Chapter 16

Being the leader of team miraculous took a little time for Marinette to get use to. It wasn't even a role that she saw herself playing even when the media identifies her as such. That and her friends would call her boss from time to time whenever they were in their hero forms since she's the one always coming up with the plans. But there were times where she wished that she was still watching Manon instead of trying to keep the others in line. And today was one of those times for sure.

"No," Marinette said to her friends all sitting around her room.

"Why not?" Alya asked almost like a sad child not getting their way.

"Because it's already dangerous to even have them here," Marinette answered, "Letting them out could be even more of a risk."

The argument she was currently having came up when they were studying. Marinette noticed Chloe glancing at the miraculous box occasionally until they finally addressed it. Once they did, she ended up having to deal with her teammates all requesting to meet the other kwamis. However when Marinette said no in this case, she meant it. But her teammates were nothing if not persistent.

"Aw come on bugaboo," Adrien said in an attempt to flirt his way to success, "Why not let us make more friends?"

Marinette felt herself want to say yes briefly until she regained her composure and said, "We Don't know what kind of trouble would be caused from it. Curiosity could still kill the cat."

"What about that whole satisfaction line?" Plagg asked from Marinette's little kwami alcove that she designed.

Marinette looked over at the cat kwami as if she was about to shoot lasers out of her eyes at him. Deciding it best not to anger her, he chose not to say more. However, Trixx spoke up next, "I respect your decision Marinette, but I don't believe that there is much risk for now."

"And besides, it'd be nice to talk to our friends outside of the box," Wayzz chimed in, "You won't believe how boring it got with master Fu."

"What do you mean boring?" Pollen asked her fellow kwami, "He let us out to visit with you occasionally."

"Exactly," Wayzz said, turning Pollen's statement to better support his side, "And he was even more paranoid than anyone here."

"That's because he's over a century old," Tikki pointed out.

This caused the teens to all chuckle at Tikki's remark. Mostly because they had assumed that the age thing was a joke. However, in the back of their minds, they did think it was possible. Marinette, and Chloe both had assumed that he was older than he looked based on what they noticed about him when they first met him as Master Fu. But for the other three, the thought of Master Fu being over a hundred years old seemed like a stretch.

Eventually Tikki brought them back to the initial topic, "Perhaps it would help to familiarize yourself with the others though."

Everyone, with the exception of Marinette, looked at Tikki with surprise. Throughout their time of knowing her, the teens all looked to Tikki as the kwami voice of reason since she was a perfect balance to Plagg. Not to mention, the other three kwamis didn't really fit that role too well. But there was logic behind Tikki's reasoning, and for the more eager ones in the room, her support was enough for them. Eventually it became enough for Marinette as well, "Fine. We'll allow them out just this once. Then they'll need to return to their boxes."

She noticed Alya Almost rush to the miraculous box, and managed to grab it before any other hands touched it, and said, "I'll be the one opening it."

Alya gave a light pout, "Party pooper."

Marinette then slowly opened the box, and began to release the kwamis. In a second, she and her friends were immediately surrounded by the remaining kwamis. All of which were looking around the room, taking in their current environment. This continued until they all spotted the five teens who had circled around the box that Marinette had opened. Eventually one of the kwamis which looked like a snake had flown up to the center of the box, and asked, "Are you the new chosens?"

"Sort of," Marinette answered for the group as she showed the snake kwami that she had the ladybug earrings.

The others followed suit as they showed which miraculous they possessed. The kwami in the center looked between all of them and said, "Well then it's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Sass."

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Marinette introduced herself before introducing the others, "This is Adrien Agreste, Alya Cesaire, Nino Lahiffe, and Chloe Bourgeois."

"Sass," Tikki exclaimed as she flew to hug the snake, "We missed you guys."

"And we missed you Tikki," Sass said as he returned the hug, "I just hope Plagg, and Wayzz are being kept in line."

"Why stop them from having fun?" asked another kwami who had the appearance of a monkey.

"Sounds like another troublemaker," Adrien said with a slight chuckle, "Who might you be?"

"The name's Xuppu," the monkey kwami replied, "And it's not my fault if I know how to have fun."

"Just don't cause any issues for any of us here," Sass requested with a groan.

"Impressive," one of the kwamis said From Marinette's desk as they looked through her design journal.

Marinette was quick to get up and snatch the art book away from the admiring kwamis who appeared to be a tiger, and a horse. The horse spoke first, "Do you think you can make any noble garments for my chosen when the time comes?"

"It's funny how you now have design commissions from kwamis," Alya said before turning her attention over to said kwamis, "So what are your names?"

"I am Kaalki," the horse kwami answered first, "And please tell me that my chosen is an honorable knight, fair maiden."

