Marinette was glad her face was almost entirely covered by her disguise. For one, it saved her from the dust that Chat Noir was clearly having some difficulties with, and besides that it saved her from having to hide her expression (something she's never been very good at) from the police officers and Chat.

She was keenly aware of the medical person, an EMT or something, she wasn't sure, looking over Chat Noir behind her while she talked to one of the officers. She obstinately refused all requests for her to come with them to the police station. She didn't want anyone, even the police, to know who she was, and besides that, she really just wanted to go home.

"Now, miss, we can't have kids going around playing vigilante," the officer had said.

"Now, officer, I tried sitting back. I was only trying to help get all the civilians out of here." She kept her voice strong, as strong as possible, even though she felt like crying, or curling up and sleeping for the next eternity. "But I stand by what I said. You needed a mega evolved pokémon to stand up to that heracross. You saw how effective your own attacks were, even ours when it wasn't Mawile."

The cop hesitated, and Marinette knew she got her there. Surely, the woman didn't like it. Marinette didn't like it. But the fact of the matter was that normal pokémon just didn't stand a chance. "The boy?" the officer questioned.

"My partner," Marinette said easily, "we fight together. He was here before you, and he was protecting the people so they could get away. Otherwise he would have waited for me. He didn't mean to play the hero, he just tried to help." Marinette, of course, had no idea how much of that was true, it just seemed like the best story. She believed that Chat wouldn't have gotten himself involved initially if the cops had already had everything handled, which she figured they would be capable of before the heracross had mega evolved. Though, with how he's been acting, that might not be a safe assumption…

Still, the cop sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and didn't contradict her. "Why the…" She gestured to Marinette's face.

"No one knows I have a Mega Stone. This was all I could think of to keep it that way."

"So your parents don't know what you're doing."

Marinette bit her lip. Shoot, cornered myself there. "Kids my age are out travelling all around the region, unsupervised. Legally, I can make my own decisions."

"That's true, but your parents would be worried."

"That's why I didn't tell them." Marinette tried to explain. "I didn't go looking for this, okay? I have the power to help so I am." The cop gave a pointed look towards Chat Noir. "He's my partner." Marinette stepped in front of her gaze, blocking Chat from her view. "I need him. We keep each other as safe as possible."

The cop shook her head. It was clear she disapproved, but strictly speaking there wasn't anything in the law prohibiting civilians from taking action in a situation like that. It was generally considered best to leave it to the professionals, but with trainers abound, they could often help greatly in subduing pokémon especially. Still, those trainers who helped were typically asked not to put themselves at risk. "What was that thing you broke?"

"I don't know. Chat thinks it might be what was making the heracross rampage like that." Marinette paused, picking up the broken pieces of the small device. She handed them to the officer. "There was an aggron, two days ago, at the school in Jaune Plaza. Do you know of it?"

"Of course; it tore up the school. All the classes are being relocated."

"We think it's the same thing. If what I'm getting about what happened before I arrived is true, then it's likely that Aggron was close to mega evolving before we managed to get it back in its pokéball. Chat said the heracross was thrashing about, attacking the wall, Aggron did the same thing." Marinette stroked her chin. "I don't know if Aggron would have mega evolved if it had been out much longer, but that aggron was taken in for rehabilitation. If you could, try looking for one of these on it. If there is one, then we know that it was this driving them crazy." Marinette turned to Chat, and looked over her shoulder back at the cop. "Oh, yeah, and if it is that thing, then it's still on him, which means you guys are going to want to be careful when you release that aggron from the pokéball. Be ready with… I don't know, tranquilizers or something."

Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Alya in the crowd of police, holding up her phone. Of course she's here. Though that is sort of my fault. I did tell her. Shaking her head, she turned to Chat Noir, only to be assaulted by some new stranger. He introduced himself, but Marinette wasn't really listening, and he started talking to her in a soothing voice, asking for permission to check her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. Another medical person. Okay. "You and your friend were in a pretty scary situation," he said. Marinette nodded stiffly. "We can provide counselors, if you need them." Marinette shook her head. Talking about this is the last thing I want to do. Especially not with a stranger. I can't just let people know who I am.

She brushed past the man and knelt next to Chat, who was sitting on the ground, leaning heavily into his Zoroark. His ledian zoomed around, landing gently on her lap once she was seated, and cupped her face, mumbling something with a soft voice. Marinette stoked the ledian's head and looked over at Chat. Even his pokémon are ridiculously compassionate. "Chat Noir," she said. He opened his eyes to look tiredly at her. "I'm sorry."

