Chapter 89: Gel Girl & Swallowtail
This chapter resumes immediately after the prior chapter finished. Giselle Winters-Blanchet, who has transformed into Snow Leopard, finds her two best friends, Meera Pugliese and Raissa Deschamps after a confrontation involving a senti monster and both miraculous Orders. However, when Snow finally found them, both had been stressed enough to activate the remaining two birthstone items Nathalie Sancoeur hand-made.
Raissa's transformation is primarily green and red with a ruby-red throat and chest. Her outfit has flared sleeves that mimic wings and a hood that conceals all of her hair. Instead of a mask, she has goggles. She also has boots that resemble bird talons, gloves, and a wide sash instead of a belt. The back of her outfit ends in a V-shaped tail.
For Meera, she has a skin-tight aqua bodysuit that resembles a wetsuit. It shimmers different shades of blue and green depending on how the light hits it. Her hair has been pulled into numerous small braids and a coil of rope dangles from her thin belt like tendrils. A flowing silk shawl covers her shoulders, and her boots have heels and pointed toes, making her legs look narrower than they usually are. She also has webbed gloves and a domino mask with blue film over the eye holes, distorting the natural color of her own eyes.
Snow is only able to recognize them as her friends because they called out to her and then identified themselves as such. Both Meera and Raissa are geeking out pretty hard about finally having superpowers of their own. Snow is also excited for them and asks what happened.
Of course, during all this, Mayura realizes her gambit paid off—her final two items are active. She sends Adamantus after them. He's nearby from the prior confrontation but also tired from it.
Meera and Raissa both wind up talking over each other, explaining that they were scared about getting caught in Electric Fiend's explosion. But they still wanted to help Snow and were feeling all kinds of emotions when—poof—transformed. They didn't want any civilians to see them, so they retreated to the park, where they are now. Raissa adds they she felt as if the power came from favorite armlet, which she's been wearing for two weeks or so now. Meera remarks the same about her hair clasp.
Snow takes one look and instantly pales. "No, no. Oh no no no." She recognizes that there's gemstones in her friend's jewelry. Ruby and aquamarine. The only two birthstones unaccounted for in Adamantus's forces. She tries to calm herself as she asks where Raissa and Meera got those from. Neither knows; they just discovered them in their backpacks one day. Which causes Snow to see yet another red flag; she freezes up as she tries to deal with this.
However, Raissa and Meera are still pretty thrilled. They peg Raissa's transformation as being inspired by the ruby-throated hummingbird while Meera is obviously a jellyfish. They're already talking powers, aliases, weapons, and heroics as well as comparing everything to various comic book tropes. Raissa names herself Swallowtail due to the V-tail part of her outfit. Meera opts for her own name to be Gel Girl.
Snow then interrupts, having found her voice. She says that this isn't right and starts to try to explain that Raissa/Swallowtail and Meera/Gel Girl are in danger. Swallowtail, under the personality-warping influence of her own armlet, gets rather indignant. "So it's okay for you to have powers, but it's wrong for us?" Snow argues back that that's not what she meant—their items are made by Hawk Moth! Gel Girl, rather spacey, comments that "wasn't your item made by Hawk Moth too?" Snow attempts to explain that a prior butterfly user did make the snow leopard bracelet over 200 years ago—and even that was risky as the modern Hawk Moth could still and did still take her over. It wasn't safe to use her bracelet until Chill was born. But the items Swallowtail and Gel Girl possess now are created by the modern Hawk Moth—the one who has terrorized Paris for months now. He can control them very, very easily. And worse, he's gathering birthstone users under Adamantus's name in order to fight against Ladybug, the Eastern Order, and the B Team.
However, even with Snow explaining everything, Swallowtail and Gel Girl still get stubborn about their items—due in no small part to those items' influences. They take all of Snow's protests to mean that Snow is jealous of them getting powers, that Snow wanted to remain special and never wanted them to have powers, and that she's trying to hold them back. Snow insists that that's not the case; she's seriously worried that they're going to be pawns of Hawk Moth. Swallowtail and Gel Girl downplay the issue, insisting there's no way Hawk Moth can be behind their powers when clearly Adamantus is the birthstone users' leader. Snow tries to explain what she knows, especially about the events concerning Chip, but her friends are done listening. Swallowtail pulls out her weapon (a kite) and flies off while Gel Girl proves to have very effective leaping and starts from rooftop to rooftop, leaving Snow behind.
It's about this time that Adamantus gets close to the park they took refuge in. However, Mayura tells him that his targets are on the move. Adamantus sets off to stealthily pursue them, but his progress is slowed as he tries to avoid civilian eyes.
Of course, Snow Leopard isn't going to let her friends race off into peril. She follows. But Gel Girl proves to have better leaping that verges onto floating; even with her conjured ice, Snow struggles to keep up. Then, Gel Girl proves her flexibility by slipping through gaps in a fence that Snow never could. Swallowtail winds up basically flying with her kite-weapon, also putting her out of Snow's reach. Snow winds up mildly depressed and completely panicked when she realizes she lost both of them.
She pulls out her ribbon baton/cell phone and tries calling them to reason with them. However, neither answers her. She sends some rather frantic texts, but those also go ignored. Snow stares at her phone. She knows she needs to report this to the B Team. But she hesitates. These are her best friends. She can't just turn on them. No, she won't turn on them. They haven't done anything wrong. Not yet. It's not too late. If she can catch them at school, where they're likely not to be transformed at all, maybe they'll be more keen to listen to reason. They have to! Then, they'll side with her and the rest of the B Team. They can be allies! And then they'll take down Adamantus and Hawk Moth with her friends being a crucial support piece in it. Yes, that has to be how it'll work.
