Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story. If you wish to read the Inspiration for this fic: /works/26408935/chapters/64334347
Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created. These were... the Miraculous. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race. Out of the countless Miraculous, two stands as the powerful; the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation; and the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction.
According to legend, whoever controls both these jewels at the same time, will achieve absolute power. It is because of this, many villains have arisen to try to take them and all have failed. However, that did not stop one from using his Miraculous to find both the Earrings and the Ring, going as far as endanger anyone who gets in all to achieve his wish. But standing in his way is the Miraculous duo-
"-Marin! Are you up! Your alarm's been going off for fifteen minutes! You're going to be late for your first day back at school!"Just hearing the word 'school' made the boy in question groan within the fought made of sheets and pillows, before a hand reached out and turned the alarm on the phone off. Yeah, he's going to be late.
"Yeah, in a minute!" He yelled out and with a grunt roll out his bed, only to fell face down straight onto the floor, slamming his nose into the wooden floor. The covers falling off too revealing the form of Marin Dupain-Cheng. Just your average teenage boy with bluebell eyes and short black hair, which almost has a blueish tint to it. And in his sleepy state, only one thought was present in his tired brain.
'I hate mornings...so much.' He mumbles, picking himself up with a groan.
'Yeah, I didn't sleep right.' He thought rubbing the part where he hit his head, the fog still in his nothing more than a t-shirt and underwear, Marin made his way to his door, caerphilly stepping over clothes and various other objects were scattered haphazardly all over the floor. His bluebell eyes move over to his desk, which had a few unfinished projects he wanted to work on with different scarves, hats and jackets along with a notebook filled with countless designs.
Just about it, a pinboard covered in pages ripped out of various Fashion magazines, most of which were of the Gabriel brand own by the mysterious created and namesake, the fashion legend and Marin personal idol, Gabriel Agreste.
Oh, what he would give just like him to him. To have his work on the front page of every fashion magazine, praised by the finest critics in the world and of course, to rub it in the face of a certain blonde brat. But that would have to wait right now needed to hurry or his going to be late, stepped downstairs, to see his mother Sabine Cheng, a short woman with grey eyes and the same colour as Marin's, only less messy. She dressed in her usual white cheongsam that held a red, black and gold plant design."And here I thought I would drag you out of bed myself."
"Mornin' mama." He greeted, kissing her cheek before taking his seat at the table.
"Are you happy to be going back to school?" She asked, placing the carton of milk next to him once again.
"Sure, when Chloe going to be a part of my class again, how could I not." He said sarcastically, having no nice thoughts about a certain miss brat. Sabine gave him a raised brow at hearing him say that."Now sweetie, doubt that it's not possible to have the same classmates for four years in a row.
"Sometimes I wonder if she asks to be specific in my class every year, just to bother me?" Marin theorises, opening a bottle of milk and pouring it into the bowl.
"Don't say that it's the start of a new year, I'm sure everything will be just fine," Sabine said, placed a hand on his shoulder and giving him a gentle smile. Marin smiled back at Sabine motherly affection. He wanted to believe that she was right and that this is all just in his head. But he didn't, because at the end of the day he was cured.
You see ever since he was a little, Marin had been 'cured' with extremely bad luck, so much so that people started calling it the "Marin effect" where anything that can go wrong for Marin will go wrong for Marin. And as if the universe wanted to provide a point as soon as he had placed the cereal down, it accidentally knocked over an orange out of the fruit bowl and began to roll around the table like a wheel, creating a domino effect that hit the cereal and knocked over the milk making it spill on the floor.
'Well if that's not a sign of things to come, I don't know what is?' Marin asked in disbelief at another bout of his usual clumsiness. 'Great. Can today get any worse?' He thought and as if to answer that question, the fruit (which was still rolling) hit his bowl causing it to fall over and the contents spilt on his lap.
He just had to ask.
Sabine couldn't help chuckle at the fiasco before getting paper towels to clean to mess. Marin lifted the now half-empty cereal and closing the lid properly. Sabine gave Marin another kissed forehead, causing him to smile once more.
After a quick shower and a change of clothes, now in a dressed light grey blazer with a white shirt underneath it and dark red pants. Marin made his way down the stairs only pausing mid-step when he heard the familiar sound of out of tune singing. He rolled his eyes, knowing exactly who it was. His assumptions were correct as he stepped into the bakery and caught sight of Tom Dupain, Marin father a very tall man with a rather large build, with short brown hair, sideburns and a moustache, green eyes that twinkling with happiness as he worked away. Due to this, he wears his usual work outfit which consisted of a white shirt, a blue apron and a white hat. Tom hearing his son stepped into the shop, Tom quickly picked up a white box that was lying on the counter and turned around to greet his son with a big warm smile, all the while still singing off-key."Good morning my wonderful son!"
"Morning." Marin greeted back walked past him. "what you got there?" Marin's father response to his son's question, opened the box to reveal two dozen matcha macarons with white chocolate filling." Ta-Da! Homemade macaroon by the best baker in all of Paris."
"Dad, this is great!" Marin said with a grin, accepting the box. "They're going to love these." It was something of a tradition for Marin to bring sweets in on the first day of school, it was Marin's way of bringing business in for his parents.
"No, we're the best. Thanks do your designs," Tom replied, showing him the logo make he made. Marin found his cheeks a bit red, but he smiled in appreciation. However, a beep from his phone reminded him that he needed to hurry if he wanted to get to school on time.
"Ah, I have to go, love you Dad! You to Mom! See you both tonight!" Marin exclaimed, running to the door only to pause in confusion when it wouldn't open.
"Pull door, Marin." Marin looked back in embarrassment, opening it as his dad said before exiting the bakery.
"Sometimes I worry about that boy," Tom said to himself before we going back to work, after all, it was a long day ahead.
Marin making his way to school, run as fast his skinny legs can carry him almost getting hit by a car as the light changed right before he could go across, barely stopping himself in time.
'Come on, come on.' Marin thought tapped his foot a bit impatiently only for his eyes to widen at seeing, something caught his attention. In the middle of the street was an old man wearing a red shirt with white flowers with a walking stick struggling to cross the street. He turned his head to see a truck coming by quickly. Marin without thinking immediately ran into the street grabbing the old man and pulling him quickly across the rest of the way just narrowly avoiding the car speeding by, safe and sound. But in the process, he tripped on the curb and the Macarons fell out of the box.
"That was quite a fall young man, are you alright?"The elder said with a concerned look, as he watches Marin tried to get the Macarons back in the box right when the light changed. "Oh, what a disaster, I'm quite sorry about your cookies. I hope I haven't inconvenienced you in any way."
Marin shook his head and forced a smile, "Don't worry about it, I'm no stranger to disasters. Besides, there are still a few left. Would you like one?" He asked, opening the box and the few remaining older gentlemen took one taking a bite, the moment he did his eyes lit up. "Mmmh. Delicious!"
"That means a lot, if you want more, the bakery is right there, you won't find better sweets in all of Paris." Marin advertised before his phone beeped again. "Oh no I'm going to be late, have a nice day sir." the elderly man smiled watching the young man runoff before pulled out a box engraved in Chinese characters.
"Thank you very much, young man, you truly are a hero."
Thankfully, Marin managed to make it inside of the classroom before the late bell rang. So far so good, sure there have been a few mishaps this morning but he didn't start the year late, so that was progress.
Slap!
Unfortunately, his hope of a bright new school year was dash when a familiar hand slammed on the desk in front of him.
