"Not good, not good! Ugh, why tonight of all nights? If anyone had to be akumatized, why did it have during my engagement dinner?" I knew complaining to myself was useless but it made me feel better. I was using my yoyo to spring toward the villain terrorizing Paris at present. The minutes felt like they were flying by at a rapid pace. "Gotta get there quick! Adrien could come back to check on me any moment," yeah, come back only to find an empty bedroom. How would I explain that one? I've said it once and I'll say it again:

This is a nightmare.

The akumatized person- man, to be exact- was someone I didn't recognize. He was a middle-aged man wearing an ivy green mask and shooting out vines from his body; it looks like he was able to control them. Probably some disgruntled gardener- oh joy. He was busy throwing civilians and cars left, right, and centre; essentially throwing a big temper-tantrum downtown right in front of Notre Dame. Landing on a nearby roof overtop Shakespeare and Company, I watched the man with more than mild annoyance. This guy ruined my night- I was in no mood to deal with any evil green-thumb gardeners right now. And I wasn't the only one.

Scanning the now-yelling viney man, I tried to identify the akumatized object. It was pretty hard to tell from all the way back here but I wanted to end this as quickly as possible. I was looking really hard when a familiar body landed on the rooftop right beside me.

"Hey there, Bugaboo," my head spun to see Cat Noir standing there with his arms folded across his chest. Of course my eyes lit up at this revelation. "Cat Noir," hi baby; I missed you. Things used to be really weird between us- uh, with me in this form, I mean- when we first started fighting bad guys together. Cat Noir was under the impression that I had a crush on him- which I obviously did- but he was already in love with someone else. Heh, funny that he's madly in love with me in my civilian form. Nevertheless, to keep things from getting too out of hand I had to pretend that I only saw Cat Noir as a friend whenever I was Ladybug. And let me tell you: it's a lot easier said than done. It took everything I had not to fling my arms around his neck and kiss every square inch of his face. Had to keep my game face on.

"What do we have here?" He asked me, cocking his hip a bit to the side and glancing forward. "Looks like he's a gardener who's been akumatized. My guess is that he works at Notre Dame's gardens." "Well, your guesses are never wrong," he flashed me a friendly grin. I practically forced myself not to smile back. Come on, Marinette; stay focused! "Can you see what the akumatized thing is?" I asked him. He shook his beautiful blonde head. "No. We'll have to get a closer look." "You've read my mind!"

We both jumped toward the man, who was currently in the middle of throwing a bystander into the Seine. I made sure he got out ok before turning my attention back to viney man here. Cat Noir retracted his pole and smirked. "Isn't it a little late in the season for ferns like you to sprout?" Viney man shot around to face us, letting out an enraged growl. "I'm Poisoned Ivy! Avenger of Paris's flora and fauna!" "Poisoned Ivy?" Cat Noir's eyebrow raised unimpressed. "I thought that was a batman villain…. And a girl?" I glanced to him puzzled. Poisoned Ivy roared embittered again. "I said Poisoned Ivy! Not Poison Ivy, you moron!" "Hey! That was uncalled for!" I fired back. Moron, he says? He's the one who got himself akumatized! Take a look in the mirror, why don't ya?

Having enough of this guy's nonsense, Cat Noir extended his staff again. "Time to do some trimming!" He made a full charge toward Poisoned Ivy's vines. I couldn't stop myself from grinning invisibly once my partner was unable to see me. Ten years we've been doing this and he still hasn't come up with better quips. Ah well, I think they're cute!

Cat Noir charged, only to get tangled up in vines seconds later. The case wasn't much different for me when I ran in to help him. Poisoned Ivy laughed manically, lifting us up into the air roped in his coarse vines. My boyfriend gave me an anxious side-glance. "Looks like we're the ones who're gonna get trimmed." "You fools can never defeat me! I've overseen this garden for twenty years! I'll do whatever it takes to protect it, and I'll squash anyone who gets in my way!" "I don't think Cat Noir and I will make good fertilizer," I decided to do my own quipping, which Poisoned Ivy did not appreciate. He punished me by twisting his vines tighter, making me wince. "This soil's too good for the likes of you. The only place you two belong is in the garbage disposal!" Garbage disposal…..

I don't know why but him saying that brought on an idea. I managed to get a look at his hands, which weren't vines ironically. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of his right hand clenching a pair of garden sheers; a tool he'd use to cut away anything unnecessary. That must be it! That's the akumatized item! Now there's just the question of getting it…..

