Chapter 18: Polymnia

"WOOOOOYEAH!" Darunia was shaking it as he listened to the latest pop chart topper in his bedroom. "DREAM OF MEEEEEEE~!" He only stopped when he heard his phone going off and had to lower the volume to answer the call. He at least knew it wasn't a scammer call since he saw Link's name at the top of the screen. "What's up, brother?"

"Hey man, just a quick question. You remember which chapters we were suppose to read in lit? I thought I wrote it down but...apparently not."

"One moment." Darunia set him on speaker as he dug around in his backpack to check his own agenda.

"Darunia...am I hearing that one song that released like last week?" Link questioned as he swore he heard it.

"...No?" Darunia paused in his search to hope that he'd fall for the very badly covered up lie.

Link snorted at that a bit. "C'mon man, you're so bad at lying even for simple stuff."

"Okay, yeah…" Darunia went back to looking as he spoke. "Can you blame me? Marin's really good! She just speaks to the soul!"

Link rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say man. Guess I'm just more partial to other singers."

"Like Akira-chan~?"

"Oh well would you look at the time! It's so late, what was that assignment again?" Link was quite frantic at the mention of this Akira person.

"Chapters 19 and 20." Darunia answered after finding the scribble he put down.

"Okaythanksbye!" Link hung up. "I forgot he knew about that…"

"Isn't that the singer in your phone that-" Bleddyn's mouth was covered by Link's finger before he could say anything.

"Yes, how much do I have to bribe you with pumpkin stuff to never mention it to anyone?"

Bleddyn moved his head back. "An entire pie! No, make that two pies!"

"Ugh, fine...now I just need to buy some and not raise suspicion…"

"You've got a week, pup."

"Good to know. Thanks buddy." Link rolled his eyes and went back to his work.

Out in the freshwater bay on a tropical getaway island, a young adult woman with scarlet colored locks was writing out her latest work on a pad of paper. She knew how old fashioned it was to do that, and it seemed silly, but it felt more genuine to work this way in her mind. She also put little doodles in the margins to help visualize what her intent was. The twinkle of creativity was starting to dim in her chocolate brown eyes, however, and she felt herself getting distracted because of it.

"Marin, your producer's come to see you!" Called the warm voice of an older man.

"Coming, Papa!" She put her notepad away and skipped to the main lobby of the mansion. "Good morning, Gorman!"

The lean, mustachioed older man turned to her with a little smile. "Hello Marin, how goes your next big hit?"

"A little slow, but I'll get something done - promise!" Marin beamed.

"Good, good." Gorman gave a few nods. "Just remember to update us."

"I will, don't worry!" Marin assured with a giggle. "Anything else on your mind, Gorman?"

"No, just...wanted to make sure everything was going alright in person." He assured.

"I'll be back to my lyric writing then, see you at the recording studio~!" And she was skipping off.

"So innocent…" Gorman sighed with a shake of his head.

"That's why she's the spokesperson for the resort!" Her father, Tarin, beamed with pride as he put his hands on his hips.

"At least she has a...backup." Gorman chuckled nervously.

"Backup? Well sure, but what do you mean by that?" Tarin was now very confused.

"My sir, your game is in the resort business, mine is in the music industry...while they play different games in different ways, we both know what the main goal is."

Tarin smoothed out his own mustache as he stared silently at the other.

"It took some doing, but I convinced her record label to give her time to make a new song on her own...but if she can't come up with anything, we've already come up with a whole albumn's worth. She's jumping ahead and, as much as I like that sort of moxie and creativity in a musician, no one in the industry really writes their own lyrics. It's the work of other people, even if the work comes off as fairly unintelligible earworm." Gorom sounded rather remorse at communicating this. "Then there's the issue of image-"

"Marin is going to stay Marin." Tarin was firm on this as he glared.

"I'm aware...but is she?" Gorom decided this would be the time to leave.

Tarin went to his daughter's room to tell her of what he talked about with her manager, but found himself unable to bring it up on seeing her starting to work again. She was in such a good mood, what sort of father would he be to bring in a rain cloud on her sunny disposition? He decided to bring it up tomorrow, hopefully before she got in a lyrical writing mind set again.

"Yes, yes...I understand...I'll see to it when I come in tomorrow...very well. Goodnight and good luck." An older gentleman sighed as he hung up his landline and leaned back in his big comfy chair.

"Daltus, how strong do you want your drink tonight?" Came the question from the ever attentive Sahasrahla on noticing the sigh and lean.

"Strong enough to put me to sleep, but make sure the ibphrophin is in immediate access when I wake up." Daltus Driscoll responded as he sat up again.

"Yes sir." Sahasrahla stroked his beard as he went over some choices on his tablet.

Daltus opened up his email app for a moment, typed something out and sent it with a sad look in his eyes. "I hope my dear Loria is fairing well on her business trip. It's days like this that I wish she was by my side."

