Chapter 21: The Battle Continues

Place de la Concorde, Paris' largest square was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Elysées to the west and the Tuileries Garden to the east. Decorated with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honour the king at that time. Over the course of the years, its name changed, first Place de la Révolution, then Place de la Concorde, Place Louis XV once again, Place Louis XVI, and finally, for the second time, Place de la Concorde, the name that still held until this day. It was the stage to some of France's most important historical events, like the execution of King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, Antoine Lavoisier and Maximilien Robespierre. And on that particular day, it was part of the stage of the Miraculous Team's first battle against Hawk Moth and his forces of evil. Panda Rouge had just blown Gargantua into smithereens, thanks to the explosive he had drawn with his magic pencil. Unfortunately, the explosion proved to be futile.

Just like it happened with the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the pieces that made up the monstrous creature's body began to crawl back into the crater where Gargantua stood a few seconds before. And before everyone's eyes, it began to regenerate. At first, it looked like a disgusting blob made out of dark ink, with a disgusting mouth that went on roaring like a caged animal. But as more and more bits of it were assimilated, it started to assume a more complex form. In a matter of minutes, Gargantua was whole again, but its appearance had changed quite a bit. Instead of looking like a seven-headed brachiosaurus, now, it looked like something completely different,

"Okay… I admit it, that was a really bad idea." -Panda Rouge admit it his mistake.

"I told you, but you didn't listen…" -Chat Noir whispered.

Dragonfly, who heard the explosion, told Queen Bee she was going to check what had happened. As she landed next to the rest of the team, Gargantua finished regenerating. The creature now looked like a giant Golem with three heads and four arms. The heads looked different from one another. The one on the middle looked relatively human with a couple of traits that reminded the gargoyles in Notre-Dame, while the other two had a more animalistic look to them. The one on the left looked like the head of a tiger, and the one on the right looked like the head of a snake. Seeing it, they asked themselves if that was the same creature they had been fighting.

"Okay, what just happened?" -Dragonfly asked.

"Panda Rouge tried to blow up that monster and now it looks like that." -Antelope told her.

"That explains the explosion we heard." -Dragonfly said.

"I really thought that my idea would work…" -Panda Rouge declared in a low, beaten voice.

"Don't take it so hard on you. We also thought it would actually work." -Arachnid told him. –"From a scientific point of view, usually blowing up something means that that something won't come back. You couldn't have known that it would regenerate itself after being blown apart."

"Well, too bad science and magic don't go hand in hand." -Panda Rouge stated.

Suddenly, Gargantua opened its mouths and spewed a huge swarm of Akuma butterflies, before starting to move at an incredible speed. Trampling over the icy floor, and destroying the ice barrier that Louve Grise had raised to block the entrance of more of Hawk Mouth's scouts into the square, it started heading towards the Avenue des Champs-Elyses. The police fired over the creature, but just like before, their bullets did nothing to it. Impressed by its new-found speed, Ladybug and the others knew that their battle against Gargantua had taken a turn for the worst.

"We got to go after that thing!" -Grizzly Bear exclaimed.

"Do we have any other choice?" –Arachnid asked.

"Nope." -Forest Doe said.

"Then, let's go! Time's a wasting here!" -Antelope declared, as readied himself to get out of there, with only one thought on his mind: To stop that thing before it causes more chaos, mayhem and damage.

"No. Not like that. We're going to need the rest of the team to take that thing out." -Ladybug said, stopping Antelope on his feet. –"Dragonfly, go back and fetch the rest of our team. We can't let that thing keep running amok like that."

"You got it! I'll be back in a couple of minutes." -Dragonfly declared, as she shot herself into the air.

"What about us?" -Arachnid asked.

"We're going after it." -the scarlet hero said. –"Once it's in your grasp, attack it. We won't let it get away this time."

"But how are we going to kill it?" -Chat Noir asked her.

"I don't know yet… but we'll come with something." -she told him. –"First things, first. We find a way to stop it… then, we'll see." -she said with a serious tone.

"And the Akuma butterflies it spewed into the air?" -Forest Doe asked her.

"Leave them. No matter how many we destroy, it won't matter if that thing can produce more of them." -Ladybug answered her. –"We have to take it down, no matter what."

