Chapter 42: Boss Fight
Queen Bee, Pegasus, and Kota met up on a rooftop overlooking the akuma.
"Mr Pigeon?" Queen Bee questioned, wrinkling her nose. "Seriously?"
"Should be easy to contain," Pegasus said. "I'll create the portal, you two push him in?"
"Send him somewhere without a lot of pigeons," Queen Bee.
"Like the arctic," Kota suggested.
"No, not like the arctic," Queen Bee argued. "Some place not freezing cold without pigeons."
"So the Sahara?" Pegasus questioned.
"No!"
"Pegasus, what's the holdup?" Ladybug asked, her voice coming through clear on their earbuds.
"We can't agree on a location," Queen Bee reported.
"She can't agree on a location," Kota corrected.
"Ignore them, Ladybug," Pegasus interjected. "I'm looking up the coordinates for a location."
"Okay," Ladybug replied. "Stay on task. Mr Pigeon isn't much of a threat, but that doesn't mean you can let your guards down."
"Understood," Pegasus replied. "Creating portal now. Voyage!"
The portal appeared behind Mr Pigeon. Queen Bee and Kota launched from the rooftop together. Kota expanded her kite and hit him in the chest, Queen Bee roped her top around his legs and pulled him through the portal.
Pegasus followed, the portal closing behind him.
The portal had taken them to a large theater. Solid walls surrounded them on three sides, with no windows, and an ornate ceiling arched overhead. The stage was huge and empty, the curtains pulled back.
"No pigeons to help you here," Queen Bee said. "Venom!"
Mr Pigeon froze.
"That was easy," Kota commented. "Now what?"
The symbol for the four heroes disappeared off Ladybug's yo-yo, telling them the akuma was out of range.
"Okay, we're good to go," Ladybug reported. "Bunnyx, take your group and enter through the window on the first floor. We'll go through the giant window."
"Got it," Bunnyx replied. "You three good to go?"
Taurus, Souris Rose, and Roi Singe all gave her a thumbs up.
"Taurus, you go first," Ladybug said.
Taurus nodded, and the four superheroes jumped from the roof to the street.
"Charge!" Taurus activated his power, blue electric streaks appearing briefly. His eyes lit up electric blue.
He took off with a running start, the other heroes right behind him, and smashed shoulder-first through the window.
Nathalie, currently assumed to be Mayura, had been sitting at her desk. She jumped up when the heroes crashed in.
"Give it up, Mayura!" Bunnyx said, stepping forward. "Give us your miraculous and this will be painless."
Nathalie stared at the heroes for a moment in shock.
"Well?" Bunnyx prompted.
"Ga-"
"Nope!" Bunnyx interrupted, roundhouse kicking Nathalie in the chest. "Burrow!"
The burrow opened behind Nathalie just in time for her to fall through.
The four heroes followed, the portal closing behind them, as Nathalie stood back up.
"Duusu, Fluff my feathers!"
Bunnyx had to stifle a laugh. What kind of transformation was that?
Roi Singe did not stifle his laugh, and Mayura scowled at him.
Bunnyx summoned another portal, to a forest during a time it was completely empty, and kicked Mayura through the portal again.
"Stop doing that," Mayura growled.
She opened her fan and grabbed a feather.
Taurus and Roi Singe both moved to interfere, but Bunnyx held up her hand.
Mayura used a blade of grass for her amok, and the sentimonster began to form.
"Taurus, Souris, you stay here and deal with Mayura," Bunnyx said. "Roi, you're with me. Burrow!"
The sentimonster had completely formed into a toad-like grass monster, and Bunnyx ran at it and punted it through the portal. Roi Singe followed, and Bunnyx closed the portal behind her.
The sentimonster recovered quickly, and growled at Bunnyx. She went to kick him again, but he grabbed her foot with his mouth and bit down.
"Ow!" Bunnyx yelped.
Roi Singe smacked the toad with his staff, which did absolutely nothing. Bunnyx repeatedly hit it with her umbrella, which also did absolutely nothing.
"Get! Off!"
Roi Singe slid his staff under the toad, and used it to throw the sentimonster upwards. Unfortunately, it kept Bunnyx's foot in its mouth for most of that, so Bunnyx was also sent flying.
When she crashed into the floor, the sentimonster was gone.
"Where did it go?" Bunnyx demanded. Her ankle hurt, which was annoying. Why did it have to be her ankle again?
"It vanished," Roi Singe helped Bunnyx up, and Bunnyx was glad to find she could put some, but not a lot, of weight on her ankle.
