Chapter 72: Ursa

The next day that rolls around is a school day. Adrien Agreste is getting ready when he gets a text message. It's Kagami Tsurugi, reminding him about their "study date" that afternoon. Adrien insists he'll be there and says it's on his calendar. "I'm looking forward to it!" Plagg lounges on Adrien's pillow, enjoying being "an only child" again as all of the kwamis Adrien was tasked to look after have found their permanent wielders. Plagg is also grateful that he doesn't have to keep other kwamis from exploring the house and accidentally revealing someone's identity. That reminds Adrien about the most recent clue Master Fu left for him. He begins to study over it when his aunt, Amelie, calls him for his carpool to school. Adrien sticks the note in his backpack and leaves with Plagg hiding in his pocket. He stops into his parents' bedroom a moment to say good-bye to them even though both are still comatose and cannot respond. He asks Dr. Theroux, but the nursing practitioner says there's no change in his parents' condition.

Felix Grahem de Vanily is the first one in the limo and is sourly waiting for the rest. Adrien joins him and tries to cheer his cousin up. This includes Adrien swallowing his insecurities and attempting a joke a la Cat Noir. Felix wonders why "your parents are in a coma. Why are you trying to cheer me up?" Adrien shrugs, disheartened that his attempts at humor fall flat. Ladybug said people wouldn't reject Adrien if he was funny. I trust her…but is that really true? Nicholas Sancoeur joins them a minute later, and the gorilla drives them all to Francoise Dupont High School.

Marinette Dupin-Cheng is sitting on the steps of the school, composing yet another confession letter to Adrien. When Luka Couffaine approaches her, Marinette quickly slips the letter into her binder filled with similar letters and strikes up a conversation with Luka. She asks him how things went with his parents the other day (as the friends had slipped out of Juleka's party to give the family time together). Luka admits that they went well—he and Juleka were able to have a much-needed talk with their father, and he's really hoping the whole family can heal and move forward. He admits he can tell it's going to be hardest for his mother. Marinette wishes him the best and offers her ear if he even needs to talk; she can listen. Luka thanks her and smiles in a way that makes it clear to everyone but Marinette that Luka is in love with her.

Marinette isn't the only one journaling. Sabrina Raincomprix is finishing the latest entry on her emotions journal; she realizes she now has enough to report to the school guidance counselor, so she tucks the notebook into her bag. Chloe Bourgeois passes by, but Sabrina doesn't even glance in her direction. There are murmurs about the Bourgeois divorce that ripple as Chloe passes—most of those stem from Marie Chauveau and Suzette Rault. Alix Kubdel tells them to knock it off, but they blow Alix off. Not too far away, Ivan Bruel is staring at his phone. He knows he should make a fake account for Team Ladybug's chat server—even Stompp is encouraging him to do so. But Ivan admits he doesn't really care much for social media, and joining a Discord is a lot like social media to him. Stompp reminds Ivan that the heroes need to be able to contact him if there's a crisis. Ivan nods although he still isn't comfortable with the concept.

He's not the only one on his phone. Rachel Beauchene is typing away very quickly—well, as quickly as she can type with her long, fake garnet nails. She's actually on an anti-Ladybug and Cat Noir blog, making some rather vicious posts against them. When her boyfriend, Tristan Fortier, asks what she's doing, she insists it's nothing and stashes her phone in her pocket. So he asks her about her first kendo lessons, and Rachel admits to loving every minute. They laugh together. Le Chien Kim is also checking his phone, but there's still no word at all from Ondine. Her parents are really keeping her grounded. Fumikage Tokoyami meets up with Viktor Vasiliev. Viktor brings up a couple of new novels he's read, and Fumikage expresses interest in them. Viktor offers to lend them when he's done.

(The whole cast is here: (( photos . app . goo . gl / cgLSrNi71rxfep9e8 )).)

The bell rings for classes to begin. The students disperse, and Madam Dolores Gros leaves her office to find someone to interview. However, Sabrina catches her first to have a follow up appointment on her emotions journal (she got permission from Miss Bustier). Madam Gros realizes she has to genuinely do her job as a counselor, so she invites Sabrina into her sound-proof office.

