Chapter 11: Mega Leech

Marinette rushed into the classroom, in so much of a rush that she fell down.

Ms. Bustier was calling the roll. "Marinette Dupain Cheng?"

"Present," said Marinette, raising her hand from the floor.

"Mylène Haprèle?"

There was no response.

Marinette spoke up. "She's not here. Officer Roger took her and Ivan home because, they were holding a sit-in and blocking a bulldozer."

"What?" said Ms. Bustier.

"Well, they must have been protesting the city's plan to rehabilitate Place des Vosges," said Alya, consulting her phone. "It says here, Project Oxygen will be a breath of fresh air for Paris."

"A breath of fresh air? It's weird that Mylène and Ivan would be against it," said Marinette.

"Regardless, Officer Roger has made a huge mistake," said Ms. Bustier, slamming her roll-call book onto her desk. She made a call on her cell phone.

"No, your daughter is fine. However, there is a problem with Ivan and Mylène. They weren't doing anything wrong, were they?"

There was a pause for the reply.

"Well, I'm ordering you to bring them back to Place des Vosges. I'm coming to get them."

Ms. Bustier turned towards the door.

"Follow me, children. Today's class will be dedicated to civics education with real-life practical experience."

Alya pointed her phone toward herself and started a live stream.

"Hey, Ladybloggers! Just because there aren't any supervillains attacking Paris right now doesn't mean there's nothing super going on. We've never seen Miss Bustier so worked up, so get ready to see some action. Stay connected, peeps!"

The Mayor, André Bourgeois, was holding a press conference for Project Oxygen at the park near the school. There was a projected image of a huge glass tower in the middle of the park. The Mayor had a chainsaw and was preparing to cut down the first tree as the ceremonial opening for the project.

"Mr. Mayor, what are you doing?!" demanded Ms. Bustier.

"I am rehabilitating the Place des Vosges square," said André Bourgeouis.

"By cutting down a tree?" asked Ms. Bustier.

"Yes, but I..." André started to explain.

Ivan and Mylène began chanting, "Stop Project Oxygen!"

Mayor Bourgeois challenged Officer Raincomprix and ordered him to take the protesters home. Ms. Bustier ordered him not to.

"Whose orders am I supposed to follow?" asked Roger.

"Stop Project Oxygen!" chanted Mylène, moving closer to the Mayor.

"You see? I can't rehabilitate in peace. They're disrupting my ceremony," André said.

"That's because your project is unethical and uneco-friendly!" said Mylène.

"Nonsense! Look here!" said André, pressing a button on a remote control.

A commercial for Project Oxygen appeared on the screen, describing how the tower would transform pollution into fresh air, which would be "sold in a unique container designed by Gabriel Agreste."

Adrien appeared in the commercial, spinning around and spraying air from a bottle. "Oxygen isn't just a breath of fresh air. It's life itself."

Marinette got dreamy seeing Adrien in the video. "He is so beautif-"

Alya interrupted her by touching her shoulder and pointing to Adrien, who was right in front of her.

"I mean it is so beautiful. Your commitment. To save the planet," said Marinette.

"Father told me it was an ad for a new cologne," said Adrien.

The kids were nearly convinced by the commercial, but Mylene argued against it. The trees were natural filters, she said, and it would be better to build more parks.

Chloé spoke up to support her father's project. Beside her were Sabrina and Zoé (who had been called out of her own class by her half-sister for extra support).

"Who cares about a lame ugly tree when you can have a gorgeous designer container from Adrikin's daddy, Gabriel Agreste, instead?" asked Chloé. "Besides, there'll be a tree on the label, much prettier than the real thing."

"And the floor in the tower will be built with recycled wood from the trees we cut down. Very eco-friendly," said André.

"And real trees have to be watered," said Chloé. "Talk about wasting water!"

Mylène started to look worried that she was losing the debate.

Marinette asked a question: "Mayor Bourgeois, perhaps Mylène and Ivan have misunderstood your project. Do you really want to take away the trees, a natural and cost-free air filter, and replace them with a tower that absorb polluted air? So that afterwards, you can clean the air and sell it back in plastic bottles. The same bottles which will become trash and pollute our oceans?"

"Yes, that's it," said André.

