It was fortunate that the site of the akuma attack wasn't too far. It was happening in a different district that surrounds this little cluster of pristine white buildings enclosed within just as pristine white tall gates. It was a school apparently. A very elite school that wouldn't look out of place in a shoujo manga. Kinda hard to miss.
Chat Noir passed by a sign that said "Taurus Street". There was nothing special about the place. Tons of residential type buildings were lined up, most with a business on the ground floor.
Amidst the lively neighborhood was this worn down three-storey building. There were several holes on its walls and the top half looked blown off, parts of it wrapped up in webs that can only be made by an akuma similar to Anansi. It looked like an epic battle happened and this poor building was the setting left in ruins. There was a sign at the front with several letters popped off. All Chat Noir can make out of it were "H-i's Garden".
Judging by the letters left, Chat Noir filled in the blanks. This can't be a coincidence. This is where Shizuke and Master Hisui used to live, isn't it? What happened here? It doesn't look recent, the debris looked to be moved closer to the building and out of the way of cars and pedestrians. The most likely explanation was an akuma attack, but shouldn't Miraculous Ladybug already fix this?
He'll just have to ask them about this later.
Chat Noir perched at the top of the ruined building to gather his bearings. His leather cat ears picked up the sounds of a fight ahead. People were rushing out the exit. Were Chat Noir's eyes playing tricks on him or were there several pairs of twins among them? Strange.
Chat Noir braced himself as he vaulted over the white gates.
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The akuma was in a clear area bellow by a clock tower. She was a teenaged girl dressed like a harlequin. Everything about her was monochrome, save for her glowing red eyes, lipstick, and diamond dangling earrings…
And a crackling red rapier stabbed right through Fuyu's heart.
Chat Noir froze where he stood. Was he too late? Could Miraculous Ladybug bring her back?
"Fiona Kuznetsov. The school's local bully hunter. Daughter of a famous jewelry designer. What could you be hiding under that tough exterior?"
With a sound akin to breaking glass, the akuma pulled the sword out of the girl. Fuyu fell into Kaji's arms, glowing red cracks formed where she was stabbed.
Not a single drop of blood was spilled.
"You're not my main target, but you deserve to be free of your mask too," the akuma took a stance, sword pointed at Kaji. "Would you like to be freed next, Monsieur Ladyblogger?"
Anger surged through Chat Noir's veins, urging him to move despite his shock. He couldn't let it happen again. Without sparing another thought, he jumped between the two teens and the akuma.
"Or how about I free you instead, akuma?" he pointed his sword at the akuma like it was a rapier.
Kaji gasped at his appearance and started taking a video of him whilst holding Fuyu up with his other hand.
"How is she?" Chat Noir asked Kaji.
"She'll live," Kaji's voice rasped with worry. "Ego Split's attack isn't lethal but…"
"En Garde!"
Chat Noir tore his attention away from Kaji just in time to block her attack. Now they're stuck in a lock.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut our chat short, Monsieur Ladyblogger."
A glowing butterfly outline flickered over Ego Split's face.
"You're not the cat I was expecting. But as long as you have the ring, it's all the same to me. I'll free you from your mask!" Ego Split pressed forward. "I wonder what kind of mask do you wear, little kitten."
"The magic kind," Chat Noir quipped.
He pushed back Ego Split's blade, releasing them from their lock.
"I don't mean it literally."
The two fencers centered themselves, sizing each other up. They both took a stance, waiting for the other to make their next move.
"You know, the last cat I freed wore so many masks. It took so long to separate her from them, Ladybug was able to snatch her back from me. Such a pity I wasn't able to formally see her freed."
"Is there a point to all this?"
Ego Split was the first to lose her patience and attacked. Chat Noir evaded it.
"I'm curious."
Blade and staff clashed, then stepped apart.
"What's your preferred mask?"
With every strike, Ego Split voiced her guesses.
"Do you hide behind a cause? Purpose? Love? Power? Smiles? Bad jokes?"
