MIRACULOUS
CHAPTER 33
(THIS IS NOT A) SWAN SONG PART 3
Luka carried two little girls, one in his arms and the other on his back as he made his way to the refuge. Upon arrival, he was greeted by an already familiar sight of the affected people of Paris. All the nice people he has known, having to deal with such a situation which had taken their daily lives in such a cruel manner.
"Um… sir?" one of the girls said. "Could you put us down please?"
Luka fought the urge of making a face for being called 'sir' but given the circumstances, he managed not to do it. He put the girls down and went back to those closest to him.
He caught a glimpse of his mother in the pantry as she clearly struggled to keep calm as she distributed their supplies and resources. He walked towards his post where he looked around the people he knew. The Cesaire family, Otis, Nora, and Ella were all cuddled together in tears. Luka was very perturbed with the first two's vulnerability, based on the few times they met.
"Mommy… Etta…" Ella croaked before breaking into sobbing again.
"Shh, shh, shh," Otis hushed, unable to contain tears on time.
"Damn it," Nora said, looking too out her phone and got up on her feet. "Where's Alya?"
"I'm going out," Otis said.
"Daddy, NO!" Etta begged.
"No, you stay with Etta!"
"It's too dangerous!"
Luka walked away, unable to bring himself to listen in. He then saw the Lahiffe family, or what's left of him.
"Please, pick up, pick up, pick up!" Nino's mother begged her phone. "Nino!" she shouted with a relieved smile on her face, only to immediately lose it and become exasperated again. "NO! Grrrr! It's the inbox again!"
"He's dead too, isn't he?" Chris wailed. His mother quickly hugged.
"We can't give up hope…" she croaked before breaking into sobs herself.
He finally reached his post and saw Juleka with a sleeping Rose in her arms. His sister took notice of him and saw him approaching.
"Luka," Juleka greeted. Luka kneeled by her side.
"How's she doing?" he asked, referring to Rose.
"She's dozed off," Juleka said, looking down at her. "She never stopped crying."
"How's mom?"
"She's still helping with the food rations with Ms. Kante," Juleka replied. "She does seem confident that Max is safe."
"Right…"
"You're not thinking of going back out there, are you?" Juleka asked. She was clearly getting hysterical.
"I have to," He said.
"Haven't you seen outside?" Juleka asked. "The whole thing got worse, look!" she showed him her phone.
TVi
"I'm afraid Nadja Chamack will not be joining us today due to family tragedy. This went from bad to worse as when we hope the heroes would apprehend this monstrous threat had only escalated by the appearance of no less than eight more of these monsters, wreaking havoc on our city. The military appears helpless…"
Luka's eyes widened and Juleka placed her hand on her shoulder.
"There's nothing you can do now," she said. "Why don't you stay and wait for mom?"
Luka smiled and was about to think about it until a portal opened and Pegasus entered with a few more survivors.
"These are all I could find in the area," he said. Ms. Kante went and approached them.
"I'll take care of them," she said and nodded with a smile.
"I… I must go back," he said, hiding his relation with her. She only nodded with a weary smile.
"Please, be careful," she whispered. Pegasus nodded and went back through the portal.
Juleka looked back at her brother, who only had a more determined look on his face.
"Luka?"
Meanwhile…
"MISTER BUG!" Lady Noir screamed down the hole on the ground where Cartman and Mister Bug just went through. She got up on her feet made fists with a deep breath. "I'm coming down!"
Lady Noir was about to jump down the hole when she was suddenly caught by one of the Cthulu's claws.
"AAARGH" she grunted by the sudden halt from her jump midair. "Let me go!"
"Lady Noir!" Ryuko shouted.
She jumped and kicked the monster's claw, causing it to let her go. Rocket then appeared below here just in time to catch her.
"Gotcha!" he said. "How's it going?"
"Rocket, take her and go!"
"What about you?"
"I will hold them off with the others. GO!"
"Roger!" Rocket said as he ran off with Lady Noir still in his arms.
"I gotta hide right now," Lady Noir said. "Ummm…"
"Rocket!"
"Rocket, we need to find Mister Bug."
"But you're about to lose your transformation."
"He knows who I am, it doesn't matter."
While running he saw a manhole in the middle of the street.
"Any manhole will do, in fact, we can't stray too far."
