To yllow 14: There are a lot of surprises in store… It's fun to force the heroes and villains into working together!
"Cataclysm!"
Ladybug caught a quick glimpse of Cat Noir as he extended his staff and vaulted up, sailing up above the Tarasque's head. "Hold it in place!" she bellowed to the group around her, straining against the Tarasque's enormous weight pressing forward. Her feet dug into the road surface, which gave way, leaving long grooves through the asphalt. Beside her, Killer Bee had looped her top back around the Tarasque's back leg and pulled it taut around a light pole, which had bent over almost to the ground. Multiplice's jump rope stretched between two opposite buildings underneath the Tarasque's shell, though the rope had bitten into the buildings' walls, leaving behind long grooves and spider web cracks extending up and down the sides. The Tarasque had shrugged off every attempt to slow it down or stop it, and even now it was straining against every binding. It had dragged them almost half a kilometer from where they had started, but they had bent without breaking. If Cat Noir could harm it, perhaps they could still succeed against it! Even now they were only in the outskirts of the city; much of it could be saved… Ladybug gritted her teeth and braced her legs against the back of an abandoned bus, which slowly creaked forward as the Tarasque pulled against her yo-yo. She felt hands on her shoulders, and caught a glimpse of Dark Acolyte robes. Instinctively she turned her head to protect her earrings, but the Dark Acolyte made no move toward her miraculous, instead tightening his grip on her shoulder.
"I've got you," he grunted. Out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug could see a couple other Dark Acolytes helping Sent-Bee back to her feet and holding Multiplice upright.
"You're… helping us?" Ladybug blinked, shocked. Even when the Prior had asserted that he and his people were interested in the Tarasque, even when the Lynchpin-ions had offered their assistance, she had assumed that they were playing some angle, that she would get a knife in her back if she allowed them to help. But with the Tarasque breathing down her neck, she couldn't afford to reject any assistance that was offered – any more assistance, that was.
But she couldn't think about that right now.
Cat Noir's staff propelled him high above the buildings, high above the Tarasque's head. Leaning forward and angling into the dive, he snapped his staff back down to size, holding his extended claws out toward the Tarasque. But as Cat Noir turned over to fall back toward the ground, the Tarasque let out a tremendous roar and raised its head. Even across the enormous distance separating them, Ladybug could see Cat Noir's eyes go wide.
He was going to fall straight into the Tarasque's mouth.
"No!" Ladybug screamed, almost losing her hold on her yo-yo string in her surprise.
Cat Noir's wide eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth in a snarl. The Tarasque's eyes glowed orange as green smoke billowed from its mouth. Cat Noir's Cataclysm-wreathed hand reached out toward the Tarasque. "Fe-line lucky?" he taunted, his eyes flashing with fury. "I'm going to cat-ch you and pet you out of your misery!"
Circling high above the Tarasque, Águila Altíssimo wheeled and dove, furling his wings to increase his speed as he rocketed down toward Cat Noir. Catching Cat Noir's staff with his free hand, he hurled his mace down the Tarasque's maw and unfurled his wings, catching an updraft meters above the Tarasque's open mouth. The Tarasque roared, lashing out at them with its fire vision, its tail straining against the cords lashing it down and stretching them out. Águila Altíssimo struggled for lift. He pumped his wings desperately, pulling himself and Cat Noir just above the fire and catching an updraft from the hot air. Águila Altíssimo rolled around and narrowly avoided the Tarasque's fire as it chased him, swinging Cat Noir up to one side. Cat Noir let out a yelp, swinging his arms wildly. Águila Altíssimo righted himself, pulled up, and released Cat Noir into a wide looping back-flip. As he twisted around, Cat Noir spun his staff around to point downward and drew the Dark Sword of the Mundane from his side, clasping his Cataclysm-infused hand around the handle. The Sword thrummed and flashed with eldritch black energy, the yin-yang symbol on its cross guard glowing black.