"Ugh, of course," Bunnyx complained. "The amok was still with Mayura, so she could still control it! Come on, let's go back for round two."
Kota stared at the ceiling, completely bored.
"You know," Pegasus said. "With this latest power up, I could have created a portal for both the akuma and the sentimonster."
"And then we wouldn't be so bored," Queen Bee whined.
"The power up was a last minute thing," Kota said. "We couldn't change our plans so late."
"I guess," Queen Bee replied.
Mr Pigeon was still frozen. There were still no pigeons.
"Multitude!"
It was hard, being small in a forest, but Souris Rose wasn't going to let that stop her. All of the Souris Roses merged on Mayura, grabbing her boots and climbing upwards. The target was simple: her fan.
Taurus charged, swinging his horn down on Mayura. Mayura dodged, coming up with an uppercut to Taurus's chin that knocked him back. She slashed with her fan, but Taurus blocked with his forearm and punched at her fan arm. She barely managed to dodge in time, backing up and tripping on a root.
Mayura recovered her balance, but it gave Taurus a chance to close in on her. He grabbed her non fan wrist, and yanked her against a tree.
She squirmed and twisted, breaking free just in time for the first Souris Rose to get to the fan. She started pulling the feathers out, which was hard to do while hanging on for her life. Eventually, more Souris Roses joined her, and the fan began to thin.
Mayura noticed a few minutes later. "Huh?"
She shook her fan, but the Souris Roses held on.
Taurus landed a punch in Mayura's face, knocking her down.
"Grab her Miraculous!" A Souris Rose yelled, not loud enough for him to hear.
Taurus still reached for the miraculous. Mayura recalled the amok from the grass blade, and tossed the feather at the closest object.
It landed on a tree.
"What do you think you're doing, putting spells on me?"
Mayura, Taurus, and all the Souris Roses froze as someone walked out of the tree.
"Who are you?" Taurus asked.
The person scoffed. "I'm the nymph."
"What?"
Mayura grabbed Taurus by the wrist and twisted it away, forcing Taurus off of her. Taurus yanked his wrist away from her hold, but that action made him lean back, allowing Mayura to slip out.
She was muttering to herself, Souris Rose realized. No, not to herself - to the nymph, who now had the amok.
Souris Rose didn't have a chance to use that realization, because a dog-like sentimonster had formed. It jumped on Mayura, wagging its tail, and a blue glow surrounded it, Mayura, and the heroes.
A rubber duck bounced on its head just as the world went dark.
Bunnyx frantically glanced through windows, trying to figure out where the sentimonster had ended up. Now that Mayura was separated from the amok - still in the tree - they could effectively separate the sentimonster from Mayura.
"Come on, come on, where are you?" Bunnyx muttered. She was running out of time -
Wait. Time travel.
It didn't matter how long it took, she could travel right to the moment her allies appeared.
Bunnyx took a deep breath, and kept searching.
The world went black, and then he was drowning.
Taurus kicked upwards. He was never a good swimmer, but he still had that extra strength boost, and he was able to surface quickly.
At some point, Bunnyx and Roi Singe had ended up in the water as well - the water being the ocean they were currently stranded in. Souris Rose was slowly reforming into one person besides Taurus, struggling to stay above the water.
"Where'd Mayura go?" Bunnyx asked, kicking furiously to keep her head above the water.
"Uhhh," Roi Singe replied, pointing to something behind Bunnyx and Taurus.
Taurus turned, stomach sinking at the sight of a huge sea serpent behind him, Mayura standing on its head.
"Wha - that's not fair!" Bunnyx argued. "You're supposed to be disconnected from your amok!"
Mayura smirked. "The nymph gave it up - something that works no matter where - or when - I am."
Bunnyx cursed.
The sea serpent roared, and the battle recommenced.
Bunnyx made gestures that vaguely looked like a plan, and the three other heroes nodded and hoped they understood her correctly. Roi Singe summoned his power, keeping the item close by, while Bunnyx distracted Mayura and the serpent.
Taurus took a deep breath and dove under water, Souris Rose right behind him. They surfaced where the serpent's body came out of the water. Taurus pulled himself up onto the serpent, and helped Souris Rose on.
It took a lot of grip strength to climb a wet and constantly moving serpent. Taurus was thankful for his extra strength. He had no idea how Souris Rose was holding on.
They made it up the serpent without being noticed. With Mayura on its head, the serpent was keeping its head mostly level, even as it snapped at Bunnyx, so Taurus and Souris Rose were able to stand up.