"Sir, she only left two days ago." Sahasrahla reminded in a droll tone.

"We've been married for over twenty years, it doesn't mean I'd leap for joy when she leaves. And she's a bit better with manager relations than I."

"Understood, Daltus. Oh, Hilda will need a permission slip signed so she can attend an out of country field trip come the new year. It's a little early but they figure to send it out now so both the school and parents can attempt getting organized."

"I'll tend to it when I come home tomorrow. Speaking of, has she seemed...off to you lately?"

"How so, sir?"

"Well...I suppose it started with when she asked for lessons on how to fight with a staff. That was many weeks ago and with the Gufuus popping up at random, it makes sense to better defend herself, but she's been drinking more coffee ever since and is...snacking on spicy peppers?"

"Strange indeed, she usually prefers minty or mellow-flavored sherberts," Sahasrahla nodded in agreement.

"Aside from certain Asian dishes, she's not one to partake in anything spicy...I'm worried about her, old friend."

"You know how teenage girls get, they want to try everything and anything. She'll calm down by high school's end, or at least before college."

"I certainly hope so…" Daltus gave a heavy sigh.

"He said he'd be here…" Hilda stared at the clock on her phone while waiting for any sign of Ravio. They had decided to have a date at her place and watch some movies, since she had a subscription to every streaming provider possible.

"Mayhaps something came up?" Finntan was looking through her movie options for her.

"Maybe…" Hilda was about to text him when she got one from him just as she opened her app. "Hmm? Oh, he is here...but wants to come in through the window." She bluntly told him how bad of an idea that was before insisting that he use the door and then went to greet him at it. She figured to wait for him to knock or use the doorbell, waiting at least five minutes before texting him again about where he was.

R: I wanted to surprise you...so I'm up the tree…

Hilda nearly screamed and had to get a few workers to get him down. "Why did you think that putting yourself in danger before our date would be a good idea!?"

"I thought it'd be more romantic?" Ravio shrinked a bit under her ruby red gaze. "That's how it's done in the movies and stuff...I thought it'd be fitting since that's what we'd be doing."

Hilda took in a deep breath and put both her hands on his shoulders, "It's very sweet that you thought to be thematic, but for the love of Nayru, please use safe gestures of romance in the future. I love you and I don't want you to be a broken mess on the ground..." 'Or even worse.'

Ravio nodded and hugged her. "I will. I'm sorry for scaring you for the sake of being romantic, Hilda."

"Thank you." Hilda gave him a few gentle pets across his bangs with a little smile. "Now...let's try and settle down for a movie?"

"Yeah!" Ravio took her hand and practically ran to her room. "Ya got popcorn and stuff, right?"

"I was waiting on you, so those need to be made first." Hilda rolled her eyes as she explained this. She noticed a maid who overheard and quickly scuttled off to take care of that. "We'll probably get it in a few minutes."

"Woo!" Ravio cheered.

'I really hope Finntan's made her selection…' Hilda tried to figure out how to alert her Kwami of their coming. "Anything in mind?" She asked while hoping her voice would carry.

"Uh...whatever's coolest!" Ravio smiled. The two soon got settled, his Kwami quickly phasing through the couch before getting squished in his hiding spot, which had been Ravio's rabbit-eared hood. Meallán then hid himself in Hilda's extremely large closet.

"...It's like a room unto itself." Meallán settled on a fluffy winter scarf that was neatly folded in an accessory cubby.

"She liked to play hide and seek here as a child as well." Came the voice of Finntan, who had been chilling out in a hat box with the latest iSlate to keep herself entertained.

"Finntan!?" The normally stoic and unflappable Meallán was in a stupor as he zipped up to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. "By the Golden Goddesses...you - here - what!?"

Finntan tried not to laugh at his reaction, "Athena's chosen had decided Hilda would be an excellent candidate for becoming this generation's Tiamat - and she was correct of such."

Meallán's demeanor slowly shifted back to its usual state. "You did always have a habit of ending up with the well-to-do, one way or another."

"It's just the nature of a dragon." She shrugged with a ghost of a smile.

"It's good to see you out of the treasure chest, my dragoness." Meallán worked on snuggling next to her.

"You as well, cottontail." Finntan snuggled back.

"Back to rhyming?"

"Oh hush, that was an accident. I haven't done that since I had that poet back in...goodness, how long ago was that?" Finntan was now reminiscing about her past users with her rabbit friend, who exchanged stories of some of his chosens as well.

A week had passed and Marin hoped that her work will have paid off as she headed to the recording studio. She was bouncing a bit in her limo seat as she went over the words again, trying to find the right rhythm by humming them and tapping a finger along to keep the beat. She adjusted her lucky hibiscus hair clip and headed inside, the biggest smile on her face as she waved to everyone with a cheerful "Hello!" while skipping past. Her high spirits started to become more grounded as she entered the recording studio and found that they had just finished up recording the instrumentals to a completely different song than what she had in mind.

