A few notes before we begin:
1. This story will get further and further away from canon as we go. It will feature rewrites of episodes, until they end up being ones that contradict this context. And when we get to Season 4, we're going to get away from canon completely.
2. Most of these chapters will be pretty long.
Enjoy!
Marinette Dupain-Cheng had slept in again. But unlike in the last few days of the summer, this was the worst day to sleep in. It was the first day of school. She had to face Chloé Bourgeois being her usual bratty self. That almost made her not want to get up, but she still enjoyed school, just one problem wasn't going to stop it for her.
"Get up, Marinette, you'll be late for your first day back at school!" she heard her mom say.
"Got it, Mom," Marinette said, as she walked into the kitchen. Her and her parents live above a bakery her dad owns, so Marinette known her food was always good. She could just be so clumsy now and again.
"I just bet Chloé will be in my class again," said Marinette.
Chloé was a rich brat, the mayor's daughter, and the most annoying girl in the school. She can do whatever she wants, and she gets away with it because her dad's the mayor.
"Four years in a row?" her mom said. "Is that possible?"
"Definitely, lucky me," Marinette said sarcastically.
"Don't say that," continued her mom. "It's the start of a new year, I'm sure everything will be just fine."
She goes down to the bakery, only to see her dad humming to himself holding a box of macaroons. They looked so tasty, and her dad said they were due to her designs. She almost dropped them as she hugged him.
"See you tonight!" Marinette said, as she walked off with the box of macaroons, only to see a helpless old man on the zebra crossing nearly get hit by a car.
She rushed to help him, because no one else around even took a glimpse.
"Thank you miss," the man said, when they got back over the road. Marinette then realized she had spilled her macaroons. "What a disaster."
Someone almost stepped on one of the macaroons. Marinette gasped. "Oh don't worry, I'm no stranger to disasters. Besides, there's still a few left."
The old man tried one. "Delicious."
Marinette heard the bell ring. "Oh no, I'm going to be late!" She turned to the old man. "Have a nice day, sir."
She ran to her new class, where everyone already took a seat. She then realized that Chloé wasn't even there yet, which was weird. But she's obviously going to come in when they least expect it.
"Nino, why don't you have a seat in the front row this year?" said her teacher. Nino, a kid who always listens to music then reluctantly moved to the front row.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she heard a voice, and she instantly knew who it was.
"Here we go again," Marinette said.
"That's my seat," Chloé said.
"But Chloé, this has always been my seat."
"Not anymore, new school year, new seats," said Chloé's friend Sabrina, who sometimes seemed to be badly treated by Chloé, and sometimes they seemed like genuine friends. Maybe a bit of both, but they weren't a couple though. Chloé shut those rumours down last year.
"So why don't you just go and sit by that new girl over there?" Chloé asked. "Adrian's arriving today, and I'm hoping that he has at least someone familiar to him to make him more comfortable."
"Who's Adrien?" Marinette asked.
Chloe and Sabrina both laughed. "Can you believe she doesn't know who Adrian is? What rock have you been living under?"
"He's only a famous model," said Sabrina.
"And I'm his best friend," said Chloé. "I want to make him feel welcome. Go on, move."
"Hey, who made you queen of seats?" asked the new girl, coming over.
"Oh look, Sabrina," Chloé said. "We've got a little defender in our class this year. What you gonna do, shoot beams at me with your glasses?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" the new girl said, firmly, as she dragged Marinette over next to where she was sitting, as she dropped her macaroons again.
"Sorry."
"Chillax, girl," the new girl said. "No biggie."
"I so wish I could handle Chloe like you do," Marinette said.
"You mean like Majestia does?" continued the new girl. "She says all that is nessescary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. Well, that girl over there is evil, we can't let her get away with it."
"Easier said than done," said Marinette. "Whenever I try, she likes to make my life miserable."
"That's because you let her, girl," said the new girl. "You need more confidence."
This new girl was right, she hardly ever stood up to Chloé, but she didn't want her to talk like that, and she didn't want to get called out for discrimination. She broke up the last macaroon she had and shared it with the new girl.
"Marinette," she introduced herself.
"Alya."
"For those of you who don't yet know me," said Miss Bustier, her teacher. "I'll be your teacher this year."