"I wouldn't know yet," Marinette answered before turning to look at Adrien, "And don't you start."

"No fun princess," Adrien replied from where he was sitting.

"Princess?" Kaalki asked, "You're of royal birth?"

"No, it's just his way of flirting," Marinette replied with a groan, knowing that Adrien only called her princess to mess with her.

"That sounds a little mean," the tiger kwami replied.

"Nah he means well Roaar," Plagg said in Adrien's defense.

"Well then that's good," Roaar began smiling again.

As the teens looked for where the other kwamis would be, they noticed three of them surrounding a plate of treats. The three appeared to be in the form of a rabbit, a dog, and an ox. All three were currently helping themselves to the treats that were on the plate. And all three seemed to be absolutely enjoying the snacks. The dog kwami looked towards the humans and asked, "Where do you get these?"

"All made here," Nino answered, "And Ladybug here is a baker as well."

"How wonderful," the rabbit replied as she continued eating the blueberry macaroons.

"Just in case you're wondering by the way," Sass said as he flew over to draw attention to the three briefly, "The rabbit kwami is Fluff, the dog is Barkk, and the ox is Stompp."

"Interesting names," Chloe pointed out.

"What is this strange box here?" Another kwami asked.

All five of the teens turned to see where the voice came from. Turns out it was one of the kwamis that haven't introduced themselves yet. But eventually that was finished and soon the remaining kwamis were identified as Ziggy the lamb, Daizzi the pig, Orikko the rooster, Mullo the mouse, and Longg the dragon. As they were about to continue their discussion of who each kwami was, and what they could do, Alya noticed something. She grabbed the two empty boxes and said, "We're missing blue and violet."

"That would be Duusu, and Nooroo," Sass answered, "The peacock and butterfly."

Chloe's attention snapped from Alya to the serpent, "Did you say butterfly?"

"Makes sense that Hawkmoth would have a kwami," Adrien pointed out, "But what happened to the peacock?"

"We don't know," Fluff answered this time, "Her chosen was lost and we were never able to get in touch with Duusu again."

Longg was next to speak, "And after that, we noticed that Nooroo was missing along with his miraculous."

"Don't worry," Marinette assured the kwamis, "We'll get them both back."

"Thank you Ladybug," Sass smiled with immense gratitude, "So what do you humans do for entertainment?"

"I can help you there," Plagg replied with a mischievous smile.

It was a story that the friends did find interesting. Until they ended up having to pick up after the tiny creatures of chaos. Ultimately, it was agreed that the kwamis would all be able to leave when it was deemed safe enough. Or when Marinette, since she was officially the team leader, would select a chosen for each kwami, to the disappointment of a small group of them. However, since that day, Marinette had been coming up with lists of who she would give each kwami to, though many of them were scrapped.

The last time she was working on the list, she noticed Adrien arrive on her balcony again as Chat Noir, and asked, "If you're going to keep working on that thing, can you please humor me with another song?"

Marinette giggled as she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, "Fine. But only because I know how much of a needy kitty you are."

The bluenette began singing along to another karaoke song on her phone. However, the song was interrupted when she got a text from someone. Adrien, or Chat Noir in this case, looked at the text and let Marinette read it as well. It was in the group chat once again.

[From Mr. Rhythm: Hey lovebirds, where are you guys? Patrol is coming up.]

Marinette began typing up a response until she noticed other replies.

[From Hive Girl: I say we should let the two have their little moment of love.]

[From Super Sleuth: Moment Of love? One second. I must document this.]

Marinette rolled her eyes, knowing that Chloe and Alya were teasing them but sent a reply to the team.

[From Lady Luck: We're on our way to meet you guys.]

As she hit send, she looked to Chat and asked, "Did anyone see you enter?"

"Well I travelled with Cara…" Chat paused before giving a distasteful groan at his realization, "Damn turtle followed me."

"That's the life we might have to deal with," Marinette said as she giggled at Chat's grumbling face, "But Don't worry. We'll get our revenge someday."

Chat smiled as well, "Fair enough. I'll meet you outside Princess."

The blond hero gave Marinette a kiss on the lips before leaving out through balcony entrance. Shortly following him was the same bluenette who looked to her kwami and said, "Tikki, spots on."

(Author's notes)

This chapter is the end of all of the significant moments until further notice. This is meant to be the last chapter but there might be some epilogue filler if I feel up to it. Thank you all so much for reading and thank you for the reviews that you typed up. I hope you enjoyed every chapter, and I'm sorry if some moments weren't your favorites.

However, there will be more to this story itself. I already got started on a sequel following this story called "Miraculous Youth". I hope you enjoy that story as well.

Stay Miraculous folks. : )