Chapter 23: Banana Suit Reveal
"Yup. That's definitely me, Princess." Bananoir pulled her up.
"Don't call me that!" She said with a pout.
"Well…you are in a gown fit for a princess!"
"This gown is so not me. I'm not a princess at all, especially not in this situation." The only costume she wanted was her Ladybug one!
"You are a princess from your heart. Just trust the cat!"
"Thank you." She replied. He should show his soft side more. "But just saying Cat, you are a mushy flirt."
"Hey!" He said indignantly, "But thanks for the pun!"
She groaned. Did she have to use the word mushy?
"Where are we?" Her eyes scanned the area, it as odd. Very odd. But very pretty.
It looked like they were pulled into some fantasy realm. She'd have imagined it as Fairy Land or something like that. Everything was sparkly: the purple trees, the lake, the green grass and even the clouds in the blue sky.
Music rang through the air in melodic symphonies, it felt good in her ears, rhythmic and serene, it felt one with the air.
"I'm not sure. This akuma seemed to transport us into some foreign realm."
She nodded. How did he sneak in? Could he have-No! Don't even think about it, Marinette.
"Where is the akuma?" If only she was Ladybug right now!
"Not your concern, Princess. Leave the work to a superhero!" He bowed down and she could hear his proud smirk through his voice. She wasn't amused though.
"I am not a real Princess." She grunted but he was already off crossing over the bridge on the lake.
There was no way she was going to let him face the akuma by himself. It was too risky. Ladybug or not, she was still his partner.
"Hey, Cat Noir! Please wait up! I can help you!" She rushed to catch up with him.
Bananoir turned around and she could hear his sigh.
"That's nice of you, Marinette. But that's really not necessary."
"Superhero or not. But travelling alone in this realm of the akuma isn't wise. Especially if you're working to defeat her." She argued back, "Plus, since you're in your banana suit right now, I'm guessing that you don't have your powers for some reason. So, that's a disadvantage there. Besides, what if Ladybug can't show up here? How are you going to face the villain alone?"
"You don't think I can fight the villain by myself?" She could hear a bit of hurt in his voice. That is not what she meant.
"No. I don't think anyone can fight this villain by themselves. You need back-up. Please trust me, Cat Noir." She stepped closer so he could see the determination in her eyes.
"Fine." Bananoir replied after a few moments, "But don't do anything that could put you at risk, okay?"
"I won't." She assured him.
They proceeded ahead with a silence in the air. Marinette tried looking around for clues to where the akuma might be, but all she saw was the sparkly forest. If only there was more of a clue ahead…
"Why can't I see anyone else here?" Marinette looked around, "Is everyone okay?"
"They must be. I don't even know how big this forest is anymore. If only there was a way to do quicker tracking…"
He was right. It could possibly take forever tailing this realm, considering the fact that they were both powerless. But they honestly didn't have that long…
Costumes. Realms. Magic. I definitely seemed to be pulled out of a fairy-tale.
Wait a minute…a fairy-tale?! That was it.
"Hey! I have an idea!" Marinette squeaked. It had to work! "Close your eyes and think about something you want. Don't try to go personal though…"
"Uh…okay…" Bananoir sounded confused.
Whilst he concentrated, she focused on the music listening carefully to the patterns of the notes.
She tried humming along with the music, trying to get every note right…
No…that wasn't right.
She hummed again, trying to work it through.
Clearly, that wasn't working….
She opened her eyes indignantly. She was missing an important element…
Her eyes lingered on the trees. Why were the purple? Surely, it could be a mere part of the fantasy realm, but something told her that wasn't quite it…
She did something stupid, she reached to the lowest branch and plucked a leaf out of the tree and put it in her mouth, biting it. It was a stupid thing to do but she needed to try this…
Once swallowing the throat, she felt a burning feeling in her throat. Now, this necessarily wasn't a bad feeling, but it was a feeling that was guiding her…
Her mouth flew agape as she sang the symphony in the air once again. This time, she could see white sparks swirl around her. Yes! She directed the sparks at Bananoir hoping they'd do what she intended to happen.
The sparks swirled around him as the shaped themselves into…ice cream?
"You were thinking about ice cream?"
"What? It's delicious!" Cat Noir's voice said sheepishly, "How did you do that?"