"Well, well, if it isn't Marin Dupain-Cheng."Followed by the shrill voice of its owner who was immediate, the carefully manicured nails were immediate given dead give-away.
Marin looked up for his desk and cringed at the sight of the hand's owner. Not because of the way she looks, the girl was actually quite attractive, with her long honey blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, her face which was small and round with a pink blush on her cheeks. Her ocean-blue eyes which were covered in light blue-shadow glare down at him as her plump lips curved into a self-assured, confident, bordering on an arrogant smirk. As for accessories, she has a gold chain necklace, with a gold sphere charm, and white-rimmed sunglasses on her head. She wears a sparkly canary yellow bolero over a white shirt with black stripes around the chest running down to the bottom of the waist. The rest of her outfit includes white jean capris with a golden belt that has pyramid-shaped bumps and white dress shoes adorned with white bows with black lining and soles. No, the reason was that the right in front of him was Chloe Bourgeois, the bane of his life.
So much for not being in the same class as her. Here they go again.
"You know if you keep looking at me like that, I might start thinking that you're a zombie," Chloe explained, letting out a chuckle.
"What do you want Chloe," Marin said acknowledged his usual tormentor or rather everyone's tormentor for the last few years.
"That's my seat."Marin raised a brow at her answer, confusion evident on his face. "Since when? I've always sat here."
"Not anymore," A new voice made Marin leaned forward and caught sight of a short girl with chin-length orange hair styled in a bob, sea-green eyes gave a smug grin as she wore a purple and blue vest over a white long-sleeved shirt, bright blue shorts and brown leggings, a pair of glasses over her eyes. This is Sabrina Raincomprix, Chloe "best/only friend". "New school, new year, new seats."
"So why don't you go sit by new trash over there?" Chloe suggested pointing out a new student that Marin hasn't met before. The girl in question turning when she was mentioned to give a glare at Chloe, recognising Chloe insult.
"But-." Marin tried but Chloe cut him off. "My dearest Adrikins arriving today and since the one in front of you is going to be her seat, this one is going to be mine as there's no way in the darkest pits of hell, will I ever let the likes of you anywhere near her!" He wasn't even going to bother asking about 'the like you' part given how nasty Chloe could be. No, there was a better question he needed to ask.
"Who's Adrienne?"His question only seems to make Chloe laugh.
"You don't know? I would've thought you knew considering who your "idol" is." She mocked Marin who frowned In response to that.
"Sad isn't it?"Sabrina gave a nod of agreement."Adrienne is a famous model, who happens to adores me and love like that of a little sister."
'What a sad existence is this person must live.' Marin thoughts, not having the courage to say it out loud. But still, there is something about that name that sounds so very familiar. 'Wait, Adrienne? As in Adrienne Agreste, the daughter of Gabriel Agreste!' God, he was so stupid not to cop that sooner.
"Oh, Adrienne how I miss you so very much."Chloe said entered into a weird hysterical rant."First, your father forbids you from attending school and now he's not even allowing me to see you! Oh, how ridiculous, how utterly ridiculously unfair that my best friend must be treated!" Maron didn't miss how Sabrina momentarily looked saddened but it was gone as soon as Chloe turned around a grinning with determination."But today will be the day where meet again," The grin on her face turning into one hell of a grimace."So why don't you go on and get the hell out of my sight!"
Marin wanted to say something but he knew that there be no point, as he knows there was one certainty in life. Death, Taxes, and Chloe getting what she wants, it didn't matter what he as at the end of the day Chloe will have her way and there was nothing that he can do to stop it. So, why not accept the inevitability of his fate, he's been doing it was the last three years of his life. He can go for fourth.
"HOLD IT!" Before he could do anything, a voice that Marin didn't recognise loudly shouted, surprising everyone in the class. Marin turned to see that the voice belongs to the new coming, a Martiniquan Creole-French girl with caramel skin, hazel eyes that were behind a pair of glasses and wavy, reddish-brown ombre hair with light copper-red tips that ran slightly past her shoulders. Her outfit consists of a white tank top underneath a short-sleeved plaid shirt with white, orange, and purple stripes; light blue jeans, and white sneakers with black tops."And who died and elected you as the Queen of Seats?"
"Ooh look, Sabrina, we have a little goody-two-shoes in our class this year," Chloe mocked with the new girl narrowing her eyes. "What are you going to do Super Newbie? Shoot beams at me from your glasses?"
"I would love to?" The girl said with a glare, her heart-shaped lips, which were covered a light red-coloured lipstick were turned down in a frown as grabbed Marin by the arm. "Come on."
Marin grabbed the box of sweets as he was being pulled away, a bit surprised at what happened. In all of his days of dealing with Chloe, no one had ever stand up to her ever out of fear or indifference. So to see some rando stand up to Chloe for him, he was honestly at a loss on what to do. Unfortunately for him, well in his thoughts, he had miscalculated on where the step would be and trip on it, take a tumble girl attempted to grab him to stop his descent to the floor only to be brought down to the steps as well, the box of sweets fell over them braking on the impact on the floor.
God, just hate me today does he? Marin thought ignoring the snickering of Chloe as he pulled himself up, stopping as he feels his hand grabbing on something big, soft and squishy? Confused, Marin decided to look do and shattering them open upon realising that he was on top of the new girl, her face flushed with embarrassment.
But that means that what he's squeezing, is her-
Shit his hand is on her!
"Ah! I'm...I'm so sorry!" Marin immediately pulling away and flopped onto his rump, blushing in embarrassment and muttering his apologies to the new girl, quickly trying to clean up the mess all the well trying to not die in embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it," the new girl said nudge him, giving her a small smile, though her face still flushed at being accidentally groped by him.
"Alright class," said the teacher walked, her reddish-orange hair pulled into a high bun, wearing a light blue jacket with a white shirt underneath and blue pants. "has everyone found their new seats?" she asked. Quickly everyone returns to their sits.
"I have to thank you for what you do back there, not many people can handle Chloe like that." Marin said tried to place the "incident" out of his mind as the new girl gave an appreciative smile.
"I just did it like how Majestia would." The girl said, perplexing Marin before she showed her phone was a comic cover with the said hero on it. "She says that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."
"Okay, then?" Marin said, having had no idea where she was going with this.
"Well that girl over there is evil and we're the good people," The girl elaborated with Marin trying not to snicker at the image the Chloe cartoonishly evil laugh while twirling a stereotypical moustache came to mind. "We can't let her get away with it."
"Easier said than done," Marin wished something could be done about it. "She's the Mayor's daughter, so she gets away with a lot."
"Only if you let her push you around." The girl wouldn't budge and Marin smiled at that before he pulled out the last Macaron and broke it in half, holding it out to her. "Names Marin."
"Alya." The girl accepted as they both ate right as class began with the teacher introducing herself as Miss Bustier. Across the room, Chloe was staring at the seat in front of her in confusion. "Where is she? Adrienne said she would be here."
Just outside the school entrance a girl around Marin age was run like her life depend on. Her blonde-haired styled with a portion of her hair in pigtails tied with red bands, swad to the side as she looked over her shoulder, her green-eyed scanning as if on the run from something. Shouldering a blue bag over a white jacket with a black v-neck shirt and blue jeans, the girl made it to the school steps when the screeching sound of a car was heard.
