Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Stranger in Town

Tokubetsu, Part 4: Surprises

….

In which Kagami makes about as surprising a discovery as it's possible for any one person to make.

Sometimes you find the most surprising things in the most surprising places.

Don't own any part of this franchise, of course. Be nice.

….

Tokubetsu, Part 4

Kagami's creature acted fast. It grabbed her and, holding her with its middle set of limbs, raced out of the cave. Kagami could hear the queen monster roaring within.

The other creatures began to give chase. The smaller ones were faster, but her creature fought them off on the run, using either its prehensile tail like a whip, lashing at them, or slashing at them with its powerful front-and-rear claws. It drew ahead, ran one way, then another, then a third, obviously trying to throw off any pursuers.

But it was only partially successful. Some of the smaller, faster creatures still managed to keep within sight. Sometimes, she could see them sniffing the ground, always finding the scent.

Kagami's creature finally arrived at what she guessed was its destination, a shallow cave, deep enough for the interior to be in darkness. Here it put her down, pushing her towards the cave-mouth, looking back on its tracks nervously. And apparently, its fears were well-founded, for she could hear the hoots of the other monsters in the distance, coming closer.

Her creature pushed her into the cave, as deep as it could reach. "Tokubetsu," it said to her, then switched around and headed, at a dead run, for the pursuing creatures.

They swarmed over it, the smaller ones slashing at its hindquarters, producing great gashes in its rock-like hide. It howled, but kept on fighting, concentrating its efforts on leading the hostile creatures directly away from the cave where Kagami waited and watched.

Several times it would break away from the mob, and head off in a direction away from her. Sometimes, some of the swarming monsters would seem to stop and think, casting their gaze back towards the cave where Kagami was. When they did that, her creature would immediately leap upon them, its own wounds forgotten, and bite and claw mercilessly…until they forgot all about her cave and resumed their attack on the creature. Her creature.

She gasped when she realized what it was doing. She'd seen mother birds do something similar, pretend to be injured to draw predators away from their nests…only her creature was not pretending. She could clearly see great gashes and scars in its hide, though curiously, there didn't seem to be any blood.

And each time it did this, she noticed it moved slower and more painfully. It was not faking injury. Finally, it rolled over on its side, still fighting, but clearly growing weaker.

Okay. This just Would Not Do.

There was a long white stick just inside the cave. She grabbed it and charged out, heedless of the danger. "Leave him alone!" The monsters all turned to look at her. If these creatures were anything like her monster, she had no chance of even so much as denting their hides, but she could go for the eyes…there had to be a reason why they had such thick, tough eyelids…

"Tokubetsu!" groaned her creature. "Tokubetsu!"

And just at that exact moment, help, of a sort, arrived in the form of what could only be described as legions of devils, bipedal, massively horned beings, also red in coloration, pouring over the rise to her right.

The monsters looked confused-and frightened?-as the seven to eight foot tall beings charged them, and Kagami could see they were carrying spears, but spears that resembled the old-style harpoons that whalers had carried rather than true spears. They set about eagerly skewering any of the creatures nearby-evidently their spears, or harpoons or whatever they were, could penetrate the rocklike hide of the monsters-dashing in, stabbing a monster, then dashing back out before the monster could strike back.

What to do? In a sense, this was salvation, yet there was an altogether too eager a gleam in the bipeds' eyes. They were enjoying their work a little too much. She and her creature were in just as much danger as ever. Maybe more so.

And just as she thought that, several of them turned towards her. Their grins were not comforting ones. "Tokubetsu!" howled her creature. There was a note of despair to its voice.

"HOLD," said a voice emanating from a point just coming over the rise from which the devils had come. Kagami looked up; this was the first time she'd heard anything sounding like a human voice.

Levitating over the rise, riding a silver disk, was what appeared to be a man, but not like any Kagami had ever seen before. He wore a two-piece garment made of some sort of red material, pants and a tunic. In his right hand, he carried a golden trident of some strange design Kagami was unfamiliar with…

…and he sported two frontward-facing J-shaped horns on either side of his head, red trimmed with ebony. They were about three inches long and looked to be as sharp as razors. "Hold," he said again, his voice that of one accustomed to being obeyed. Somehow, his sheer presence reminded Kagami of the legends of the great Shoguns of Japan's feudal era, powerful Lords who'd held their part of the country together when it was most needed, Lords to whom the samurai had bowed. Men worthy of respect. He pointed his trident at Kagami's creature, now seriously wounded, or at least, as far as she could tell. "Spare that one," he said. "Bring it back to my University and treat its wounds. Do this now." The devils immediately surrounded her creature and began making strange passes with their hands around and over it, and somehow she was not too surprised to see it levitate and move off in the direction these strange saviors (?) had come.

