"Pound it!" he said, motioning his hand for a fistbump. It took Amulet a second to realize what he wanted, but she gladly acknowledged it.

I can purify the Akumas. The thing I feared the most of not being able to do.

That was pretty much the ultimate relief at that moment. This victory tasted oh-so-sweet. She looked at her partner again.

"Hey, Amulet…" Cat Noir inquired cautiously. There was an elephant in the room they had to acknowledge.

"... Do you know what happened to Ladybug?"

Shoot.

"I can only guess, or hope, that whatever happened to me, happened to her too. I suddenly found myself trapped in her body, living her life, but keeping my own powers. Which could mean she's living my life in my world with her powers."

She saw the look on Cat Noir's face and realized she had to do something immediately. She laid her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Neko-chan, we're going to get her back. I promise! I want to return to my world, too! So don't despair, okay? I'm sure we'll figure it all out."

He knew they didn't have any plan or idea on how to do so, and yet his new partner's determination helped ease his worry.

"I'm about to transform back… we need to meet for patrol tomorrow. We can talk more later."

He made to take off, then paused and turned back towards her.

"Neko-chan, huh?" he flashed a grin and ran off.

"Hey! Get back here!" she yelled after him The catboy didn't heed her call, and Amu turned her head away to mumble, "Stupid cat."

-MLBSCMLBSCMLBSC-

Amu let herself fall on Marinette's bed, or rather, her bed by now.

Still getting used to that...

"Man, that was a tiring day… three transformations! In a single battle! How am I going to keep up with that? I'm exhausted!"

Her three guardians all nodded.

"That's our Amu!" Ran cheered. "Go-Go Amu! Even if it's harder, you can still do it!"

Amu couldn't help but smile at Ran's words. But then another thought crossed her mind.

"So… from somehow trying to discover who I want to be… I'm forced to play asact someone else. Again! Somebody out there must be laughing at me…"

Suu looked at her in a worried look, but Miki just smiled.

"Not necessarily." the little guardian grinned. "There are quite a few places you can find yourself in Marinette's life."

That one got Amu confused and contemplative.

"Find myself… in Marinette's life?"

A slight smile came about her as she realized where this was going. Suu's expression changed to a wide grin as well.

"You did always dream of becoming a baker, didn't you? And now you're in one of Paris's most sought out bakeries!" Suu didn't feel the need to hide just how excited she was about this.

"All these cookies are delicious, too…" Amu agreed. "I'll have to double my exercises this way!"

"And you can sketch and design clothes." Miki raised her iPad triumphantly. "Could it be any more perfect than this?"

Amu nodded, beginning to share her guardians' excitement.

They all looked at Ran though. ״Marinette wasn't much of a sport type, now was she?" Amu asked, hoping her last guardian won't be upset about it, but Ran remained as cheerful as always.

"What's with your mystery smile, Ran?" Not that Amu wanted her to be upset, but she was definitely curious about it.

"I think you'll be doing a lot of parkour over the rooftops of the most romantic city in the world…" Ran giggled.

Amu leaned her head on her palm and smiled with embarrassment. "Right, Marinette is also Ladybug... "

"And speaking of…" Ran exchanged a meaningful smile with Miki and Suu.

"Speaking of what?" Amu looked at them puzzled.

"That girl is as oblivious as ever." Miki quipped while Suu and Ran nodded vigorously.

They couldn't be serious…

"Hey! Just because he has cat ears doesn't mean I'm going to fall for him!" she protested, finally realizing what they were hinting at.

"Even though he was a perfect gentleman..." she muttered as she looked sideways. "... There's no way I'm changing that in her life!"

Ran wasn't going to let that one slide, though.

"And fool this Adrien guy? While fooling yourself? We both saw how you looked at that Cat Noir..."

"This would be too cruel!" Suu protested as well. "Having to fake love is impossible..." she donned her sad face.

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one stuck living someone else's life!" she snapped at her guardians again, then gave up and reverted to a more contemplative mood.

"Guess it's not just the battles that are going to be a challenge…"

-MLBSCMLBSCMLBSC-

Adrien laid back on his bed, too, as Plagg hovered towards him.

"Tough day, eh kid?" he tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah, still trying to get the hang of it. It's so weird! I have a new partner all of a sudden. And Ladybug is gone… my Ladybug! What am I going to do?"

"You could mope about this forever… or get used to it and do your best. And besides, your new partner needs you more than ever." Plagg replied. He too found her story very odd and hoped Master Fu could make sense of it, but then again the Akumas waited for nobody and certainly not for Cat Noir and Amulet.

"I think I figured out what I should do about her. That's the easiest part, isn't it? She needs me as a partner and she needs me as a friend. I hope that even if it's just a friend, it will mean something for her during her rough time." Adrien was relieved that he had a good answer for at least one of his major dilemmas. He felt really good about that part, at least.

"That sounds reasonable, kid."

Even though life may have other plans occasionally, Plagg thought, better be ready in case things change.

"I mean, I totally understand her. I'm not living the life I want, too! I'm living the life my father designed for me. Maybe it's not as bad as being totally yanked out of your own life, sure, but at least I can relate somehow." With that, his mind started to drift towards how his own life has been engineered for him. Plagg snapped him back to the topic at hand.

