Summary: Adrien's nationwide fragrance commercial takes Paris by storm, and when Chloé angers a retail clerk, the akuma Super Seiyuu is born.
It was just another beautiful morning in France when Marinette was holed up in her room underneath the covers, completely absorbed by something on her phone. A video was playing, trendy music in the background and a perky voice telling the viewers:
"Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien, the fragrance."
The final shot was a still image of none other than Adrien Agreste mid-jump, basking in the glow of his new scent. Marinette squealed into her pillow, stirring Tikki awake.
"How many times are you going to watch that commercial?" asked Tikki, rubbing her tired eyes.
"As many times as it takes for my heart to start beating again," swooned Marinette.
"Hopefully that'll be by breakfast," mumbled Tikki.
Marinette's phone started ringing. Marinette answered, Alya appearing on her screen.
"Hey, Marinette," said Alya. "Why is it so dark there?"
Marinette came out from under the covers, trying hard not to act suspicious.
"No reason," lied Marinette.
"What were you doing that you needed to hide?" inquired Alya.
"Nothing," said Marinette.
Suddenly, the commercial for the fragrance started playing loudly in the background.
"Are you STILL watching that commercial?" chuckled Alya. "It's been a week!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Marinette, flustered. "Well, why'd you call me? What's going on in your life? Are you up to anything today?"
"Whoa, girl," said Alya. "Slow down."
Marinette took a deep breath, gathering herself.
"Since you've been watching that video all morning…" teased Alya.
"I have not!" protested Marinette.
"Why don't we just meet up at school?" offered Alya. "I've got to introduce you to someone. See you then!"
There was a sinister gleam in Alya's eye right before she hung up the phone, the look she always had when she was about to surprise Marinette.
"Introduce me to someone," thought Marinette. "Who could it be?"
Marinette went about her daily routine: taking a shower, getting dressed, making sure her bag had all her school supplies, and that Tikki was stowed somewhere on her person unseen.
"Bye mom, bye dad," said Marinette as she walked down the stairs.
"Aren't you gonna stay for breakfast?" asked Marinette's father, Tom.
"Sorry, guys" replied Marinette. "I'm gonna be late!"
"Have a great day at school," said Marinette's mother, Sabine.
Marinette's parents watched as she dashed out the door and into the streets, running to get to school with the thought of Alya's surprise still on her mind.
After some distance, she finally arrived on campus, searching for Alya and this mysterious person.
"Hey," called Alya from the front steps. There was a curly-haired boy using his phone while sitting on the railing facing away from Marinette. "We're over here."
"Hey," said Marinette. "Who is this?"
Marinette noticed the boy looked familiar—very familiar. He put his phone away and turned around dramatically to reveal that he was none other than Gérard.
"Alya," said Marinette. "I've already met Gérard. We were all at Disney together!"
"Yeah," said Alya. "But he asked me if he could hang out with us today."
Marinette squinted at Gérard inquisitively. What was he up to?
"I just wanted to get to know you guys better," said Gérard with a charming smile. "I know Seline and Timothée haven't been the most friendly with you guys, and I wanted to make up for that."
"Oh," said Marinette, still uneasy about this whole thing. "Well, I'd be glad to call you a friend of mine."
Marinette stretched out her hand and Gérard returned the gesture, shaking hands firmly.
"It means the world to me," said Gérard.
"Come on, guys," said Alya, pulling the two of them by the arms. "We should go to breakfast before all the croissants are gone."
Alya and Gérard chuckled, Marinette trying to stop herself from smiling too much to keep her poker face on. The three of them walked by a couple of bushes, completely oblivious to the pair of binoculars sticking out of them.
"What's your 'plan' again?" asked a skeptical Taag from behind Seline's ear who was watching Marinette intently with said binoculars.
"It's quite simple," said Seline. "We infiltrate Marinette's inner circle, form cracks in all her relationships, and then expose her crush on Adrien."