Once inside, Sabrina produces her emotions journal and relays its contents to Madam Gros. Madam Gros points out that the times Sabrina feels most anxious are actually the times things are going well for her and that she's about to be happy. For example, she gets fearful when invited to hang out with her new friends and gets nervous when they trust her with things. The conclusion is that Sabrina is afraid of messing up. However, Madam Gros reminds her that she is allowed to be happy. She (Sabrina) shouldn't be her own roadblock. Madam Gros teaches Sabrina some basic techniques to realign her thoughts and to repaint various scenarios from a mentally more positive perspective. Once done, Sabrina leaves. And Madam Gros grumbles to Ellie the elephant kwami about time wasted; she could have been finding more wielders.

During lunch time, Kagami Tsurugi finds Adrien again to remind him about their study date. He does have a history of flaking out on her, after all. Adrien reassures her and reaffirms he will be there. However, their conversation is not private. Lila Rossi is eavesdropping, and her eyes narrow on Kagami. This will not do at all.

Ivan Bruel is still hesitant, but Stompp encourages him enough during lunch that he finally pulls out his cell phone and makes a burner email. Then Ivan uses that to step up his account on Ladybug's team's Discord. No one else is online at the moment as they are all busy with stuff at school, which gives Ivan a moment to read through the conversation history.

Blue Ox has joined the chat…

After speaking with Kagami, Adrien finds his cousin, Felix Graham de Vanily, and offers to have lunch with him in an attempt to open Felix up and make friends at the school. Felix turns him down and heads off to do his own thing. He pulls out his cellphone and begins researching through private schools and tutors in London. Nicholas Sancoeur gets invited to Gilles Chastain's table, which works for him as Jakeel Aristide is among those present, so Nicholas can watch him to see if the raccoon choker is having any ill effects.

During lunch, Rachel Beauchene and her boyfriend, Tristan Fortier, actually get into a fairly heated argument about Ladybug and Cat Noir with Rachel turning against the golden duo and Tristan reminding her that those two helped to de-evilize both of them. Rachel isn't convinced though. The argument is loud enough that several students take note of it, including Nicholas.

After lunch, Madam Gros calls Rose Lavillant into her counselor's office for the usual mental health screening. Madam Gros starts with asking questions about Rose's family and friends, which Rose answers with optimism and enthusiasm. She has a great relationship with most of the girls and half of the guys in her class, and she loves hanging out with them all. Her family has been supportive, and she even has great relationships with her extended family and celebrity crush, Prince Ali. Rose mentions that Ali is working his way through hospitals in France, doing volunteer work and cheering up the children there. Ali already promised Rose can work alongside him when he arrives at her usual hospital in Paris.

This enables Madam Gros to bring up Rose's condition, as she (being a staff member) is aware that Rose has a chronic illness (whatever that may be). Rose admits that it can be scary at times—like when she's by herself at night—but she wants to live her life fully, and she won't give in to fear or negativity. There's so many things she'd rather do, like spending time with her friends and helping those in the hospital who are even worse off than herself.

Madam Gros asks Rose about her plans for the future, and Rose lets a slip, "if I make it that far, I want to be a doctor—especially a pediatrician!" Dolores Gros can tell Rose is repressing at least some of her fears and insecurities, so she tries to get Rose to open up about those. Rose eventually replies with a simple "if I started being scared, I'd never stop being scared—so I'm not going to give into the fear" with Dolores Gros unable to pull anything more out of her. With nothing else to learn, Madam Gros sends Rose back to class and declines using her for a Western miraculous.

After school rolls around, and the student body disperses. Adrien Agreste actually has about an hour until he's scheduled to meet Kagami (an appointment he fully intends on keeping), so he decides to keep his word to Ladybug and follow Chloe Bourgeois for a while to see if he can learn where she got her Western miraculous from. So he suits up as Cat Noir and follows her, hidden on the rooftops. But despite his surveillance, he sees nothing out of the ordinary. Well, he does see Chloe snub her father when she enters her manor as she isn't even on speaking terms with him—but nothing magic related. (He's also had marginally less modeling appointments lately, what with his father being comatose and all, there's less products in the Gabriel line for him to model.)