"Right," Rocket affirmed. He stopped with a screech on the ground, opened the manhole with a single hand, and jumped in with Lady Noir.
Meanwhile…
"AAAARGH!" Carapace grunted as he held his Shell-ter barrier while sustaining another monster's barrage. "Where's Pegasus?"
"He said he was on his way!"
"We need to recharge again," Future Queen Bee uttered.
"How much longer can we keep this up?" Present Queen Bee asked. Future Queen Bee pondered for a moment.
"Hellooo!"
"I wonder…"
Just then, a portal appeared underneath them and escaped through it. With the monsters completely out of control, they went on their instinct and went on their primal rampage.
They all appeared under the sewers and they all appeared exhausted and exasperated as they all detransformed. They all give their treats to their kwamis. The two Pollens finally took note of each other.
"This is bad…" Nino said. "This is really, really bad…"
"It has been a long time since a situation has escalated to such magnitude…"
"I suggest we evacuate the shelter," Max said. "The creatures will reach them soon."
"We cannot fight them," They heard Kagami's voice and they all saw her with Longg approaching. "I believe we must evacuate the survivors as quickly as possible until Mister Bug recovers.
"There is a way to stop all this," Future Chloe stepped in. Everyone stopped and stared at her. "What, do you think I didn't learn anything on the island for 200 years?"
Meanwhile…
"Whoo! Been a while since I felt such a beating," Plagg stretched his neck.
"Seems you got your millennia cut off for you. Huh?" Marinette asked, crossing her arms. Causing the black cat kwami to open an eye at her.
"Pinyin?" Plagg asked.
"That obvious, huh?"
"How is she?"
Before the conversation could go further, there was a vibration that shook the sewers. Marinette quickly scrambled her pockets and whipped out some cream cheese candy.
"Guess we'll talk about this later, here," she offered him. "I know it's not exactly camembert but…"
"Tibetan cream cheese?" Plagg said as he saw what she offered him. "Been a while!" he said as he began munching on the sweet.
"KID!" Rocket's voice echoed from the distance. He came into view, panting. "Found them."
Meanwhile…
Cartman punched a hole through the wall in search of his opponent.
"You can't hide forever!" he sneered.
"If I had macaron for every time I heard that one, I'd be a fatso, too!" Adrien shouted as he crouched while hastily feeding Tikki a macaron, who gave him a glare for what he said.
"HEY!"
Meanwhile…again…
"Do you think that is wise?" Kagami asked.
"I have to admit, I'm nervous," Future Pollen said.
"Hey, I'm not doing much better here," Present Pollen said.
"Gonna be honest with you guys," Future Chloe said. "I've never actually done this. I've only discovered them on the ancient texts."
"Do we have any other options," Max asked.
"Who cares?" Alya was getting tired of waiting. "This is a 'do or die' thing, here!"
"I agree, " Max said. "This may be our only shot."
"Then it's settled," Kagami said. "We should transform again as soon as possible."
"All right," Future Chloe agreed. "If what Ryuko said was true, then they should be on their way to where Cartman and Mister Bug are by now. We must make haste…"
"Ugh…" Present Chloe groaned.
"What now?"
"I never talk like that!"
"Like what?"
"All…" Present Chloe struggled to find an answer. "All high and mighty…"
"What?"
"How did I became you, again?"
"Not the time, Bourgeois!" Kagami hissed. Present Chloe crossed her arms with a scoff.
"All right," Present Chloe said. "Ready?"
"It's morphing time!" Nino said. Everyone quieted down and turned to stare at him. "No? Just trying it on."
Alya simply facepalmed.
Meanwhile…once again…
"Okay," Rocket said as they approached ground zero. "Once Cartman is on sight we…Kid?" he looked around after realizing he lost sight of Marinette. "KID!"
"Wait!" Plagg shouted. Have you thought this…"
"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"
"…through?" Plagg said as he was sucked into the ring.
"Hey, meatball!"
"My kady!" Adrien said.
"Why You!" Cartman growled as she caught his attention. She jumped at him and he whistled. A claw suddenly came from above and grabbed her. "Heh heh, it worked."
Cartman jumped and quickly jumped up the claw. He hanged on for a moment to relish the moment as Lady Noir struggled on Cthulu's claw.
