Alya jumped in the shower after the movie, and Marinette waited just a few minutes to call out in what she hoped was a convincing tone of voice, "A friend of mine from work needs some help with the party she's planning. I'm gonna head over there and be right back!"
Alya hardly heard her, she was sure, but that was of little consequence. The rock in Marinette's stomach was getting heavier and heavier with each passing moment. Fu was waiting on her. It had to be serious, something to do with the fight this morning. Nothing good.
Kitty Noire scanned the horizon for her partner, but he was nowhere to be found. Fu hadn't said anything about her "lucky charm" this time, but Kitty Noire was sure he'd gotten a text of his own and was on his way already. She raced into the darkness as quickly as possible, and although Fu hadn't given her a location at which to meet, she was pretty sure she knew where he'd be.
A dead streetlamp. A hidden corner at the bank of the Seine. An inconspicuous bench. Was it coincidence or did he plan it to be this way? Kitty Noire's lithe feet touched down on the cobblestones and she peered into the shadows, ears twitching forward, zooming into the sounds, but it was all as silent as her footsteps. Of course, Fu wouldn't have it any other way.
She rounded the corner beneath the bridge, and there they sat. They. Kitty Noire nearly balked. She had been expecting her professor, her partner, nothing more. Instead two new faces sat on the bench, body language too relaxed. On the end, Kitty Noire was shocked to see someone she knew almost too well.
"We were wondering when you'd grace us with your presence, Kitty Cat," Coccinello called nonchalantly, one leg up on his knee, his arms hanging over the back of the bench.
Kitty Noire's shock passed and she crossed her arms a little indignantly. "I came as fast as I could," she tried not to huff. She thought she did pretty well considering this meeting was at a mystery location.
"Now that everyone is present," Fu stood from his end of the bench and approached Kitty, putting a hand on her wrist comfortingly and giving her a private smile. He turned back to the company. "Coccinello, Kitty Noire, this is the order of guardians — who is left of it, anyway. Mme. Lenoir and M. Ramier each carry two miracle stones and protect them with their lives."
The guardians smiled and nodded. The woman was around the same age as Fu; getting on in years but as sprightly as ever. Her eyes were nearly as green as Kitty's, shining like jewels in the low light. Although she seemed demure, Kitty Noire somehow knew that Mme. Lenoir could hold her own in a fight just fine.
The man was tall and stringy, wearing an ill-fitting suit and matching faded trilby hat. At first glance, he seemed harmless, entirely approachable. In fact, Marinette was pretty sure she had seen him around Paris before, feeding the pigeons at the park. He had appeared such a simpleton then, but that fool was gone from this man's expression. The longer she looked, the more she noticed that his dark eyes held no trace of a smile, that the way he held his shoulders was almost threatening. Kitty Noire averted her glance away before they could lock eyes, afraid of how he might react to being gawked at.
Kitty moved her gaze over to Fu, and all at once, seeing him among his fellow guardians, it was clear there was something else to him as well. He was more than just an eccentric professor at the local university. He fit in with these two, seemed almost to be their leader, and as he straightened up and clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes narrowing eerily, Kitty Noire fought a chill. "We've decided to call you here tonight at the suggestion of Coccinello. He expressed concern that our enemy is getting stronger, and thus, we need to strengthen our team in response."
Fu and Coccinello exchanged a solemn nod, but when Fu looked away, Coccinello's gaze found Kitty's. He gave her a wink, completely disrupting the mood. It almost made her laugh but she rolled her lips to bite down on the smile. She wanted to be serious; she didn't want the guardians to think she was a child, even if Coccinello was.
"Both of you have proven yourselves trustworthy and devoted to this cause and thus, we are confident that this is the right choice to make. But be warned — fusion is dangerous and not to be taken lightly. You could lose your mind with the power. This is the way heroes go bad."
Kitty Noire was suddenly all attention as her professor spoke. Fusion?
"As you know from our last meeting, there are seven miracle stones in total. Three of which you know about, but the other four are a mystery. I hope that tonight can clear that up," he explained, giving Kitty Noire a leveled smile.
She nodded, sobered by the responsibility she was being entrusted with.
Mme. Lenoir stood off the bench, approaching Kitty Noire. Coccinello jumped up to stand beside his partner so as not to miss any vital words from the guardians.
She gave them both a heartfelt grin, endless knowledge dancing there in her jeweled eyes that Kitty could only wonder after. Mme. Lenoir opened her mouth and her voice was as gentle and warm as a summer wind. "The two of you are going to choose another miracle stone tonight. It can be any of the rings that M. Ramier or I possess. But before you choose you'll need to know what powers you'll be getting, hmm?"
