Crystal Da Pony: Glad you enjoyed Adrien and Sam's reconnection. I figured with Danny away for the weekend, it was an opportunity for Sam and Tucker to bond with other characters. Yeah, I don't like Queen Banana so I had to make it a joke. I'm very excited to be working with Walter, he and his family the fandom invented opens up the plot to new possibilities.
Johnymike98: Thanks for reading! We'll see about your theories on what's going to happen.
King of Fans: Yeah, Ember hates people like XY. We'll have to wait and see if the Fenton parents are familiar at all with the Agrestes. After all, Vlad seemed to be their only friend in canon. I'm not sure if Gabriel would waste his time on a video call for a college reunion, but the idea of Vlad and Gabriel being arrogant with each other is hilarious. Yeah, I was saving Adrien and Sam's reconnection for a time that seemed right, and last chapter seemed to be good for it. Good point about the boost to Alya's blog, three attacks in a row like that might put her back on top. As for the first ghost and akuma combo, I think you'll enjoy that when we get there. As for Danny telling Ladybug and Chat about Vlad, he doesn't know yet if Vlad will keep his promise about attacking him again so for now he's keeping the confrontation to himself.
Rosetraing628: Hate to burst your bubble, but Sam doesn't strike me as the kind of person to help the girl squad with a crush, especially since she's not very close to them right now. Maybe later on, she'll change her tune but that's a no for now.
Jebest4781: Thanks for reading!
Pokemon fan 1991: Yeah, I liked the idea of one previous friendship patching itself up while another falls apart, which is why I had Adrien and Sam reconnect while Vlad tried to destroy Jack's relationship with Maddie. Glad you enjoyed Dino Scary and that you agree Queen Banana was stupid. Queen Banana was a waste of everyone's time, just like Simpleman. Yeah, Wes and his family add new material to the DP side of the story, and I'm excited to play with them in the future.
Danifan3000: Yeah, I could see Hawk Moth making a vampire villain like that. I mean, he already did Zombizou, which was a zombie reference.
Diamondteel4: Glad my characterization of Vlad was on point, I felt like I needed a shower after writing for him.
Matt: Thanks for the suggestions. I've seen Centaurworld, but I haven't seen I Heart Arlo.
Ariastella: Glad you like how I'm including the Weston family. They open the story to new possibilities. I've heard of Flynn too and how the Phandom revised his characterization because Butch's version was dumb. I'm still workshopping ideas for him and if he can fit into the story, so nothing confirmed with him yet.
Erica phoenix16: Yep, Vlad's debut is here. I was looking forward to that since I started posting the story. Walter and his family are going to be fun to play with; I've got interesting roles for them going forward.
Leonardo: I hope to get through five stories with this crossover. Miraculous has a lot of episodes, and I think I can come up with subplots for Danny Phantom's side once we get past what I can salvage from season three. While ML claims that twist was in the works since season two, I don't believe it; there's just too much evidence that contradicts that theory. For now, the plan is for Felix to appear, but his character is getting nerfed hard. Interesting exchange between Vlad and Gabriel, they may claim that they're better than the other but they're both equally horrible.
Dyna-Man 21: Yeah, I think Ladybug and Chat will have thoughts when they finally meet Vlad for the first time.
Friendly reminder that speculation about future chapters and what you want to see is okay, but please leave a comment about the chapter I just worked very hard on if you intend to speculate.
Also, Two Kinds has a TVTropes page, so if you think of any trope examples for it, go ahead and add them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.
One Kind of Birthday Date
"Help!"
Marinette should have known sneaking back into school after dark to grab a textbook she forgot was a bad idea. Now she was being chased by two akumas, who were her friends to boot. As she ran down Casper High's halls, she chanced a look behind her.
The Bubbler was in hot pursuit, his giant bubble wand drawn.
She looked back ahead of her to figure out which way she should go next, but slid to a stop in fright.
At the next intersection, Lady WiFi stood with her phone in hand.
Quickly doing a 180, Marinette started running back the way she came. She wasn't quick enough; Lady WiFi swiped out a pause icon before she got too far. With her frozen in place, the Bubbler waved his bubble wand and trapped her in a bubble. Both akumas laughed evilly, sharing a high-five. [1]
Before they could celebrate too much, a new figure leaped onto the scene. He had dark red hair, and wore a white and black striped outfit with an artist's beret on his head and a drawing tablet on his right arm like a gauntlet. In his left hand was a tablet pen. The new boy gave a cocky laugh in greeting. Bubbler readied his wand to trap him in a bubble, but the new boy quickly erased something on his tablet. To the shock of Bubbler and Lady WiFi, Bubbler's wand began disappearing in front of them. Enraged, Lady WiFi moved to attack with one of her icons.
The new boy was faster. He switched his pen from eraser to draw, and sketched a translucent cube on his tablet that appeared to trap the two villains in real life. The villains gasped in shock at their sudden detainment, and started pounding on the walls within. While they attempted escape, the new boy erased the bubble around Marinette.
Once the bubble disappeared, so did the pause icon freezing Marinette. She stumbled a little at being able to move again, but quickly grinned once she realized who had saved her.
"Oh, Super Nathan! You're my hero!" Marinette threw her arms around the boy, Super Nathan.
"It was nothing," Super Nathan said humbly, holding her in his arms.
"I love you," Marinette said, leaning into him.
"I love you too, Marinette," he said back.
"Nathaniel!"
Nathaniel's daydream was shattered by the sharp reprimand of Miss Mendeleiev, who slammed her hand on his lab desk.
"What are you drawing?!" Miss Mendeleiev demanded, snatching up his notebook. "And these artistic endeavors are clearly why you're failing science!"
"I'm sorry…" Nathaniel murmured, trying to look his teacher in the eye.
She tossed his notebook back on his desk, snorting dismissively. "Well, you can doodle your chicken scratch on your own time in detention." A punishment dished out, she walked back to her own desk at the front of the room. "Now, over this weekend you'll be working on particle physics presentations…" [2]
Nathaniel groaned at the idea of having detention, flipping to his science notes to avoid her wrath further.