There was a very long pause as Marin and the tech workers stared at each other.

"Guys...wh-what are you working on?" Marin tried to avoid jumping to conclusions as she gave a weak smile to the crew.

Everyone was extremely reluctant to say.

"A...music...set…" One worker stated with a barely audible tone.

"That's great! Who's the band?" Marin had a little hope that her wishes were being respected on hearing that.

"The one...backing up your newest song…?" A second added in with confusion, but had enough sense to read the room and knew something was up at least.

"I...s-see…" Marin's smile stayed but it looked sadder with each passing moment. "Well I have my new lyrics, maybe it can work with the song style if I tweak it just a little?"

Everyone now avoided her gaze.

"Guys...come on…" Marin now began to frown, "This is still my music, isn't it?"

Nobody on the crew said anything.

"Guys…?"

"We're sorry, Marin...it's orders from your manager. It's our job, we can't-"

"It's fine." Marin cut the conversation short while putting on an obviously fake smile. "I just...need a few minutes before I can do the song. Can you excuse me a moment?" After getting several nods of approval, she ran to the nearest bathroom, locked it and cried.

Within the cavern of dark machinations, Boarova stood before his rising fire as he sensed the broken heart of the island heiress. "Hmm, this is an odd one. She has the largest safety net one could have for this, yet she was dead set on creating her own music by her own heart and hand. I'm not sure if this Gufuu would be fueled by heartbreak or entitlement...the former's much easier to manipulate than the latter." He had to think on this, pacing around his fire while weighing the pros and cons in his head. "She has such an oddly innocent heart, which is easily corruptible with my magic...yet this almost seems too easy."

"What's wrong with having a dream?" Boarova could hear Marin's question echoing into his chamber. A horrible grin split his face as that one line gave him an idea.

A plot began to form as Boarova quickly made his way to a picture depicting a feminine form surrounded by eight instruments. He summoned forth the Gufuu he thought would be perfect for this particular victim, its eye sparkling with a dark and twisted hope. "Now my little Gufuu..." He released it into the air "Bring forth a symphony of defeat for my enemies!"

It flapped its wings with glee as it jetted forth into the sky and towards the tropical island resort. It didn't take long to find a spot to possess her since her back was exposed and dived right in.

Marin started to panic as she felt something hit her and started to cry a bit when she felt black scales form on her face. "No, no please no...I-I don't want this!"

"Think of my visit not as a want...but as a need. My dear girl, you've been tossed aside for the sake of a formula that makes them money. How many others have suffered such a cruel fate as this, but have no island home to return to? So many have had their dreams crushed under designer shoes...that's rather unfair. Don't you agree?"

"Well...y-yeah...there's so many talented people, I see them online and they're amazing. But not all of them can…"

"Yes?"

"Get into the business because of...because of...them!" Marin gasped and got to her feet, "You're right, I have to do this, for their sake! For everyone who's ever had a dream that was shot down because of this mindset that money comes first instead of even attempting to help grow someone's abilities!"

Boarova just smiled to himself as he managed to twist this girl's fairly altruistic nature and naivety, "Then make sure to stop Athena and Sheikah Wolf. They'll try to stop your endeavors, as will their companions Tiamat and Celhan Rabbit. Grab their Miraculous Stones to make sure the dreams of performers past, present and future don't fade into obscurity!"

"I understand sir, let's do this!" Marin did a fist pump as she prepared to change.

"Then sing a song of victory for those who couldn't before, Polymnia!"

The black scales traveled over her and gave her new life as she now donned a flowing white gown that had a scattering of dark purple diamonds all over, the hems and a collar sprinkled with blue and chartreuse crystals. She gained gaudy purple thigh high boots that sparkled as much as her dress and pink, silk gloves that went up to her elbow. The final touch was a green Valkyrie helm that somehow had tropical hibiscus flowers where the wings met the helm and her red hair turning snow white before doubling in length underneath it.

"Let's begin the show!" Polymnia summoned a flower-themed mic from nowhere and began to sing as she floated out and around the building, anyone who heard her falling into a deep sleep. Her first eight victims were given the ability to sleep walk and now possessed instruments to play. She was going to use the equipment and height of the building to her advantage to put the entire city to sleep, then she would go onto her world tour!

Finntan sighed as another notification interrupted her from her meditation on one of Hilda's many decorative pillows. She growled a bit as she opened her eyes, unlocked the tablet screen and read what was going on to see if it was worth her charge's time or not to attend. "Oh no…!" she quickly zipped over to the bay window area where Hilda was reading something for school. "Hilda, we've got trouble! A Gufuu's appeared in a music studio, she's putting everyone to sleep."