Kitty Noire could only nod, bewitched. Mme. Lenoir was instantly calming, instantly trustworthy. All Kitty wanted to do was please her.
Mme. Lenoir produced a small box, lifting the lid with care. The heroes could only gawk at the gorgeous rings inside. Kitty Noire could feel their power humming, enticing her to lift up a hand and take one, just to see…
She pulled away abruptly, shaking her head, trying to distance herself from the stones. They tempted her in ways that made her very uncomfortable.
But Mme. Lenoir just looked at Kitty knowingly. "They sing to you, too, do they?" she asked, and Kitty Noire nodded, relieved to be understood. She'd worried for a split second there that she might be going bad.
"Their song can be impossible to resist, at times, but resist you must."
Kitty shoved her hands into her pockets and gave Mme. Lenoir a shaky smile.
The older woman looked back at the rings. She pointed to the first one, an intricate gold band with a vibrant green jewel in the center. It wasn't the same shade of green as Marinette's miracle stone was; it was turquoise, a sea color that danced on the edge of blue as the light refracted across it. "This is the turtle miracle stone. The powers it grants are defensive. Just as the two of you have cataclysm and lucky charm, the turtle miracle stone user can create an impenetrable shield around themselves or their team."
Coccinello's eyes bugged out of his head, nearly swimming with stars. Kitty Noire bit down on another chuckle. The turtle seemed strong, certainly, but offense was much more her style.
"This one," Mme. Lenoir gestured to the other ring, blinding yellow on a black metal band, "is the miracle stone of the bee. It allows the user to completely immobilize their opponent. The amount of time the power lasts for depends on the strength of the wielder." Mme. Lenoir gazed at the stone wistfully, and Kitty Noire almost asked her how long she had managed to freeze an enemy for, but she didn't want to seem impertinent.
Of these two stones, Kitty was much more excited by the prospect of the bee. It seemed just the thing for her.
Mme. Lenoir closed the box, and both heroes started as the spell the miracle stones had put them under abruptly vanished. Kitty stared longingly at the box as Mme. Lenoir stepped away. The jewels must contain incomprehensible power if they could ensnare perfectly good heroes so easily.
Kitty Noire didn't notice M. Ramier replace Mme. Lenoir until he was opening his own box. Her eyes were yanked to drink up the beauty of these stones; the songs they sang to her were unique but equally enthralling.
M. Ramier spoke, and Kitty had to use all her willpower to turn her head up from the box to look into the guardian's face. "My stones, as Mme. Lenoir mentioned, are free here for you to choose from. Make the choice that you believe will make you the strongest in the upcoming battles against these enhanced sentimonsters."
Kitty Noire nodded, refocusing. This was about power, yes, but more importantly, it was about strategy. Which stone would complement her abilities best? These were the questions she needed to ask herself, and so she pushed all other thoughts down.
"This ring here is the butterfly miracle stone," M. Ramier nodded to the ring on the left. Its beauty took Kitty's breath away. The band was delicate steel, lacing in the shape of butterfly wings, and Kitty Noire's unabashed gawking gained her a chuckle from M. Ramier. She straightened, embarrassed, running the back of her hand across her lips to make sure she hadn't been drooling. "The power it grants is a difficult one. The user enchants a butterfly from their cane and, much like the peacock, chooses an ally to bestow power upon. But instead of creating a sentimonster for their ally, the butterfly gives the ally power directly, transforming them into a superhero. This stone requires an experienced wielder. Otherwise things tend to go… haywire," M. Ramier ended ominously.
"Haywire?" Coccinello echoed, and Kitty was glad of it, because her mouth was too dry to speak a word.
M. Ramier nodded. "The wielder controls the new hero, to a degree. Allowing them too much power could be disastrous. But an inexperienced wielder may not have the strength to know how much is too much."
Images of failure on the battlefield — creating allies that ran away, caused havoc, or worse, joined the enemy team — flooded Kitty's brain. Her eyes moved to the next stone in order to put ideas of the butterfly out of her head.
This one appeared blown of glass, much like Kitty Noire's own miracle stone looked when she wasn't wearing it. The glass reflected all the colors of the rainbow when the light hit it, and it was so enchanting Kitty Noire didn't notice the shade of the stone at first.
"This next ring is the fox miracle stone," M. Ramier explained, and Kitty Noire's eyes landed on the round orange gem melded in the center of the blown glass. "This power is also a difficult one, requiring the discipline of the butterfly and preferring the strength of the bee. With this stone, the wielder can create any illusion they please. An illusion can be more complex and can last for longer depending on the experience of the user."