-LB-CN-P-
Hawk Moth's window opened, and the villain took a deep breath. "Ah, artists can be so emotional. I love it." A butterfly landed in his hands, and he infused it with his dark energy. "Fly to him, my little akuma, and draw him into our evil web."
The butterfly fluttered out the window, flying towards Casper High.
-LB-CN-P-
"The next particle physics presentation group will be… Nino, Adrien, and Alya." Miss Mendeleiev announced.
Nino and Adrien bumped fists while Marinette gasped at her and Alya's station behind them.
"So lucky…" Marinette whispered to her best friend.
"And then, Sabrina, Chloe, and Marinette." Miss Mendeleiev listed off the last group. Surprisingly, the three named students were on the same page for once as they all gasped in unison. Marinette was extra disappointed with the grouping, and displayed that by laying her head on the desk while Alya patted her sympathetically on the back.
"So unlucky…" Alya murmured in the same way Marinette had at her own fortune moments ago.
Chloe, in a rare show of behaving properly, raised her hand with a superior smile. "Uh, Miss? Can't you add her to another group? Sabrina and I work much better on our own."
"This is a group presentation, not pairs. Deal with it," Miss Mendeleiev said with her hands on her hips.
Chloe growled at not getting her way. "I hate dealing with it…"
The bell rang, signaling the end of the class period. Everyone gathered their things and began moving to their next class.
Still seated at their lab station, Marinette turned toward Alya. "You wouldn't be willing to trade groups, would you?"
Alya smirked. "And deal with that twosome of terror? Sorry," she patted her friend on the shoulder, "but I promise to talk all about you between the particles and the physics."
Elated at the idea of her best friend talking her up to her crush, Marinette glomped her. "You're the best!"
Students filled the halls as they changed classrooms, stopped at their lockers to switch materials, or caught up with friends. Nathaniel was among them, clutching his things to his chest. Miss Mendeleiev's words still stung. Nobody had ever called his art 'chicken scratch' before, not to mention her bringing up his grades in front of the entire class.
His sketching pen slipped through his fingers, and he bent down to pick it up. It was as he got his fingers around it the akuma arrived and entered the pen. Curling his fingers around the pen, he stood stiff straight as the purple outline of Hawk Moth's mask formed around his face.
"Are you tired of having your creative spirit crushed?" Hawk Moth asked, playing to Nathaniel's inner anger. "Evillustrator, I am your friend and patron of the arts. I'm here to offer you support, but I don't give this kind of power for free. I have a couple of items that need retrieving."
"Just tell me what you want," Nathaniel said, and the akuma's dark energy washed over him.
Chloe shut her locker with a harsh shove. "Forget it, Sabrina. I don't have time for some dumb project. Besides, now you have Marinette to help you."
Sabrina smiled and nodded at her answer. "Okay! That's fine, Chloe. We'll do the work. Don't worry!"
"Um, is everything okay?" Marinette walked over to the pair, concerned.
Chloe rolled her eyes at Marinette nosing in on their conversation. "Everything's fine, Dupain-Cheng."
"Well, then why can't you help us with the project?"
"None of your business, Miss Nosy," Chloe huffed, crossing her arms and pointedly looking away from her project teammate.
"Uh, actually, since I'm part of this group project, it is," pointed out Marinette.
Sabrina put a hand on Marinette's shoulder to calm her down. "It's okay, Marinette. We'll do all the research and writing for the project, and then Chloe can present it. That way, it's equal."
Marinette shrugged off the hand from her shoulder, frowning. "That's not equal at all. Is that how you two work?"
Once again, Sabrina nodded brightly. "Yeah! We've been doing this ever since elementary school when I started doing Chloe's homework, and we've been BFFs ever since."
"You got a problem with that?" Chloe jumped back in, scoffing. "Come on, Sabrina."
Marinette focused her attention on Sabrina. "Sabrina, Chloe is totally taking advantage of you. You don't have to do what she says. That's not how a real best friend acts."
Sabrina looked down at her feet thoughtfully, considering her project teammate's words.
"Not only am I Sabrina's best friend," Chloe pulled Sabrina over to her side, "I am her only friend. So, she better do what I say because without me, she has nothing. She wouldn't even be part of the A-listers." At the mention of the A-listers, Sabrina momentarily glanced up before gazing down at her shoes again.
A huff escaped Marinette as she rolled her eyes at Chloe's answer. "Well, I would rather have no friends than be friends with you."
"Whatever," Chloe said, running her fingers through her hair. "I've got more important things to worry about. It's time for lunch, and Jean-Claude promised my food would be warm. Later!"
Both of Chloe's project teammates watched as Chloe walked away, Marinette annoyed while Sabrina appeared used to the blonde girl's exits.
At last, Sabrina spoke up. "I appreciate your concern about me and Chloe, but don't worry about it. This is the way things have been for a long time, and it's normal for us."
"Chloe taking advantage of you shouldn't be normal," replied Marinette.
"It's not taking advantage if I offer to do it," Sabrina finally looked up to meet Marinette's eyes. "Besides, there's more to our friendship than just homework. We do stuff together like other best friends do, like having sleepovers and going shopping. Nobody else in this school can say they get to have regular sleepovers at a hotel in the penthouse suite, and Chloe buys expensive stuff for me I wouldn't be able to afford on my own."
Marinette made an effort to smile at the positives. "Sleepovers and shopping are great and all, but I still think how you two want to divide the project is unfair. How does Chloe even learn anything, or pass tests with this deal of yours?"
Sabrina giggled a little. "What? You think I do her homework without her ever actually looking at it? Chloe pays more attention than you know." [3]
"Uh huh." Somehow, Marinette didn't believe that, but she couldn't challenge the claim since she didn't spend nearly the same amount of time around Chloe that Sabrina did.
"I better go before Chloe starts thinking I'm eating whatever is on the school's menu today. Meet you in the library after school!" Waving Marinette farewell, Sabrina jogged away to catch up with her best friend.
"So, let me see if I got this right," Tucker recapped as he, Sam, and Danny sat down for lunch at their chosen table for the day, "your parents dragged you and Jazz to this college reunion hosted by their best friend from college. Their friend from college turned out to be half-ghost like you because of an accident caused by your dad that was similar to yours. Their college friend also happened to be extremely salty about your dad marrying your mom, and sent those octopus and vulture ghosts to kill your dad. Their college friend also turned out to have hired Skulker, and now knows your secret, which he won't reveal to the world because you two have some truce. Did I forget anything?"