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Adrian Agreste had a hard life, even though he didn't really do much. He barely ever left his house. Today was his first day at school, or at least he hoped it was. He promised his best friend Chloé that he'd be there, but he might have to break that promise and he really didn't want to do that. He's going against his father, which he tries not to do, because he's so strict and overprotective. He ran up the stairs before Nathalie and his bodyguard could get to him.
Or so he thought.
"Adrian, please reconsider," said Nathalie. "You know what your father wants."
"But this is what I want to do," Adrian said, as he saw an old man struggling to walk. He went over to the man and helped him back on his feet with his walking stick.
"Thank you, young man," said Master Fu.
Nathalie and his bodyguard looked at him.
"I just want to go to school like everybody else," Adrian defended. "What's wrong with that? Please don't tell my father about this."
And before he could do anything, Nathalie and his bodyguard brought him into the car and they drove away, as he texted Chloé that he's sorry, but he won't be able to make it.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The class had finished. It was interesting and a bit different, but Marinette liked it.
"Those of you who have P.E, Mr. D'Argencourt would be expecting you at the stadium," said Miss Bustier. "The rest of you can head over to the library."
Marinette set off to the library, since she obviously wasn't one of those people. She was about to go, when she heard a confrontation go off.
"KIM!" her friend Ivan shouted.
"Ivan, what is going on?" asked Miss Bustier.
"It's Kim, oh I'm so gunna…"
"Ivan, go to the principal's office!" said Miss Bustier.
Ivan growled and left the room. Everyone was wondering what was about to happen.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Marinette was at the library, when Alya suddenly pulled her out, as she saw a big stone monster.
"What – what's going on?" Marinette asked, scared out of her mind. "He had Ivan's voice?"
"It's as if he's been transformed into a real-life supervillain!" exclaimed Alya, who seemed excited. What was she excited about? She looked at her phone. "GPS, check. Battery, check. I am so out of here!"
"Hey, where are you going?" Marinette asked.
"Where there's a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind!" Alya said. "No way I'm missing this."
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Adrian was still getting homeschooled by Nathalie as always. It was boring and he had no enthusiasm. He just wanted to be at school. Why wasn't he allowed to be a regular kid?
"Who was the first president of the fifth French Republic?" Nathalie asked.
"Everyone thinks it was de Gaulle, but it was actually René Coty before the first elections," Adrian answered, having heard this question so many times.
"Excellent, Adrian," Natalie said, looking and sounding impressed.
Adrian saw his father come into the room.
"Give me a minute, will you Nathalie?" he said.
"Yes, sir."
"You are not going to school! I've already told you!" Adrian's father shouted, angrily.
"But Father…"
"Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you," he continued. "I will not have you outside in that dangerous world."
"It's not dangerous, father!" Adrian defended. "I'm always stuck in here by myself! Why can't I go out and make friends like everybody else?"
"Because you are not like everyone else! You are my son!" he looked over at Nathalie. "Continue."
"We can leave it there today if you want," said Nathalie.
Adrian ran upstairs to his room before he could answer that question. Why was his father so overprotective? Of course Adrian is like everyone else! Yes, he's rich and famous, but so is Chloé does as well, and she's went to school her whole life. Adrian didn't understand why his father was so worried. Shouldn't he be glad that his son wants to go out and make more friends? He lets him go out for photo shoots with a bunch of girls staring at him, how is that any less dangerous than a school?
Just then, he heard a bang coming from outside. He then saw a giant stone monster walking around the city.
What?
He saw some policemen shoot at him, but that just made him grow even larger.
"KIM!" the stone monster shouted.
Adrian ran back into his house and turned on the TV, where he saw the mayor speaking on the news.
"I'm asking all Parisians to stay home until this situation is under control," the mayor said.
Well, that's just great."
It then switched to the reporter. "As incredible as it seems, it's been confirmed that Paris is indeed being attacked by a supervillain. The police have been struggling to keep the situation under control."
It then switched to Roger, a cop who Marinette recognized as Sabrina's father. He had a broken arm. "Be confident, the strong arms of the law will come crashing down on… um, I mean the other arm."
"I hate first days back at school," Marinette said to herself, before noticing a small brown box with a bit of red covering it.
