A/N: We're baaaaack… and happy to present the suspenseful, action-packed tenth chapter of Miraculous Tails as well as the spooky debut to our new fic, Salazar's Revenge: An Ilvermorny Mystery! You can find it through our profile or the Harry Potter section. We've been writing here for more than two months now and we just keep getting stronger as writers thanks to all the feedback we receive. Anyway, we wish everyone a happy Halloween... or should we say Sparroween?

Summary: Mayura takes the reins from Papillon, creating the sentimonster Sparroween as Marinette and friends are possessed by their Halloween costumes.


Ladybug could still feel the adrenaline rush from defeating Aphrodite, and now Tigresse Blanche's preposition was making her head spin.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" asked Ladybug. "Have you thought about the consequences of going into the Agreste mansion?"

"Yes," said Lion. "We have since… we've already failed."

Ladybug wrestled mentally with the idea of trespassing on someone's property, especially because it was Adrien's.

"I suppose you think Papillon lives there," said Ladybug sternly.

"We're not accusing anyone," said Tigresse Blanche. "We just have our suspicions that something valuable is in there—like, kwami kind of valuable."

Ladybug gasped, having an inkling that she knew exactly which kwami she was talking about. She weighed the pros and cons of this plan in her head: she could help a helpless kwami return to Master Fu's care or the plan could go horribly wrong and the Agreste family would hold a vendetta against "Ladybug" for being a thief.

"This is incredibly dangerous," said Ladybug. "But I'll do it."

"Great," said Léopard. "We meet at the Agreste mansion at midnight."

The four heroes went their separate ways before they de-transformed. Ladybug hid behind a building to turn back into Marinette out of sight. Tikki warped out of Marinette's earrings.

"Tikki," said Marinette. "We have a lot to talk about when we get home."

Marinette hid Tikki in her pink, floral purse. She raced around the lake with the swan boats until she reached the road and caught the school bus. She hopped in right as the door closed, trying her best to look nonchalant while getting to her seat.

"That should be everyone," said Madame Bustier to the bus driver. "We may go now."

The school bus brought the kids back to Collége Françoise Dupont. One by one, the students got off the bus to either walk or get a ride home. Marinette was ready to start her walk home when a white limousine pulled up next to her. The window rolled down to reveal Adrien in the backseat.

"Hey, Marinette," said Adrien. "Do you have a ride? If you don't, you can come with me."

Marinette's heart almost stopped. She couldn't believe that Adrien was offering her a ride home.

"I would love to go with you," said Marinette.

Marinette did victory laps in her mind. She actually completed a sentence in front of Adrien, and now she was going to spend alone time with him. Adrien opened the car door and slid over to the next seat to allow Marinette to sit.

"So," said Adrien. "Your friend Madison was nice."

"I know," replied Marinette. "I feel sorry about her situation with Kim, especially since I've been there before."

"Really?" wondered Adrien. "With who?"

Marinette felt the full weight of her foot in her mouth.

"I, uh," started Marinette. "You know, like, when we're young, we always have a little crush at school. That's what I meant."

"Oh," said Adrien. "Yeah, I've been there too."

"With who?" said Marinette, face turning white.

"That's a little personal," chuckled Adrien. "And it looks like we're here."

Marinette saw they were parked in front of chez Dupain-Cheng.

"Thanks for the ride, Adrien," she said. "I really appreciate it."

"Thank you, Marinette," he replied. "I'd do anything for a friend. Have a great night."

Marinette just smiled in return as she saw the Agreste limousine drive away. Then a feeling of guilt set in when she thought about the plan for tonight.

Inside her bedroom, Marinette slumped onto her bed. That was when she remembered the important news she had to share with Tikki. She opened her purse to let Tikki fly out.

"Tikki," said Marinette. "I have to work double time tonight. I have a mission later."

"Really?" said Tikki, pretending not to know about the plan to save Nooroo. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to infiltrate the Agreste mansion with Tigresse Blanche and her crew," said Marinette. "A part of me feels like I'm betraying Adrien. Maybe I should tell Master Fu."

"No, don't do that!" said Tikki, shocking Marinette. "I mean… you don't want to worry him over something that might not be important."