"Nope, that's pretty much it." Danny picked up a fish stick from his tray, and bit into it.
"Masters…" Sam tapped her chin. "I think my parents have gone to a few of his parties before to rub elbows with other absurdly rich people. Huh, no wonder they got along so well with him. They're all nuts, though he's extra nutty for being obsessed with your mom. What a creep."
Danny scoffed, dipping another fish stick into some ketchup. "Tell me about it. Now I have to watch my back for whatever scheme he might have to try ruining my family next." He chewed and swallowed. "So, how'd you guys' weekend go? Better than mine, I hope."
Tucker grinned at his friend's question. "Glad you asked. We had a ghost attack, which ended up being those vultures that escaped back to Vlad's place. While we were at the amusement park, there was an akuma attack that Ladybug and Chat Noir stopped. We hung out with Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino before an akuma attack interrupted our afternoon, and a ghost attack interrupted the akuma attack." Drinking some of his milk, he added, "Oh, and Adrien and Sam became friends again thanks to yours truly."
Pointing a finger at him, Sam spoke up. "Speaking of which, you're still in trouble. Eat these," she dumped some broccoli from the cafeteria salad bar on his tray.
The tech geek immediately slouched. "Aw man, do I really have to?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"
"As punishment for meddling in my business with Adrien, Tucker has to eat four pieces of vegetables with his lunch and dinner every day this week," Sam explained. She turned to the boy in question. "It's just four pieces of broccoli. They'll be good for you."
Knowing how persistent Sam could be, Tucker resigned himself to picking one up. "Good-bye to my vegetable-free diet." He bit into the broccoli, and shuddered at the taste. After some slow chewing, he finally swallowed.
Smirking at his reaction, Sam said, "Nice, only three more pieces to go."
Before Tucker could complain about the cruel punishment further, every phone in the cafeteria started pinging. The three teens pulled out their phones, and found an akuma alert had been sent out. The location – Casper High.
"There's one in the school?" Danny asked, suddenly vigilant.
The cafeteria doors burst open, and everyone spun to see Ms. Mendeleiev running from a giant beaker tube rolling through the halls, screaming in terror. If the akuma alert wasn't the cue for everyone to scatter, then the sight of one of the teachers running for their life certainly was. Students left and right hurried to the exits nearest to them. [4]
Still seated at the A-listers' table, Chloe huffed indignantly. "Great, just great. Now my trenette al pesto is going to go cold."
Sabrina hurriedly grabbed her friend by the elbow and tugged her away from the table. "Chloe!"
Danny, Sam, and Tucker all ducked under their table while Adrien managed to slip away from Nino and into the kitchen area to transform. Marinette left Alya where she had started recording the attack, and hid in a closet to transform as well.
"Cover me," Danny told his friends, who hid him in a protective huddle. "I'm going ghost!"
As Mendeleiev ran from the beaker, dozens of lab safety goggles materialized on the floor and she tripped over some in her haste. She scrambled to get back on her feet, but the beaker was quickly approaching.
Chat Noir leaped in front of her, and moved to smash the beaker to shards while Phantom flew over to turn Mendeleiev intangible so she wouldn't be hurt. However, to the surprise of both heroes and the target, the beaker vanished almost digitally.
"Well, that was weird," Chat Noir remarked, lowering his baton. The cat hero turned to face Phantom and Mendeleiev. "Hey, Phantom. Where were you last weekend? You missed a lot of fun."
Phantom shrugged. "Oh, just had my own adventure is all. Met a fruit loop probably on the same level as Hawk Moth. You know how it is."
"Really? You must tell me and Ladybug all about it. Sounds interesting," Chat Noir said, leaning closer in interest.
At that point, Ladybug jumped over to them. "We'll have to swap stories later, boys. Look!" She pointed to the entrance of the cafeteria.
The three heroes, Mendeleiev, and Alya, Sam, and Tucker all looked where she indicated, and saw who was the cause of the akuma alert.
It was Super Nathan, or as Hawk Moth called him, Evillustrator. It seemed the butterfly villain had taken Nathaniel's idea for his comic book hero persona and twisted it into an akuma form.
"Well that guy looks pretty sketchy," Chat Noir quipped, noticing the artist-like appearance of the villain.
The three heroes charged Evillustrator, but he quickly drew a square onto his tablet that formed a barrier that blocked the exit. All three heroes smacked into it, Phantom not noticing it in time to simply phase through. By the time they had all recovered, the villain had vanished.
"Where'd he go?" Ladybug inquired as Sam, Tucker, Alya, and Mendeleiev came up behind them.
"I don't know, but he sure has a way of illustrating his point," Chat Noir punned, referring to the barrier. Ladybug groaned while Phantom couldn't help snickering.
With the akuma alert sounded, the rest of the school evacuated for the remainder of the day. The only people left in the school now were the three heroes and Mendeleiev, who regrouped in Mendeleiev's homeroom. Sam, Tucker, and Alya had been shooed home.
"Seems this akuma, who you said called himself Evillustrator, is targeting you specifically, Miss Mendeleiev," Chat Noir said as the heroes stood in front of the teacher's desk as she gathered her things up. "Any idea why?"
Mendeleiev snorted while picking up her bag and standing from her chair. "How should I know? There's plenty of students who probably don't like me for one reason, or another."
Ladybug approached her. "Even so, usually the akumatized victim is someone that had something happen to them on the same day. Can you think of anybody that might have had a bad interaction with you up until lunch?" When the teacher didn't answer and instead searched her pockets for her keys, Ladybug asked a more pointed question. "Was there anyone that you may have embarrassed or punished?"
At the second question, Mendeleiev paused. "There… may have been one like that. Nathaniel Kurtzberg."
"What happened?" Phantom prodded.
"He was doodling in class when he was supposed to be taking notes. All I did was give him detention, that's what a teacher is supposed to do with students who misbehave in class." Mendeleiev turned away, preparing to leave and go home.