Gargantua kept running down the avenue, throwing cars and buses that had been abandoned by the panicking people to the sideways, while also destroying several trees that were on the sidewalks. So as to stop it, the police decided to use a trump card, helicopters. Five different helicopters appeared in front of the giant colossus, ordering it to stand down. Two of the helicopters had snipers pointing at Gargantua, waiting for a chance to shoot. They had known that regular bullets did not hurt it, but desperation was a powerful enemy, and as such, they decided to use explosive rounds on it, hoping to at least slow it down. Still, the creature had other plans. Grabbing a bus, it tossed at one of the helicopters, planning to take it out of the sky. Fortunately, helped arrived in the nick of time. Using her good luck powers, Ladybug quickly saw a way to avoid a tragedy. Throwing her yo-yo and latching it onto a flag-pole on one of the buildings, she quickly grabbed Grizzly Bear by the collar of his suit, and tossed him in front of the bus. Seeing himself between a rock and hard place, on in this case, the helicopter and the bus thrown by Gargantua, Grizzly Bear saw no other option but to punch it back at the ugly creature, saving the helicopter, who quickly gained altitude, to escape any other attack from Gargantua. As for the bus, it managed to temporarily knock down the monster, who then ripped it into two, while roaring in anger.

Landing on the ground safely, Grizzly Bear looked at Ladybug and said:

"Could you give me a little heads-up next time?" -he asked her, after she snagged him and threw him.

"Sorry, I'll try next time, I promise." -she said.

Shortly after, Dragonfly and Queen Bee showed up, along with Corbeau Noire and Flamingo, as well as Volpina, who was using her levitation powers to carry herself and Jade Turtle through the air. Seeing Arachnid on one of the rooftops, they landed next to him.

"What's the sitch?" -Volpina asked him.

"Is that a Kim Possible reference?" -Arachnid asked.

"Could you stop being a nerd for like 10 minutes and answer me?" -the fox heroine asked him, demanding a answer.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." -he said. –"Summing it up, that's Gargantua's new form, and while the other version was strong, this one is both strong and fast."

"That's bad." -Jade Turtle said.

"What can we do?" -Corbeau Noire asked.

"Ladybug's the one who's giving the orders, but given that she's currently busy…" -Arachnid said, pointing out to the heroine, who was busy dodging Gargantua's newest attack. Somehow, it had learned to throw small firecrackers, and it was using them to blow them up. To protect herself, Ladybug decided to use her yo-yo as a shield, and though she was holding herself pretty well against it, she knew she had to get out of there.

"Hang on, Ladybug! I'm coming!" -Volpina said, as she jumped towards the ground.

"We better help too!" -Corbeau Noire said. Using her powers, she quickly gathered all the shadows she could see, and created a large chain, that she used to chain up the monster. This allowed Ladybug to let her guard down for a couple of seconds, to catch her breath.

"Good job, Corbeau Noire!" -Ladybug said.

"You don't look so tough now, do you, ugly?" -Chat Noir said, as he stood in front of Gargantua. –"What? You're not going to roar? Don't tell me, cat got your tongue?" -he joked.

Before Chat Noir could crack another one of his cat-puns, Gargantua roared in anger. But this time, its roar sounded slightly different. Not only it was higher, but it also sounded different. The noise it was making was so high, that the heroes were forced to cover their ears. After a few seconds, which felt like several minutes, Gargantua stopped roaring, only to break free from the shadow chains created by Corbeau Noire. To make matters worse, the roar he had given was in fact, a call, calling forth all of Hawk Moth's scouts as back-up to its location. Seeing them approaching from everywhere, every member of the Miraculous Team knew they were in trouble.

"Out of the fire, and into the frying pan." -Chat Noir said.

"That's an understatement." -Volpina told him.

"I'm starting to think that we're biting more than we can chew." -Jade Turtle said.

"What's the plan?" -Forest Doe asked.

"I'll tell you what it is! A couple of well-placed tornados will get us rid of these creeps!" -Queen Bee exclaimed

"No, don't! If you use your power here, you might pull in those helicopters!" -Ladybug warned her.

