Logline: Marinette and Seline take Lila's little sister, Emi, under their wing. However, after Lila's April Fools' joke goes wrong, Emi is akumatized into Creator.
Featuring
Marinette as Multibug
Adrien as Chat Noir
Alya as Armadilla
Seline as Tigresse Blanche
Timothée as Léopard
Collège Françoise-Dupont welcomed back its students from winter break. Friends were catching up with one another and the faculty socialized in the teachers' lounge. In the cafeteria, Marinette was hiding in the girls' restroom, talking with Tikki.
"Oh my gosh," said Marinette. "I still can't believe Papillon is back."
"Your instinct was right, Marinette," said Tikki.
Marinette sighed, making Tikki look at her with deep concern.
"Maybe I could afford to be wrong sometimes," said Marinette somberly.
"Not at all," said Tikki. "Just because you're going to face some new enemies doesn't mean you won't be able to face them."
"Yeah," said Marinette. "I guess you're right."
"I'm always right," said Tikki.
Tikki tickled Marinette's cheeks, making Marinette giggle and feel a little more relaxed.
"You weren't jealous that I transformed with Shelly, were you?" teased Marinette.
"I could never be jealous when I'm the best kwami in town!" said Tikki adorably.
"Marinette?" asked Alya's voice from outside. "We've gotta go to breakfast, girl!"
"Coming!" said Marinette as she rushed out of the bathroom.
Marinette walked side by side with Alya as they got in line to get some food. They placed croissants, crêpes and cups of orange juice onto their plates.
"Over here," said Seline from a table where she was seated with her cousin Gérard.
"Morning, guys," said Marinette as she and Alya took a seat at the table.
After exchanging greetings, they began to eat, digging into their breakfast with great delight. Gérard started playing with his food.
"So," said Gérard. "Any new gossip on the other students from over vacation?"
"It's not nice to make up stories, Gérard," scolded Marinette.
"You're no fun!" he retorted.
"Speaking of gossip," said Alya, her eyes jetting towards someone over Marinette's head. "There's the biggest gossip girl of all."
Marinette turned around to see Lila Rossi, a girl with green eyes and long, brown hair. She'd been akumatized several times before and had a reputation for being a bit of a bully on campus.
"Now carry this, Emi," said Lila. "And this, and this."
Lila was accompanied by a petite girl who looked to be about 12 years old. She had chocolate brown hair braided in a long ponytail while her bangs were swept to the side.
"This is too heavy, Lila," said Emi as her older sister piled on yet another textbook in Emi's arms.
"Too heavy?" scoffed Lila. "You promised to be my lackey when I told you I could introduce you to Ladybug. You do want to meet her… don't you?"
Emi sighed and carried the rest of the load obediently. This was seriously getting under Marinette's skin.
"Lila," said Marinette, walking over to the two sisters. "What do you think you're doing treating this poor girl like this?"
Lila was taken aback, looking as if she were about to bite Marinette's finger off.
"Poor girl?" mocked Lila. "For your information, this is my baby sister, Amelia. She looks up to me as a role model, so this doesn't concern you in the slightest."
"Are you okay with this, Amelia?" asked Marinette.
"I just want to meet Ladybug," said Emi. "Lila said she would help me meet her because they're such good friends."
Lila was still up to her old ways: telling lies to anyone willing to hear them. Marinette decided to tread lightly, though. Lila could get akumatized again if she called her out.
"While that might be true," said Marinette, choosing her words carefully under Lila's glare. "You don't need to do all this to meet Ladybug. She comes out when people are in need. You'll see her soon enough and I doubt Ladybug would like to see you being bossed around."
"Here's an idea," said Seline. "Why don't you come with us, Amelia? We've got fun things planned."
Emi dropped all of Lila's belongings, like her books and backpack, onto the ground.
"Sorry, Lila," said Emi. "You'll have to carry your own things this time."
"How dare you, you little—!" said Lila before she saw the concerned looks on Seline and Marinette, prompting her to soften her tone. "You little sister of mine! Don't worry about me; I can have someone else do it."
Lila hugged Emi tightly. Marinette was playing the nice game and Lila had to play along. As Lila let go of Emi, Kim walked by and a thought popped into Lila's head.
"Excuse me," said Lila to Kim. "Can you help me carry my things? I would do it myself, but I suffer from chronic back pain and I wouldn't want to make it worse."
"No problem," said Kim, taking Lila's word as truth.
Lila looked at Seline and Marinette with a smug smile. She always took pride in being such a sly fox.