Chat Noir stepped in her path. "Call it cat instincts, but I think there's more you're not telling us." More like 'I was in class and know what really happened instincts', but he couldn't go around saying that.
Looking between the three teen heroes, Miss Mendeleiev sneered and shuffled her way around him. "What I said to a misbehaving student beyond giving them detention is none of your business. That's between me and the student in question. I'm going home like everyone else did. That akuma is likely still loitering around here." She exited the classroom, closing the door behind her and leaving the three heroes alone.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think she just completely dodged the question," Phantom said, glancing at his teammates.
Sighing, Ladybug checked her yo-yo. "We'll sort that out later if we need to. Right now, I think we need to go home and transform back until Evillustrator strikes again. We all probably have stuff in our civilian lives to get done, and have people waiting for us."
"Me-owch, I hear that." Chat Noir walked over to the classroom window, and opened it. "See you guys later." Leaping away, he spun his baton like a helicopter blade. Soon after he left, Ladybug swung away on her yo-yo while Phantom flew.
Ladybug swung onto her rooftop balcony, and de-transformed into Marinette as she quickly slid into her room before anyone could see. Tired from the events of the day already, she collapsed onto her chaise lounge.
Tikki took that as her cue to pop out of Marinette's purse. "Are you okay, Marinette?"
"Yeah, Tikki. It's just been a lot today. First Chloe and Sabrina, then Miss Mendeleiev and Evillustrator, who's still out there somewhere. It's just ugh." Marinette pulled out her phone and saw she had a bunch of calls from Sabrina. How Sabrina had her number, she wasn't sure considering they weren't friends. "Now thanks to this hero stuff, Sabrina probably thinks I'm a hypocrite for standing up to Chloe then blew her off when we were supposed to meet up and work on the project."
"Sorry, Marinette," Tikki apologized before putting on a smile. "If it makes you feel any better, plenty of Miraculous wielders have been in your shoes before, and Chat Noir and Phantom are probably in the same position." Noticing something in the window behind Marinette, Tikki let out a yelp and dove back into her purse.
Seeing her kwami hide away, Marinette looked over her shoulder to check what was wrong and gasped as Evillustrator erased her window to let himself inside.
"It-It's you! From the cafeteria." Marinette scrambled back further on her chaise. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to see you," Evillustrator said, climbing into her room with a strangely friendly smile for an akuma. Maybe some genuine part of Nathaniel was leaking through.
"Okay," said Marinette slowly, wondering how her civilian self was going to get tangled up in the akuma situation. "But why did you attack Miss Mendeleiev?" She could already guess why, but wanted to hear it from him.
Evillustrator clenched his sketching hand into a fist. "Because she's cruel and rude!"
The black-haired girl held up her hands in a helpless gesture. "Can't argue with that. Are you… going to hurt me?" She asked, wondering if she had mistreated him in some way too. She couldn't recall doing anything that might have been mean to Nathaniel.
The akuma villain took a step back in surprise at the notion. "You? You're Marinette." He seemed to get bashful as he averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "You're kind and sweet and perfect, and I could never hurt you."
Marinette blinked at the compliments. Did Nathaniel feel that way about her? She had no idea. Though that would explain why he invited her to go with him to the dance. "Wow, that's… um… very flattering. Uh, thank you?"
"So, I just wanted to come by and ask you if, well, it's my birthday today and would you like to come to my party?" Evillustrator stammered, still not able to look her in the eye.
Okay, an invitation to a birthday party by an akuma was not something she had expected. Even if she wanted to say yes, she couldn't because how could she defeat him as her hero self when her civilian self was having a party with him? Thank goodness there's already a cover story…
"Actually," began Marinette as she stood up and moved to grab a folder out of her backpack, "it's not really the best night. See, I've got a presentation to work on, and I have to call my… friend so we can meet and…"
Evillustrator held out a pleading hand. "Please, Marinette! It'll just be you and me." Touching his drawing pen to his tablet, he quickly sketched something out and handed a slip of paper to her.
She carefully took the paper to look at it, and beamed when she saw the image on it. "Oh my gosh, that's me!" The card was an illustration of herself and Evillustrator with a cake and streamers. The fact that he just drew that so fast in front of her eyes was nothing short of impressive.
"You like it?" he asked, pleased with her immediate reaction.
"I love it," she looked up at him, "so much that I'll be there on one condition."
"Anything for you, Marinette," Evillustrator kneeled before her.
"You can't hurt Miss Mendeleiev anymore. I simply cannot bear violence," she requested. While she was willing to fight when she needed to, the less action necessary the better. This way, she could keep her science teacher safe too.
Evillustrator stood up, and started sketching on his tablet again. "For you, and only you. Meet you at Lake Amity at sunset." A jetpack formed on his back, and he rocketed out the window he had came in through. [5]
Once he was gone, Marinette sat back down on her chaise with relief. Tikki zipped out from her hiding spot. "What are you thinking, Marinette?" The little kwami wondered.
Marinette looked at the sketch invitation that Evillustrator drew, then pulled out her phone and went into her photos. Scrolling through them, she found a photo Alya had taken the night of the school dance. It was of Marinette and Nathaniel having a good time. She held her phone up next to the invitation. At first, the dance photo looked like two classmates and friends having a fun time. Now, she couldn't help recontextualizing that whole night. [6]
"I think," said Marinette, "poor Nathaniel's got a crush on me, and his alter ego, the Evillustrator, is going to get crushed by Ladybug."
"Yes, but how is Ladybug going to crush this crush when you're going on a date with him as Marinette?" Tikki asked, confused by her holder's intentions.
The young designer pretended to think for a moment. "I think a certain cat boy and ghost boy need to crash the party." Catching on, the little kwami gasped with delight.
"Ugh, dumb research for a dumb presentation…" Danny grumbled, typing on his computer and occasionally scribbling down some notes. As he worked, his phone rang. Grateful for a distraction, he set his homework aside and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Danny, it's Marinette."
"Hey, what's up?"
"Okay, so you know how an akuma alert went out today?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, he showed up at my house. It's Nathaniel."
He rolled his eyes. "Considering what happened in class, I'm not surprised."
