Marinette was happy. Her sleepover with Alya and Gwen went well. Even after all of the Sapotis drama that night. But still they all had fun. After they had all gotten Alya's sisters to sleep they had fun watching movies, playing games together and staying up late.
By the next morning they all had breakfast and said goodbye to each other.
Marinette on her way home got a text message. She looked at her phone to see the text. It said "Please come. I have some things I would like to discuss with you." from the turtle icon otherwise known as Master Fu.
So Marinette took the scenic route home with another stop on the way. Master Fu's place.
Marinette arrived and knocked on the door. "Master?" she called awaiting a reply.
She got none. "Master Fu! Its me Marinette! I know you're home since you texted me!" she called again with no answer
Marinette slid the door open to see no one there and the miracle box untouched. She cautiously entered and called again to Master Fu.
Wayzz came floating through another door and said "Ah Marinette you've arrived. I must apologize on behalf of Master Fu. He is just so focused on his work at the moment that he did not hear you come in.". Wayzz then gestured for Marinette to follow him back into the other room.
Marinette came upon a pair of sliding doors and opened them to find Master Fu looking over the pictures of the old spellbook that belongs to Gabriel Agreste.
"Master is everything ok? Your text seemed urgent." said Marinette
"What oh yes that. I must apologize I have been putting most of my attention on deciphering the spell book lately." explained Fu.
"Please come sit." said Fu leaving the room to the matted floor area of the main room of his home. Fu sat down on the floor and gestured for Marinette to sit with him. She did.
"What is it you wanted to discuss with me master?" asked Marinette.
"I was wondering if you had found anything out about the alien heroes and Lucky Girl." answered Master Fu
Marinette's face gave off a frown and she said "No not really master. I've been so focused on saving the day that I completely forgot to be questioning them." She then perked up a little and said "I did learn one thing Master. Your theory on all of the aliens being one person is correct."
"Really!" exclaimed Fu gaining a nod of confirmation from Marinette. Fu then began to think out loud.
"Since this is true. It means one man possess a lot of power. One I am not sure a single person should wield." said Master Fu.
"Well he seems to have been handling that power well so far." added Marinette
"True but when I choose a Miraculous wielder I choose based off who they are and what noble actions and risks they have taken to help others. The alien hero I have no knowledge of except that they are all one man." explained Fu
"And what about Lucky Girl?" asked Marinette
"While it seems her powers are mainly energy based and not with infinite potential like the alien hero but more simple. So I am less worried about her but am still concerned." answered Fu. He then added "Now tell me. Have they earned your trust through aiding to defeat akumas?" asked Master Fu
Marinette began to think. She hadn't really been thinking about them earning her trust just working with them without second thought.
"Well I mean I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt so I guess I trust them for now Master." answered Marinette.
"Alright Marinette if you can try to find out more about them please do so." finished Fu
"I will master but I have a question for you now actually." added Marinette.
This caught Master Fu by surprise but he nodded and awaited the question. "So you want me to find out everything there is to know about the alien and Lucky Girl. But wouldn't that mean I would find out their identities?" asked Marinette
"If possible yes. However do it discreetly if you can Marinette. Do not make them your enemies." answered Fu
"I understand that but isn't that like me trying to find out Cat Noir's identity even though I'm not supposed to know?" elaborated Marinette.
"I see your point but the situation with you and Cat Noir is different. The two of you can never know who the other is because if one of you were to be akumatized they could jeopardize the other as well. With the alien and Lucky Girl there is no such problem since Hawkmoth is not after them but only you two." explained Fu
"I hadn't thought of it like that." said Marinette
"Just remember continue to give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them to aid you whilst fighting akumas. But if the opportunity arrises gather information on them to ensure we can continue to trust them." answered Master Fu.
"I think I understand now. Thank you Master." said Marinette leaving to head back home.
The Next Day
Ben was tired. He tried to stay awake for hours but couldn't so he had slept for 18 hours straight. He slept into Monday. Apparently splitting into thousands of Ditto clones takes a lot of energy. By the time he woke up it was already time to get ready for school.
"Aw man" groaned Ben getting up reluctantly
Gwen and Max were already awake so he didn't wake them by getting up. Ben stretched and yawned. He then went over to the table and was barely able to keep his eyes open.
"I feel terrible." complained Ben
"Do you feel sick kiddo?" asked Grandpa Max.
"No just so tired." yawned Ben nearly falling asleep again.
Grandpa Max felt his head for a fever but found none. "Well no fever so if you're sick you have something that doesn't give a fever Ben." explained Grandpa Max.