Speaking of Adamantus, he's also part of this chase—though no one else realizes it. Swallowtail and Gel Girl's evasive maneuvers also serve to keep him off of the trail. After all, Adamantus can't fly after Swallowtail, nor can he slip through a narrow fence after Gel Girl. He does have an advantage over Snow in that Mayura is guiding him, and she has a precise lead on the teens' locations. But that lead fades when Swallowtail and Gel Girl calm down enough to transform back into their civilian aliases. Now, Mayura does have enough of a read on them that she could send Adamantus anyway. However, Adamantus is exhausted, and he would have no excuse to approach them while they're civilians without coming off as suspicious. So Mayura is forced to have Adamantus fall back—but she knows if she just bides her time, her final two wielders will fall in line.
With that, evening falls. Marinette Dupain-Cheng flops onto her bed, exhausted and deeply troubled. She can't believe how badly she's screwed up her dating life by simply not being able to talk straight. Cat Noir—Adrien—gave up on her, and Luka thinks that they're serious, and she can't talk to either without tangling her words so badly she becomes incoherent! She knows she's making things worse by delaying, she knows it. She needs to take control. Tikki encourages her and suggests Marinette write down what she wants to say instead—she could even read a letter to Adrien or Luka if she had to. Marinette points out she's been doing that all along; she has a whole binder of undelivered letters for Adrien. Nonetheless, she sits down to right another, if only to help straighten out her own heart.
Morning rolls around, and the cast heads to school (because I have no idea when and where weekends happen in time and space). Guy Nigels arrives early and without Cameran Tyler. He caught a public bus because he wanted to talk with Madam Gros. She allows him and Chirron both into her office and asks how things went yesterday even though she largely knows the answer. Guy explains about the confrontation with Ladybug and Cat Noir and how they insist Pegasus is innocent despite the "obvious" evidence Guy witnessed himself. He also mentions the visions he had—the last one was especially troubling because it was unlike the others. He saw a barrier around Paris, trapping everyone inside and preventing external aid from helping. He could see Adamantus and the other birthstone wielders moving, and he's pretty sure that Lady Dragon swept past the Eiffel Tower. But more keen than the vision was the feeling he got from it: panic, disorder, conflict. Chaos. He's convinced that the outpouring of chaos magic that Madam Gros mentioned is going to happen. And soon. He couldn't see what the Eastern and Western Orders were doing, but that makes sense as it's a deliberate limit of the Sagittarius. Madam Gros thanks him for the information, and it's implied she's able to interpret far more of Guy's vision that she lets on. She even considers using Oblivion to cause him to forget any inklings of Pegasus's innocence, but decides against it. For the time being. She sends him back to class.
Nicolette Lacroix approaches Etienne Fontaine to talk and try to get closer to him. She talks about school and then lowers her voice to talk about their miraculous and places within the Western Order. Etienne looks up and looks her directly in the eyes. Nicolette's heart leaps. But then he says, rather emotionlessly, that she's in his way; she's blocking his view of the mirror. Nicolette steps aside, dejected. And she realizes this crush isn't healthy at all. After all, she has been able to see her pink thread of infatuation slowly fade to grey over the past weeks. But how can I end it? She wonders if she can use her own Cancer powers as June to Sever this relationship. And then she wonders if she'd have the emotional fortitude to go through such a thing because even though her head knows Etienne isn't the best guy, her heart is hooked on his looks and occasional (manipulative) acts of kindness.
Adrien Agreste arrives a short time later with Felix Graham de Vanily and Nicholas Sancoeur. They don't really hang out, and Adrien makes a point of finding Nino Lahiffe at the lockers. Nino can quickly tell that something is on Adrien's mind, so he asks his best friend to spill it. Adrien explains that he's letting Ladybug go and told her as much. Nino is really surprised as he knows how head-over-heels Adrien/Cat Noir is for Ladybug. Nino asks why Adrien would give up now, and Adrien says he realized he was being selfish by pushing his feelings on her—especially considering the fact that he turned a deaf ear to the fact that she has a guy she likes. He cares too much about her to continue pushing his desires on her because, more than anything, he wants her to be happy. He also adds he's glad that they can continue to be friends and partners. He'll have to learn to accept that that's enough. Nino replies with a "that's rough, buddy."
Tristan Fortier arrives early and heads to the school gym to do some weight training and punching practice. He's early enough that no one else is there, so he lets his kwami, Buff, roam around the weight room. Buff joins him at the punching bag, and Tristan teaches him how to throw a hook. While they train, Tristan further mulls over his encounter with Blue Ox and (whom he believes to be) Rhino. He is a decent guy deep down, and boxing practice helps him sort his thoughts despite Madam Gros's Oblivion. He does realize that Ladybug and Cat Noir have done a lot of Paris. Heck, they saved him from becoming Word Weaver and his girlfriend from becoming Shadow Boxer. He shouldn't hold their whole team responsible for Blue Ox attacking him. Maybe, if he/Oxforte talks things out with Ladybug, they can chastise Blue Ox and move on. Of course, he has no idea on how to approach and talk to Ladybug.
Giselle Winters-Blanchet arrives early as well. She's there to wait for her best friends in order to confront them on their transformations. Chill is with her in her backpack, reminding her to relax. Giselle knows she needs to remain calm. If she gets agitated or starts making accusations, she's only going to drive Meera and Raissa away. She's already shocked that they didn't agree with the crystal clear evidence that links the birthstones back to Hawk Moth, and she has no idea why they're remaining so stubborn on this issue.
Meera and Raissa show up together. When they both see Giselle, the smiles vanish from their faces and they blow right by her. Giselle follows, pleading with them to listen. However, Meera and Raissa don't. Having all night to stew and be influenced by their now-fully-active items, they're convinced Giselle doesn't want them to have powers because Giselle wants to put herself on a pedestal and keep her friends beneath her. They even accuse her of as much. Giselle argues that they don't even sound like themselves right now. Where is Raissa's optimism and high energy? Where are Meera's far-out-there dreams? Raissa argues that their dreams have just come true. Why can't Giselle just be happy for them?