"That seems pretty pointless," said Taag. "Everyone already knows."
"Yes," said Seline. "But she'd be embarrassed, so we have to do it."
Seline smiled at Taag mischievously as the little kwami just shook his head in disapproval.
Meanwhile, Timothée and Adrien walked up to the Agreste home. As Adrien opened the door to the mansion, Timothée's eyes widened to take it all in.
"This place is amazing," said Timothée.
"Oh," said Adrien. "It's nothing."
"I'm sure it's been something after the commercial," teased Timothée. "Isn't that right, Mr. Fragrance?"
Adrien averted his gaze in embarrassment. Knowing that all of France was seeing his silly commercial over and over again has bothered him all week.
"Don't remind me," said Adrien, blushing. "It's so embarrassing."
Adrien led the way up the staircase, Timothée amazed by the architecture and the butlers and other workers around the house.
"You have servants?!" said Timothée.
"You act like you've never been at anyone's house before," said Adrien.
"This is not a house," started Timothée, spreading his arms wide as his voice carried throughout the mansion. "This is a castle!"
Without warning, an intimidating blond man walked by: Gabriel Agreste, the renowned fashion designer. Timothée was struck by his presence.
"Who is this?" asked Gabriel of his son.
"This is Timothée," explained Adrien. "He's my new friend."
"I hope he isn't as troublesome as some of the others you've brought here," said Gabriel.
Adrien rolled his eyes, clearly agitated. The relationship between father and son Agreste clearly wasn't… the best.
"Thanks for giving my new friend the welcoming invitation," snarked Adrien. "Come on, Timothée."
"Nice to meet you," said Timothée. Gabriel ignored him, with only the expression of smelling something foul forming across his face.
Adrien ushered Timothée to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. The room was larger than it needed to be and full of everything a teenage boy would love:
Several arcade cabinets lined a wall next to a glass spiral staircase that led up to a massive home library. There was a foosball table, a basketball hoop, a rock climbing wall that led to the second floor, a zip line, a state of the art computer with three screens below a giant screen television. The fourth wall was a giant window that contained nothing but a television.
"This is your room?!" shrieked Timothée.
"Sorry but could you try to keep it down?" said Adrien.
'"Yeah, sure… um, was that your dad?" asked Timothée.
"Yeah," said Adrien. "Why?"
"I'm not one to judge," said Timothée. "But he didn't seem very fatherly. Actually, he almost seemed like a stranger."
"He is a stranger," said Adrien. "I know next to nothing about him. He doesn't care about me unless I'm making him money..."
"Okay," interrupted Timothée. "This conversation got really dark. Let's take our minds off things by doing something fun."
"Yeah," said Adrien. "I just have to go wash up. You can play video games while you wait."
"Okay," said Timothée.
Adrien walked over to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He turned the faucet on, splashing water on his face. He felt something pop out of his pocket.
"Who does he think he is?" said the tiny black cat kwami, Plagg, whizzing by Adrien's ear.
"It's fine," said Adrien. "He was just pointing out the obvious."
"I don't trust that boy," warned Plagg. "He and the other two have been suspicious ever since they got here."
"Mind your own business, Plagg," said Adrien.
"Okay," said the little kwami, floating back into Adrien's pocket. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Adrien walked back to his room, joining Timothée as he sat in front of the TV.
"What ya playing," asked Adrien.
"Just playing some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," said Timothée. The two of them smiled, Adrien grabbing himself a controller. A set of binoculars started to peek out of Adrien's closet.
"H-How did you even get in here?" asked a shocked Taag as Seline stared at Adrien. "Weren't we just at school?"
"Having tiger powers has given me mastery of stealth," said Seline confidently. "Now shush while I'm gathering intel."
She felt her phone vibrate and checked to see what it was.
"Oh!" whispered Seline. "It's a video from my favorite internet personality. They're going to watch videos of me taking down the akuma from Disneyland Paris. Let's see what they have to say."
