cia rolled her eyes with disgust, but soon regretted that comment on seeing how icy Athena's eyes could look.

"Hilda...I believe I heard you say today's Gufuu issue is due to this one, yes?" Athena asked slowly and evenly.

"Yes, Athena." Hilda nodded and gave Cia a slightly smug look.

"Could you hide her away for the time being, just in case?" Athena then leaned over and whispered where to hide her to her friend.

"Oh, an excellent idea!" Hilda beamed. She then promptly grabbed Cia by both wrists and dragged her off. "Come on Cia, time to hide you before the school's nothing but rubble and ashes!"

Cia screeched for a little while about her treatment until another cold glare from the winged warrior shut her up entirely. She went more silently, but was twice as grumpy now.

"And now...to figure out what to do next." Athena sighed as she looked back at where she left her partner slumbering. "Maybe...it's time." She went back and wrote a note she left tucked into his belt. After that, she worked on getting out and flying home to grab the Miraculous of Finntan. "Hopefully, this works…" She sighed as she flew back. She took this time to think about who to give it to; it was soon evident that many of her classmates would have been home by now, one way or another, or hiding out for good reason. It was only after going back to collect Sheikhan Wolf, that her choice was made thanks to Hilda having pieced together which room she came from, and was keeping an eye out on Sheikhan.

"Ah, Athena!" Hilda was both surprised and elated on her return. "I was just...with Volga around and you having kind of vanished, I uh…"

"It's okay, Hilda." Athena gave her an assuring smile. "Thank you for keeping an eye on my partner." She looked over and found him still asleep. "...Huh. Never figured he was such a heavy sleeper." Then she looked back to her. "I have one more favor to ask of you…" She held up the little chest and held it to her. "Hilda Driscoll, this is the Miraculous of Finntan, the Kwami of Fire and Reason. You will use her and her Miraculous for the greater good and assist Sheikhan Wolf and I on this mission, if you are willing to accept this great responsibility and protect the Miraculous from evil."

"M...Me?" Hilda questioned as she looked between the small chest and Athena. "But I was turned into...Boarova controlled me and…"

"Have no doubts, I believe you have the heart." Athena sounded extremely confident in this. "Anything can be twisted into a shadow of itself, it's what we do afterwards that defines us."

Hilda looked at it once more. "Well, if...if you say so…"

"I know so. I have the Miraculous of Wisdom and Light for a reason."

Hilda looked a bit more reassured on hearing that, carefully grabbed the chest and opened it up. She was blinded for a few seconds due to the brilliant red orb of light that emerged from it and flew around her a few times before settling in front of her face. She found it was a small creature with a fiery red body, small purple claws on her hands and feet that glowed like bright candles, two tiny, slightly curved horns that also had a soft purple glow to them, a flowy tail that had a gradient of red to a beautiful violet-purple, and a pair of golden-eyes that seemed gentle, yet stern at the same time. "Whoooa...a...a tiny dragon!?"

"Indeed. And who might you be?" Inquired the small dragonic Kwami.

"I'm Hilda...you're Finntan then? Athena said your name, s-so…"

"That I am." Finntan looked to Athena and gave a polite bow to her before turning to Hilda once more. "I have a feeling my summoning has come under dire circumstances. I'll need to give you a brief summary on how to become my user: Tiamat." She hovered over her Miraculous, a pair of earrings that looked like 5-petaled flowers made out of pezzottaite gems, but on closer inspection they were actually dragon scales. "Wear these and say 'Finntan, ignite your flames!' to begin your transformation. Your weapon comes in the form of a staff that will also give you wings to fly. It's...difficult to manage both forms, so don't do such until you're more adept. My attack is 'Shining Flame,' be mindful of when and how to use it, as the Miraculous will be out of power shortly after its execution and I'll need food to recharge. Any questions?"

"Nobody but Athena knows of my secret identity?" Hilda just wanted to double-check.

"Correct."

Athena casually took a step back and turned around so Hilda could transform in peace.

Hilda carefully took out the earrings and placed one in her ear lobe. She expected some sort of minor pain from the posts of them, but found there wasn't any. She tapped on it once just to make sure it was there and found that it was. After getting the second earring in, she heard an odd chime, but due to no reaction from Athena, it seemed that it was all in Hilda's head.