"Uh… Let me…go!" Lady Noir struggled helplessly as bother her arms were bound on the giant monster's grip.
"Whatcha got in mind?" Duusuu popped up, unfazed with Cartman's antics.
"Will I be able to control these Cthulu's once transformed, right?"
"Correctamundo!" Duusuu answered as she flew around.
"Then how about another go?" Cartman grinned.
"As long as you don't hurt Nathalie!" Duusuu said with a huff.
"Yeah, yeah," Cartman replied rolling her eyes.
"Then let's do this!"
"DUUSUU, SPREAD MY FEATHERS!"
He transformed back into Beefcock then climbed once again onto the monster's head.
"Spread out, FIND HER!" he commanded.
Back down the sewers…
"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"
There was a flash of red and pink energy from a specific hiding spot before Mister Bug emerged.
"I'm coming, my lady!" He started spinning his yoyo until he heard other voices behind him.
"Mister Bug!" Ryuko shouted, catching his attention. She along with Rena, Carapace, Pegasus, and the Queen Bees.
"All together," he asked them, he was about to rejoice when Ryuko's expression fell.
"Ah, ah," Cartman warned. "Not this time, let's get rid of these flies on the wall."
The Cthulu monster began moving its mouth tentacles and started to target Mister Bug. A single tentacle shot towards the distracted hero.
"LOOK OUT!" Lady Noir screamed. Ryuko made a break towards Mister Bug and got between him and the tentacle.
"Ah…" Ryuko yelped as the tentacle tip stuck on her chest. She turned to Mister Bug and reached out to him and whimpered. "Adrien…"
She was quickly sucked into its mouth… Everyone stared in awe…
"It ate her…"
"No more games!" Cartman yelled. "Get them!"
The monster attacked the others with its other claw and everyone dodged the attack as best as they could.
"Everybody, scatter!" Rocket yelled, running on all fours to a tunnel. The team went through separate sewer tunnels, splitting into groups. Rocket went on his own, while Mister Bug went with Carapace, Future Queen Bee went with Rena, and present Queen Bee went with Pegasus.
Mister Bug went back into hiding, flabbergasted over how they retreated once again just as quickly as they emerged.
"What the heck was that?" Carapace asked. Mister Bug shook his head.
"He's not screwing around," Mister Bug said. "We need to get to him and fast.
"Did you see that?" Carapace tried to remind Mister Bug. "How are we gonna beat that?"
"Our best bet is to get straight to Cartman to get back to Cartman and take the peacock miraculous."
"I think Pegasus is our best shot!" Carapace suggested.
"I agree," Mister Bug contacted Pegasus with the communicator with his yoyo.
"Mister Bug," Pegasus greeted.
"Hey Pegasus, we need a plan to get to Cartman and stop those sentimonsters."
"Actually, there is a valuable asset that future Queen Bee proposed to us," Pegasus said. "We should link up to her as well."
Back on the surface…
"What do you hope to achieve?" Lady Noir yelled. She still struggled to break free from Cthulu's grip. After the last time she tried 'cataclysm' on a sentimonster, she knew better than to do it again.
"How about saving Paris and maybe the world by catching a crazy-ass bitch?" Cartman answered, sliding down through the creature's arm. "Reason enough for ya?"
"How?" Lady Noir sneered. "By decimating half of Paris and killing everyone in it?"
"Better for them to be crushed by falling buildings, than what the Agreste bitch is doing to those who died from the plague," Cartman countered. Lady Noir stopped struggling and looked at him raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Cartman approached and squatted taking a closer look at her.
"Do you really think the Agreste witch unleashed the white plague on Paris just to be a douche?" Cartman asked.
"It's to use those souls to bring back her stillborn daughter. I know the whole story!" she countered. Cartman just smirked.
"Do you?"
Lady Noir simply looked back at him. She frowned at him as she listened. She clearly didn't like where this was heading.
Back on the sewers…
"Wait what?"
"I was the knowledge lost from before the stone age," Future Queen Bee said. "There is a lot more from the 200 years I have studied but this is all we can try right now."
"Amplifying our abilities like that?" Mister Bug asked. "This is more than a regular human being can handle, we're not alchemy superhumans like Marinette. How did you live for 200 years, anyway?"
"I'm sure Plagg can assert to that."