"Have fun, you three," said Lila before turning to Kim. "Follow me, garçon."
Lila left with Kim following closely behind.
"That girl is scary," said Seline.
"We won't have to worry about her," said Marinette. "Because we're going to have fun."
Marinette, Seline and Emi spoke for the rest of the breakfast period, chatting about themselves and getting to know each other. They had to stop to get to class, but they regularly talked and joked in the hallways at their lockers in between classes. Later on in art class, Marinette and Seline came up with an idea.
"We should make three little headbands for us," said Marinette. "To symbolize our friendship."
"That's not a bad idea," said Seline. "Where do we start?"
Seline and Marinette took three plain headbands and made their own little crafts with them. They glued colored fabric, painted little designs, and stuck some jewels on them. When they were done, they were quite proud of their creations.
"Do you think she'll like it?" said Seline.
"No," said Marinette. "She'll love it!"
The next time all three met up at the lockers, Marinette and Seline gave Emi her very own friendship headband. The plastic clipped right onto her head over her hair looking a bit like a tiara with it's jewels shining brightly in the sun.
"Thank you so much for this!" said Emi with tears in her eyes. "Lila is always telling me how much people wouldn't like me if it weren't for her. But I've made friends all on my own! Maybe she was wrong this whole time."
"Of course she was," said Marinette. "Now, let's go and show everyone what we've got."
At the lunch table, Adrien, Nino, and Timothée were brainstorming for their April Fool's prank.
"This is gonna be the coolest prank ever," said Nino.
"It'll go down in April Fool's history!" said Adrien.
"Shh!" said Timothée.
Professor Mendeleiev passed by. They nervously giggled until she left earshot.
"You'll blow the surprise if you talk too loudly," whispered Timothée.
"Sorry," said Adrien. "I'm just so excited. This is going to be my first time doing a school prank."
"I forgot you used to be homeschooled," said Nino. "Well, your first one is going to be your best one since we're putting all our heads together."
Marinette and Seline entered the cafeteria with Emi. They walked over to Adrien and his friends.
"Hey, guys," said Seline. "This is Amelia, Lila's little sister."
"Hi, everybody," said Emi. "You can call me Emi."
They looked her up and down. She was almost like a younger version of Lila. It unnerved Adrien a little bit, but he was willing to give her a chance.
"We promise she's nothing like Lila," clarified Marinette.
"Well, in that case," said Adrien. "Do you wanna help us with the prank we're setting up?"
"Sure!" said Emi.
"Prank?" said Marinette. "Oh, right! It's April Fool's Day, isn't it? I haven't even thought of a prank."
"You're in luck," said Timothée. "Because we're going to need all the help we can get to pull this off."
As they chatted, there was someone listening in on their conversation: it was Lila sitting a couple of tables away. She became so angry that the plastic fork she was holding snapped in half.
"My lame sister is getting even more popular than me," said Lila. "Maybe I can do something about that with a little prank of my own."
With supersleuth type stealth, Lila quickly made her way to Professor Mendeleiev's class, took a number of things and returned to the cafeteria without being noticed. She confidently walked over to the chatting friends.
"Look at all of you," said Lila. "So buddy-buddy. I'm so proud of my little sister for making friends so easily. Give me a hug!"
Lila hugged Emi and stealthily snuck the stolen beakers of chemicals into her backpack.
"I guess I'll get going now," said Lila.
At that moment, Professor Mendeleiev rushed over.
"My things are missing!" she said. "You have to help me find them! Whoever stole them will be punished severely."
"What is it that you're missing?" said Marinette.
Professor Mendeleiev listed some overly long scientific terms that went completely over the students' heads.
As they all wondered where Mendeleiev's belongings could be, Nino spotted something peeking out of Emi's backpack.
"What's that in your backpack, Emi?" he asked. "It kinda looks like something from her class."
"What?" said Lila. "That's impossible. Let me check."
Lila unzipped Emi's backpack and out fell the assorted chemicals. All the friends gasped.
"I can't believe it," said Lila. "My precious little sister, how could you do something as heinous as theft?"
"You're going to pay for this, little girl," said Professor Mendeleiev.
"No, this is all wrong," said Emi erratically. "This wasn't in my backpack before. I'm being framed!"
"Maybe you're more like Lila than we thought," said Seline. "In that case, give us back the headband."
Seline reached for the headband on Emi's head but Emi recoiled and ran away crying. Seline couldn't help but feel sorry for her even though she thought Emi was a thief. Marinette spotted Lila's face. She was smiling but stopped once she noticed Marinette was watching her.
