Adrien hated the Performer's Ball.
He always had, back when he was a kid and he was forced to wear stiff suits and give awkward smiles to people he didn't know and didn't care about. But at least back then he could hide under tables and eat cheese with Chloé.
He didn't think Chloé would be coming this year.
He hated it even more when his mother died, when the suits became stiffer and the awkward smiles were met with sad smiles and solemn nods. He hated it even more when he started in Showcases, when he stopped being the kid of Queen Emilie and became the face of the Gabriel brand.
He hadn't been lying when he said to Marinette that he had only really been at Parfum Palace twice. Sure, he had attended every ball for as long as he could remember, but he only went beyond the ballroom once, with her.
Which is why he was going to go again this year, on his own terms.
He would still show up, still be the face of the brand, still make small talk with people that judged him. But once the eyes were off of him and onto the Performers, he would sneak out, changing his mask for one that was far more fitting. Black suit changed, red-and-white bowtie removed and thrown in the trash, a Bond added.
This was a mask he felt comfortable hiding behind. This was the him he always wanted to be. And if he was going to keep going to these events, it was high time he started to actually enjoy himself.
The goal of a masquerade ball was to wear a mask, to hide in the crowd and force other people to figure out who you were. So Marinette couldn't make a dress that reminded anyone of Tikki or Wayzz, that would be too obvious. Plus potentially bad if anyone recognized her as Coxyclaque…
So she chose Vivillon. Vivillon was a classic pokémon with hundreds of possibilities for designs. Gabriel Agreste's earliest work had drawn inspiration from the Scale Pokémon. Even now, even in his most functional, colorless suits, there would be an embroidered butterfly shape somewhere.
Maybe Gabriel Agreste would be there to judge her outfit himself…best not to think about that now.
She stuck with the recognizable meadow pattern of Kalos, fashioning a ball-gown of pink satin and white tulle. Black and magenta stripes worked their way around the edge of her skirt, and her bodice was peppered with carefully-sewn in blue and white beads. She thought of fashioning her mask to match the wings of a Vivillon, but then decided it was too much like the masks of Team Prismillion and stuck with a plain figure-8 shape made with the remains of the pink fabric of her dress. She still wore her five-star earrings, so someone who wanted to could recognize her if they really wanted.
It was already one of her greatest works. But then she decided to really show off.
She had let her hair down for this event, letting the dark hair that usually didn't leave her shoulders fall all the way down to her waist, hiding the mechanism that hid there. As she entered the ballroom and stood at the top of the balcony staircase, feeling simultaneously like she could take on the world and also like she needed to throw up, she undid the bow wrapped around her waist.
She could hear everyone in the room gasp, all eyes turn to her, as two wings of cloth and wire emerged from her back. The eyes stayed as she descended down the staircase, and the gasps turned to murmurs that were trying hard to be discreet. The sound of Marinette's heart hammering in her chest made it hard to make out any of the actual words.
And yet…Marinette felt like she was walking on the stars. She supposed it was a lot easier to be confident behind a mask.
Once she reached the bottom of the stairs and the eyes left her for whoever was on the balcony next, she tied her wings back again. It made the dress, but it was a lot harder to move around the dance floor with them extended out like that. Speaking of the dancefloor, Marinette scanned it for any familiar faces. Most everyone wore masks, of course, but she could still recognize a few people. Shauna wore a Sylveon dress covered in ribbons and cloth flowers, Penny Rolling looked fabulous in her Aurorus suit as she tried to physically restrain Jagged Stone (in a matching Tyrantrum suit) from breaking up the string orchestra and playing his own rock'n'roll…
…and there was Sabrina, hovering around the punchbowl looking not quite sure what to do. Sabrina wore no mask, and her pale green dress, though not unfashionable, paled in comparison to the sea of designers around her. Her Furfrou seemed better prepared for the event than she did, with a masterfully-done Dandy trim. Marinette wondered if Sabrina had done that herself.
"Sabrina!" Marinette called out.
Sabrina jumped up like a Patrat, before scrunching up her face to scrutinize her. Marinette removed her mask for just a second to allow her to see.
"Oh, hi Marinette!" Sabrina said.
"I'm surprised to see you here." Marinette said. "Where's Chloé?"
"Oh, Chloé, um…didn't come." Sabrina stammered.
What? Chloé loved the Performer's Ball, would brag about going every year. But then again…Marinette hadn't seen Chloé since the Marchioness incident.
