Ladybug had braced herself for the portal jump to Japan in response to Kagami's urgent phone call, but as soon as she stepped through she was thrown off balance.
A giant metallic-like hoof landed squarely to her stomach, and she flew back, hitting an ornate topiary. Doubling over, she held her gut, trying to catch her breath. She had no doubt that what had just hit her would have killed her if it hadn't been for the Miraculous suit. Wincing she looked up...way up...at Ikari Gozen. Apparently Kagami's mother had been akumatized again. She didn't know what had set her off this time, but without a doubt the new Hawkmoth, Falfalla was somewhere in Japan too!
How did Falfalla find out about Kagami or Fei? How could she have traced them to the Tsurugi fortress of a home!
Ladybug couldn't worry about Falfalla yet. First she had to think fast about evading the relentless attacks of the angry Ikari Gozen. She rolled out of the way in the nick of time, just as Ikari's sword splintered the sidewalk where she had just been standing outside the house.
She rolled right into Fei, who was sucked down behind the same parked car.
"Ladybug! You came! Where is Chat Noir?" Fei asked breathlessly.
Ladybug gulped, and bit her lip. She was already regretting taking this one on without him.
"I uhhh..." Ladybug started to say, before Fei grabbed her and pulled her down, just as Ikari Gozen's sword swung over their heads.
"Watch yourself!" Fei warned. "This creature doesn't hold back!"
"Fei!" Ladybug gasped looking down at her empty neck. "Where is the prodigious?"
Fei's mouth clamped shut, and she pointed to Ikari Gozen. Ladybug's heart stopped. What were they going to do?! The powerful prodigious had already been swallowed by Ikari Gozen!
Just then Kagami sprang down on the head of her akumatized mother's form. She had noticed Ladybug's arrival as well, and was keeping Ikari Gozen distracted from Fei and Ladybug until Ladybug came up with a brilliant plan to retrieve the prodigous, and defeat Ikari Gozen once more...the only problem was that Ladybug had no brilliant plan yet. It was becoming harder and harder to keep Ikari occupied, while staying out of reach herself.
"Lucky charm!" Ladybug called out, not wasting any time. Into her hand dropped a red and back spotted wooden kendama toy (kind of like an advanced ball-like-yoyo on a stick).
"A kendama?! This must be some plan!" Fei looked questionably at Ladybug.
Ladybug looked around, but it was hard to focus with thundering hooves stomping overhead, and Kagami was now clearly in trouble. Her akumatized mother had finally got hold of her.
"I should've brought Chat Noir!" Ladybug's voice shook. It wasn't just his cataclysm she needed at that moment, but his steady reassurance. Things were falling a part, and she wasn't sure how she could put them back together."
"What are you gong to do?" Fei asked.
Ladybug looked at her with wide eyes and hesitated, "...I, uhh...I don't know..." she whispered, her voice breaking.
Kagami yelled out in protest, bringing Ladybug back into action. She shot her yoyo at Kagami, and tethered her precariously just out of reach from Ikari Gozen's gaping mouth. The yoyo strained in her hands, and her arms both held on as tight as she could. "I've got to get closer to Kagami," Ladybug reached her hand down to Fei.
Fei took it, and struggled to her feet, favoring her left side that had been hit the hardest. "That creature took the prodious before I even had a chance to fight. It just swallowed it!" Fei told Ladybug touching the angry looking red mark on her neck. "I don't know if I'll be able to get you close to Kagami without it."
"Ladybug passed the horse miraculous to Fei. "Would you take the miraculous of the horse as it's temporary weilder? Then we can get the dragon miraculous to Kagami."
"Until I am reunited with the Renlings, it would be my honor," Fei bowed, putting the glasses of the horse on her nose. After recharging Kaalki, Fei then called on her transformation.
Fei took Ladybug's arm, and the two of them jumped through a portal that opened right in the air beside Kagami, who's mouth popped open with surprise (an expression so rare on the young fencer's face it looked almost comical). They yanked Kagami back through the portal, just as Ikari Gozen tried to snap at her. In the end the monster was left chomping her lips at nothing but air.
"Perfect timing as always Ladybug!" Kagami nodded in thanks.