"Plagg?" Mister Bug asked. "What does he have to do with…."
"AYE! FORGET THAT I SAID THAT!" Future Queen Bee exasperatedly cut him off and clasped her hands as in prayer and cocked her head with a nervous smile. "Please?"
Mister Bug gave her a suspicious look but quickly shook his head.
"Fine!" Mister Bug reluctantly conceded. "So what's the verdict?"
Back with Lady Noir…
Lady Noir's eyes widened as she could not believe what she just heard. She tried her damndest not to break down but failed miserably.
"No…*sniff* no…"
"Yep," Cartman affirmed. "Do you really think she's gonna go after your miraculouses on her own? Why else would she used the white plague first?"
"I never thought that she…" Lady trailed. "What kind of monster…? Oh, Adrien… I never would have wanted him to live to see…" she broke down as her voice broke.
"Yeah, well, that's a bitch, isn't it?"
"This… THIS MADWOMAN HAS TO BE STOPPED!" Lady Noir screeched as she once again began to struggle in her bonds.
"Now be a little girl and you stay over hyah," Cartman said. "While I do…"
"No!" Lady Noir shouted. "Not like this!"
"It's all a means to an end," Cartman justified and with that, he climbed his way to the top. "I don't wanna wait for our lives to be over…"
Lady Noir felt a breeze, she immediately knew it was not an ordinary breeze. Cartman must have taken note of that as he stopped dead on his track and began to tug around his suit's neck. He began to hyperventilate and suddenly began to struggle to breathe.
"Eh…." He seethed as he struggled to keep his footing. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhh…"
"Um," Lady Noir wondered. "Are you ok?"
"I can't… I can't…" Cartman hyperventilated. "What the,,, I can't…"
"HAI-YI!" Future Queen Bee shouted, landing a flying kick under his elbow.
"HA!" Present Queen Bee roundhouse kicked Cartman in the face.
"This pollen wind actually paid off," Rena said before playing her flute to summon a sandstorm, which disoriented him and all the Cthulu creatures, causing the creature to let Lady Noir go.
Before she could plummet down far, Mister Bug swung by and grabbed her.
"Gotcha!"
"You know I could break my fall with my staff, right?"
"So?" Mister Bug asked and Lady Noir rolled her eyes.
"WHOO-HOO!" Carapace shouted with his shell-ter power barrier already activated and was soft enough to bounce off.
"I didn't know he could do that…"
"That's 'cause he didn't!" Mister Bug grinned.
"Huh?"
"Left punch!" Pegasus suddenly appeared from a portal in the distance and knocked another one of the Cthulu sentimonsters out. Carapace knocked another one out by bouncing his way into the top of its head. "Front kick," he appeared atop of him with a kick. There was a successive series of attacks from a barrage of portals. Cartman eventually grabbed Pegasus by the leg, only to be stunned by Carapace and Rena by disoriented by the mist yet again and was knocked down by Carapace's flexible barrier.
"Wait, how did they stop him?" Lady Noir asked, Present Chloe landed right by them. "Where's the amok?"
"Courtesy of… future me," Queen Bee said, as her future self followed suit.
"Yes, I have found a way to expand on our powers, such as how we were able to suck out Cartman's oxygen by manipulating the pollen we summoned around him, no pun intended," Future Queen Bee, getting up to her feet and stretched her arms to her sides, showing off.
"Chloe?" Lady Noir asked.
"The one and only," she winked at her. Mister Bug rolled his eyes.
"That's the Chloe I remember…"
"Is she from the future?" Lady Noir asked Mister Bug. There was another explosion, causing a vibration.
"Not quite, but we'll talk about it later," he replied as they all went to get shelter.
Cartman was trying to fight off the Rena Rouge clones while trying to watch his back as the Cthulu monster tried to fight off Carapace.
"Okay, that does it!" Cartman pushed the clones off and grabbed Pegasus. "Now, I'm pissed off!" He then slammed him on the ground, flat on his face. He then whistled, getting the attention of the other Cthulu creatures. No less than three sentimonsters approached them and raised their claws about to strike.
"Cthulhu!" Cartman called, the sentimonsters turned to listen. "Feast!"
The Cthulu creatures summoned the mouth tentacles. Cartman grabbed Pegasus' leg again and threw him at the one for them, it grabbed him with a tentacle and consumed him.