Giselle argues that she's worried about them because she cares about them and doesn't want them hurt. Meera and Raissa don't believe it—or, rather, are prevented from believing it. Things escalate into a huge argument between them, including some birthstone-item-twisted leaps of logic. Giselle winds up very hurt emotionally while Meera and Raissa get pretty pissed off.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng is one of many who overhears the fight, and she wonders why these three specifically are arguing so intently. They were such great friends. In fact, what's going on with her whole school? There's been so much conflict lately! And while Marinette does know that Giselle is Snow Leopard, the argument between the three friends is veiled enough that she doesn't realize that they're arguing because Meera and Raissa now have powers. And since Marinette can't even put the facts together, no one else is able to too.
She listens until Alya Cesaire catches her attention. Alya asks how things are going for Marinette, clearly referring to the mess with Luka and Adrien. Marinette admits to writing another letter—this one to Luka. Alya points out that it's pretty cowardly to break up to someone with a Dear John. Marinette agrees. The letter isn't to deliver. She's hoping to read it to Luka; she hopes by having the words written in front of her, her mouth won't fail her. Alya wishes her the best, but she knows that Marinette previously tried the exact same thing with Adrien. It didn't work. She wonders if it'll work this time, but she doubts it.
Morning rolls on as more students arrive. Markov alerts Max Kante to the fact that he has an unread private message. Max logs into Discord under his Pegasus account and is surprised to see it's from Ladybug. She asks him if he ever had an encounter with Bronco. Max types that he's never met Bronco before, ever. He only learned of Bronco's existence on the news the previous night, long after Ladybug and Cat Noir had dealt with the issue. He asks Ladybug why. A few minutes later, Ladybug replies back, saying that Bronco has it in for Pegasus; he seems to think Pegasus is a thief. She doesn't know why, but if Pegasus knows anything, please tell her so she can straighten things out. And be careful (be careful, again); watch his back. Because Bronco might just go off on him. Max thanks her for the advice. He then goes through all of his memories, trying to figure out when he might have alienated someone as Pegasus. Nothing strikes him at all. He can't think of any time he might have accidentally even upset a civilian while transformed as it would have to be civilian Bronco due to the fact he never met the Sagittarius wielder in person. Markov asks him about the situation, and Max tells Markov not to mention this to anyone, not even Le Chien Kim, until he has more data. Markov complies.
Just before classes begin, Mireille Caquet and Aurore Beaureal arrive from their morning weather forecast. And they're also both arguing. Aurore mentions she can't believe how Mireille has been acting lately. Judging from context, Mireille was about to erupt on the show's special guest. Aurore pulled her off the air in time, but that resulted in Mireille taking her anger out on Aurore. Aurore is shocked that the kind Mireille could be so aggressive. Mireille retorts with sarcasm, saying that "We can't all be as perfect as you." Aurore argues that she isn't perfect; she never claimed to be. She is fully aware of her own flaws. Mireille continues venting at Aurore for putting her on a pedestal and expecting her to be a doll without any emotions. She has emotions. She gets angry; she gets sad. She's human after all. Aurore counters that that's not her point—it's the fact that Mireille doesn't seem to care if her words hurt people. Their argument catches attention of pretty much everyone in the courtyard, who all wind up staring at the two celebrities. This make things uncomfortable for them, and Mireille storms away from Aurore before the conversation receives any type of closure. Theo Barbot, who had been approaching Mireille during the argument, sets off to find her and calm her down.
The bell rings, and all of the students head to their classes. However, before the morning lectures can begin, Principal Damocles gets onto the loud speaker. He announces which class won the pizza party as a reward for the fund raiser they just hosted (which happened off page). The winning class is Miss Bustier's, done in no small part to the efforts of its class representative, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. All of Miss Bustier's class cheers while the other classrooms slump in disappointment. However, none take it harder than Marie Chauveau, who is the class representative for Mr. Haprele's class (through the fact that no one cared to run against her). She's definitely sour that Marinette's efforts beat her own. She is not going to let this slide.
It gets worse for Marie during the day as people brag up Marinette's accomplishment, congratulate her for earning her whole class a pizza party (even though her own mind is stressed out over her love triangle and Ladybug duties), or just in general compliment her for being a good person. Marie never gets compliments like that. In part, she brings it on herself for being a girl who hates other girls, for trying to force straight guys to act gay, and for chasing after Felix who just wants to be left alone. She's not even that good of a friend to Suzette Rault. All of this simmers under the surface for Marie. But instead of trying to improve and become a better person, she just blames Marinette for "intentionally" trying to show her up. It doesn't help that Lila Rossi is keen enough to pick up on this and fan the flames.
The storm brews within Francois Dupont High School all day. And Nathalie Sancoeur can feel all of the stress, anger, and heartache. She knows it'd be easy to transform into Mayura and sic a whole lot of senti monsters on the place to challenge Ladybug and Cat Noir and give her own underlings the time to practice. But she still needs Adamantus to make contact with Gel Girl and Swallowtail. So instead, she just lets the negative emotions swirl about, infecting the student body. And as the students get jealous or frustrated with each other, Meera and Raissa get more and more stressed out. Nathalie puts Nicholas on stand-by, directing him to always be within range of the two girls because the dam is about to break.
She's right. Things come to a head after school. Giselle again tries to talk to her friends. However, Raissa and Meera see her coming and evade her, leading to Giselle following them through the school. And she's not the only one. Nicholas Sancouer is also following on the sly as he's under orders from Nathalie. Nicholas is able to better keep track of the two friends as they don't realize he's watching them. They lose Giselle but not him. In her search, Giselle comes across Nicholas and asks if he's seen Raissa and Meera. He lies and sends her in the opposite direction. With her out of the way, Nicholas finds a corner out of sight and watches things unfold between Meera and Raissa.
