~THE NEXT DAY~

"Really, guys, I'm fine," Edmund held his one good arm up in defense, "at least now I'll know never to try skateboarding one my own at night without a helmet ever again, right?"

"Dude, you're crazy," Denzel took another bite of his sandwich, "like, for real, crazy."

Dianne shook her head, still trying to believe what she was seeing. "Why of all nights did you decide yesterday to start this insane scheme?"

They were sitting in his hospital room, the other patient fast asleep behind their curtains on the other end of the room. Dianne fixed Ed's pillow before returning to her seat beside Denzel, sunlight streaming in through the window behind them. "I'm sorry I tried it so soon, but you know how impatient I can be."

"All the time," Dianne added, "and don't think you can hide all those chocolates from the cheerleading team under your bed."

"Heh-heh, oops."

"I'm here, I'm here," Marinette stumbled into the room, carrying a batch of cookies. She nearly fell over the bed, spilling the cookies over the blanket, "uh…hey."

"Good thing you missed his bad leg, dope," Alya smirked as she ran in, wearing all bright yellow, "now why don't we split the cookies instead of spilling them?"

As she handed everyone a cookie Marinette looked over the injuries.

Good thing Monsieur Mime didn't hurt him any further…

"What are you staring at, Marinette?"

She met his eyes and blushed. "N-N-Nothing! D-Does your coverage match the health-er, do you have health coverage?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine, really," Edmund leaned back, "but I'm glad you guys came to see me."

"Yeah," Denzel snorted, "cuz attention is a new custom for you, Ed."

I've decided, Marinette thought to herself as she and the others discussed possible skateboarding techniques to help Edmund keep his bones together next time (if Dianne allowed for a next time), Edmund will be seeing me twice tonight, when the others are gone…there are things we have to talk about…I wonder what Chat Noir will do…

~THAT NIGHT~

"Denzel, look what I found in the attic."

He stopped on the bottom step of his house as the moon glimmered through the thick clouds. "Now, mom? I'm about to go for my evening jog."

His mother descended the steps with a small shoebox in her hands. "That's why I brought this out to you. These shoes once belonged to your grandfather," she removed the lid to reveal a pair of dark blue runners, "he won every race in them. And don't worry, he cleaned them."

That'll do.

He could see the gleam in his mother's eyes. In a flash he had them on. "Wow, they fit like gloves."

"I knew you'd like them. I'll take your old ones inside," she grinned, "now go out there and have fun – safe fun!"

…Did she just trick me into wearing new shoes so she could throw out my old ones?

He could hear her toss his sneakers into the barge bin in the kitchen despite her turning the sink on.

Dangit.

"Well, grandpa," he examined his shoes, "let's see what these babies can do."

He had never seen his grandfather race, but his father had pictures. Every race he came out on top, if only by a millisecond. The shoes never seemed to get any worse for wear, either, as though they were magic.

"Magic, right?" Denzel jogged down the sidewalk and chuckled to himself. "Yeah, okay, and my name is Dorkus."

The longer he jogged, however, the better he felt. Each stride seemed to fill him with new energy.

Man, these work great! And…uh…they're glowing…!

Thin white streaks began to brighten along the side of the sneakers. The soles began to hum – literally hum.

Why do they feel so warm-!

WOOSH!

Denzel hit the road chest first, bouncing over onto his back. He groaned and slowly got up to make sure no one had seen him nearly face plant. "What was that…?"

He saw a pack of birds fly off from the lampposts, terrified of something. He turned around and gawked.

"…The road!"

There were skids marks right alongside the road, and he found himself six blocks from where he had been a few seconds ago. The strangest part was where the skids marks had originated – his shoes.

The marks line up, he lifted his feet to see the white streaks still glowing, skids underneath the heels, but…that can't be possible…could it?

"…One way to find out," he got to one knee, aiming for the direction of his house, "if you really did let me run that fast, why not again? Okay…one, two…"

He began to run, faster than he had ever thought possible. He zipped right past his house and out onto the next road. He nearly knocked over a dozen signs, continually skidding to a halt wherever he saw or heard people coming by.

This is impossible, he thought as a couple strolled by, studying the skids curiously, but so sweet.

"Weird," the young woman murmured to her boyfriend as they passed him, "what kind of shoes are those?"

"They look more like boots."

Boots…?

He hadn't even noticed, but the shoes had begun to stretch out of his legs, reaching halfway up to his knees. He pressed his finger against the suit-like texture and watched it slip back into the heel, his shoes returning to normal.

Way weird. It's like there's an entire costume inside these things…

Making sure no one was around he zipped back to his front door and burst into the house. His mother peeked out from the kitchen door. "Denzel, back so soon? It's only been a few minutes, dear."

A few minutes?!

"Yeah, everything's cool, mom," he skipped every other stairs as he ran to the second floor, "I'm just got to do a bit of studying."

Studying up on my grandfather's past, that is.

He climbed into the attic, a small room reached through a ladder in the second floor ceiling, and gently closed the hatch. Light poured in from the small window across the room, letting him see the strewn about boxes and crates of photos and old trophies.

"Where is it," he rummaged through them, "I know grandpa had a box around here…ah-ha!" He knelt down beside a worn down cardboard box stuffed to the brim with medals, awards and scrapbooks. He searched through it until he came to a treasure box carved from wood at the bottom.

"I remember this," he smiled as he picked it up and examined the small key hole on the front, "mom and dad never could find the key to fit the…the hole…wait a…"

As he looked at it more closely, he realized that it wasn't made for a key.

…Dude…it's made for…

He took off one of his shoes and held the aglet of one of the shoelaces up to the light.

"…You're one smart runner, grandpa."

Told you guys Denzel's part was coming up soon. Now each of our fine friends have become part of something much, MUCH bigger, and don't think it's quite done yet. I hadn't ever had a solid idea of where Denzel's powers came from, but I liked the thought of him having some sort of magical device like Ladybug and Chat Noir (not technological like Melodie or Kid Mime's soon to be explained abilities). Now all that's left is to find out where Edmund got his powers...soon...

Until the next chapter!