Miraculous World: Georgia Chapter 1

This story is a fanfiction of the world of Miraculous: the Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. I own none of the canonical characters, nor the setting. Continuity errors are my own. It begins shortly after Miraculous World: New York.

—-

Chapter 1: Glide

In the daytime? I’m Sarah. Just a normal girl with a normal life.

“Lizzy! Anna! Come on, it’s breakfast time and we have to get to school!”

Sarah Fischer reflexively reached up to brush back her dirty blonde bangs, and it was only when her fingers met her face that she remembered that she had a new headband since their family trip to New York City the previous week. One that she would probably not take off ever again. It wasn’t a particularly pretty one, just plain black with a white part in the middle. No, the important part was what it meant.

“Are you ever going to tell them about me?” The quiet voice came from her purse and belonged to something that an outsider might mistake for a squishy plush penguin. At least, until they saw him fly around, talk, and eat three times his body weight in fish. He called himself a Kwamii. The Kwamii of Movement.

“You know I can’t any time soon, Kerah. I’m not a registered superheroine, so I have to keep it a secret until I can get used to it enough to pass the test.” Sarah made her way around the corner to where her mother was cooking the food in question. Eggs on rice, a family favorite since they visited Korea a year before. “Thanks, Mom! Where’s Dad?”

The shorter, blue-eyed woman glanced over at her oldest daughter. “Oh, he got a call from work early this morning. Some emergency or other. Dad should be back before breakfast is over. Bring these two bowls to the table, please?”

“Sure thing! You said you’re going to the grocery today, can you get more fish?” Sarah reached over and grabbed the bowls carefully to get them to where they could be safely eaten.

“You girls are certainly going through a lot of it these days! I’ll get another couple of packs, it’s a good thing your father and I also like it as much as we do.”

“Dad would eat nothing but sushi if you let him.” When Sarah got back out to the dining room, her sisters were already there. Tiny, skinny, and tanned, her middle sister Lizzy was adjusting her new barrettes. Blue and polka dotted wasn’t what Sarah would have picked as a souvenir, but they worked. Anna was sitting at the table ready to eat, her own new accessory (a bracelet made of neon pink stones strung together) was on her right wrist.

I’d bet they didn’t get them from the same person I did! As Sarah noticed the accessories, she began to daydream a bit. The moment when she dove across a road to get an old lady out of the way of a speeding car. The fire escape landing in the moonlight when Sparrow finally tracked her down, her and that old man, to give her the Miraculous. The speech, telling her to use the powers for good and never for selfish things.

Fond memories flowed, she could remember Kerah appearing before her like it was yesterday. Considering it was last week, that was still good! The fond memories ended fast, though, as their house shook. Houses shouldn’t shake. Not when none of them were upstairs with a jump rope. That could only mean one thing.

The television, which had been showing a bit on a local craft fair, suddenly cut to the news. Monster attacks weren’t exactly common in South Georgia, after all, so a big one rampaging through the woods headed for Savannah was worthy of coverage. “This is Ryan Parker with the Morning News!” The man onscreen had a deep tan and bright white teeth, his clothing looking sharp. His hair probably would have as well if it wasn’t for the headphones and the fact that he was in a helicopter. “What looks like a giant rock monster is stomping northward, Slipstream and Tidal are nowhere to be seen!”

What? Our own superheroes aren’t stopping it? Looks like a job for me! Sarah ran to the fridge and grabbed a pack of sliced fish, shoving it into her purse next to Kerah. “I think I need some fresh air, see you all at the bus stop!” As she dashed out the door, her mother asked if she had eaten. Shouting back “I’m good, Mom!”, she ran towards the woods near their home. As soon as she was in cover and out of sight, she said the words which were shared with her that fateful day in New York. “Kerah, SKATE!”

The response was instant. One moment, Kerah the plush-looking penguin was sitting in her purse. The next, he flew into her new hairband, starting the magic. Her comfortable school clothes changed. One second, they were a skirt and tee shirt. The next, she was in black dress pants and a crisp white shirt, black jacket and mask forming on her as she ran. Despite their looks, they were light and comfortable. Perfect for fighting monsters in. Finally, a pickaxe formed in her right hand. One with a black haft and a bright white head, looking like it was designed to climb and carve ice.

Sarah Fischer was gone. The superheroine Tux had arrived.

