Author's Note: THANK YOU.
You've absolutely swept me off my feet with your reactions to this story! I still consider myself a beginner but you've made me feel over the moon!
I hope you'll like the second chapter. Don't forget to let me know.
Chapter 2. The luck of a black cat
ladyblog .fr
entry: Sunday, June 16th
author: Alya Cesaire
type of entry: akuma attack
date of occurrence: Saturday, June 15th
akuma: Party Pooper
on scene: Ladybug, Chat Noir
lucky charm: unknown
source: anonymous
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Greetings Bugheads!
Last night Paris endured another akuma attack boldly deflected by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Unfortunately this time yours truly had fallen victim to the Akuma's powers and had to rely fully on other reports. Due to the nature, but also time and place of the attack no footage is available. The action took place late in the evening and with poor light which made it practically impossible to register any video material.
The Akuma called themselves Party Pooper and turned out to be an annoyed neighbor who had to suffer through too many student parties recently. They were very keen on confiscating alcohol and their main power was the ability to put people to sleep. This power was also partly responsible for the lack of coverage as all the witnesses snoozed as soon as they were spotted by the Akuma (including your favorite blogger).
The details of defeating Party Pooper are unknown, the only clear thing is that it took much longer than average, even though the Akuma didn't seem to posses any powers difficult to deflect. Without any direct reports it is impossible to speculate on the reasons of this turn of events.
Many thanks to anonymous users who provided the reports. Thank you for your contribution.
Stay connected!
Alya Cesaire
Marinette was slowly making her way to Master Fu's parlor, zombie style. She shambled, her shoulders hunched, with half-lidded eyes blinking constantly. She was yawning so wide that Plagg was expecting her jaw to fall off anytime.
'Oi, lass! Stop sleepwalking! You nearly hit that lamppost over there!' The black sprite hissed from her purse. He had yet to get over the fact that he was traveling in a pink girly bag reeking of chocolate chip, but Marinette refused to let him hide anywhere on herself.
'Stop nagging me, PlaaA-A-Aaagg.' The girl yawned in response. 'I'm sleeping,' she mumbled.
'It's nine o'clock. You should have been awake long time ago.' The little cat complained. 'Aren't you bakers' daughter? They're supposed to be up before dawn, you know.'
'Bakers – yes. Daughters – no.' Marinette snapped irritably. 'Daughters who happened to be fighting an Akuma half of the night – definitely not.' She muttered under her breath stopping just in time to avoid being ran over by a car.
'I heard that,' Plagg grumbled. 'And I saw that too. Watch it, girl. I don't want to become marmalade at my age.'
'Everything is under control,' Plagg's current charge mumbled.
'Yeah, right. Like you had it under control last night?' The black cat chuckled.
Marinette stopped and turned to her purse, deadpanned. 'We've agreed to never talk about last night again.'
Plagg sent her a shit-eating grin and was about to retort, when she drawled in a low growl. 'Unless…' The kwami gulped seeing her hitherto sleepy eyes narrowing in defiance, 'Unless you want to go on camembert-free diet. Indefinitely.'
Adrien had threatened Plagg many times with camembert withdrawal but he never had the guts to actually do it, despite all Plagg's shenanigans. So the kwami had learned to ignore such threats. But now looking into Marinette's piercing blue stare he could feel it in his millennia old bones that this was a force to be reckoned with.
The black cat put on his most innocent smile and chirped. 'Last night? I was fast asleep and snoring all the way!'
'That's better,' the girl replied and resumed her stroll towards Master Fu's.
Plagg's attention span, just like any other cat's wasn't exactly long. He got bored pretty quickly.
'Why isn't Adrien joining us?' He asked when he couldn't take the dull sleepy silence anymore. 'What "family emergency" could he have?'
Marinette sighed heavily. What she would give for Adrien to be there with her. Not 24 hours in Plagg's company and she was already fighting the urge to bite his head off. She tried to be understanding and optimistic, but he wasn't making it easy and after having lousy four hours of sleep frankly she stopped caring.
'Adrien couldn't come because his father requested his presence.' She finally replied.
'Ah, probably another photoshoot or a fitting,' Plagg nodded knowingly.