"Adrienne, please reconsider." Adrienne Agreste grimaced as she was so close, weeks of planning for this within her around to face Nathalie, a woman with black hair pulled into a bun, the left side of it dyed red, wearing a black dress jacket over a red turtleneck sweater and black pants, alongside her was rather tall with dark hair and grey sideburns, wearing a dark business suit.
Great, her bodyguard was here as well, she supposed she shouldn't be surprised.
"You know what your father wants," Nathalie said she said as she walked up to the model.
"But this is what I want to do." Adrienne pleaded, wanting nothing more than to go to school. To be a normal kid, to make friends if only for one day. Nathalie's face showed something akin to pity right as Adrienne was about to rush in only to hear a cry and she turned to see an elderly man near the street on his stomach, his cane out of his reach as he tried to reach it with people passing him didn't even think twice before running over to help him, grabbing his cane and helping him up.
"Thank you, young lady." The man said flashed her appreciative smile. "I hope I have troubled you with your mother."
"Mo-" Adrienne was taken aback for a moment but laughed it off. "No, she's my dad's secretary. But are you alright sir? Do you need to call anyone?
"Adrienne, now," Natalie called her patience now waned, turning to see her way to the school cut off and she knew that she just blew her chance to go in, making her hang her head.
"I just want to go to school like everyone else, what's so wrong with that?" she asked before sighing once more. "Please don't tell my dad about all this," she muttered before she was walked back into the car. As they drove away, the elderly man smiling lifting his cane before place it in his bag, whistling happily as he walks away. He wouldn't be needing such a thing now.
He found the ones to inherit the power of the miraculous. Now time will tell if it was the right choice, but he had faith this time.
An hour later, the school bell rang signifying the class ended with the students getting their stuff gathered while Miss Bustier spoke up. "Those of you who have PE, head towards the stadium," She said, not seeing one of the students getting a note passed to him. "The rest of you head over to the Library-."
" KIM! " Loud a teenager boy with grey eyes and his hair is short and black, except for a tuft of long, dyed blond hair above his forehead. He wears a black t-shirt with a white design of two crossing bones printed on the chest. He also wears black slacks with large belt loops and large pockets, along with white socks and khaki-coloured work boots.
"Ivan Bruel!" Miss Bustier put a stop to it immediately. "What is going on?"
"It's Kim!" Ivan said with a snarled, holding the note with one hand while pointing at the other kid who sitting opposite of him, a one Kim Chiến Lê teenager boy with olive skin, grey eyes and black hair, which is styled into a sharp quiff with the ends dyed gold. Kim wears a red, short-sleeved hoodie jacket with a big front pocket and hoodie and some white outlines at certain places. On the front of the jacket, there is a white logo, which is a downward-pointing pentagon outline outside of a smaller, filled-in pentagon with a red corner and a star. He pairs his top with navy blue track sweatpants, and red, white, and black sports shoes.
"I'm so going to."
"Principal's Office now." Miss Bustier said, seeing this escalating as Ivan grimaced before stomping off.
"What was that about?" Marin asked in confusion as Alya shrugged.
Ivan was fuming. Kim was the one who started this and yet he's the one getting who's getting trouble while he gets away scot-free and he hated it! Ivan thought opening the door to the Principle's office without knocking. He was greeted by the sight of Principal Damocles himself, a middle-aged man with thick black bushy eyebrows, amber eyes and a full-face beard that was grey as he idly brushed the front of his brown dress jacket.
"Excuse me, young man." He said to Ivan who just stepped in. "Hasn't anyone ever taught you to knock? Go out there and let's try this again." Ivan gritted his teeth as he balled up his fist that was still holding the note before listening and closing the door, not seeing the black butterfly land on the bits of paper that could be seen, corrupting it when a purple outline of a mask appeared on his face.
Opening his eyes he saw that he was no longer in the school Hall but instead he found himself in a large, open room. The room was shaped into a dome with numerous white butterflies fluttering around him. Rays of sunlight washed over him from behind; turning around he saw a large open window with a mosaic shaped like a butterfly. He continued to scan the room before his eye landed on a lone figure standing in the middle of the room. A man wore a purple suit jacket and pants and leather 'wings' coming from his chest. He wore a light purple shirt which was only visible from his collar. He also wore a silver mask that gave no clue to his identity.
'Do not be alarmed Stoneheart, I am Hawk Moth, ' A soothing voice whispered in his head, the corruption working through Ivan's head and heart quite easily. ' There is no shame in being angry, you're in the right here while that boy is getting off despite instigating everything. I can give you the powers to make this right, just know that you'll owe me a favour.'
Under normal circumstances, Ivan would've been scared or frightened of this, but with the powers hypnotizing him, he only grinned darkly. "Okay Hawk Moth."Hawkmoth smile, this was way too easy. "Good. Now go my champions of destruction and enjoy your revenge."Slowly, the ball of paper started to glow and soon engulfed his whole body.
In the library, Alya was showing Marin some more superhero comics on her phone when a huge crash was heard, causing the whole building to shake. The shake caused both of them to jump out of their seats, causing the latter of the two to fall out of his seat as the other students in the library began to panic.
"Come on!" Alya quickly helped him up and pulled on his arm until they were at the window where they saw Stoneheart who broke through the wall now outside, yelling for Kim.
"Wait a minute, was that Ivan's voice?" Marin wondered, confused didn't begin to tell how she was feeling at that moment. It's not every day a stone behemoth who sounds like your classmate comes to terrorise the school, this realisation however only made Alya look excited.
"This is amazing, it's like he's been transformed into a real-life Supervillain!" Alya squealed in delight and excitement.
"Amazing?!" Marin looked at Alya as if she just grew an extra head. "This is bad, like really bad not amazing! At all!"
"Don't sweat it, whenever a Supervillain appears, a Superhero saves the day!" Alya said taking off with her phone out."And there is no way I'm missing this!"Marin just stared in disbelief, trying to make sense of that. This wasn't a comic book, there's no way a superhero would appear just because a 'Supervillain' was causing havoc.
"She's crazy," Marin whispered, not sure how to take the crazy turn this day has gone.
"Who was the first president of the fifth French republic?" Nathalie asked a rather bored Adrienne who was sitting at a pretty expensive dining table, her arms crossed in annoyance.
"Everyone thinks it was De Gaulle, but it was actually Rene Couti before the first elections."
"Excellent Adrienne." Nathalie sounded proud before another voice cut in.
"Give me a minute, wouldn't you Nathalie?"Adrienne froze as Nathalie winced when Adrienne father, Gabriel Agreste walked in his blonde hair neatly combed back, wearing his usual white dress shirt underneath a silver vest and a cream coloured jacket.
After a second hesitation, Nathalie gave a nod and walked off, leaving the Father and Daughter alone.
"You are not going to school, I already told you," Gabriel said getting right to the point, not even wait for Nathalie to walk off, leaving Adrienne to give her a betrayed look before rounding on her father.
"But Father-."
"Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you," Gabriel cut her off, leaving for Adrienne to lower her head. "You are not going outside in that dangerous world."
"It's not dangerous, I'm sick of being stuck in here by myself," Adrienne tried to plead with him. "Why can't I go out there to make friends just like everyone else?"
"Because you are not like everyone else, you are my daughter," Gabriel then turned away as Adrienne gave him a heartbroken look walk away.
"We can begin again in a few hours if-" Adrienne didn't even wait for her to finish as she suddenly broke away heading for her room, fighting back against her tears as a wave of sadness washed over her. It's not fair! That all asked. All of her life she had done what he wanted her to do. From what she wore to who she interacted with and how she acted.