Viktor Vasiliev heads to the art room in order to work on painting some handcrafted models for NPCs in his DnD campaign. (It's worth noting that inside his personal box of paints, under the lid, is an article about Mireille Caquet, cut from the newspaper and taped into place so her photo is prominent.) Nicolette Lacroix is in the art room already, designing a rather chic skirt. She's clearly trying to catch the eye of Etienne Fontaine, who is there decorating another mirror. Luka and Juleka Couffaine are just outside on the exterior steps, playing their parents' guitar and bass together. Viktor says nothing to anyone and begins to work. However, as he collects his models, he notices that someone else made a very realistic clay model of Ladybug and Cat Noir in action—likely Theo Barbot. With no one looking Viktor's eyes go dark, and he knocks those into the trash can.

Meera Pugliese and Raissa Deschamps text Giselle Winters-Blanchet together, as Giselle is still in the Riviera with her father. Giselle tells them that she should be back in Paris the next day, and both want to hear all about her trip. Meera asks about her bracelet; Giselle informs her that there's been no progress since she left her bracelet behind when her father decided on a spontaneous vacation.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel are chatting. They pull up their phones to check Team Ladybug's Discord; as a result, they're the first ones to notice Blue Ox now has an account. As Nom de Plume and Buck, respectively, they welcome him onto the team—which does feel a bit odd to them, as they are among the newest with Western miraculous.

Lila Rossi slips away and follows Kagami. She absolutely cannot have Kagami win Adrien. Adrien belongsto me! She notices Kagami even seems happy, which irritates her all the more. But, if I play my cards right, I can also boost my reputation—and no one will know any better!

Nicholas Sancoeur is about to head home himself when his aunt contacts him via long-range telepathy. The garnet fruit has ripened. It's time to harvest our next ally. Nicholas agrees to her plan, still feeling depressed due to his own existential crisis. He heads behind the school where he transforms into Adamantus, and then he heads off to find the bearer of the nails.

He leaps onto the roof of the school and scans the exiting students. He finds Rachel Beauchene fairly quickly, but he has to follow her for several block as she walks home with her boyfriend, Tristan Fortier. It isn't until they reach the park that the couple parts ways. Adamantus waits until Rachel turns down a narrow, otherwise deserted street. That's when he lands in front of her.

Rachel is so surprised she leaps backward and pulls out her wooden kendo sword. Adamantus raises his hands to prove he means no harm. Rachel relaxes by about three hairs and demands to know what Adamantus is doing there. All of Paris knows he's an enemy of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Adamantus calmly asks Rachel is she's truly an ally of the golden duo. Rachel insists Ladybug and Cat Noir help Paris, but there is clear hesitation and uncertainty in her voice. Adamantus counters her assertion with "you don't really believe that, do you?"

Rachel glances down at her red nails and admits she doesn't. She's sick of hearing about Ladybug and Cat Noir everywhere she goes. She even more sick of watching friends and classmates get akumatized every week. "Paris might see them as heroes, but all I can see are two failures."

Adamantus holds out his hand. "Do you want to help me put an end to this farce?" Rachel is clearly enticed but wonders what he means. He replies with "you've had the power with you all along." Rachel pauses, takes a deep breath, and agrees to work alongside Adamantus to end what she has been magically convinced to believe is a huge injustice. Adamantus coaches her, telling her to tap into those emotions.

This sparks the akuma inside Rachel's garnet nails and instigates her transformation into a crimson bear-themed heroine—or rather, villain, though she doesn't see herself that way. Her transformation crops her long hair extremely short, like ear length—though it's still enough to hide her ears. Two cute bear ears form on the top of her head, mounted on a headband. Her outfit includes a furry collar and chest that also matches her elbow-length, fur trimmed claw-gloves and knee-high, fur trimmed boots. Rachel also dons a belt with a hip pocket, a single shoulder pauldron, and a narrow domino mask. Her entire ensemble is varying shades of red, though the primary color is a darker red-brown (though her claws, which are now visible on her gloves, are bright red).