"Finntan, ignite your flames!" Finntan entered the right earring, which turned both of them into a glorious, fiery red garnet. In a dazzling display of golden amber light, Hilda found her dark violet tunic dress, black leggings and blue-violet ballet flats replaced with a purple, sleeveless asymmetrical tunic that was longer in the back and resembled Finntan's tail. She also gained a red underlayer that supplied bishop sleeves and the leggings of the outfit. Her face was covered with a purple domino mask and had barrett clips in her hair that resembled her Kwami's horns as well. Her hair was then put up into a flat hair braid that ended in a ponytail with the tips of her hair becoming a flaming scarlet. The finishing touches were golden bracers on her wrists and metallic shoes of the same color that went up to just below her knees, with little dragon talons on the tips.

"Welcome to the team, Tiamat." Athena had such a big, proud smile on her face.

"I'm...a...superhero!" Tiamat squealed and spun around to get as best a look at herself as she could. "And I can fly?!" She gave her wings a few flaps, just for testing, not enough to actually take flight.

"Who can fly?" Sheikhan yawned as he began to sat up. He needed a moment to process this red and purple superhero before him. "Who…"
"Sheikhan Wolf, this is Tiamat, user of the Miraculous of Fire and Reason." Athena explained quickly.

"Ooh...okay, cool." Sheikhan got to his feet and shook hands with his new partner. "A pleasure to meet you, dragoness."

"Likewise." Tiamat smiled a little.

"Now let's get going!" Athena lead the charge out of the classroom with her teammates close behind her.

The good news is that Volga, despite being made from rage, wasn't for senseless destruction. The school was still intact, but everyone who had the misfortune to still be there at the time of possession were hiding in whatever rooms they could. Anyone who dared to take a peek outside noticed the third hero among them, which began to generate whispers of excitement and curiosity on who they could be. The only one who seemed bold enough to even step outside was Darunia. "Greetings, heroes." He looked rather worried and solemn as he approached.

"What's troubling you?" Athena questioned with a worried tone.

"It's my friend…" Darunia scratched the back of his neck. "Ravio, the guy in purple you saved before? He, uh…"

"He what?" Tiamat asked softly.

"He was recently texting his girlfriend, Hilda, to get out of the building...but never got a response. He went looking for her. If it's possible, could you-"

"We'll find him, promise!" Sheikhan interrupted, the heroines nodding in agreement.

Darunia was about to thank them when a thundering roar reverberated from the athletics-focused part of the school.

"The gym!" Tiamat stated as she started to run.

"Why would he go to the gym?" Athena muttered as she followed suit.

"Maybe the guy under the Gufuu's a jock type?" Sheikhan knew the answer, but didn't want to give himself away.

While they conversed, Tiamat tried to see how she could fly. She'd take little jumps and try to make her wings flap for lift, but so far it just seemed to extend her jumping arc.

And then a very loud, very panicky "NOT THE FACE!" rang through the hall.

All three recognized that voice: Ravio!

'Dude, why!?' Sheikhan thought as he switched to his Pegasus Boots to move faster.

'Ravio, just run!' Athena started flying.

'Hang on honey bunny!' Tiamat's attempts to take flight weren't working currently, so she just switched to using her superpowered stamina to sprint.

"Wh-What'd you do with Hilda!?" Ravio demanded through his shaking voice.

"I've done nothing, my target is Cia! Out of the way, you crying chinchilla!" Volga was about to bat Ravio out of the way with a dragon arm when he found an arrow hit the back of his hand instead. "Rrraahh!"

"Leave him alone!" Athena declared, bow in hand, as she stood at the gym entrance door.

Sheikhan used this moment to scoop up his bro and move him out of danger. "Hide. We've got this."

"No arguments from me on that!" Ravio scampered into the boy's locker room, only peeking his head out once Sheikhan ran to fight with Volga once again.

Meanwhile, Tiamat was conflicted on whether to attempt to use her staff or continue to try and figure out a way to take flight to possibly give them some extra leverage against the dragonic villain, who appeared to be flightless. For now she tried to see if she could find any weak points to exploit or a means to distract Volga to help her teammates. Her thought process was interrupted when Volga summoned wings of his own and, not only flew out of direct attacking range, but also used his weight and strength to divebomb his staff into the ground. A shockwave of fire was sent out and knocked them all a good several feet backwards; they were only spared any burn damage thanks to the magic of their respective Miraculous.

"You." Volga stalked to Tiamat with his staff positioned in such a way that he could strike with one fell swoop. "There can only be one dragon here."

"NEYYHH!" A sudden Ravio with a hockey stick whapped Volga on the back of his helmet.

Volga just slowly turned around and looked down at him. "...Seriously?"