"I don't know, Seline," said Marinette. "Something doesn't seem right."
"I should've told you earlier," said Lila. "But I didn't want to embarrass Emi. She compulsively steals, and I just get so worried about her. One of these days, she might get in serious trouble."
This sounded exactly like another one of Lila's lies and Marinette was not about to fall for it. Marinette ran after Emi, leaving Seline and Lila shocked.
Emi ran into the restroom and hid in one of the stalls. Holding the headband in her hands, sobbing quietly.
Somewhere in Paris, a mysterious man was in a lair full of butterflies. One of those butterflies landed in his hand.
"Accused of a crime you didn't commit," said Papillon. "Few situations are as lonely or as dangerous for a good person. Fly, my little akuma, and show this girl that being bad isn't so… bad."
The little butterfly flew through the window and found its way to the school's restroom. It attached itself to Emi's headband.
"Creator," the voice in Emi's head said. "I am Papillon. Find me Ladybug's Miraculous and I'll give you the power to create the reality you want."
"Yes, Papillon," said Emi.
Marinette was going to knock on the door of the restroom when Creator burst out, catching Marinette off guard. Creator was 7 feet tall and wore a white bodysuit. On her head was a bejeweled tiara, a large sapphire gem resting in the middle of it. Marinette recognized it as their friendship headband.
"Emi, no!" cried Marinette.
Creator tapped the sapphire gem on her tiara and conjured a jetpack out of thin air. She put it on and flew away. Marinette ran into the restroom for privacy and opened her purse to let Tikki fly out.
"Tikki," said Marinette. "You wouldn't mind working with another kwami, right?"
"Of course not!" said Tikki.
Marinette put on the mouse miraculous, a necklace with a circular pendant with a hole in it. Out of the miraculous came a little mouse kwami.
"Tikki, Mullo," said Marinette, holding out both palms before clasping them together. "Amalgame!"
Marinette transformed into the fusion of Multibug, equipped with the abilities of both the Ladybug and Mouse Miraculouses.
"Now to find where she ran off to," said Multibug.
She chased Creator into the cafeteria. The scene was absolute pandemonium. Students were running away while Creator tapped the gem on her headband, conjuring a leaf blower. Tables and chairs went flying, trapping some students against the wall and floor. Most of Marinette's friends were gone, but Alya was there recording the whole thing. Multibug approached Alya, making Alya's heart skip a beat.
"A new superheroine!" said Alya. "Can we take a selfie for my Ladyblog?"
"Forget the photo," said Multibug. "I need your help. Will you take the Armadillo Miraculous and help me save the day?"
"Are you kidding?" asked Alya. "You know I will!"
In the middle of the cafeteria, Creator was threatening Professor Mendeleiev.
"Where is Lila!?" shouted the Creator.
"I don't know," said Professor Mendeleiev. "I think she went outside."
Just as she finished that sentence, Creator then ran outside swiftly to the courtyard.
Chat Noir, Tigresse Blanche, and Léopard were already fighting off Creator when Multibug and Alya/Armadilla caught up with her. They were protecting Lila who held up her backpack as a shield against the water spraying from a water hose that Creator was wielding.
"Why are you coming after me, you weirdo?!" said Lila. "I've always looked out for you!"
"Liar!" said Creator.
Chat Noir was surprised to see Ladybug in a grey and red outfit.
"I like the new look, Ladybug," said Chat Noir.
"Thanks for the compliment," said Multibug. "But I'm not Ladybug; I'm Multibug!"
Creator tapped the gem on her tiara and conjured a handful of marbles. She rolled all the marbles on the ground making the heroes lose their balance and trip on the floor.
Multibug tripped on Creator's leaf blower, inadvertently kicking it. This made Creator recoil in pain as though she herself were hurt. This gave Multibug an idea.
"Attack her creations," said Multibug. "They're her weakness!"
"Will do!" replied Tigresse Blanche and Léopard.
All the heroes kicked, whacked, and broke Creator's creations lying on the ground.
"No!" shouted Creator, being brought to her knees by the pain.
"Armadilla," called Multibug. "I've got a plan."
Multibug whispered her plan into Armadilla's ear. Armadilla understood completely and got in formation.
"Multitude!" said Multibug, shrinking down to the size of a rat and multiplying.
The multiple versions of Multibug climbed up Armadilla and held onto her bracers.
"Hang on," said Armadilla. "Diamond Hard!"