Rachel looks herself over, amazed. She flexes her fingers and tests a kick, feeling all the new strength coursing through her. She formally starts calling herself Ursa and asks Adamantus "So you want me to stop Ladybug and Cat Noir? What do I have to do?" Adamantus smiles coldly as he explains the plan.

Cat Noir has just about run out of time watching Chloe—a fruitless effort. He turns to go to meet Kagami Tsurugi when his cell phone notifies him about a sighting on the streets of Paris through the Akuma Alert app. It's a poor picture, showing Adamantus and someone in red near the grocery store where Rhino was spotted. There aren't any other reports to affirm this one. Cat Noir flinches. He has his Akuma Alert turned up high so he gets notified if anything goes wrong—he has that responsibility, after all. But he seriously owes Kagami after standing her up so many times. He hesitates; he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Then he makes his decision and puts his phone away. He has a friend to meet.

Meanwhile, Adamantus and Ursa scour the last known place Rhino was seen, looking for clues about the Western Order. They find none and move onto retracing the route Fate took when June was akumatized, again looking for clues and trying to find the location Ivory works from. Ursa makes it clear she's as disgusted with Draco's team as she is Ladybug's, so the detour doesn't bother her initially. But as they fail to turn up any concrete results, her patience thins.

Next they head to the abandoned hotel, where the events of Sir Silver Hart occurred. That's when Ursa loses it. The garnet bear nails are clearly affecting her mentally, and she just wants to brutally fight Ladybug and Cat Noir (though the brutal part does stem from Rachel's own inner sadist). Adamantus tries to calm her, but he's not the best at that as he, himself, is The Stoic.

Ursa loses her cool, picks up a large cement pipe from the abandoned hotel construction site, and throws it. This catches multiple people's attentions, and further Akuma Alerts are sent in, verifying the first.

Adrien is on the steps of the library when more Akuma Alerts flood in. He flinches. He really owes it to Kagami. But he can't deny any longer that Cat Noir is needed. He rushes to a hiding place and transforms. Marinette gets the alert while she's penning another letter, attempting to confess her feelings to Adrien. She leaves the letter on her desk, transforms, and swings out of her balcony's trap door. The alert is also enough to get all available members of both teams scrambling for the Discord servers to coordinate.

Adamantus scolds Ursa for losing it, and the two are in the middle of an argument when the golden duo land. Ursa is thrilled to see them as she wants to pit her new powers against them; she forgets all about her qualms with Adamantus. Ladybug expresses surprise to see another ally to Adamantus, and Ursa introduces herself properly as the "garnet bear." The nails on her gloves elongate as she prepares to fight. Cat Noir and Ladybug see this as an opportunity to get more information and finally learn who is behind Adamantus. All four charge.

Ursa wastes no time in using her special ability—after all, the items made with birthstones don't have time limits. "Metallurgy!" Ursa reveals she can manipulate existing metal (though she can't conjure new metal). She gathers the metal from nearby lamppost and crafts it into armor for herself. Ladybug and Cat Noir try to stop her, but they're too late. Their attacks deflect off of her new armor.

Ursa smiles and makes the armor spikier and further lengthens her claws, mimicking Wolverine. Then she crafts a halberd out of metal and charges them both with savage bloodlust. Ladybug and Cat Noir leap onto the roof to avoid her, and Cat Noir comments that at least now Ursa is too heavy to be able to climb or jump after them.

Except she can. Ursa re-crafts her armor into climbing greaves and charges after them. As Ladybug and Cat Noir retreat, Cat Noir comments that their opponents definitely getting tougher. They already know how high Adamantus's defenses are, and now Ursa is fully armored. Ladybug says that maybe their opponent's strengths are actually their weaknesses. Cat Noir wonders what she means. Ladybug does too—it sounded wise, something like Master Fu would say. They both miss him—and they both need to solve his final riddles.