"No I doubt I'm sick just exhausted from making Ditto clones." stated Ben
"Ben how many Dittos did you make?" asked Gwen
"Um 2 no at least 3,500" answered Ben causing Grandpa Max and Gwen's jaws to drop.
"Well no wonder you're so tired you divided yourself so often you split all of your energy then spent it as each Ditto so that when you came back together most of your energy was spent." answered Gwen
"I don't suppose you got a spell to wake me up?" Ben asked sarcastically .
"Actually I just might" said Gwen opening up her spellbook. "Aha here it is." exclaimed Gwen.
"Wait I wasn't serious!" said Ben but he spoke to late as Gwen had already begun the incantation.
"Expergiscimini stultus" said Gwen as she aimed her hand at Ben and energy shot forth from it into Ben.
Ben was frozen still for a second but then a smile appeared on his face. He shot up from his seat and shouted "Yeah! I feel Great!"
"Wasn't expecting it to give you that much energy." said Gwen.
"Come on Gwen we gotta go or we'll be late!" Ben said quickly as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the Rustbucket and running towards the school leaving a bewildered Grandpa Max
"Did she just say Wake up stupid in latin?" thought Max.
Gwen could barely keep up. Her legs couldn't move as fast as Ben and she couldn't shake his grip. So instead she cheated walking by making mana platforms under her feat whilst doing walking motions. The platforms are so small that one would have to be underneath her feat to see them.
Ben was also going so fast that people had to dodge his speed walking which was more like running a marathon.
"Ben slow down!" panicked Gwen.
"Aw come on we're fine and I got energy to burn." replied Ben not slowing down.
By the time they arrived to school they were 10 minutes early when usually they are only 5 since they leave early in case of delays.
Ben's sneakers were burning hot from the friction of Ben skidding on the pavement to a sudden stop in front of the school.
Ben finally let go of Gwen's hand whilst Gwen tried to readjust to not moving so fast.
"See told you we would be fine and we're here twice as early as we normally are." boasted Ben
"Ben I think something went wrong with the spell. You're to energetic. The spell should have only returned your normal amounts of energy not tripling it." said Gwen
"Are kidding this is great!" said Ben as he ran up the stairs into the school.
"Why do I even bother." groaned Gwen facepalming herself at not studying the spell prior to performing it.
"Excuse me!" "Pardon me" "Need to get through!" were things Marinette was saying whilst rushing to get to school on time. She knew she probably wouldn't make it in time but better sooner rather than later.
Marinette ran through the school entrance and began going up the stairs only to trip on the top step.
"Gaaaahhhh!" cried Marinette tripping. She expected the painful feeling of slamming into the metal floor but was surprised to find she didn't hit it.
Marinette assumed Adrien caught her again but when she looked up to thank him she realized it wasn't Adrien who caught her. It was Ben.
"Oh uh how clumsy of me. Thanks Ben." thanked Marinette.
"No problem." said Ben helping her to stand again.
"Oh no we're going to be late!" panicked Marinette.
"No we're not." said Ben grabbing her hand and rushing himself and Marinette through the classroom door right as the bell rang signaling that they arrived at the last second.
looked to see the two of them enter and said "I'm glad to see you get here on time for once Marinette but next time try to arrive before the bell and not at the bell."
"Wi...will do Ms. Bustier." stuttered Marinette slightly embarrassed as she and Ben took their seats.
"Now as I was about to say, tomorrow is a teachers development day so you all will have school off tomorrow." explained Ms Bustier gaining cheers from the majority of the class.
Class then began normally but there was one difference. Ben was actually paying attention for once!
Ben couldn't just sit and be bored because he was so packed full of energy he had to burn. The only way for him to do so was to pay attention.
"Alright class can anyone tell me what a simile is?" asked .
Max raised his hand but he had been answering questions all day and was the only one to ever really raise his hand since no one else really wanted to pay attention.
"Anyone other than Max?" asked Ms Bustier
Ben hesitantly raised his hand.
Ms Bustier smiled and said "Yes Ben?" This shocked everyone since they knew Ben usually slept through this class and never participated.
"Um it's a comparison right?" said Ben questioning his own answer.
"Yes it is a comparison but more specifically it is a comparison using the words "like" or "as"" explained Ms Bustier
The same sort of thing happened throughout the lesson with only Max and Ben raising their hand so Ms Bustier just chose them until she called on another student to answer to make sure others were listening.