Everyone gasped.

"I mean no, of course not! It's not that simple. Ecology is complicated, especially for children your age. Leave these things to the adults."

Alya asked, recording for her blog, "So actually, your project is all about cutting down our trees and closing our favorite park."

"And if Mylène and Ivan are trying to stop this, then we are on their side," said Ms. Bustier.

"It's true," said Marinette. "The Mayor's solution for fighting pollution is misguided."

Mylène said, "Like so many other so-called miracle solutions that are supposed to deal with ecological problems, the thing is there's never just one simple solution that can fix everything. What we need are lots of small solutions that can tackle the problem all at the same time. That's why there has to be a lot of us all working together."

By this time, Mylène had almost everybody on her side. When Marinette asked her why they hadn't told the class about this before, Mylène said they had been protesting the last six months but that nobody paid attention until now. The class apologized.

The classmates joined hands and stood in front of the trees. Adrien joined hands with Marinette, making her blush.

"Sorry, Mayor Bourgeois, but we can't let you do this," said Adrien.

The kids were soon joined by their parents who had seen them on TV, by other adults, and by fans of Adrien led by Wayhem.

"Adrien wants to save the trees, we're gonna save the trees!" said Wayhem.

"Stop Project Oxygen!" everyone chanted together.

Nadya Chamack asked on camera, "Mr. Mayor, it seems everyone is opposed to Project Oxygen, including Adrien Agreste, even though his own father is involved. Are you going to resign?"

The Mayor was overwhelmed and called Gabriel for help, getting nothing.

A purple mask outline appeared on André's face.

A giant leech-shaped sentimonster floated in the sky, spewing out streams of tiny copies of Malediktator. Each copy could infect the mind of a person by entering their ear. Each infected person was either destroying trees in the park or carrying out the orders of Shadow Moth.

"Get Chat Noir, my fellow citizens!" shouted the possessed Alya when she saw him.

Chat Noir batted away many little Maladiktators and jumped up on the park fountain.

"I don't know where you are, but I could sure use a helping paw, M'Lady!"

Chat was chased to Place de la Concorde, where he climbed up the ferris wheel but still was getting swarmed. Then a yo-yo wrapped around his baton and pulled him higher.

"M'Lady! Thanks for dropping by," said Chat, picking off one more little clone.

"That was a close one," said Ladybug. "Lucky Charm! An ice skate?"

She stared at the tiny Malediktator in Chat's grip and came up with a plan to use the skate.

"Release me! You must respect my authority, my fellow citizen! I demand that you stop!" said the little dictator.

Ladybug used the skate blade to cut the little sash, releasing both an akuma butterfly and an amok feather. The Malediktator became a small copy of the Mayor.

"You make it look so simple, M'Lady," said Chat.

Ladybug used her yo-yo to purify the butterfly and the feather. She started to throw the skate into the air. "Miraculous–"

Chat Noir put out his hand and stopped her. "Ladybug, look! It didn't work."

Possessed people were still coming for them. "Take their Miraculous, my fellow citizens!"

The Mega Leech was still in the sky, still spewing copies. More Malediktators were coming for them, and they had to run.

"The akumas and the amoks must have multiplied at the same time as the Malediktators. Capturing just one doesn't solve the problem. There are millions of them!" said Ladybug.

"So, what's the miracle solution, M'Lady?" asked Chat.

"We need lots of little solutions all working together at the same time. I know how we can do that," said Ladybug. "But first, we have to shut off the source. There are hundreds more every second!"

Ladybug took the Horse Miraculous and the Bee Miraculous out of her yo-yo portal. Chat Noir put on the glasses and Ladybug put on the comb.

"Tikki, Pollen, Unify!"

"Plagg, Kaalki, Unify!"

"Open a portal to that giant thing's skin and I'll bug-zap it," said Lady Bee.

"Voyage!" said Horse Noir.

"Venom!" said Lady Bee, striking the sentimonster with her stinger without going through the portal herself.

"That did it!" said Horse Noir. "No more copies from the Mega Leech."

"Great! Phase two will need three other kwamis," said Lady Bee.

"Tikki, Pollen Divide!"

"Plagg, Kaalki, Divide!"