Adamantus is able to outmaneuver them and cuts off their route, leaving them trapped between him and Ursa. Cat Noir demands to know why they're doing this—what do they want the miraculous for? Adamantus enigmatically answers that their sponsor wants the items for "their own purposes." Ursa adds that she's just in it to kick Ladybug and Cat Noir's butts because she's sick of seeing them everywhere like they're heroes despite the fact Hawk Moth has been a threat for months. This causes both heroes to flinch in guilt as they are nowhere near pinning down Hawk Moth's location. And in that moment, Adamantus and Ursa charge. Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm, though she has no immediate idea how to use it (maybe it's something like a floatie). Ursa nearly claws Ladybug's face off, but Cat Noir leaps in and redirects the bear with his baton. That doesn't protect them from Adamantus, who strikes them both with his screwdrivers.

That's when Ladybug realizes how she can use her Lucky Charm—but they're going to need some allies. Cat Noir offers to buy her some time while she "radios for back-up." Ladybug falls back to a chimney and starts texting on her yo-yo.

On the various Discords, teams are trying to coordinate and are waiting for their call to arms. Alpha is organizing the B Team, suggesting that Firefly and Tsukuyomi start on surveillance to see if they can track where Adamantus comes or goes to find out who his sponsor is. Both flyers agree and head out. Moments later, Ladybug contacts them, requesting Froppy and Dauphin/e's help. Froppy is surprised, but she immediately departs. Dauphine is still mega-grounded, but Dauphin is willing to lend a fin. He heads to the fight a moment later.

On Team Ladybug's Discord, Ladybug requests Ryuko join them. Kagami Tsurugi gets this message while she's waiting at the library on Adrien. She had her phone open just in case he called. She doesn't want to miss him in case he shows up late. But he's nowhere to be seen. So Kagami runs to the bathroom and transforms with Longg.

Meanwhile, Ladybug urges Cat Noir to get their opponents to follow them. Cat Noir says it won't be hard, as Ursa is quite worked up. Ladybug begins leading Adamantus and Ursa towards the sports stadium, doing her best to deflect their blows while she runs. Cat Noir winds up having to Cataclysm one of Adamantus's weapons because the diamond unicorn is just that persistent. Adamantus pulls out his second screwdriver and keeps pressure on the attack while deadpan complimenting Cat Noir on his ability. Which causes Cat Noir to ask Adamantus what the diamond unicorn's ability even is. It's already been established that Nicholas has no idea and that that fact gets to him. He falters, allowing Cat Noir to get some distance between them.

They make it to the upper level of the stadium where they're joined by Froppy, Dauphin, and Ryuko. Ursa accuses them of needing numbers to beat her and Adamantus rather than fighting fair. Adamantus, still stoic, remarks that it's just more miraculous for them to take. Fighting resumes, and Ladybug tosses one of her floaties to Cat Noir. They then lead their opponents to the athletic field. Their allies remain behind.

Cat Noir then pulls out his worst puns and jokes and riles Ursa up even further. When she uses her Metallurgy ability again to fortify her weapons further, Ladybug signals to her allies, who all start channeling water. This quickly floods the stadium, with Ladybug and Cat Noir barely hanging on due to their Lucky Charm floaties. Ursa is stuck on the ground, and even Adamantus has trouble in the current.

Hawk Moth watches this, very troubled. Ursa can't even break her armor as she can't speak underwater. I need to get them out of there before Ladybug takes their items! Female Hawk Moth reaches out to another of her secret allies…

Froppy leaps to the scoreboard and prepares her fishing line and hook—the moment she sees one of their enemies, she'll capture them. Ryuko transforms back into solid form and helps pull Ladybug and then Cat Noir from the current. Cat Noir jokes about not having time to de-transform and then re-transform into their aqua forms. Ryuko brushes off the joke and then asks to be excused. It's clear the heroes can handle things, and she has somewhere she needs to be. Ladybug thanks her for her help. Ryuko transforms into her air form and flies back to the library. She doesn't want to miss Adrien, not at all. But when she returns, he's still not there.