"Oh man...this won't be easy." Hilda put her bookmark in and checked her tablet to see where the studio was located. "Right, at least flying there will be much faster." She quickly opened her window. "Finntan, ignite your flames!" Out Tiamat flew.

Link had been casually doodling on his bed when Darunia blew up his phone with texts about how the music studio that made and sold Marin's hit song was being attacked by a Gufuu. His afternoon was now dedicated to getting there and hoping there were enough rooftops between locations. Sheikhan Wolf wondered if he could get a hang glider somehow as there were less and less rooftops to jump across during his travel. "I wish that horse motorcycle was standard, I could really use the ride right now!" He just hoped his wind powers would compensate for the distance for now.

"Wait what?" Ravio had been in the middle of a raid battle when someone in the group had started reading off the headlines of Polymnia showing up and taking over the studio she was found in. On hearing everything repeated, now he had to make a hard choice: fake a disconnect and risk getting in trouble with his clan mates or try to finish up and, hopefully, get to his heroics on time. He put himself on mute and groaned as he knew he really didn't have a choice...he had to be forced off. "Meallán, could you turn off the wifi for like...thirty seconds?"

"Why?"

"I need to go because of a Gufuu but I also don't wanna fake my disconnect. If you make it a legit one, I might be in less trouble later, ya know?"

"Yeah. Get your mic back on and go about as usual." Meallán floated away to where he knew the wifi was, as Ravio had to check it a few times for his mom.

"Thanks man." Ravio turned it back on as instructed and continued playing until he was suddenly stopped from a lack of wifi connection. "Okay, okay, ahhh I really hope that worked. Meallán, let's hop to it!" He quickly jumped up his roof from the fireplace outside his window and then made his way there.

Brawynn had been enjoying a nice little soak in the bathroom sink, even getting to use a tiny bath bomb to have the relaxing scent of lavender and jasmine. She didn't need to bathe, but it was something that she found enjoyable and Zelda had been so kind as to draw the water for her. Her time spent in peace was shattered when Impa rapidly knocked on Zelda's door.

"I'm up my rock wall, but it's unlocked!" Zelda announced as she worked on trying to get down. She had free climbed so she couldn't just scale down like one would with the equipment.

"We have a Gufuu spotting!" Impa sighed in annoyance that this had to happen while Zelda was busy doing something that needed time to finish up to avoid injury.

"Oh crud! I'll hurry just-"

"Free climbing can't be rushed. Just fly there double time." Impa worked on printing out the route to the music studio so she wouldn't get lost.

Brawynn quickly dried herself off with a little hand towel Zelda set nearby and zipped into the room. "We have to transfo - never mind, it's dangerous to do that sort of thing while up in the air as you are. Just…"

"I'm trying!" Zelda groaned as she worked on going down at a pace that was both fast and safe. It wasn't easy. Once she hit the ground, Athena grabbed the map Impa printed, a box of earplugs she thought to grab and then flew out.

"Good luck...and may the winds be in your favor to get you there faster." Impa closed the window and then worked on making up an excuse, just in case Gustav asked.

After nearly being blown over some weeks ago from going through the front door, Tiamat decided to find an alternate route into the studio to avoid this. She managed to find a window big enough for her to get through and after breaking in the glass while muttering apologies to it, was now sneaking around trying to keep from getting spotted or attacked by the Gufuu or its allies. She was about to turn a corner when she heard a melodic tune. 'Oh crud!' She covered her ears and hoped that would be enough to save her.

Alas, it was not meant to be as her hands were not enough to muffle the enchanting music and she slowly collapsed into an unconscious heap on the floor below.

Polymnia noticed the sleeping Tiamat and laughed like a haughty noble woman, "How excellent! We have one of the Miraculous users right here! Let's get her comfy and get her earrings~!" She snapped her fingers and a few of her musical minions carried her off to the nearest chaise longue.

"This is perfect, you've already taken one of them town! I knew you had potential, Polymnia!" Boarova complimented with a massive smile on his face as an evil twinkle was in his eyes.

"Why thank you~!" Polymnia crooned. "Where do you want me to put her earrings and when do you wanna pick 'em up?"

"Keep them as close to you as possible and never let them out of your sight. I'll be getting them myself, once you have all four. I want to make sure those pests are subdued before appearing!"

"I'll check around and see if the rest have shown up yet. Don't worry about Miss Tia, she's in the sweetest dream possible and will be hard pressed to wake up!" Polymnia then skipped around to find another Miraculous Hero after assigning her marimba player to keep an eye on the sleeping dragoness.

Sheikhan Wolf heaved a bit as he finally landed in front of the building. "I...need...a ride!" he used a bit of wind power to recover faster and then tried to assess what he could see thus far. He drew his weapon when he heard something, or someone, land behind him and turned to find Celhan looking just as annoyed at having to hoof it here. "Yo."

