Tales of the Bug and Cat

Chapter 31:We'll Meet Again

"Master Fu is a grand master. Basically, he's in charge of the miraculous'." Plagg said. He opened a package of camembert and started to eat it, ignoring Adrien saying not to.

"Plagg and I think that Master Fu is the only one who knows who the attackers were last night." Tikki said.

 Nathalie shook her head. "I'm sorry, but Adrien is already falling behind in his Chinese and his father will not be happy with anymore setbacks with the modeling."

"Please Nathalie, it won't take long." Adrien pleaded.

 Nathalie sighed, Gorilla gave her a side look.

"What's the address. You can get 10 minutes before we must get home." Gorilla shook his head at Nathalie's decision.

"Thank you Nathalie." Marinette said.

"Thank me by making this as fast as you can." Nathalie put the password into her tablet and rearranged the schedule for the short delay. Marinette smiled.

... 

Adrien was wowed as they walked into the small room. An older man sat in the middle of the room facing the door with his eyes closed. Something he couldn't place filled the air with a wondrous scent.The man raised is right hand in the air, greeting the kids and kwamis.

"Hello again, Ladybug. It's nice to formally meet you, Chat Noir.What are those marks on your faces?"

Adrien squinted his eyes at the man. "I-i know you. I helped you up on my first day of school. You're Master Fu?" Master Fu smiled and nodded. "Yes, Chat Noir. Your kindness was the first quality that lead me to see that you'd be a great Chat Noir."

"Thanks." Adrien said. His mind was going a mile per minute with thoughts.

"Hello." A green kwami said. "I'm Wayzz, Master Fu's kwami. Nice to see you again, Plagg!"

"It' been a while!" Plagg responded.  He and the other two kwamis went over to the windowsill to catch up.

"Master Fu?" said Marinette, speaking up. "We had a run-in with some-I don't know how to describe them- some criminals? They were looking for us, well us in superhero form."

"Well, you two are heroes-with or without a mask- but please tell me about these masked evils."

"At the dance, a crew of masked people, lead by a woman called Snake attacked. They were waiting for us of show up. They overpowered us and tied us to chairs." Adrien said.

"That's when they slashed our cheeks and put the knifes with our blood into bags. Then they left." Marinette continued. 

Master Fu nodded. "The Zodiacs."

"The what?"

"An ancient league from Shang-Hai, China. Almost as old as the Miraculouses, the league is called the Zodiacs. The league has 12 leaders  in charge, one other acts as the head. Each leader gains the name of a zodiac and had a team of  fighters as its minions. The original leader of the Zodiacs was the enemy of the mage who created the Miraculouses. At first the leader was jealous of the Miraculouses, but then when he saw the powers, he became fearful.  The man created the Zodiacs to find where the Guardians of the Miraculouses put each Miraculous, and destroy the Miraculoues! They believe this power is too dangerous, and will do anything to find and destroy them. Very sly, smart, and sneaky. If they left you unharmed, besides a mark on the cheek, then there must be something greater at stake!" Master Fu said. 

"Oh...great." Marinette commented. She sat down besides Master Fu. "You said each of the 12 leaders had a team of fighters, how many fighters?"

"Not sure."

"Wow. We'll were here, I have another question that has been on my mind for a few days." Adrien said, remembering his thoughts during class.

"Yes?"

"Can people be akumatized more than once?" Adrien asked.

Master Fu sighed. He walked over to his china cabenet and opened the drawer. From the drawer, was a good sized red book. "I've started deciphering the book, and what I've found is basically useless. So I can't say whether or not people can be akumatized multiple times."

"What have you found out?" asked Adrien curiously. He couldn't believe that this book was hiding in his house all this time.

"So far... I have deciphered the Table of Contents and that's it. It's not much, but it's a start."

Plagg sudently flew up. "FU! I FORGOT! DUUSU!  I found where the Peacock Miraculous is! It's hidden in Adrien's home!"

Master Fu jumped up. "You found where Duusu is? How did it get there?"

"I don't know. I don't know why my Father had it, or the spellbook." Adrien said.

Master Fu rubbed his chin in thought. His eyes suddenly lost their life and Fu looked like someone died. "I have an idea, before I say, I'm going to do some...research. ...Don't worry, Adrien."

The car honked its horn, telling Marinette and Adrien to hurry up.

"We have to go." Tikki said. 

"Until next time, then." Wayzz said.

Plagg took one last look behind me. "What's that delicious smell?"

"I just finished a delicious delivery from a pizza restaurant. I ordered spinach pinwheels, which is probably what you smell." Master Fu responded.

Adrien and Marinette left laughing with Plagg and Tikki in their pockets.

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"Are you thinking what I am?"

"Yes."

"It's not good. If it's true, at any time he can strike."

"I know." Master Fu finally responded. His eyes went solemn again. "Adrien is in danger."