"Is she alright?" Marinette asked, trying to sound sympathetic instead of incredulous.
"I—I don't know. She hasn't really talked to me since…you know. I don't think she's talked to anyone." Sabrina said, wringing her hands through her gloves. "It—it was my fault, you know? Chloé asked me to steal the Keystone and I just…did. I didn't want to lose her friendship."
She shouldn't have been treating you like that in the first place, Marinette wanted to say. But then she remembered what Mistigrix said, about Chloé not having many people to rely on. Maybe Sabrina was the same way.
"Chloé made her own choices. You shouldn't blame yourself for her." Marinette said.
"Maybe. But…maybe I should have stood up to her more." Sabrina said. "Then maybe Kirlia wouldn't have been so hurt…"
"Wait, Kirlia?"
"Yeah. I mean, Kirlia had to go through all of that too. I think that's what Chloé's really upset about." Sabrina said.
This time, Marinette couldn't hold back her incredulity.
"Chloé's used to people not liking her, you know? That's what I really like about her. She's always so strong even when the world's against her…but Kirlia's psychic powers are based on empathy. She had to feel all of that anger and frustration and sadness and loneliness…and then she made it worse by trying to help." Sabrina said. "So I think Chloé's upset that Coxyclaque, someone she really wanted to like her, didn't. But I think she's even more upset that her actions hurt someone she did like, you know?"
"Wow." Marinette said. And that was all she could really find it in her to say. Suddenly, she felt a lot more guilty about what she said that day.
…Well, maybe guilt was the wrong word. She didn't want to change any of the things she said, and Marchioness told her herself that saying it nicer wouldn't change much. Chloé made her choices. Still, Marinette could at least see why she made them now. And maybe she did want to help her through them. But Chloé was going to have to change a lot before Marinette could truly help her, and before Marinette truly wanted to help her.
"How do you know all this?" Marinette finally asked. "I thought you said she wasn't talking to you?"
Sabrina gave her a sad smile.
"I'm her best friend, of course."
Marinette wanted to ask more, but Sabrina was looking past her now. Her eyes went wide and her hand covered her mouth as she tried to cover a gasp. It didn't matter, everyone in the room was gasping. Marinette followed her gaze, right to the top of the stairs, and…
Oh. Oh no. There was no way in hell that Mistigrix had just showed up. But there he was, as clear as day, smiling as bright as the sun.
She should be mad. She had made it clear she wanted to protect her secret identity, and waltzing into one of the most publicized events in all of Kalos was the perfect way to get their secret identities blown. But yet…it wasn't like he was going to be taking the mask off. Everyone else was disguised at this event, but he was there as Mistigrix. It was…kind of brilliant. The same kind of brilliant that she had to give him whenever he made on of his atrocious puns. She still wanted to roll her eyes and maybe punch him playfully in the arm, but it made her heart swell.
Still, that didn't explain why he decided to do it. Or not tell her about it first.
Marinette found herself freezing as he strolled down the balcony staircase and right up to her.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Purrincess." He said, bowing dramatically.
"I didn't know they were letting strays into this ball." Marinette said, stifling a giggle and returning his bow with a over-dramatic courtesy.
Judging by the way Mistigrix's Meowstic ears perked up, that seemed to be just the reaction he was hoping for.
"What can I say? This Purrloin-in-Boots has moves." He said. "Perhaps you can treat me to a dance and I can show you?"
"I'd be honored." Marinette said.
There were no jobs they had to do today. The Boss had something going on in his real life, so he had given them the day off. There was really no reason for Sparrow to be suited up and patrolling around with Melodie.
Except for the fact that Melodie had practically dragged him to the Performer's Ball anyway.
The admin was currently delicately balancing on her Wigglytuff's forehead, just giving herself enough view to see into the Pafrum Palace ballroom windows but not enough that she could be spotted. Sparrow was supposed to play her lookout, but he had mostly taken to sitting in the grass and leaning against the palace.
"Wow!" She sighed. "Look at that Aromatisse dress!"
"When you asked me to do recon with you, I thought we would be looking for important information." Mercury sighed.
Sparrow was used to Melodie doing something foolish like this before, for almost as long as he could remember. She was even the one that dragged him into Team Prismillion. But he had no idea why Mercury and Kid Mime had decided to join them. Well, Kid Mime seemed as close to Mercury as he was to Melodie, and being able to psychically steal all the hors d'oeuvres inside made him not complain. But Mercury was…an anomaly. And kind of an ass. So it didn't make sense.