"So, here's the thing. He broke into my room to invite me to his birthday party." She hesitated on the next part. "A party which is going to be just me and him, so it's more like a birthday date."
Danny blinked at the new bit of information. "Today's his birthday?"
"Apparently. But the important thing is Ladybug saw him leave my room, and she asked me to go along with the date. She has a plan on how to defeat him, and she needs Chat Noir and Phantom to take care of it while she works on another mission."
"Of course, Phantom would be happy to help. He probably needs a break from all the boring homework." Danny sent the physics research on his computer screen a frown. "What's the plan?"
After also calling Chat Noir and explaining the situation to him, Marinette crept out of her family's apartment above the bakery. She didn't want to have to explain to them she had a birthday date with an akuma.
Opening their private side door, she found Sabrina on their doorstep, holding a folder.
"Oh, Sabrina! You scared me," Marinette said, letting out a deep breath.
Sabrina shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Sorry, I was waiting for you. Did you get my messages?"
"Yes, yes I did. And I was totally going to call you," Marinette fibbed.
The redhaired girl blinked at her before squealing. "You were? I was hoping you would since the akuma ruined our library plans. Speaking of which, want to work on the project tonight?"
Marinette sighed. "I'm so sorry, Sabrina. I've got something really important that I have to do."
"Something really important? Really? That's fascinating." Sabrina parroted, still smiling though it seemed a bit more forced. "You know who else uses that excuse all the time, don't you? Chloe!"
Marinette held up her hands in a calming gesture. "Sabrina, it's not like that. I swear."
Sabrina pointed an accusing finger at her. "To think you were so concerned about my friendship with Chloe earlier, but now it's clear. You're just a hypocrite. You probably expect me to do all the work too." She turned her back to Marinette, clutching the folder tight.
"I can help you, Sabrina. Just not tonight," Marinette insisted, "if you wait a minute, I can prove it."
Not looking at her supposed project teammate, Sabrina scoffed. "Really? How?"
As if to answer her question, Chat Noir landed in front of the two girls, grinning like a cat. "A little bug told us you need some company tonight." Phantom hovered behind him, waving to them in greeting.
Sabrina's eyes widened as she shakily pointed a finger at the two heroes. "Y-you! Y-you're Ch-chat Noir and Ph-phantom!"
Coming up behind her and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, Marinette explained, "This is what I was trying to tell you. The akuma, the Evillustrator, is after me and Miss Mendeleiev. I got him to leave Miss Mendeleiev alone if I went on a date with him tonight."
"And Ladybug called us to make sure your classmate there would be safe," Phantom added.
Sabrina looked between the heroes and her classmate, taking in the information. "Wow… you really are telling the truth that you can't help tonight."
Marinette exhaled in relief. "Thanks for understanding. I promise I'll do my part of the project once the heroes and I get this sorted out."
The dutiful girl nodded her head. "Okay, I trust you. In the meantime, I'll call Chloe and see if she can help a little with the presentation."
Phantom muttered under his breath, "Good luck with that." Chat Noir stealthily elbowed him.
Not hearing Phantom, or seeing the nudge, Sabrina started leaving. "I better go. Good luck with the akuma." [7]
"Whoa," Chat Noir remarked while watching Sabrina go home, "I thought we were going to have to save you from that girl's claws." He grinned cheekily as he held up his hands to Marinette. "Get it, claws?"
Phantom rolled his eyes playfully behind him. "Yeah, we got it."
Chat Noir got down on one knee, taking Marinette's hand. "We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Chat Noir, and that's Phantom." He nodded his head over at his teammate before kissing Marinette's hand.
The girl blushed as she pulled her hand away quickly, starting to babble. "Y-yeah, I know. You guys kinda save the day all the time with Ladybug, and stuff. I'm Marinette. What are you guys doing here?"
At her question, Chat Noir started striking poses, flexing his muscles. "That birthday boy date of yours is bad news, but don't worry. You'll be safe with us." Unbeknownst to him, Marinette made mocking gestures while he bragged, causing Phantom to snicker.
By the time he looked at her again, she had stopped with the mocking and put a smile back on her face. "That puts my mind at ease," she said.
Phantom floated over Chat Noir's shoulder, smirking. "We are going to need your help, though. Care to lend a couple of superheroes a hand?" It was Chat Noir's turn to roll his eyes at his fellow superhero's antics, and the cat hero put his hand on the ghost's face before shoving him away like a sibling had invaded another's personal space.
"What about Ladybug? Aren't you a trio?" Marinette turned her back to the boys so they wouldn't see the grin threatening to break her oblivious persona.
Chat Noir leaned on the doorframe. "She's busy tonight, so you get to be my Ladybug." Thankfully, she was still facing away from him so he couldn't see her tense up at him unintentionally hitting too close to her secret identity.
Phantom leaned back in. "Um, don't you mean our Ladybug? And seriously, dude? Flirting with a civilian now?"
Before they could linger on the topic, Marinette spun around like an eager pedestrian. "Me fighting crime together with Chat Noir and Phantom? Amazing! What do I do?"
"Just get the drawing pencil away from him, little lady. That has to be where the butterfly is hiding. We'll take care of the rest." Chat Noir got out his baton and started jumping away.
Marinette and Phantom watched him vault over some rooftops before Phantom glanced over at the girl. "Are you sure being the bait for Evillustrator is a good idea?"
Marinette grinned at him. "Trust me. He'll be so focused on me, getting that akuma object away from him will be like a slice of birthday cake."
Later that evening, Evillustrator was putting the final touches on his party. It was a boat with lights and streamers hung along the rails, and in the center of the boat was a picnic for two laid out on a blanket in a miniature park that resembled Amity Park's community one. Of course, a picnic at a birthday party wouldn't be complete without a cake.
He was just about finished when Hawk Moth contacted him through their connection.
"That's a lovely little scene you're setting, but I don't want you to get distracted, boy." The villain reminded him.
"But, I just want Marinette to love me," said Evillustrator.
"And I want the Miraculous, so get it," Hawk Moth demanded, "or else."
Suddenly, Evillustrator couldn't hold his pen and hissed in pain, reaching for his wrist with his tablet hand. "Okay, I will, I will!"
