To Lyger 0: Well, they most definitely were not prepared for the Rubberband Man!

To Geft: They do need to be rather careful. Although if they can get him cold enough…

Zoe was positively vibrating in her chair as she shoveled her food into her mouth, swallowing quickly and taking another bite, the faster to finish her dinner. Mme Césaire's coq au vin was the most delicious she had ever tried – her mother hadn't used much wine in her cooking, though, so this was only the second time she'd ever eaten the dish. Nevertheless, Zoe barely tasted it as she rushed through her dinner. A piece of chicken fell off her table onto the floor; it barely landed before Bee-atrice pounced on it, tearing it apart.

"If you don't slow down, you'll give yourself a stomachache," Chloe pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her. Slowly, she sipped on her tea, her own chicken still sitting on her plate, barely touched.

"Yes, Mom." Zoe rolled her eyes, though she forced herself to slow down and chew her chicken before swallowing.

Chloe gave her a severe look. "Normally, I wouldn't care. But if you have a stomachache, then there's no way I'm doing this with you tonight. It's going to be challenging enough as it is; we don't need the added issue of you barely being able to move or being super sluggish!"

Zoe's shoulders slumped. "Okay," she agreed, putting her fork down. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry," Chloe told her, smiling reassuringly. "You just need to be at your best so I can see where you're starting from."

"I know you're nervous, Zoe," Pollen squeaked, looking up from her bowl of fruit salad. "But there's really nothing to worry about. My Queen knows what she's doing!"

Zoe grinned, some of the tension in her stomach relaxing. "I know. And I'm not worried – not really, at least. I'm just… excited. I can't wait to be one of the Heroes of Paris!"

Chloe laughed, quirking an eyebrow at her. "Well, you're my sister. Of course, you should be part of the Heroes of Paris!"

Zoe sat back in her chair, sipping her water. It had taken so long to get to this point, but she was finally ready to begin her training. She was going to be a hero, and it was all thanks to her sister! Sighing, Zoe looked around the penthouse, taking in the changes of the past week. Chloe had gotten rid of the single massive bed, replacing it with two queen-sized beds – even if Zoe did still sneak into Chloe's bed in the middle of the night more often than either of them cared to admit. The large walk-in closet had been divided in half; some of Chloe's old clothes were now stored in boxes out of the way to make room for Zoe's new wardrobe, most of which still had the tags on it. Two dressers, two vanities… Zoe smiled. She could have had her own room if she wanted. But she only wanted this, a chance to live with and get to know her new big sister. As least, as long as her sister wanted her to stay.

Chloe sipped her tea, humming quietly to herself and drawing Zoe's attention back to her. Chloe's eyes widened the slightest bit, and Zoe cocked her head to one side. "Are you ready to start?" Chloe asked, clearing her throat. "Or do you want to wait a bit for your dinner to settle?"

"I want to start now!" Zoe answered, grinning and clapping her hands in excitement.

"Because we could wait a bit," Chloe pointed out, her mouth moving slightly.

"No, I'm ready."

Chloe let out a breath.

Zoe furrowed her brows in a question. "Are you okay?"

Chloe's eyes widened. "I'm – of course, I'm fine."

Pollen looked up at Chloe for a moment before flitting over to place a paw on Chloe's wrist. "It's okay for you to be nervous, too, my Queen. But I know you can do this!"

Chloe looked down. "Fine. I'm…"

"You don't have to do this," Zoe told her, though her shoulders drooped.

Chloe placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder across the table. "No. I want to do this. But I also don't want to hurt you. And when we're training, it's hard to avoid getting hurt."

"I trust you," Zoe assured her. "I know you wouldn't hurt me intentionally. I know you'll be careful."

Chloe's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "At least one of us knows that…" she muttered wryly. Finally, she let out a breath. "Fine. Let's get to it."

Fifteen minutes later, Vesperia stepped out of the penthouse onto the balcony, tugging irritably at the arms and hips of her suit. It still wasn't the new one – Max had said he wouldn't be able to get that ready for another couple days. Instead, Chloe and Marinette had taken Chloe's old Sent-Bee suit and fitted it to Zoe's smaller height and frame. The puppy carrier was still there, though she wouldn't ordinarily need it. The shoulders were a little loose, the abdomen a little tight, the arms and legs too long. But it fit – at least well enough for them to train together in the safety of the balcony.

Chloe, wearing a simple exercise suit, already stood near the middle of the balcony, running through stretches. Without looking, she waved Vesperia over, calling, "Make sure you stretch first – you do not want to know just how sore I was the first few times, when I forgot to stretch."

"But you're always supposed to stretch before exercising," Vesperia pointed out, leaning to either side and stretching her arms and legs.

"You're assuming I ever actually exercised in school!" Chloe replied, turning around and raising an eyebrow at her. "But I assure you, I did not."

Vesperia nodded, leaning forward and reaching down to touch her toes. Bee-atrice bounded over to her, and Vesperia ran her hands through the puppy's fur, smiling. The puppy laid down and rolled over onto her back, moving just out of Vesperia's reach so she had to stretch to touch her. Vesperia giggled, petting the puppy as the tension and tightness in her legs disappeared. After several minutes of silence, Vesperia and Chloe finally straightened up and turned to face each other in the middle of the fenced-in balcony.