Kitty Noire boggled at that. Creating illusions? If done well, by a powerful wielder, this stone could be the strongest of them all. People were far too apt to believe what they were seeing.
Fu stepped in, and M. Ramier closed his box and moved away from the heroes. Kitty Noire and Coccinello once again snapped back to reality, eyes jumping to their professor. "Now you know of all the stones and their powers. Your next step is to choose another ring to wield along with the one you are already using. Choose carefully. Your next victory may depend on it."
Coccinello nodded solemnly beside Kitty Noire and she tightened her fists in determination. She knew which stone she would choose. It would be revolutionary, having two powers. The sentimonsters wouldn't know what hit them.
Coccinello stepped forward, made his choice first. "I'd like to pick the stone of the turtle, if that's alright with you, Kitty," he called over his shoulder, and she couldn't help but smile at his thoughtfulness.
"Of course!" she assured him. "I was intending to take the bee."
Mme. Lenoir grinned knowingly to herself and moved to the heroes once more, opening her box and holding it out to them. Coccinello touched the turtle stone and rolled it over in his fingers in wonder, watching the jewel glitter in the scarce light.
Kitty Noire was equally hypnotized by the ring of the bee, the lemon-colored gem emitting its own glow in her palm.
The heroes simply stared, unable to utter a word, and Mme. Lenoir laughed, pulling their attention away from the magical jewels. "Go ahead and put them on!"
Kitty Noire looked back at the ring hungrily, not waiting any longer than she had to to slip the ornament onto her pointer finger. Once it made contact, the neon glow grew brighter and brighter, blinding her as she tried to watch the kwami materialize through the minuscule open slits of her closed eyes.
The little bee yawned and stretched. "Hello, majesty," she grinned at Kitty Noire, and Kitty could hardly keep herself from jumping up and down in excitement. Unbelievable! Another kwami! A friend for Plagg! "I'm Pollen," the kwami explained. "You're already a miracle stone wielder, so I don't have to spell it out for you. You say 'transform me,' when you want to borrow my powers."
Kitty looked at the ring on her finger, delighted that it had completely changed to match her personality, just as Plagg's stone had done. The band was still black metal, but thinner and more feminine than it had been, the jewel now teardrop-shaped, the yellow much more subdued. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Pollen. I'll tell you my real name later," she winked.
Kitty Noire turned her attention to Coccinello. His new kwami was equally adorable — complete with a tiny shell on his back. "I'm Wayzz. If you say, 'Wayzz, transform me,' I'll let you protect your loved ones."
"But if I'm already transformed, what then?" Coccinello asked, that glint of determination still there in his eyes despite being deterred. She took a moment to admire that about him before perking her ears to listen to Wayzz, as she hadn't thought of that complication.
"No worries, my friend," he told Coccinello. "It's the same. You can ask a kwami to transform you even if you're already transformed — that's how a fusion happens. You'll be able to draw on both Tikki's and my powers at the same time."
"Awesome!" Coccinello exclaimed, and without waiting any longer, he called, "Wayzz, transform me!"
Kitty Noire watched her partner get bathed in the sea-kelp colored light, completely entranced. She had never seen someone transform before. When the light faded, the man standing in front of her was almost unrecognizable. He turned to look at himself, his legs and arms now turtle green, his chest plate checkered with beige, his mask now green with red on the edges, but the black spots still dotted over the green. His usual wildly untamed hair was now cut short, spiking up in the front. She had to gasp in surprise. The upgrade to his look certainly made him more fearsome, and Kitty began to grow excited about her own transformation.
Coccinello reached over his shoulder and procured the shell shield that hung on his back. He untied his yo-yo from his waist and spun it rapidly at his side as he held out the shield. "Check it out! Two weapons!"
He put them both away and approached Kitty Noire. "Well, don't hold out on us any longer!"
Kitty was about to transform herself when she looked up at him again. He wasn't Coccinello anymore. He was some other turtle-and-ladybug hero. "But you need a new name," she told him.
"Hmm," her partner put a green finger to his chin. "How about… Tortunello?"
Kitty giggled and nodded as Tortunello pretended to pose for a few moments. Then she shook her head to come back to the present, looking to Pollen as she exclaimed, "Pollen, transform me!"
Immediately, the bright yellow glow engulfed her, and Kitty was a little disappointed to find that transforming while already transformed didn't feel any differently than transforming the regular way. But the way she felt after it was over was staggering.