Thinking they're alone on the roof, Meera and Raissa attempt to figure out their new items and new powers. Of course, this leads to Nicholas watching a rather hilarious display of them trying to intentionally active their powers as well as striking various hero poses, complete with narmy catchphrases. When that inevitably doesn't work, the girls begin to recreate what happened the prior day during Electric Fiend's attack. This ultimately causes them to focus and begin to channel their emotions, which has always been the catalyst for these kinds of items. Raissa is able to successfully turn back into Swallowtail, and Meera again transforms into Gel Girl.
Nicholas transforms himself into Adamantus, and he nearly reveals himself at that moment. However, he realizes he needs to hold off a little longer. If he came forward now, it would be suspicious. So he continues to watch. Of course, Swallowtail and Gel Girl are thrilled that they activated their power willingly. And the first thing they do is see how fast they can run and how far they can jump, so they start leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Adamantus realizes this is his chance, so he continues to tail them. He sprints ahead and then comes around in front of them. In doing so, he surprised Gel Girl badly enough that he takes a blast of salt water to the face, courtesy of her wand (which is her key weapon).
He shakes the water out of his hair and his eyes. And in that moment, Meera/Gel Girl sees bishounen sparkles. Her first ever crush starts immediately. Adamantus, being rather emotionless, doesn't even notice her going doe-eyed. He introduces himself, says he assumes they already know them, and offers to help them understand their new abilities. After all, they're the same. They all are gifted with innate powers, unlike miraculous wielders. And it's those innate abilities that lured magical items to them to help them channel their powers. Raissa/Swallowtail remains cautious enough and asks directly if Adamantus works for Hawk Moth. He denies it. He does have a sponsor, but that sponsor has legit reasons for wishing to remain anonymous. Namely, their sponsor had dealt with having his or her own innate powers in the past and now wants to mentor the next generation, but also he or she has enemies and thus wants to remain hidden for the time being. Adamantus insists he does not work for "him" (as in male Hawk Moth, which is technically true but still basically a lie). Due to being under the influence of the butterfly brooch, both Swallowtail and Gel Girl side with Adamantus fairly quickly.
Swallowtail then mentions that she wants to see what she can do. All the other heroes (and villains) in Paris have special abilities. So what's hers? She looks around. Where's an akuma victim when you need one? Paris is under akuma and amok attacks almost daily! So where is one for her to beat up now?
Mayura actually hears this through Nicholas's ears and chuckles. She does consider sending out a senti monster to give her newest allies some practice, but she knows that that will lure both the Eastern and Western Orders as well as being so much of a contrived coincidence that it might cause Swallowtail and Gel Girl to see some red flags. Nonetheless, it is a point that they need practice, so she guides Adamantus with her plan. Adamantus, of course, makes this seem like it's all his idea to the two girls.
He tells them that they're going to flush out the Western Order. This surprises the new empowered individuals. Adamantus explains that he (really Nathalie) was able to calculate where in Paris the Western Order was most likely to be. She did this through figuring out where all the areas affected by wards are compounded by various appearances of the Western Order and the direction its leaders often head to or from in addition to information provided from her remaining spyders. After all, Nathalie/Mayura/Peacock Moth is a scalpel, a strategist, unlike male Hawk Moth. (It tells you how good she is as the B Team have been trying to narrow down her location for months.) And Nathalie knows that she's not likely to win if she has to face both Orders at the same time. So her plan is to defeat one first. She's having a harder time pegging Ladybug and Cat Noir's locations, but the wards really are a great road sign for her. She's even tested those multiple times with Adamantus, her senti monsters, and her birthstone wielders. So she tells Adamantus to tell the girls that they're going to strike the Western Order. If they win, all the better for her. But even if they don't, her attack today will offer an incredibly accurate read on the Order's location. Of course, there is a risk of losing, but Nathalie has already transformed into Mayura and knows that with her as back-up, it's unlike that they'll lose.
Of course, Gel Girl protests about taking on twelve zodiac miraculous with just three of them. Adamantus replies that they won't be alone as they're going to meet other allies. Swallowtail wonders if it's even a good idea to throw the two newbies headlong into confronting their most dangerous enemy. Adamantus explains that they're not planning on taking on the entire Western Order of fifteen people. Their goal is to confirm the location of their HQ and maybe lure just a few out. He's able to convince them to go along with the plan—in part because the Western Order make a better target than trying to convince Raissa and Meera, who are decent people, to oppose the most respected heroes of Paris.
Adamantus tells them to follow him, and they do. He's careful this time to avoid the public eye. He really doesn't need Akuma Alerts going off, dragging in Ladybug and the B Team on top of his confrontation with the Western Order. He also further sets the stage by disabling the cell tower for the area. If the Western Order can't call for back-up, they can isolate its members.
Some spyders have already scouted out the area just to make sure it's safe. The trio are the first to arrive as they're already transformed, but both Ruddiger and All-Star Rex enter the scene soon enough afterward. It doesn't take long for them to make an appearance due to the fact they're both under full mind control. The final member arrives several minutes later: Golden Scarabug. It helped that Wayhem was out, photographing the newest Adrien Agreste billboards.
The whole group is rather welcoming of Swallowtail and Gel Girl as introductions go around. Rex and Ruddiger veer on the quiet side, but no one has yet to pick up that this is abnormal. Of course, Swallowtail and Gel Girl realize that this welcome is very different from how Giselle/Snow Leopard reacted—though she was reacting strictly out of concern. However, due to their items' influences, they can't help but see Snow in the worst way.
Adamantus then organizes them. They only have a bit of time until the damage cell phone tower is noticed. The goal is to tempt the Western Order into coming after them and finding out where the Order resides. And while their "sponsor" isn't 100% that the base in question is in this area, probability makes it highly likely. Gel Girl then asks how they're supposed to "threaten" this base. Adamantus pointedly looks at her. Gel Girl doesn't understand.