Marinette got up from her bed to look at herself in the mirror. She was a bit disheveled from today's fight but otherwise looked presentable.

"I better take a nap right now if I want to feel recharged for the mission," said Marinette.

Almost as quickly as Marinette felt her head rest on her pillow, she heard her phone's alarm go off.

"I'm awake!" she said, then whispering. "Oh, right. Tikki, transforme-moi!"

Ladybug swung into the night sky, doing her best to stay out of sight until she finally landed on the Agreste mansion roof, waiting for the other heroes.

"Hi," said a female voice from behind.

A startled Ladybug turned to find Tigresse Blanche, Léopard and Lion standing behind her.

"What up, Ladybug?" asked Léopard.

"I was waiting for you guys!" huffed Ladybug.

"We were here first, though," teased Lion.

Adrien and Gabriel were in their respective rooms sleeping soundly. With her claws, Tigresse Blanche undid the screws on an air vent leading from the roof into the main entrance and pulled the grill out to allow them to enter.

Ladybug was the first to climb in and crawl to the other end. She kicked the grill out on this end, catching it with her yo-yo, and placing it down gently inside the vent. They all slid down Ladybug's yo-yo, using it as a rope.

"Everyone," whispered Ladybug as she heard footsteps. "Jump really high!"

They all did as she said. Ladybug joined in the jumping, flicking her yo-yo against the wall. It ricocheted, hooking around the rigid light fixtures until it returned to Ladybug. They all grabbed onto the taut string, leaving them hanging like Christmas ornaments.

Nathalie groggily entered the room, walking towards the kitchen. Once the coast was clear, they all dropped down and headed for Gabriel Agreste's office. Tigresse Blanche slowly opened the door. The golden painting sat exactly where it was the last time they saw it.

"Lucky Charm!" whispered Ladybug.

The yo-yo transformed into some leaves of red paper with black polka dots held together by a paperclip.

"This will come in handy later," said Ladybug to her confused teammates. "I promise."

They carefully swiveled the golden painting on its hinges. Behind it, the hard metallic vault they had seen before came into view.

"This is it," said Tigresse Blanche. "Let's see if we can get it open. Magie—"

"Wait!" said Ladybug. "Do you know if this has an alarm system?"

Tigresse Blanche's cheeks went red. Of course they would have an alarm. It was so obvious now that Ladybug mentioned it.

"No," said Tigresse Blanche as she crossed her arms. "But I've kind of been working on adrenaline so far, so it's not my fault."

"I think that's what this is for," said Ladybug, gesturing towards her papers.

She took the paperclip off the paper and straightened out the bends. With surgical precision, she used it to poke at a tiny button located near the bottom of the vault door. The power to the vault was turned off.

"Okay," she said. "Now go."

"Magie noire!" whispered Tigresse Blanche.

Two black orbs appeared, one around the vault lock set and one around her hand. She gently squeezed the inside of the black orb with her fingertips and heard the click of the vault door unlocking—it was the butterfly Miraculous!

"Let's take it and run," said Léopard, grabbing the Miraculous.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" whispered Ladybug.

The rush of Ladybug essence closed the vault shut and restored its power. Our heroes surreptitiously regrouped on the roof.

"We couldn't have done this without you," said Tigresse Blanche as she approached Ladybug. "You should be the one to return it to Master Fu."

"Thank you for trusting me, Tigresse," said Ladybug. "I really appreciate it."

Ladybug and Team Panthera smiled at one another genuinely for the first time. Working together felt… natural?

The next morning, Marinette entered the classroom yawning and rubbing her eyes, exhausted from staying up so late. She noticed Seline, Timothée and Gérard looking tired as well. "If they only knew what I was up to last night," she thought.

"Are you excited for Halloween?" asked Alya.

"Absolutely," said Marinette as she settled into her seat next to Alya. "I love the crisp air, and the pumpkin pies. My dad is even making a jack-o'-lantern! Oh, and I can't wait to see everyone's costumes."

"Well, our costumes are going to blow everyone out of the water," bragged Chloé. "No one's gonna see it coming. Right, Sabrina?"

