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“Now releasing Flight JAL5715, all passengers please head to the baggage pick up. I repeat Now…” The teenager ignored the repeated message from the intercom when she heard her flight number and approached the large conveyor belt that soon started to spit out the luggage from the flight. She saw her pink suitcase with her custom red ribbon that had her name embroidered on it. With little effort, she grabbed the case and made her way towards the exit. It was at that moment that her phone rang, already having her headphones on, the bluish black haired girl tapped the earbud to answer the call.
“Hello?” She asked as she exited the airport.
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to answer.” The voice of her mother laughed, “How was the flight?”
“Good, just got my luggage and about to head home.”
“Are you sure you’re okay going by yourself?” Her mother asked.
“Yes Maman.” The girl giggled, “I can take care of myself. Plus I could use the fresh air, I should be home in about 20 minutes.”
“With these strange attacks, I want to be sure.” Her mother voiced her concern, “You read up on the information I sent you?”
“Yes, plus we worked on my awareness so my senses are on hyper alert.” She ran a hand through her blue locks as she looked around her surroundings. Finding the place deserted she focused her energy in her palm that held the handle before whispering a spell, causing her large luggage to shrink.
“Marinette.” She heard the scolding tone, “What did you do?”
“Just lightening my load.” Marinette defended, “Can’t run from homicidal demons with it on me.”
“Be careful, please .” Her mother stressed the last word.
“I will Maman, enjoy your party. I’ll call when I get home.” The two said their good-byes and Marinette sent a quick text to her friends, letting them know her safe landing. With everyone notified, she set off on her path to her parent’s bakery. Normally, someone would pick her up, whether it be her parents or friends, but with the surprise travel in the middle of the year and her late flight; it was hard to coordinate for her to be picked up. Which didn’t matter to her, it allowed the teen to re-accommodate with her home country and familiarize herself with the streets.
Plus, it gave her a chance to read more on the mysterious attacks that’s been happening. The information that her mother sent over before her flight wasn’t detailed. She was familiar with demon onslaughts or the occasional Spirit encouncounters in her home city, since she is the main reason they were present. However when she leaves Paris, the activity of said entities goes quiet, so for attacks to occur when she was gone is concerning. Add to the fact that, based on the information she received, the attacks didn’t seem like demon or spirit ones; at least not the ones she was used to was another red flag.
“Then there’s that mysterious ‘hero’.” Marinette thought out loud as she read through some more articles on her phone. In all the scenes reported, someone fought the strange ‘beings’ that were attacking the city. Then after the fight was over, all the damage that was caused during the fight was mysteriously repaired, and anyone who had injuries were healed. How they did it, or who they are, is still unknown. “What is their reason though? No one just fights like that without a motive.” She chuckled to herself, thinking of a friend of hers. Before she could go back to researching more, her senses went wild as she felt a power surge.
Not long after, she heard a shout. “I. AM. STRONG.” Without thinking, Marinette ran full throttle towards the ruckus and allowed her senses to guide her through the maze of back alleys. It didn’t take long to reach the plaza and the sight before her made her pause. A man was scrambling to get away from the offender, and Marinette didn’t blame him. The being was large, about 8 foot, and had huge arms that were bashing the ground, trying to crush the man. “You think all women are weak? That they can be fooled or taken advantage of? I. SHOW. YOU.” It howled as it continued it’s attack.
Marinette looked at the man again and saw he was tightly holding onto a purse. She assumed it once belonged to the monster, how? She had no clue. When the man tripped again and the monster was about to crush him for sure, she moved to help. However a small green figure suddenly appeared, his back facing her, and projected a green shield around the man.
“Go!” The figure yelled, and the man didn’t hesitate in escaping. As he passed her, Marinette snatched the bag in his hands and shook her head when he tried to get it back.
“Do you really want the object that caused all of this?” She challenged and the man paled before bolting. The teen rolled her eyes and turned back to the fight in time to see a better view of the ‘hero’. It was a man, as far as she could tell, with a green pointed conical hat that allowed his features to be shadowed. His suit was a mix of a turtle and a ninja, with black pants but green shell-like armor. He was dodging the swings of the she-monster and when her large hands got stuck in the rubble, he took off his hat and used it as a weapon. Allowing her to see the man was older than she originally thought, but his features were still covered by a green mask.
Just as she thought he had it under control, the creature got its hands unstuck and began to constantly swing and smash that he was mainly dodging and blocking with his shield-like weapon. Marinette gasped when he misjudged one of the attacks and was knocked into the adjacent building, she shot an energy attack to distract the powered up beast.
“Hey!” She taunted, trying to gain it’s attention. “Pick on someone who doesn’t care about gender-equality.” The monster growled in anger, switching it’s attack on the teen, charging at full speed. Marinette anticipated the advance and flipped at the last minute to dodge. It tumbled as it tried to stop and crashed into the street, debris flying everywhere when the force caused it to get buried. “You okay?” She used the distraction to check on the hero, helping him up as he struggled to get up.
“Yes, now you must leave. It’s not safe here.” He groaned, his face contorted in pain as he tried to push her away.
“Sorry, Grandpa.” She tried to lighten the mood, his effort useless when she stayed put. “By the looks of it, you need all the help you can get.” Before he could retort, another roar brought their attention to the creature as it managed to get itself free from the rubble.