The diamond unicorn explains that the power of the aquamarine jellyfish is perfect for this. Gel Girl admits to not even knowing her own powers beyond being the most flexible character in the entire cast. Adamantus explains that the astral plane is her domain. She can astral project, interpret people's dreams, enter their dreams, see aura—and if someone's conscious mind is somehow forced out of their body, she can actually possess them. Scarabug lets out a low whistle. Adamantus points out that there is a downside because, if Gel Girl astral projects, her physical body is vulnerable. Swallowtail immediately volunteers to look after it. Gel Girl also downplays the own dangers to herself as she wants to impress Adamantus, her new crush.
Gel Girl agrees to go along with it. She sweeps her wand upward and declares "Astral Release!" Her eyes then roll into the back of her head, where Swallowtail and Golden Scarabug catch her as she falls. From Gel Girl's perspective, she's like a ghost, floating over her comrades. And being a total space case, she enjoys being a basic poltergeist for several minutes. She explores her abilities to soar and dive through walls; she also realizes everyone is "colored funny" as she's seeing auras. Ruddiger and Rex have some really muddled colors, and Gel Girl gets a feeling that those are "off"—but she has yet to suspect them being under total mind control.
Once she gets bored playing with her powers, she sets off to see what she can learn about the nearby Western Order. However, she does learn that the farther she travels from her body, the less clear and more surreal the physical world becomes. Before too long, it's difficult to tell where she is or what she's looking at. She realizes that if she travels too far away, she may never be able to figure out how to get back to her own body, and that thought actually scares her—fear being an emotion she seldom shows.
Gel Girl is about to head back when a dark void amid the surreal landscape catches her eyes. Gel Girl flies closer to it, realizing the void is happening because something or someone is repelling ethereal energy. She gets closer and nearly gets burned by the wards set up around the area. Confused and curious, Gel Girl floats around it, peering through the darkness.
In reality, what her ghost form winds up doing is peeking into a window of an apartment. Though on the side of the astral plane, it doesn't even look like a window or an apartment any more. Inside, she sees a very weak aura. And while the aura is weak, it is saturated in magic—and the person is actually able to sense her. Gel Girl hears an old man asking her who she is and what she's there for. He notes she's magic—but not a magic he knows. She answers rather honestly; she's looking for the Western Order. The old man laughs dryly. She found them. However, he tells her to leave. It's not safe for her alone. The Western Order pack a whole array of spells and magics beyond their miraculous. If she get caught as she is, she could wind up with her astral form tethered in one place while her abandoned body slowly dies without her. Gel Girl gasps in surprise as she hadn't realized she was that vulnerable.
That's when she hears another voice. This one is muddled, as the speaker is in reality. She was able to hear the old man clearly as he was deep in meditation, and thus they were talking through the astral plane. Gel Girl hears someone remarking something about how the old man has finally moved and how this is their chance. The old man tells Gel Girl to flee. She starts to protest as the new voice sounds hostile, but he practically shouts at her to go. She does.
Gel Girl snaps back into her body, surprising the other birthstone wielders. Swallowtail asks if she's all right, and Gel Girl confirms she is, though a bit disoriented from the whole ordeal. Adamantus asks if she found the Western Order. Gel Girl confirms she did and then vaguely points in the direction she thought her spirit came from. Adamantus isn't too pleased with this answer and asks for more concrete directions. So Gel Girl, in typical Meera fashion, explains exactly what she saw in all its surreal glory. It takes a moment, but Adamantus soon realizes that Gel Girl is serious about her exotic directions—the navigating the astral plane doesn't correlate well to navigating the physical plane.
During this, it's Zenon Theroux who barges into the bedroom where Master Fu is being held captive. He notices that Fu has turned his head towards the window—something he has never done since he was brought here and locked himself in a meditative trance. Fu is pretty weak too. Not only has Ivory hit him with several Oblivions that have had varying levels of effectiveness due to his trance, but he has also barely eaten anything since being captured. Now, it isn't full-on starvation, he has eaten some things. But it's been so little that the two youngest members of the Western Order elite are really worried.
So when Zenon notices that Master Fu has moved, he immediately calls for his sister, Brynne Theroux. However, she lags behind a bit, noticing that the enchanted chimes in the corners of the room are alerting them to an invasive presence. She quickly deduces that they've been spied on. Zenon has always been on the reckless side, and he immediately bolts for the window to see if he can see any enemies. He doesn't, no surprise, and Gel Girl's spirit has long since left.
However, both he and Brynne believe in the protective enchantments around their home. They secure Master Fu in his prison and then race for the roof where they transform into Draco and Rhino, respectively. They agree to fan out and search for intruders. Draco climbs up the walls of the taller building next door and scours the area while Rhino takes to the alleyways.
While this is going on, Adamantus is a bit frustrated that Gel Girl's ability wasn't able to yield more concrete results. That's when Scarabug nudges him and points downward. From their vantage point, they can see Rhino searching behind dumpsters and in alcoves. The birthstone wielders smile. Looks like Gel Girl worked out after all—and even moreso, Nathalie now knows for certain that the Western Order operates out of this neighborhood/district/city block. For Adamantus, he's thrilled as Rhino is all alone—and he has five allies with him and no one on Team Ladybug is in sight. Adamantus gives them the order to quietly surround Rhino and trap her within the alley. The birthstone wielders move. Swallowtail sticks to the fire escapes above while Adamantus, Gel Girl, and Ruddiger take the north entrance and All-Star Rex and Golden Scarabug take the south entrance.