Ravio squeaked and braced himself for impact. He felt the oncoming danger looming when he felt something else. He found himself being lifted off the ground for a few seconds before falling back down and rolling, out of harm's way thanks to the dragonic heroine. "I'm alive?! Ow, what's poking my ribs?" He soon found the source to be one of the dragoness heroine's wings.

Tiamat on the other hand, let out a soft groan as she moved to sit up. "That did not go the way I planned it to…"

"But ya got me outta trouble, thanks! Er...what's your name, miss?"

"Tiamat." She said while straightening herself out.

They both locked eyes for a moment, a spark of familiarity in Ravio's mind while looking at those blazing ruby eyes. Their moment was put to a halt when Sheikhan suddenly stood in front of them with his shield and blocked an oncoming swipe from above.

"Exchange thanks later, get him to safety for now!" Sheikhan instructed while conducting a bit of wind to act as cover.

"Y-Yeah!"

Tiamat nodded and quickly took advantage of the generated wind to grab onto Ravio and spread her wings to take flight, aiming to hopefully get Ravio somewhere Volga couldn't reach. Not only did she finally figure out how to fly thanks to Wolf's help, but she also managed to get Ravio to safety via the elevated running track. "The door is literally right over there, just keep going." She pointed to the door on their right. "Why were you even trying to deal with a Gufuu like this to begin with?"

"I thought...well, he's the dragon, my girlfriend's an heiress - which is basically like a modern-day princess. Fairy tale logic dictates that he might have kidnapped her in the process of enacting his revenge on Cia? He screamed about that a few times. She wasn't texting so I, uh...p-panicked."

'Oh right, Darunia explained earlier…as conditional as that explanation is, it makes sense Ravio would think that.' Tiamat sighed. "We'll find her if Volga hid her away, okay?"

"Okay!" Ravio nodded rapidly and then scampered for the exit. He gave one last look back at his dragonic savior, that weird inkling that he somehow knew her itching in the back of his mind. He would have asked was it not for a fireball having shot up into the sky; he took that as a sign to run far, far away and did so.

"Whew." Tiamat ducked a bit when the fireball came up. "Hmm...well, Finntan did say it'd be hard to summon my staff while flying. She didn't say anything about tactical falling." She took a few steps back, jumped over the railing, reached for her wings that turned into her staff, and let loose her Miraculous' attack. "Shining Flame!" A magic circle materialized before her and shot forth a glorious dragon made out of swirling, bright fire and light. She swore she heard it roar as it flew forward at her target, causing Volga to go airborne due to the force of it knocking him down so hard he bounced back. It also cracked his helmet in the process, not enough to break it off completely, but it could come loose with another good hit.

"Sheik, your item! While he's reeling from this!" Athena stated while keeping an eye on Tiamat's landing. 'Please stick the landing, please stick the landing! Oh I'm a horrible friend, I put my friend in danger. She doesn't know how to fly! I don't know if I can help her because dragon wings and bird wings are different enough that the mechanics would be difficult to explain!' She panicked and caught Tiamat herself with a few strong and swift flaps from her wings. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Tiamat nodded. "Panicked from the lack of flight on my part?"

"...A little." 'A LOT.'

"I'll figure it out. Maybe when we're not in imminent danger." Tiamat assured.

Athena nodded before glancing back at Sheikhan Wolf. "Anytime now, Sheik!"

Sheikhan quickly snapped out of his stupor from the new Miraculous move at this. "Oh, right-" He then quickly reached inside his pouch. "Item Charge!" 'Please be something useful, please be something useful!' A quick flash and a few seconds later, he pulled out a blue, staff-like item that seemed to resemble the Ice Rod that had been wielded against Rabbit Beamer some battles ago, but upon closer inspection, the end was decorated with a large teardrop surrounded by small clouds, rather than an icicle. "...I guess staffs are the new weapon these days?"

"How about you just swing it and find out what it does before we lose our opening?" Tiamat suggested bluntly as she was set down on her feet.

"As you wish, dragoness!" Sheikhan gave a small twirl to his weapon and launched out a swirling pillar of water half the height of the gym. "Yes!" He would have started to happy dance if Volga wasn't such a huge threat.

Athena watched their opponent land in the water and go through the rinse cycle with a small yet satisfied grin on her face. As Volga had an ungraceful landing onto the gym floor, her arrow vision kicked in and pointed out the cracks on his helmet. "Ahh...idea~!" She quickly flew over to Sheikhan and whispered her plan into his ear.

"Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Oooh, excellent idea my goddess! Need some wind to help with your plan?"

"Just a little, Wolfie." Athena got herself ready for launch.

"Up, up and away!" Sheikhan conducted the wind once more and launched the blue heroine into the air.

Athena put as much distance between herself and the ground as she could, turned her wings into her bow and aimed at Volga's head. 'Just a little Firelight!' She thought as the tip of her arrow glowed like a newly lit candle. She made a mental note that there's a degree of psychic connection for that spell as she launched it.

Volga groaned when he felt something hit his helmet. The dragon aspect kept him safe from feeling the heat directly against his skull, but he did snap the shaft with his thumb to make it vanish. He readied himself to attack once she landed...

Sheikhan used this momentary distraction to make another water tower and sent it at Volga. He had such a huge smile on his face as he watched him go up in the torrent and helplessly flail around at the top. "He can't even fathom our plan."

"Let me dampen his mood even further!" Tiamat exclaimed as she then took this opportunity to deploy her own set of wings, swooping up towards Volga before quickly changing her means of flight to her staff, and promptly shattering the dragon knight's helmet into pieces to expose the afformented Gufuu. Fortunately, she wasn't too high off the ground and was able to stick the landing perfectly this time.

'Hilda makes puns?' Athena wondered as she put her wings back and landed beside her. "Excellent work furthering the plan, Tia."

"Like you said, Fire and Reason." Tiamat had a confident grin on her face and a pose to match.

Volga let out a primal roar of wrath as his brain finally processed what had happened to him in such a short amount of time. "YOU'LL ALL DIE FOR THIS, AND THEN CIA'S CORPSE SHALL LAY IN YOUR BLOOD!" The Gufuu's eye had a dangerous gleam in it as Volga charged at the heroes, his whole body transforming into a full-blown dragon and letting out an explosion of flames in a last ditch effort take all three of them down.

"Scatter!" Athena flew up.

"Ayiee!" Tiamat flew to the left.

Sheikhan gave his Pegasus Boots quite the workout in order to dodge the incoming flames. 'Need a plan, need a plan, need to get close enough to Athy for a plan! Or make one up myself, whichever comes first!' Unfortunately, time was not on his side, as Volga continued his charge, which caused Sheikhan to raise an impromptu pillar of water to act as a makeshift shield from the flames. "Sea ya later!"

Athena groaned and put her face in her hands at that. "Woooooooolf."

'And I thought Ravio's were bad.' Tiamat shook her head in bemusement.

Volga hit the ground with such force that there was a shockwave that caused Sheikhan to lose his footing and fall on his butt. Tiamat had been flung back and rolled a little, but was okay. Athena was still in the air and used this moment to take out her bow once more, going for another freefall shot as she felt the light magic surging through herself and her weapon. "I absolve the darkness in your heart!" Time seemed to slow down as she let loose the arrow and only seemed to go back to normal once she put her wings back on and landed.

A mighty cry escaped Volga's lips on the arrow making contact, then his form dissolved away and left a very confused Groose behind. The teen flailed a bit on seeing what possessed him and backed away from it. "Yo, stay back!"

Sheikhan was quick to capture the little nuisance in a small water tower. "Enjoy the spin cycle!"

Athena lined herself up and let loose her second spell. "Miraculous Restoration!" Her aim was true and the now Navii leaped from the water like a dolphin.

"Sorry for the bath. Had to keep you still, ya know?" Sheikhan gathered it up and then released the restoration magic with his blue buddy.

"We did it." Tiamat breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she watched the sparkles cover the gym and leave to fix the rest of the school. She turned to congratulate her co-heroes on the job well done, when she found them talking to Groose over what happened.

"I, uh...did something embarrassing and Cia blackmailed me into helping her for a really shallow and, all together, short-sighted insignificance." The big guy explained, his whole upper body slumped in his sad mood. "She posted the blackmail material anyway...and said I should've gotten it in print or something to make sure it was legit."

'Called it on Cia being behind it.' Sheikhan Wolf thought while he patted him on the shoulder.

'That explains my banning from the dance.' Athena gently touched Groose's chin so that their eyes met. "While you should have known better than to trust this 'Cia', you can still do the right thing and tell the truth."

Tiamat nodded in agreement. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but it is what you do afterwards that shows what you have learned from it."

"Y-Yeah…" Groose thought this over a bit. "Yeah! You're both right." Then he got the heroines in a big bear hug. "Thanks! I'll take your advice and do what I can...tomorrow, first thing!"