"This is important!" Melodie snapped. "One of them could be the Queen!"
"And are we stealing their pokémon or not?" Mercury asked.
"Not yet! I still want to see their exhibition performance!"
"Well, we can't stay out here forever. Kid Mime's bedtime is 11pm."
"I can stay up later if I want!" Kid Mime said, his mouth full of canapés.
"Mom says otherwise." Mercury said. "Besides, she doesn't know this is where I take you out late at night."
Oh, were they siblings? They…certainly didn't look like it. Maybe cousins? Either way, that explained why those two were already together. Not so much why they would let a Youngster not just join their glorious team but also give him a head position, but…
"Whatever." Melodie rolled her eyes and turned back to the window.
"I wasn't planning on doing work tonight." Sparrow said, throwing his hands behind his head.
"Then why are we even here?" Mercury said.
"Cause Melodie likes to look at pretty dresses, and she wouldn't let me say not." Sparrow said. "Don't know how you got here."
"Then why aren't you inside? Why didn't you become a Performer instead of an admin?" Mercury asked.
Uh oh. To Sparrow's surprise, Melodie just glared daggers at her from beneath her mask. Sparrow was expecting she would just kill him.
"You need money to get those fancy dresses." Melodie said. "Or at the very least connections. Fortunately, the Boss gives me both!"
"Ah, so we can finally agree on something." Mercury said. "I was beginning to worry that the best trainers in Kalos were juts a bunch of easily-distracted Skittys."
"Hey, I'm not just here for the money!" Sparrow said.
"I'm not sure that was the part you should have taken offense to…" Melodie said.
"I think it's very sweet what the Boss is doing." Sparrow said. "And if I gotta take on a few of the world's toughest trainers to make a dream come true, I think it's worth it!"
"Oh?" Mercury said. "What is the Boss trying to do, then?"
"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Melodie asked. "Well, it's like this:
They danced and they danced and they danced, and when the stares and whispers started to get too much to her, the two stepped outside into the gardens and danced some more.
It occurred to Marinette maybe halfway through the fifth dance that this probably should be romantic. If this were Adrien, she would probably have passed out at least three times by now. But there was something familiar about dancing with Mistigrix. Something natural. It was sort of like when she had Tikki, now Wayzz too, buzzing in the back of her mind whenever she became Coxyclaque. When she was with him, when they were like this, it felt like she was more than just herself.
That, and both of their two left feet meant anytime it almost became too romantic for her to bear, one of them would end up getting tangled into the other and ruin the moment.
So when they took a break, soaking their feet in the reflection pool outside and splashing each other with the water, Marinette thought she should say something. Because maybe he didn't realize how romantic this was? Marinette was never sure how much of his flirting was genuine and how much of it was for play, just to see how she would react. That, apparently, was the same no matter what mask she was wearing.
"A-ha! I knew I'd find some more Performers out here!"
Marinette jumped at the new voice. Someone was rushing up to them. She was clearly a Performer, wearing a wide mask with a beak like an Aromatisse. Her dress also reflected the fragrance pokémon, a pink and purple strapless princess dress with her skirt stuffed with black tulle. Her long red hair was tied into two pigtails that hung low on her head. She didn't look like anyone Marinette would know, even without the mask.
"I've been looking for the Queen. There are so many beautiful Performers this year, it's hard to tell who's who!" The Performer said, pushing her mask closer to her face like she was pushing up a pair of glasses. "So, who are you?"
"I—"
"No, wait, let me figure this out!" The girl said. "Maybe if I can see your pokémon…I know! Let's have a battle!"
"What?"
"No, let's do it." Mistigrix said. His smile wide and, well, catlike. And Marinette knew why: nobody ever battled at a Performer's Ball. Battling was already something that Performers rarely did, to do so in a place like this was unthinkable. And probably amusing as hell for him. At the very least they were outside, so they wouldn't be at risk of breaking anything valuable, but…
Well, it wasn't like Marinette would ever say no to a battle. She gave a frantic nod, the excitement of battle hiding the nervousness of the social faux pas.
"Great! How about a double battle? Two-on-two?" The Performer said.
"Alright."
Marinette was itching to see what Wayzz could do in a real battle now that he had evolved, but she held herself back. They were fighting to figure out who each other were. It was better she use the two pokémon she hadn't had on stage yet.