"I'll tell them to get out of here. Then, you can use your tornados." -Dragonfly said, as she took off. It took her just a couple of seconds to talk with the pilots in the helicopters and explain to them what was going on. Just like it happened with the SWAT Team at the Place de la Concorde, those pilots would normally not take any orders from kids, but given what was going on, plus the fact that one of them was almost hit with a bus, they decided to place themselves at a reasonable distance from the action. Heading back to where the others were, she said. –"All taken care of. Go make some tornados, Queen Bee."

"Alright, but be careful. Don't make them so strong that they start ripping the trees out of the ground, okay?" -Ladybug said, as she saw the helicopters putting a safe distance from the avenue.

As Ladybug instructed Queen Bee, Arachnid and Antelope decided to make their own move against Gargantua. Wrapping him with his lasso, Arachnid decided to use some science to take the creature down. Applying the law of the lever as stated by Archimedes himself, both he and Antelope pulled the lasso together and made the giant Gargantua fall to its knees, in a scene mirroring the Biblical fight of David and Goliath. Requesting assistance from Louve Grise, they asked her to freeze Gargantua's body. Making use of her fan, she quickly froze the creature.

"Nothing beats science." -Arachnid said.

As he said this, Queen Bee threw her trompo and created several mini tornados that began to spin and suck every last one of Hawk Moth's scouts. Once inside the tornados, they would not get out. She decided to send them to the Seine. At least there, it would take them a while to get out of the water.

"There. Now, they won't cause us any more trouble." -Queen Bee said, as she landed on the floor. The others were all looking at what Arachnid, Antelope and Louve Grise had done to Gargantua. The three of them could hardly believe that they had actually stopped it with such a simple, and yet, efficient plan of attack.

"We got it, now what?" -Jade Turtle asked.

"Well, we have to destroy the body. How do you propose we do it?" –Volpina asked them.

But before anyone could answer Gargantua started to glow red, with its body melting the thick ice layer that covered it. Inspecting it, Arachnid touched the creature, only to take his hand off of it the second after.

"Whoa! This thing's burning up!" -he said. If it had not been for his suit protecting him, he would have ended with a nasty burn on his hand.

And then, Gargantua raised two of his arms and grabbed both Ladybug and Corbeau Noire, as it used the other two get up, while roaring like an animal. Not wasting a second, Chat Noir jumped as high as he could and using his staff, began to hit the monster's as hard as he could.

"Let her go, you freak!" -the feline hero yelled at Gargantua, as his staff stroke it hard.

Flamingo also did not waste any time. Somersaulting in the air, she kicked Gargantua's right face as hard as she could, over and over, while avoiding the monster's attempts to also get her. The rest of the team also attacked it, trying to free their friends. Ladybug and Corbeau Noire, who were also trying to free themselves, were having trouble in doing it.

"This thing is going to crush me… I have to get out of here." -Ladybug thought to herself, as she saw Chat landing on Gargantua's shoulder, and starting to race towards her, with his staff in hand.

"Hang on, I'm going to get you out of there!" -Chat said, as he planned to use his staff as a lever to force Gargantua to open its closed fist, and release her.

On the other end of the monster, Corbeau Noire was also watching Flamingo doing her best to get her out of that tight jam. The blonde figured that if she hurt the monster's face enough, it would be forced to drop the raven-haired girl, in order to get her.

"Look out!"

Flamingo heard her friend's warning, but was not fast enough. The monster used his lower right arm to swat her, like she was a mosquito, hitting her and projecting her into one of the buildings. The impact was so strong, that she went through the wall.

"You bastard! I'll teach you not to hurt her!" -Corbaeu Noire exclaimed, enraged.

Enraged, and feeling a surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins, Corbeau Noire managed to release her arms from Gargantua's grasp, and with a quick and precise shot from her hand mirror, which hit it on its snake-like head, the monster in pain, released her. The pain also made it release Ladybug, and gave the rest of the team an opening to strike it directly.

As for Corbeau Noire, she flew as quickly as she could to where Flamingo breached the wall upon impact. Entering through the whole she had made, she saw that she was already on her feet, and apart from being covered in dust and her hair being a little messy, she looked alright. Approaching her, she asked:

"Are you alright?"

"I think so." -Flamingo said, as she dusted herself. –"I'm going to be all sore tomorrow, thanks to this." -she said.