So, why? Why is it that she can't have what she wants?! It's was her life, so it not? Why is it always what he wants!? Why can't she have a-? Her thoughts stopped as she saw the portrait that hung above the back of the portrait showed a younger version of herself, her father and..her...
She couldn't hold back anymore.
Adrienne let out a choked sob as run past it and into her room, locked the door behind her.
Why do you have to leave us? she thought, slowly sliding down the door until she was on the floor. Weren't we happy? She wished that day. That she was just dreaming and she was still here, and his father to change his mind and they would live like a family again; but she knew, that's never going to happen...
"I wish I was someone else," Adrienne whispered, her voice becoming raspy and hoarse for crying, before mentally scolding herself for once again wishing for the impossible. It seems the universe answered her wish, as the ground began to shake and she could hear the sounds of sirens, cars and screams coming just outside her window.
"What in the world?"Using the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away the tears, Adrienne approached the window to see a barricade of cars set up just outside the front gate of her house, blocking-... Was that a rock monster?!
"Ready man." Said the chief of police was standing on top of a cop car, ordering the other cops to raise their weapons.
"And FIRE!" Before opening fire on the monster. The creature hunched over, groaning. For a sec, the four cops thought it worked until it would start glowing and began to grow. The living statue now standing twice as big as before let out a primal growled of anger, causing the four coups to run away. The chief jumped off his car and ran off, as Stone Heart grabbed the van and threw it at him, missing him by inches.
"Are they Movie Shoot! What going on?" Adrienne asked curiously before turning on the TV to see the news to mayor André Bourgeois, the father of Chloe appeared on the screen, talking to the press.
"I'm asking all citizens to stay home until the situation is under control." Dozens of reporters tried to ask him questions before the clip stopped and became in the right corner as a news anchor appeared on the screen. Below the screen, the words read A SUPER VILLAIN? "As incredible as it seems, it is confirmed that indeed a supervillain was attacked Paris.
"Wait, this is real?!" Adrienne whispered, her concern for what was happening overriding her earlier emotions. Before she had the chance to let this sink in, something flickered in her vision looking down at her table and her eyes widened at what she found.
"This bad, this is very bad."
After getting home safely, Marin immediately went to his room, turned his computer on and watch the news, seeing that Ivan-or Stoneheart as he was called himself now was currently, paving a path through the polices pitiful attempt at a barricade as he continued his search for Kim, those who were stupid enough to stand in his path were quickly dealt with little effort on his part.
"He's getting stronger each time he takes damage, how will the police handle this?" Marin thought, concern coursing through him. And if he was able to reach Kim.
Yeah, that's not pretty.
"Still how did this happen?"Marin was really perplexed about this. After all, people don't just turn Into supervillains out of nowhere. There has to be a reason behind this. So he sat there on his bed thinking of all the possibilities and scenarios but only to find that none of them really make any larger couple seconds when put under scrutiny, eventually, he just let out a sigh of defeat. He just knows that this is going to bug him all day.
"What a crazy day." He muttered to herself. He looked down before widening his eyes in shock.
On both of their tables were a set of identical black boxes, picked up the boxes they saw that were engraved with a strange red symbol on them.
"What's this doing here?" they both thought out loud as they both open the boxes. Inside were an odd set of jewels, in the Marin box was a pair of red earrings with black spots on it right, while in Adrienne was a black ring with a green paw print on it. Suddenly, the jewel began to glow and two balls of light came out, circling them before it took shape as well...they weren't exactly sure what they were looking at. They were small creatures (?) If that's the right words, being around 10 centimetres (or 4 inches), with large heads that seem too big for their tiny bodies and big expressive eyes. Marin's was red with two ladybug-like antennas and four black dots on each side of its head, giving a smile with big blue shining eyes. While Adrienne resembles that of a cat with cat ears, green cat-like eyes and a tail, along with one whisker on his forehead and one dark blue whisker on each cheek.
Upon seeing weird creatures, the two had very different reactions. For Adrienne, it was a feeling of awe and wonderment at this Alien creature before her. But for Marin on the other hand, he was the much more reasonable response.
"Oh SHIT!" He screamed and quite literally jumped out of his chair and quickly backing away from his desk as the small being flew towards him, looking like He was ready to karate kick the table.
It's a..." he paused, not knowing what it is. "Giant bug! Uh... A mouse! A bug mouse!"
"Everything's okay, don't be scared." The creature said its voice calm and almost motherly, only to dodge the projectiles Marin began to fling at it, not trusting the strange small creature. "It's can talks!"
"OK, this is the weirdest dream I've ever had," Adrienne said, taking this a bit too calmly.
"Sorry, Totes but this is no dream, "The creature said rolling his eyes. "I'm the bonafide reality, I'm Plagg nice to meet you."With that he flew around the room, examining as a cat would.
"Ooh, swanky room."Plagg landed on a nearby foosball table and bit the head of one of the players only to gag.
"Hey don't touch that!" Adrienne said finally intervened, trying to grab him but Plagg flew off before she could. "Get back here."
"Everything is so shiny, can you eat this?" Plagg bit one of the game consoles before gagging. "No, you can't."
"Listen," The creature said trying to reason with Marin, who was frantically looking for something else's to throw at her, "I know this may seem strange but-"
"-Got you!" She was cut off as Marin managed to trap her in a glass that he kept in his room, making her shake her head. "Okay if this makes you feel safer Marin, then by all means."
"How did you know my name," Marin said, freaking out further due to it knowing his name. "What the heck are you? What were you doing in that box?"
"I'm a Kwami and my name is Tikki, now let me explain," Tikki said, happy to finally get somewhere while Marin was wondering what a Kwami was. He had so many questions maybe his parents could help.
"Mom! Da-!" Marin called, about to open the trap door, but his attempts interrupted Tikki who had to phase through the glass and flew into Marin's face covering his mouth with her tiny hands."No, no, no, I'm your friend Marin! Marin yelp, back up as he realised she could've escaped at any time."You must trust me! You're the only one who can stop Stone Heart!"
It was utter chaos back in Adrienne room.
Plagg was flying around crazy, trying to eat everything he can put his claw/paw on. Adrienne was surprised that Natalie or her bodyguard didn't come up to see what was going on considering the mass this little guy was making. While Plagg was munching into her TV remote, Adrienne seeing this as her opportunity scaled the rockclimbing wall right behind the couch before dive-bombing onto it, grabbing him with both of her hands to make sure he doesn't try to fly yeah wiggle his way out.
"I still don't know what you're doing here," she said to Adrienne. Plagg rolled his eyes, looking at her with a bored expression.
"Short version, I'm Plagg, I'm a Kwami, I grant powers, yours is the power of destruction, with me so far?" Plagg asked, leaving for Adrienne to shake her head.
"Good, because this might take a bit longer and I am starved do you have anything to eat!"Slowly, Adrienne let Plagg go as she tried to finally rationalize this situation."This is a prank from Dad, isn't it? No, he doesn't have a sense of humour."
Plagg flew into her face. "Your father mustn't know that I exist, or anyone else for that matter."
"Wait! Do you mean the creature Ivan became? Y-You're joking right!?"He couldn't do that! He could barely talk to people without muttering a sorry every five seconds! He can't fight monsters. Sensing what he was thinking, Tikki, dove towards the box resting on the bed."These are a Miraculous of the ladybug," When he took another look, he saw black earrings still inside. Though didn't they had red with black spots earlier."And as a Kwamis, I can give powers and yours is the power of creation."