"Absolutely," chirped Sabrina.

"My costume is someone super cool," said Nino. "Let's just say... he loves tacos."

The kids all laughed at Nino's silly hint.

"So, you're saying you're going to be a big taco for Halloween?" joked Alya. "And what about you, Adrien?"

"I'm not telling," said Adrien, crossing his arms playfully.

"Oh, come on," she pressed further. "Not even a tiny little hint?"

"Okay," said Adrien. "I'll say this: 'in brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.' That's it. That's the hint."

"That sounds so familiar," said Marinette. "It's like a... superhero, right?"

"You'll figure it out when we go trick-or-treating," said Adrien. "Last but not least, what about you Marinette?"

"Pink is my favorite color," she said cheekily. "And that's all you're getting from me!"

The kids all laughed once more, but there was a sneaking anxiety in the back of Marinette's mind. Have Adrien or his father noticed there was something missing from their home?

Meanwhile at the Agreste mansion, there was a thick, anxious atmosphere in the air. Gabriel Agreste was turning his mansion inside out in the desperate search for his Miraculous to no avail.

"How could this happen!?" bellowed Gabriel. "Nathalie, come in here."

"Yes, sir?" said Nathalie.

"Did you hear anything last night?" asked Gabriel.

"Not a single footstep," responded Nathalie.

Gabriel searched every square inch of the vault one more time but he wasn't mistaken. Someone had taken his only source of power—the butterfly Miraculous.

"This is highly unusual," said Gabriel. "We should keep a closer eye on everyone who has stepped inside this house."

Nathalie saw Gabriel lose himself in the idea of anyone, possibly even Ladybug, being able to infiltrate his home, being able to… expose him.

"Agreed," was the only thing Nathalie could think to say at that moment.

"Since my Miraculous is nowhere to be found," he started, growing paranoid. "I have a sneaking suspicion that it was stolen. Since I can't perform my duties as Papillon, you will have to take my place in the battle against Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"When do you plan on enacting your revenge?" said Nathalie.

"Tonight," said Gabriel, his slightly unhinged chuckle unnerving Nathalie. "Do what you must... Mayura."

Gabriel retrieved the peacock Miraculous from the vault, handing it to Nathalie.

"I won't disappoint you, Gabriel," she said, smiling halfheartedly.

The sunset marked the beginning of the Halloween celebration. Children from infancy to young teenagers were dressed up for the occasion and even their parents took part in the festivities. Marinette and friends all showed up at their agreed spot on the sidewalk.

"I guess we should all introduce ourselves," said Adrien. "'In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my light. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power: Green Lantern's light!' I'm Green Lantern, of course. How about you, Marinette?"

"Go Go Power Rangers!" sang Marinette. "I'm the Pink Power Ranger. She's an influential female fighter of evil. She's one of the reasons I became a superheroine."

"You're a superheroine?" giggled Alya, making Marinette realize her mistake.

"I mean she makes me feel like a superheroine," rushed Marinette awkwardly. "You know, like an everyday hero that does simple things to make the world a better place. I don't have superpowers and I'm not a superheroine. That would be crazy! Could someone else please go, already?"

Chloé and Sabrina had on typical Japanese schoolgirl outfits with wigs, Chloé wearing a blonde wig with short pigtails and Sabrina wearing a long blue wig topped with a red bow. They struck a confident pose consisting of a side lunge. Chloé lunged to her left, and behind her, Sabrina lunged to her right.

"Let's pop together, Pop Team Epic!" announced Chloé and Sabrina dressed as Popuku and Pipimi, respectively.

"Pop Team Epic?" said Alya. "I've never heard of it."

"It's a cartoon where these two girls take on the world," said Chloé. "They are as versatile as we are. You're too lame to know about them."

"I guess it's my turn," said Alya clad in a yellow dress with white gloves and an orange bob wig topped with a similarly yellow hat. "'In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. The smallest one was Madeline.' I loved Madeline when I was in primary school. Nino, you're next."

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Nino, his voice muffled through his red mask. "I'm Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth!"

Right then, Marinette and friends turned when they heard the saw synth intro to the Mortal Kombat theme song, "Techno Syndrome," playing from someone's phone.