"Happy birthday!" Evillustrator heard Marinette say behind him, and as he turned to look at his guest on the dock, the pain and Hawk Moth's connection seemed to fade away.
"Marinette!" He smiled, hopping down from his perch to join her. The pair walked up onto the boat, which Evillustrator had start automatically paddling out towards the center of the lake. "Thanks for accepting my invitation."
As Marinette looked over the scene he created on the boat, she was genuinely impressed with how far he was willing to go for her. "Wow, this is so beautiful."
"Do you like it? Well, hold on." He jumped up to the center of the boat, and readied his tablet to draw. However, at that moment, clouds rolled in front of the moon, blocking out any light he would have had from above. Growling, he looked up at the sky in frustration. "You've got to be kidding!"
Marinette jumped at the sudden anger. The Nathaniel she knew was quiet, happy, maybe annoyed sometimes like everyone else was at some point in their life, but never angry.
Realizing he had startled her, Nathaniel chose to lean down towards one of the lanterns he had sketched into reality so he could see the tablet screen and draw. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just can't draw properly in the dark."
So, he couldn't draw without light. A logical weakness for this akuma…
Moments later, the boat was lit up even more by a ball of light above the miniature fountain replica, like it was a big street lamp. "Voila!"
He invited her to sit on the picnic blanket, and together, they ate some of his drawn cake. To her surprise, it was actually delicious for something drawn. After that, he showed her a trick he discovered earlier in the day while setting up the boat. It turned out if he drew music notes on his tablet, they could make actual music for them to hear.
As she listened to him sketch out the instrumental version of one song by Jagged Stone, a favorite musician of hers, she privately admitted to herself that the date was going well for one of them being an akumatized villain. That was when she saw Chat Noir and Phantom hovering over the edge of the boat. [8]
That was the signal. It was time for the date to end.
"You're so talented," she said to Evillustrator, "I just don't understand why you would want to use your power to hurt people."
"Not all people. Just Ms. Mendeleiev," he said with a scowl, flicking his hand without dropping his pen. "And I'm never doing that again. After all, you were true to your promise, so I'll be true to mine."
Without making a sound, Chat Noir and Phantom landed on the back of the boat, behind where the two teens were sitting.
"I actually draw a little too," Marinette confessed, "I'm not as good as you are, of course."
Evillustrator looked up from his tablet. "I'm sure you're a wonderful artist."
Marinette saw the cat and ghost sneak up behind them, but kept going. "Well, can I draw you something special for your birthday?" She reached over and touched the pen, her hand over his.
His heart racing, Evillustrator smiled at her offer. "That would be amazing."
Chat Noir prepared his staff.
It was that small movement, along with Phantom's white hair, that gave them away.
"Marinette, I need my pen back. I need to draw something. Now," Evillustrator demanded politely.
Sorry, Nathaniel…
Marinette clenched her hand around the pen, yanking it out of his grip. "No, I'm keeping it. Chat Noir, now!" She jumped up from the picnic blanket and hurried a safe distance away.
Before the villain could stand up and chase her, Chat Noir's baton came down and kept him in place. The villain did a double take between his crush and the two heroes. "Marinette, you're working with them?!" His anger bubbled over. "I'm so stupid! I actually thought you liked me, but you're just like Miss Mendeleiev! Taunting me, mocking me, leading me on!"
Marinette stomped her foot indignantly. "Come on, that's not true! I know what Ms. Mendeleiev said was uncalled for, but I'm not like her."
While she made her protest, Evillustrator kicked Chat Noir's baton away from him in just the right way that it knocked his pen out of Marinette's hand and into the air.
Phantom prepared and fired an ecto blast at it, but Evillustrator was quicker and jumped up to catch the pen, the blast barely missing his right rib. The villain landed on the light ball, and sketched on his tablet. Both Chat Noir and Phantom leaped to attack him, Chat Noir with his baton and Phantom with another ecto blast, but were stopped by a cube prison falling down over them and Marinette.
Evillustrator leaped on top of the three trapped heroes. "And I'm taking back my promise. Miss Mendeleiev's going to get a lesson she'll never forget!" He vowed, erasing a leak in the boat and causing it to take on water. Leaving them to sink, he used his incredible jumping ability to leap back to shore and race back Amity Park's downtown.
Chat Noir whacked at the cube surrounding them with his baton. "We're boxed in, literally."
"Not for long," Phantom said, grabbing him and Marinette by the arms. "Hang on!" Activating his intangibility, he flew them out of the cube and back to shore, where he set them down gently and turned them tangible again.
"Gotta go," Chat Noir said to Marinette, "a superhero's work is never done. Damsels in distress, ladies in waiting, we've got a lot of saving to do. You can thank us later." He extended his baton once more and vaulted away.
Phantom looked at Marinette. "He'll try to catch up to Evillustrator. In the meantime, I can give you a lift back to your place."
She shook her head, waving her hands. "No, no! I'll be fine. Juleka's houseboat should be around here somewhere. Just go help Chat Noir." [9]
Phantom shrugged. "If you're sure. See you at school on Monday." He did a loop and flew after his teammate.
"Or see you in a few minutes," Marinette murmured once she was sure he was out of earshot. Tikki came out of her purse, and she grinned at her kwami. "I think it's time Ladybug got back from her secret mission."
Mendeleiev grumbled as she marked test scores for one of her classes in her moderate apartment. "Judging by these test scores, these students are going to need more than a review day. They wouldn't need a review day if they paid more attention…"
She heard a knocking noise that sounded like someone was at her door, and she glanced up from her kitchen table. Who could be knocking on her door at this hour?
"Who's there?" she demanded loudly.
Rather than a voice answering back, she saw her front door getting erased like an equation on a whiteboard. On the other side of the door was Evillustrator.
Mendeleiev jumped out of her chair, backing away from both the door and the table. "You!"
"Hi, Ms. Mendeleiev! I'm ready for that detention now," the villain said with a vicious grin.
"I wouldn't know that from the ridiculous costume you're wearing," Mendeleiev snarked as she reached up in her cupboard. "Now, if you would please leave. I was about to have dinner!" She spun quickly, throwing a plate at him.
He quickly erased it, then the next, and the one after that as she threw dish after dish until she ran out.
