Stuck

Chapter Four: In Which We Meet Master Fu

I knock on the wooden apartment door. A voice inside says: 'Come in Ladybug and Chat Noir.' We open the door and walk in. Master Fu looks vaguely surprised when we walk in as our superhero selves but nods slowly as we recount what happened.

'Could it be a side effect of an akuma?' I ask, 'I mean, she was focussed on getting our Miraculouses as usual but I don't think this was one of her goals. And anyway, I cleansed the akuma as usual.' Master Fu nods.

'Hmm. I was reading the book again last night and it mentioned something similar to this happening.' At our confusion, he explains more. 'At the back of this book, there's a section for Miraculous holders and the Guardians to write about their experiences as a superhero. It's coded of course, but I've deciphered most of it.'

'So this has happened before?' Chat asks.

'Well, not to the Ladybug and Cat MIraculouses but in theory, yes.'

'So which Miraculouses did this happen to? We could ask the kwamis what happened, couldn't we?' I press on.

'No, Ladybug, it was the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses.' he says gravely.

'Oh.'

'Let me get the book; I'll show you.' Master Fu walks over to the shelf and gets his phone.

'Forgive me if I'm wrong but that's a phone, not a book.' Chat comments.

'Yes, I had to give the book back to its original owner but I took pictures of all the pages for future reference.' He turns on the phone and types in a long and complicated password. The phone opens to a lock screen with a picture of us two, sometime after an akuma fight. That's not creepy at all....although, Alya probably has weirder pictures than that. Master Fu clicks on Gallery and swipes through images before he finds the one he's looking for. The page is mostly writing in that strange language but around the sides and the bottom of the page, there's a few sketches; a horse, an umbrella, the outline of a man, a small glass bottle.

'Do you know what these mean? Like, do they have any significance to it?' Chat asks.

'I'm not sure, I think they're just drawings of things that they saw.' I nod. Whoever it was is great at drawing.

'So what happened to them?' Chat asks, 'Are we going to be stuck like this or not?'

'I'm not sure. Your Miraculouses are quite different from the peacock and butterfly ones. They're much more powerful to start with, and the powers that come with them are very different as well.'

'Then we could be stuck like this forever?' I ask worriedly.

'No, that's not likely. The holders of the Miraculouses were only stuck for a few days. Yours, on the other hand, are much more powerful so it's likely that you may be stuck a little longer than them.'

'Yeah, but how did they transform back? I mean, surely they put that in there.' I interrupt.

'Their Miraculouses simply changed them back; it doesn't say why.'

'Okay, but what about school and our families? What are we supposed to do about them while we're stuck like this?' Chat says nervously. I nod in agreement. Maman and Papa will be worried sick if I go missing for a few days.

'I'm not sure. You're welcome to stay here if you need to but only in emergencies; we don't need to attract any extra attention especially from Hawkmoth.'

'We understand. But, Master Fu, what are we supposed to do? Like food and shelter wise.' I ask.

'I have a bit of spare money that I've kept aside, in case of any Miraculous emergencies but it's not very much, I'm afraid.' He starts to get up to get it.

'No, no, don't worry about money, I - we can get that from our own wallets. It's just that, won't it look strange if we just rock up to the supermarket or somewhere and start buying food and blankets and things?' Chat asks.

'Not necessarily. I mean, everyone knows that there's a person under your masks so they could assume that you just came back from an akuma and needed something to eat.' There's a pause in the conversation for a moment.

'So is there really nothing we can do?' I ask quietly.

'I'm sorry children, but I can't help; there's nothing about them transforming back in that piece of writing. I'll continue looking through the book to see if I can find anything.' Master Fu promises.

'Do you think Hawkmoth could be stuck like this?' Chat wonders, 'Will there be more akumas than usual?'

'It's possible, but he might not be; remember last time it only happened to a pair of miraculouses even though the others were active.

'So we might have to work overtime?' I say.

'It's possible but not likely. I think that is all I know about this. I'll try my hardest to find anything else useful.'

'Thank you, Master Fu. Do you know of any places we could stay while we're like this?' I ask.

'You could probably stay in a hotel or something similar, but since it's summer, you'll probably be fine outside if you want to leave less of a trail for Hawkmoth to follow.' Suddenly there's a knock on the door.

'It'll be one of my customers. Just go out the window, I'll call you if I find anything.' He says hurriedly, ushering us out. We nod and then move as one to get outside. Not really knowing where we're going, we just jump around on the rooftops. As usual, we end up at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

'So.' We sit there quietly, any conversation we have going nowhere.

'What are we supposed to do about our families?' Chat asks, 'Because I know my father will be freaking out already, he's super over - pawtectic.'

'Mine are pretty chill but they'll definitely freak out if I, you know, go missing.'

'Lucky. I was homeschooled until the start of this year because apparently 'It wasn't safe enough'.'

'Oh. Hmm, I could probably tell my parents that I'm staying at a friend's house and then tell my friend that I'm sick.'

'That could work; for a few days at least. What about me though? My father hardly lets me out of the house as it is.' I think for a moment.

'What about if you say there's a school camp? That gives you an excuse to be away for a week or so and then, well, yeah.' I say.

'Pawsome idea mi'lady. But how do we get me looking like me so I can tell him? He doesn't even know that I'm out of the house.'

'There's always makeup, I suppose.'

'And the ears?'

'Okay, maybe not.'

'How about we go get something to eat, it's getting a bit late, and then we can keep talking about it while we eat.'

'Sure. I'm kinda hungry too.' I get up, 'Where do you want to go?'

'Well, the bakery's nice. Do you know if it's still open?' Chat asks.

'I think it's shutting soon because, oh, what's the day?'

'Wednesday.'

'Yeah, it shuts early on Wednesday.'

'Shame. I could do with some more croissants.'

'We'll get some more tomorrow. Why don't we just wander around for a bit? Surely we'll find someplace to eat.'

'Okay, sounds purr-fect mi'lady.' 

Hope you liked this part. As usual, vote and comment. Until next time!