"Yo. Can we get a ride next time or something?" Celhan worked on trying to straighten himself out. "So what's the plan, boss?"

"All I figure is that we use stealth here since we're not sure where the Gufuu's hiding. We should also try to block our ears somehow...got any cotton?"

"No, despite the rabbit theme I'm out of cotton." Cel stated with dry sarcasm.

"Great, guess we've gotta improvise...do we block our animal ears too?"

"No?" Celhan poked his. "I don't think that this would affect our hearing?"

"I dunno, I think my senses improve when I transform, it might make us weaker to this one...tee-rific." Sheikhan let out an irritated sigh as he started to pace.

"Luckily for you, I grabbed some earplugs before setting out." Athena landed just as she heard his complaint and showed the aforementioned box to them.

"Yay for a wisdom Miraculous!" Celhan hugged her and then worked on getting a pair in his ears.

"As usual, you do good Athy!" Sheik put the plugs in his ears. "Now let's get going!" He charged for the door. He was met with a bone crushing hug and then thrown into a nearby wall thanks to Polymnia.

"Heard you coming in, puppy dog! Figured to give you a warm welcome~!" Polymnia gloated with a laugh.

Celhan Rabbit jumped up and tried to clean her clock. "Graahh!"

Polymnia stepped aside and then kicked him into another wall. "Sorry bunny boy, you're pretty loud and I heard you too!"

Athena went with a more tactical choice and kept her distance while trying to figure out how to attack. She drew her bow just in case as she tried to tend to her teammates. She then gasped a bit and started shooting when the Gufuu was about to open her mouth. She had her earplugs in, but that didn't mean that she would let her sing more.

Polymnia managed to dodge the arrows and began to sing again. She was very confused when Athen didn't fall asleep. "Oh come on, it worked on the dragoness!"

'She got Hilda!?' "What did you do with Tiamat!?" Athena's anger ignited her arrowheads and sent Firelight Arrows at her.

"She's just asleep, don't worry!" Polymina was feeling a bit hot under the collar as she dodged the extra deadly arrows. "No need to break out the extra firepower~!"

That didn't quell Athena's temperament, if anything it made it worse because she was shooting even faster.

"Eek! Eep! Ahh!" Polymnia was very glad for dance classes giving her some training in how to step quickly.

Sheikhan Wolf groaned as he got to his feet and watched the scene. 'On one hand, it looks like Athena has this covered and we should find Tia while she's got this. On the other hand, it's always a bad idea to split up the party, especially when someone ends up riding solo from it.'

"You two go search for Tia while I keep the Gufuu distracted!" Athena snapped as she sent more Firelight Arrows Polymnia's way, her eyes alight with burning fury.

Sheikhan seemed hesitant to leave while Celhan Rabbit was quick to bounce.

"Wolfie, go now!"

"I won't leave my goddess unattended, I've seen this happen far too many times and know disaster will come if you're left alone!" He rushed to attack Polymnia while she was busy trying not to get hit by the arrows.

"Okay, if I was a sleep-causing siren, where would I lock up a dragon who might hit me pretty hard with a big stick on waking up?" Celhan pondered to himself as he looked around, possibly getting lost in the process thanks to very little visual markers to indicate where he was. "I'd pick a room with a lock…?" He worked on testing any door he came across. Unfortunately, things have changed since those times when such a plan would be somewhat effective. They all had electric locks that required keycards and passcodes. He thought he could probably kick them down instead and tried it out. If it wasn't for the magic of his Miraculous protecting him, he would have ended up in the hospital with something shattered thanks to the very thick doors meant for additional soundproofing.

After a bit of failing around cursing his bad luck, he then remembered that he has electrical powers. He put his hand on the lock and focused really hard on trying to find the electrical currents that laid within. It sort of felt like he had gone into his powers for a moment as he now found the door could be opened up. "Whoa, sweet!" He ran around doing this again and again when he couldn't find Tiamat. He stopped when he heard the quirky tones of a marimba and went to investigate.

The noise was coming from one of the sleepwalkers, marching back and forth while playing. At some point he seemed to have heard Celhan and got it into his sleepy head to try and remove the Miraculous Stone that Tiamat possessed, only knowing this because of a low-key psychic link to Polymnia. He stopped playing and managed to get one of the earrings, Tia's outfit beginning to fade and show her civilian self.

What nobody counted on was Finntan coming out at this disturbance and biting the thief's nose while swearing at him in some old, forgotten tongue between chomps.

"Oh that's not good!" Celhan broke into a run on hearing pained screams, shocked the lock to get the door open and was greeted with the sight of a man being assaulted by a tiny red thing he couldn't quite make out due to how quickly it was moving. "Uh, this way!?" He motioned as he stepped out of the way to let the guy go. He noticed the marimba as the man ran past him and quietly deduced that was what he heard earlier. He also felt something hit his head and found it was a flower-shaped earring. "Waz'this?"