At school, Marinette was still hanging out with Alya and her new… friend(?) Gérard.
"I don't wanna call anyone out," started Alya. "But someone's been watching that new Adrien commercial nonstop."
"Alya!" said Gérard, mocking outrage. "How dare you expose Marinette?!"
"Keep it down," hissed Marinette, placing her hand over Gérard's mouth. "People might hear you."
Marinette looked over to her classmates to make sure no one could hear their conversation, and luckily, they were just eating lunch none the wiser.
"We ALL know," said Alya. "Why don't you just be more radiant?"
"Or carefree?" said Gérard.
"Or dreeeeeeeeamy," said Alya and Gérard in unison, bursting out laughing.
Marinette just sank into her seat and slid underneath the table, completely mortified. Tikki flew out of her bag.
"Are you just going to let them bully you like that?" said a defiant Tikki.
"They're not bullying, Tikki," said Marinette, understandably self-conscious. "They're just teasing."
"It's still mean!" said Tikki.
"Are you talking to yourself, Marinette?" asked Gérard.
Tikki disappeared into Marinette's bag before Gérard poked his head under the table. Marinette laughed nervously, propping herself back up on her seat. The bell for homeroom rang and all the students in the cafeteria started to make their way out.
"Anyway," said Alya. "This was fun, Gérard. We'll talk to you later."
"It was great talking to you guys," said Gérard with that charming smile of his. "See you later, Madame Agreste."
Marinette screamed internally, completely paralyzed by those two words. Madame Agreste had a nice ring to it, she thought...
From afar, Chloé and Sabrina watched Marinette as she followed Alya on the way to their classroom.
"So first that Seline girl tries to take my boyfriend," sighed Chloé. "And now that Gérard is trying to take my arch nemesis?!"
"Are you sure that's what they're doing?" said Sabrina, scratching her head in thought. "Not everyone is out to get you."
"Why don't you understand me, Sabrina?" said Chloé. "I feel like you'd rather be friends with someone else, like that Seline girl."
Sabrina didn't say anything, her silence betraying her true feelings. The expression on Chloé's face turned from amused to enraged.
"Sabrina," yelled Chloé. "How dare you?!"
"I didn't say anything," said Sabrina, panicking.
Chloé let out a high-pitched grunt as she ran towards the exit. She sped through the halls and out of school entirely. She ended up at a plaza in the middle of Paris.
"I need a little retail therapy," said Chloé, smiling as she pulled out her father's weighted, metallic credit card. "Now, where to shop?"
A perfume store was right within her sights. Chloé pulled the doors open, a burst of cool, conditioned air welcoming her in. Flowery scents filled the air, but those weren't the ones she cared about: the fragrance she cared about was by someone she knew.
She spotted all of the slick, shiny posters for Adrien's new fragrance sprawled throughout the store. This was just what Chloé needed, to feel close to her "one true love." She pressed her face against the glass box containing multiple vials of Adrien, the fragrance.
"How can I help you?" asked a voice from behind the counter.
Chloé looked up to see a young, preppy woman with auburn hair dressed in a cardigan and a pencil skirt.
"Do I know you?" said Chloé.
"I'm Agnès," she replied. "You may have heard my voice before. I recorded the voiceover for the commercial starring Adrien Agreste!"
"Then why are you working here?" asked Chloé.
"Voice acting doesn't pay that well and I got the part mostly as a favor," answered Agnès bashfully.
"Whatever," said Chloé. "Just give me five bottles of the fragrance and I'll be on my way, thank you."
Chloé slapped her father's credit card on the glass counter, the sound taking Agnès by surprise.
"That's over 500 euro!" gasped Agnès.
"And what?" said Chloé, silently daring Agnès to continue pestering her.
"I…" started Agnès, swiping the credit card on her register. "My monitor says you need an ID for this transaction to go through."