Someone behind Ladybug gasped in shock. "I–I don't believe it…"
Cat Noir let out a roar, brought his hands together around both the sword's hilt and his staff, and drove both weapons simultaneously into the nape of the Tarasque's neck. The black Cataclysm energy swirled around the sword's hilt and the staff tip closest to Cat Noir's hand for a moment and shot down their length as they connected with the Tarasque. With a deafening explosion, the Cataclysm detonated through the Tarasque as the Sword's tip nicked its hide. Eldritch energy engulfed the Beast for a heart stopping moment.
Ladybug's breath caught in her throat.
The Cataclysmic energy hung around the Tarasque, only to vanish moments later, leaving the Monster still standing in place. The Tarasque bucked, threw its head back, and shook its body to either side. Cat Noir, mouth open in shock, swung his arms out wide to keep his balance on its back. It let out an ear-piercing screech, drove forward, and, with a twisting, wrenching sound, ripped through the metal cords binding its tail atop its shell. The thin metal cords snapped with a sonic crack, unwinding in a fraction of a second and writhing about it in all directions. Standing on opposite sides of the Beast, Bengalia and Neptune dove in opposite directions, narrowly avoiding the whipping cords. One caught Lunar Lucy square in the chest, and blood erupted from a long gash down her front as she fell backward, her eyes wide in shock and mouth hanging open in a pained scream. The Knight dove toward her, wrapping himself in a shield that blunted the force of a cord which clicked against his armor as he landed beside her and raised his sword to block away another cord. But even before Lunar Lucy hit the ground, the Tarasque's newly-freed tail darted forward, streaking close over its back, and struck Cat Noir from behind. He pitched forward and cried out in pain, barely catching himself with a stutter-step before he could fall off the Tarasque's neck. Stumbling forward, he turned and spun his staff one-handed to form a shield, fending off repeated attacks from the Tarasque's tail. One, two, three times the Tarasque lashed out at him, while replacing the Sword on his belt. As he adjusted his grip to hold the staff with both hands, he raised it slightly. At that same moment, the tail darted out, lower than before, and slipped in underneath his shield. Cat Noir gasped. The blow flung him into the air, and the tail stabbed out again, smacking him in the gut and sending him soaring over the Tarasque's head.
"Cat!" Ladybug screamed in horror, rewinding her yo-yo and flinging it out after him as fast as she could. Freed from yet another of its bindings, the Tarasque lurched forward, pitching Tyran-X and Perez-Oso to the ground. The Tarasque took another step, the side of its shell scraping along the row of buildings lining the street in front of it, one of which collapsed over on top of the Tarasque's shell. Its eyes scanned the sky in front of it, searching out Cat Noir, who spun his staff in midair, deflecting away another tail attack. As he flew past her, Olivet grabbed Cat Noir's hand, crying out when her arm almost dislocated from the torque. Realizing her mistake, Ladybug drew her yo-yo back and threw it around the Tarasque's legs, but too late. Slowly the Tarasque lumbered down the street, pulling vines from the ground as fast as Bandruí could grow them. Scanning the buildings to either side, Ladybug stretched her yo-yo string between two buildings, with the Tarasque's middle legs in between. The Tarasque barely slowed as it pressed forward, crumbling the buildings' walls to powder as the yo-yo string was pulled through them.
A beam of fire erupted from the Tarasque's eyes, straight toward Olivet and Cat Noir, and Amun-Vatar held up a hand, sucking the fire into a star-shaped construct and releasing it upward in a blinding solar flare. Majestia rocketed past him, brought both fists together, and slammed straight into the Tarasque's snout. A sonic boom thundered out in all directions from the impact. The buildings directly to either side shattered and fell over, away from the Tarasque, collapsing into the buildings behind them. The Tarasque shuddered, braced its legs, and snorted out green smoke. After a long moment, it raised its head to glare back at Majestia and drove its head forward into her, slamming her down into the pavement with a mighty crash. A ripple emanated through the pavement from the spot as the road surface shattered beneath her, and the Tarasque unleashed the full force of its fire and poison breath into her. With a shout of rage, Knightowl lunged forward toward Majestia and shot his grappling hook into the conflagration, only for the hook to melt away and the cord to catch fire. Suddenly he turned to one side and grabbed Uncanny Valley as she rushed past, holding her back while she screamed in terror, struggling against his grip.