She could feel the added powers coursing in her veins. Her bones felt like steel, her skin felt like titanium, her nails felt like diamonds. She felt invincible. Kitty Noire, or whoever she was now, was a force to be reckoned with.
The black arms of her suit were now decorated with bee-yellow zig-zags, like lightning bolts that travelled down her arms and struck on the backs of her hands. The zig-zags were outlined by her familiar neon green stripes. Her chest now had a yellow bodice design imprinted on it, starting with a strapless sweetheart neckline and ending in a V shape at her belly button. Her shoes were unchanged, but her legs were new. A solid stripe of yellow highlighted the outside of her right leg, but a yellow ring wrapped around her left ankle. Kitty admired the asymmetry, wondering how much of herself went into the costume when she transformed. It was exactly the kind of thing she'd imagine if she had sat down and designed it. When she moved her head to examine her feet, her hair fell over onto her shoulder and she nearly jumped in surprise. The braid was gone (the cat-tail length remained) and her hair hung free, but the color! Her hair was now streaked with blonde in a long ponytail that came to a point at the very end, like a cat tail with a stinger.
"You look great," Tortunello breathed, and the softness of his voice pulled her attention away. He was standing right over her, his hand going to her hair. "May I?"
She nodded and he ran his fingers over the golden and black strands in amazement. He stopped when his eyes fell on her new weapon. "Is that a yo-yo?"
Her gaze dropped to the string around her waist. She pulled and a black and yellow striped spinning top hung from her hand. She took a step back from Tortunello and spun it at her side; it was just like his yo-yo, but yellow.
"And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" Tortunello teased her.
She had forgotten all about a new name in her astonishment. But he was right, she wasn't really Kitty Noire anymore. She was Bee Kitty. Or Kitty Buzz. Or… "Buzzy Noire!" she snapped her fingers, feeling quite clever.
Tortunello bowed low. "You look lovely, Mlle. Buzzy," he chuckled, making Buzzy Noire laugh.
Their antics were cut short by a throat clearing. Both heroes stood at attention. "You both look astounding, and you seem at ease with your new powers. That's vital," Mme. Lenoir moved back over to the heroes and rested her hands on each of their shoulders. She leaned closer to them and that same knowing smile overtook her features. "I must confess, I knew this moment would come to pass; I had seen it in my mind's eye years and years ago. And when I regard you both, standing here with your new abilities, I feel undoubtedly that the stars aligned for this to happen this way. It was nothing less than fate."
Once Kitty Noire and Coccinello had their new miracle stones, Fu urged them all to leave immediately, as they had tarried in one spot for long enough. Before the heroes departed, he confided that the guardians generally never meet all at once like this, as it endangers their ability to move under the radar. "If you need to get in contact with either Mme. Lenoir or M. Ramier, let me know and I will set up a meeting somewhere entirely new. We won't be doing anything like this again."
Buzzy Noire cocked her head. "I mean no offense, professor, but… why would we need to call another guardians meeting? We have our stones."
Fu's eyebrows flew to his hairline. "Oh! I suppose I forgot to mention it. Each guardian (or wielder) is allowed to carry a maximum of two stones at once. So if you wanted to try out M. Ramier's stones, for example, you'd have to meet with Mme. Lenoir to return hers to her beforehand. That way no one is carrying more than two stones at a time."
It made sense to her, and yet… "Why is two the limit?"
Fu's eyes darkened. "Because three is when even well-intentioned guardians might be tempted."
"Oh…" Buzzy Noire's eyes fell, and Tortunello put a comforting hand on her back while she rode out her embarrassment. Of course it was a preventative measure. Sometimes she could be so clueless.
The meeting disbanded, and everyone left in a different direction. Buzzy Noire tested out traveling by spinning top, and to her shock, instead of wrapping about things and propelling her forward, like the yo-yo would, the top landed on a roof and spun along the surface, pulling her ahead by the wire, sending her flying into the night. She hung on as it raced forward, resisting the urge to whoop and holler. When she wanted to stop, she simply pulled the wire, retracting the top, and landed. She was about to spin the top over her head and send it forward once more when Tortunello alighted beside her.
"Too bad I can't ride my shell like a hoverboard," he joked, replacing his yo-yo around his waist.
Buzzy Noire did the same with her top and sat where Tortunello tapped the space beside him with his palm. She looped her arm into his and played with her new ring. Her brain was teeming after such an unexpected amount of learning, and she wanted to ask Tortunello a slew of questions, but the one that came out was, "Do you think Mme. Lenoir was right? That we were fated for this?"