"My Miraculous Stone." Came the now calmer voice of Finntan as she showed herself before Celhan Rabbit.

Celhan stared between the earring in his fingers and the Kwami before him. "...That means Tia's de-transformed!" He panicked and left the door. "Aw man, how do I - can I even - she's asleep, this seems weird!"

"Hero of the Rabbit Miraculous, please calm yourself," Finntan requested as she put her tiny little Kwami hands onto his cheeks. "I'm afraid one of the flaws of a Kwami is that we cannot place our own stones onto someone...you must do it in my steed."

"C-Can't you just, I dunno, block my vision somehow? Or hide Tia's everything besides her ears?" Cel whimpered a bit.

"There's nothing here for me to do such, and blocking your sight would do more harm than good when it comes to inserting an earring. I'm afraid neither of us have any choice in the matter."

"But...won't she get in trouble?" He asked in a tiny voice.

Finntan shook her head. "She's revealed to someone who can keep a secret. If Mel trusts you, I do too. My only request is to not scream, no matter what."

"R-Right…" Celhan took a deep breath and went back inside. He managed to keep the promise to not scream despite seeing his girlfriend laying there. Instead he just covered his mouth with both his hands and made various panicky noises at different pitches.

Finntan just sighed and waited this out. 'I can see why he was picked, he's got the energy for it.' She thought while wondering just how much energy he had. "Celhan...you have to help your confidante, remember?"

Cel snapped out of it on that. "Right, right...s-sorry. Just trying to cope with this, ya know? I'll probably need lots...and lots...of time to adjust…"

Finntan nodded and flew over to Hilda. "It's this ear. Please hurry!"

Celhan Rabbit quickly walked over. "Oooh, forgive me for how kinda weird this is, Hildy sweetie…" With some careful instructions from the draconic Kwami, he managed to put the jewelry in place and stepped back. "...Why isn't she waking up? I put the earring in, she's gotta wake up now, right? Right?"

Finntan shook her head. "She fell asleep when transformed...my magic couldn't protect her. Even being the Kwami of Reason, I'm not sure how to break the spell aside from taking down the Gufuu."

"But we're down one hero, our chances look pretty grim if we don't have her!" Celhan began to pace as he tried to think about what to do. "What can we do? It's not like we're in a fairy tale! And even then...I'm no prince. I've played a few prince characters in some games, but it's not the same thing…"

"Sometimes it's less about status and more about love, Celhan Rabbit." Finntan assured while zipping over and giving his nose a little poke. "And I know you love her dearly. It's expressed in every laugh, every joke and every comfortable silence you share with her."

Celhan couldn't help but blush a bit. "Y-You really think so? Wait, how long have you been listening in on-"

"It's not intentional, I swear to Din. Dragons just have pretty good hearing when there's not too much happening."

"Ooh...uh...so then you probably figured out that I'm...y-ya know…"

Finntan just nodded in response and then moved his head so he was looking at Hilda now. "Wake up your princess, brave rabbit."

Celhan Rabbit sucked in a deep breath, marched over and tried to stay calm. "I know this is kinda creepy in reality, but bear with me I'll make up for it later, I promise." He muttered as he leaned in as he closed his eyes, giving her a gentle kiss that he kept short. On hearing her starting to wake up, he quickly fled outside of the room and waited around the corner to act like he just got there instead of what really happened.

"Mmm...what happened…?" the Driscroll Heiress mumbled groggily as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. "I remember hearing music and rest is all hazy." It was then that she glanced down at herself and noticed her lack of superheroine clothing. "O-Oh no.. Finntan…?!" she called out in a panic, glancing around wildly for the little red Kwami in question.

"I'm here." Finntan assured in a gentle tone as she flew over and touched noses with her. "Your earring was removed, but I managed to fend off the perpetrator. He'll be better after Athena's magic fixes today's wrongs."

Hilda breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her Kwami.. "Oh, thank the goddesses you're okay." she smiled a bit softly, but then recalled her sleeping situation and became a bit puzzled. "...Finntan,...How exactly did I wake up…?" she inquired.

Finntan did her best to hide her slightly panic stricken face. 'Calm down Finn. It's never good to lie, but in this case it's a necessary evil.' "My attacks may have weakened the hold on the Gufuu's unwilling participant in this, so the sleeping spell on you may have waned due to that."

"That sounds somewhat logical, but...I could have sworn I felt a familiar warmth near me when I was coming to...and I don't mean your fire breath or jalapeno peppers." she mused. "It...reminded me of...Ravio actually…"

'No wonder the kiss worked.' Finntan tried not to smile at this. "Mayhaps what woke you was you thinking of him in your sleep? Sometimes a loved one coming to mind can cause such, for better or for worse. In your case, the former worked out."