The being in red landed his silver disk in front of her. "You would be Kagami Tsurugi, would you not?" When she nodded, still too overcome with recent events to speak, he continued. "I am Morax, the demon of Knowledge, Learning, and Wisdom." He looked off at the levitating troop. "And it would seem that there is knowledge to be learned this day. And perhaps, perhaps some wisdom to be found, as well." He turned back to her. "You've a number of people looking for you. Come. Let's go let them know you're safe." And he held out his hand, helping her onto his silver disk, which immediately lifted off, following her creature's path.

….

Earth: Damien had just put down the red phone. "Okay, Dee tells me Kagami's safe." Only Ladybug noticed the sigh of relief from Cat Noir. Again she wondered why. Well, he did take his duties seriously, in spite of his humorous nature.

But something…

"She's with one of the Lords of Hell, at his University. He's a nice guy," he said, in an effort to forestall any fears on their part. "He's the President of the University of Hell, so he's one of the Greater Lords. She's safe, and recovering."

"Recovering?" This from Cat Noir.

"Conditions in Hell are not designed for unprotected humans. But Kagami's unharmed… She's mostly thirsty." He smiled a sheepish smile, gesturing at the red phone. "The temperature…you know. It is Hell, after all."

"I just thought of something. I know it's only been a couple of hours," said Ladybug, "but don't you think someone should call Ms. Tsurugi, at least to let her know Kagami's alright?"

It was really amazing. Everybody seemed to find somewhere else to look. Ladybug sighed. "I'll call her." She pulled out her bugphone, only to have Damien gesture her down. "I'll call her," he said, pulling out his own cell phone. "Hm. You'll have to tell me the number. Kagami's phone-if it still exists-is about as far out of range as you can get, but maybe it'll route over…" He noticed Better's expression: somewhere between angry and about-to-cry. He was coming to realize that he had zero resistance to the latter, at least from Better. "I don't have any need for her number myself, Better. This is just a one-time call."

The phone rang. A woman's voice picked up: "Kagami?"

"Hello, Ms. Tsurugi, this is Damien. I'm calling about Kagami."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, I just wanted to let you know-*"

"How much?"

"What?" he said, his expression clearly puzzled.

"How much do you want for her?"

He straightened up suddenly, his face hardening. "Ms. Tsurugi, I am surprised and offended that you'd even think such a thing. No, your daughter was kidnapped, by we don't know who, just yet. Some friends of mine rescued her and are treating her for exposure. She's fine, and will be returned as soon as they determine that she's suffered no ill side effects. Free of charge." This last said dripped sarcasm. Ladybug winced. Well, Tomoe Tsurugi had certainly earned it.

There was a longer pause this time. Then, "Very well. Where is she now?"

"Her kidnappers used a kind of teleport gate. She's currently…the best way to describe it is, in another dimension. You can believe that or not, frankly, I don't care. But that's what they're trying to determine: whether or not her exposure to conditions in that dimension may have affected her. However, I'm told everything looks good so far, and she should be returning within a few hours."

"These 'friends' of yours seem to have a rather long reach."

"You have no idea. Here's Ladybug; she can vouch for all I've said." Scowling, he handed his phone to Ladybug. "Here. Say something before I say something I shouldn't."

….

Hell: Lord Morax's "University" proved to be more castle than college, one of immense size, far bigger than anything on Earth, and constructed of some black crystal that seemed to have no seams or joins. It was the center of a metropolitan area that seemed to be mostly outlying offices, or clinics, or perhaps classrooms. In the distance, she could see what she guessed were entertainment and / or culinary establishments. Kagami didn't care; not only was the castle / University friendly territory (she guessed), but it had all the comforts of home. Air conditioning! Showers! A couple of the devils had taken her clothes off to be cleaned, while In the meantime, Lord Morax's wife, a beautiful demon named Luan had, after she'd showered herself nearly to oblivion, outfitted her with what appeared to be the standard garb here, a white unisex pantsuit with tunic. They'd had to search for her a belt of the right size-a belt that seemed at first glance to be leather, but upon touching it, proved not to be-as she was too small in the waist for any standard size.

