Tikki stared at the secret base underneath the Agreste mansion. "You were right."
Plagg rolled his eyes. "Did you think I would joke about this, Sugar Cube?"
She glared at him. "Yes."
"...Ok, fair. But I wasn't this time!"
"So, what's your plan?" Tikki asked.
"You're asking ME for a plan?"
"I mean, you're the one who's lived here for the past several months, you know Gabriel better than I do… and I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"
Plagg rubbed his tiny paw nubs together as he smirked evilly. "Candycane Butt won't know what hit him."
Ugggh. Fallen asleep in his atelier again? Nathalie would have a fit about him hurting his back.
Should've slept in his lair instead; that way Nathalie would be unlikely to find out AND he could akumatize people at a moment's notice.
Or Mr Pigeon. NO, Nathalie, he didn't have a problem. It was pure coincidence that Mr. Ramier was in an akumatizable state on a daily basis. He didn't stalk the man, scare his pigeons while wearing a fake mustache (a long one made for twirling dastardly), and then take advantage of his resulting anger and frustration. That would be absurd!
For some reason Nathalie didn't believe him. Her finding a fake mustache with a stray pigeon feather caught in it didn't mean anything.
He better get up before Nathalie could catch him again.
Sleepily he groped around on the desk, trying to push himself upright.
His hands made contact with a goopy substance.
His eyes flew open.
A familiar yellow, smelly substance greeted him as an awful stench assaulted his nose.
"Camembert. Should've known," he muttered.
Adrien had gotten a major Camembert craving as soon as he started school. He must've ordered a wheel a day for his son. Normally he wouldn't have allowed it but his nutritionist said he could use some more calcium in his diet. Even once the calcium deficiency went away Adrien kept on insisting on getting practically his own weight in Camembert every week, but it wasn't having any negative dietary effects (somehow) so he allowed it.
...So long as Adrien kept it contained. The smell nearly knocked him out one time as Adrien opened his bedroom door.
If Adrien was leaving Camembert in his office, he was gonna lose his cheese privileges.
But for now he needed to leave this accursed office. The stench was making his eyes water.
Stumbling to his feet, he made for the door.
His hands made contact with nasty-smelling goo AGAIN.
Gabriel cursed underneath his breath. Adrien would lose his friend privileges for this. As soon as he'd laid eyes on Nino, he'd known that Adrien was being exposed to too many bad influences. But he'd been soft and let him continue to go to school, to hang out with Nino and his other friends occasionally.
He should've put his foot down. He'd need to tell Adrien about his decision as soon as he came home!
...and after Gabriel had escaped.
Wincing at the mess, he fruitlessly tried to turn the doorknob. His fingers just slipped around it, unable to find purchase.
Growling, he whipped out his phone, intending to call Nathalie to let him out.
Only to stare at the item in horror.
No longer a device made of metal and plastic, instead he held a block of Colby-Jack cheese.
Looking wildly to the side, he tried to find something to break the door down.
The statues, once so regal and elegant, now were melting in on themselves as the cheese that comprised them started to collapse under its own weight.
Sliding around in his now cheese-comprised shoes, he made one last run at the door. Maybe, maybe he could wipe off the cheese on the doorknob and escape-!
He froze.
Or tried to at any rate.
Stopping suddenly while running around in slippery slices of American cheese didn't work well.
Flat on his butt before the door, he stared in shock.
The door was now made entirely of Camembert.
And the stench had reached him.
Eyes watering, choking on the fumes, he weakly attempted to use his trump card. "Noo- *hack* roo- *wheeze* - Da *cough cough* - D-dark-"
He collapsed in a fit of coughing, unable to keep talking long enough to transform. The world slowly went dark as blessed unconsciousness took him, freeing him from his cheesy, stinky prison.
The last thing he saw were two small figures lifting something from his neck.
"Think we went overboard?" Tikki asked anxiously, looking at the unconscious man sprawled on the cheese-covered floor, still holding Nooroo's Miraculous in her paw nubs.
Plagg shrugged. "He'll be fine."
Giving her the biggest, most sparkly kitten eyes she'd ever seen from him, Plagg looked at her pleadingly. "More importantly, can we do that again? Pleeeeease? With my powers of destruction getting rid of everything in the way of your creation, with our powers balancing each other out, we can replace SO MUCH of this city with delicious cheese! Come on, don't you want to get a chance to let loose more often and help a poor, hungry cat while you're at it?"
...what had she just gotten herself into?