Ladybug sent Kaalki and Pollen back through the portal to her room to feed. She replaced the Horse and Bee Miraculous in the Miracle Box using the portal. Then she got out the Mouse and Turtle Miraculous.

"Chat, you can unify with Mullo next. Here's the Mouse Miraculous. We're going to need a lot of copies of you to fight the little dictators. The skate will be a good cutting weapon against the mayor's banners if you tie it to your jump-rope or your baton. It will copy with you so every one of you will be armed."

"Got it, M'Lady. I'll play cat-and-mouse games with them."

"Don't do it yet. I need to unify with Wayzz first to create a big container force field with a small opening at the top. Wayzz, can you keep it going after I Divide from you?"

"Yes, Mistress Ladybug," said Wayzz.

"It won't go out of control?" asked Ladybug.

"No. It will remain as you created it," said Wayzz. "I promise."

"Tikki, Wayzz, Unify!" said Ladybug.

"Shellter!" said Lady Turtle.

A huge green force bubble was on the ground beside them.

"Tikki, Wayzz, Divide!"

Ladybug gave the Turtle to Wayzz for safekeeping, and got out the Dragon.

"I need to Unify with Longg and be the Wind Dragon. You can start your Multitude when I do that. I'll swoop up all your copies to take you everywhere you're needed. For every Malediktator you beat, I'll pick up all the butterflies and feathers and dump them into the container."

"It'll be a squeaky clean sweep," said Chat.

"When we're sure we have them all, I can catch all the amoks and akumas and purify them all at once. That should take out the sentimonster."

"There's one normal-sized Malediktator inside the Mega Leech," said Chat Noir. "We can't forget him."

"You're right!" said Ladybug. "I almost forgot. Can one of you take him out while tiny?"

"Of course. I'll be so small he's never see me coming. I can destroy his banner with a Cat–, eh, catastrophic touch," said Chat.

"Good. Tikki, Longg, Unify!" said Ladybug.

"Plagg, Mullo, Unify!" said Chat Noir. "Multitude!"

"Wind Dragon!" said Dragonbug.

With a roar of wind she gathered up all the tiny Mouse Noirs and dropped them one by one as she flew by possessed people and Malediktators on the ground. It didn't take as long as it could have, since they had cut off the flow from the Mega Leech.

Within a few minutes, all the amok feathers and akuma butterflies that the Mouse Noirs had released were safely gathered up in the force field container.

Wind Dragonbug blew in through the small opening at the top and got the butterfies and feathers swirling around. Then she turned human, and with her yo-yo she trapped them all.

Wayzz let the force field drop.

Dragonbug released a cloud of white butterflies with a "Bye bye."

Mega Leech disappeared in a cloud of purple magic.

A Mouse Noir who was close enough to witness made the call, "Solitary!" He returned to one normal-sized person.

"Tikki, Longg, Divide!"

"Plagg, Mullo, Divide!"

Chat Noir handed the Lucky Charm skate to Ladybug. She threw it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

All the damaged trees were fixed. All the little copies of the Mayor became one person again.

"Pound it!"

Mayor Bourgeois was apologetic as Ladybug gave him a Magical Charm.

"Thank you, Ladybug. I really am so sorry. It's a good thing you were here to protect Paris."

"I'm still worried about something, Mr. Mayor. What's gonna happen with Project Oxygen?"

"Well, uh..., it will have to be re-examined by a commission of experts but..."

"We're counting on you to do the right thing. Bug out!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir leaped away.

Later that day the Mayor saved face with the public by planting a new tree in the park to show his dedication to green solutions.

Gabriel was waiting for Adrien when he returned home from school.

"Adrien, you took a stand against me today."

"I didn't take a stand against you, Father. I took a stand against a project that my friends showed me was bad for Paris and for the planet."

Gabriel raised his left hand. "Go to your room."

"Yes, Father," said Adrien sadly.

Gabriel twisted the wedding ring on his finger thoughtfully. He had expected more of an argument. Could it be that Emilie's ring had more power over Adrien than his own?

He would have to use the power with caution. He had promised Emilie that he would protect Adrien, protect him from the upsetting knowledge of what he was. That is, until he could be replaced by a wish with a real boy. Then the whole family could be together forever.