Everyone was talking about Ben's strange behavior lately all across the school. In P.E he challenged Kim to 3 laps around the track on foot. Kim was never defeated (except by Alix but she was on roller skates.) so Kim expected this to be an easy victory. However Ben shocked everyone by running the track 3 times as fast as Kim!
In science Ben had completed the chemistry experiment before everyone else. Well sort of. Ben had accidentally made his experiment explode in foamy bubbles all over his work station.
Whist this was the reaction Ms. Mendeleiev had wanted it was supposed to be smaller and in a more controlled environment. So she gave Ben a B- since he did technically do the experiment but made him clean it up. Ben usually barely passed the class.
On lunch break instead of eating lunch or going somewhere to eat Ben was jogging around the school. By the time everyone got back Ben was still moving and showed no signs of tiring.
By the time school was over everyone was thinking the same question "What happened to Ben?"
Ben slid down the school banister as he exited the school but stopped once he noticed something.
He saw Marinette hiding in the bushes creepily staring at Adrien getting in his limo.
Ben saw this as the perfect time to play a joke on Marinette. So he climbed over the banister and silently landed behind Marinette on the other side. Adrien's limo drove off and as it did Ben said from behind Marinette "What are we looking at?" startling her
"GAHHHHH!" cried Marinette whirring around to face Ben. Ben laughed at her reaction for a bit.
"Don't do that." said Marinette clearly irritated at Ben for doing that.
"Aw come on it was funny." said Ben
"No it wasn't!" Marinette now clearly upset. Ben noticed this and said "Alright I won't do it again."
Marinette was about to thank him when he added "If you tell me why you were staring at Adrien through the bushes."
"Wha... uh... I wah...gah...uh" Marinette was spluttering out nonsense causing Ben to laugh again.
"I'm just joking. You're reactions are hilarious." said Ben walking out from behind the bushes.
"See you on Wednesday." farewelled Ben as he began running home leaving behind a flustered and embarrassed Marinette
On Ben's run home he passed by several crimes. A mugging, ATM robbery, and a high speed chase. It was like Criminals chose today to crawl out of the woodwork.
For the mugging Ben saw an elderly woman clinging to her purse whilst a mugger tried to swipe it from her. "Help he's stealing my purse!" cried the woman as the man broke the bag from the woman's grip and ran off with it.
Ben saw this and was going to go hero but then thought. "With all my energy today I don't need to go hero to catch him." So Ben instead of going XLR8 or Wildmutt he went on foot to chase the mugger.
Due to Ben's energy boost today he easily caught up with the mugger and tackled him to the ground.
"Umph!" groaned the Mugger hitting the pavement. Ben took the purse from his grasp and handed it back to the woman who was following their chase.
"Thank you young man." thanked the woman taking her purse back and going back to her own business.
Ben smiled at that as he handed the mugger off to an officer who responded to the reports of the woman being robbed.
Next on his way an ATM was cranked off a wall with a crowbar as two robber grabbed all of the money inside, stuffed it into bags and began running off. Ben knew that this time he should go alien since there was more than one person to stop. That and they had crowbars to fight back.
So Ben ducked into an adjacent alley and transformed into Benmummy (or as he had renamed him Snare Oh). This was not who he wanted but he would take it.
Snare Oh stretched his paper limbs towards the robbers and wrapped himself around their waists pulling them back as they dropped their sacks of loot at the edge of. crosswalk at an intersection.
"What the heck!" said one of the robbers. The other one looked back and saw Snare Oh.
"Aw crud! It's one of them mystery guys that keep appearing all over the city!" exclaimed the other robber.
"Quick you take one sack and run right. I'll take the other and head left. Once we ditch our tail we'll regroup at the hideout." explained the robber.
"Understood man." said the other robber grabbing his sack. They both tried to break free from Snare Oh's grip but he wasn't called Snare Oh for nothing.
"Can't get loose!" said the robber
"I got an idea." said the other robber. He dropped his heavy sack of loot onto the paper limb severing it off from the rest of Snare Oh's body.
"Good Idea!" said the robber following the other's example to the same effect.
Snare glared at the two as they split off into the city.
"They won't last long." thought Snare Oh as he reached the intersection where the two split directions.
At the intersection Snare Oh aimed both of his arms at the two fleeing robbers and stretched them after them both. He snared them both and began reeling them back towards himself.
"Oh man let go freak!" shouted the other robber. Snare Oh did not but instead rebutted "I am no freak moron!"
"Well you look like one to us!" said the robber trying to slam the bag into Snare Oh's wraps but Snare Oh thickened them this time so the same trick wouldn't work again.
"Why isn't it working!" panicked the robber.