Whatever the garment itself was made of, it fit her well, and was remarkably comfortable. She wondered if she'd be allowed to keep it. Probably not. In any case, that was the tiniest of her worries. Returning to Earth was her major concern, but there was also…another.

"Lady Luan?" she asked. "The…creature they brought in with me…how, how is it doing?"

"Well enough," was the reply. "It took quite a beating, out there. Healing it will take some time."

Kagami was silent for a moment or two. They were walking down the corridor to Lord Morax's office. Morax had been insatiable in his desire to know everything that had transpired since her abduction. He seemed to place peculiar emphasis on her interaction with the creature…and its actions in the cave of the queen monster. But he'd not been forthcoming with any answers of his own, only assuring her that when he had all the facts, he would share them with her. "I don't understand anything that has happened to me since I came here."

"Neither do we," said Luan, "but if anyone can figure it out, it's my husband."

Another thing occurred to her. "How…how long have I been here? There's no way of telling time, at least, none that I can see." Her cell phone had been a casualty of what she guessed was best called her abduction, and, in any case, even if it was still with her, and in one piece, was probably out of power by now.

"Time doesn't pass the same here as it does in your home dimension. You might spend what seems like a fortnight to you-but you can be returned to your home dimension mere minutes after you left. So really, it depends on how much time you think has passed." They reached Morax's office, and Luan opened the door for her. She smiled reassuringly. "So don't worry. You won't be gone from your friends for long."

She entered the office. Morax was, as usual, seated at his desk, a film of papers covering the entire top. There was also an odd-looking crystal in front of him, that seemed to be projecting a hologram into thin air, and to which he seemed to refer, every now and then. The demonic version of a computer? Kagami couldn't make out what the image was. "Ah, yes, Kagami, come in, come in." He got up and poured her a cut-crystal glass of some clear liquid, and she could hear ice tinkling. He offered it to her.

"Uh, I, I am sorry, Lord Morax, but I don't drink."

"It's ice water. Quite valuable down here." That put a different spin on things, and she got outside the liquid in what must've been at least Mach1. Even though she wasn't unbearably thirsty, she was still very thirsty. He watched her for the nanosecond it took her to drain the glass, and she wondered why he had not offered her water before. "Interesting," she heard him mutter.

"I promised to share my findings with you, and I shall." He stopped and looked at her. "But I warn you: some of it may be…a bit disturbing."

He got up and went over to the wall opposite his desk. That wall ceased being blank and instead showed a panoramic picture of her creature, strapped securely to a large table, being swathed by a number of devils. Its wounds seemed less than they had been, nonetheless Kagami couldn't help but gasp in dismay at the sight of them. Her eyes watered; it got those wounds defending me.

Why?

"It's doing very well, Kagami. But its wounds were significant, and due to the resiliency of its outer integument, it will take a little while.

"But before I can relate to you what I've found, I must ask you some questions. Some of them may be rather personal, but there is no help for it.

"Tell me, Kagami…what do you know of your parents?"

….

Earth: "...Can't buh-leeve she actually thought we were holding her precious daughter for ransom!" Red Wasp had finished her banana and was working her way around an apple. One thing she had to give Damien: he kept a well-stocked fridge.

"Well," said Damien, in his best conciliatory tone of voice, "She doesn't know us. And, yeah, let's face it: just about everybody agrees my moral compass could use some recalibration. Perhaps if it had been one of you…"

"She would make a nice slug. One with no shell," said Better, dreamily.

"No, Better. If we go around targeting everybody who offends us, half of Paris will be slugs, turtles, toads and who knows what else. And that's just no way to operate. So…no. Don't. Okay?"

"Oh-kay." Better was clearly disappointed. And, Ladybug noticed, from the look on her face, so was Ayla. For that matter, Ladybug herself was perhaps the tiniest bit disappointed...

We'll deal with it, thought Ladybug. She opened her mouth to say something to that effect when Damien's red phone rang.