Rhino sees Adamantus first and smirks pretty broadly as she's certain she can take him down. However, that smirk vanishes when, one by one, she sees the other birthstone wielders. That's when it dawns on her that she walked into a huge trap. However, she's not the type to back down from a fight. She instantly whips out her shovel. Scarabug attempts to snag it with his flail, but she has enough raw strength that she yanks the flail out of his hands. She then spikes her shovel into the ground, causing numerous earth pillars to leap out of the ground to impale her enemies. Now, she doesn't want to kill them, but she does need to break up their formation so she can move. And it works. Adamantus, Gel Girl, and Ruddiger scatter. Rhino charges forward, leaving Scarabug and All-Star Rex to her back. However, she knows this'll only buy her a couple of moments.
But that's really all she needs as her earth pillars serve a second purpose—alerting Draco to the conflict. And from his perch up in the eaves, Draco sees the pillars clear the office complex's roof. He immediately hops in that direction to help his sister.
Of course, he's not the only one to notice this. Various civilians also notice the earth trembling and rising rocky spikes. It's obviously not natural, so they begin calling the news, the police, and the akuma alert. However, they quickly find that their cell phones have no service, preventing them for reaching for help as quickly as they usually can.
During this, Draco and Rhino continue to tank the birthstone members. Rhino is especially tanky, and Draco's ability makes him very versatile. The ability of the salamander is Devour. He gains the properties of anything he eats. So by chewing on a lamppost, he turns himself metal. Which does get some remarks from All-Star Rex about how strong Draco's teeth and stomach have to be—but again, devouring inedibles is par the course for the salamander. And it also makes it really hard for Adamantus or Rex to strike him.
All-Star Rex leaps backward and uses his ability: Play Ball. He can summon baseball-sized orbs of any element and hit them towards whatever he wishes to target with his baseball bat. He creates fire baseballs, thinking it'll make Draco's metal so hot he might melt. However, that doesn't work as the salamander is naturally a fire element.
Rhino charges through Ruddiger and Gel Girl. Gel Girl is able to contort herself to evade, but Ruddiger looks as if he's going to get clobbered. He only saves himself a game-ending injury by Stealing Rhino's shovel for a pop can. Ruddiger then shocks Rhino by turning her earth-based ability on her. He slams her shovel into the ground and creates rocky pillars under the rhinoceros's feet. As she's not the most agile character, she's ultimately thrown aside as the stalagmite shaves her side.
However, things aren't completely hopeless for the Western duo. Miraculous are stronger than akuma-powered items, and in terms of raw stats, Draco and Rhino's are higher. Even though Adamantus's crew can use their abilities repeatedly, it's not quite enough to overcome the extra augmented defense, attack, and speed of a true wielder. And that's before Draco and Rhino's training is factored in. Both were raised within the Western Order, learning all they could about magic and miraculous as well as receiving martial arts and spellcasting training. They've worked together their whole lives, practicing sparring as a brother and sister. And even though they didn't get their miraculous until after Madam Gros let Hypnos consume the rest of the Order, they still know each other's fighting techniques incredibly well, having practiced together for far longer than anyone else in the cast. And it shows as Draco and Rhino begin coordinating; they're able to hold off six opponents with just the two of them.
By now, civilians have realizes that there's a magic-powered incident going on and that they can't use their cell phones. Some of the old school people are able to dial on their landlines since those aren't affected by the cell towers. Now, being a landline, they can't update the Akuma Alert app, but they can still call the police—which, of course, they do. This gets Roger Raincomprix and his coworkers coming.
Furthermore, Sabrina Raincomprix is Roger's daughter (duh). They have a police scanner in their apartment. So Sabrina hears the calls come in as dispatch reports numerous empowered individuals fighting. She checks her own cell phone (which is in an area unaffected by the damaged cell tower) and sees no Akuma Alerts. However, with numerous calls going to the police, she doubts that this is a prank. She quickly logs into the Team A Discord under her Hachiko alias and reports what she heard over the police blotter—that there's an incident going on in a specific neighborhood involving a dozen (the reports are exaggerated) miraculous users. Adamantus is spotted among them. She then uses the BUZZ feature to alert the entire Eastern Order to the emergency.
This gets the majority of Ladybug's allies online, including Marinette and Adrien themselves. As the defacto leaders with Master Fu being prisoner, they know they can't afford to ignore a BUZZ emergency. The downside of this is since Hachiko has no connection to the B Team, no one under Alpha immediately knows what's going on. The key word being "immediately" as Dauphin, Firefly and Alpha himself are also on Team Ladybug. With no Akuma Alert to signal Honey Bee, Dauphine, Snow Leopard, Tsukuyomi, or Froppy, they're not online. (Snow Leopard is actually Giselle, who is still running all over the place trying to find Raissa and Meera.) This puts those three in a rough spot. Dauphin, Firefly, and Alpha come to the same conclusion by themselves. If they inform the rest of the B Team about the incident and alert them with a BUZZ, they'll have to explain where they got that information from. And that risks revealing the fact that they are also King Monkey, Nom de Plume, and Viperion respectively. Alpha/Luka bites his lip. He of all doesn't like keeping his pack in the dark. He quickly checks all news sources, blogs, and websites to see if the information has gone public yet. Once it has, he can call in his own allies. But so far, no luck.
On the Team A server, Ladybug thanks Hachiko for informing them. Ladybug and Cat Noir admit to being on their way, and Ladybug asks Hachiko to join them. Sabrina/Hachiko is thrilled and heads out. She transforms as she leaves her apartment, leaping over the roof of her father's cop car as she heads to the scene of the incident. Her father doesn't even realize she passed by.
Meanwhile, it's an intense stalemate between the six birthstone wielders and the two Western members. It's a stalemate with a lot of collateral damage as Rhino has never been discreet and Draco has to eat things to empower himself. Golden Scarabug tries to route Rhino by using his Midas touch, Bejeweled, to turn the nearby debris into solid gold and trap her. However, Draco merely eats the gold, which turns him golden and greatly increases his weight and thus the force behind his attacks. It also makes him move slower, giving Swallowtail and Gel Girl an opportunity to strike him. Gel Girl's astral projection abilities are largely useless in the current situation. Logically, down the road sometime, she'd become strong enough to eject someone else's astral form. But she simply isn't there yet.
