Edit 12/30/2018: yeah, uhhh, sorry about that. My editing for this chapter was originally sub-par, especially that one part... (if you don't know what I'm talking about, nothing happened)

Shoutout to my roommate for once again being an awesome person and helping get me pass writers block.

Disclaimer: still don't own.

Chapter 38: Animan, Part 1

Ladybug watched Alya leave, hoping the message she left Alya would stick. She didn't know whether it even remained, or if everything went back to the original timeline.

Chat Noir winced, hurting from The Mime more than he was willing to admit. "Who do you think we should fight next?"

Ladybug frowned. Chat Noir needed a break, but she was starting to think leaving the most powerful akumas last was a mistake.

But still, if there was a chance to defeat The Unclocker, they'd need to save their strength.

"What about Animan?" Ladybug suggested, a plan already forming in her mind. "I have a secret mission for you."

"Earth to Marinette," Alya called. "You were in the middle of setting me up for a date against my will, remember?"

Marinette blinked. She had completely zoned out again, worrying about Chat Noir and her message to Alya. She forced herself to focus on Nino sitting next to her on the bench.

"He's coming!" Kim yelled from the distance.

Marinette grabbed Nino and pushed him away from the stampede. She sent him running and when he was out of sight, dove behind the bushes.

"Tikki, spots on!"

The transformation washed over her, and Ladybug turned her attention to the panther approaching.

Kim was backed up against the fence, sweating. The panther growled as he approached Kim.

"Hey kitty," Ladybug called, landing gracefully on her good ankle behind the panther. "You may be faster than a human, but are you faster than a bug?"

Animan turned to Ladybug and growled. Ladybug grinned, swung her yo-yo around top of a tall cage, and pulled herself off the ground.

"Catch me if you can!" She called over her shoulder.

Animan transformed, and Ladybug heard the call of an eagle behind her.

Ladybug perched on the top of the cage, watching Animan zoom towards her.

Chat Noir slurped his smoothie as he tracked the bus.

He could hear excitement below him as the escaped animals from the zoo began roaming the streets, but he trusted that the regular policemen could handle it. His job was the bus.

The bus stopped, and Chat Noir leaped from his perch on the roof to the top of the bus. He slid down, and tapped on the door of the bus. The driver opened the door, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I need you to drive to the stadium," Chat Noir said, sliding into the front seat of the bus. "We need the bus."

The driver nodded his head. "Anything else?"

Chat Noir nodded. "I need to know how to work the doors."

Ladybug looked around the sky, trying to figure out where Animan had hidden. After chasing her around the rooftops of Paris, he'd turned into something small - a gnat, she figured, or something close to a gnat - and now she couldn't see him.

She checked her yo-yo to see Chat Noir's progress. He was close to the stadium, hopefully with a bus in tow, where she was hoping to trap Animan. It didn't work the last time, but just maybe...

Someone screamed, and Ladybug whirled around to see the source. Behind her, a giant bird-looking thing that had to be the size of a giraffe was flying towards her.

"That's new," Ladybug muttered, jumping from her perch on an apartment building just as Animan flew over her.

She landed on the rooftop across the street and took off running, her yo-yo beeping her to confirm that Chat Noir had reached the stadium. The only problem was, there as no way to outrun Animan. Unless there was a way to use his size against him.

Gritting her teeth, Ladybug launched herself from the edge of the roof and crashed through a window on the top floor of the next building. The glass scraped across her skin, cuts burning from the pain, but she didn't slow down.

Ladybug didn't give herself a chance to see what Animan had transformed into as she darted through the apartment building. She jumped through another window to a balcony on the the next building, and broke through a glass door into another apartment.

"Ladybug!" Somebody called, pointing excitedly at Ladybug as she ran through the living room.

"Panther!" Someone else screamed.

Ladybug crashed through another window, and then another door, always aware of Animan just a few feet behind her. Both ankles were throbbing, and she was fully aware of a cut on her cheek that had began to bleed.

Another building, and a few panicked civilians. Another window, and glass nearly cut her eye. Her bad ankle was screaming in pain. She forced open a wooden door, ran down the hall, and crashed through another sliding door. Her throat was drying up, and her leg muscles were beginning to ache.

Another window, another building. A TV covering the loose animals. Out the window into another building. A dog barked as they ran by. Through a window and through a hallway, and Ladybug nearly tripped on the stairs.

Out the window, through a hallway, back up the steps, and through a skylight. Through a glass door into a pent house. Out a window and down onto a parking lot.

Ladybug landed on a car and looked up. The arena towered above.

Animan landed behind her in panther form, snarling. Ladybug barely spared him a glance before throwing her yo-yo and swinging to the top of the stadium.

"Imagine meeting you here," Chat Noir said, landing next to Ladybug.

"You have the trap ready?" Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir nodded. "Are you sure it will work this time?"

Ladybug nodded. "Trust me."

The giant bird is called a Quetzalcoatlus, which is extinct. More extinct animals to come!