To give credit where credit is due, Plagg was just as panicked and scared as Duusu and Wayzz were in trying to wake up the blackened and tainted butterfly that was Nooroo. For their troubles, he seemed to be attempting to say something, anything, to his fearful kwami. Yet, he fell on deaf ears going right back to nothingness. The cat didn't know what to do since Tikki wasn't here, she was napping.
They at least could tell he wasn't dying, just spazzing as though he was having a seizure but while knocked out. Another thing of note was the dust that littered his body which they all recognized quickly, not that it helped. "This may have been a bigger problem than I originally thought." Said Wayzz putting a hand over his head. Letting instinct take over, the cat lunged at Nooroo restraining his almost lifeless form while shouting in vain, "Stop shaking and start waking!"
Even with his all purpose charisma, the butterfly remained as he was. Plagg recoiled feeling sentimental, a rarity. He mustered up all the strength to try his hand at his purification, striking Nooroo's body with many tailwhips of neon green and black. This action did stop the shaking but then he was soon paralyzed from a sudden telekinetic force of the butterfly's which made him drop him back to the desk.
"The heck?" Scowled Plagg floating back to him. The butterfly's previous deadpan expression morphed into a face that looked like it was wailing. Duusu came to his side saying something interesting. "I believe our fellow kwami here is in a state of nonaggression." "Non Aggression, what's that?" The cat asked. "A state where one has rejected the principles of aggression and chooses to distance themselves from it. In Nooroo's case, it is to stop himself from becoming inherently violent towards what's currently eating at him." That was a lot to take in for him as Wayzz added to it.
"Right. It's a matter of I can't, I won't. He knows to be neutral during something like this, so as not to usurp anything unnecessary that will only make whatever is happening, worse." Plagg with confusion written all over his face turned to the one of mind once more. "I read you two loud and clear. Still, how can he not be seething? Aside from the obvious, what calms him?" Now that was an easy one. "Consider the following, it's most likely our existence that makes him relax." Said Wayzz reassuringly. "Cough. Potentially only one of us as well." Rebuted Plagg crossing his arms.
Fizzling, Nooroo appeared to be fighting off something that warranted actions of whiffing some of his psychic attacks on the outside, firing them in random directions which made them weary. One hit a section of books that fell down, and another broke an overhead light. Luckily he stopped, but was still struggling against what troubled him. Suddenly the butterfly screamed expending the lot of his power, blasting them and more bookshelves away in a mental storm.
His body turned a sort of charcoal color briefly before dissipating and reforming as an aura instead. Then came his awakening, that is to say, he was without pupils and emotionless. They don't know what they saw in him when he rose above them staring, but it looked like a cry for help. What they didn't expect was for him to rush them firing off clusters of dark petals that actually did hurt. Gaining some leverage by retaliating with return fire, they had to double take when they noticed he was not present upon further inspection.
From afar on a higher up shelf was Pollen and Trixx eyeing the butterfly flying eerily passed but not intervening. "Mr. Sensitivity really goofed up this time." Quipped the fox seeing Pollen in shock as though she saw a ghost, which wasn't far from the truth.
Buried within the dephs of an empty row and plenty tired, was Tikki soon in the sight of her bugged kwami and behind him in intentional silence, Trixx, not messing around for once. He waited until Nooroo got really close to her and then swiftly sniped him with a fireball with a draw from one of his hands. Trixx hadn't been very surprised when he got thrown back. Shrugging the minor inconvenience off, he got a little too close for comfort, slugging the butterfly in the face with an overhead swing followed by an uppercut.
Taken aback from that, he grabbed the fox with his antennas entangling him a bit and zapped him with a different kind of energy that greatly wounded him before he was tossed aside. Fire was spit from Trixx's mouth who was on the ground into the butterfly who skewed him in turn using a nearby nail which hurt quite a lot. "Would It kill you to be more like yourself?" He said honestly. Turning a blind eye to him, Trixx noticed Duusu flying off with the ladybug.
This did not go unnoticed by the butterfly, stopping the peacock in her tracks and intercepting Tikki to then pin Duusu to a wall with her being completely immobile and silenced. His antennas kept the ladybug from waking. Oh the other kwami tried their darnest, but it seemed Nooroo had just become too powerful even for them, as whatever overtook him made him stronger than usual.