"Maybe.. I don't remember too much of the dream actually.." she frowned a bit. That was somewhat of a lie, as she did not want to admit that she had dreamed about her potential future life with Ravio.

"We can discuss it when we're home, for now we have a Gufuu to take down."

"Right!" Hilda got to her feet. "Finntan, ignite your flames!" Tiamat quickly exited and nearly ran into a certain rabbit boy, who had been squatting and muttering to himself.

"Wha!"

"Gyaa!"

"Cel! You're okay! Wait, how are you okay?" Tiamat helped him up and then hugged him.

"Athena supplied earplugs...which I should have grabbed for you, but I spaced out big time on planning ahead! I'm sorry, Tia." He frowned a bit while mentally kicking himself and hugging her back.

"We'll figure something out Celhan." Tiamat assured as she pulled back and patted his shoulder. "But for now, we've got to at least work on getting there without falling asleep in the process."

"I remember where I last saw her, c'mon!" Celhan grabbed her hand and started running until she politely suggested that flying would be faster, so then he was carried through the halls as she flew. "WOOOOOO!"

Once they reached where Celhan Rabbit saw Polymnia last, they found that it was just in time as she had finally managed to put Athena and Sheikhan Wolf to sleep! They were quiet and sneaked closer as Polymnia seemed to have her guard down.

"It took a while and lots of dancing around, but now I can finally get your Miraculous Stones!" Polymnia gloated as she worked on propping the two so that they were sitting up.

"Don't delay, take them now! That blasted rabbit is still awake. Use the Miraculous of Wisdom to hunt him down and skewer him!" Boarova wasn't above letting his minion use the power at least once if it meant accomplishing his own goals in the end.

"Don't get your underpants in a knot, geeze! I'm on it!" Polymnia assured as she went to reach for Athena's choker.

Tiamat covered her mouth and quickly worked on a plan of action in her head. She motioned for Celhan to go at her but to be silent while doing so. She also did her best to mime that he has to use his power to give them time to save their friends.

Celhan seemed to understand and worked on advancing as silently as possible. He mused if his Kwami gave a natural inclination to stealth as Polymnia seemed utterly unaware. When he got close enough, he took a deep breath as his weapons were summoned on his hands. "Electric Surge!"

Polymnia didn't have enough time to react, all she knew was that she was suddenly punched in the face as she turned around. She screamed as she felt his power going through her.

"Good work!" Tiamat quickly ran over to Athena and Sheik, pulling her staff out and gulping down. 'Since my power can purify people that got possessed...I hope this works!' "Shining Flame!" She was at least glad they wouldn't get hurt should things not work out.

Athena and Sheikhan Wolf started to stir once the fire passed over them, both rather confused as they found themselves sitting up propped against a wall as Celhan Rabbit stood over Polymnia's convulsing body.

"...So, what did we miss?" Sheik asked casually.

"Plenty." Tiamat helped the both of them up. "Have you pulled your magic item out yet, Sheik?"

"I was gonna, but then I fell asleep. Better do it now while she's like that!" He reached into his pouch. "Item Charge!" He found himself pulling out a beige colored sweet potato-style ocarina. "...This is literally not the time for this! What good is an ocarina gonna be in this case!?"

"It may not be meant for you?" Athena proposed. "Can you even play one?"

"Well...I tried as a kid, but kinda gave up and haven't since. Why?"

"Because I can." Athena held her hand out. "May I have it, Wolfie?"

"Yeah…" He handed it over with a confused expression. "Since when do you know how to play?"

"My Miraculous can help!" Athena quickly lied. She soon found maybe it wasn't a complete lie as she looked at it and a little booklet of music began to form in her mind's eye. 'This is really, really weird. I've never even heard of this song, much less heard it, and yet...it makes perfect sense?'

"Oh no ya don't, only one diva's allowed here!" Polymnia began to charge at her while singing. The other heroes quickly jumped to attack and keep her from singing.

Athena took a deep breath and began to play. The tune that she played was somewhat sad but beautiful for those who need healing in their spirits.

"What...am I doing?" Polymnia questioned as she listened. She blinked and looked up to find herself surrounded by three of the city's beloved heroes as the fourth played on an ocarina that seemed to bring Marin's sanity back.

Athena stopped as Polymnia no longer seemed hostile. "She's okay guys, ease up."

Celhan helped her up with a little meek apology as he wasn't sure if she remembered what happened.

"You...you four only show up if there's a Gufuu. Are…" She looked down and gasped in horror. "No, no, no, no. I-I didn't want this, I swear! I was tricked! You believe me, r-right?"

Athena nodded and hugged her. "We know. We know. We...we need to figure out where the Gufuu entered you. Do you remember any weird sensations shortly before Boarova talked to you?"

"I...I think? I felt something in my-" she stopped as she groaned in pain as the black scales formed.