"Just give it to me," whined Chloé.
"I'm sorry," said Agnès. "I can't."
"Fine!" screamed Chloé, snatching the credit card from Agnès' hand. "We'll see how great friends you are with the Agreste family after I tell my boyfriend, Adrien Agreste, about your horrible service!"
Chloé walked out, slamming the door behind her. Agnès stared wistfully at the vials of perfume on display, fearful of Chloé's threat.
The window to Papillon's lair opened like the shutter of a camera, enveloping the room in a blinding light.
"Customer service is a nightmare," started Papillon. "The old adage 'the customer is always right' has always led to destructive behavior, and, in turn, fostered negative emotions."
A butterfly landed on Papillon's open palm, changing from pure white to purple-black.
"Fly away my little akuma and help that woman reclaim her dignity," commanded Papillon.
The butterfly landed on Agnès' collar microphone, Papillon's insignia burning across her face.
"My name is Papillon," he said. "What you just suffered is beyond impolite: it was downright cruel. If voiceover is your passion then announce yourself to the world, Super Seiyuu!"
"At your service, Papillon," said Agnès, transforming into the akuma Super Seiyuu. Her costume resembled a flight attendant's uniform: a red button down jacket with a matching miniskirt. She had a speaker on each shoulder, and clamped onto her collar was the tiny, akumatized microphone.
Super Seiyuu walked out of the store and came across a brunette woman she recognized.
"Lise," said Super Seiyuu. "You are stylish and vivacious. A woman with confidence and conviction. You are Everywoman, the fragrance by Lise."
Lise initially felt flattered but flattery turned into panic as she noticed a purple smoke emanating from the floor, enveloping her. Around that smoke, glass started to materialize until eventually she was trapped inside a human-sized perfume bottle.
Lise began pounding against her perfume bottle but could not escape. Super Seiyuu continued walking to find her intended target—Chloé.
Back at school Marinette got a notification on her phone. She checked it and saw that an akuma was rampaging in the mall.
"Gotta go, guys," said Marinette, excusing herself and leaving Alya and Gérard confused.
Similarly, over at Adrien's house, the TV was interrupted by the news of the akuma rampaging through the mall.
"Uh, I gotta go to the shower," said Adrien, excusing himself. "I know there's a shower in here, but it's under construction and I have to go to the other one. Bye!"
Adrien disappeared before Timothée could even think to say anything to question him.
"Guess that's our cue," said Timothée, making sure the coast was clear. "Monsieur Pussycat, I choose you!"
Just then, Timothée's chubby, little leopard kwami popped out of his backpack.
"I do hate when you talk to me like a… Pocket-Mon is it?" said Monsieur Pussycat, speaking with his signature grandiose, theatrical affectation. "Whatever will I do with you?"
"I guess you could..." thought Timothée aloud, looking up. "Transforme-moi!"
"Not this again," groaned Monsieur Pussycat, being absorbed into Timothée's rosary so that he transformed into Léopard.
Inside the closet, Seline and Taag shared a pair of earbuds and finished watching the video.
"I wasn't that bad, was I?" asked Seline, distraught over the criticism she received.
"Think of it like this," offered Taag. "You can learn from this to be better in the future."
"I guess you're right," said Seline. "Hey, where'd they go?"
Just as Seline noticed the boys were gone she saw a headline on her phone warning citizens about a supervillain trapping people in perfume bottles.
"Are you ready Taag?" said Seline.
"Of course!" said Taag
Back at the plaza, shops were adorned with human-sized perfume bottles. Super Seiyuu was calmly strutting through the horrified crowd as Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped by.
"Ladybug," announced Super Seiyuu. "You are adventurous. You are sweet but have an edge, a dash of danger. You are Dauntless, the perfume by Ladybug."
Ladybug braced herself for whatever would happen, but to her surprise, nothing did.