"You're bleeding!" -Corbeau Noire exclaimed, as she noticed a little bit of blood on Flamingo's lip.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just bit my lip." -she said, as she wiped the few drops of blood with her fingers. –"I'm tougher than I look."

"You sure are." -Corbeau Noire smiled, relieved to know that her friend was alright. –"But you need to be careful. You just went through a wall." -she said, worried about her safety.

"I will, but remember, just because you told me that you would protect me from any kind of danger, that doesn't mean I won't do the same for you." -Flamingo said. –"Be careful also, okay?"

"I will." -Corbeau Noire, as she hugged Flamingo, who returned the hug. –"Now, come on. We can't let the others get all the glory when defeating that thing."

Going out through hole in the wall, the girls joined the rest of the gang in their fight against Gargantua, which was escalating furthermore. Though they were doing their best to stop it from going any further, Gargantua was nearing the end of the avenue, making its way to the Arc de Triomphe. Something had to be made. That creature had to be stopped somehow; before it could cause more damage. If only they had more time to figure out a way to stop it… and then, Ladybug had a brilliant idea.

"We can't allow it to any further… Louve Grise! Give us some ice walls around the Arc de Triomphe square! Make them extra-thick and extra-tall. I don't want it to escape, or anything else to come in!" -Ladybug ordered her.

"Leave it to me." -she said, signalling Queen Bee to give her lift. In order to do what Ladybug had asked her, she would have to do it fast, and she would have to get up high.

"Volpina, Flamingo! Could you come up with a distraction to keep it busy long enough to give Louve enough time to put up the walls?"

"On it!" -they said in chorus.

Using their powers, Flamingo once multiplied herself, while Volpina used her flute to also create several copies of herself. Sensing that they would not be enough, she quickly created several copies of all the heroes there, so as to give Gargantua a worthy challenge.

"Alright, you monster. Let's see if you can find the real ones in this mess." -Volpina and her copies spoke in chorus.

Hearing her say that, Gargantua began to spit fire balls from its three mouths, trying to incinerate them all. But, they all proved to be faster than it, especially Antelope, who started to run circles around Gargantua. While they distracted it, Louve Grise, with the help of Queen Bee, used her powers to lift up a huge ice wall that circled the whole square. Little by little, the ice started to amount at the base of the wall that rose up in the air. Once finished, the wall was so high that Gargantua would have to grow a pair of wings in order to get out of it. Putting her down, Queen Bee praised Louve Grise's work.

"This looks great." -Queen Bee said.

"Thanks." -Louve Grise smiled, though one could see that she looked a little exhausted.

"Are you tired?" -the blonde asked her.

"I just need to catch my breath for a minute or two… I can hardly believe I did this." -Louve Grise said, as she took several deep breaths.

"Well, you did, and I'm very proud of you." -Queen Bee told her, which made Louve Grise look her –"What?"

"You said you're proud of me…" -the redhead declared.

"Yeah, so?" -the blonde asked.

"You never told me you're proud of me." -Louve Grise stated.

"Well, just because I don't say it, that doesn't mean I'm not proud of you." -Queen Bee said. –"You're my best friend."

A small tear ran down Louve's face, as she smiled, and hugged Queen Bee.

"Thank you, Chl… I mean, Queen Bee." -Louve Grise said, feeling also proud of her friend and how far she had come, ever since she had decided to become a better person.

"You're welcome, Sab… I mean, Louve Grise." -Queen Bee smiled at her. –"So, you ready to finish that thing?"

"Lead the way!" -Louve Grise answered, putting on her warrior face.

Raising the wall of ice proved to be an excellent idea. A more restricted space made it easier for the whole team to focus their attacks on the creature. And as a bonus, none of Hawk Moth's scouts would be able to come in. Still Gargantua's attacks kept growing stronger. It was hard to believe that maybe an hour before that creature had a different look and seemed so much more peaceful, when compared to it now. As the fight went on, the police helicopters that had been told by Dragonfly to stay at a safe distance, approached once more, but still kept away from the conflict. Their superiors gave them orders to attack Gargantua, but after seeing what the creature was able to do, they ignored their orders and just kept observing the fight that was going on. If they said they liked the fact that a group of kids with superpowers was doing all the fight and their work, while they stood on the sidelines, watching, they would be lying. But they were not the only ones on the sidelines. Joining them was the helicopter of TVi, covering the news. And inside it, was one of TVi's best reporters, Nadja Charnack.