Damien answered. "Dee?" Then, "How's-* Oh, she is? That's great! Yeah, Lord Morax is-" More garbled words from the handset. "Thank goodness. So she's unharmed? How did she get-* Garble, garble. "Huh. I've never heard of one of them doing that before. But she's alright?" Garble, garble. "Okay, good. So…" he checked his watch, which, Ladybug now noticed, was of a most unusual design. "...so she should be arriving back here in-* Wait. What do you mean, she's very confused? You mean, about the whole 'being in Hell' thing? No? Then what?" Garble, garble, garble, glug.

Damien's face took on an amazed expression. "You're kidding. No, I know you wouldn't kid about a thing like that. You couldn't make up a story that wild. But I mean, really? But, but…how? Oh, them again. There's a chapter of them on this world, too? Damn, they're like cockroaches. Only cockroaches don't-* More garbled words, this time longer. "Uh, yeeeaahh," he said, scratching his head, "this is gonna take some adjustment, on her part. And on her mother's part, too. What? Of course we'll be there for her. Well, I mean," he glanced at Chloe, "most of us will. Yeah. Of course. Yeah, we'll be there. Right. What! Oh, yeah, of course. Uh, that could pose a bit of a problem…but I'm sure we can work something out. Yeah. We'll be there. Okay. G'bye. Love ya." And he hung up the phone. He turned to the others. "Okay. That was my sister. Kagami's alive and well and under the care of one of the most powerful shadonai, Lord Morax, the demon of Knowledge, Learning, and Wisdom. And although she's been there for what seems, to her, like a week or longer, since time doesn't pass the same there as here, she'll be returned up here in," again, he checked that weird watch, "about three hours, give or take. And Better?"

The reality bender looked up at him. "Deanna's arranged for you to get some training, there at Lord Morax's University. Plus, Lord Morax wants to run some tests on you, see where you came from, how you got into the Darkness, and, perhaps most importantly, how you got out."

"But I wanna stay with you!"

He sat down beside her, took her hand in his. She again laid her head on his shoulder. "It's only for a little while, Better. But this is the best way to get the answers we need. After all, you managed to fall into the Darkness once; there's nothing to say you won't fall into it again. Not unless we know how you got into it the first time." He put his arm around her. "And I'll still be right here, just a heartbeat away.

"So Kagami's coming back tonight?" Ladybug was once again struck by how emotional Cat Noir seemed to get whenever the Japanese girl's name was mentioned.

Almost as if…but no, couldn't be that.

"Yes, in about three hours. Thing is…" and here he paused, his expression that of one searching for the right words, "...she, uh, won't exactly be coming alone."

….

Hell: Lord Morax had grilled Kagami mercilessly regarding her family and parentage. She was beginning to get a bit annoyed by his questions.

"Yes," as I've said a thousand times already, "The only thing I know about my father, the only thing I could ever pry from my mother, was that he left the family, deserted us, shortly before I was born. Beyond that, I know nothing about him, no name, nothing."

Morax was sitting, elbows propped on his desk, head in his hands, taking it all in. "Very well. That's all the questions I have to ask.

"Are you ready to hear what I have to say? I warn you: you may not like it."

Kagami sat back in her chair. The cut crystal glass of water seemed to refill itself automatically, and she thought nothing could ever taste better than clear, cold water. "My mother raised me to be practical, and part of being practical is accepting the truth, even if it is unpleasant. So. What have you found out?"

"There is no record of any legal contract between your mother and anyone else. I know nothing about her personal life, but she was, evidently, never married.

"However, I've found text messages and recordings of her mentioning to her friends that she needed, that she wanted, an heir. And, some records of her searching, discreetly, of course, for clinics that dealt with artificial insemination." Kagami sat, transfixed. "A bit of backstory. On your world, as on several others, there is a group of rogue scientists, politicians, and financiers who go by the name Ourobouros. They seek to 'improve,'" and here he made air quotes, "to 'improve' the human species. Though their notion of 'improvement' is not usually a popular one." He smiled, grimly. "We've dealt with them before.

"But they seek to improve the human race through genetic engineering. Often by splicing human DNA with that of other species." He leaned back. "Do you remember, all those tests we ran on you, when you first came to my University? Many of those were genetic tests. You see, Kagami Tsurugi, you present a most unusual member of the human race. Are you aware of the actual temperature down here?" A shake of the head. "It seems hot to you, but measured by your Fahrenheit scale, that heat is counted in the billions.