He just gave her a pained, lopsided grin and shook his head. I said such awful things to him, but… we really did manage to pull it off. He was right. We saved that heracross. If he hadn't been so insistent, there's no telling if or when we would have found out what was causing these outbursts. If Aggron has one of those things too, he might never be released back to Mylène if we didn't find out about them.

After answering all the rest of the police's questions, the lady to talked to her at first came up. "You two should probably get out of here before we clear out, or you'll be swarmed." She gestured to the ever-increasing crowd of people being held back by a line of police.

"Good idea. Chat." Marinette shook him gently. He fell asleep. I don't blame him. "Chat, it's time to go."

He blinked as he woke and pushed back against Zoroark, who stood and hoisted him to his feet. "Right," Chat mumbled, more lucid but clearly still needing a well-earned nap. I'm right there with you, Chat. The cop walked away, leaving them alone, and Chat Noir blinked at her. He tilted his head, indicating. "You came from that direction, right? You live that way? I'll walk you home."

The thought rubbed Marinette the wrong way, even though she wasn't clear on why. He was given a Mega Stone too, but still I'm not sure I'm comfortable letting anyone know, not even him. "Chat…" she began, "I'm really not comfortable with anyone knowing who I am right now. I want to be able to live my life just… normal."

"I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I know, just… maybe another time, okay? Not now."

Chat knit his brow together, but said nothing for a while. After a moment of awkward silence, he ended up breaking it. "Okay, so I won't walk you home. I know you're probably as exhausted as me, but could we… I don't know… walk somewhere? Talk for just a moment?"

Marinette gulped hard, and nodded. "Sure. Let's go." She returned all her pokémon to their pokéballs (though in Misdreavus' case, it wasn't likely she'd stay there long), and once Chat had returned his pokémon minus the ledian who had shaken her head when he tried and clung onto Marinette's shoulders.

"She likes you," Chat stated, reaching behind a dumpster and pulling out a duffel bag before they began their walk.

"Seems that way." Marinette reached up to pet the ledian, in much the same manner she often would pet Ralts.

The two walked side streets and alleyways for the most part, to avoid notice, only occasionally rushing across a bigger street before slipping away back into the urban jungle. They walked for a few minutes in silence before Chat nervously asked, "Do you really believe that?" Marinette looked at him. He had his eyes trained on the ground in front of his feet. "What you told the cop. Were you being serious? About… about me being your partner?"

Oh… Marinette felt her gut twist. She was, honestly, lying. It was hard not to have some connection to him, after what they had just gone through, but "partner" was pushing it a little, and Marinette had no intention of inviting him along if she ever needed to help out with another pokémon, not that she really had any intention of helping out again if she could avoid it. She didn't want to lie to him, but she knew the truth would hurt.

She sighed. "No. Chat, I still think what you did was stupid and irresponsible and…" She let out a short, quiet yell in frustration. He wrapped his arms around himself, and the ledian on her head stopped moving entirely, not even fidgeting. "And I still think fighting these pokémon is a terrible idea, and if there are more I definitely want no part in it." He bit his lip, and Marinette thought his eyes were unusually glassy. "And…" She looked away, not able to watch how he was breaking down at her words. "And I still think you're an idiot. I said it harshly, and I shouldn't have, but you are a performer, Chat. And I'm just… I'm just a student. We aren't fighters. We couldn't handle ourselves in a coordinated battle, much less a death fight with a feral, mega evolved pokémon.

"But you were right." She sighed again, closing her eyes just as Chat's snapped up to look at her. "I'm not sure if I really believe we can help, but since we're still in one piece, I guess your faith in us wasn't totally misguided. And it was because of you that we found that device that caused it. You were right. Who knows how long it would have taken for the police to find that on their own, and maybe it'll save some people if they haven't already started trying to help that aggron. If the police had caught that heracross from the beginning, whatever that thing was would still be driving it insane, so… I guess…"

"I didn't do anything."

"You saved that heracross."

"That was you. It was you and Mawile and your other pokémon."

Marinette shook her head, upset at watching Chat curl into himself. He has no reason to… he did everything he could and more. "No, it was you," Marinette insisted. "If it was just me, I would have never found that thing. If it was just me, I wouldn't have even fought, and if I had, I would have just subdued it long enough for the cops to get a cage around it. We would have just restrained it, not helped it. That was you, Chat."