'Not really,' Marinette's lips curled into a mild smile. 'Apparently Mr. Agreste wanted to spend some quality time with him this Sunday. They were supposed to eat brunch together and then maybe watch a movie or two, play some board games, that kind of thing.'
'Now you're just pulling my leg, lassie,' the black kwami risked a glance from the purse, checking out the sky for flying pigs. 'That kind of thing never happens.'
'It happened today,' the girl shrugged. 'Better late than never, I guess. Adrien really needed that so today we're on our own.'
With that Marinette finally stopped at the front door to the massage parlor. She was about to knock when her gaze fell on a note pinned to the frame.
'Come inside, girl. We haven't got all day,' Plagg chided her from the bag. 'I need to stretch my paws and get some rest from that chocolate bug reek.'
'Master Fu is away.' She said slowly.
'What do you mean he's away?!' Plagg discreetly flew out of his hideout to look at the note himself.
'A trip to China. Family matters,' The girl explained.
'I told you so! The luck of the black cat strikes again!' The little cat muttered ominously pointing an accusatory paw at his replacement charge.
'Plagg, be reasonable. Me and Adrien are in this together.' Marinette tried to calm her kwami down. 'Shouldn't Laddiebug's luck cancel my bad luck?'
'Theoretically,' he replied gravely.
'What do you mean?' she asked carefully.
'I mean,' Plagg mocked her tone, 'he's not here now, is he?'
'Come on. I refuse to believe it works this way,' Plagg's current Chosen snorted. 'You're trying to tell me that if Adrien was here Master Fu wouldn't go to China?!'
'Maybe…' the black sprite replied quietly.
'Maybe?' the girl choked.
Little green eyes were watching her impudently. 'Ever heard of Schrödinger's cat?'
Marinette battered her lashes and asked sweetly, 'Is he a relative?'
ladyblog .fr
entry: Monday, June 17th
author: Alya Cesaire
type of entry: akuma attack
date of occurrence: Monday, June 17th
akuma: Monday Blues
on scene: Ladybug, Chat Noir (eventually)
lucky charm: unknown
source: anonymous, statement by Prefecture de Police
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Greetings Bugheads!
New week kicked off with another night time akuma. It seems Hawk Moth finally realized that moths are nocturnal. Although last night showed that neither bugs nor cats are, the latter being somewhat surprising.
Like last time not many details are known, the occurrence taking place well after midnight with few witnesses, poor light and high above any observation points.
Our sources reported that this time Ladybug arrived at the scene much earlier, with Chat Noir joining her for the final encounter, but providing next to no support. A witness stated the battle was probably a difficult one as Ladybug stumbled over her feet and many of her yoyo throws missed their targets, which should be probably chalked up to lack of night-vision. Chat Noir who is known to aid the heroine in such circumstances arrived extremely late, tired and in an uncharacteristically snappish mood.
Most of the battle took place above rooftops and the heroes left right after depositing the unlucky akuma victim in capable hands of police officers.
As usual a huge thank you to our anonymous informants. Thank you for your contribution.
Stay connected!
Alya Cesaire
Nino, Alya, Marinette and Adrien sat on a bench in the school yard. Marinette had curled into a little ball of crying mess and trembled slightly from time to time, constantly emitting silent sobs. Adrien was at her side and doing his best to comfort the girl. He tried rubbing circles round her back despite Nino's inquisitive stares.
Alya sat at the other side of her best friend, staring ahead. She was also shaking a little, her pupils still dilated from previous adrenaline boost. The redhead was taking deep breaths to calm herself down, while Nino patted her hand.
Apart from sobs and breaths the girls kept quiet. The boys exchanged worried glances over their heads.
Finally Alya regained her speech enough to splutter in Marinette's direction. 'Are you trying to get yourself killed?!'
There was a whimper from Marinette in response and Adrien doubled his efforts at calming his almost-girlfriend down. He shot Alya a warning stare, but she didn't notice, apparently still recalling the horrible scene that took place just a few minutes earlier while she continued her rant.
'I mean, yeah, we know you're clumsy and unfocused but this was big even for you!' the blogger shook her head and turned to her friend.
Marinette shrunk even more into herself. Adrien gave up with keeping up the appearances and tried to hug her. Nobody cared – all eyes trained on Marinette.
Meanwhile Alya reached the boiling point. 'It was a freaking bus!' She burst out. 'How the hell could you not see it coming at you?!'