However, it does give Swallowtail the perfect chance to showcase her special ability. And her special ability is the classic super speed. Which is similar to other characters we've seen in the past. Accelerator was blatantly fast and could impact other people's movement speeds. Style Queen and Mad Hare were also both ridiculously fast with their abilities. And it's because the fact that those three were more successful that Nathalie decided to give one of her handcrafted wielders super speed. There's also characters among the miraculous who have fast abilities. Kamaitachi has a blindly fast attack called Speed Strike, and Ramson can accelerate himself ridiculous fast with his fiery battering ram ability called Charge. Swallowtail falls in the same vein as them with one notable distinction. She's a fast runner, but she's also a hummingbird—that makes her an incredibly fast flyer.
Swallowtail takes to the skies with her kite. She then dives and darts, strikes and withdraws like a falcon more than a hummingbird. She strikes at Rhino again and again and again. And while Swallowtail doesn't have the highest attack stat, numerous small attacks are still very effective. At the very least, she's able to serve as a huge distraction to Rhino, which allows Adamantus to get in close as rake his screwdrivers across Rhino's face.
Rhino recoils, but she's not out. She sneers at Adamantus, remarking that Adamantus has never used his special ability. Maybe he's defective; he doesn't have one. Adamantus freezes where he is. Rhino, without knowing it, struck his second biggest weakness—second only to his own self-identity and purpose. This gives Rhino an opening, and she lunges at him for her most devastating martial arts attack (as she still lacks her shovel).
Gel Girl dives in and tackles Adamantus out of the way, hurting her own leg in the process. When Adamantus asks why she did that when they only just met, Gel Girl replies honestly that she likes him, and she makes it clear she means romantically. This leaves Adamantus speechless as well; he doesn't know how to process affection turned towards him. He is coming to terms with the fact that Gilles is his friend. But the fact that Raissa likes his civilian alias and Gel Girl seems to have feelings for his transformed alias is something he can't really process.
Hachiko lands a moment later, ordering them to stop before they hurt innocent people. She actually speaks as befitting a police officer's daughter with authority and focus. It's enough to surprise Draco and Golden Scarabug from their deadlock. Draco scoffs at her, wondering what she hopes to accomplish all by herself. Adamantus is surprised by her arrival enough to shake out of his stupor. He realizes that they delayed too longer; the Eastern Order has arrived.
And sure enough, just as Draco mocks Hachiko, he's clobbered across the head from behind by Cat Noir's baton. He makes a witty quip while Draco loses focus on his gold armor and reverts to his standard fire form. Gel Girl and Swallowtail are a bit alarmed by his arrival; they're new, and they really don't like the idea of taking on one of two of Paris's greatest heroes.
Actually, make that both of Paris's greatest heroes as Ladybug lands beside Cat Noir a moment later. They quickly assess the situation and realize that they're seeing new birthstone wielders in the aquamarine jellyfish and ruby hummingbird. And while neither is exactly certain as to why the birthstone and Western Order are fighting here and now, they do realize that they could sweep in and clean up both factions. Hachiko is eager to help.
Draco and Rhino regroup, back to back, to protect each other. Adamantus orders Ruddiger to disable Ladybug as she's the greatest threat. He promptly Steals Ladybug's yo-yo, which earns a "not again!" from her. Scarabug provides golden cover for his allies while All-Star Rex beats a barrage of ice baseballs at them.
Things really get chaotic as all three sides take on each other. Hachiko immediately uses her Mark ability to distinguish friend from foe. This allows her to act in a crucial support role as she can guide or deflect other people's attacks and special abilities to and from their targets. The first thing she prioritizes is directing Ruddiger's Steal away from her allies. This gives Ladybug the chance to reclaim her yo-yo and use her Lucky Charm. This turns the tides in favor of Team Ladybug, especially with both Rhino and Draco on their count downs. They might be college students, but they have yet to perfect their miraculous to the point that Hawk Moth, Mayura, Ivory, or Tarantula have.
Cat Noir is forced to Cataclysm the massive amount of gold Scarabug has made, but that leaves him open to Swallowtail striking from above. He shouts at her to cut it out, and she rather sarcastically replies with "what, are you going to try to take away my powers too?" Gel Girl moves to defend Adamantus despite her injury. Adamantus has to handle both Draco and Ladybug. Ruddiger, unable to Steal from the heroes, winds up really messing with Draco and Rhino instead. All-Star Rex launches a volley of lightning baseballs, and the nearby building begins to crumble.
That's the time Giselle Winters-Blanchet makes it onto the scene, having pursued Raissa and Meera all this way. She sees the building slide and quickly transforms into Snow Leopard. She sweeps her ice upward, catching it before anyone gets hurt. From where she is, she can see Swallowtail and Gel Girl, her best friends, caught up in the fight. As loud as she can, she just screams/pleads with everyone to "STOP!" And she's so loud and so abrupt and catches everyone off guard enough that they actually do pause in mid brawl for a second. She makes eye contact with Gel Girl and Swallowtail in that moment, cause the two to further hesitate.
Then Adamantus sees his opening, striking a weak spot in her ice with his two screwdrivers. As the building collapses in between the groups, the diamond unicorn orders his allies to fall back. Scarabug protests; they have Cat Noir on the ropes! Adamantus insists; they have the information they want, courtesy of Gel Girl. As the rubble hits the ground, the birthstone wielders vanish.