“We need to get her necklace and get the Akuma inside it.” The turtle hero told her and Marinette’s eyes instinctively fell on the black pearl necklace and the multiple cover spots that now littered the once open area. As a plan formed in her head, she nodded to the older man.
“I’ll distract her, use the rubble as cover and get close to her. Let me know if you need me to restrain her, it’ll be tough but doable.” With no room to argue, she sped off into the battle before he could stop her.
In awe with the teen, he watched as she shot a blast of energy from her fist at the Akuma. Effectively gaining it’s attention and keeping it in the middle of the plaza that was set perfectly for him to sneak up on it. “Is it possible…” He began to think out loud but snapped out of it and moved to obtain the akumatized object.
“I. SHOW. YOU. I’m Miss Independent! I will show that women can protect themselves!” The Akuma roared as it tried to grab the blue-eyed girl.
Marinette laughed as she had fun flipping around the Akuma, “Hell yeah we can!” She punched her opponent in the chest with a spirit-charged fist when it got too close to her. She waited for an attack but, instead, she watched as Miss Independent growled to herself when an outline of a butterfly appeared on its face.
“No! First they must pay! Then I get Miraculous!” It roared before charging towards her again.
“This is getting a little old.” Marinette softly complained to herself as she sidestepped the attack and tripped the Akuma from behind when it stopped so it fell on her back. “People are jerks, I agree, but even they don’t deserve to be killed.” She kept Miss Independent's attention on her as she watched the turtle hero sneak up on the side.
He managed to grab the necklace just before the Akuma gained its footing and was thrown into a nearby building by one of it’s large hands. Not noticing the missing necklace, Miss Independent turned its attention onto her new, heavily injured, target. Marinette moved in front of the hero and shot another energy blast to force it towards the other end of the plaza. The force from the blast caused the Akuma to crash into the building and it crumbled on top of it.
“Okay, Gramps, what now?” The teenager asked as she tried to help the older man up but was stopped when he brought his hands up to break the pearl necklace.
From the broken piece, a black and purple butterfly fluttered away, “Get it.” He groaned in pain.
With a curse, she used a slanted piece of rubble as a launch pad and caged the insect in an energy sphere. “Not the best of barriers but it’ll do.” Just before Marinette caught the butterfly, Miss Independent freed itself from the debris and was shrunken down to normal size when it was caged.
Disoriented and uninjured, “What happened? Where am I?” The woman dazedly spoke as she tried to get her bearings.
Remembering the bag on her shoulder, Marinette quickly hid the butterfly and returned the previously stolen item back to her. “I found this, is it yours?”
Noticing the young teenager, the woman’s eyes lit up when she saw her bag, “Yes, a man snatched it from me.” She told Marinette with gratitude.
“I figured, it seemed odd when he had a stylish purse so I took it back.” She smiled back at the woman, before being caught off guard when the woman suddenly hugged her.
“Thank you. I thought that women would always be helpless. It’s relieving to know that’s not the case.” The woman stepped back and waved as she left the area.
“Be safe.” Marinette waved back and waited until she was out of sight before running back to the turtle hero. “That looks bad.” She kneeled down next to him, seeing the pool of blood as she set down the sphere cage.
“Past injury. Re-opened.” He gasped in pain. “Wayzz...Shell off.” Then, in a flash, the man no longer had the armor and was now dressed in a red and white hibiscus Hawaiian shirt with tan capri pants. However, the most shocking thing that caught Marenette’s attention was the small floating turtle...thing.
“Master!” The creature approached the wound, unsure how to proceed. “I told you this would happen...I don’t...I can’t…” It stumbled over it’s words as tears flowed.
“Wayzz.” The man coughed, “It’s okay, it’s time.”
“I can try to heal you.” Marinette’s hand began to glow and hovered them over his wounds before he lowered them with his own.
“No, child. I’m old, past my time, and honestly very tired. I only stayed this long so I can find someone to replace me.” The old man smiled sadly as he gazed into the youthful girl’s bluebell eyes.
“You don’t mean…” The creature trailed off as he also looked towards Marinette with wide eyes.
Seeing the man’s struggle to get up, she helped him, not minding the blood getting on her. “I’m Wang Fu, last surviving Guardian of the Miraculous and this is Wayzz; my Kwami partner.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Wayzz bowed to the teen before nuzzling next to his partner, tears still falling.
“What is a Miraculous? The woman from earlier mentioned it too.” Marinette asked as she used her energy the best she could to stop the bleeding.
“Normally, I would like to have more time to train you but I don’t have the luxury.” He winced when he tried to move in a more comfortable position, “The Miraculous allows you to see the Kwamis, divine god spirits, capable of great power. Some time ago, a few under my protection were stolen from me.” As Master Fu’s face paled from the lack of blood, Wayzz drew closer to him. “Take this bracelet.” He raised his hand, “Wayzz and the others will guide you on what to do with everything.”
“I can heal you.” Marinette tried again, not wanting to see the kind old man die.
“No, I have no regrets, I’m no longer strong enough to fight anymore. But you…” His eyes shined as he remembered the fight from earlier, “You’re strong, pure-hearted, and I can tell that you’re more mature than others your age; with that I can rest in peace knowing the Kwami’s protection will be with you.” He took both of her hands into his, “What is your name?”
“Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
“I, Wang Fu, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box and name Marinette Dupain-Cheng the new Guardian.” As he spoke, his body glowed and when he finished the flash of light vanished leaving Marinette puzzled at the action and a crying kwami.