However, there is someone else watching. Lila Rossi. Seeing her moment, Lila discreetly transforms into Mink. She then uses the Gemini's power of Duality to split Kagami into her light side and dark side. She has the light side form in the library stacks while the dark side remains where whole Kagami was. Dark side immediately gets fed up with waiting and stalks out. She is going to get an answer why Adrien keeps standing her up—straight from his mouth. She leaves. Light side looks a bit bewildered, but then she returns to the seat her dark side had occupied. And she sits and waits. Because light side Kagami is willing to give Adrien the benefit of the doubt due to the on-going villain confrontation—it's delaying traffic and things. After all, Adrien did promise to be there. Mink chuckles to herself and transforms back without anyone knowing she was there.

Back at the flooded stadium, the heroes wait for their moment. But as seconds pass, neither Ursa nor Adamantus surface. Ladybug orders Dauphin to dive in and pull them out—she isn't about to be responsible for people drowning, after all. Dauphin is about to dive in when the flood begins to recede quite rapidly. The heroes are perplexed about what's going on.

Ladybug leads the group, and they jump down to the soggy field to find out what happened. Adamantus and Ursa are both gone. It's Cat Noir who notices the large square that appears to be cut in the stadium wall—or perhaps it's Dauphin's Echolocation that discovers it. Obviously the place the water drained from, judging from the puddles outside. Froppy notes "It…it looks like Chip Bluestone's Escape. But that can't be right."

With nothing further to do, Ladybug does her world-healing wave, and all of the remaining heroes "Pound It." Dauphin and Froppy head off on their own. Cat Noir is about to go his own way, but Ladybug stops him. She brings up his idea to have their allies practice—and she wants to follow through with it. The only thing is, she's not sure a safe place to have a dozen heroes gather to practice that won't catch attention. Cat Noir is thrilled she's going to have practice sessions like the B Team has and offers to keep an eye out on anywhere that'll work for them. Ladybug smiles, which makes him melt, and tells him that's exactly what she was hoping he'd say. She'll scout around too. She also brings up their remaining unsolved riddles, but neither has a solution yet. They can't linger on that issue due to their time limits, but Cat Noir promises to text Ladybug later and they split up.

In the shadows of the stadium, a blue hero in a top hat transforms back into his civilian identity. He walks away, in a daze, wondering why he was even near the stadium to begin with. And why is he wearing his glove? Last he remembered, he had taken it off and put it in his desk drawer.

By now, dark side Kagami has reached the Agreste estate. She buzzes impatiently, demanding to be let in and wanting to know where Adrien is. Amelie Graham de Vanily sends Solomon the gorilla outside to deal with her, to "treat her like any other crazed fan." After all, dark side Kagami shows none of Kagami's politeness and is getting very adamant. Solomon just stone walls in front of her, making it clear she's to go away. Kagami reminds him that her mother and Adrien's father are friends, but that doesn't sway him. Kagami demands to be let in and talk to Adrien face to face. She deserves to know why he keeps lying to her, making promises he can't keep, and standing her up. While it's clear that this argument does move Solomon's heart, he has his orders and refuses to let her in.

At the same time, light side Kagami is still waiting patiently at the library. She sends a text to Adrien, politely reminding him about their date and expressing concern that he got into an accident, fell into a mysterious coma again, or got hurt in the recent conflict against Adamantus. She pleads with him to contact her. Then she waits some more. But still no response.

Dark side Kagami is eventually forcibly turned away from the Agreste manor. So she pulls out her own phone and sends a very irate text to Adrien, breaking up with him for ghosting her. She states that she doesn't even want to speak with him since he can't be honest with her and enjoys toying with her feelings.

Cat Noir doesn't land on the roof of his family's manor until several minutes later. He drops inside his bedroom and transforms back before he checks his messages. The first he gets is one from light side Kagami who is still patiently waiting—but that is immediately followed by a message from dark side Kagami, raking him over the coals and saying she isn't waiting and that she's breaking up with him. Adrien is confused by the dual moods as he thinks it's only one Kagami texting him—and he feels so incredibly guilty about standing Kagami up again. He had planned on racing there and apologizing profusely, but it doesn't sound as if she's at the library any more (she is…or rather, half of her is). He also doesn't understand why Kagami snapped so quickly within two minutes—she seemed fine as Ryuko (now that he knows Kamaitachi is Ryuko, and Kamaitachi is Kagami, so…). Plagg tells him to shrug it off and eat some cheese. "Girls are just too much trouble some times."