Chat Noir gripped his staff tighter with every attack he parried. Don't let her get to you, he thought to himself.
"Ow! Aimed right where it hurts," he put his free hand over his heart.
"Don't worry. No matter how many masks you hide behind, I'll tear them down for you one by one! Everyone deserves the freedom to be themselves!"
Ego Split's a good fencer.
Unfortunately for her, Chat Noir's better.
In a few more moves, Chat Noir managed to disarm Ego Split, sending the sword flying. Chat Noir pointed the tip of his staff at her neck.
"Give up?"
Ego Split didn't seem bothered at all that she's disarmed. Instead, she smirked up at Chat Noir.
"Not quite."
Before Chat Noir could question her further, he was tackled from the side and he fell on his butt. Standing over him was none other than Shizubug.
"Why would you-"
Chat Noir's question was cut off when the bug's yoyo smacked away the sword that was charging towards them. That sword can fly?! Okay. Fine. Not the weirdest thing he's ever had to deal with.
The sword flew back towards Ego Split's waiting hand like Thor summoning his hammer.
"Hah. I see Ladybug learned from the last time I tried to pull that trick," Ego Split got up and lunged at them.
So focused were the two heroes on the charging akuma that they were taken off guard when a figure dressed in blue came along and roundhouse kicked Bug. The bug wasn't given a chance to recover with Ego Split coming for him with her sword forward.
Chat Noir did what he did best and tackled the bug, using the momentum to roll them away from the sword.
It wasn't a clean dodge however, as Ego Split's sword grazed him on the forearm. Chat Noir expected to feel the shallow cut, maybe even a bit of electrical shock from the way the sword was crackling. He's no stranger to pain. He's prepared to take it.
He was not prepared for the emotional assault that sword inflicted. Feelings he normally had under control burst forth: fear, envy, sorrow, frustration, and the worst of them all, inadequacy. It left him out of breath.
There was a grunt and he was hefted up. Shizubug. But he couldn't linger too long. The fight was still on… And yet it wasn't?
Shizubug's assailant was staring them down. He was a full-grown man in a blue spandex suit. A reflective visor mask covered the upper half of his face, the front curving down into a small beak-like point and the sides spread out like open wings. He had green hair swept back into spikes and olive skin. His cape flowed behind him, peacock eyes lined the ends - a pattern similar to the ones on Mayura's skirt.
"Yep. You're definitely not little Kitkat. Care to tell me what happened to her?" the peacock man casually asked.
"None of your business!" Bug took on a fighting stance; feet apart, one palm open, the other spinning his yoyo.
"Ooh, did she ditch you? Always knew she was too good for you," peacock man teased as he made a come-hither gesture.
Bug recklessly charged at him. He threw his yoyo at the man, wrapping around the arm he used to gesture, and yanked him towards himself.
Peacock man wasn't alarmed. He went with the flow. He raised a fist to meet the bug's own.
Blow for blow, the two danced around each other. Every attempt at a grapple was met with a punch. Every kick was blocked with an open palm. Every throw of the yoyo was swatted away with a closed fan. Neither gave an inch to the other. It's almost like they're guessing each other's moves in advance.
Chat Noir knew his defeat against Shizubug wasn't a fluke. Watching him fight the peacock man only further confirmed his theory: His fighting style must be some derivative of Mirakung-fu.
From the side, Ego Split was readying herself to stab the bug. Chat Noir won't let her. He found the strength to push down the feelings that weighed him down and met her staff to sword.
"You're not split yet," Ego Split seethed. "Something tells me you have plenty of masks too."
"A hero never reveals his secrets," Chat Noir smirked.
She wasn't wrong though.
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The fight went on for some time, but all four fighters were at a stalemate.
Frustration was growing within Chat Noir. The arm Ego Split grazed was throbbing. The feelings it opened up distracted him, making him miss multiple chances to beat Ego Split. What's worse, Ego Split took out another sword and is now attacking him from two angles at a time. She put him on the defensive.
Something has to happen to tip scales to their favor.