"Good reflexes," he praised his teacher, "did you try out for sports when you were in school?"
She snorted at the question. "Nah, too busy making sure I graduated." The teacher pointed a finger at him. "With the way your grades are dropping, I can't say the same for you."
A growl built up in his throat, and he started rapidly sketching. "I'll show you grades!"
Before she had time to run into her living room and start grabbing books off the shelves to throw, she was trapped in a cage seemingly made up of A, B, C, D, and F's. The woman tried pulling them apart to break out, but they wouldn't budge.
"Nathaniel, enough!" exclaimed Mendeleiev. "This behavior is far more unacceptable than your doodling."
Evillustrator walked up to her. "Oh, but we're just getting started. How about a science lesson? Let's see what happens when you're under pressure." He fiddled with the drawing, and the grade cage surrounding her began to compress.
Mendeleiev began to scream for help.
Chat Noir jumped in and broke the cage with a whack of his baton, making the grades fall around his and the teacher's feet. "Sorry, but this science experiment is over."
Rather than thank the hero, Mendeleiev put her hands on her hips, scowling. "About time."
At that point, Phantom flew in through her window she was just now realizing Chat Noir must have entered through. "What? No 'thanks for saving my life, Chat Noir'? No wonder your students hate you."
A spotted yo-yo gripped the edge of the window like a grappling hook, and soon Ladybug was in the apartment as well. "Aw, did I miss the birthday party? Seems like we moved onto a hero-akuma conference."
"Glad you could join us, Ladybug," Chat Noir threw the third hero a smile. "What was the secret mission?"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret," Ladybug teased, spinning her yo-yo in preparation for battle.
While the heroes surrounded Mendeleiev to protect her, Evillustrator readied his pen and tablet. "In the comics, this is what's known as the final showdown. The thing is if you knew her, you wouldn't be breaking a sweat to save her skin. She's the real baddie!" He pointed at the teacher.
"I'm the baddie?" asked Mendeleiev incredulously. "You're the one who broke into my home!"
Evillustrator drew giant boxing gloves into existence, the gloves flying at the heroes. Ladybug and Phantom managed to jump up and over them while Chat Noir got hit trying to protect the teacher. Ladybug threw her yo-yo in an attempt to snatch the pen from his fingers, but he drew a barrier like the one in the cafeteria. After erasing that, he drew a sawblade that spun at Ladybug. She used her spinning yo-yo as a shield, making it bounce away from her and towards Mendeleiev. Having seen it, Phantom snatched her up and turned them both intangible, the blade sticking into the wall behind them.
Chat Noir recovered from the boxing glove hit, and split his baton into two smaller ones, throwing them at the villain. One mini baton stuck into the wall above Evillustrator's head when he ducked, and the other smashed a light.
That was when Ladybug remembered what he had said earlier.
"The lights! Guys, aim for the lights. He can't draw in the dark!" Ladybug shouted to her teammates.
Phantom returned himself and Mendeleiev to tangibility, and readied his ecto blast in both fists. "You may want to duck," he advised her. She took the hint, and crouched while covering her head with her hands.
"No!" Evillustrator, and Hawk Moth through his connection, yelled.
Phantom proceeded to blast both light fixtures in range- the lamp in the living room and the light in the kitchen. The room turned dark with only the natural moonlight and the light from the apartment complex hallway left.
While everyone else strained to see, Chat Noir found he could see just fine.
I have night vision? Cool!
Taking advantage of the extra ability, he rushed at Evillustrator and snatched the pen. Taking it in both hands, the pen broke in two pieces.
The akuma fluttered out, and all could see its faint neon purple glow.
Ladybug stopped spinning her yo-yo so she could activate its purification tool. "No more evil-doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Hoping she didn't whack anyone in the face, she swung her yo-yo out and caught the butterfly. Pulling her yo-yo back to her hand, she released the newly glowing white creature. "Bye-bye, little butterfly!"
"Wow, we didn't even need to use your Lucky Charm or my power this time," Chat Noir remarked as Evillustrator reverted to Nathaniel.
Phantom hovered over to his teammates. "Yeah, I wonder what it would have been."
Ladybug shrugged. "Oh well, guess we won't need it every time, like how we may not need Cataclysm or Phantom's ghost powers." She tossed her yo-yo up, calling, "Miraculous Ladybug!" [10]
Magical ladybugs emerged from the yo-yo and swept over Mendeleiev's apartment then flew out the window to resurface the sunken boat from the date and return everything at the school to normal.
-LB-CN-P-
"No!" Hawk Moth threw his hands in the air, clutching his cane tight. "The Miraculous were practically mine. One day, they will be, and once I have them in my grasp, I shall rewrite the world!"
-LB-CN-P-
Nathaniel sat on his knees, rubbing his head. "Where am I?"
"In my house," Mendeleiev said bluntly, now standing over him.
The boy swallowed audibly at his science teacher looming over him once agin. "Oh, sorry…" He got to his feet, and looked over at the heroes. "I don't suppose any of you could give me a lift?"
Phantom frowned, crossing his arms. "Before we go, there's one last thing we need to sort out."
Mendeleiev and Nathaniel looked at the heroes in confusion. "There is?" Mendeleiev inquired, "what else could there possibly be? You de-akumatized him." She pointed at her student.
Catching onto what Phantom was thinking, Ladybug copied the ghost hero's pose. "Phantom's right. You need to apologize to Nathaniel." Realizing what they were talking about, Chat Noir made the same pose.
"Wha?" the teacher squawked in disbelief while Nathaniel blinked.
"She's right," said Phantom, pointing an accusing finger at the woman. "We got a tip from Nathaniel's classmate Marinette about why he might have been akumatized."
"Uh, that's right." While Ladybug and Phantom hadn't told him Marinette had shared that, Chat Noir played it off like he was completely in the loop. It was technically the truth since he knew the whole story too. "You were out of line."
"Me?!" screeched Mendeleiev.
"Yeah," Phantom drawled, "I'm pretty sure that a teacher isn't supposed publicly shame a student by announcing to his class that he's failing."
"Or call his art 'chicken scratch'," added Ladybug, ignoring the four-minute warning of her earrings from using the Miraculous Cure.