"You might need this," Ladybug said, handing the dragon miraculous to Kagami. Kagami bowed at Loong in greeting, quickly putting on her miraculous.
They were now across the street once more, watching Ikari Gozen screech out like squealing tires, and dig around the rubble, looking for the vanished Kagami.
Fei detransformed, fueling up Kaalki for another go, while Ladybug tried to formulate a plan.
"I can get in with an air dragon," Kagami offered, but getting out again with the prodigious might be a little more challenging."
"I can be your exit strategy," Fei jumped in, channeling the horse miraculous again. "I will just need someone to keep her distracted..."
"And then how do we break the sword?" Ryuko asked. 'That is where the akuma struck her."
Ladybug kept looking back and forth. She couldn't help feeling again that not having a black cat around was going to bring her a lot more bad luck, than having one cross her path. "Okay," she said finally. "It's time for us to use this lucky charm!" This time Ladybug would be the distraction.
Ladybug walked boldly out across the street toward the furious creature. Her four feet stomped the ground, turning to face Ladybug. The earth under their feet shook with each step. Popping the ball of the kendama up in the air until it reached the length of it's attached string, she pulled it back dropping it perfectly onto the stick. Once again she sent the ball up in the air, and focused on letting it drop back down. Ikari Gozen watched her suspiciously as she drew near. Plop, the kendama toy dropped the ball back down.
"What kind of game are you playing?" Ikari Gozen thundered revealing her irritation. "I have already claimed the jewel the butterfly insisted on, but I don't mind taking yours as well!"
Ladybug didn't answer, but just continued to play with the kendama.
"Are you even listening to me?!" Ikari Gozen raged, taking heavy steps methodically straight toward Ladybug.
"Shhh...you're distracting me! This game takes concentration!" Ladybug shushed the akumatized titan irreverently.
"Concentrate on this!" Ikari leaned down to grabbed at her, and Ladybug just barely dodged her.
"Aww now look what you made me do!" Ladybug let the ball drop down to the end of the string, and then swiftly swung it back up hitting Ikari Gozen right in the nose.
"Arrrghhh!" she roared, tilting her head back.
Just at that moment Ryuko called out "Air Dragon!" and she became a tornado of air, forcing itself down the Ikari's throat. Ladybug didn't miss a beat, and jumped up wedging the wooden stick of the kendama into the jaw of the akuma villian, wedging it open.
"I got it!" Ryko's voice called out from within Ikar's belly. She held the prodigious tightly in her hand.
"Voyage!" Fei called, opening a portal from across the street, right into the stomach of Ikari, and she pulled Ryuko back through with her.
Ryuko did not waste a second, but dropped her transformation and recharged Loong right there. Ladybug was now the one in trouble. Ikari still could not snap the painful wooden stick wedged her her mouth like a half-swallowed toothpick. She gagged on it, while swiping at Ladybug. Ladybug was swift, but even with her speed and agility Ikari Gozan was a fierce combatant. Ladybug nearly cleared her grasp, monstrous centaur's front leg swept forward, pinning her against the ground. Ladybug struggled against the pressure that pushed her into the cracked cement.
Fei put the prodigious around her neck and was greeted excitedly by the invisible Renlings.
She transformed into the horse, nodding to the freshly transformed Ryuko who jumped aboard to gallop to Ladybug's aide. Ryuko leapt from her back to the arm of Ikari, striking it hard and fast with her sword. Ikari snarled in pain, but just concentrated her weight on pressing Ladybug down further. Ladybug let out a gasp. Ikari Gozen yanked out the 'splinter' of a Lucky Charm that had been wedged in her jaw, and snapped it in half, letting the two pieces fall to the ground.
Ladydragon turned herself into a snake and slithered up the leg of Ikari, only to become a monkey, clawing at Ikari's face. Ikari finally released her hold on Ladybug to bat the monkey away. Kagami moved quickly, and dragged Ladybug further out of reach, laying her down against a broken chunk of cement. Then she turned back to take down her mother.
"Loong!" Ladydragon finally declared, and she was transformed into a formidable dragon, dwarfing the size of Ikari.
"I am as elusive as the wind, as powerful as the flood, as swift as lightning! You shall not defeat me this time even with this serpent at your command," Ikari Gozen thundered defiantly up towards the dragon.