Out of nowhere, a girl in a yellow and black suit appeared. On her right hand was a tromp glowing with power.
"Venom!"
The bee tried to stab Ego Split with it, but the akuma was too fast and kicked her away.
Ego split was about to follow it up with a lunge, only for the bee to disappear. Then Kaji and Fuyu disappeared.
Before Chat Noir could react, Bug grabbed him by the shoulder and told him to retreat. Bug was already carrying Kaji. Chat Noir followed the bug as he swung towards the clocktower. At a certain height, the bee girl reappeared, carrying an unconscious Fuyu. Following her was another boy in orange.
Collar fashioned like a detective's trench coat. A tailcoat with a pattern matching a fox's tail. Fox ears sat atop dark red hair with white tips. Emerald green eyes. This must be Blake.
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"Ad-CHAT NOIR! I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT!" Shizuke yelled with his hands to his hips.
Chat Noir winced at his volume his arms cross over to hug himself. Shizuke initially thought it was because he wasn't used to getting yelled at, so he took a deep breath to calm himself… only to be disappointed to hear his real concern.
"Do your fox's illusions come with sound proofing? They might find us with all your yelling."
Shizuke was not amused and shot Chat Noir a put-upon scowl.
"Seriously, Chat Noir! What are you doing here?!"
"I'm here to lend you a helping paw.~"
They've been circling around this argument for a few minutes now. The other members of their makeshift team were elsewhere. Princess Honey was in a dark secluded corner feeding her kwami. Renard Rouge volunteered to keep an eye out as he hid them within his illusions.
It was a good thing Kaji was there to film the whole thing. He and the others wouldn't know Chat Noir was there, fighting off the akuma. All of that happened while Shizuke was fending off Pavonis' ambush.
"You almost got stabbed! Do you know what happens when you get stabbed by Ego Split?"
Shizuke held out his arm in a direction Chat Noir's eyes followed and saw Fuyu… and another Fuyu.
One was dressed in her usual punk clothes, her arms folded and glaring at her counterpart. The other was more doll-like in appearance, wearing a formal cocktail dress and decked in simple jewelry. Her short pink hair was out of her red baseball cap and was styled with fancy hair clips. She was shivering in fear.
"Oh, will you quit cowering?! It's pathetic," sneered the punk Fuyu.
The styled Fuyu flinched and hid behind a support beam.
"Fuyu, go easy on yourself," Kaji said to the punk before approaching the styled Fuyu carefully, like she's a scared animal. He held a hand out to her. "Come on out now. You're safe here."
At the sight of him, styled Fuyu huddled further into the shadows. This made Kaji wince and take a step back, looking down in shame. The other Fuyu was plain ticked off.
"Tsk," punk Fuyu went after her counterpart, pulling her back into the light. "Don't you dare act scared around him now! What happened to not being a coward anymore?!"
Shizuke flinched as the punk Fuyu continued to tear down at her more timid lookalike. Kaji tried to calm them both down to no avail. The bug wanted to intervene, but he clenched his fist and turned away. To them, he's not Shizuke right now. He's Ladybug.
His focus went back onto the cat.
"Ego Split has the power to split you between the mask you wear for the public and the person you believe to be beneath it. If a superhero were to get stabbed, she could expose your secret identity!"
The machinery inside the clock tower ticked away as the tension between them grew.
They first fought Ego Split several months ago, during the simpler times when it was just the two of them and he didn't know who she was. It was a close call back when his partner was split - he was barely in time to take her back from Ego Split and hide her somewhere safe. He only heard her two sides fighting behind the door, much like Fuyu is doing to herself right now. Blair was passive-aggressively harsh with the way she suppresses her vulnerable side. It hurt to hear her talk to herself like that.
It's a horrible thing to go through. He wouldn't condemn even his worst enemies to that kind of psychological assault.
Blair, his Chat Noire, she's normally good at dodging.
She never would've been hit if it weren't for him.
And now Ego Split almost got this cat too! If Shizuke hadn't gotten there when he did, this cat would not only have his identity exposed but also suffer the same- wait a minute.
