Chapter 4
Miguel let out a small giggle watching the auburn red head as the teacher called on her when she clearly wasn't all there. He found it almost cute. For the rest of class, he couldn't stop bringing his attention back to her. Until he noticed that the Jezebel girl was basically glaring daggers at her and wondered what the story between them could be. Finally the bell rang and everybody started off for their next class. Just as he was about to make it to the gym, the fire alarms went off and everybody was then scrambling to get out of the school. As he managed to get out, he caught a glimpse of what had started the fire. A giant fire monster.
Miguel didn't know what to think. All he knew was that he had to get back home quickly. He ran as fast as he could and made it just as his phone rang. It was his father.
"Miguel, are you home?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm going to be home I'm pretty sure more than a little late, but please just stay and don't cause any trouble."
"You got it." Miguel answered hanging up.
When he got up to his room, he switched on his tv and listened as the reporters talked about the monster he saw leaving the campus earlier.
"…and we have just receive some breaking news from New York community college that a freak fire accident occurred barely even a few minutes ago, although these are not your typical fire incidents. Witnesses claim to have seen a man covered in flames setting and controlling the fires as if he were in command. We bring now live to our eyes in the sky over the scene."
"This is crazy." Miguel said with a bit more enthusiasm than he thought he should have.
His attention was then drawn to a small black box on his desk. "What's this doing here?" he asked himself picking it up.
When he opened it, he saw a ring inside but was then suddenly blinded by a bright light. When the light vanished, he saw a small black thing that almost looked like a cat floating right here in front of him.
"So cool, like a tiny floating cat."
"So what? I'm way cooler than cat." The thing remarked brushing his hand away. "You got anything to eat around here?" it said flying around.
"Hey get away from that." Miguel said chasing the thing.
Finally, he caught him trying to get into his sock drawer. "What are you, and what are you doing in my house?"
"I'm Plagg, I'm a kwami, I grant powers. Yours being the power of destruction. You getting all of this?"
"Not really." Miguel said shaking his head.
"Good, now you got any food around here? I'm straving."
"My father pranking me right?"
"Your father must never know that I exist, or any one for that matter."
"But why?" Miguel asked confused.
"Because your identity must remain secret and right now you and your new partner are the only ones who can stop that monster Inferno."
"Whoa you're serious?"
"Completely serious. Just put on the ring and be ready, that is if you're willing to do this."
Miguel didn't need much convincing, although as his kwami continued to talk he thought about what it was probably like to be a super hero and wasn't entirely paying attention.
"Claws out."
"Huh?"
"That's how you transform."
"Got it. Plagg Claws out!" Miguel called out.
In a bright flash, Miguel got a look at himself in his mirror and saw that he was now in a black leather skin tight suit and cat ears. Across his face was black mask and he saw that his eyes weren't like they usually were, they were the green eyes of a cat. While he was sure that anyone else would have been freaked out, he thought this was all too cool to be real.
"…we're taking you live to our footage of the monster known as Inferno who has made his stop in Central Park. It seems Inferno has set his sights on a target and is willing to destroy everything in his path to get to it."
"Okay, no time to take it." Miguel said climbing out his window.
He reached behind him and found an extendable rod. "Super cool."
Extending the rod, he laid across to the other roof top and began to walk across. "I could get used to this."
He then someone screaming and coming right at him. In the one moment he was able to see them before they crashed, he saw it was a girl in a red get up.
"Well hola senorita, nice of you to drop in." he greeted with his usual lady catching grin helping her to her feet.
"Uh, hey." She said taking his hand getting on her feet.
"You must be my new partner. I'm Cat Negro." He said shooting her a grin.
"I'm, I'm…" she tried to say but her yo-yo crashed into his head. "Sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Not to worry Sorry Girl. I'm new at this too." He said as he extended his staff and leapt on to the roof of the building following Inferno.
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"To save the city, right?"
Cat Negro watched as his new partner nervously swung her yo-yo and flew to catch up with him. When they finally caught up with Inferno, they found him in the middle of Central Park.
"Let's blow out this candle." Cat Negro said as he started to race for their opponent.
"Wait." His partner said grabbing his tail before he could take off. "Don't you see, he's made entirely out of fire. We can't just rush in there, we'll be roasted alive."