Chat just stared at her with wide eyes. It was only after his ledian bounced on her head, nodding in agreement, that he finally spoke. "Do you really believe that?"

"I do."

He looked away, rubbing his neck as his cheeks grew slightly red. "D-do you think we could… do you think it's possible that we… could be partners?"

"Chat."

"I'm serious!" He grabbed her hand in both of his, holding it and looking at her with pleading eyes. "This is the second attack, and there's enough evidence to think this is being done on purpose. The police, the city, still needs someone who can use mega evolution. To protect them. You. And I can help! I can't mega evolve, not yet, but Zoroark's illusions can help, at the very least. We worked together well! I can support you. And I… I don't want to leave you out there alone."

"Chat, you can't mega evolve."

"I know! But… you can. You're the hero! Let me be your sidekick, I know I can help."

"I know you could… but Chat, you're not a sidekick, and I'm not a hero."

Chat Noir looked above her head at Ledian, and shifted his eyes back to hers. He bit his lip, and stared intently. "You are to me. And you are to the city. That's twice now that you saved everyone, stopped the pokémon before anyone got hurt."

"People still got hurt, Chat."

"But a lot more would have if you didn't help. People were already talking about you after you stopped that aggron. They already think you're a hero, here to protect them."

Marinette rubbed her temples. There's no winning this, is there? Well, I have an unfortunate track record for not avoiding these situations, even though I'm saying I will. I suppose if I'm running into them anyway, having backup would only be a good thing. "If I'm going to be a hero," she muttered, "I'm going to need a better uniform."

Chat grinned at her. Oops, he wasn't meant to hear that. "I think you look lovely, Ladybug, though I would love to see your eyes. Actually, I know a young fashion designer. She's making my stage outfit for me. Maybe I can introduce you."

Marinette fought the urge to laugh. Yes, introduce me to myself, the girl whose number you don't even have. "As it happens, I know someone myself. I can handle it, Kitty. Let your girl focus on your outfit."

Chat pursed his lips for a moment. "Okay."

The two kept walking for a while more before Marinette decided it was best if they spit up. She rolled her eyes when Chat questioned her. "If I hear about another pokémon attack, I promise I'll show up. Okay?" She frowned. "But, compromise. I'm not getting involved unless it mega evolves. Now the cops know about those devices, they can handle it themselves, right?"

"Good enough. I'll definitely be there too."

"Okay then. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah…" Marinette turned and started walking away, out of the alley, until Chat Noir caught her hand. "Wait! Actually… Should we, uh… talk about…" He trained his eyes on the concrete again. "You know. We were really in danger. I've never done anything like that before, I was just-"

"So now that you've finally gotten me to agree to this, you're scared?" Marinette raised her eyebrows.

"I guess… yeah. You're right, sorry. I'll just go."

"Chat." He paused. Ledian flew over to him, landing gently on his head. "Just because we were given Mega Stones doesn't mean we have to fight. If you're scared, you don't have to."

"I want to." He petted his ledian absently. "Forget it, don't worry."

Oh, silly cat, now I'm not going to be able to stop worrying. Marinette just shook her head and waved goodbye.

He was the one that walked away, lifting Ledian into his arms and vanishing into the city. Marinette tore the scarf and glasses from her face and put them in her bag, finding her way back home and sneaking in through the back. She quickly changed clothes, again, to ensure no one would connect her to the girl who was undoubtedly on television. When she was done, she greeted Ralts, who jumped and held his hands up, wanting to be carried. She obliged only long enough to sit down herself, placing Ralts on her lap. He smiled up at her brilliantly. I'm glad you're happy, baby. As she rubbed his head, she felt for her phone, which had been going off throughout her walk with Chat. From Alya, of course.

A – girl ladybug showed up she and chat were so cool working together!
A – its official im a fan
A – im going 2 make a blog what do u think? itll be called the "Ladyblog" and ill upload videos of her awesomeness and keep lumiose upd8ed on its new heroine
A – i just have so much 2 say about her and i know u guys r going 2 get tired of my rants real quick
A – if u don't follow the ladyblog tho im kicking ur butts

Marinette just chuckled, knowing there wasn't anything she could do to stop Alya if she tried.

M – Don't forget about Chat Noir.
A – i couldn't 4get about ur bf if i wanted 2