In defeat and denial, Plagg had some fury built up. "If you think I'll let you go that easily, you can think again." A first for the bugged kwami was him speaking. "Don't push it, Plagg." But, of course he did, flying at and scratching at him with such destruction that he actually let go of her with Pollen on the ground to catch her. Just when the cat thought he whittled him down to a more sustainable level, he saw Nooroo pull his head up in anger, exerting a lot of energy into a shadow ball that propulsed him reasonably far.
"Thought it'd be more funny the first time." Said Nooroo teasingly and aggressively as he watched the cat get up and look at him with a toothy grin. "Perhaps, but that sounds like a personal problem to me." "Is that so?" He said, rolling his non-existent eyes. "Yeah bashful." The cat responded with a bit of sarcasm.
They stared at each for a while, making sure to pay attention to the others who lie in unbearable wait. As soon as the cat cocked a smile, the others minus Tikki and Duusu, ganged up on the butterfly, restraining him with their antennas and sending purity throughout. He struggled even more when Plagg re-entered. His aura attempted to stop them, but even it felt itself being dispersed. And… he still resisted them. Within inches of breaking, he felt another clutch on his wings, Tikki. Elicit, his pupils returned to him slowly, even if a bit greyed out.
A warm feeling that he began to familiarize himself with came from the presence of the peacock as well. Nooroo still had the darkness, but for now it was suppressed. Shaking his head he looked at them curiously. "Ugh, what happened?" Wayzz answered him quickly. "Darkness, that's what happened." "That bad? Oh no…." He quietly responded, quivering in fear and anxiety. Pulling away, they let him breathe until the butterfly began violently exhaling from a panic attack, but before he could collapse completely and fall, Trixx swept him up with a frown.
"Got a little too ahead of yourself I'm afraid." Nooroo reminisced. "More than that, I could've killed you all." "And yet, you didn't." Said Duusu. "..." Nothing but ellipses. He had a moment to think of what potentially the stranger wanted from him. There were so many moths and he just couldn't move away, for strings akin to puppet strings, kept him from being able to further keep himself neutral against the surrounding dust and moths.
Nightfall, that could help, but only if the scenario was right. "Let me rest." And they abided, not letting him be alone that time. Also, the remaining dust was swept off of him, making him less upset in himself. But at the same time, he cried while falling asleep. The lunar mindscape had settled for them again.
The dawn of a new day once again loomed over the horizon to hopefully breed greener pastures and better feelings. All the while however, Nooroo could tell it was not over yet for him. Alive came Duusu, springing up and finding what looked to be a letter composed of the following.
"Has Nooroo been acting up more than usual? Hehe, if so, I guess you kwami are mighty furious. Though knowing you, you'd try to continue dealing with it until further notice. This last day is before the fray. Better be ready, unless you want to get left behind because of the butterfly." Then it ended.
She didn't want her purple kwami to turncoat on a dime, none of them wanted that. Duusu sighed questioning mentally what the stranger defined as worth or life for them all.
She crawled back to her kwami poking Pollen awake. Stumbling upwards, she hazily noticed the peacock holding up the letter to her face. The bee leaned in to get a better look and upon finishing she took it starting up a chain again by waking Trixx who continued to Plagg and so on. They stopped before getting to the butterfly, for they didn't want him to suffer more.
"I wish that guy would take a hike." Said the cat groaning. "A hike or the high road?" Trixx responded. "Tomorrow will be hazardous. As such, we cannot dilly dally any longer today." The turtle pressured about, closing his eyes. It was obvious they couldn't stay in the library any more than they had to, so it was time to go. Where? Well, that was up in the air. Maybe it was somewhat mean to withhold the contents of the letter to Nooroo, but they didn't want to risk anything big happening again in such little time.
Out of the literary underworld they decided on going to a place of preparation, preferably a lakeside. They were in luck, as to the far southeast of the metropolitan, lied waters and caverns just waiting for them. Called The Great Turquoise, it was a decently popular aquatic landscape that while vast and eye catching, still could make for some useful time before their next exodus. Most unusual for them, however, was the addition of multiple stops during the trip either stemming from Nooroo, the evil moths, or potential akuma related sightings.