"Tch, the only power I have is super awkwardness," Marin didn't even hesitate to put himself down like that. "that uh "Tikki" it but you have the wrong person." "If you want someone to be a superhero then go see Alya, I'm I'm sure she'll-."
"You were the one chosen," Tikki said, cutting him off. He scoffed responds what she was saying. "Well someone obviously made the wrong choice."
"But I'm stuck here," Adrienne said as she was explained stopping Stoneheart, or rather the super abridged version. "I can't even go to school, how could I be a superhero if imprisoned in my own house?"
"Not a good one," Plagg went by using the toilet paper as a form of log rolling with Adrienne finding that a bit odd. "That's why it's going to change soon. If you're willing to change that is."
"It is?" Adrienne asked, uncertainty in her tone, looking down at the ring that was now silver for some odd reason. But as she asked that she realized this could be her chance. Her wish was to be a different person. If this thing did give her powers, then she could have the power to be who she wanted to be.
The freedom she always wanted.
This was had to be a mistake. After he's not chosen one, no he was some dumb ass kid and there is no way in hell he'll ever stop that monster! He'll get crushed!
He can't, he wouldn't.
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing you could say that will make me-"
"-After breaking the train station, StoneHeart is heading to the observatory! This Monster seems to be unstoppable..." The news archer spoke interrupting him but was drew his attention was the sight of a certain teenager biking behind Stoneheart. That girl, there no doubt in his mind that was Alya.
What is she doing!? Going to get herself killed! Someone needs to...needs to...Marin looks back at the box and focuses on the black earrings inside before turning back to Tikki "So if I put on those earrings, will they give me powers?"
Save her.
The Kwami nods "They will! But only use them when necessary."
And the person that had to be me.
"I know I'm going to regret this," Marin muttered as he began to put on the earrings.
"To activate your powers you need to say Claws Out," Plagg explained as Adrienne was now wearing the ring, looking excited at the prospect of finally having freedom.
"Okay, Claws Out!" She shouted with excitement as Plagg's eyes widened in surprise. "W-Wait I still need to explain-." He was cut off as he was sucked into the ring and in a flash of light, her attire changed. Feeling curious, she moved towards the mirror only to gasp in awe at seeing her new appearance.
"Oh. My. God," Adrienne said in wonderment, looking down at her hands and see that both were covered by a set of matching black gloves with held razor-sharp claws.
"I look awesome!" She said letting out a high-pitched squeal of excitement as began to explore her new appearance. Her normal clothes wear gone, replace by a skin-tight leather catsuit with metallic trim, black elbow-length gloves and thigh-high black boots. It also got a thin black belt wrap around her waist that hangs behind her like a cattail. Her trademark pigtails were undone letting her hair fell like a silken wave down to a slim waist and flowed loose and messy, down her back with a few tendrils sticking out framing her heart-shaped face which was concealed behind a black domino mask that sats between her like a cat nose and emerald eyes, which had now cat-like and bright green, with the whites of her eyes a paler green colour and a pair of black leather cat ears on her head that twitched much to her surprise as if they were real.
"Too awesome!" Adrienne cheered with a wild grin, showing off her newly sharpened canines. This is amazing! She was amazing! This suit was amazing! Thou, this costume does hug her curves a bit too much for comfort and this zipper, (which had a cute little cat bell attached to it) was pulled dangerously far down, emphasising her impressive chest. But still, Adrienne wasn't too embarrassed by the thought of wearing tight clothes after she had worn tight clothes in the past as a model.
"What's this?" Adrienne mused, she noticed a small metal baton holstered to her lower back, so she pulled it out.
"Is this the weapon Plagg was talking about?"She wondering about its purpose, examining it as if it was a weapon of some kind.
"It's a bit small-."She stopped when it extended into a full staff that made her grin bigger.
"Oh this is pretty cool, what else do I have Plagg?!"Adrienne waited for a few seconds before realising he wasn't answering.
"Plagg? Huh, I guess he can't answer me while I'm like this."After waiting a few more seconds, Adrienne turned towards the window and grinned before putting the staff up as it shrunk and leapt out the window, refraining the urge to cackle as she certainly felt the power from that leap, easily landing on the grounds before jumping over the wall with a whoop, compared to when she would normally have to slowly climb over it.
This was amazing!
"Okay so basically all I have to break is the object where the thingy is hiding?"Thankfully, the earrings were clip-ons so he didn't have to worry about his ears being pierced but still, he's so going to smack Alya, so stupid.
"The Akuma." Tikki clarified for him. "And you must capture it."
"Capture got it, and this charm thing?"
"You're Lucky Charm, it's your secret superpower." Tikki elaborated further."Then you throw whatever comes out into the air, yelling Miraculous Ladybug to activate another power."
"Secret superpower right, man this is weird," Marin shook his head, as he starred in the mirror, his tone of doubt. "Yep, there's no way I can pull something like this off."
"Just trust yourself and say Spots On."
"Spots On?" Marin asked, not seeing the earrings glow. "What would that-hey!"
He was cut off as Tikki began to glow, turning into a bright red beam of light that swirled around his body.
"Tikki! What's happen!" Marin cried out as felt like a nest of insects began to crawl up her feet, continued up to his legs and his chest, eating away at any material that it comes into contact with. This continued until the bugs came to his face before blanketing the room in light.
"Tikki, what did you do?"Marin said feeling a bit woozy after the light diminished decided to use the desk to steady himself only to gasp in surprise as he caught himself in the mirror. He was now wearing a very skin-tight red suit, covered in black spots. His elbows, shoulders, knees and neck were entirely black armour with red spots on it. And covering his face was a red-eye mask with five black spots.
He looked like a human ladybug.
"What in the world?!" Marin screamed, placing both hands on his face only to grimace as his ears hurt. "Huh? I thought these were clip-ons, nobody said anything about my ears being pierced!"
How will he explain that to his parents?! And this suit, left so little to the imagination that it was embarrassing for him to stand in it.
"Uh Tikki? Hello? Come on this isn't funny." Marin said spun around, looking for a button, a zipper, a switch, anything to get this stupid costume off!
If you can hear me right now, I'd like my normal close back!" He looked around, hearing nothing but silence. "Look, I'm not going anywhere..."He was interrupted when he heard footsteps. "Marin? Did you get home okay?" Sabine asked with Marin tensing, having no clue how to explain this situation. Or what he was wearing for that matter.
Looking around, he quickly climbed the stairs to get to the roof considering how his room led to the small patio on the roof of the bakery, barely getting out of there before his Mom made it. Closing the hatch behind him, Marin took a deep breath, trying to psych himself up. "Okay you can do this, you have powers, you were chosen…and I'm going to die aren't I."Feeling a weight on his hip, Marin glanced down to saw his Legendary weapon: a red freaking yo-yo.
"Seriously? Tikki never said my so-called weapon would be this."With a shrug, Marin flung it towards the nearby building, a bit surprised by how far it went before it got caught on something.
"On come on," Marin whispered, not expecting that, giving a tug to make sure that it was secure, thinking he had to swing across. What he wasn't expecting was for the yo-yo to act as a grappling hook and send him flying with a scream of terror, launching him past where the string was caught.