"Shell-ter!" Carapace threw himself in front of Majestia as a green sphere enveloped them both. Orange fire engulfed the Shell-ter, and almost at once cracks began to form in the green force field. A white shield with a black cross appeared between the Shell-ter and the Tarasque, shimmering with a golden light that began from the outside and worked its way into the cross as Amun-Vatar reinforced the Knight's shield. Castutrice, a new miraculous user who had arrived with the Lynchpin-ions, slid between the shield and Shell-ter, pulling in rubble from the collapsed buildings and forming it into a makeshift wall that conformed to the Shell-ter. No sooner had she completed her quick, slapdash wall than the golden-white shield shattered and vanished. Castutrice dove out of the way with moments to spare, spinning her oar as a shield as she did so. The fire turned the rubble-wall to glass in moments. Running in from behind, Taureau Dechaine grabbed hold of the Shell-ter, forcing his fingertips into one of its cracks, and pulled it out, just as the wall shattered, sending glass shards in all directions. Spider-Monkey raised his arms to shield his head, and glass tore through the arms of his suit. Several pieces struck Uncanny Valley, dinging off of her metal skin. More ripped straight through Knightowl's cape. Cuts appeared all along Taureau Dechaine's face as he took the shrapnel at point-blank range, only barely closing his eyes in time. He dragged the Shell-ter out of the divot it had formed in the ground, just as the Shell-ter burst apart. The Hound's leash looped around both Carapace and Majestia, reeling both of them out of the Tarasque's fire vision. Taureau Dechaine dove to the ground, covering his head with his hands, and a jump rope wrapped around his leg, dragging him across the ground and out of the way moments before its fire vision would have reached him. Majestia stumbled to her feet, wheezing against the poison breath thick in the air around her, and braced herself against Iron Maiden, who had landed next to the Hound.
"We're running out of options!" called Knightowl as the Tarasque charged recklessly down the street. He looped his grappling hook around one of its legs and was pulled off his feet with a yelp as he tried to keep up with it.
Looking further ahead down the street, Ladybug's eyes widened. The Tarasque was on a collision course with the first police line. Her jaw clenched. Now was not the time to hold grudges. Flipping open her yo-yo, she found the correct contact, routing the call through their satellite connection. "Hel–hello?" she panted as the call was answered.
"We're watching on the news," the voice responded. "What the bloody hell is going on up there!?"
"It's – it's not going well for us," Ladybug answered, sprinting down the street after the Tarasque. She looped her yo-yo around its tail and was pulled into the air to land on its back. "I–" Her stomach churned. "I'm sorry. For what I said. For getting so angry–I'm–" She yelped, diving to one side and narrowly avoiding the Tarasque's tail as it whipped around her. Quickly she caught her yo-yo around the closest balcony and retreated away from the Beast as it picked up speed. She hauled herself up on the balcony and looked back down at her yo-yo, but the call had been terminated. "Damn it!"
"We need a boost!" Lupa Gris shouted, jumping on top of a police car near the center of the police line.
Flying overhead, Águila Altíssimo gasped. "What are you doing!?"
The Hound tossed his leash to Iron Maiden, who rocketed into the air and pulled him up after her. In a single motion, she swung him around and tossed him on top of the Tarasque. "Doggedness!" he bellowed at the apex of his trajectory. At once, Ladybug felt the edge of her exhaustion dissipate. She gritted her teeth and raced along the rooftops after the Tarasque, even as the Hound grabbed onto the Tarasque's mane, looping his leash around its neck and pulling back on it for dear life.
At that same moment, Lupa Gris threw her head back and Howled. Around her the Miraculous users perked up. Ladybug put on an extra burst of speed and jumped toward the Tarasque, landing on its tail and springing from there across the street, scanning for the rest of her scattered team. Lupa Gris took a breath and grinned to Águila Altíssimo. He nodded to her, only to cry out a warning.
The Tarasque was only a few meters in front of Lupa Gris.