Pollen, not one to let things be so doom and gloom all the time, once again enlightened her fellow kwami in high spirits. "I'm sure you're all probably thinking things will go from bad to worse." She said as they collectively nodded, much to her surprise. "Well, why don't we try to access the situation and make things better, like we're known for doing often." Considering their current woes stemmed from the shuriken winged butterfly's transparent involvement with the stranger, they were unsure if things could be patched up per say.
Not sure if her fellow kwami agreed with her or not, the bee whimpered as they continued their fright flight. The sky darkened while they slowly crossed the desolate plains of a dangerously dry forest almost devoid of life until those skies brought rain that was certain to rehydrate the area. Dampening the bee and butterfly's wings was a small price to pay in the eyes of the unknown. Eventually the skies would clear and they would proceed beyond some more valleys and road outposts.
The fatigue was cemented as they meandered through some windy treetops to the edge of a cliff that gave them an almost mocking view of what they were so close to. No one complained when the descension began onto the aquatic terrace that left them feeling queery. Silently they waded a bit into the crystalline water that was surrounded by a near endless quarry of caverns and trees. Their best bet with a spot favorable enough for training, was a sandy plain somewhere further down next to a more grandiose cave bearing a mouth befitting of an unknown creature.
Temporally, time could not have been any kinder, since the positioning of the sun wasn't going to shift anytime soon. So, on equal terms with each other again, it was now only a matter of how they were to prepare for their inevitable horizon come sunset. Whatever happened from that point on, was up to chance and not because some stranger with dark intentions said so, or at least that's what they wanted to believe. Nooroo, for as all over the place as he was, made one thing clear about them with how their emotions and powers were intertwined.
No way would they be taken by the jaws of darkness. "I'd say we still have some work to do." Spouted Trixx in subtle angst. Funny, it felt like even more after he said that. "Work as in, me myself, and I?" The butterfly responded with. "No, unless you mean yourself." "Hmph, yeah." "Then knock yourself out, you have my dutiful blessings." He finished chuckling. It was good to know he wasn't mad, though he did kinda question the sincerity. "Let's spare then." Said Wayzz directing himself to Trixx. The fox had no complaints. "K." He spoke with a shrug.
While the turtle and fox got down to business, Tikki spoke for the first time in a while, angry with herself. "I should've been more careful. This is my fault." Plagg comforted her as per usual. "What makes you say that?" "Had we tackled the source of our problems back in the village, Nooroo would not be the way he is now, the book would've stayed hidden, and you guys wouldn't have gotten so badly hurt!" She was frustrated. Being their leader finally seemed to take it's toll as the ladybug tore through some ground below, bashing her stubby arms into the earth like there was no goal anymore.
"Seeing you hurt, is the worst pain I'll ever feel. I don't know what I'll do if any of you wound up… dead." Tikki managed to say. The bee attempted once more to lift the mood. "Things may look bad now, but they always get better. No need to be so down on ourselves." Right as she was, the ladybug's pain was of a different kind. "Thank you Pollen, but you guys mean too much to me. I guess I could say that I feel like I'm constantly burdening myself with your safety." " Burdening? I beg to differ;more like blessings." Duusu replied, grinning.
"If anything Tikki, I'm burdening." Said the butterfly in a vacant look of contempt while facing them with his wings. "You're lucky to not be tied to our common enemy in any way, shape, or form. This is an observation of course." He was stoic throughout the small bit of dialouge, not caring to look back at their faces of apallment or further help.
The negativity from him made Tikki not feel the slightest bit better. If anything, the kwami grew more restless. She didn't want a fractured team, and she wasn't going to let Nooroo's new personality core dictate the primary opinion. Tikki floated to him, tugging at his wings until he said, "What now?" Looking a bit more stern she replied. "Live a little." And the crossing of her arms was all he needed to know she was tired of him.
Sighing, he flew up and faced her, nodding to signify his filtered out passive-aggression. At least for the time being. Tikki then kissed him before flying back to her fellow kwami. "Sorry about all that guys. I'll try and keep your words close to my heart like I always do." Honesty was a deed.
Quite frankly, even she didn't know how much longer they could hold out.