'Hay, I think getting the hang of this.' Adrienne though grinned as she used her staff as a balancing beam as she crossed between two buildings it was stretched between. 'Okey, now it's time to find my partner that Plagg spoke of, but where to begin? He could be anywhere in wor-'
Her thoughts were cut off when she heard a shrill sound that steadily grows louder and louder, Adrienne never got the chance to finish that thought as a red blur know as Marin collided with her, knocking her off her pole cause them both to hurtle towards the street. Luckily, for them, both her pole got snagged on Marin's yo-yo breaking their falls. Unfortunately, they both got tied up in her strings, causing both of them to swing back and forth as they dangled a foot off the ground. Adrienne let out groaned, ready to give this clumsy flier a piece of her mind before pausing when she got a good look at him before deciding this must be her partner.
Who else would dress up like this besides herself? And he's kinda cute too? Wait. Why did she think that?
"Note to self, never do that again," Marin muttered a bit dizzy after being thrown across the city. But hey, at least he landed on something soft. Like really soft? And warm? And squishy?
'Wait.' Marin's eyes suddenly came back to life and found himself stared at the girl who was taller than him with him only coming up to her chin, though his vision was being blocked by two mounds around him.
"Well hey there," she said, smirking a devilish smirk. "Nice of you to drop by." she snickered at her pun. Marin, however, did not turn a red that would match his suit as he had finally realised that he was not alone and that his head was being supported by her. Between her. Her...He took quite well.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH?!" He screamed pulling away from her causing it to come undone and leaving both to fall ." I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't do it on purpose."
"No, worries?"Adrienne laughed, easily freeing herself, landing on her feet. "I bet you're the partner my Kwami told me about?" She asks dusted herself off before smirking excitedly at Marin.
"I'm-," She stopped as she remembered how superheroes in those cartoons she watched had hidden identities and thought about it for a moment. "Chatte Noire… Yeah, Chatte Noire!"So cool! She thought turned to Marin who tugging on the yo-yo, trying to free it without getting sent into the air again."And you?"
"I'm-er-" Marin started before his yoyo broke free and both dropped on top of Marin's head, "...Madly clumsy. I'm so clumsy. Sorry about that..."
Seeing how he was acting was enough for the newly named Chatte Noire to let out a giggle as catch her now shortened her staff."Don't worry Clumsy Boy, I'm learning the ropes too."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them rumbles as a nearby tall building came crumbles to the ground, leaving both heroes to stared in fear, wondering how many people got killed there because that was terrifying to see. Only for Chatte Noire to running towards it, using her staff to extend and vault up to the rooftops.
"W-Wait, where are you going?!" He called out, shocked that this girl was willingly heading towards the danger instead of away from it.
"To save Paris, right? Come on partner!" Chatte asked with a grin, disappearing as she jumped to the next building, leaving Marin by himself.
'What is she doing!' Marin thought, 'Is she going to run in there without any plan? She going to get killed! And...' Looking down at the yo-yo in his hands, Marin gripped tightened as he beginning spinning the yo-yo.
"I'm going to regret this?" He said before letting it fly and this time he was ready for it to reel him in."I'm coming, partner!"
Meanwhile, at the Stadium, many of the students were cleaning up after their Gym Class while Kim grabbed his bag, ready to go before the whole place shook as a voice roared.
" KIM! " Turning towards the voice, Kim paled as he saw Stoneheart standing on top of the stadium, glaring hatefully at him.
"It's time to settle the score!" The stone giant said before jumping off from the top of the stadium to its field, the impact of such a landing causing the ground to shake and break apart as dust covered the area. When the dust cleared Kim paled as the imposing form of StoneHeart stood in front of him, the sight of which causes Kim to fall back in terror. "So, who's the wuss now?!"
"Ivan?" Kim asks the stone goliath, to which he responded with a loud roaring sound as he began to shake his fist at him, before breaking into a laugh.
"Not anymore! I'm StoneHeart now, "He roars in his face. "And I'm here to clobber you!"
StoneHeart raising his fists ready to bring them down on him. But just before he can, a metal pole stabbed the ground between them.
"Hey!" Chatte Noire yelled out, sliding down her staff like a fireman pole before jumping into the air and landing in between them, twirling holding the now her shortened staff in hand.
"It's not nice to pick on people smaller than you." Chatte Noire pointed out, she extended her baton, blocking Stoneheart from Kim, who saw this as an opportunity to escape.
"I guess you're talking about yourself."Stoneheart assumed, before lunging at the masked girl, who had quickly jumped out of his attack.
"Miss me." She taunted further, doing a roll to dodge swipe, followed by a backflip as Stoneheart tried to squash her."Miss me again."
Admittedly she was showing off a bit, but she is lying if she said that she wasn't loving every second of this. Never had she felt so free in her life! Have these powers. It really was like something out of those old superhero cartoons she saw growing up. It's amazing! But unannounced to her, the true villain behind this whole thing was watching her.
'Everything is going according to plan.'Hawk Moth thought grinned maliciously, watching the whole thing through Stoneheart's eyes. He just knew creating a Super Villain would draw the wielders of the Ladybug and Black Cat all this "superhero type" always show up whenever something goes wrong, now all that's left is for his Super Villain to destroy them and the power to change fate will be his at last.
"Stoneheart the has come," Hawk Moth said as a pink butterfly outline had appeared in front of Stoneheart face."Seize her Miraculous! And you will have your revenge!"
"It will be done, Boss," Stoneheart Said charged at her with a roar, only for her to do another backflip, dodge another one of his strikes.
"Hey, big guy! So, do you mind telling a gal who you're talking to? Because it certainly isn't me?"Chatte Noire asks dodging and weaving around the Akumatized villain attacks.
"None of your concern," he snarled, charging at her once more, only for her to dodges it by jumping into the air and land on his arm.
"Well if you're not going to tell me," Chatte Noire said she ran up Stoneheart arm."I guess that I have to, BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!" Before slamming her staff into his face causing him to fall over.
"And that's how you do it," Chatte Noire said smugly, doing another flip to land a few feet away. Unfortunately, for her, he didn't stay down for long.
"I'm not done with you yet." He said, his body now glowing as he began to grow twice as big and strong as before thanks to her hit.
"Well, there goes the idea of hitting him with my magic staff until he stops being probable."Chatte Noire grimaced, jumping back as another fist slammed into where she was, the shaking in the ground even more.
'I don't think I will be able to keep this up for much longer.' She thought narrowly missed the stone beast attacks."Where are you, partner?"
"Oh, man, oh man, oh, man," Marin whispered freaking as Marin hiding behind one of them is he doing? He never threw a punch before in his life. And now he's going up against that?! How is Chatte Noire not freaking out?! Who the heck thought he was a good choice for this power?!
"So you want to keep or do you need a halftime break?"Stoneheart said rips out a soccer goal and threw it at Chatte Noire, who dodged up it with ease only for it to fly towards a certain hero fanatic who was crouching down at the stadium entrance, recording the fight. Seeing that she was about to be hit, Chatte Noire threw her staff which extended to cover above Alya, protecting her from the goal, but the distraction allowed Stoneheart to grab her.
''I know this would happen. ' Marin thought, standing widening eyed in shock, Chatte Noire struggling as Stoneheart began to apply some pressure.
' I know I would be nothing but a hindrance.' Marin thought eyes tearing up as watch on in despair. 'Look at me, I really am as pathetic as Chloe said.'
"What are you waiting for?!" Marin's head snapped to the side where he saw Alya looking at him. "The world is watching you!"
Taking a step back, Marin turned from Alya to Stoneheart, who continuing to squeeze Chatte Noire who gave a cry showing that it was getting worse and before Marin knew it he was moving.