Both girls choked out a "You're welcome!" while Sheikhan watched, covering his mouth with both his hands as a few giggles leaked out.

It was during this tender moment that some odd beeping noises were heard.

"Huh? Oh right, the thing." Tiamat looked to the others and found that they also had the same thing happening to them, judging from their facial expressions - slight reluctance from Athena and a mild pout from Wolf. "It looks like we need to get going, unfortunately."

"Alrighty then." Groose set the heroines on their feet and gave all 3 of them a friendly, if heavy, pat on their shoulders. "I'll be heading out too, see ya...at some point, I guess!" And so he ran ahead of them.

'You have no idea.' The three thought as they all parted ways to de-transform in privacy.


"A DRAGON? THEY HAVE MORE MIRACULOUS STONES AT THE DROP OF A HAT?!" The cave wasn't in the best of shape from all the trident stabs, slashes and stomping around from his outburst. "I WAS SO CLOSE THIS TIME, I COULD TASTE THE WISDOM AND COURAGE! VOLGA WAS ALMOST PERFECT! NO NEED FOR HAND HOLDING OR DEMANDS TO KEEP FOCUSED ON THE TASK!" The fire in the center reflected Boarova's rage as he seethed in fury. "IF THEY HAD NOT FOUND THAT BLASTED FOURTH WIELDER, VICTORY WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHIN MY GRASP!" he exclaimed, once again slamming his trident into the ground. It was only after a few more moments of incessant screaming and wall punching, that he began to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Now that I know what that cuckoo and cur are capable of, I'll simply need to tread with a bit more caution in my goals. Perhaps this will work in my favor, after all..." He straightened himself out and exited the area. "This world was made with fire, why not use it to create my new empire as well?"


Zelda didn't have enough time to fly home. She found that she had to duck into a nearby bathroom and worked on texting Impa to come and get her. She left her school bag at home too, which meant no seeds for Brawynn until Impa came. She groaned a bit as she hid in the handicap stall, her Kwami in her hands as she stroked her little white belly with her thumbs. "A fine mess this is, huh? My friends know I left immediately after school. I just have to hide out here...or something...I'm sorry for making you wait for your food, Brawynn."

"There's been worse to happen to me, my lady."

They both fell silent as they heard the door open.

"I hope these are enough. I sort of had to...grab a little bit of everything in the rush to feed you." It was Hilda! "Proteins, dairy, wheat, various greens, small fruit slices and a little chocolate cake."

Finntan looked over her choices in silent contemplation. A long, long contemplation. "You may have the cake, I care not for sweet things."

Hilda carefully reached over and took the plate of dessert away. She kept her eyes on her Kwami while the choice was being made. "Do you...like...any of this…?"

Finntan focused more on the salad than the other foods before her. With a swift mid-air slither, she dove into the bowl and started throwing out all of the contents, except for the spicy peppers. While Hilda was mildly annoyed that her mish-mash of toppings, which she dubbed the kitchen sink salad, was being ignored, there was some relief in the little dragon finally picking her prefered food. "Right, spicy peppers…"

Brawynn gave a few anxious flaps as she was pretty sure she was smelling a few seeds on the ground now. She wasn't above eating off the floor, but also didn't want to give away that her user was in the same room. She covered her head with her wings and tried to enter a state of meditation as a means to block the need to eat.

At this, Zelda began to take pity on her Kwami and weighed her options. She could either wait for awhile and get seeds from Impa, or possibly let Brawynn eat now by giving her permission to leave the stall. It only took a few more moments and another look at her desperate Kwami to come to a decision. She then slowly and carefully lowered her to the ground, giving her a small nod to proceed with caution and eat her share.

Brawynn gave her a hug on her cheek before zipping out from under the stall and trying to nab some food. She floated over as quickly as possible, so as to not startle Hilda while she tried to get the closest seed she could. On spotting her target, she sped up ever so slightly and began to open her mouth-

"How did you get in here?" Hilda thought she was just some wild bird that mysteriously got into the girl's bathroom. "Was there an open window or something? Silly little bird." She reached out to try and pick up Brawynn.

"My dear, that's no common bird." Finntan peeked over the rim of the bowl. "That is my sister in arms, Brawynn."

"...As in a Kwami?" Hilda asked in a dumbfounded voice.

"Yes." Both Kwamis stated, though Finntan's tone was a bit more blunt.

"A blue...bird...Kwa - Athena's in a stall, isn't she?" Hilda was quick to piece that together.