She didn't know why she asked it, but it had been echoing in her head since Mme. Lenoir had said it. Buzzy Noire wasn't sure she believed in fate, but Mme. Lenoir's conviction was nearly impossible to resist.
Tortunello shrugged, resting his now closely-shaved head against her own. "I'm not really sure. After all, is fate even real? It seemed more to me like Professor Fu just needed to choose someone to give his miracle stones to — that it could have been anyone, and we just happened to be in his class at the time."
However, it was those words — "just happened" — that made her really think. "But isn't that what fate is? That we were fated to be in Fu's class right in time to receive the stones?"
Tortunello waggled his head back and forth, as if measuring that. "I don't know. You could be right. Or maybe it was a chance happening."
Buzzy Noire would have let it go at that, but his wording got her thinking once more. The phrase "chance happening" reminded her of the first sentimonster, the one everyone had called a "strange happening," and her mind fell down a memory spiral of that day.
Tortunello noticed she was silent for a long while, and was about to ask after her thoughts when she spoke. "Were you scared? Of the first monster, before you got your miracle stone?"
It was a strange question, and Buzzy Noire could tell it threw him. His brow furrowed and he scratched an ear. "Actually, no. I was intrigued, I wanted to do something to help, but I wasn't afraid."
Buzzy Noire looked into her partner's eyes for a moment, and he peered at her curiously until her gaze dropped into her lap. "Neither was I. I was afraid for everyone else, but not for myself. It made me feel weird at the time because I was the only one not scared. But now I find out that you weren't scared either…" Her statement ended with a hopeful tone, an implication there that made Tortunello look back at Buzzy. She was already waiting to meet his eyes, and the partners shared a look that left the question hanging in the air, unanswered. Neither of them knew. But perhaps it was fate.
After some time of quiet stargazing and cuddling, Buzzy Noire's cat ears drooped as the hazy excitement of the night began to wear off. There was still a problem that hadn't been solved. She squirmed.
"You okay?" Tortunello asked, feeling her unease.
"I just… was wondering if you thought more about my proposition. If you came up with any alternate solutions." Buzzy Noire looked to him, her expression a mix of hope and shame.
Tortunello sighed heavily, his countenance darkening. "You mean about the identity reveal?"
She could only nod, a small thing.
Tortunello wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his chest. "No, no decisions yet. But… I promise I'll let you know before the next battle, okay? So don't be nervous," he rushed to reassure her, giving her arm a squeeze.
So she exhaled and snuggled closer, allowing her trust in him to convince her.
Buzzy Noire touched down in her favorite alley, calling, "detransformation." She wasn't sure if that would make both Plagg and Pollen remove their powers, or just Pollen.
When she looked down at herself, she was back to being familiar old Kitty. She smiled, looking up at Pollen.
"Whoo! It's so nice to stretch my legs after so many years of disuse," she remarked.
Kitty Noire said the detransformation words again, making Plagg emerge from her ring and instantly begin chatting with the other kwami. "Pollen, never before have our powers been fused! This was amazing! Groundbreaking!"
"Yes, I was fabulous, wasn't I?" Pollen fluffed up the fur on her body. Marinette held in a chuckle.
"Unfortunately, Pollen, I wasn't expecting to get another kwami tonight. So I don't have anywhere for you to sleep, or even room in my tiny purse." She looked down at her bag, which was hardly large enough to fit one kwami.
Plagg piped up. "You can renounce one of us, Marinette. But choose wisely," he added ominously.
She squirmed. She wanted to be hospitable to Pollen, but she didn't know how kwami etiquette worked. Was she supposed to renounce Plagg until she could make another bed? Or did she renounce Pollen because Plagg was hers first? She chewed on her lip before one of them spoke again.
"It's okay, Marinette. You can renounce me until you need my powers again. Believe me, I can handle it. I've been inactive for about a decade — what's a little more?" Pollen's eyes and voice were so sincere, Marinette believed she meant what she said. "Besides," she commented, glancing sideways at the black cat kwami beside her. "Plagg might get a bit jealous if you don't."
Plagg scoffed but smiled appreciatively at Pollen.
Marinette nodded, and after a bit of concentration, slipped the bee ring off of her finger. Pollen vanished, the ring transformed back to its default style. Marinette dropped it in her purse and gestured for Plagg to follow suit.
Once in her room, Marinette found a small tin (which had originally contained mints) that she had been using to store her earbuds. She laid the earbuds on top of her computer and instead delicately placed the ring in the mints container. She closed it and returned it to its place. There. It would be safe here, in her room, away from anything that might endanger it.