'W-What am I doing?!' Marin thought leaping into inaction, 'I came here to fight against the bad guys, not hide from them!' With that, he made his decision. Throwing the yo-yo, Marin slid underneath Stoneheart at incredible speed who gave him a confused glance, seeing Marin fly under him and glided in front of him, braking in a dramatic pose as he forces a smirk on his face to remain calm.
And with a single tug on his yo-yo, the stone Goliath falls to the floor, letting Chatte Noire free.
"Animal Cruelty? How low can you go?" Marin taunted, his voice carrying an air of confidence that he didn't have before."Sorry for the wait, Chatte Noire."
"Just as long as you showed." Chatte Noire said, rolling her shoulders with some slight discomfort."Now let's take this guy!"
Marin quickly grabbed the belt-like tail, earning a wince from Chatte Noire who came to a complete stop."Hey, what that for?"
"W-Wait, whatever hits him only makes him stronger, we can't brute force it," Marin explained as Stoneheart got to his feet, once again biggest than before.
"You have a plan?" Chatte Noire asked, quickly freeing her tail, watching as Marin bit his lip trying to think, but he shrugged. "Don't sweat it, how about we use our powers?"
"Cataclysm!" Chatte Noire said grinding as a surge of dark energy formed around her hand. "Apparently I can destroy whatever I touch."
"I don't even need a superpower for that," Marin muttered, Chatte Noire giving him a curious look before she tried it on the goal post much to Marin's shock.
"What are you doing?!
But it was too late. The net slowly started to rot, the whole thing turning black and breaking into pieces as it disintegrated into nothingness.
"Whoa cool!" she turned her attention to Stone Heart."Alright, it's just you and me, Soon-to-be ruble!"
"No, wait!" Ignoring Marin, Chatte Noire jumped into the air slamming her hand down on Stoneheart foot, only to find it did nothing. Blink awkwardly, Chatte raising her hand to try again. Again and again, very aware of how Stoneheart was giving her a deadpanned look.
"Oh… I guess my Cataclysm was only for one use."Marin looked away as Chatte Noire was kicked back his way, sliding past the ladybug-themed hero.
"Great, now you have five minutes before you change back!" Marin exclaimed much to Chatte Noire's shock. "Didn't your Kwami explain that?!"
Ears folding back, Chatte Noire rubbed the back of her neck. "I might have rushed into this in excitement." She admitted sheepishly, knowing that she should probably ask Plagg for more information after this.
'Well, I guess it's up to me then.' Marin thought letting out a sigh as he gripped his yo-yo and throwing it up into the air.
"Lucky Charm!"The yo-yo spun as it coursed with the same pink colour ladybug he covered in when he transformed. Once done, the ladybug disappeared revealing the object that would be their salvation...A red jumpsuit with black polka-dotted?
"Uh?" Chatte Noire wasn't sure what she was looking at. "No offence but why did you create this?" She asks not sure how it would help.
"Going, to be honest with you, I don't know either," Marin admitted, now frantic considering that they were both on a time limit. "But still, we need to get the object that the Akuma hiding in and break it."
"But he's made entirely out of stone." Chatte Noire pointed out, getting into a stance as Stoneheart began to stomp towards them. Looking at Stoneheart with a fearful expression, Marin noticed something.
"His right hand," Marin whispered before grinning at Chatte Noire. "He's been keeping his right hand closed this entire time! It's like a Yackyackenstan doll! The object isn't on him, it's hidden in his fist! If the Akuma is anywhere, it has to be there!"
"Wait really?" Chatte Noire looked and realized Marin was right, thinking back on it, she's never seen Stoneheart open that hand during their little scuffle.
Huh, that's some impressive observation there.
"So what's the plan?"Glancing at Marin who was looking around, Chatte Noire could actually see the gears turning in his head as he looked around from StoneHearts fist then at Alya, who was still filming as she was crouching nearby a water tap with the hose that was unrolled right below them oddly enough, his face brightening up.
"With this." He said kicked up the hose up and tying it to the suit, much to Chatte Noire's confusion. "Uh, you'll have to trust me."
"With what-?" Chatte Noire was cut off when Marin used his yo-yo to tie her legs up and before being able to let out another word, spun her around and literally toss her at Stoneheart with all of his newly found strength.
"THIS BOY IS CRAZY! " Chatte Noire shouted as she shot like a missal at Stoneheart. Stoneheart upon seeing the feline heroine come at him grabbed her, not noticing he has now occupied his only free hand.
"Catch me if you can!" Marin exclaimed ran at Stoneheart, suit and hose in hand. Smirking as StoneHeart catch him, dropping the item where the Akuma was in the process. "Great, now we're both captured."
"Or are we?" Marin grinned, confusing Chatte Noire. " ALYA, THE TAP! "
Giving a start at how the 'masked' hero knew her name, Alya listened and turned the tap water on as it went through the hose. Chatte Noire understood immediately when the suit began to inflated with water inside of Stoneheart's fist, forcing him to let Marin go as he ran towards the object that Stoneheart dropped. Seeing that, Stoneheart ran after Marin only for the boy to throw his yo-yo, slamming it into the object, breaking it as the Akuma flew off. Without the Akuma, Stoneheart disappeared turning back into Ivan who dropped Chatte Noire, who lands on her feet, surprised by what just happened, turning from the dazed Ivan to Marin who was watching the Akuma fly off before picking up the object that turned out to be a piece of crumpled up paper.
This guy just came up with that plan out of nowhere, with only an inflatable suit and whatever was around.
That was-... Whoa.
"That was awesome." Chat Noir said to herself, wide-eyed and impressed as her heart thumping in her chest. "He's crazy awesome!"
"Huh?" Ivan groaned as he looked around. "What's going on? What am I doing here?"
The last thing he remembered was being outside of the Principal's Office, so how did he end up at the now broken soccer field.
"That was incredible." Chatte Noire said with a smile, causing Marin to giggle and rub the back of his head as Chatte's tail swishing back and forth in excitement. "You did it."
"No, we did it." Marin shook his head with a smile, relieved that the plan actually worked. After all, he was just winging this as he was going along, not expecting any of that to work at all.
Chatte Noire smiled back at him before holding up a fist.
"Pound it?" She asked, seeing something like this on an old cartoon and after a second, Marin complied with a fist bump.
"Pound it."A beeping brought their attention back to the fact they were running out of time. "You should go, our identities should remain a secret."
With a smile, Chatte Noire gave a rather dramatic bow.
"Very well my bug boy, let's do this again soon okay?" She asked, taking off, using her staff to extend herself out of there. Making a face at the 'bug boy' nickname realises he never did give her a 'hero' name before he turned to see Ivan sitting down a bit dejected and grew curious. So he unrolled the note and read it out loud.
'You know if weren't such a wuss you might be able to tell Mylene you love her.'Seeing him read it, Ivan looked away. "Kim wrote it, he's always making fun of me." He said before Marin smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"There's no reason to get mad, so what if he thinks like that Ivan, there's no shame in liking someone."That made the formerly akumatized teen give Marin a weird look. "How do you know my name?"
"Well? Uh-?" Marin was surprised that no one guessed it given how the mask didn't really conceal that much. Maybe there was a magic reason for that? He'll ask Tikki when he can.
"Uncanny, amazing, utterly spectacular!" Alya said recording the interaction, reminding Marin that she was there. "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 have a ton of questions Mister-uh…"
Looking for an escape as his earring beeped, reminding him of the time limit."Got to go! Bye!"
