Chapter 2

The entire room was silent as everyone waited for the child to explain. However, after ten long minutes of silence, they just wanted someone to say something. But honestly, it was difficult to figure out how to proceed. Manon kept looking for excuses but couldn't find one that worked for this scenario. So there was complete lack of sound until she finally said, "I'm sorry?"

Suddenly Marinette walked over to the open miraculous box and collected all other small boxes with it, asking, "Why did you open this box?"

"I was bored waiting for you to show up," Manon answered honestly, "And I thought it was another one of your designs."

Marinette looked at the child a little sternly as she set the boxes on her desk, "That's not a very good excuse for you going through my things."

"Well what about the fact that you're Ladybug?" Manon replied.

That's when all five teens froze in place. It didn't take long for the kwamis to do the same. Marinette looked to the kwamis, and then back at Manon, "Who told you that?"

That's when Roaar spoke up, "Wait, she wasn't suppose to know?"

Sass flew over to meet Roaar face to face, and began chastising, "You said that she was informed that Marinette was Ladybug."

"I said I believed that," Roaar defended herself, "I didn't know for sure."

Marinette let out an audible groan, "Okay So how much does she know now?"

Roaar gave a look of worry as she answered, "Almost everything."

Marinette groaned again, "I'll rephrase. What doesn't she know?"

"Oh right," Manon chimed in, "How do I become a superhero with this bracelet?"

Manon held up her right wrist to reveal what was on it. While the teens were away, Manon used the moment to ask questions about the miraculous. One of them was how the Panjas bracelet was able to change sizes to fit her small wrist. And when the others noticed it on her wrist, they became worried about what she'll do with it. Someone like Hawkmoth having a miraculous is dangerous, but someone like a little child having one was unpredictable.

This wasn't to say that Marinette didn't trust Manon to do the right thing. It was more that there are children who'd do anything for a little fun. Even if it meant potentially abusing the power bestowed upon them by the kwamis. And with Hawkmoth hunting for the miraculouses, it was dangerous for one to be in the hands of a person so young. So Marinette was quick to act, "Manon, I need you to give that to me please."

"Wait," Manon began to bargain as she clutched her wrist to her chest, "What if I promise to only help when things are really bad?"

"Manon, being like us is very dangerous," Marinette explained, "You could get seriously hurt."

"But you still do it every day," Manon argued.

"Yes but you're just a child," Marinette countered.

"Don't you still count as a child as well?" Manon asked.

Marinette tried to provide her own argument to that remark but couldn't find anything that would work. She looked to the other teens only to find herself with no support. Even when he wasn't visually Chat Noir, Adrien still liked tormenting his girlfriend sometimes. Nino just shrugged since he couldn't think of any way to help. Chloe was doing her best to pretend like she wasn't noticing the conversation. And Alya, being Alya, was trying to maintain her composure without going off on how a child miraculous wielder would be cute.

"May I speak?" Sass asked politely as he flew in between the two ladies.

Once Marinette nodded, he proceeded to provide his opinion, "From what I've witnessed so far, I don't believe there's any harm in allowing Manon to take care of Roaar's miraculous. Not to mention, Hawkmoth wouldn't be looking for a child chosen."

Marinette turned to look at her friends again for their thoughts. None of them seemed to have an issue with the girl having a miraculous. However, only Adrien and Alya looked a little excited about the idea of Manon joining their team. Nino, and Chloe on the other hand were worried about the dangers that she'd get into, but ultimately decided to comply. And finally Marinette turned her attention back to the kid, "Okay Manon, Roaar can stay with you."

"Yay!" Manon cheered before noticing Marinette crouch down to meet her eye level.

"But there are many things you should know if this is going to happen. If you go patrolling with us, and that's a big if, you stay with one of the five of us no matter what. Otherwise, you will help for emergencies only. Also your kwami will need to eat from time to time but that doesn't mean you can overfeed her."

Marinette continued explaining the remaining rules to having a miraculous with an active kwami. Only take off the bracelet if it's really needed to be removed. Tell no one about the fact that a miraculous is in the hands of a little kid. Don't abuse the powers of the kwami for any reason especially if it's just to show off. The list went on, but once finished, Marinette looked Manon directly in the eye, and said, "Do you understand? This is a big responsibility. You break that responsibility, and I will have to take the miraculous away from you."

Manon smiled, and nodded as she gave her honest answer, "I understand."

"Good," Marinette smiled as she picked up the boxes belonging to the other kwamis, and put them away. One by one, the kwamis began disappearing as each miraculous was put back away. Finally the only kwamis remaining were the main five, and Roaar who was currently sitting on Manon's shoulder, watching Manon play a video game. Meanwhile the main five were elsewhere discussing what Marinette had just agreed to. Chloe was the first to start the discussion, "Are you sure that we should let this happen?"

"Not really," Marinette answered honestly, "But it seems like the best option."

"You make it sound like she'll out us if we told her no," Wayzz spoke up.

"She wouldn't do that," Tikki defended the girl.

"Though she might use this knowledge to gain popularity at school," Plagg pointed out.

"Okay enough," Marinette ended the discussion immediately, "It doesn't matter now."

"But how will we be able to monitor her?" Nino asked.

"Actually kwamis are able to connect with each other," Trixx answered, "We tried with Nooroo but…"

Trixx didn't really need to finish. The five teens had a discussion in the past with the kwamis about what had happened to their missing friends. They discovered that Duusu's Miraculous was broken many years ago so connection there is unlikely. They also discussed how when they tried reaching out to Nooroo last time, Hawkmoth became aware of the other miraculouses.

Deciding that dwelling on the past wouldn't help, Adrien moved the conversation along, "So you guys can communicate without being in the same room?"

"Well it's a little more complicated than that," Pollen clarified, "And it'd be hard to explain."

"But the big takeaway is that we can monitor Manon unless Roaar shuts us out," Tikki explained with greater clarity.

"Okay So then we go with that," Alya nodded.

Once they finished discussing things, they returned just as Manon had finished asking, "So how do I use the hero change?"

Since Roaar didn't realize that it would be a problem, she answered honestly, "Well you just say my name, and then 'stripes on', and that's it."

"Sweet," Manon immediately jumped to her feat, and exclaimed, "Roaar, stripes on!"

"No wait!" Marinette said as the five rushed to stop the transformation sequence.

Unfortunately they were already too late. There was a bright magenta flash from Manon's bracelet, and Roaar had disappeared inside. When the flash disappeared, the teens looked at Manon who was no longer in her usual outfit. Instead, she was wearing what looked to be a magenta jumpsuit with almost as many pockets as Chat Noir. Though hers was in different shades of magenta with stripes from head to toe. She had two tiger ears on her head, a tiger tail, and a striped magenta mask on her face. And the first words that came to the teens' minds were, "Oh Crap."