"And you survived it.

"You have gone without food or water for an extended period of time now. That should not be." He took a sheaf of papers from a hopper on his desk. "And…the gene analyses indicated that you share a strong genetic similarity with…" and he nodded to the far wall, still displaying her creature being treated by the devils.

She finally found her voice. "You…you can't be serious."

"There are many things I would joke about, but this is not one of them. DNA extracted from the creature matches yours to a 78% degree. All things considered, that cannot be coincidence.

"What I believe happened was this: your mother went to what she thought would be an ordinary insemination clinic, unaware it was actually run by Ourobouros. Ourobouros, in turn, had somehow captured this creature-by what means I don't pretend to know-and extracted some of its genetic material. That material, suitably modified, was what they used to inseminate your mother. And you are the result.

"The creature itself must've escaped soon after. Given Ourobouros's nature, I don't see it as simply being let go."

Kagami was thunderstruck. "No…"

"Aside from my speculations, what I have told you is verifiable, young one." He paused a moment, looking at her curiously. "Do you, by any chance, have a natural talent for certain kinds of magic?"

He had her there. Back when Ladybug had presented her with the Dragon Miraculous, rather than wait for any instructions on how to use it, she had simply put it on and begun using it…almost as if it were second nature.

Because it had been?

"But…but…I mean, that creature and I…how could it be? It's…huge."

"No doubt Ouroboros geneticists altered the DNA strands somewhat. Otherwise, you would look…extremely different. And I think it's a given your mother would not have survived. I'm sure that would have been counter to their plans."

She thought. This was Hell, an entirely separate dimension, or universe, however you looked at it. There should be no possibility of naturally-occurring genetic similarity here, in a completely different ecosystem.

And it knew some Japanese…

As Morax had said, there were simply too many coincidences for all this to be entirely coincidental.

"Come." He rose from behind his desk and walked over to the wall, the one showing the creature being bathed in the healing substances. Turned to look at her. "Come, Kagami." She got up and followed him, her mind still in a turmoil.

He walked closer to the image…and suddenly was on the other side. Evidently, the wall served as more than a giant-screen TV, but also a means of transportation as well. Without really thinking about it, she followed him, passing through the "screen," which seemed much like the air curtains in some major stores. Suddenly, she was just there, in the same compartment as the huge creature. The ministering devils had finished today's treatment schedule and left.

The creature itself seemed to be either asleep or unconscious. "Every so often," he continued, "these creatures-they're hive creatures-are required by their queen to bring in the best of what they've acquired or scavenged, for storage in the deepmost caverns below." He shrugged. "It's what they do. This creature, sensing its relationship with you, in its simple, semi-sentient way, sought to bring in that which was most…special-" and she could hear the emphasis on the word, "the most special to it. That of which it was most proud."

She walked up to it like a zombie in a movie. It must have sensed her, for it woke up. "Tokubetsu?" It began to struggle against the straps that were holding it on the pallet.

"So…this is my…this is my…"

His voice was gentle. "Perhaps 'genetic donor' would be a more acceptable term for you."

"...Father?"

Sensing her unease, the creature struggled all the more, and, without thinking, she reached out and placed her hand on one of its giant front talons. The talon, almost as big as she was, closed very gently. "Easy, easy. It's alright, everything's alright."

As it had outside, the creature relaxed visibly at her touch. "Tokubetsu," it said again, before either falling back asleep or passing out again.

Morax had turned back to the "wall," in which she could see the interior of his office. He led her back into it. "But now, young one, there is a decision to be made.

"I've already conferred with the Black Throne, the ruling power here in Hell, regarding disposition of the creature. They were hesitant, but finally gave a tentative OK for it to be kept here. However, I do not believe I am totally comfortable with their approval; it's entirely likely they would expect the creature to be experimented upon. And…I will not do such a thing.

"Releasing it back into the wild would be a death sentence for it, as those of its own kind would hunt it down and kill it.

"That leaves only two options." He drew in a breath as he seated himself at his desk again. "I can, of course, arrange for it to be…euthanized." Seeing her expression, he held up a hand, to forestall her outburst. "Or," another breath. Kagami wondered if he really needed to breathe, or if this was done for dramatic effect. "Or, you can take it with you when you return to Earth."

To be continued…