Part 16: Exchange Continued

——Marinette's Room——

"What do we do? Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?" Adrien/Mari was saying, slowly building up to hyperventilating. Kat couldn't resist replying with the Doctor Who theme song.

"Dooweeoooo!"

"Kat, this is serious!"

"Sorry." Kat took a breath. She found one of her six notebooks (she had a lot because was planning on making this into a fanfic back home hehehe). She began making a list, mostly to help Adrinette (haha) calm down. (Just so you know, Adrinette will be Adrien in Mari's body, and Marien will be Marinette in Adrien's body.) "Okay, think this through, Adrien. What should we do?"

"Uh, um, oh I don't know!"

"How about we go find you, er, Marinette first?"

"Okay," Adrinette replied. He/she still couldn't stop hyperventilating.

"Hey, sweetie, take a deep breath. With me, okay? Ready?" Adrinette nodded. "Okay. In, 2, 3, 4, out 2, 3, 4. In, 2, 3, 4, out, 2, 3, 4. Better?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, now, we'll go find Mari. Then what?"

"We should…contact Ladybug."

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? What's uh-oh?"

"Nothing. I just, uh, don't know how to contact Ladybug." The statement sounded like a question.

"We'll figure it out."

"Aw crap. We need to get to Marinette, and fast."

"Why?" Understanding then dawned on his/her face. "Oh no."

"Plagg," they said together.

——In the Agreste Mansion——

"Wha?" Marien (Marinette/Adrien, in case you forgot, cuz I almost did) sat up blearily. She/he looked around, and found that she/he was in Adrien's room.

"What—" she/he paused. "Is that my voice? What's going on?"

Luckily for everyone, Plagg was completely unconscious on Adrien's desk (he ate too much Camembert), so Marien thought he was a toy.

"That's a cute kitty cat." Marien giggled. "It looks a little like a kwami."

She/he headed towards the bathroom, hoping the mirror held answers to her questions. She/he nearly fell on her/his backside when she/he looked in the mirror (ya know what, I'm just gonna go with they/their from now on, because she/he is too time consuming to type out every time). Marien's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Then they realized that they were staring at Adrien's face. Marien sighed and half smiled. Then smiled more. There was a definite upside to this. Marien let out a lovey dovey sound that resembled a squeal crossed with a sigh.

"Oh, I could get used to this." They froze. "Wait. No, no, no, no, no. I am in his body. I am in his body. I can't believe this. I cannot believe this."

——In the Front Hall——

Kat barged through the front doors, not bothering to knock, with Adrinette in tow. Nathalie and Mr. Agreste stopped in the middle of the main hall, taken aback by the two kids marching towards Adrien's room. Well, one was marching. The other was trying not to fall.

"Kat?"

"It's nothing, Mr. Agreste," Kat called over her shoulder. Mr. Agreste opened his mouth, then closed it again. He figured there was no point in asking. Kat probably just wanted to take Adrien to ruin his diet again.

Kat marched past the adults again, this time with Marien. The three went all the way back to Marinette's house. In Mari's room, they debated over what to do, and exactly what happened. They all concluded that it was an akuma that caused the switch. They couldn't agree on what to do.

"We should just wait for Ladybug."

That was Adrinette. Since Adrien and Marinette didn't know who the other was, they couldn't do that. Kat suggested a different approach.

"Look, guys, I know I'm new to the whole hero thing—" She paused and rolled her eyes at her body switched friends both of whom looked like someone had just swallowed a frog or maye broccoli "—and, yes, you both know, but I can do it, I promise."

"But we can't de-evilize the akumas," Marien said.

"And you won't have any back up," added Adrinette. The two looked at her, concern etched on their features. Kat just about broke down at those looks. But she managed to keep her feelings in check. She took a deep breath and continued talking.

"Guys, whoever was akumatized hasn't made themselves known yet. That means that neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir know who the victim is. I can at least do something without either of them. I can search, and find him or her."

An evil cackling could be heard from outside. The three teenagers gave each other a look.

"Go ahead and change, Kat." Adrinette smiled sadly and sighed. There was nothing they could do, so why not support her? Kat shot them a grateful look.