"No!" barked Papillon in Super Seiyuu's head. "Her real name isn't Ladybug. Her true identity is a secret. Go get a hostage and use them to get their Miraculouses!"
"Why didn't anything happen?" said Ladybug, dumbfounded. "I think that means I'm immune to her power."
"Maybe it's because Ladybug isn't your real name," said Chat Noir. "We can use that to our advantage. Besides, how many people's names could she know?"
"A lot," said Ladybug. "I know her. She works at the perfume store and remembers every customer's name. Her name is Agnès."
"Agnès," said Chat Noir. "I know her, too."
"Then we have to turn her back to normal before long," said Tigresse Blanche.
As she ran into the plaza with Léopard, she pulled Ladybug off to the side to speak privately.
"Ladybug, listen," she started. "I watched our fight with Meany Mouse back in Disneyland Paris."
"Are you still not over that?" complained Ladybug. "We're kind of in the middle of something!"
"Let me finish," shot back Tigresse Blanche. "Anyway, no, that's not what this is about. I saw that I was in fact going to get hypnotized if I charged at Meany, so I want to say… sorry. You were… right."
"Wow," said Ladybug, taken aback. "That's actually really nice of you."
"Don't get sappy on me," said Tigresse Blanche. "Let's get back to the akuma."
As the four heroes followed Super Seiyuu into a clothing shop, they got lost amidst all the perfume bottles with frightened, innocent customers inside.
"It's like a hall of mirrors," said Léopard.
"She's got to be around here somewhere," said Ladybug. "Lucky Charm!"
Ladybug threw her yo-yo high into the air. It transformed into a pair of scissors.
"Let's see what I can do with this," she thought aloud, looking to her surroundings for some clues, but all she could see were trapped civilians. "I don't see any use for this now. Maybe it will come in handy later."
In another part of the hoard of perfume bottles was an exasperated Léopard searching for any sign of the villain. He saw Super Seiyuu at the other end of the shop.
"You," called Léopard. "Stop right there!"
He ran at her at full speed and knocked himself into a perfume bottle. It was just Super Seiyuu's reflection he had seen.
"I guess you've left me no choice," warned Léopard, revving up to use his superpower. "Cœur de glace!"
He summoned large icicles which hailed down, pooling into frozen patches on the floor. Super Seiyuu slipped on the ice and slid right towards the closed door. From here, Super Seiyuu spotted Chloé hiding behind a rack of clothes.
"There she is!" yelled Super Seiyuu.
Without thought, she lunged at Chloé, carrying her outside. The superheroes gave chase and saw her jump to the rooftop with Chloé as a hostage.
"Chloé," announced Super Seiyuu. "Obnoxious and self-centered. You care only about yourself because no one else can. Unbearable, the essence of Chloé."
"Hey, I resent that statement," said Chloé as she became encapsulated in a perfume bottle.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir," called Super Seiyuu. "Give me your Miraculouses or else I will break her into a million peices!"
"Don't let her do it!" screamed Chloé.
"What do we do, Ladybug?" asked Léopard, looking to her for leadership.
"Go into the mattress store, get a bunch of mattresses and set them underneath Chloé," she whispered back. "But stay out of Super Seiyuu's sight. I have an idea."
Offering herself as a distraction, Ladybug turned towards Super Seiyuu.
"You've backed me into a corner," lied Ladybug. "I have no choice but to give up my Miraculous under one condition. I will gladly give you my Miraculous, but only if you let my friends go."
"I'll allow it," said Papillon in the akuma's head. "The Ladybug Miraculous on its own has more than enough power for me."
"It's a deal," said Super Seiyuu.
Ladybug swung onto the rooftop and approached Super Seiyuu cautiously.
"Ladybug!" gushed Chloé. "You've come to save me! I knew you would—"
Ladybug interrupted Chloé by kicking her perfume bottle down to the ground far below.
"What are you doing!" shrieked Super Seiyuu.