"You gotta plan then?" He asked.
"Well," she said looking like she was deep in thought. "If there's three things a fire needs to burn, it's heat, fuel and oxygen. If we can remove even just one of them, we can bring him down."
"Sounds pretty legit, how do we do that?"
"Uh, I'm not sure." She said feeling stumped.
"Then how about we use our powers." Cat Negro suggested. "Cataclysm!" he summoned his powers. "Apparently my powers allow me to destroy whatever I touch."
"Well, that's just great." His partner said sounding annoyed.
Cat Negro reached over about to touch a flag pole. "No wait!" she yelled grabbing his arm to stop him. "You only get one shot to use your powers and then you'll have five minutes before you change back." She explained in a cold sweat.
"Oh, sorry."
"Didn't your kwami tell you anything?"
"Guess I was too excited about my new life."
"Great, anyway, I think I have an idea but I still need a little help." She said pulling out her yo-yo. "Lucky Charm!" she summoned.
What came to her was a blanket. "A blanket, what am I supposed to do with this?"
"Isn't hot enough around already?" Cat Negro laughed.
She looked around and then turned back to Cat Negro.
"I have a plan, you see that fire hydrant?" she said pointing at it.
"Yeah."
"When I give you the signal, use your powers to open it." She said grabbing the hose and wrapping herself in a blanket.
With a leap, she flew through straight to the heart of Inferno. "You're crazy!" Cat Negro yelled after her.
As she was about to pass through, she yelled for Cat Negro to open the hydrant. With a swipe of his hand, the hydrant burst open and water burst through the hose into the heart of the fire. The girl came out soaked but otherwise alright. As Inferno started to simmer down, he saw make a move for the thing the akmua must have been hiding in. A pair of brass knuckles. She grabbed them and threw them on the ground shattering them. Out it came a dark purple butterfly. She watched fly off and sighed with relief when she saw Inferno disappear.
"You were awesome Ms. Bug Lady." Cat Negro said putting hand on her shoulder as his ring started to beep.
"You better go, our identities must remain a secret." She said brushing him off.
"Got it, let's do this again some time." Cat Negro said racing off.
Racing across the roof tops, he made back to his place just before his time was up. Plagg came out panting.
"That was a wild ride." Miguel said as he set Plagg down on his bed. "You doing alright?"
"After each transformation, I need food."
"Well, what do you want?" Miguel asked wondering what it is someone like this could possibly eat.
"You got any camembert?"
Miguel was a little surprised to hear that his kwami liked camembert like his father did. He never had a stomach for it, but if it's what he wanted, then he could have it. He went down to the kitchen and pulled out a roll of camembert cheese. As he started to eat, he switched on the tv to hear what the news had to say about his and his partner's victory over Inferno.
"That girl is awesome, she's crazy awesome." Miguel breathed.
"…And New York is still in awe at our new guardian angels. Thanks to the ammature footage captured by a brave by stander, we now know the identities of these amazing individuals. Ladybug and Cat Negro. Mayor Harrison will now address us about these heros of the Big Apple."
"Speaking on behalf of a grateful city, I only have two words to offer for our defenders of justice, Thank you."
"Ladybug, her name's Ladybug." He breathed. "Amazing."
"This just in, we are receiving reports of people suddenly being transformed into burning pillars of fire. These fire those hot do not seem to be making any movement or progression. Concerned citizens are wondering what will happen to these people? For now anyone's guess is as good as the next." The reporters called in.
"Plagg, what's going on? I thought we defeated that guy?" Miguel asked confused.
"Did you capture the akuma?" Plagg asked.
"What's that got to do with this?"
"If an akuma is not captured and purified then it will multiple and turn other humans into these fire beings and if the person's emotions become negative again they will transform back into Inferno and he will be able to control them as his army." Plagg explained. "That's why the akuma must be captured and purified after it has been released."
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go and find this akuma and purify it before it causes any more damage."
"It's impossible without Ladybug." Plagg answered.
"What are you saying? I can't do anything without Ladybug?" Miguel asked confused.
"Only Ladybug can capture and purify the akumas and repair damages caused by supervillains."
"So basically without Ladybug, there's nothing we can do."
"That's basically it." Plagg answered sounding almost in as much concern about this as Miguel was.
But what could they do without Ladybug?