"I'll be back," she said. She reversed her jacket and stripped her skirt off, and made sure to convert the heels to flats. Kat slipped through the window thing and onto the roof.

Switchblade strolled down the road, blasting people with green and red lasers. Kat watched, analyzing the situation. Red. Red. Green. Green. Out. Out. In. In. Take out two, switch. After two reds, Panther attacked. With all the grace of her namesake, both civilian and superhero, she jumped from the roof. The reinforced thigh-high boots took the force of the landing and she ran at the akumatized victim. This was her favorite part of superheroing. Where Chat and Ladybug made quips, Panther preferred to be silent. She smiled as she felt her bottled up anger disappear with each breath.

Panther was not someone you would think would have pent up emotions, but she was a master emotion bottler. She was ridiculously sensitive a lot of the time, especially when her parents got mad at her (not that happened a lot cuz she was a good child, but still). She would keep the emotions tightly concealed and then let them all out as soon as she was alone. Well, the sad emotions anyway. The angry ones had to be forced out, usually through physical exertion. This is what made chasing villains exciting. The adrenaline coursing through her veins and the constant movement of sprinting dispelled any lingering thoughts about Chloe and Mr. Agreste's (more than slightly) suspicious actions (such as taking them to laser tag).

Switchblade cackled one more time before Panther knocked her out in one punch. Panther winced. It felt like her hand might be sprained. She'd have to reinforce some gloves later. Panther quickly found and pocketed the akumatized object. They'd de-evilize it eventually, but Panther would keep it where she could find it. She dragged Switchblade through some side streets and took to the rooftops as inconspicuously as possible. She circled back to Marinette's house and dropped through the skylight (haha! I found the word I was looking for). Marien and Adrinette started at the sudden appearance of Panther and the akuma victim.

"Where am I?" Switchblade slurred the question.

"Did you hit her on the head?!" Marien and Adrinette exclaimed in unison. Panther nodded as she found some ribbon to tie her up.

"Yup," Panther replied. Switchblade was more awake now, and glaring at Panther. Panther noticed. "Ah, regaining consciousness, are we?"

Switchblade growled.

"Ooh, scary. Listen, hot stuff, I'll make you a deal." Panther inspected her nails as if she wasn't in the presence of a villain. Switchblade raised an eyebrow.

"Count me interested."

"Well, I'll let you go if, and only if, you switch Adrien and Marinette back into their own bodies."

"Deal," Switchblade smirked. Panther slowly untied her. She stayed behind Switchblade, making sure that she would do what was asked of her. The red lasers zapped the two, then the green ones. They laughed in relief as Switchblade vaulted out of the skylight. Adrien and Marinette through their arms around each other. They quickly let go and blushed. Adrien's eyes got really big.

"Father's going to be looking for me!"

"Don't worry, I'll shoot him a text." Kat quickly changed back into 'normal mode' and pulled out her phone. When she turned it on, she found six messages from Nathaniel. "Aw, crap. I was supposed to tell Nathaniel what happened."
She hurriedly texted Mr. Agreste and then sent Nathaniel a message saying that Marinette's episode was just an allergic reaction to the nail polish they had been using.

"But what about the akuma?" Marinette asked. "It still needs to be caught."

"We'll worry about that in a minute." Kat ushered Adrien to the door. "I know an akuma's still on the loose, but you might wanna get home to your dad. He seems worried."

As much as she hated to do it, Kat had to get Adrien out so Marinette could de-evilize the akuma in her pocket. Once he was gone, she pulled out the hair clip she had snagged from Switchblade. Mari transformed and de-evilized the akuma.

"Well, that was quite an exciting day, wasn't it?"

"It sure was," Marinette giggled. She was very glad she was back in her own body.

"It's a good thing we got that done before you had to use the bathroom," Kat laughed. Marinette turned bright fire truck red.

Hey guys! I am so so so sorry this is late! As I said in the previous part, my life got really really busy. It's still gonna be busy what with summer coming, so I will hopefully update often enough to keep you coming back. I hope you all like my writing! If you have any ideas for plots or scenes, let me know and I'll maybe be able to incorporate it. Hope you all have a great day, and keep reading, even if it's just my fanfic. This is also an entire page longer than usual as an apology gift.