Cat Noir used his pole again to break through his binding, causing Poisoned Ivy to let out an ear-piercing cry in the process. Cat Noir landed on his feet and immediately came to set me free. He caught me princess-style in his arms, loose vines now falling all around us. "Thanks," my beloved set me down. "No sweat," he grinned nonchalantly. My serious game-face suddenly resumed in full force. Alright, no more playing around; time to end this thing and get back home asap! Hopefully, if I'm lucky, Adrien's still busy with those fluctuating stocks.

"I know where the akumatized object is!" "You do?!" He gasped in surprise. "It's the sheers in his hand!" My forefinger pointed in their direction. This was met by more hissing and trying to knock us about with his vines. We were more prepared for it this time. While Poisoned Ivy was busy trying to catch me again, Cat Noir used his staff to leap to the top of Notre Dame. He sent the akumatized man a mocking smirk from up there. "Hey, itchy! Bet you can't come get me up here!"

Challenged accepted. I watched as Poisoned Ivy stopped going after me, only to start scaling up the side of the cathedral toward my boyfriend. Sensing he had a plan, I discovered I was right as Poisoned Ivy reached the top. Roaring again he spread out his arms- and vines- to grab Cat Noir. But to his shock and dismay, Cat Noir merely stepped out of the way, letting Poisoned Ivy plummet several stories high to the ground. He landed with a very loud "thug", making the sideway shake. Poisoned Ivy let out a slight moan, not moving for a second. That's when I saw my chance to end this. I threw my yoyo up into the air. "Lucky charm!"

It was no great surprise when it turned out to be a wrench, and a pretty big on at that. The kind you'd use on fire hydrants…. Wait. Looking all around I found a yellow fire hydrant not too far off. It was directed right in Poisoned Ivy's way. And Poisoned Ivy was now standing right in front of the Seine. Inspiration struck.

While Poisoned Ivy got back up to his feet and rubbed his head while cursing that we'd pay for that, I ran as fast as I could over to the fire hydrant. It was Cat Noir's turn to watch me put the wrench onto it. Granted, I wasn't strong enough to pull it myself, but I'm not working by myself. My head turned back up in my darling's direction. "Cat Noir!" I didn't have to say more, only to point down at the ready wrench. Immediately comprehending what I wanted him to do, he stuck his thumb up at me. "Gotcha!"

Cat Noir jumped down off of Notre Dame, effectively cranking the wrench to the side in doing so. He landed on it with just enough force. The effects were instant. A very heavy burst of water suddenly shot out from the hydrant, hitting Poisoned Ivy right in the centre of his chest. He could hold his ground for a minute but soon enough he was flooded into the Seine.

I raced over, diving into the water after him. It was so murky that he couldn't see where I was swimming. Grabbing the sheers from his hand, which wasn't that hard at all, I sprang back to the surface. After taking in a long breath, I threw the sheers over to my partner. "Cat Noir!" "On it! Cataclysm!" He grabbed the sheers, destroying them right away. Then he rushed over to help me out of the river. Once I was back on dry land, I readied my yoyo to de-evilazie the akuma. "No more evil from you, little akuma," same old, same old. I caught it in my yoyo, transformed it back to good, then set it free. "Bye bye, little butterfly," I waved as it flew off. The last thing to do was the always famous "Miraculous Ladybug", and everything went back to normal.

Cat Noir lent a hand to the confused gardener who was also climbing out of the Seine. Then he came back over to me and held out his fist. "Pound it," was our usual finisher. He smiled at me then, as quick as he was here, he spun around again to take off. My hand extended out to him out of instinct, not ready to part so soon. "Wait! What's the rush?" Well, I know I'm in a rush too but still. I could spend another minute with my boyfriend, couldn't I? But Cat Noir was not going to stop or even slow down. He simply twirled around to face me while still walking backwards.

"Sorry! I've gotta go check on someone…. Uh, something! I've gotta go check on something!" Heh, nice save there, sweetie. I inwardly smirked, careful not to give myself away on my face. Purely for theatrics, I made a show of crossing my arms in a nonchalant manner. "Alright, Cat Noir. Have a good night." "Yeah, you too! See ya around, Ladybug!" With that, he was off, using his pole to move extra-fast tonight. I simply watched his go, sighing to myself. "I love that man….. Wait. Check on someone…. That's me! He's going to check on me!" Marinette me, I mean! Realizing I had to get home before he did, I bolted it back like I never had before. Oh no! This is not good! It's bad enough if Adrien finds my room empty, but Cat Noir will FREAK OUT if he gets there I'm not anywhere to be found. Or worse….

He'll get there and find Adrien also searching for me that very moment too!