"What's this doing here?" Adrian asked to himself.
Marinette opened the small brown box, and a weirdly-shaped flying big ladybug came out.
"Aah! It's a giant bug!" she exclaimed. "A mouse! A bug mouse!"
"Everything's okay!" it said. "Don't be scared."
"Bug mouse talks!" Marinette said, panicking and starting to throw books at the creature.
A small flying cat jumped out of the box.
"No way, a genie in the lamp!" Adrian exclaimed.
"I met him once, so he grants wishes, big deal," said the creature. "I'm way more personable. Plagg, nice to meet you."
He then started out trying to eat random things in the room.
Marinette continued to back away from the weird-looking creature in her room.
"Listen, Marinette," the mouse said. "I know everything may seem a bit strange to you, but…" Marinette managed to catch the small thing in a cup. "Okay, if that makes you feel safer."
"What are you?" Marinette asked. "And how do you know my name?"
"I'm a Kwami, and my name is Tikki," she said. "Now, just let me explain."
Adrian saw the weird-looking genie cat still looking around the room and finally caught it. "I still don't know what you're doing here."
"Look, I'm a kwami, I grant powers," he said. "Yours is the power of destruction. Got it?"
"Uh-uh," Adrian shook his hand. He didn't understand this at all.
"Good, now got anything to eat? I'm starving!" the creature continued.
"My dad's pranking me, right," Adrien thought out loud, but then he straight away realized, "Wait, he can't be! He has no sense of humour!"
"Your father must never know that I exist, or anyone for that matter," the creature, Plagg said sternly. "Except of course your partner, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I think it was."
"Who?" Adrien said.
Marinette continued to panic. She had no idea what this creature was or what she was supposed to do. "Mom! Dad!"
"No," said the creature, Tikki, as she teleported out of the glass jar. "I'm your friend, Marinette. You must trust me. You're the only one who can stop Stoneheart."
Tikki then explained to Marinette that she was destined to be a superhero, and that someone chose her to save people from a villain. Which whoever chose her, must not know much about her.
"There has to be some mistake!" she objected. "The only superpower I could have is super-awkwardness!" Marinette then had a realization. "I know! Alya would know! That's my friend, or at least I think she would. She loves superheroes! She'd be totally up for the job!"
"Marinette, you're the Chosen One," Tikki claimed.
Plagg explained a lot about Adrian's supposed new life, and Adrian was just wondering how it would even be possible.
"But I'm stuck here!" he complained. "I'm not even able to go to school! What good is a superhero if he's imprisoned in his own house?!"
"No good," Plagg agreed, as he was messing about with Adrian's toilet roll. "That's why it's all going to change soon. If you're willing to change, that is."
Marinette then put the earrings on, as she was starting to at least understand this a bit. "Okay, so all I have to do is break the object where the whatchamacallit is hiding?"
"It's called an akuma," Tikki continued. "Which you must then capture."
"Got it, capture it," Marinette went over. "And what's that charm thing again?"
"The Lucky Charm, it's your secret superpower."
"And my partner," Marinette said. "You said I need to know his name."
"Adrien Agreste," Tikki said. "The two of you must be the only people to know each other's identities."
"Isn't that the boy Chloé was talking about?" Marinette remembered. She certainly didn't want to be superhero partners with a friend of Chloé's. "This is all going too fast, Tikki! I won't be able to pull this off."
"Trust yourself, Marinette," Tikki said. "Just say spots on."
And the next thing she knew, she was transformed into a superhero in a ladybug costume.
Plagg explained a little more as he said, "Claws out. That's how you transform."
"Got it, claws out!" Adrien exclaimed, quickly.
"No, wait, I haven't finished explaining!" Plagg objected, as he was being sucked into Adrian's ring.
And the next thing he knew, he was now a black cat-like superhero.
"Too cool," he said.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"Oh, how does this thing come off?" Marinette complained. "Tikki, if you can hear me, I want my normal clothes back! I'm not going anywhere!"
"After wrecking the Chatelet Tower, Stoneheart is heading to the Montparness tower. The monster seems to be unstoppable," she heard the reporter on TV, and then saw Alya following the villain.
"Marinette, did you get home okay?" She heard her Mom say.