"Wait! I haven't gotten your name!"
"Don't get one!"He yelled before taking off running leaving Alya seemed to be at a loss. Sure, she was going to upload the video as soon as she gets home. But that's not the issue. No, what the issue is his name!
She got the catgirl but what to call him? Ladybug was an obvious choice. And that would be fine if he was a girl but he wasn't. So what to call him? Ladbug? No that's dumb. Bugboy? Even dumb? Guysect?No that's not right. Overbug? No, that doesn't fit well. Bugman? Lame. Scarlet Bug? Corny. Insect Warrior? Cartoony.
"How about-"
Marin barely made home before he changed back, letting let out a yawn as he reached for his remote, turning on the tv so he could listen to it. His earrings beeped and he was detransformed, his Kwami landing on his stomach now looking exhausted. She flew down to his desk as they watched the news, a look of a relief showing that surprisingly no one died. After Stoneheart started his rampage, the police were able to evacuate a lot of the streets and buildings, including the one that was knocked over, there were some injuries but nothing too serious.
"Oh what a relief," Marin said with a smile as Tikki laughed"See Marin? Told you that you could do it."
"So thanks to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the identities of their heroes!"The News then showed the footage that Alya took with both him and Chatte Noire stopping Stoneheart, showing their names as the Scarlett Beetle and Chatte Noire.
"Scarlett Beetle, I like it," Marin said to himself, tested the name out as he was in a hurry when he said it.
"Marin, dinner time."
" Dinner?" Tikki questioned as Marin jumped off of his bed loft. He turned back with a tired smile, "I'll bring you back a snack." He remarked as he headed down the stairs directly into the kitchen as Tikki's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Oh uh coming," Marin said rushing down the stairs where her parents had the table set as the Mayor began speaking on the news.
" I am pleased to announce that we will be organizing a huge celebration in honour of our cities new protectors, Scarlett Beetle and Chatte Noire. " Mayor Bourgeois announced with Marin not expecting that at all. A celebration? For something, he did? No, they're celebrating Beetle, who was everything Marin was not in the video they were showing. Strong, confident and cool under pressure rather than how he usually was. He could only be imaging their disappointment if they knew who was under the mask.
"Well, I'll be, Superheroes in Paris," Tom said with a laugh, sounding relieved that everything turned out fine. "An exciting day for sure."
"It certainly seems so." Sabine agreed, glancing from Tom towards Marin. "Marin, when did you get Earrings?"
A bit panicked, Marin rubbed his head. "Uh, it's something I've been planning for a while." He lied, not wanting to say anything about what they really were. "I bought them last month, but never really put them on until recently."
Sabine raised a brow before smiling. "They suit you." She said, leaving for Marin to feel relief as he took a seat.
"So how was school?" His dad asks, he couldn't help but grumble at the prospect of trying to explain his day without mentioning flying around the city with the help of a magic bug.
Oh well, it wasn't like this day was going to get worse.
But unknown to Marin, the Akuma was still flying around, landing on top of the Eiffel Tower where it began to multiply at a rather alarming rate.
"Scarlett Beetle," Adrienne whispered, finally having a name for her partner as the news spoke of their victory against Stoneheart, Plagg flying around her room as she had four dishes of food prepared for the Kwami to help him get his strength back. "His name is Beetle."
She leaned forward, cupping her cheeks with a smile as the camera zoomed in on Beetle who was talking to this 'Ivan' kid. From what they could tell, Ivan had no memory of what was happening while being questioned by the police showing that there was a chance he was being controlled. It was all speculation at this point, but given the random nature of how he was given powers and they were taken away they were looking at it from all angles.
Plagg even confirmed that someone else was pulling the strings which meant they not only saved Paris but an innocent kid who was being controlled.
"Ew, what is trash?" Plagg asked flying forward with some of the food, breaking Adrienne out of her thoughts.
"Seriously? My personal chef made that!" She couldn't believe how picky Plagg was being.
"If you expect me to get my strength back after a transformation, I expect something a bit more delicate."Rolling her eyes, Adrienne glared at him. "Okay, what do you want?" She asked, muting the TV in the process.
Dang, it!" Marin cried out as he dropped another dish crashing onto the floor. "Sorry, Ma!" Immediately he scrambled to get the broom, sweeping up his mess as he heard the reporter.
"And just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of our two new superheroes, Beetle and Chatte Noire, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capitol as dozens of people are being transformed into stone monsters, simply unbelievable. "Eyes widening, Marin dropped the broom he was washing and raced back upstairs as his parents were glued to the television.
"You're kidding," Adrienne said with a disgusted look on her face, watching Plagg eat. "Camembert Cheese, the magic talking fairy cat only Camembert, which means I'll smell like stinky old cheese."
Looking from Plagg back towards the news, Adrienne looked shocked at seeing pictures of multiple Stonehearts and unmuted the TV. "These victims transformed into stone monsters are as still as statues, leaving the police perplexed in what will happen to them," The Newslady said, a look of worry on her face. "Will they come back to life or will they be frozen forever?"
"Plagg what's going on?!" Adrienne looked at her Kwami who gazed at the TV curiously. "I thought we defeated Stoneheart!"
"Did you capture the Akuma?"
"What does that have to do with the other stone beings?" Marin asked in response to Tikki's question, concern showing in his tone as his Kwami was eating some cookies.
"An Akuma can multiply, that's why it needs to be captured," Tikki explained, flying around Marin who was panicking. "If Ivan experiences negative again then the Akuma will turn him back into Stoneheart, and he'll be able to control an army of Stonehearts." Taking that in, Marin took a step back, sinking into his computer chair.
"This is my fault." He whispered, no longer feeling pride for successfully beating the first Stoneheart.
This wouldn't have happened if he just did his job and captured the Akuma instead of watching it fly away.
"No, it isn't, it was your first time, and you did great," Tikki tried to explain to him. "Next time you go out there you'll successfully capture the Akuma with no problems at all."
"Next time? There won't be the next time, I'm a screwup." Marin said looking from Tikki towards his unfinished projects that were thrown about in the room. "An utter failure, that's what I am and that all I'll ever be. And no even superpowers will change that."
His having powers was just made a situation like this much worse. Chatte Noire would be better off without a screw up like him, after all, she was the better hero between the two of them.
"But only you can capture the Akuma!" Tikki tried to explain, much to his horror.
"Wait, I can't capture it? It has to be Beetle?" Adrienne asked as Plagg nod in clarity.
"Only Beetle can capture the Akuma and repair the damages done, but he won't be able to do it without your help." Plagg took a bite of the Camembert, leaving for Adrienne to back up, pinching her nose shut. "So, what your saying is that the Miraculous are intertwined, Creation and Destruction. Yin and Yang. One can't do another can."
"Well, in that case, there won't be a problem then," Adrienne said, ready to go fix the mess with some determination show. "Because I know that Beetle and I were going to take on the world together!"
"Then if that's true, then you should find someone else to be Beetle, I can't do it," Marin said as he began to take the earrings off much to Tikki's horror.
"Wait, Marin sto-." Whatever Tikki tried to say was cut off as she disappeared the moment Marin took the earrings off.
"... Tikki?" Marin looked around, only to find that she had disappeared. She must've left. He thought before sighing sadly as place Jewelbox into's his bag. "I'm sorry, but you made a mistake."
He's no one, hero.