"I was thinking more of the lines of how this was connected to fairy-tales, and I decided to think out of he box for this one. Firstly, I found the music in the air strange and I sensed something familiar about it, feeling like the white magic that brought us here. I already knew that this magic could make thoughts come to life so I decided to conjure it up, to see whether it would work."
"Genius! So, are you saying this magic is everywhere then?"
"Yup. If you want to conjure it, eat a leaf!" She handed him an extra leaf she plucked.
"Is it safe?" Nervousness tingled his voice.
"Definitely." She nodded.
"There's a problem though. I can't eat this leaf!"
"Why not?" She narrowed her brows.
"My costume is covering my mouth."
"Oh." She had completely forgotten about that. "I'll turn around. Why not try removing your costume and eating that leaf?"
"I would but…" He awkwardly fiddled with his fingers, "I am not wearing anything underneath."
"Ohh." She felt her cheeks burn red. "Then, we'll just have to stick with me being the magic conjurer."
She turned around trying to rid the mental image from her head as they walked forward. The colour of the trees began to go from purple to blue. Soon, they were filled with blue sparkly things.
"Do you think the magic could have different abilities?" Bananoir pondered, "And would you be able to access the abilities with different-coloured leaves?"
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea! It's worth a shot." She grinned reaching up to pluck a blue leaf out.
Putting it in her mouth, she began humming the song as she felt the magic swirl around her again." The only thing they needed to know was what it was used for?
She used it on Cat Noir, but the ball of energy quickly went to him and flew back to her.
"Huh…was it supposed to do that? I'm confused."
"I'm not sure. She glanced at the magic ball." Why would it bounce back like that?
She tried using it on herself, but it didn't budge at all. What was going on? Did it work?
She turned to the tree and tried using the magic on the tree, but it did the same thing: flying to the tree then returning back to her.
"Why does it keep doing that?" She asked in frustration.
"It seems pretty eager to trace our steps!"
"That's it." His words were right, "Tracing. That's its power!"
"We can trace the akuma with this!"
"I know." Marinette concentrated picturing the akuma in her head, trying her best to use her mind power so the magic could connect with her memory.
The white sparks swirled around as it began wrapping itself into a ball, as it began to illuminate a path for them ahead.
"Yes!" Cat yelled, "Great job, Princess!"
"Thanks!" She chirped as they followed the sparkly path up ahead. This was adventurous.
"Any bets on the fact that this akuma is imaginative?"
"Imaginative. That's totally an understatement. She must be a writer or an artist. This is too inspiring." Literally. This akuma had seemed passionate about her work.
"Is that a cave up ahead?" He asked as they stopped in their tracks.
"Seems to be." Problem?
"Stay behind me. Horrible things happen to fairy-tale characters in caves. Wouldn't want the princess to get scratched?" He shielded her with his banana head.
"I can't take that seriously coming from a banana." It was humorous indeed. "Also, you read too many books. It's just a cliché trope."
"You never know." She rolled her eyes at him as he continued to shield her as they entered the cave following the path.
It would've been too dark to see if it weren't for the magic path leading them. Also, the cave looked more like the sewers back in Paris, so it wasn't that bad.
She should've taken her words back. Water trickled her feet and they were on a slope, if not careful, they could trip.
"Be careful!" He warned her.
"I wi- "She spoke too soon. Stupid princess-y shoes. And her bad motor control.
She was now sliding down the slope after an extremely uncomfortable trip. Rocks scraped her skin, and she was sure that she had lots of bruises. Ouch.
The torturous slide finally came to an end when she landed into a pool of water. Well…not just any water. Glowing water.
She splashed out onto the surface as the water tickled her senses alive. Seriously, it was surprisingly refreshing after that rock-slide.
Wait a moment.
She looked downwards and realized she wasn't in her princess gown anymore. She was back in her normal clothes!
A thrill of excitement rung in her! Yes! She exuberantly reached up to her ears to feel them, to feel her precious earrings…
They were back! The water must have reverted the costume magic! She could transform into Ladybug again! Was Ti-
"WATCH OUT!" Cat's voice yelled. He was tumbling down the slope too.
She was too late though. He splashed into the water and knocked right into her pushing them both back against the cave wall.
He whispered a breezy 'sorry' as he lifted his head from her cheek.
Her mouth fell agape as she stared at him in complete shock. What? Oh my…
Standing in front of her wasn't Bananoir but instead it was Adrien Agreste.
This chapter is so different to what I initially planned. I made Miraculous a fantasy novel for one chapter…lol