"NOOO!" Lady Noir screamed.
"This is bad!" Mister Bug said.
"This power extension really needed work," Future Queen Bee said and activated her top again. "HEALING SHOT!" she shouted and stung Lady Noir.
"Ow!"
"Now you sting Mister Bug when you're ready! I'll leave the rest up to you, ok?" Future Queen Bee said before entering the fray again.
"Wait what did she…?"
"Oh, that's what we discovered," Present Queen Bee. "My supposed future me had this ability to expand on our powers. HEALING SHOT!"
"OW! Wait!" Mister Bug swung his yoyo and threw it at a rooftop to pull himself up and went after her. "We gotta regroup and find another way!"
"No Time!"
"Hey!" Present Queen Bee was about to join them, only to be abruptly grabbed by a tentacle from behind from another Cthulu creature and ate her.
"Chloe!" Lady Noir noticed. "Damn!" she had no choice but to press on.
Future Queen Bee shouted and leaped amongst the rooftops towards the original Cthulu monster, dodging its attacks. When a claw struck the building rooftop, reaching all the way to the ground floor, its claw got stuck on the ground. Future Queen Bee made her way up to its arm and leaped towards Cartman.
"VENOM!" she leaped towards him and charged him with her top. Cartman dodged it skillfully grabbed her arm and patted her down to the ground.
"Ah, ah, ah, what did I say?"
"Um, you're a total tool?"
"Whoops, wrong answer!" Cartman threw her towards the original Cthulu's face. The sentimonster straight up ate her.
"Damn it, how many of us are left!" Rena said.
"Ummm… Lady Noir, do you remember last time the akuma expanded, how did we deal with it?" Mister asked, nervously scratching his chin. Lady Noir facepalmed.
"Hawk Moth, gathered all the akumas ta make a face and made his announcement. That's how I purrified them all," she replied with a deadpan tone. She grinned at him as she emphasized "purrified"
"Gathering them all in one place," Mister Bug summarized. "Typical villain mistake." He then noticed her pun… "I'm so proud of you…"
"Erm… Where's Rocket?" Rena asked.
"Err, dudes…" Carapace said, pointing towards the approaching the Cthulu sentimonsters leaving an onslaught behind.
Before they could get ready, another Cthulu sentimonster struck from behind and quickly grabbed Rena and Carapace and consumed them as well.
"Nino!" Rena yelled in panic.
"Alya!"
"Nino, if we don't make it through this, then I hope to see you on the other side!" Rena yelled about to cry.
"Don't say tha…!"
Unable to do much to help them, they jumped off, avoiding being grabbed by a third Cthulu creature.
"This is bad," Lady Noir said. "This is really, really, really bad…"
"Tell me about it!" Mister Bug agreed as they both dodged the strikes from the numerous monsters.
"Guess it's now or never, Mister Bug."
"Right. LUCKY CHARM!" Mister Bug once again threw his yoyo up in the air only to be greeted by… "An hourglass?"
"Sometimes, I even ask myself if that thing is being sincere with us," Lady Noir said. But then she noticed that Mister Bug was a little too observant and fixated on the hourglass, given the situation. "Uhh, mister Bug?"
Mister Bug was flipping the hourglass up and down. It seems that the sand within the hourglass is just going one way.
"Hey Lady Noir, notice something?" he asked as he tossed the hourglass to her. She observed and saw that the sand was unaffected by gravity. And only going from on one side to another, almost as if it was…
"A countdown?"
"Should we just wait it out?"
Author's note: I'm gonna leave it there and boy this was a rough one. Yeah, this chapter did not turn out as well as I had hoped, not to mention the sudden cliffhanger, but as expected the writing of this chapter was affected by me moving to a new address.
The fact that I had to put my writing aside for over a week and a half, really affected how this chapter went, and lost my flow on it which I hope I can recover on the next chapter. I believe this has been the largest waiting gap thus far. I mean, seriously, how do you say goodbye to a place that has been your home for 13 years?
Also, I suppose this battle has prolonged quite a bit and as you may have imagined, this is getting a part 4 and I promise that it will justify the title.
Anyway, stay tuned for the conclusion of this battle (not the story, not by a long shot).
Constructive criticism is appreciated.