"Oh yeah, Mom, just super."
Marinette walked outside onto the roof before her mother could come into the room. "So I have special powers, and apparently this amazing super-yoyo thingy?" She threw the yoyo at a building, and screamed as she fell across. She landed on a boy in a cat-like superhero outfit, which she assumed was her new partner.
"Well, hey there," he said. "Nice of you to drop in."
"Uh, I'm sorry," Marinette said. "I didn't do it on purpose."
"I bet you're the partner my kwami told me about," the catsuit guy said. "I'm Adrian Agreste."
"I know, my kwami told me," Marinette said. "But we can't give out our names in public!"
"Good point, let's start over," Adrian said. "I'm Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir. And you are?"
"I am..." she continued, as she dropped her yo-yo. "Madly clumsy. I'm madly clumsy."
"No sweat, clumsy girl," said Chat Noir. "I'm learning the ropes too."
The two then noticed a tower fall down and knew for sure who did it. Chat Noir jumped on the roof with his tube thingy.
"Wait, wait, where are you going?" Marinette asked.
"To save Paris, right?" he said.
"Trust yourself, trust yourself," Marinette repeated to herself, as she jumped up and followed him.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Chat Noir got to the stadium where Stoneheart was, as he continued to attack everyone.
"KIM!" he shouted. "Who's the wuss now?!" Chat Noir assumed that Kim was the boy he was attacking.
"Hey, it's not nice to pick on people that are smaller than you," he said.
"I guess you're talking about yourself," Stoneheart shouted, as Chat Noir attacked.
Adrien did really like that name he chose for himself. As he continued fighting, he wondered where the hell Marinette had got to. He started attacking him, but he just started to grow larger. Oh no.
"Where are you, partner?" Adrian said.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"Oh I can't, I'm not going to be able to do it!" Marinette thought out loud, as she spotted Stoneheart throwing a goalpost at Alya as Chat Noir blocked it.
"What are you waiting for, Super Red-Bug?" she heard Alya shout to her. "The world is watching you."
Marinette finally jumped down and started helping in the fight against Stoneheart. "Animal cruelty! How shameful!"
"Yes!" she heard Alya say.
"Sorry, I took so long, Chat Noir," Marinette explained.
"It's cool, Wonderbug," Chat Noir said. "Now, let's kick his rocky behind!"
"Wait!" Marinette stopped him. "He gets bigger and stronger after every attack. We have to do something different."
"Different how?" Chat Noir asked.
"I don't know."
"OK then," Chat Noir said, seeming a little overexcited. "Let's use our powers!" And then, his hand started to glow black. "Apparently, I destroy whatever I touch."
"I don't need a superpower to destroy everything," Marinette said, as Chat Noir put his hand on the goalpost. "No, don't do that!"
"Cool, it's just you and me now!" Chat Noir said, clenching his wrist. Does his superpower not work only once like Tikki said Marinette's power does? "Time to rumble, soon will be rubble!" And then, Adrian put his hand on Stoneheart and it did absolutely nothing.
"Uh-oh, I guess I only got one shot to use my power," he said awkwardly.
"And now you only have 5 minutes to change back," said Marinette. "Didn't your kwami explain anything to you?"
"I guess I was a little bit too excited about my new life," Chat Noir said.
Well, as if that wasn't obvious. "Well, up to me. Lucky Charm!" Marinette threw her yo-yo in the air and down came a weird-looking suit, also with ladybug skin similar to the suit she was wearing now.
What was she supposed to do with it?
"Superpower?" Chat Noir questioned.
"My kwami told me I had to break the object where the akuma is hiding."
"Well, he's made entirely out of stone."
"His right hand," Marinette noticed. "It's still closed. He never opens it. It's like the russian dolls! The object isn't on him, it's in his fist!"
"So what's your plan?"
Marinette looked around the room as the lucky charm helped her see clues to figure out a plan.
"This," Marinette said, pointing to the hose, tied it to the extra bubble suit, and then tied Chat Noir to it. "Don't resist. Trust me!"
"This girl's crazy!" Chat Noir shouted as he flew right into Stoneheart.