"Make way for our deadly alliance," said Seline, brandishing her war fans as the song continued playing from her phone. Her skin was covered in gray body paint, her hair styled into double buns, and her costume was an impressive navy-colored ninja tunic. "I'm Kitana, and here are my companions."

"Toasty," squealed Gérard in his yellow ninja tunic. "You may call me Scorpion, mortals!"

"For the Lin Kuei," declared Timothée in his blue ninja tunic. "The name's Sub-Zero, and I'm here to give you guys the cold shoulder!"

All the kids laughed at Seline and her cousins' dramatic entrance.

"Alright then, guys," said Marinette. "Now that we've all introduced each other, let's start trick-or-treating!"

The only person not in the Halloween spirit was a grumpy old man named Monsieur Belmont. He was a curmudgeonly man whose house was completely devoid of decorations. This didn't stop kids from going to his house for candy.

Small children dressed as a skeleton, a witch, and a mummy giggled as they clambered up the steps to Monsieur Belmont's house. They rang the doorbell and awaited their candy. Monsieur Belmont opened his window curtain, frowning when he saw the trick-or-treaters. He yanked the door open to give the little monsters a piece of his mind.

"Get away from here, you stinkin' kids!" shouted Monsieur Belmont. "Kids these days have no respect for their elders."

The children ran away laughing to the next house, unbothered by the grumpy old man.

"I swear," said Monsieur Belmont. "Year after year, I tell them I have no candy and yet they keep coming. I never want to be reminded of this horrible holiday."

Standing on Monsieur Belmont's rooftop was what looked like the statue of a blue-colored woman holding a feather fan in front of her face. However, it was no statue—it was Mayura hiding in plain sight, plucking a feather from her fan.

"Fly away, beautiful amok," said Mayura as she blew the feather away. "Make use of this man's rage to show these trick-or-treaters what true horror looks like."

The purple feather fused with Monsieur Belmont's monocle eyeglass. Out of thin air appeared Sparroween, a frightening avian sentimonster. Its feathers molted and fell gracefully from the sky like the red, yellow, and brown leaves from Autumn trees. Monsieur Belmont ran into his house, seeking shelter.

After the summoning of Sparroween, Marinette and her friends felt themselves morph into something else. Marinette held her head in her hands. It felt like her Pink Power Ranger helmet was becoming part of her. The headache subsided and she surveyed her surroundings for any clue to what happened.

"Excuse me, sir," said Marinette. "Can you explain to me how I got here?"

"Not now, you crazy Ladybug," said Nino, adding a certain grit to his voice as Deadpool. "I'm trying to figure out where I am, but I can't quite put my finger on it…"

He said this while staring pensively at the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

"Ladybug?" asked a shocked Marinette. "I'm not a ladybug."

"Riiiiight," jeered Nino. "Look, we all know you look just like Ladybug. Give it a rest, will ya?"

"No, I mean I'm the Pink Power Ranger," said Marinette. "Like, from the Power Rangers."

As this conversation was taking place, a platform the size of a bullfighting arena materialized in the sky.

"What is that?" asked Alya, speaking in a high-pitched voice as Madeline. "Pepito will be so jealous that I saw something as incredible as this."

Sparroween dove into the crowd of children and carried them on its wings, flying high into the air. It dropped them onto the floating platform as a transparent orange dome trapped them inside. All the children were now stuck with the monster. Up on the Monsieur Belmont's roof, Mayura grew impatient.

"Why in the world is Ladybug not here, yet?" growled Mayura through gritted teeth.

Back inside the dome:

"Hey!" complained Popuko-Chloé.

"Yeah," added Pipimi-Sabrina. "What's the big idea, buddy? What're we doing here?"

"We probably have to fight that thing," said Green Lantern Adrien, pointing at the massive sparrow flying above them.

On Monsieur Belmont's television, this spectacle was brought to him in full high-definition. A dignified woman in a business suit stood in front of the camera.

"This is Nadja Chamack reporting from TVi News," she announced. "What you are seeing right now is some sort of unidentified flying object, and as you can see, children are trapped inside with a giant monster."