Snow, however, isn't going to let that slide. She immediately sets off to pursue her friends. Ladybug calls after her, wondering what's going on. She knows Snow's civilian form well enough to at least see that Snow is very, very upset. Snow shouts back that she can't talk now as she skates away, in pursuit, as fast as she can. She barely squeezes through the gaps to pursue her friends as the building falls. Cat Noir suggests following Adamantus; it's likely that Hachiko might be able to since she Marked everyone. However, they still have Draco and Rhino on their hands.
Ladybug demands to know what Draco and Rhino are doing—what they're up to. Rhino sneers that it's none of their business, and Draco tells them that they should be worried about the bigger menace—Hawk Moth, who is behind the birthstone team. Cat Noir admits he does want to pursue Adamantus all the way back to Hawk Moth (as he believes that Hawk Moth may be responsible for his parents' coma way back at the end of Phase Two), he knows he can't leave "milady" and Hachiko alone with Draco and Rhino. Even weakened, Ivory's allies are dangerous. Hachiko also briefly worries about Snow Leopard, wondering if she'll find herself in a six against one situation. However, Rhino and Draco don't give them time to mull things over. They push forward, refusing to give up.
This forces Ladybug to find a use for her Lucky Charm and random bits of debris left around the alleyway. She trips up Rhino in mid lunge, which sets off a chain reaction, causing the wall Draco is clinging to to topple with him still on it, winding up with him pinned beneath the bricks. Hachiko and Cat Noir cheer as Ladybug moves in to divest the two of their miraculous.
Only to find herself unable to move forward as she walked right into a transparent web. Tarantula reveals himself, having come as soon as he learned something went wrong. He actually apologizes in an affably evil way, saying that his allies did not intend to move or cause trouble for the heroes today. But be warned, a definitive strike from the Western Order is coming. He then hauls his injured niece and nephew up, one over each shoulder. Ladybug urges Cat Noir to follow them, but Cat Noir refuses to leave her, tangled up, to become a possible victim of Trace like Master Fu. Hachiko argues that she can help Ladybug. But their debate only calls Tarantula's attention to all three of them, causing him to spin more web, coating them all. Cat Noir snarks at himself for not seeing that coming as he can only watch as Tarantula escapes.
It does take time, but eventually the heroes are able to work free. However, it takes long enough that Hachiko actually times out, transforming back into Sabrina Raincomprix. But she doesn't fret too much over this as Ladybug and Cat Noir both know her secret identity. Once her arms are free, Ladybug retrieves her Lucky Charm. Before throwing it, she asks Cat Noir to check the news in case there's further conflict with Snow Leopard, the birthstone wielders, or anyone else. Cat Noir checks his baton, but there's no updates on Adamantus's crew. Ladybug hopes for the best on behalf of Snow and then does her world-healing wave. All three "Pound It," and Ladybug gives Sabrina a special thanks for tuning them in to the issue, and Sabrina is clearly flattered. Cat Noir offers to take her home as he has the most time left on his countdown, and Sabrina agrees.
Just before they depart, Ladybug attempts to call out to Cat Noir. She needs to tell him the truth; she has so many secrets she's tired of keeping from him. But her words stick in her throat, and she's unable to say them. She simply watches as Cat Noir and Sabrina leave.
Meanwhile, Snow Leopard is still in pursuit of the birthstone users. Adamantus has no idea she's there. None of them do—except for Swallowtail, who can see Snow from her vantage point in the sky. Adamantus gives the order for his allies to disperse to their homes. He'll call upon them again when they're needed. And that time is going to be soon because if they don't act, the Western Order surely will. Gel Girl moves close to Adamantus as she has several questions and just wants to spend time with him. However, Swallowtail clears her throat and nods her head, gesturing to Snow. Gel Girl gets the hint, and the two depart.
They confront Snow Leopard down a narrow side street. At first Snow is incredibly relieved to see them and to see them unhurt. However, Swallowtail and Gel Girl aren't smiling. Snow again pleads with them not to join Adamantus, explaining the dangers of working for Hawk Moth. She remembers during Crimson when he (really she) threw her consciousness and conscience aside, forcing her to become Scarlet Snow Leopard and attack her allies. She doesn't want to see that for her best friends.
But Gel Girl and Swallowtail aren't listening. They give her an ultimatum. And they're only giving her that warning because they're friends, because she trusted them enough to be her secret keepers, and because (in their item-warped logic) they're certain Snow/Giselle will make the "right" choice. Join them. Join Adamantus and the birthstone users. They could use her talents against both Orders. Turn against Ladybug and Cat Noir, the false heroes of Paris.
Snow is stunned and deeply, deeply hurt. She absolutely knows she cannot turn on the B Team. They're her friends every bit as much as Raissa and Meera. And Ladybug and Cat Noir aren't villains! Don't Gel Girl and Swallowtail even hear themselves? The words coming out of their mouths aren't how Raissa and Meera really think, how they really feel. Those words are the exact kind of propaganda Hawk Moth would spill!
Yet Gel Girl and Swallowtail still refuse to listen. The ultimatum continues. If Snow Leopard won't join them, then stop being Snow Leopard. Go back to being just a girl; go back to being just Giselle. If she won't be an ally, then the least she can do is not become an enemy. If she really is their best friend, she'll at least do that much.
Snow's voice cracks; she can't do that either. Why can't they join her. The B Team will help; they've all dealt with butterfly empowered items. They'll find a way to protect them! She knows they will.
Gel Girl and Swallowtail continue as if Snow didn't protest. If she won't join them and won't retire, then Gel Girl and Swallowtail will reveal her identity to Adamantus. This strikes Snow so deeply she can't even speak. These are her best friends, her secret keepers, how on Earth could they make such a demand? Gel Girl and Swallowtail finish up by saying that they'll give her a couple of days to come to the "right" decision. They're friends, after all. They'll do that much for her.
And with Snow frozen in place by her own aching emotions, Gel Girl and Swallowtail coldly depart.
To be continued in Intermission: A Day in the Life of the Kwamis…