"...Yes…" Brawynn admitted with reluctance.

"Oh...well, um...Hello, Athena. Again. Maybe this was for the better, you probably need the Miraculous you lent me back? You...only said mission, no implication of staying on the team." She worked on trying to find the little chest she was given before, which she had slipped into her backpack shortly after her transformation.

Zelda gritted her teeth and looked helplessly at the stall wall before her. 'Should I say something? Could she be able to tell it's me without the transformation? Where's some paper and a pen when you need them!? Wait, what if she gets a good look at my shoes? She might know it's me then! IMPA, WHERE ARE YOU?' In her panic, she checked her phone and rapid texted her after putting it in silent mode.

"Wait." Brawynn perched on Hilda's head. "I had discussed this with her beforehand when we picked Finntan. We believe that it'd be faster to have you keep her instead of reclaiming her Miraculous after every fight."

"She proved herself rather resourceful in battle as well." Finntan added with a grin. "I'd say she's proven herself to bear my earrings full-time."

Hilda stroked Brawynn's head with a beaming smile. "Thank you both. Take what you need then, Brawynn. I won't disturb Athena and I'll leave first."

Brawynn gave her a little hug on her nose and then went back to eating the seeds. After both Kwamis had their fill, Hilda left first as promised and headed home while answering a barrage of text messages from her worried boyfriend. Said boyfriend eventually found her as she waited for her ride home and was showered in anxious affection, he even walked her to the car when it arrived. Once her parents were done worriedly doting on her after coming through the door and Hilda was able to get some alone time in her room, she looked online for anyplace that was holding self-defense classes done with staffs.

Impa came to pick Zelda up and the ride back was pretty quiet.

"Did...anyone notice I was gone?" Zelda asked after a few minutes.

"I found your room was empty, but managed to come up with a convincing enough lie to keep anyone from questioning you."

"What was it?"

"Spa day in your personal tub." Impa had a ghost of a smirk.

"After today, I could use a spa treatment." Zelda chuckled half-heartedly.

"I'll see if I can get a fancy bath bomb for you to use."

"Thank you, Impa."

"And between us, Brawynn enjoys a small bowl of lavender bath salts." Impa added on softly. "I'll get a small bag of that as well while I'm out."

"Thank you, again."

"Anytime."


Link held his breath as he turned his key and entered his home. He was pretty sure his dad wasn't teaching night classes tonight. He was also fairly sure his mom wasn't done with teaching her choreography class by now. Either way, even just one parent home will result in having to lie about where he was after school. He's read enough graphic novels to know this is typical of a hero, but it still didn't sit well in his gut.

"We're alone." Bleddyn assured as he floated out and started heading to the kitchen.

"How can you tell?" Link questioned, keeping his voice low just in case.

"I'm a wolf-themed, pocket sized deity, you think my ears wouldn't be as keen as a mortal one?" He found some leftover pumpkin pie from a random dessert night some days back and managed to control his desire to one slice. "Wait…" He moved his ears around. "I hear snoring."

"That's dad, then. Must be taking a power nap." Link dug around in the cupboards. "...Think anyone would complain about mac and cheese with hotdogs for dinner?"

Bleddyn just shrugged as he chowed down on his slice.

Link shrugged back and figured to make it later, once his mom was home at least. The good news is that his night went on peacefully, them only asking about school when the subject of the Gufuu that appeared there this afternoon and how he managed to stay away arose. Link only chalked it up to being clever.


The next morning before classes, Groose confessed that it was him and Cia who did the graffiti deed. It took a bit to show the process how, but he had enough sense (or maybe laziness) to not delete some of the wall pictures he took. Principle Gaebora was a bit disappointed in Groose for letting himself be blackmailed into doing something so childish, but decided to be lenient with him due to his honesty and assigned him to be a part of the planning committee for the upcoming dance, in order to make up for what he had done. He then gave Cia the full brunt of the punishment, which was a harsh scolding and instructions to clean up all of the graffiti that she had forced Groose to create. Cia of course protested this, but Gaebora remained firm and informed her that he could ban her from the dance instead. This caused Cia to immediately cease her complaints and reluctantly agree to the 'harsh' punishment that she had been given. Lastly, Gaebora issued a formal apology to the Callaghan heiress and informed her that she was now more than welcome to attend the upcoming dance with her friends. To this, Zelda cheered and hugged all her friends as she told the good news. She even told and hugged Groose, who had good news of his own: He's really good at building stuff and will be staying on the committee for as long as he can!