The camera zoomed in on Sparroween, it's monstrous visage filling Monsieur Belmont's television screen.

"Did I have something to do with that?" he asked himself. "Oh, I never wanted this to happen."

Sparroween flapped its wings in the kids' direction, blowing them back with a powerful gust. People went tumbling backwards until Adrien conjured a green force field from his Green Lantern ring, causing Sparroween to stop his wind attack.

"Everyone!" called Marinette. "This monster is too big for any one of us to beat him on our own, but if we work together, we can defeat it. Are you with me?"

The assorted characters cheered and charged at the sentimonster. Marinette retrieved her Power Ranger bow and arrow out of thin air, aiming at Sparroween. The arrow pierced through its wing and created a huge firework explosion, but the sentimonster remained unharmed.

Adrien used his ring to summon a giant toy hammer made of green energy, squeaking as it bopped Sparroween on its head. The sentimonster kept recovering from his injuries.

"Onward, Pipimi!" commanded Chloé while standing on Sabrina's palm who was suddenly the size of a two-story building.

Sabrina casually lumbered over to Sparroween past all the fighting characters.

"Are you upset?" bellowed Sabrina as she landed a powerful punch on Sparroween.

Nino launched himself into the air acrobatically at the sentimonster with his katanas at the ready. Sparroween swerved out of the way.

"Chimichangas!" yelled Nino as he crashed into the dome wall.

Alya levitated using her parasol, coming face to face with Sparroween.

"Good evening, Monsieur Birdie," she cooed. "Would you like to see my figure skating moves? I've been practicing very hard!"

Alya extended one leg out and spun in place quickly, kicking Sparroween in the face with each spin. This made it mad, and from its body a flock of birds burst forth to fight alongside it.

"All hail Kitana Kahn!" screamed Seline.

She tossed her war fans at the small birds, but the second they touched the blades, they dissipated into a cloud of feathers. The war fans boomeranged back into her hands.

"Ignore the tiny birds," she warned her friends. "They're weak. Focus on the big one."

Alya ignored this advice and fought them anyway.

"En garde, tiny birdies!" said Alya while spearing the birds with her parasol as though she were fencing.

Seline spun her war fans while facing Sparroween, causing it to become stunned in the air. Gérard propelled his fiery chain link kunai at Sparroween, wrapping around the sentimonster's midsection.

"Get over here!" shouted Gérard as he pulled Sparroween towards him.

While Sparroween was being pulled, Timothée took the opportunity to blast Sparroween with his Sub-Zero ice powers, freezing it completely. He jumped into a forceful drop kick, pushing Sparroween to the ground and shattering the ice but Sparroween emerged unscathed. Timothée grabbed the sentimonster's head.

"Extreme Fatali-!" shouted Timothée.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" interrupted Nino. "We're trying to keep this chapter under PG-13 and all these references are already pushing it, Frosty the Snowman."

Annoyed, Timothée groaned while he let go of Sparroween.

"Are you ready, Popuko?" asked Sabrina.

"I've been waiting for this my whole life, Pipimi," said Chloé as a teardrop ran down her cheek.

"Synthesize!" they said as they became a golden, Super Saiyan-esque fusion. "It's-a me! Hegemony Dynamic!"

They flew towards Sparroween as it tried to stop their attack by blasting a laser beam from its mouth at them but it didn't work. Nothing could stop them. As the fused Chloé and Sabrina flew through Sparroween, they all became engulfed in a giant explosion. Once the mushroom cloud subsided, the characters could see that Sparroween was still up but staggered. Marinette saw this as her opportunity to finish the fight.

"Everybody, duck!" she shouted. "Pterodactyl Dinozord Power!"

Power Ranger Marinette summoned her Dinozord—a giant, pink, flying vehicle similar to a jet plane—which came crashing into the dome, striking Sparroween in the chest.

"We did it!" cried Marinette to thunderous cheers.

Back at her stalk, all Mayura could do was growl in frustration: her plan was thwarted.

"You were useless, Sparroween," said Mayura. "This was a disastrous failure. I won't let you embarrass me any further."