"While you may have been in your right to give him detention for not paying attention, that was kinda out of line," Chat Noir finished.
Mendeleiev raised a finger to refute the heroes' scolding, but found they may have a point.
"We're waiting," Phantom said, growing annoyed.
Sighing, Mendeleiev faced her student. "Nathaniel… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that stuff in front of your classmates." She paused, thinking. "Considering I upset you enough for you to get akumatized, maybe we can consider that detention served. And, I'd be willing to publicly apologize for my behavior in front of the class on Monday."
Nathaniel thought about it for a second, looking over at the heroes, and finally shook his head. "No, this apology is fine. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, anyway."
"Okay, now we can go. Phantom or Chat, you can take Nathaniel home since I have to transform back." Ladybug said, waving goodbye to everyone as she made her exit. "Bug out!"
Chat Noir gave a thumbs-up as he approached the window. "Happy birthday, Nathaniel!"
Nathaniel looked at Phantom in shock while Mendeleiev stared at the window, processing new information. "You guys know it's my birthday?"
Phantom chuckled. "You bet we do. It was a whole thing. I'll explain on the way."
When Monday came, things were back to normal. Marinette was at her locker, getting things ready for the day when Sabrina walked up to her. She was wearing a black beret with a white bow in addition to her usual clothes.
"Hi, Marinette! Ready to work on the project in the library after school?" Sabrina asked.
"Yep, now that I'm not going on a date with an akuma, my schedule is a little more open." Marinette put a textbook in her backpack. "Any luck with getting Chloe to help with the project?"
"Well, I tried, but then she let me borrow this new beret and I totally forgot about it." Sabrina spun around, showing off the hat. [11]
Marinette shook her head. "Figures. It looks nice, though."
"Thanks! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Chloe. She'd be so lost in the morning without me." Skipping past Marinette, Sabrina headed down the hallway. "Chloe! Your geography homework is ready for you."
The young designer sighed as she shut her locker. "Maybe one day, those two will learn what a healthy friendship looks like."
When Marinette reached her homeroom, she found Nathaniel in his seat in the back row, already sketching away. Waving to Alya as she passed her, Adrien, and Nino, she approached the artist's desk.
Nathaniel noticed her out of the corner of his eye, and stopped drawing to look up at her. "M-Marinette, hey! Sorry about the whole date thing… that must have been really awkward."
To his surprise, she shook her head. "Actually, it was kind of nice. The things you could do with your tablet and pen were pretty neat." Pulling off her backpack, she reached inside and pulled out a wrapped gift. "Here. It's a little late, but happy birthday. I hope you like it." Leaving the present with him, she went to go join Alya.
Left alone, Nathaniel turned his attention to the gift, and tore off the wrapping paper. He let out a soft gasp as he discovered what it was.
Marinette had given him a slightly blown-up picture of them at the dance, and it was even in a frame.
I'm back. Sorry it's been a bit, I've been deep in the Owl House fandom obsessing over the second half of the second season. I've been blown away by the depth and complexity of the show, but it's bittersweet because D*sney ultimately sabotaged the show's third season and cut it down to a third of what the first and second seasons got. That's like if the author of the Hunger Games was allowed to write the original book and Catching Fire up to as many pages as she needed, then was forced to summarize Mockingjay in only three pages. Understand how unfair and unsatisfying that is? The whole situation with Owl House extra stings because D*sney never did this to a show before, and suddenly it happens to Owl House? Considering how Owl House has the best story for a D*sney show in YEARS, you can imagine how furious I am; Dumb-ney finally managed to make me mad at them and that's how serious the situation is. Knowing how much story is going to be missing from the third season when it airs put me in such a funk for a few weeks I didn't feel like writing.
Ranting aside, back to the story. Looking back on Evillustrator's original episode, I honestly felt like Mendeleiev should have been the target of his wrath instead of Chloe. It's one thing to give him detention for doodling and not paying attention, and it's another to publicly announce his failing the class and insult his artwork. She reminds me too much of my science teachers in school, most of which I disliked. All Chloe did was tease him about a crush, which I viewed wasn't as harmful as what the teacher did. To that end, I made Mendeleiev be the one to receive a lesson in this episode. The subplot with Marinette being assigned a project with Chloe and Sabrina also warranted a fix. Even though it ultimately went nowhere, it served as an insight to how Chloe and Sabrina's friendship works, and since seasons 2 and 3 showed some more depth to Chloe's character and the friendship's complexity, I decided to edit it so Sabrina wasn't ready to jump ship at the drop of a hat.
This was ultimately a breather chapter between two heavier chapters, so expect big stuff next time.
[1] – Since Stormy Weather hasn't happened yet, Bubbler takes her place as Lady WiFi's accomplice in Nathaniel's imagine spot.
[2] – Left out Chloe's teasing since Evillustrator's target was supposed to be Mendeleiev in this version.
[3] – I think Chloe is smarter than she lets on. When she's not busy being a brat, she's actually pretty clever from what I've seen. Also, this is the only way I could see her passing tests if Sabrina is doing her homework.
[4] – Since Mendeleiev is the target instead of Chloe, giant test tubes replace the giant hairdryer made to attack Chloe.
[5] – Since again we don't have the Seine, a fictional lake will take its place. I don't think Lake Amity exists in the show, but whatever. Minnesota has 10,000 lakes so what's one more?
[6] – I said that Nathaniel's crush on Marinette was going to be referenced again, didn't I? Continuity from "One Kind of School Dance".
[7] – I never did like how Marinette was seemingly blamed for bailing on the project. If Sabrina had waited literally a few more seconds, then she would have had an understandable explanation for Marinette's absence from helping.
[8] – Jagged Stone foreshadowing.
[9] – Juleka's family lives on a houseboat on the Seine in canon, so here their houseboat is on Lake Amity.
[10] – Miraculous canon stresses the importance of using Lucky Charm for every fight. With an extra set of hands, sometimes not all powers will be needed. That should curb some self-sacrificial tendencies or feelings of being unneeded in the heroes, I hope.
[11] – As recent canon from ML season 4 shows us, Sabrina has a fondness for berets.
Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I worked hard on, don't just use the review box for speculation on future plot points.