Armadilla made an X with her arms then released the diamond spikes coming out of her arms at Creator. All the different Multibugs rode the diamond shards. Creator dodged the shards and the Multibugs jumped off and landed on Creator's head.
"Hey!" shouted Creator. "Get off of me!"
All the Multibugs traveled over Creator's body and wreaked havoc, tickling her and biting her. A couple Multibugs on Creator's head grabbed onto the tiara and pulled it in opposite directions with all their might, snapping it in half. A butterfly flew out of the tiara. All the Multibugs jumped off Creator and regrouped into one, normal-sized Multibug. She pulled out her yo-yo and got ready to dispel the akuma.
"No more evil doing for you, little akuma," said Multibug, setting the white butterfly free. "Je t'ai eu! Bye-bye, petit papillon."
Multibug then released her healing ladybug essence which washed over the school, restoring all the damage Creator had done.
"We have to go," said Multibug. "You did a great job, Armadilla."
"Anything to save the day," said Armadilla.
They both went to the restroom where Alya de-transformed and gave Multibug the Armadillo Miraculous.
"You're Ladybug, right?" said Alya. "Why do you keep changing into different heroines?"
"It's a long story," said Multibug. "So to sum it up, I'm trying to confuse the supervillain who keeps using people to attack us. He's upped his game and I have to keep up."
"Good luck, then," said Alya. "Just know that all of Paris has your back."
With that, Multibug left to her own hiding spot behind a corner in the halls to de-transform out of sight. Tikki and Mullo came out of their Miraculouses, looking at Marinette who was exhausted.
"Thank you so much, you two," said Marinette. "Now I've gotta go take care of something."
Marinette went back to the courtyard where there was no one except for Lila and Emi present. Seline showed up soon after.
"What happened?" said Emi in a daze.
"You turned into a monster after you were caught stealing," said Lila. "Seriously, sister, I thought you were better than this."
"Enough of the charade, Lila," said Marinette, clearly upset with Emi's maltreatment. "Tell the truth."
Looking at Marinette and Seline, Lila knew that she couldn't keep this lie going any longer. She had to relent.
"Ugh," said Lila. "Fine. I planted the stolen things in your backpack. Uh… April Fool's?"
"That was incredibly selfish and mean-spirited, Lila," said Seline. "You made me think Emi was a thief! You're a terrible person!"
"Oh, yeah?" said Lila. "Well, get used to it! Being friends with Marinette was your first strike, but yelling at me just earned you a huge enemy. You better watch your back."
Lila walked away in a huff, completely oblivious to the error of her ways. Seline and Marinette looked over to Emi with concerned looks on their faces.
"Your sister is scary," said Seline.
"You don't know the half of it," said Emi.
"That doesn't matter," said Marinette. "Because you've got good friends like us who have your back."
Emi was so moved by this. A lot of the other students never spoke up for her and just allowed Lila to be mean because they were afraid of her.
"Let's go see the boys' prank," said Seline, finding something to look forward to. "They said it was going to turn the school into a circus, whatever that means."
Marinette, Seline and Emi made their way towards the entrance of the school. Next to the school's front steps, the Principal Damocles statue was dressed up in clown makeup, clown shoes, a rainbow wig, and a big red nose.
"What is the meaning of this?!" said Principal Damocles.
The entire student body laughed at this display. The boys admired their own handiwork and high fived themselves.
"That was awesome," said Adrien. "It's too bad April Fool's has to come to an end."
"Actually, Adrien," said Marinette. "I think we have enough time for one last prank… just follow my lead."
Inside the school, Marinette put the finishing touches on their next prank. It was a teddy bear in front of a locker. All of them hid behind a corner and watched as Chloé walked by. It was her locker and she noticed the stuffed animal sitting on the floor in front of it.
"What's this?" said Chloé.
She picked it up. As she picked it up, a wire it was attached to tipped over a bucket of flour on top of her locker. This enraged her.
"When I said I needed more makeup powder, this is not what I meant!" she said.
"April Fools'!" said Marinette and Adrien.
"Oh, Adrien," said Chloé. "Well, if this was your idea… it was hilarious!"
All the friends laughed uproariously together, exchanging bright smiles. Emi felt like she finally had a place to belong.
A/N: This week's akumatized character, Emi/Creator, is brought to you courtesy of decode9! Emi is going to be a supporting character for the rest of the arc and we're excited to explore her budding friendship with our heroes as she learns to come out of her shell. Who knows? She might even be a superhero down the line… ;)