With an excited shout, she leaped through the trees. Kerah had told her that the Kwamiis enhanced their wearers’ physical abilities. It was one thing to hear it, but another thing entirely to get to feel it. To get to nearly fly among the tree trunks as she bounced from one to another. To get to swing from branch to branch. To leap across clearings she could have played soccer in.

To almost literally run into the rock monster she was pursuing. Okay, so maybe she needed practice this whole “superheroine” thing. Whatever, she was here now, time to get to it!

Now, “rock monster” was one way to describe the thing in front of her, which thankfully hadn’t noticed the tuxedo-clad girl a quarter of its height as it stomped forward. More than twenty feet of what looked like gray-brown gravel in the vague shape of a man moved on, its substance stripping bark and branches from the trees as it walked by. Step by enormous step, it was going towards the nearest large town. For what purpose, Tux could not know.

She knew she had to stop him, though. If the monster was going to do something that would make people happy, he wouldn’t need to be rampaging, now would he?

How am I gonna do that, though? Every good superhero knows that you have to use the tools you have on hand… you know, maybe talking could work?

She leapt forward into the monsters path and tried shouting so that it could hear. “Hey! Do you need some help?”

In response, it reached out one rocky hand and smacked her out of its way. The leaves and branches were annoying and sharp at that speed and her ribs hurt from the hit. What really sucked was hitting a tree directly. She could have lived a lot more happily without that part.

Guess they aren’t interested in talking. Okay, plan B. Use the superpowers to defeat the monster and go home. But… how?

Tux looked around like any superhero should. There had to be an option here! She had her climbing axe, she had an angry rock monster, and she had a lot of trees. What could she do with that?

Wait! There’s one more thing I have!

“Okay, Kerah. I know you told me I’d only have five minutes once I use this, but I think I need to. GLIDE!”

Instantly, her dress shoes glowed with the power she called, and Tux found herself hovering about an inch over the ground. She wobbled a bit until she got the feeling down, but it kind of reminded her of roller blades. She immediately regretted not doing that activity more, but it was too late for that now. She kicked off, and quickly figured out what her power could do. Emphasis on quick, she launched forward at three times the speed she expected and slammed face first into another tree.

Okay, bad news is my face. Ow. Good news is that I know what my power does now! Pickaxes aren’t exactly the best for cutting down trees, but I think the one in front of me is just the right size for this. Not too many branches up top, either.

Much more carefully this time, she kicked backwards a few paces… then charged forward, winding up a mighty strike with her pickaxe. The tree, which had been standing about a dozen feet tall and two across, was much more impressed by her actions than the rock monster and toppled over with a series of loud cracks.

That’s step one, now for step two…

She hefted the fallen tree, finding it easy enough to lift with her enhanced strength. Her magical speed wasn’t affected by the weight at all, either.

“HEY! Big gravel guy!” The stomping stopped, and the enormous monster turned to face her. “Catch!”

Tux charged forward as fast and as hard as she could. Her pickaxe probably wouldn’t have had too much of an effect on it. Thing is? She wasn’t using her pickaxe. Moving forward so fast that the trees seemed to blur by, she threw the tree trunk straight at the monster’s chest. It didn’t try to dodge, probably too surprised to try. The wooden missile was moving faster than the cars on the highway by a long shot, and when it hit, the resulting sound was one of the loudest things Tux had ever heard. Gravel flew everywhere as the body of the monster flew backwards. It slammed into a much larger tree trunk than the one she had, and when the dust settled there was a man slumped on the ground unconscious.

He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, looking like he just escaped from a prison. His skin was tanned, his hair dark, and his build was big and bulky. Where he needed to go was obvious. There was just one problem. Tux had three minutes left before she turned back into Sarah. Even at her magically enhanced speed, she wouldn’t be able to get him anywhere near a police station. A sudden splashing sound interrupted her thoughts. Idly, she wondered where it could have come from since there weren’t any rivers or streams nearby.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” The voice was a familiar one, powerful and full of authority. She turned and saw him. Tall, dressed in a wetsuit lined with brown fur, thick tail behind him, whip at his side, and stone necklace around his neck. It was Slipstream, a hero. Her hero, not just because she lived in his town. He was one of the daring duo, Slipstream and Tidal, she looked up to them in a big way. Really, they were the reason she was so excited to be a superheroine herself!

Tux realized she’d been standing and admiring for a bit too long. “Oh! Uh, I’m Tux. I’m new around here, but I saw the monster and didn’t see any heroes so I jumped in!”

“You look too young to be doing superhero work around here, and I don’t remember seeing any new heroes on the registry.” The man was walking over to sling the villain over his shoulder. “Look, I appreciate what you did. Thank you for stepping in and everything, but please do things the right way next time. You got hurt today.” Tux felt a burning sensation on her upper arm, it was probably some kind of cut or abrasion. “The other thing is, we don’t take well to vigilantes around here. If I catch you pretending to be a superhero again before you get registered, I’m going to have to bring you in.”

“Hey! That isn’t very fair, I took down a monster for you!”

“And that’s why I didn’t bring you in today, young lady. Please, you look like you could be a good one, just do it right.” He tilted his head, ear twitching. “Your headband’s beeping. You might want to check that out.” Without another word, he ran off in the direction of the nearest town, the prisoner over his shoulders.

My headband is beeping? Oh no! I’m almost out of time, and I’m WAY away from where I need to be!

Glide was still going, so it was time to put it to the test! Trying to run at beyond-maximum speed through the woods didn’t seem like a good idea, but there was a trail nearby going in the right direction. Tux took off as fast as her legs and her powers could carry her, desperately trying to get home. By the time her power ran out and she became Sarah again, she only had half a mile to go.

Compared to what she could do as Tux, Sarah had a long, slow way to go. Still, it gave her time to open up her pouch of sliced fish. “Thanks for today, Kerah. Hungry?”

“You bet I am!” The Kwamii floated beside her as both of them enjoyed muoching on the food. “Hey, Sarah? That hero, the Otter?”

“His name’s Slipstream.”

“He’s using a Miraculous, just like you! I thought the otter Kwamiis lost, but they’re here!”

“Wait. You’re telling me he has a spirit like you following him around?”

Kerah nodded and took another bite of fish. “Maya and Mishpah, the Kwamiis of Family. He’s teamed up with one of them, definitely. I’m pretty sure he recognized me, too. He knew what the beeping meant!”

“That’s a lot to think about, but we’re almost to the bus stop. Hide, we can talk about this later.” Sarah jogged up to where her school bus was going to stop, next to her sisters, and managed to do it about sixty seconds before her bus did.

Lizzy leaned over as they got on the bus. “Cutting it a bit close there, sis. I thought you left before us!”

Sarah giggled nervously. “Oh, you know, I got distracted. Happens to the best of us.”

The day at school dragged on painfully slowly. How was Sarah supposed to focus on American History when all she wanted to do was look up superheroes? It was driving her batty. It didn’t help that her stomach was growling by the second period, and she forgot her lunch. Who could blame her for being distracted by superhero business? Anna noticed, though, and did what sisters together do. She shared half of her sandwich while making fun of her oldest sibling.

All in all, Sarah was really grateful when she got home. At least the day was done, and Dad was home early. The three of them did the traditional greeting they had been doing since they were barely old enough to remember: they all dogpiled the man with giant hugs.

“Hey girls! Happy to see you, too!” Sam Fischer was a plain kind of man. Average build, brown eyes, and glasses. The smile on his face made up for all of that, though, he always loved to see his daughters. “How was your day today?”

The ever-chatty Anna was first off the mark as usual. “Super busy, Dad! Now that everyone’s back from break it’s like all the teachers want to test!”

“Well, you know how it is, Anna. They have to… Sarah? You okay? What happened to your arm?”

With everything that had happened, Sarah had forgotten about the injury. “Oh, it’s nothing, Dad. Just tripped and fell this morning.”

“Looks like you rolled on gravel. Come on, it’s still bright red. Let me at least clean it off.” He practically dragged his oldest off to the medicine cabinet, pulling down antibiotics and a large bandage.

Sarah knew better than to try to resist, he’d badger her until he knew she was taken care of. Wincing in pain she could feel now that she was thinking about it, she rolled up her sleeve.

Her dad paused suddenly as he was checking out the scrape, eyes narrowing. “Sarah. Are you sure you told me everything about how you got this? You haven’t fallen like this since you were a child.”

“I’m fine, Dad, don’t worry!”

“If you say so. Just make sure to eat up at dinner and get some rest, okay?” He had already applied ointment and bandage to the wound.

“Will do!” It helped that dinner, as usual, was delicious. The table was a place where the family always came together, and it was good to be with them. Tonight, they could laugh and rest.

I have a secret that nobody knows about me. I’m Tux!