"Catch me if you can!" Marinette said, as he finally opened his other fist to catch her. "And now, Alya the tap!" Alya went round to put the tap on which let Marinette out of Stoneheart's hand so she can stop with the hose and break the object, as the evil-looking butterfly flew away. All the stones then fell, as Ivan turned up in his place.
Ivan woke up. "Where am I? What am I doing here?"
"You were incredible, Miss... Bug... Lady," he said. "You did it."
"We both did it, partner," Marinette said.
"Pound it!" They said together as they fistbumped, and after that, Marinette heard Chat Noir's ring started growing.
"You should get going," said Marinette. "Our identities must remain secret except to each other. We could meet up later."
"Farewell, m'lady," he said. "Let's do this again soon, okay?"
"Uh-huh," she said. "Not too soon, I hope."
He seemed awfully nice for a friend of Chloé's. Marinette picked up a note. "You haven't even got the guts to tell Mylene you love her, wuss. Aw."
"Kim wrote it," Ivan said. "He's always making fun of me."
"You know," said Marinette. "You shouldn't get so bent outta shape about that. There's no shame in telling someone you love them, Ivan."
"Hey, how do you know my name miss?" Ivan asked.
Marinette panicked, as she spotted Alya behind them.
"Uncanny! Amazing! Spectacular!" she said, thankfully changing the conversation. "Are you going to be protecting Paris from now on? How did you get your powers? Did you get stung by a radioactive ladybug? Oh, I've got a ton of questions to ask you, Miss, uh... uh..."
"Uh, Ladybug," Marinette said. "Call me Ladybug." Yes, it's very plain and obvious, but it's the first thing she thought of.
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Marinette watched the aftermath news broadcast when she got home. "So due to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the identity of their heroes."
"I did it, Tikki," Marinette said, now very proud of herself. How she was such an amazing superhero today, she did not know.
"You see?" Tikki said. "You were up to it."
"Marinette, dinner time!" she heard her mom say.
On the TV, the three spotted the mayor of Paris, and Chloé's father, continue to talk about the two. "I am pleased to announce that we will be organizing a huge celebration in honour of our city's new protectors, Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"Well, I guess that's my partner's name," Adrian said. "A bit generic, but it works. I think we work well as a team."
"Ooo-eee, what is this?" he heard Plagg moan.
"Seriously?" Adrian said, sternly, "My personal chef made this!"
"If you expect me to get my energy back after a transformation, I need to eat something more delicate!" Plagg explained, angrily.
"Okay, what do you want?"
Soon after, Marinette saw the TV continue as her mother suddenly had her emotions changed.
"Just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of their two new heroes, Ladybug & Chat Noir," said Nadya, the reporter. "A new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into giant stone monsters. It's simply unbelievable."
What? How the hell did this happen.
"Camembert Bear Cheese, fantastic," Adrian said. "All he eats is camembert, which means I'm going to smell like stinky old cheese."
"These victims transformed into stone begins are still like statues," Nadya said. "Police are perplexed. What will happen to them? Will they come to life or be frozen in time forever?"
Oh no, what has went on?
"Plagg, what's going on?" Adrian questioned. "I thought we defeated him."
"Did you capture the akuma?"
"What's capturing the akuma got to do with the other stone beings?" Marinette asked Tikki.
"An akuma can multiply," Tikki explained. "That's why it must be captured. If Ivan's emotions get negative again, then the akuma will turn him back into Stoneheart. He'll control the stone begins and bring them to life to serve as his army!"
Oh no. What did she do? "So that means this is all my fault. I knew it! See, Tikki? I'm not cut out to be a superhero! I'm only going to keep messing up."
"Keep calm, it was your first time," Tikki reassured her. "You're going to go back to capture Stoneheart's akuma, and do it succesfully."
"I can't! I told you, I'm too clumsy!" Marinette objected. "I create disaster all the time! I'll only make things worse. For you, for me, for everyone! Adrian would be better off without me as Chat Noir. I'm quitting."
"So I can't do anything without Ladybug?"
"Only Ladybug can capture akumas and repair damage caused by super-villains," Plagg said.
"If Chat Noir can't capture the akumas, then just find another Ladybug," Marinette said. She looked back at Tikki. "I told you, I'm not cut out to be Ladybug! I'm sorry, Tikki." She took her earrings off, and Tikki disappeared.