"Alright. Rainn, Nooroo, I choose you!"
"Let's go, Vivillon and Aromatisse!"
Ah, figured she would have the fragrance pokémon on her team after being dressed like that. Vivillon was also not that surprising for a Performer. But it was a team made entirely of supportive pokémon. It was like a meal made of three glasses of milk.
Marinette had this.
"Aromatisse, Aromatic Veil!"
The scent of roses assaulted Marinette's nostrils. It was a good starting move for them. The Performer must have known Marinette's first move was to strike Vivillon, so they concealed themselves in a veil of mist.
But Marinette wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Rainn, Sweet Scent!"
Sweet Scent was just a weaker version of Aromatic Veil, after all, one that was designed to pacify rather than conceal. The scent of rain congealed with the scent of roses, making it slightly more bearable to see past the veil.
"Okay, Nooroo, Ember on Vivillon!"
Small sparks fired from Nooroo's horns. Vivillon fluttered around, dodging each Ember. Fine. Time for something stronger.
"Hit it directly with a Flame Wheel!"
Nooroo began to curl in on himself. His outer shell erupted in flames, and he launched himself towards the Vivillon, knocking it to the ground.
Alright, that was one—
"Aromatisse, Heal Pulse!"
Shoot. So much for that. Even if Vivillon was an easier target, seemed like she would have to get rid of that Aromatisse first.
"Alright, Vivillon, Gust! Aromatisse, combine that with a Fairy Wind!"
It was like someone threw pink glitter into a fan. They were two relatively weak attacks on their own, but combined like that, they were able to knock her pokémon onto their feet.
"Are you alright, guys?" Marinette asked.
Thankfully, both of her pokémon sprung back to their feet quickly. But with an attack like that…Marinette was going to have to change her strategy.
"Aqua, make a Haze!"
She didn't need Haze for the healing effect it had on status ailments. No, she was using the Haze for the exact same reason why Aromatisse had used Aromatic Mist.
"Okay, Nooroo, Flame Charge!"
Because of the Haze, Vivillon had no idea where Nooroo was coming from. And the Flame Charge, while not as strong as Flame Wheel, made Nooroo move too quick for either Vivillon or Aromatisse to respond. This time, it knocked Vivillon out for good.
"Alright, Rainn, Aqua Jet on Aromatisse!"
It was the same strategy in mind: strike so fast under the cover of Haze that Aromatisse had no way to counter. But that didn't stop them.
"Aromatisse, Moonblast!"
Now that they were backed into a corner, it seemed the Performer was going to rely on Aromatisse's stronger attacks. The bright light of the moon burned through Rainn's Haze, and knocked the water pokémon to her feet in the process.
Well, at least Nooroo didn't have the Vivillon to worry about now.
"Nooroo, Flame Charge on Aromatisse!"
"Psychic, Aromatisse!"
Nooroo dashed out of the way of Aromatisse's attacks, carried entirely by heat and flames. Aromatisse continued to focus all of its attacks on Nooroo. So neither noticed when Rainn managed to pull herself back up.
Marinette had to make this move count.
"Rainn, Bubble Beam!"
Bubble Beam was already one of Rainn's strongest moves, but more than that it was fast, too fast for Aromatisse too properly dodge. And that combined with the Flame Charge…
The Performer recalled her pokémon with a sigh.
"It's alright, Aromatisse." She said. "We'll get you healed up soon."
"Alright!" Marinette said. "Good job, everyone! We won!"
"Are you so sure about that?" Misitigrix said. His voice was low, almost as if he hadn't really meant for that to slip out.
Both Performers looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?" The Performer asked.
"Well, it's true that Marinette won the battle. That much was obvious." Mistigrix said. "But keep in mind this was a battle between Performers. What really should have mattered was how well you Performed in the match. It's like in Contests in Hoenn, right? Even if you lose the battle itself, the match depends on how well you use your pokémons moves to make spectacular combinations. And that's exactly what Aria was doing."
Marinette thought back to the battle. She supposed she could see what Mistigrix was talking about. That beautiful combination of Gust and Fairy Wind, not to mention how Aromatisse used her defensive moves to bolster her partner…
Wait, Aria?
"So you noticed." The Performer said with a chuckle.
She took off her mask, and Marinette nearly smacked herself for not realizing it sooner. She was the current Queen of Kalos, Aria.