"In the time I have known you, you have always been a person of honor. Why now do you give yourself over to the service of such a selfish deceiver?" the dragon challenged her.
"What do you know of honor? You hide behind ancient powers you know so little about. You squander the gift of the prodigious to the world, and use it sparingly to make a difference in the world. You are a coward. Slinking away from those you promised to serve to shield yourself. Pathetic. Remind me again who is the 'selfish deceiver?' You see yourself as the heroes here? What are you protecting other than your own power?" Ikari Gozen laughed bitterly, cutting down the Ladydragon with each word.
The red dragon looked down, and then made eye contact with Ladybug. Then she squared her shoulders, and she rose closer to the akumatized monster. "There was a time where I walked a selfish road, so yes, I know it well. But when I thought I had lost all connection to the values bestowed on me by my father, it was Ladybug and friends along the way who brought me back again. If Ladybug stands against you, than I have no doubt in my mind that by her side is where I need to be!"
At these words Ladydragon struck Ikari Gozen, and they clashed together. Ladydragon was able to knock Ikari to the ground. Ryuko took the opportunity to grab Ladybug by the arm, and drag her further out of harms way, as the dragon and the monster rolled each other back and forth in a brutish battle crushing everything in their path.
"I can't leave the Lucky Charm!" Ladybug pulled away from Ryuko, towards the battle ground. "If I don't have it, I won't be able to repair everything!"
"If we don't have you, we won't be able to repair everything! It is too dangerous!" Ryuko held her arm firmly.
"I've got to get it!" Ladybug said, breaking out of Ryuko's grasp, and scrambling over the wreckage on the street to get the snapped red and black kendama off the ground.
Ladybug had just reached the two pieces, and gathered them up, when Ikari Gozen lunged from Ladydragon, and turned her attention to Ladybug. She raised her sword over Ladybug to crush her. Ladydragon and Ryko screamed out in alarm witnessing the huge form of the monster leap down upon Ladybug. But Ikari's sword never fell. As reality had suddenly splintered, all of them started to have visions of Japan from the past. As if they were seeing flickers of past lifetimes, the surroundings disappeared and reappeared, disorienting all of them.
Even Ikari Gozen stumbled back, and shielded her eyes and shook her head. "It can't be!" She shrieked, "What is this? None of you possess such power!"
"But I do," the source of the illusion stepped forward, emerging suddenly from the other side of the street, and striding towards them. Ladydragon and Ryuko were totally shocked at the appearance of an ancient man in the robes of Fei's dojo, over what appeared to be medieval armor of some kind. They had no idea Ladybug had such an ally and breathed a sigh of relief that he had intervened to help them...but Ladybug was not relieved at his arrival. Merlin had found them, and now it seemed the battle for the prodigious was not only with Falfalla's creation.
"And who are you?" Ikari Gozen looked puzzled and frustrated at Merlin.
"A Guardian from the past," Merlin pulled his sword out from under the loose robe, and held it in front of himself.
"He's a guardian?" Ryko asked, looking questionally at Ladybug.
"He's a traitor," Ladybug glared at him, spinning her yoyo defensively. "Stay away from him! He's after the prodigious too!"
Ladydragon turned to one side, so her back wouldn't be to either Merlin, or Ikari.
"You don't understand! I need the prodigious to prevent what is coming. I don't want to keep it's power, I just have to make things right!" Merlin pleaded desperately.
"Oh now you are trying to come off as all noble! Where was that when you were using Queen Bee as leverage to abandon us in Wales?!"
"I didn't know that the prodigious had been claimed by a new Renren and entered back into the world! That was before I found out Galahad was still alive! Everything is happening like it did before. If I don't get the prodigious all of the sacrifice...my whole life...it will all be fore nothing!" Merlin urged.
That is when the stand-off between them all ended in the unnerving laughter of Falfalla, channeled through Ikari Gozen (a glowing purple butterfly illuminating her face). She cackled, throwing her head back. "You old fool, it is already too late!" She dove at Ladybug, who had been distracted by the appearance of Merlin, and pinned her arms behind her, as Ladybug fought against the strength that tried to rip the earrings from her. "You think this mere charm can turn the tide?! Chaos is coming for all of you. You've already lost!" Falfalla boasted.