"If you just joined us, this is Nadja Charnack, reporting live from the Arc de Triomphe, where a monstrous creature named Gargantua is causing chaos and mayhem, after the mysterious terrorist named Hawk Moth made it appear before everyone's eyes, earlier this afternoon in front of the Louvre." -Nadja said. –"I can't believe I'm saying this… terrorist, really? From what we've seen, this guy is more than a terrorist. He's more like a supervillain from one of the cartoon shows my daughter watches." -she thought to herself. –"Can't believe this happened, today of all days. And to think that I had the perfect day planned."

(Flashback)

Nadja Charnack was not supposed to work that day. She had made plans for her husband and her to go out that night on a romantic dinner, and then, to attend the opera. She had even asked her friend Sabine, if her daughter, Marinette, could babysit her daughter Manon that night, to which she said, she would be happy to. She had been desperately waiting for that weekend to come, all because her work had been stressing her out, even more than usual. Unfortunately, when Hawk Moth decided to appear and create achaos and mayhem, all her plans went down the drain. Being called to the studio to cover what was going on, she was forced to drop Manon earlier at Sabine and Tom's Boulangerie. As she entered the boulangerie, she had to reprimand her daughter, who refused to stand still.

"Manon, behave yourself!" –she told her.

"Yes, mommy." -little Manon said.

"Nadja? I wasn't expecting you and little Manon here for another couple of hours." -Sabine said, as she came out from behind the counter to welcome Nadja.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but something big has come up." -Nadja told her friend, as she kissed her on the cheek. –"I know, this is a very big favour to ask of you and Marinette, but…"

"Don't worry, Manon is always welcome here. We were already expecting her, so being a little earlier is nothing." -Sabine smiled.

"I can't thank you enough." -Nadja said.

"You'll find a way." -Sabine smiled.

"Come here, Manon." -Nadja said, as she kneeled in front of her daughter. –"Be good to Mr. and Mrs. Cheng and to Marinette, and do what they ask you to do, while I'm gone, okay? Mommy has to go to work now."

"Okay, mommy." -Manon answered.

"And remember, no doing your baby doll eyes to get what you want, because…"

"Because I can't always win. I know, mommy." -Manon waved her head.

"Good." -she smiled. –"Now, give mommy a kiss." -she said, as she kissed Manon on the cheek. –"See you later."

"Bye, mommy!" -Manon said, as Nadja exited the boulangerie. –"Where's Marinette? Is she up in her room? I want to play with her." -Manon declared, with a big smile on her face.

"Well, Marirnette is still sleeping. She was working out, and I told her that she could sleep until you arrived. But since you arrived a little earlier, and we both know that you don't want to wake her up, how about if I gave you a plate of cookies and milk just for you, so you can eat them while watching a little bit of TV?" -Sabine asked her.

"A whole plate of cookies, just for me?!" -Manon asked, not believing her luck.

"Yes." -Sabine smiled.

(End of flashback)

"Shortly after the creature's appearance, a mysterious group of heroes showed up and has been trying to fight off Gargantua. Who are these heroes? Are they here to defeat the beast and save our fair city? Or perhaps, are they in cohorts with the mysterious Hawk Moth, and are part of an even more diabolical scheme? Stay tuned with us, as we bring you more information on what is going on." -she said. –"Who wrote this? This all sounds like a script from a cheesy B-movie. It makes no sense at all." -she thought.

As the battle unfold, they all tried their best to find a weakness in Gargantua they could explore for their own benefit. But this was hard, because it kept moving and its attacks grew in power. It was then that Grizzly Bear had an idea that might help them. But to pull the stunt he had in mind, he would need help from one of his teammates, who had the ability to fly. Signalling Dragonfly, who was on the ground near him, recovering from an emergency landing, he said:

"Can you get me up there?"

"Why?" -Dragonfly asked him, not understanding why he would ask her something like that.

"I'm going to try something." -Grizzly said. –"I'm going to fall on top of it like a cannonball."

"How high?" -she asked him.