'That's enough, Alya!' Adrien interrupted any further scolding. 'Let's calm down a bit, okay? It was just wrong place and wrong time.' He said in what he hoped was a conciliatory tone. Right now he was fighting the urge to throw his good manners out of the window and just claw Alya like a cat he had been up until recently.
Nino, picking up on the warning growl at the back of Adrien's throat, immediately backed his friend up. 'Yeah, dude. It was just an extreme case of bad luck, is all.'
At that Marinette gave a snort, her head still hidden between her arms. For Nino's ears it sounded suspiciously close to a hiss.
'And,' Nino continued, now slightly uneasy, 'in fact you were lucky Adrien was there. He pulled you out of the way at the last second. That's what I call a stroke of luck, dude,' the boy pointed out. He thought he was being helpful so he was totally taken aback by his friends' reactions.
Because Alya facepalmed, Adrien groaned while Marinette…
Marinette's head emerged slowly from between her shoulders in an almost predatory motion. She casted Adrien a murderous look, her eyes narrowed to slits. The girl released an uncomfortably low rumble and stormed in the direction of the locker room leaving the three of her friends startled and gaping.
ladyblog .fr
entry: Wednesday, June 19th
author: Alya Cesaire
type of entry: akuma attack
date of occurrence: Tuesday, June 18th
akuma: unknown
on scene: Ladybug, Chat Noir
lucky charm: a cheesecake (unused)
source: Alya Cesaire
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Greetings Bugheads!
Another nighttime akuma showed up on Tuesday evening, courtesy of our most hated super villain.
I thinks it's safe to say that there seem to be a shift in business hours for Hawk Moth. But it's not the only thing that's new.
It became obvious that Ladybug and Chat Noir are dealing with some sort of a crisis. As evidenced in last few attacks their teamwork is lacking, their abilities seem to be crippled and the morale is falling. They are still capable enough to bring down the akumatized villains, but they take more time and end up more frustrated than ever.
Last night only confirmed this trend. Once again the fight took much longer than average, although within the parameters of the last few encounters. Witnesses, who like yours truly were able to observe the fight only from afar, claim that Ladybug had some difficulties in handling her weapon, as she kept tangling herself and sometimes also her partner in her own yoyo. The battle was resolved without any need to apply Lucky Charm, as Chat Noir knocked out the Akuma with a powerful and unexpected throw of his baton, which seemed to be a surprise for himself as well as for Ladybug.
After Miraculous Cure was released and the damage reverted the heroes once again left in a great hurry, making it impossible to obtain a comment from them.
One can speculate that the behavior described above might have been a result of the increase in the frequency of attacks and their timing. Apparently Hawk Moth's strategy to wear the heroes down has been successful.
Let's hope Ladybug and Chat Noir get some chance to rest and will be better prepared next time. The enemy is definitely feeling the summer in the air. We haven't seen anything like that before.
Stay connected!
Alya Cesaire
Note: The pictures and videos are of poor quality due to huge distance between my position and the fight.
As soon as the bell rang to lunch break Adrien turned in his seat to address all three of his friends.
'Guys! You wanna hang out this Friday at my place?' he asked excitedly. 'I was hoping you didn't have any plans yet?'
'I thought you had a photoshoot,' Marinette replied grumpily, resting her head on her desk between her folded arms. She'd been showing them a lot of her grouchy side the whole week. Adrien was hoping that his idea to hang out would cheer her up a bit. Clearly something was plaguing her thoughts, and the boy had a very strong suspicion as to what, or rather who was responsible.
'Yeah, not really,' the boy said rubbing the back of his head nervously. 'That got cancelled.'
'What?' Nino burst out. 'Dude, it's a third one in a row! That never happens!'
'It has happened now,' Adrien said with a bashful smile.
'And you're allowed to bring friends to the mansion?' Marinette asked, disbelief dripping from every word.
'Well. Father is in Milan and when Nathalie asked him, he kind of agreed,' her hopeful almost boyfriend admitted with a chuckle. 'I believe he said "Fine, as long as I can't hear them in here. But make sure the house is still there when I get back."'
This earned him a chortle from Nino. 'Bro, since when are you so lucky?'
