'Mi-Rick-ulous'
A/N I don't own either Miraculous Ladybug, which is owned by Zag Toons and Thomas Astruc, or Rick and Morty which is owned by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.
This is sorta crack. I noticed no one had done a crossover of these two series and I had a small idea. Let's see how it goes.
"Could I have a strawberry tart please? And two of those demi baguettes as well?"
"Is that everything? Do you need a bag?... Here you are. That adds up to €4.00 please."
Marinette leaned against the front counter of her parent's bakery and sighed. Paris was experiencing the start of its tourist season, and the regular influx of tourists. Since it was in a prominent position in the city, the Dupain-Cheng Bakery was popular with the tourists and demand was higher than usual. And as usual, Marinette had been roped in by her parents to help out at the front counter. While it wasn't the worst job a girl could have, Marinette did have to admit that she was bored. However, it wasn't just her job that was causing the boredom.
Little had happened recently. Marinette could say that this was a good thing. A week had gone by without any Akuma attacks from the mysterious Papillion. Lapses such as that didn't occur very often, so Marinette tried to enjoy the time when Ladybug and Chat Noir didn't have to battle some unfortunate and pissed off Parisian with nefarious powers. This rare period of no akuma activity happened to coincide with the start of the summer holidays in France. This left our protagonist with more free time than she expected.
Unfortunately for Marinette, her friends didn't seem to be as idle. Alya started her part time job (with really demanding hours) and Nino left Paris to see family oversees (For at least a month). To add to that, Adrien was swamped with photoshoots and modelling appointments to attend to. If Marinette was a bit more confident, she would have tagged along, or made more of an effort to meet up with him by herself.
'If I was more confident with him.' Marinette mentally sighed to herself. 'Yeah right (!)… Adrien's probably not interested in even hanging with me without Nino and Alya. Especially when he's as busy as he is.'
Straightening herself up as she spotted two people, both tourists, arrive in, Marinette would have even been satisfied if she and Chat Noir could meet up. They didn't tend to patrol the area much, especially since Akuma attacks were quite random. It's not like they could text each other, or meet up in their civilian selves. As much as she'd like to, there had to be limits and rules in order to protect both of them. Still. It wasn't like she was expecting Papillion to stop his attacks altogether. Whatever he was planning, Marinette knew it wouldn't be long until he found another victim and released another akuma into Paris. She was certain that Ladybug would meet Chat Noir soon enough.
'Anyway, if the last year has shown me anything, it's that Papillion is dedicated to getting our Miraculous. He's not going to quit at this stage.'
She shook off those thoughts. Contemplating her enemy would have to wait. There were customers to deal with.
"Bonjour, welcome to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery-Patisserie. How may I help you-"
The older of the two people squinted at the display cabinet featuring a wide variety of baked goods. He paid no attention to Marinette.
"I don't know. Morty, you choose. My treat."
"Um…" The younger hummed and hawed. Marinette waited patiently while the teenager made his choice. "C…Could I get two croissants please? And maybe some of those chocolate chip cookies please? They…They look real nice."
Marinette took the serving tongs and placed took some of the cookies and placed them into a bag. As she made her way to do the same with the croissants, she heard the oven ping. There was a fresh batch of croissants to go out.
"Do you mind if I just get this batch of croissants? It'll just be a second, and they're fresh from the oven so…"
To the credit of the Grandfather, he just shrugged.
"Sure, knock yourself out kid."
She turned her back on the two tourists, focusing on the task at hand. Putting on her gloves and grabbing a different pair of tongs, Marinette couldn't help but overhear the two tourist's strange conversation.
"Why France, Rick? I…It's not that I don't appreciate a sudden vacation to Europe. I do, like it beats going to Suruleon Kae 9 to collect swamp creature slime for one of your experiments. But…It's just that-"
"What Morty?" The older man, Rick, sounded a bit offended. "Can't your Grampa teleport you to France for the day? I'm capable of doing nice things Morty. Jeez, didn't you see me there? Buying you cakes and shit?"
"I did see you, Grampa Rick. But…"
"But what?" replied the grandfather sarcastically.
His grandson sighed and looked at him sternly. "There's something else, isn't there Grandpa?"
"I can't believe you Morty." Rick shook his head in mock horror. "Can't trust lovable Grampa Rick, can you? You're tearing me apart, Morty."
"Not funny." Muttered Morty quietly, as he saw Marinette reappear with a tray of freshly made croissants.
As she handed them their purchases and took their money, Marinette kept an eye on both of them as they left. By the looks of it, they must have assumed she couldn't understand English. Little did they know that Marinette had been learning since she was small, and continued to have solid grades in the language. But even with her standard of English, what was she supposed to make of 'Suruleon Kae 9' and 'swamp creature slime experiments'?
'Was it some kind of new American slang?' Marinette dusted down her apron as she thought. 'They did seem as if they were from the United States, but I can't really say for sure…'
Marinette pursed her lips and leaned forward on the countertop as the door closed. It wasn't just the odd conversation that puzzled her. Marinette couldn't put her finger on what is was that was off about them, though it could have been the boy's nervousness or the grandpa's sarcastic character. It could have been the conversation. If Tiki had been with her, and not been upstairs fast asleep in her room, perhaps she could have explained what was off about them. Whatever it was, Marinette had a funny feeling about them.
But that had to wait for now.
"Hello, welcome to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. What would you like?"
XOXOXOXOX
It was later that afternoon that it occurred.
Having been given the rest of the day off, Marinette had headed out to the park. She pulled out her phone to text one of her friends- Juleka and Rose were around- when a sharp gasp nearby diverted her attention.
At a café not too far away, an outside TV showed that one of Paris's main broadcasters was on. A large enough group of people were gathered around it. With curiosity getting the better of her, Marinette made her way over. After a minute, it became clear what had been so important that so many people couldn't turn away from the news.
Someone had stolen the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.
"What?" Marinette exclaimed out loud, ignoring the stares of the strangers around her. "B…But that's impossible! How..."
Two possibilities came to mind; a highly organised criminal gang who were capable of carrying out a theft like that in broad daylight, or somebody who had been akumatised! For once, Marinette would rather have bet on Papillion himself than consider the other possibility.
She stepped away from the café and looked around the particular area she was in. Once Marinette had found a small deserted alleyway, she opened up her purse.
"Tikki!" Marinette hissed, taking the uninformed kwami by surprise. "I think Papillion has come back. The Mona Lisa had disappeared in broad daylight!"
"What?" Tikki's eyes widened. "You mean, this afternoon? Oh my goodness."
"I just found out back a minute ago." Sighed Marinette. "It makes no sense. How could it be stolen in the middle of tourist season? Security is very tight as it is, and with the crowds that go to see it, there has to be witnesses."
"I know. This isn't good at all." Tikki's face pulled a frown. "I guess normal service has resumed, huh?"
Marinette nodded. "Well then, someone's going have to do something."
Tikki winked at her partner. "You know what to do."
"Tikki! Transform me!"