"Get me above the clouds!" -he said,

"Above the clouds?! Are you nuts?!" -Dragonfly exclaimed, after hearing him say that.

"Maybe I am, but if I fall on top of that thing, I might knock it down and keep it unconscious long enough for us to come up with a way to destroy it." -he told her.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. You might get hurt." -she told him.

"Whether it is or not, I don't care. I'll take full responsibility for it. Besides, we're practically indestructible when we're transformed. It's time to see if that's true or not." -Grizzly declared, confident on his plan.

Doing as she was requested, Dragonfly grabbed Grizzly Bear and with one quick jump, she shot herself into the air, always making sure she would not let go of him. When she saw they were already high enough, she signalled him, and dropped him. His plan was simple, gain as much velocity as he could, and hit gargantuan with both his fists, while hoping the impact was enough to put him unconscious. They already knew that if frozen, Gargantua would stop moving, so now, it was his turn to try his best shot.

As he descended, Dragonfly was by his side, to make sure that if things became too dangerous, to catch him while he was still in the air. Looking down, Grizzly saw the ground getting closer and closer, as the wind whipped his face. It was a good thing he did not suffer from vertigo, otherwise, that experience would most certainly stop his heart. When he was already there, he closed his fists and placed them in front of his head, with the arms fully extended.

The others who happened to be looking above saw him approach and figured what he was attempting to do. But they were not the only ones who saw him. The advantage of having three heads is that the odds of being caught off guard are pretty slim. And in Gargantua's case, it saw Grizzly Bear approaching it. As he was about to hit it, the monster grabbed him with one of his hands. Approaching its fist from the middle head, it roared, just before throwing him into the Arc de Triomphe. The force of the impact was such that he went through it, opening cracks on the stone monument that led the middle of the arc to collapse. If it had not been for the wall of ice that Louve Grise had raised to stop him, he would have flown through until finding a surface hard enough to stop him. As he tried to get up, he felt the cold smooth surface of the ice against his body. Surprisingly, he had not broken anything despite the violence of the launch, but he could still feel his muscles screaming in pain. Dragonfly was the first to arrive to see if he was alright, followed by Forest Doe and Ladybug, who also wanted to make sure he was okay.

"I told you that was a bad idea." -Dragonfly said.

"Nope… you told me that falling down the sky from that height was a bad idea." -Grizzly said, trying to sound funny to hide the fact that he was hurting all over the place.

"That's not funny! You could've gotten seriously hurt!" -Forest Doe exclaimed, as she checked him, to see if he had any serious injuries.

"She's right. In case you haven't noticed, you went through a national monument." -Ladybug told him.

"And I'm fit as fiddle." -Grizzly Bear said. –"Though I feel like I was runover by a bus, multiple times." -he thought to himself.

"You stay here and try to rest a little while. Doe, stay with him. Dragonfly, let's go." -Ladybug said, signalling her.

"I'm not staying here, while you guys are risking your necks to fight that thing. I'm heading back. Besides, I owe that thing a punch for what it did to me just now!" -Grizzly protested.

"You're going to stay here, and that's final." -Ladybug told him

"But…"

"That's an order! Stay here, or I'm going to get really mad at you, if you hurt yourself." -Ladybug told him. –"Doe, keep an eye on him, okay?" -she asked her, to which Forest Doe waved her head in compliance.

She hated to tell people what to do, but she was not going to let Grizzly Bear get hurt. Ladybug could tell that he was just pretending he was not hurt, and she would rather have him get upset with her, than having him injured because he wanted to fight that thing in that state. Grabbing a lift from Dragonfly, she went back into battle, while Doe made sure that Grizzly rested up a bit, before heading back.

After one of his attacks was once more repelled by Gargantua, Panda Rouge had to take cover behind a piece of what it used to be the Arc de Triomphe. The monster had made quite the number on it, after Grizzly Bear went through it, and was now breaking pieces of it and throwing them at the heroes.

"If a couple of weeks ago anyone had told me I would be fighting a monster made out of ink, I would say that that would only happen in my imagination, or in one of my comic books." -he thought to himself. –"How do you beat something that is made out of ink and that can regenerate in an instant?"

And that, was when he had the idea that was going to save the day and put an end to that creature.