Adrien shrugged, carefully ignoring a bloodthirsty glare from Marinette.
ladyblog .fr
[*live stream video: Alya Cesaire*]
Hi, Bugheads! Alya here! Liveblogging from the very center of action!
I'm at the scene while Ladybug and Chat Noir are approaching the Akuma. This is insane! He's shooting them with some sort of magical bullets or something. And all this mist came out of nowhere! I can't really see it clearly from here but I'm gonna try to get a better view, so stay tuned for the huge scoop to come! Whoo-
[*live stream video froze*]
.
.
' –psie... Shoot!' Alya dropped her phone when it got hit with a bullet. She suddenly realized she got herself directly into the firing line. Not good. She wasn't particularly eager to test the theory that if someone got killed as a result of the akuma attack, Miraculous Cure would bring them back. But on the other hand she was determined to get to the bottom of the strange behavior displayed lately by the heroes.
Suddenly she felt strong but slender arm at her waist and in the next second she was lifted off the ground and onto the nearest rooftop. Someone was holding her tightly pressed back-to-chest and running for cover. That someone, Alya realized, was no other than Chat Noir. But something was off about him.
Alya wasn't ashamed to admit that she often got herself into trouble with akumas. That was a risk every student at Françoise Dupont was exposed to, as this collège was apparently Hawk Moth's favorite recruiting point (not to mention Chloé's unintended yet constant efforts to support his case). It actually turned out to be a perk for Alya – the founder and blogger of the famous Ladyblog. The fearless and, let's be honest – unimaginative when it came to judging risks – redhead usually rushed after the Akumas with her phone at the ready, not caring in the slightest about her own safety, but always anxious to capture the biggest scoop. This was the reason she was quite accustomed to being saved by either Ladybug or Chat Noir and she prided herself on knowing the duo better than any other journalist or blogger could. So when Alya sensed something was wrong with Chat Noir, she had every reason to believe it was a fact.
Although apparently still in possession of super strength, the black clad hero seemed to be smaller than at their previous close encounter. His hands were definitely downsized and slimmer too. And when Alya started to register other differences she realized that although Chat seemed to shrunk in height there were a few places where there was considerably more of him – like for example in the chest regions that Alya was currently being pressed to. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable despite the unexpected softness of the aforementioned regions.
Chat Noir slowed down as the sounds of the battle ceased and after a flash of light the swarms of ladybugs started swishing through the air around them. For a moment Alya thought that maybe they would change Chat back into his previous shape, but then she remembered that the last akuma didn't have such powers to alter people's appearance. Her journalist streak immediately smelled a rat.
The girl was gently deposited on the rooftop, while Chat turned his back to her and looked in the direction in which the ladybugs disappeared. There was a familiar swoosh of a yoyo and Ladybug joined them.
'You okay?' She asked, panting heavily. Alya felt an unpleasant shiver down her spine at how low Ladybug's voice was. Even with a sore throat it shouldn't be possible for her to sound like that.
'Yes!' Chat Noir squeaked in reply as Ladybug approached him and pulled him in for a hug. The feline hero hugged her back, but quickly whispered in her ear, 'We've got company.'
The red clad heroine immediately pulled away, looking at her ring which just gave the first warning.
Wait, her ring?!
Now the blogger finally started paying careful attention to the details and catalogued anything she found.
Ladybug didn't have her trademark pigtails anymore. Her hair changed in style, color and length. She had a ring on her right hand. And she was definitely taller and less curvy than Alya remembered, but instead she somehow gained broader and heftier shoulders that instantly brought a blush to the redhead's cheeks. Gaping the girl turned her gaze to Chat…
… who had traded his blond mane for midnight-blue pigtails held with green ribbons and his right hand was lacking a ring. Alya immediately looked at Chat's ears only to discover black earrings with green paw-print adorning them. Chat's hips had become pleasantly curved and his chest... apparently got equipped with two very nice breasts, heaving under the black suit as Chat tried not to hyperventilate at Alya's impromptu comparative study. Ladybug, her face matching her suit in color, was doing her best not to ogle her partner and failing spectacularly.
The blogger once again surveyed the scene before voicing her conclusion, 'What the hell?!'
Ladybug flashed her a toothy grin, 'Summer exchange?' she ventured in a delightful tenor.
AN: Let me just remind you – this author really appreciates your follows, favs, comments and laughs. They keep the chapters coming!