"YOU FOOL! THEY HAVE THEIR GUARDS DOWN, TAKE THEIR MIRACULOUS OR I'LL DO WORSE THAN THE RABBIT'S PUNCH!"

Polymnia's only response was a severely pained scream.

Athena quickly worked on playing the song again in a possibly vain hope that it would block out the demonic man's words. It seemed to work for a spell, but the scales returned and seemed to intensify. 'We need a plan B, and quickly!' She tried to think of something despite the massive stress quickly looming over her. "Knock her out!" she put the ocarina down and jumped into action with her fellow heroes.

The four of them winced on the inside as they used their teamwork to knock Polymnia out, succeeding only when they noticed her fall to the floor face first. When the Gufuu eye showed itself, it seemed conflicted as it stared up at the heroes - it looked ready to cry, but wanted to be mad at them too.

"We'll make this quick, promise." Athena drew her bow. "I absolve the darkness in your heart." She shot it right in the pupil and it was quickly removed from Marin's person. One ocarina tossed at it while in flight later, Athena launched her second arrow. "Miraculous Restoration!"

The Navii formed and was quickly gathered by Sheikhan Wolf. He did his best to give it a little pet as he quietly requested that whatever happened to Marin got extra attention in being repaired. He released it and the heroes helped the bewildered pop star off the ground.

"I...I really messed up, didn't I?" Marin looked at them with tears developing in her eyes.

"Would you be willing to explain what happened?" Athena requested in a gentle tone.

Marin gave a hesitant nod and told her tale about what her producer said the day before, what she discovered today and ended it with "And after crying in the bathroom, everything's sort of this weird blur in my memory."

"Oof." Celhan Rabbit muttered.

"You'll want to talk this out with your producer, your father and...possibly the family lawyer?" Tiamat offered.

"There's a lotta social media you can use to promote your creativity too!" Celhan added. "You don't have to do the route ya would've had to twenty years ago or something."

"You're both right, thank you!" Marin hugged the two of them.

"Just be careful, it'll mean more personal attacks from anyone who thinks they're better for not liking your work." Athena warned as she got a hug.

"Just remember that blocking is a thing and that it's not below you to cut 'em off from seeing your stuff if they wanna complain about it so much." Sheik smiled a bit as he got his hug. 'I wonder if I could get her to send something to Darunia…? But that might give me away, especially to Rav. I'll think of something.'

"Thanks again! If I'm not in danger or causing it, would you be willing to come and visit?" Marin asked with a hopeful smile.

"We'll see?" Athena would need to touch bases with Rauru about that. That's when she heard the beep of her timer. "We've gotta go now, good luck miss!"

"Just Marin's fine~!" She assured as she waved the heroes goodbye. "It just...would've been nice to meet under friendlier circumstances." She sighed to herself and noticed the Navii flying past her as she walked. "Ooo...ooh! I've got a new song idea, thank you little cutie!" And she was off to make it happen.

Meanwhile, Boarova crushed and then threw the Navii into the wall on its return. It returned into a cave painting as he roared in anger, the sound echoing off into some unknown area past the darkness of the fire's light. "This ensemble of heroes will pay for this defeat! After the events of today, I know that it's not true brute force, but instead a more cunning angle is needed instead. And soon...I need only the right negativity to create a fanfare to mark my victory!"

Ravio was pacing around so much in his room he checked to make sure he didn't make a rut in the carpeting and floor boards. "Mel, what do I do!?"

"About?" The Kwami blinked as he nibbled on some iceberg lettuce.

"I saw - when - the thing! The thing I'm still trying to cope with!"

"Hilda being Tiamat?"

"Yes! That thing!" Ravio rubbed at his face while groaning.

"Why not just quietly accept it and do your best to keep her secret safe from here on out?"

Ravio gave him an indignant stare. "I mean...you're not wrong, but I'm not so sure I can separate my feelings in a heated battle! And what if I slip up and call her 'Hilda' instead? What do I do then? What can I do?"

"As you always do." Meallán answered simply.

Ravio stammered, sputtered and stared at his Kwami as if he just grew another pair of ears. "What's that s'pose to mean!?"

"Think. What do you always do with her?"

"Well…" Ravio blinked and scratched the back of his head. "We talk, we do homework, I'll make a bad pun and she'll react somehow. We'll go on dates every other weekend and do the same thing there. Uhh...and I guess protect her, as I always do. As I always have? S-Something like that."

Meallán nodded and patted his chosen's nose. "Good. Keep doing that."

"Yeah...thanks man." Ravio scooped his yellow rabbit up and snuggled him against his face. "I really needed that. How come you're so good at this?"

"Years of practice. I'm naturally grounded."

Ravio paused and then had a good, strong laugh for a minute straight.

"...Huh?" Meallán didn't understand his unintentional joke.