"I don't know man!" panicked the other robber who was trying to do the same.
Snare Oh wrapped the two of them up together next to their sacks of cash and left them to the cops with a note saying "Arrest me I'm stupid." on it.
After taking care of the robbery Snare Oh hid in the sewers waiting to transform back (whilst avoiding the sewer water so as not to soil his paper body or end up spelling like a dump) after about a minute or two he did become Ben again as he climbed out of the sewers getting strange looks from people as he came out.
Ben continued his run to the Rustbucket but realized something. He had just been running randomly without thinking and now he was lost in an unfamiliar part of Paris.
"Oh crud." said Ben to himself
He walked around for a few minutes trying to find his way when he somehow ended up back at the school.
"Well at least I know where I am now." thought Ben as he made his way to a crosswalk.
Ben didn't cross since the crosswalk light was red so he waited. However someone didn't tell Marinette the light was red as she was distracted seemingly talking to her purse.
She crossed still seemingly talking to her purse and WAS ABOUT TO BE HIT BY A CAR! Ben saw this and dashed forwards.
Ben tackled her out of the way slamming her back onto the other side relatively unharmed.
"Ow!" groaned Marinette
"Need a hand?" asked Ben. Marinette took it without realizing it was Ben, the pain of hitting the pavement still processing in her mind.
"Uh thank you. But uh what hit me." asked Marinette rubbing the back of her head.
"You went across the crosswalk when the light was red. If I hadn't pushed you out of the way you would have been hit Marinette." answered Ben.
"Tha- wait how do you know my name?" questioned Marinette.
"Uh you didn't hit your head to hard right? It's me Ben." said Ben giving her a strange look.
At hearing this Marinette was forced out of her stupor and stared Ben right in the face. Her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you Ben. My mind has been distracted lately." apologized Marinette.
"Hey it's okay. I'm just glad you're safe." replied Ben making Marinette blush again but this time not for the same reason.
"Anyways if you're alright I'll see you at school on Wednesday." said Ben waving her goodbye. Before he could leave Marinette grabbed his hand. Ben turned to face her. "Thanks for saving me Ben." thanked Marinette.
"Of course." was Ben's reply as Marinette let go of his wrist and he went on his way. However something didn't feel right with Ben. He no longer felt the hyperactivity he had earlier but more of a sickish feeling building up in his gut OH CRUD!
Ben began to feel nauseous and looked for somewhere to puke. He found a trash can around the corner and ran to it spewing yesterday's lunch in there (He skipped lunch today to jog around the school).
Ben then had to limp and stumble his way back to the Rustbucket
The Next Day...
Grandpa Max and Gwen weren't sure what Ben was sick wit but assumed it had to do with Gwen's spell she cast on him the other day.
"Well no fever but since you puked four times last night you're staying here Ben." said Grandpa Max earning a groggy groan of a response from Ben as he turned over to sleep.
"I'll see you later Grandpa I'm going to go swimming with my friends." said Gwen about to walk out when she was stopped by Grandpa Max.
"Hold up a second there Gwen. Ben's sick and we don't know what and it could have been caused by your spell." explained Grandpa Max.
"So what do you want me to do about it Grandpa? I don't exactly know any cure spells." asked Gwen
"I'd like you to stay by Ben's side in case his condition gets worse because if his illness is caused by magic then you're the only one who could help him." elaborated Grandpa Max.
Gwen sighed and then said "I understand Grandpa.". Gwen then texted Alya she couldn't come and went to Ben's side.
Grandpa Max sat in the Driver's seat and began to drive the Rustbucket to a more quiet place since Ben needed to remain asleep to hopefully recover.
About twenty minutes Later Gwen received a text back from Alya. She checked her phone and was shocked to find what she saw.
It was a picture. One of Adrien and Marinette in a fountain. Marinette was also in her pajamas.
This confused Gwen as she wanted to know more but decided against it since she couldn't be distracted from Ben. So Gwen turned her phone off and began reading her spellbook in hopes of some sort of spell to help Ben unaware of Gorizilla kidnapping Adrien.
So just to clear the ending up Gorizilla's events happen in this story just as they do in the episode. I am sorta skipping Gorizilla and moving straight to Captain Hardrock because I'm not really sure how to write Gorizilla without it being super similar to the Gorizilla chapter from the original story. Also I want to continue to build onto the plot which this chapter was required for in order to work. Sorry this chapter doesn't really have any supervillains but it is required for the next chapter which will be on Captain Hardrock which should release next week. Either that or I will write a Halloween special chapter. So stay tuned and keep up with update notes on my profile page.