"Although, I don't suppose I could ask you who's hiding under your mask, huh?" Aria asked, waggling her eyebrows at Mistigrix.
"Maybe one day." Mistigrix said. "But right now, these eyes are only for My Lady."
Oh?
"Still, that was a great battle! You should be proud of yourself and your pokémon!" Aria said, not letting Marinette dwell on that for too long. "You're Marinette from Vaniville Town, right? Come on, you found the Queen, didn't you? That means you have a front-row seat to my exhibition performance!"
Marinette didn't think to add that Aria was the one that found her. She was still too stunned by the revelation, even more surprised as Aria guided her by the hand back into the ballroom.
And Aria's performance was brilliant, Marinette could not deny that. It was even more impressive to see these moves outside of a battle where Aria and her pokémon were allowed to play around with them more. But it was the kind of impressive that made her feel awful. The kind of impressive that made Marinette feel like she could never compete with.
And she must have been showing it, because Mistigrix managed to grip her hand a little tighter.
"Don't worry, my princess." He whispered, so low that only Marinette could hear him. "When you're onstage, or when you're in battle, you shine just as bright as she does."
Marinette felt her face heat up. That was definitely romantic.
Author's Note: You can have little a MariChat. As a treat.
Adrien: Hey Alix, you wouldn't happen to know any secret places to hide out in Parfum Palace, right?
Alix: *pulls out a giant binder full of the palace's best hiding spots and detailed notes on future pranks* What do you need?
Super proud of how that Sabrina scene turned out. I honestly think Sabrina is the character with the least development; I can only think of one episode (think it's Evilustrator but I don't remember and I'm not going to watch them all again) that really got into her character, and even then that was mostly played for jokes and reset almost immediately at the end of the episode (huh. Wonder if that's going to be an ongoing problem with Miraculous Ladybug./sarcasm). I think Sabrina can be a really interesting character who is extremely smart and cunning, but with the backbone of a wet paper towel and who just wants people to like her. Almost like Chloé. No wonder they get along.
The Team Prismillion admins were kind of a late addition to the work. Originally Shadow Pokémon were going to be more like regular akuma and just attack the city randomly, but that never really worked out. It didn't feel a lot like pokémon where you could regularly measure your progress against another person, and it didn't really feel like Miraculous Ladybug in reminding you that these akumasonas were actual people underneath. But because they were so late, I never really planned backstory or arcs or anything like that for them. Which is ironic given that last chapter I ranted about how the lack of foresight for a Chloé arc was kind of the show's downfall, but like I said then, not all characters need to have arcs. Especially not villains who are supposed to be getting worse and worse. But I at least want to give them a little bit of character instead of making them mustache-twirling bad guys. The reason we like Team Rocket so much is because of how human they are outside of the job, right?
Me, not regularly watching the Pokémon anime but knowing that I have to include an anime-only character: Alright, so I'll definitely design her dress based on Kirara from Go Princess PreCure because I think that's cute, but what about her personality and voice?
Me: *watches an episode of the anime*
Me: Okay, Aria is just Kirara from Go Princess PreCure.
(By the way, Miraculous Ladybug got you down? Want some more magical girl/superhero action with an actual focus on character development? Watch Go Princess Pretty Cure! ! Yes, I know it has the words "Princess" and "Pretty" in the title, but I promise you it's not just girly-nonsense, it's actually very good)
(I also based Shauna's and Sabrina's dresses off of Haruka and Yui's dresses in their ball episode, but they only existed in one line of text so I didn't want to dwell on it)
I originally wanted to get this chapter out before Halloween, but I've been battling a lot of illnesses lately (nothing life-threatening, not even anything I need hospitalization for, but enough that makes me too tired to write a lot of the time). As such, I'm not sure whether or not I can keep my promise for a hiatus of only a month to catch up on chapters. Worst case scenario is that I won't be able to post until next year, but that will still be the first week of January. Besides, that chapter is a two-parter, so it's probably better that I try and keep those two chapters together. In the meantime, why don't you check out some of my other stuff? Fantasmic! is a story about OCs in Kingdom Hearts, but it's also meant as a response to Kingdom Hearts, with fix-it fic elements and story changes. That's also about to have its act 1 conclusion, so now's the best time to catch up. I'm also really hoping to go back to Adventures in Babysitting one day, plus I'll be starting up another shorter project based on magical girls soon.