Chapter 8
They scrambled out of the way as the gigantic whip lashed out. Chat landed on his feet and immediately took to distracting the akumatised people.
"Hey~!" He called out as he pranced around on the closeby rooftops. "I'm over here!" The akumas immediately followed him and attacked him with fervour. The 50 or so bloodbended zombies assulted too, though - fortunately - after two or three blows from Chat's baton and they were rendered useless. Killer Weapon charged with his thirty weapons or so, lashing out mercilessly, trying to inflict a bruise at least so the Bloodbenders could control him. The cat hero spun his baton, dodging and dodging while the twins pestered him with their knives and Nightmare Moon made countless moves to grab him whilst throwing different sized blasts at him. Volpina was the only one who engaged herself with the remaining three heroes, mocking them.
"Surely, you can do better?" Chat mocked, jumping out of the way of a riffle's bullet. He relievedly clutched his heart and mentally thanked Lady Luck for giving him enough luck to be able to dodge that.
"Well, sweetie, you weren't prepared for this, were you?" Nightmare Moon's voice said behind him. Before she could hug him or touch his skin, he extended his baton and leapt to a nearby half demolished building.
"I have to say I'm flattered to be called your sweetie, but I only have one woman on my mind, and I'm pretty good at escaping other pushy women," Chat grinned, but it soon fell as three consecutive blasts, five different types of swords and a whip sprung towards him. He dropped on his stomach in order to evade the weapons, which with a loud clang collided with the blasts where he gad been standing a split second ago. He noticed from the corner of his eyes that Ladybug, Tortuga and the real Volpina (or at least he thought so she was the real one with a kwami and not an illusion or an akumatised one...) were fighting the fake one and her illusions.
"You worthless flirt," one of the Bloodbenders growled throwing his dagger at the cat hero. Said hero deflected it with his baton in the nick of the time, just barely avoiding to be cut. In the meantime the rest of the heroes were clashing with the fake hero.
"So, you think you can defeat me? Well at least you have a copy of me. That might help you, though I doubt it," Volpina mewled with a smirk as she dodged the real Volpina's flute. "And leaving a comrade alone in trouble... How pitiful." She narrowly missed the real hero's flute this time, Ladybug's yo-yo and Tortuga's kick. The three attacked head on from different directions. The fake heroine created a set of other Volpinas with her flute, that charged onto the trio. They were 30 or so, leaving actual bruises on the three heroes, though disappearing shortly after. Their engagement with the clones gave the fake Volpina enough time to run to her fellow akumas' aid against Chat Noir, who seemed fine, except for he was visibly tired, sweaty and panting and he most probably was covered in hematomes despite the fact that he wasn't bleeding.
"Well, Black Cat, you see? Your friends couldn't defeat Volpina due to the bad luck you bring them," Nightmare Moon drawled, sending a blast at him. The hero swiftly dodged it, and narrowly missed a sword of Killer Weapon and the two daggers of the Bloodbender brothers.
"They are pretty lame, and Ladybug seems to use you as a toy~," one of the Bloodbenders said with sarcastic sympathy dripping from his voice. Chat sighed. They were down this road a million times, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt. As he stepped back to evade another blast, his ankle got stuck between two bigger pieces of rubbles, making him fall flat on his butt.
"You're just worthless," Killer Weapon spat, lashing his whip at him. Chat raised his hands to shield himself, but Tortuga was in front of him with his shield from his bracelet protecting them and a red and black yo-yo caught the whip before it could even make contact with the shield. At the same time, the real Volpina with a swift motion ripped the man's belt in two, the purple kitchen knife falling to the floor with a clang. Ladybug immediately dove for it and smashed it onto a rubble, breaking it. Catching the akuma and purifying it, the heroine sighed relievedly. This whole fight lasted a good hour and she was beginning to tire.
"One akuma down, 4 more to go." She spun her yo-yo as she stood near her hero friends, creating a shield while Volpina and Tortuga freed Chat's ankle, wich by sheer luck wasn't twisted nor sprained. The real Volpina hastily brought the man that was Killer Weapon back to his home according to his directions then came back.
"M'Lady, guys, are we ready to take the rest down?" Chat asked as he stood next to said lady.
"Hold on, I'm hungry," the fiercer Bloodbender said, his brother nodding hastily. The heroes blinked astonished.
"I'd love to eat but I'm on a diet," Nightmare Moon tutted.
"Come on, you can eat. You just burned tons of calories and you still will," Chat frowned. "You won't get fat, just build muscles. Trust me on that. I know a lot about diets."
"Guys, do I have to remind you we are in the middle of a fight?" The fake Volpina asked growling.
"Shut it, dearie, we're hungry."
"Agreed with Nightmare Moon," Tortuga added as his stomach growled. "Truce?"
"Tru-"
"NO!" The akumatised heroine roared attacking head on with her flute. Tortuga instantly shielded them, while Chat swiftly grabbed the girl's necklace and smashed it into pieces, freeing the akuma. Ladybug quickly de-evilised it.
"Lila," Chat gently said and crouched in front of the girl who was akumatised. He placed his hands on her shoulder to ground her.
"What?" She snapped, looking away. "Don't blame me for being akumatised! It's all thanks to her!" She spat towards Ladybug, who sighed along with chat.
"Lila," Chat lightly smiled and gave him his best soul-peering look, being able to see through the girl's actual loneliness due to being famous. He knew the feeling all too well.
"W-what?" The girl's voice quavered. The hero's gentle and understanding look was a tid bit too mich for her façade, and she cracked. "All I wanted was to have friends and be cool." Tears trickled down her face and the hero wordlessly hugged her. Ladybug joined the hug and spoke.
"We can be friends, just there's no need to lie, okay?" The polka dotted heroine said with a smile. Lila after a little hesitation nodded and hugged back.
"Aww how heartwarming," Nightmare Moon growled rolling her eyes. "Let's get the fight going already!"
"Agreed!" The Bloodbender twins grinned popping a few joins, advancing on them.
"I - uh should leave, I guess," Lila muttered disentangling from the hug. The heroes nodded and Lila ran away just in time to avoid another clash between the heroes and the akumatised villains.