At the library, light side Kagami waits and waits until her mother orders her home. Dejected, Kagami heads out to their automatic automobile. However, Lila is still watching. When Kagami turns to leave, Lila causes light side Kagami to vanishes, both halves fusing back into whole Kagami, who is at home. Lila then sets the time back on her phone and takes some selfies in the library—herself studying, in front of the works of art, that kind of thing. However, she is careful to make sure the study lounge is in the background, making it appear as if Kagami wasn't there at all that "afternoon."

Ladybug takes the long way home, both searching to see if any landmarks spark a solution to Master Fu's riddle as well as scoping out a possible place for her team to practice. However, she has no luck with either.

She isn't the only one out and about, looking for a place to practice. Chloe Bourgeois has transformed into Queen Scorpion and is leaping from rooftop to rooftop in another district in Paris. However, unlike Ladybug, she knows exactly where she's going. She retraces her route from the prior day and returns to the abandoned hotel. She lands on a balcony and lets herself inside. Scorpion strolls through the halls, noting the spaciousness and obstacles. It's perfect! She begins to practice with her super abilities, leaping sideways from pillar to pillar and practicing her accuracy with her acidic chain. She does perfect several moves during the few hours she's inside.

However, her chain proves to be too much for the ruined hotel. It begins to crumble, and a couple rooms as well as an entire wing collapses. Scorpion takes to the rooftops again at night, noting that the building is too unstable now for her to continue to use. Pity, it was perfect. They just don't make things well any more, do they? Completely missing the fact that the damage is all her fault.

As evening winds down, the B Team is chatting on their Discord. Dauphin mentions he's really starting to miss Dauphine as he does love her, and not being able to go on dates with her is killing him. Tsukuyomi commiserates with him—until he realizes that he and Froppy have yet to go on an official "first date." IRL, Tsukuyomi coughs and turns crimson…they are official now. He should take Tsuyu somewhere nice. But where? And how does he even bring up asking her?

Snow Leopard barely has time to comment as she's still spending time with her father's family. Honey Bee talks with Alpha and Froppy about how she could possibly work out the whole "powers surge" thing. She admits she has a "part-time job" (without admitting she's a full-on celebrity), so going down for a couple of days is all the harder. Alpha remarks that Honey Bee has an advantage as her parents know she's a superheroine. He promises to work alongside her to ensure what happened to Dauphine doesn't happen to her. Honey Bee thanks him as she mulls over what she could possibly say to her parents to get them to understand. She, like Snow and Chip, still aren't using their magical items. Though Chip puts his glove back in his drawer—he was sure he left it there before.

Firefly then comments that he misses hanging out with them all—they haven't had a practice session since Crimson as it didn't seem right to meet with half the team soft-banned from using their antique akumatized items. Snow Leopard makes a quick remark about how they shouldn't hold off for her sake, and Honey Bee encourages them to meet still. It's for the good of Paris that they refine their skills. Alpha admits he enjoys having his whole pack together. Chip also encourages them to continue to meet—he also gets reminded he still needs to find his secret keeper. Froppy wonders if they can make an official plan then. Tsukuyomi agrees, so Alpha sets an upcoming date for all those who are available (who now have full miraculouses) to practice—and they'll plan how to help their lingering members. Everyone's mood is uplifted by this.

In the shadows, Adamantus is relaying to female Hawk Moth everything he observed about Ursa's performance. He notes she was reckless and crazed with bloodlust. He ponders if this is a result of the garnet nails escalating her personality. Hawk Moth remarks that, surprisingly, those things likely came from within Rachel Beauchene herself. She then asks Adamantus the most important question—did Ursa's skin change colors? Adamantus affirms that it did not. Hawk Moth is elated. The items she created are now perfect. She is on the precipice of success!

To be continued in Chapter 73: Panther Noir…