"Multitude," Souris Rose whispered, dividing again into many.
The Souris Roses scatted to the front in two main groups - heading for the eyes. Taurus readied his weapon and aimed for Mayura.
He charged, coming at Mayura from the back and sending them both into the water. Taurus reached for the miraculous, but Mayura was the better swimmer and shook him off.
Mayura surfaced first and swam towards the now slightly-blinded sea serpent. The serpent lowered its head, letting Mayura climb back on.
She didn't have a chance to see Roi Singe before banana peel smacked into her face.
The serpent disappeared under her feet, and Mayura fell right into Bunnyx's grip. Bunnyx grabbed the miraculous, and Mayura detransformed.
Roi Singe let out a whoop.
Nathalie smirked. "Not so fast."
"What do you mean, not so fast?" Bunnyx questioned. "You're detransformed, de-miraculoused, you don't have a sentimonster-"
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Nathalie said. "Sentimonsters don't disappear just because I detransfromed."
"But-" Roi Singe started. He was cut off when the dog sentimonster resurfaced, nudging Nathalie with its nose.
They both vanished.
Bunnyx cursed again.
"Okay, we're good to go," Ladybug reported. "Bunnyx, take your group and enter through the window on the first floor. We'll go through the giant window."
"Got it," Bunnyx replied. "You three good to go?"
Taurus, Souris Rose, and Roi Singe all gave her a thumbs up.
"Taurus, you go first," Ladybug said.
Taurus nodded, and the four superheroes jumped from the roof to the street.
Ladybug watched them land, before turning back to the remaining heroes.
"Viperion?"
Viperion nodded. "Second chance!"
A moment later he flinched. "We need to be careful going in. Hawkmoth's lair is armed to the teeth."
"Chat Noir, do you think you can disarm that with a cataclysm?" Ladybug asked.
Chat Noir nodded. "Yeah."
"Alright," Ladybug said. "Ready?"
"Ready." Rena Rouge grabbed her flute and flipped it in her fingers.
"Ready." Carapace lifted his shield.
"I'm always ready," Ryuko said, unsheathing her sword.
"Ready," Viperion said.
"Chat?" Ladybug asked.
Chat Noir nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready."
"Alright. Let's go!"
Chat Noir used his baton to scan the mansion, finding the place where his cataclysm could destroy the security system immediately. He took advantage of the powerup to cataclysm the window as well, and Ladybug went in first.
"Gabriel Agreste," Ladybug said. "Hand over your Miraculous, and surrender."
Hawkmoth scowled. "Ladybug. I was wondering why my akuma disappeared. Clever for-"
Carapace's shield whacked into Hawkmoth, knocking him backwards.
"Last chance to end things without a fight," Ladybug said.
"Never."
Hawkmoth picked up the shield and threw it at Ladybug. Ladybug ducked and swung her yo-yo, trapping Hawkmoth by the legs. She pulled, bringing him closer.
Ryuko placed her sword against his neck.
Ladybug reached down and grabbed the miraculous, ready for something to interfere. It couldn't be this easy, could it?
The brooch came off, and Hawkmoth detransformed.
"Rena, call the police and tell them we have Hawkmoth in custody," Ladybug said.
Something smacked into Ladybug. She fell forward, brooch flying out of her hand.
Yep. There it is.
Ladybug rolled back onto her feet, but whatever knocked into her was gone. As was the brooch.
Gabriel cackled. "I can always depend on Nathalie."
"Are you sure?" Ryuko questioned. "She could have saved you, but she went for the miraculous instead."
"Seems like she might want the wish for herself," Carapace added.
"You're mistaken. Nathalie is loyal."
"Sure," Ladybug said. "Either way, you're finished, Gabriel Agreste."
Bunnyx's team was waiting on the roof of the hotel.
"Ladybug!" Bunnyx said, when Ladybug landed. "I'm so sorry we let Mayura go-"
"It's okay," Ladybug said. "I miscalculated team sizes. I should have given you more support - we definitely didn't need it."
Behind her, Carapace snickered.
"We did get the peacock miraculous," Bunnyx said, handing it to Ladybug.
"Good job," Ladybug said. "That only leaves Mayura one miraculous, not two. And now that we know who she is, we have a chance of tracking her down without magic. Today was a success, don't forget that."
"We should celebrate!" Roi Singe suggested. "Let's get ice cream!"
"At a later time, maybe," Ladybug said. "First, we have some things to work out."
It's finally out! Thank you all for being so patient.
The last two chapters should be on time, and then I get to start working on the sequel!