"Right," Chloe decided, nodding slowly. "We'll start off slow, just to see how much you already know. I think it will be easier to learn to fight with your hands first, then we'll practice with your yo-yos and synth-Venom. You have no idea how much of a learning curve it was for me, going from having a miraculous top to a normal yo-yo!"

Vesperia giggled. "I still don't understand why you used a yo-yo to fight crime!"

Chloe shrugged. "It was what I was used to," she explained. "I had been practicing with a yo-yo for as long as Ladybug had been around, even before getting my miraculous. Then when my miraculous gave me a similar weapon to the yo-yo, it was fairly straightforward to adapt to the top's uniqueness. So by the time I lost my miraculous and had to become Sent-Bee, I had been training with a yo-yo or top for about two years; that was what I was most comfortable with. But instead of just trusting the yo-yo to do what I wanted, I had to figure out how to make physics – momentum and angles – work for me."

Vesperia nodded in understanding, pulling out one of her yo-yos and giving it a testing throw. The yo-yo reached the ground and rolled away, before she tugged it back to her. She looked up at Chloe in surprise. "What was that? The string's so long!"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. "That's to make sure it can to as far as you want it to," she told her, moving over to stand beside her. "You can adjust the length with this control here–" carefully, she moved Vesperia's thumb onto the bottom of the finger loop, where she could feel a small raised bump. "Press on that when you're ready to set the length; otherwise, it has no less than twenty meters of cord!"

Vesperia's eyes widened. "How?"

Chloe shrugged. "I never asked Max how he managed any of it," she admitted. "I only know that it works! So, you press the control to set it, then you can pull slide it up to reel it back in. That will automatically draw the yo-yo back to your hand, along with anyone you have wrapped up in it – you can also use it as a grapple to pull yourself onto a roof, though it'll be easier to do that with your jetpack. Sliding the control down activates the taser function: the yo-yo will jolt anyone or anything in contact with it; the string insulates you, but you don't want to be in contact with the yo-yo or string when you use it."

Vesperia nodded, sliding the control bump up to reel the yo-yo back up. Tossing it down, the pressed the control just above the ground, and the yo-yo immediately held there; with a flick of her wrist, she pulled it back up. "I think I've got the hang of it now…"

Chloe nodded. "With practice, it will get to be second nature. But we won't try working it into your fighting style until you figure out the basics. For now, we'll just worry about hand-to-hand. So, what kind of experience do you have?"

Vesperia shrugged. "Not much," she admitted. "I never was really interested in fencing in school, and they didn't offer wrestling for the girls in gym class. I thought about karate, but…"

Chloe nodded pensively. "Okay, we'll just start from the basics. So, do what I do." Moving slowly and smoothly, Chloe dropped one foot back and bent her knees, holding her hands up as fists. Quickly, Vesperia copied the move, watching Chloe intently as she shifted into a slightly different stance. Chloe nodded. "Make sure you breathe as you do this," she instructed. "That's where your power comes from: your center." Stepping one foot forward, Chloe made two quick jabs before dropping back and holding her arms up defensively. After a moment, Vesperia copied the move, and Chloe gave her an approving nod. "Good."

For the next ten minutes, they continued in that way, with Chloe demonstrating forms and maneuvers that Vesperia copied. Several times, Chloe repeated a move several times, until finally Vesperia got it correct. They started combining moves together, until Vesperia could punch and kick from one end of the balcony to the other. Veperia finally dropped into one of the lounge chairs, leaning her head back and breathing heavily, closing her eyes. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she reached for the water bottle on the table in front of her and guzzled the contents in a matter of seconds before reaching for a second bottle.

"Don't drink too much at once," Chloe warned her, raising an eyebrow. "You don't want to make yourself sick – especially if you're not used to this much exercise." Sighing, she sat down across the patio table from Vesperia. "You did really well today," she praised her, smiling. "I think this is a good place to call it for now; next time we can work on a few more techniques."

Vesperia nodded. "Sounds good; this was fun! I can't wait for next time!" She frowned. "When will we actually start sparring, though?"

Chloe suppressed a grimace. "We'll… get to that. But not yet."

Vesperia furrowed her brows, folding her arms. "Are you afraid I can't handle it?"

"Well, you can't – not yet anyway. But you'll get there. Eventually."

"But how am I supposed to be a superhero like you if you won't actually let me train?" Vesperia pressed.

Chloe let out a sigh. "You will get there. And you'll do great once you get to that point! But we need to make sure you know the basics before we get to anything too advanced. Okay?" Vesperia sighed heavily, but finally she nodded in agreement. Chloe's shoulders slumped in relief. Raising an eyebrow at Vesperia, she asked, "So… ready for some dessert? Marinette dropped off some macarons earlier – it's a completely new flavor combination for us to try!"

Vesperia let out a breath. "Yeah, I guess so."