"Great, so be that for her and we'll pass through this time. These mishaps happened in the past, and they always got resolved for the better." Plagg encouraged him, also partially covering the issue of Ladybug.

"And additionally about Ladybug… I am sure that by now, there's someone that's going to check up on Ladybug's civilian identity. Leave that to them and concentrate on what you do best."

Adrien nodded.

"Thanks, Plagg." He was still missing his Ladybug but somehow, things sounded a bit better after this talk.

-MLBSCMLBSCMLBSC-

Back at Master Fu's house, much deliberation was being done.

"What do you think, Wayzz?" Master Fu contemplated together with his Kwami. "Should I intervene?"

"Shouldn't you, master? Isn't it dangerous?" Wayzz looked concerned.

"You sensed how the Akuma was defeated. This is not a chance event. My tendency is to let this play out until we've figured out the reason for this to have happened, and not fight it."

Master Fu's reasoning sounded good to Wayzz. Indeed, this was a bitter pill for them, knowing that Tikki was unreachable, but the energy spent fighting it was probably better directed towards other goals.

"What if she fails, though?" Wayzz tried. He did have his own preference for his kin, naturally.

"Oh, I'll be here for her. I will make myself known. But I will offer advice, not try to change the course of events. Soon enough."

-MLBSCMLBSCMLBSC-

Amu hurried to school. As much as her diary revealed to her that she's been chronically late, she figured this part of her new life wasn't much of a necessity if she could avoid it. Given that she wasn't Ladybug, a bit of cheating was perfectly fine.

"Ran, can you throw me in for a character change? Jogging to school definitely feels like a 'me' now."

"Hop, step, run!"

Amu suddenly found in herself the speed to make it to class in time. The only problem was that she somehow just breezed past Adrien and Alya, much to the surprise of the latter.

Has this girl finally decided she doesn't want to be late anymore… or has something really happened to her? Alya thought. Either way, that's my girl! Love her when she's running like that. I'll break her with the good news later in recess.

School was mind-numbing as always, but in a sense, this was a good thing. Same Math, same text reading, same classes. The material may have changed but it was still pretty much the same. Their teacher was a very nice one in her opinion. She had enough with that Nikaidou guy anyway.

And still, school was as school did and everybody was waiting for recess, including Amu.

-MLBSCMLBSCMLBSC-

"Girl, you will not believe the news today!" Alya made sure she was fully up to date on that hot topic. "One for me and one for you. First things first, the appearance of a new superheroine! Would you believe that?"

Yes, I think I might…

"Is that so? How intriguing."

Keep a poker face up… good job.

"Yes! She purified the Akuma too. I have no idea what this means for Ladybug… maybe she's on vacation?"

It then dawned upon her that this could be an issue.

The people of Paris are still expecting a Ladybug! We need to somehow press that vacation story, to avoid the attention.

She decided to leave that for now. There should be plenty of time to think about it after school.

"Makes sense. As long as we're safe, it should be good, right?"

Yeah, kinda rooting for myself here.

"Sure. Ladybug could use a break if she needed one. Speaking of breaks, you're getting a lucky break yourself!" Alya sported a devious grin.

"I… am?" She inquired.

"I thought you would have known by now! There's a hat design competition!"

The bluenette put her hand on her purse to calm down the incessant rattling.

Miki, calm down... Please.

"And Adrien is going to model the winning design!"

"Wow, that's… nice!" She offered.

"Just 'nice'? Girl, you better get working. You're the best designer I know!" Alya practically stared at her by now.

Something is wrong. Mari is not herself. She's not too down, but she's not her usual self. I have to get down to the bottom of this.

"Say, do you wanna come for a sleepover today? We'll watch a movie, have some popcorn, have a good time!"

Amu nodded and smiled. It did sound like a great option. Little did she know Alya was already planning on prying her secret out of her.

"Girl, stay calm, Adrien is coming over…" she tugged her, as the model approached them.

I can't do it! I just can't pretend to be flustered anymore! Marinette would probably kill me if she ever comes back, but I simply can't!

"Hi there Alya, Marinette." He smiled at them and they both returned his smile. "I wanted to know what's up with the Ladyblog, up close and personal. I hear there's some really interesting news out there."

"Hmm, someone's a Ladybug fan aren't they? Me and Mari here" she stressed, trying to draw his attention towards her friend, "were theorizing that she's on vacation. That new girl everyone is talking about is probably just covering up for her, or something."

Adrien sighed.

"On one hand, I hope you're right. On the other, I'm definitely rooting for that new girl too. I mean, we all depend on her, don't we? And she was pretty cool too. Perhaps everyone in Paris should just thank their luck. But… if there's any sign that something bad happened to Ladybug… you'd post an update, wouldn't you?" he asked.

"Sure thing Adrien. And if you want it, me and Mari..." stressing that one again "... will keep you posted personally for the really good or even raw intel stuff." she replied.

"You'd do that? Thanks! You're the best friends I have." he put on a genuine smile and left.

Alya couldn't have been more anticipating of that particular sleepover.