At that moment, Ladybug swiped at the villain's collar microphone with her scissors, severing it from the collar and turning it into a purple black butterfly.
"Je t'ai eu," said Ladybug, with a big smile on her face as she saw the newly pure butterfly take flight. "Bye-bye, petit papillon! Miraculous Ladybug!"
Ladybug threw her yo-yo into the air above leading a wave of healing to rush over the plaza, freeing all the customers from their perfume prisons and turning Super Seiyuu back into Agnès.
Down on the ground lay Chloé on a stack of mattresses that cushioned her fall. Ladybug grabbed Agnès and gently lowered the both of them off of the rooftop with her yo-yo. Chat Noir walked up to Ladybug.
"You did it, my lady," said Chat Noir, holding hands with Ladybug.
"Gross!" said both Tigresse Blanche and Léopard.
"We all did it together," said Ladybug. "Right, Tigresse Blanche?"
"You're much better at being diplomatic than I am," said Tigresse Blanche. "I'll give you that much, little bug."
"I'll take it!" said Ladybug.
Tigresse Blanche started to turn away while Léopard walked over to Ladybug with an excited look on his face.
"I think she's beginning to like you," said Léopard. "She never even compliments me or Lion!"
"Thanks, Léopard," chuckled Ladybug.
Léopard saw Chat Noir, noticing he looked like he wanted some privacy with Ladybug.
"I can take a hint," said Léopard. "We'll see you two later, lovebugs!"
Léopard caught up with Tigresse Blanche, leaving Ladybug and Chat Noir blushing.
"Well," started Ladybug. "I've gotta go."
"Uh, me too," said Chat Noir.
"Okay, well," said Ladybug. "I guess we'll see each other later."
Chat Noir bowed chivalrously, putting a smile Ladybug's face.
"Until we meet again, my lady," said Chat Noir.
"You're so cheesy," said Ladybug, rolling her eyes.
"But you love it," said Chat Noir.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Ladybug, blushing. "I'm out."
As Ladybug swung away, Chat Noir hid behind a corner and de-transformed into Adrien. He came back around to enter the perfume shop where Agnès resettled herself.
"Hi, Agnès," said Adrien.
"Oh," said a startled Agnès. "Hello, Adrien. Did you come to see your products on display?"
"Actually, I came to see you," clarified Adrien.
"Really?" said Agnès. "Is it because I got akumatized? I'm very sorry. I hope I didn't tarnish the brand."
"Of course not," said Adrien. "I'm here because my father and I contacted several prestigious voice acting agencies to help you get more roles. They were more than happy to accept an audition from you."
"You did all that for me?" said Agnès. "How could I ever repay you?"
"You already did," said Adrien. "Our financial consultants said your voice acting was a huge contributor to the ad's success. Take the offer. We're all rooting for you!"
"Oh, thank you," said Agnès. "This has been my dream for years and now I can finally put all my energy into my passion!"
"I'm happy to hear that," smiled Adrien, happy he could help a family friend.
Later that night, some of the friends—Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Gérard, and Timothée—went to a bowling alley for some well-deserved stress relief.
"Hey," said Marinette to Gérard. "Why isn't Seline here? Is she busy?"
"Oh, I guess you could say she's busy," replied Gérard, pointing at an aisle at the other side of the alley.
Marinette felt a pit in her stomach as she saw Seline playing a game of bowling with Chloé and Sabrina.
"What?!" blurted Marinette.
"You heard?" asked Timothée. "Turns out Seline and Chloé have a lot more in common than they thought.
"That... totally terrifies me," groaned Marinette.
"So," started Seline, playing away at her own aisle. She prepared to throw her bowling ball down the lane. "How are we going to take Marinette down?"
"I have a couple of plans," said Chloé, her face contorting into the most wicked smile she had ever made. "But first… Sabrina, get us some pizza!"
Seline released her bowling ball, making the pins fly in every direction—a perfect strike.
