Disclaimer: I do not own what I did not own in the last chapter.
Chapter 9: Stormy Weather, Part 1
Marinette looked up at the balloon. Oh. That's why Manon was frozen.
The thought barely had time to run through Marinette's head before Manon was pulling her towards the carousel.
"Not right now, Manon," Marinette said. "We should be getting back home."
She hadn't wanted to face Stormy Weather, but she had wanted to face the other akumas even less, so she didn't have much choice. Still, she was determined to protect Manon and Alya.
"No!" Manon pouted. "I want to ride the carousel!"
"Manon, seriously..." Marinette gritted her teeth, trying to find a way to get Manon to safety.
She could see Alya running towards her and Adrien watching in the distance. Stormy Weather would be here soon, and Marinette needed to get Manon away. But how?
"Listen to me, Manon," Marinette said, leaning down to be eye-to-eye with her. "And don't bother with your babydoll eyes. We need to go back home, and we need to do it now."
"Why?" Alya asked as she ran up with them.
"Because... I have stuff to do."
"And you can do it later," Alya replied. "Adrien needs a girl in his photoshoot! This is what you've been waiting for, girl."
"Yeah but..."
"No time for buts, girl. Go!"
"Alya..."
"Go on. I'll take care of Manon."
"But..." Marinette had a feeling their conversation might last all day if she didn't need to make an escape soon to track down Stormy Weather.
"Girl, you are not getting out of this!" Alya declared.
"It's just a bad day for it, Alya," Marinette half-argued as she caught sight of Stormy Weather on the horizon. "Look! I bet she's been akumatised! You should go after her! For your blog!" Alya looked behind her, eyes going wide as Stormy Weather flew towards them.
Stormy Weather snarled at the sight of Manon's balloon, and Marinette just had enough time to realize she was too late before Stormy Weather attacked.
A wall of ice formed around where Alya, Manon, and Marinette were standing, trapping Marinette with the other two girls.
Well, shoot.
Adrien watched Alya and Marinette argued about... something out of the corner of his eye, but since his photographer loudly announced her entrance, he still didn't miss Stormy Weather.
As Ladybug had warned him, Stormy Weather trapped Manon with her two babysitters as she zipped past. Adrien watched her continue on before running to Plagg to transform.
"Well, so much for that photoshoot," Marinette joked.
She was about five seconds away from kicking the ice in frustration, but didn't. Rule one of babysitting: stay calm and don't send the young child into anymore of a panic because you are also panicking and/or frustrated and/or scared.
Even if Marinette was frustrated for a completely different reason.
"Don't worry Manon," Marinette said. "We'll get out of here. In fact, I'd even say our biggest threat right now is boredom." Manon giggled, and Marinette couldn't help but smile.
Stormy Weather had been an earlier akuma, and he'd been super inexperienced, so even with The Unclocker's whole luck-is-not-on-your-side-this-time-spiel, Chat Noir figured he wouldn't be blown back as many times as the first time around.
Obviously, he was wrong.
The thing was, much like Mr. Pigeon, Stormy Weather was now fighting a lot smarter, and that balanced out Chat Noir's gained experienced. She also had a lot better aim with the ice, and even experience couldn't keep someone on slick ice from being blown away in high winds.
Chat Noir collided with a car, again, as Stormy Weather did her ice-under-the-feet-and-high-wind-thing, again. With a grown, Chat Noir pushed himself off his feet and readied himself for another round.
There has to be a better way to fight her, he thought as Stormy Weather approached again. But "better ways" to fight where usually Ladybug's ideas, and Ladybug was absent at the moment.
Stormy Weather shot another icy patch, and Chat Noir blocked it with his baton. The ice just froze the baton to the ground, and Chat Noir still found himself on ice. Stormy Weather shot anther blast of wind at him, and Chat Noir held onto his baton.
When the wind finally died, Chat Noir shrunk his baton out of the ice, split it, and tossed both halves at Stormy Weather at different angles. Stormy Weather deflected one half with wind, turned, and did the same with the second half, allowing Chat Noir to sneak up.
Chat Noir reached out and grabbed the wrist holding the umbrella, but was immediately shocked back by a nasty static electricity shot.
"Nice try," Stormy Weather growled. "But all you've managed to do is disarm yourself."
She pointed her umbrella at him, but it was close enough that Chat Noir could knock it away, and the building behind Stormy Weather was covered in ice instead.
Stormy Weather snarled gritted her teeth. Chat Noir used the distraction to dart towards one half of his baton. His hand curled around the baton just as the wind picked up again.
Chat Noir extended the baton and slammed in into the ground, but the wind blew him back before he could find a good grip. This time, Chat Noir slammed into the fence surrounding the park, leaving it slightly dented.
Gritting his teeth, Chat Noir pushed himself off the ground and readied his baton. His back was sore, and the gusts of wind had been blowing past blocks at a time. He would have major bruises by the time this fight was over.
"Chat Noir!"
Chat Noir turned to see Alya maniacally waving her arms at him from her ice prison, while Marinette had Manon cuddled to her chest. Above them, icicles grew threateningly.
"Over here!" Alya called.
Casting a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Stormy Weather was still some distance off, Chat Noir leaped over the fenced and bounded over to ice prison. He remembered how worried Ladybug was, and he regretted ignoring it. He had been in the park right next to Alya and Manon, and even knowing what was going to happen he didn't do anything. And now they were stuck in a slowly shrinking prison, probably freezing cold.
It did occur to Chat Noir that Ladybug hadn't mentioned Marinette being trapped, but he put that down to her not remembering. After all, Chat Noir wasn't sure Ladybug had ever met Marinette, since the latter had never been akumatised, and she was bound to remember little Manon and Alya, who she had had many run-ins with.
"You guys okay?" Chat Noir asked.
Alya raised an eyebrow and pointed to the icicles. "Do we look okay?"
Chat Noir hesitated for a moment. No, they did not, but he wasn't supposed to use his cataclysm. Still, those icicles looked sharp, and that's what the ring was for in the first place, right? Protecting others?
"Stand back," Chat Noir replied. "And you might want to cover your heads."
Alya nodded and stepped into the middle of the prison, Marinette following suit with Manon in her arms. They both crouched down around the young girl and covered both their heads and her with her arms.
After the girls were all set, Chat Noir raised his fist.
"Cataclysm!"
To be continued... (dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUN)