Secret Quartet

Magic Conventions and Rich People Deals

     "Hey guess what? You're invited to New York," Sam Manson said in a mock-enthusiastic voice which turned out to be more sarcastic and annoyed than she'd hoped.

     She was video chatting her two friends, Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley.

     "We're- What?" Danny asked.

     "My family is meeting some business friend in NYC and wanted me to go too to keep up appearances. I threatened to stay home and they told me I could invite you guys so that I would come. Well, do you want to come?" Sam asked.

     "Heck yeah, pretty girls, bright lights, new technology, I am in!" Tucker exclaimed.

     "But ghost attacks- I have to stay here to stop them," Danny said.

     And it was a valid reason for not wanting to go, but it would take a bit more for Sam to give up.

     "Valerie could take over for you. And if it gets too bad you could come back. And we could find some way to contact Dani," Sam suggested.

     Danny though for a moment and then shrugged. "Let me talk to my parents."

     "Woo! New Yooooork, here we come!" Tucker grinned.
~~~~~~~
     Chat Noir and Ladybug both entered the Miraculous Guardian's place.

     "Greetings, Ladybug, Chat Noir. Please, sit," Master Fu greeted.

     They sat.

     "So what's all this about?" Chat asked.

     "Glad you asked. There will be a.. Convention, I suppose, for magic. It's going on in New York in the USA and it's being hosted by an old friend of mine. It's on next Saturday and Sunday. I'd appreciate it if one or both of you went," Fu explained.

     They both thought for a moment.

     "I would love to, but I can't. I'm the only one who can purify akumas and if one attacks..," Ladybug didn't finish her sentence.

     "I can go," Chat lifted his hand like a student in class. "It sounds fun."

     Honestly, if Adrien hadn't already been going to New York his father, they'd have probably been out of luck. But seeing as the two Agrestes were supposed to both show up at a fashion show that Adrien would be modeling in that same weekend, he didn't see the harm in trying to find this convention.

     Fu nodded and turned to Ladybug. "If you change your mind I can set something up at any point in time. On another note, you may choose to have someone else accompany you for the duration of your partner's stay in New York."

     Ladybug nodded.

     "I'll be leaving sometime tomorrow, you might want to pick someone soon," Chat told her.

     "Oh," Ladybug said, a bit surprised.

     Fu nodded. "Very well."

     He stood up and went to an old gramophone on a shelf and punched in a code. The top opened, along with several different compartments along the sides.

     Ladybug and Chat stood up and walked over to the box.

     "Choose someone to join you in the absence of your usual partner," Fu said, standing back from the box.

     Ladybug thought for a moment and then retrieved the fox tail necklace from the top compartment.

     "Don't let things get too foxy without me," Chat winked.

     Ladybug smiled at his pun. "And you tell me what happens while you're there."

     "Of course," Chat bowed and kissed Ladybug's hand like a Victorian era gentleman.

     "Anything else?" Ladybug asked Fu.

     "I believe that's it," the old man said, a soft smile on his face at the previous gesture.

     "Then we'll be seeing you," Chat said and headed towards a window, leaving through it.

     "He knows there's a door, right?" Fu asked.

     Ladybug shrugged. "He's dramatic."

     She followed her partner. Through the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~
     Jake set up the last of the booths for the Magic Convention he was participating in. He huffed in exhaustion.

     "Why am I so tired?" Jake wondered.

     "That would be the magical deadzone we're entering. It makes it more difficult to do things, whether it be magic related or not," his grandpa explained.

     The older man had a habit of popping up out of nowhere unnoticed. Jake didn't always appreciate it.

     "...Is it an excuse to get more sleep?" Jake asked.

     Lao Shi sighed. "Yes. It is not, however, an excuse for you to slack in your duties."

     "Works for me," Jake shrugged.

     "Aside from that, the convention will be hosting important and well known people, not just in the magical community but to the humans as well," Lao mentioned.

     "Why would they be well known among humans?" Jake asked.

     "They're, for lack of a better word, superheroes. The rule either doesn't apply to them, they don't know it's in place, they can avoid the rules through some conditions, or don't fit the description of 'magical creature' enough for it to really count," Lao Shi explained.

     "Okay, I guess. Are there any other things you need me to do or...?" Jake asked.

     "No, you're done for the day," Lao Shi dismissed him.
~~~~~~~~~~
     A forest surrounded a figure in red and black. The figure slashed various scribble warriors down, defeating most of them.

     "That all you got, Nomicon?" the figure called out smugly.

     Then, from behind, an undefeated and unnoticed scribble warrior whacked him upside the head.

     "Ow!" the figure, the Ninja, turned and slashed at the scribble warrior with his silver and red sword.

     Words appeared in front of the Ninja.

     The underestimated enemy is a victorious enemy.

     "The enemy doesn't normally try to take me out from behind," Ninja mumbled.

     Ninja could practically feel that if it had eyes, the Nomicon would be rolling them right about now.

     More writing appeared in the air.

     New York City holds many secrets to success.

     "New York? Like the actual NYC? That sounds.. Amazing!" Ninja grinned.

     The Ninja was promptly evicted from the magical book. He didn't really care though. The Ninja, now a (fairly) normal ninth grader named Randy Cunningham, leapt up from his place on his bed and sped to meet his parents in the living room.

     "Hey Moooom? Daaad?" he called.

     They looked up from their spot on the couch.

     "Can we go to New York City by any chance?" Randy asked.

     The two parents considered it for a moment. "I don't see why not."

     Trying his luck, Randy asked, "Can I bring Howard?"

     "Sure," his dad said.

     "Cool! I'm gonna go tell him," Randy said, speeding over to his best friend's house.

     Randy, though he didn't exactly doubt the Nomicon, hoped that the book knew what it was talking about.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The magical deadzone isn't gonna be very important in the plot (except for during the reveal), just a heads up. ~Lyla