Shizuke pulled Chat Noir's arm out of his fold and held it out for him to inspect. There was a small glowing red crack. Shizuke narrowed his eyes at the cat, who was looking away with his ears folded back.
"You were hit?"
Chat Noir pulled back his arm, holding it close to himself like covering it now would somehow make Shizuke unsee the damage.
"It's just a scratch. I'll be fine-"
There was a sound of breaking glass and the crack on his arm grew. Chat Noir held his head and nearly dropped to the floor had Shizuke not caught him. He was trembling, breathing heavily.
"You are most certainly NOT fine!"
Chat Noir took a deep breath and recomposed himself. It's almost like he wasn't just writhing in pain just a second ago. For a moment, Shizuke can see Blair in this cat, the way they both lie about being okay and push themselves forward.
"I can handle a little pain."
"You shouldn't have to!"
Shizuke was supposed to look after him. But now he's hurt because of him.
"It needed to be done. You have the Ladybug Miraculous. You're the only one who could-"
"Set everything back to the way it was," Shizuke finished. "I've heard it all before. And you know what? That shouldn't make you any less dispensable than me! The black cat is just as important as the ladybug!"
Chat Noir didn't look like he believed Shizuke. This may not be his partner, but it still hurt to see another cat think like that about himself.
"It doesn't change the fact that if it comes down to it, it needs to be you who's left standing at the end. So let me help you!"
Shizuke wanted to pull his hair.
"Why do you cats have to be so stubborn?!"
"Your enemies are no joke," Chat Noir said calmly, growing accustomed to all Shizuke's concerned yelling by now. "Besides you, there's only a fox and a bee to fight them. Is that all you got in this team?"
"There was this turtle-" Kaji piped up, but Shizuke silenced him with a glare.
"We can't recruit him again!" Shizuke sternly yelled at Kaji before going back to Chat Noir. "Helios is our problem. Not yours. So please, stay out of it."
"I can't. Not when people are in trouble," Chat Noir said, determination burning in his eyes.
It all goes down to that, doesn't it? Heroes don't turn their backs on the people who need them.
He shouldn't expect any less from a future legendary hero.
"… Alright. You can help us just this once," Shizuke acquiesced.
Chat Noir smiled, eager he finally got through to this bug.
Now that that's settled…
"So, what's the plan?" they both asked each other at the same time.
Oh boy. They're in for a long fight.
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Mirakung-fu
Originally used by the Order of the Guardians to subdue rogue Miraculous holders. It is a specialized martial art that allows one to predict a Miraculous holder's next move by reading their energy paths. Back in the old days, this form of martial arts came with a fixed set of moves and takes years to master. But when Su Han had to teach a bunch of Miraculous wielders in Paris to stop an even bigger threat none of them were prepared to handle alone, they had to take… liberties. All to bridge the gap. They simply did not have years to master it.
Kagami Tsurugi was the first to absorb the concept and apply it to the martial art she is already familiar with: fencing. She took the more spiritual side of Mirakung-fu and used it to read another Miraculous wielder's movements. Fencing fills in for kung-fu. This is how she formed the first armed variation of Mirakung-fu.
This inspired the next generations of Miraculous wielders added their own spin to Mirakung-fu, mixing it with different kinds of melee martial arts to better suit their fighting style. The only limitation is this only applies to melee, as being further away from the enemy makes it harder to read their flow of energy.
Shizuke in particular applied Mirakung-fu's concepts to his own specialty martial art: Judo. It makes his take on Mirakung-fu more focused on grappling and restraints than Su Han's more offense oriented Mirakung-fu.
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Just a minor note, unlike everyone else who refers to themselves by superhero name when transformed and normal name when untransformed, Shizuke doesn't do that. This is on purpose. It's how I choose to hint at his own share of identity issues, which I plan to flesh out later. I'm gonna have to double check on their nouns later. This is what happens when someone who's used to writing 1st-person POV is now trying 3rd-perosn POV.