Mayura snapped her fingers, causing both Sparroween and the dome to dissipate into a purple cloud. Marinette and friends were suddenly plummeting to their doom, but thanks to their costume superpowers, they each landed safely in their own way:

Marinette was caught by her Pterodactyl Dinozord, flying her gently onto the road; Gérard shot his roped spear at Marinette's Zord and pulled himself aboard to descend with her; Seline rotated her war fans against the ground to slow down her momentum; Timothée slid on a track he made out of ice; Chloé and Sabrina rode a minecart down the ice track that Timothée made, hopping off before it crashed on the ground; and Adrien simply flew down with his Green Lantern ring raised high.

Alya was the last to reach the ground, gently gliding with her open parasol like Mary Poppins while Nino held onto her for dear life.

"We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all—" started Alya.

At that moment, a colorful aura enveloped the kids before they reverted back to their normal personalities.

"Uh," wondered a confused Alya aloud. "What was I saying?"

"I feel weird," said Marinette, herself feeling a little nauseous. "Does anybody remember what happened?"

"We were trick-or-treating," said Adrien, taking a cue from seeing everyone's costumes. "Maybe we blacked out with all the candy we were eating."

Marinette noticed the formerly grumpy Monsieur Belmont looking wistfully at the trick-or-treaters from across the street.

"Monsieur Belmont?" said Marinette as she walked over to him with Alya in tow. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine," said Monsieur Belmont sadly. "It's just that my parents forbade me from going to Halloween when I was a child. I was the only one who wasn't allowed to go, and now I'm too old. I'm afraid I may never know what it's like to celebrate Halloween."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Alya.

"I'm way ahead of you," said Marinette.

The two girls looked around for whatever they could use in their surroundings. They grabbed a black tablecloth, borrowed someone's hair gel, took their own makeup, and found some candy corn. They used the gel to slick down Monsieur Belmont's hair, wrapped the tablecloth around his shoulders like a cape, patted his face with white makeup powder and stuck two pieces of candy corn onto his teeth to make fangs.

"There," said Marinette cheerfully. "You're gonna go trick-or-treating with us as a vampire named… Alucard."

Marinette held a compact mirror up to Monsieur Belmont's face. He was impressed by the quality of their work.

Marinette handed him a trick-or-treating bag and went door to door, collecting candy with all her friends. Monsieur Belmont couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.

"Thank you for this, Marinette," he told her in private. "I haven't felt like this since I was a boy."

"It was our pleasure," said Marinette, accompanied by her friends nodding behind her.

"That was really cool of you, Marinette," said Adrien.

"Are you ready to go for another round, Monsieur Belmont?" asked Nino.

"You bet!" said Monsieur Belmont. "Let's get more candy than all the other kids!"

After having one of the craziest nights of her life, Marinette barged into Master Fu's massage parlor.

"Master Fu!" said Marinette, holding her Power Ranger helmet in her hands. "Something crazy happened. I can't remember much, but I think everyone turned into monsters, and we were really high up in the sky, and I was fighting something, but I can't remember what—"

Master Fu calmly rose from the ground with a look of disappointment in his face.

"I have the answer to all your questions," interrupted Master Fu. "Tonight was Halloween, a holiday where the walls splitting the mortal realm and the magical realm are weakened. Adding the sentimonster into the mix had the adverse effect of transforming everyone into their costumes."

Marinette felt herself relax as certain bits of her memories kept coming back to her.

"And what about Nooroo?" asked Marinette. "Has he told you anything about Papillon?"

"Nooroo refuses to speak," sighed Master Fu. "He said he's afraid of being recaptured and questioned about whether or not he's revealed Papillon's identity. He's not a good liar, so he wants to be able to tell the truth when that happens. He's still very fearful of Papillon even though there's no reason for him to feel like that anymore."

"Poor guy," said Marinette. "I understand how he must feel, but I want to let him know we will defeat Papillon before he can hurt anyone else."

"That's very brave of you to say, Marinette," said Master Fu. "But maybe we should allow Nooroo to process his feelings in his own time."

"I understand," said Marinette.

Marinette and Master Fu looked to the Miracle Box, wondering what Nooroo and the other kwamis might be talking about.