Ladybug took both splintered pieces of the Lucky Charm that she had in her hands, and jabbed them into either side of Ikari Gozen's hand. The red and black centaur reared back in pain, and snarled.
"Give me the prodigious and let me help you!" Merlin called out to Ladydragon, but Ladybug shouted out in protest.
"Don't let him near you or the prodigious!" Ladybug warned Ladydragon. Instead Ladydragon in dragon form wrapped herself around the akumatized creature, and then Ryko was about to summoned her lightning power in an attempt to strike Ikari Gozen's sword and release the akuma. Ikari Gozen however shocked them all by winding up and throwing Ladybug as far as she could. Instead of lightning, Ryko gasped out "Wind Dragon," and was able to jet forward, and catch Ladybug in her wind currents before she hit the ground blocks away.
Within her transformation Fei was so angered by Ikari Gozen attempt to kill Ladybug, that the desire for vengeance crept back into her heart for only a moment. But it was just long enough that she lost her ability to connect with Long, and her transformation faltered. That was when Ikari Gozen turned on Ladydragon, and drove her own body to the ground, crushing her underneath her. Ladydragon went through multiple animal forms trying to get around her attacks, but Ikari Gozen snatched her prodigious and separated Fei from the Renling's power. She held Fei and the prodigious up in triumph.
"Leave the Lady foul creature, or you will loose more than your akuma," Merlin stepped forward before Ikari Gozen raising his sword.
"How about this. You can save this worthless girl, or you can follow me," Ikari Gozen sneered. She tossed Fei carelessly up in the air, and bolted away. Merlin gritted his teeth, but rather than pursuing the red monster, he dropped his sword, centered himself under Fei, and caught her as she fell just before she hit the pavement.
"You...you...saved me?!" Fei asked, stepping down unsettled onto the broken street.
"I once allowed one life to be scarified for the good of many...maybe this time things will be different," Merlin said tensely looking in the direction Ikari Gozen had disappeared.
Ryuko and Ladybug run up to them both, breathing hard, and looking panicked. "Where is my mothe...uh...the akumatized creature?" Ryuko asked desperately.
"Sh...she...took the prodiguious! She has the renlings!" Fei's eyes boiled with angry tears.
"You! If you hadn't interfered, we could have beaten her!" Ladybug accused, squaring herself off with Merlin.
"Ladybug, he saved my life!" Fei, stepped between them, putting a hand on Ladybug's shoulder.
"He...he...you did?" Ladybug looked at Merlin in surprise.
"We've got to find her!" Ryuko clenched her fists in determination.
"If this new butterfly weider plans on using the prodigious we are going to have a difficult fight ahead," Merlin said sagely. "But there if their plan is much more sinister, we may have a more dire situation here..."
"What could be worse than having someone use the power of the prodigious against the world?" Fei asked horrified.
"A plan to destroy it altogether," Merlin sighed.
The three gasped in unison.
"Is that even possible? Why would they? How would they?" Ladybug sputtered in dread.
"There is one place from legend...if you were ever to trust me...let me lead you there and we can try to intercept her before she undoes the ancient magic and the Renlings are lost from the world forever," Merlin spoke urgently to Ladybug. "If this truly is their plan, we must go now!"
"How can I trust you?!" Ladybug asked, looking at the old wizard critically.
"Because if you don't," Merlin looked back unblinkingly, "there will be no hope of stopping Chaos."
ooooooooooooooo
Thank you so much to those readers who have been so very patient in waiting for the continuation of this story. I became very sick months ago, and had a hard time working on this story. Thankfully I have recovered, and gained new inspiration on how to reach the final battle at this story has been building up to. Although this project was put on hold I will not abandon it. I never thought this story would take on such a life of its own, but I am committed to seeing it through to the end I had in mind beginning of this journey. If you have reached this far in the story you have put so much time to reading my story, and it truly means a lot to me!
I special shout out to Sapyrrha, AdaTheZebraUnicorn, and other readers who loyally encouraged me in this story, even while it was put on hold. Your words inspired me, and meant so much!
In the next chapters we will not only continue to discover more locations around the world with our favorite Miraculous characters, but also see how the villains are attempting to erode the connection of our heroes!
Off to write some more!
Phoenix203