Kim has a flu
Kim was home. Kim was home in his bed. Kim was in bed with high fever. It was more than 39°C since last night. His whole body ached. He had flu. It was the season. But he was the first from his class to fall for it. He was strong. He was good in sports. Why did it have to be him who was the first who fell ill? Why wasn't it Ivan? Or Alix? Or Chloe? Scratch that, that last one was so mean that even viruses would not come close to her.
Paracetamol only did so far for him. The pain was bearable, the fever was kept under 40°C. He wanted more. Ibuprofen was more. His mother left the pills with him with a warning of how much a child his age should take. So he did. The pain was slightly easier but the fever remained. (The problem was that Kim had the weight and the constitution of a large adult and would definitely needed a higher dosage, but tell that to a mother who had read the instructions and he was definitely a child according to the pharmaceutical industry.)
Kim did not bother himself with reading the instructions written on the meds. He also did not take more meds than his mother told him to. He was good in sports. He heard about doping. He did not want to be disqualified on his next competition just because he took that extra pill. (He couldn't possibly be disqualified for using paracetamol and ibuprofen but Kim would probably not know that).
He took his phone. There were messages from his classmates. They had double gym class that afternoon. Alix teased him he was avoiding a rematch for the any random competition they had last week. Max sent some statistics. Markov offered his services to compute the right amount of meds for him to take. Kim just had to measure his temperature each hour, send his weight and the kinds of meds he had taken so far. That was too many numbers. Kim was too tired to do that. Besides, the only good thing about this flu was that he was going to miss Mme Mendeleev class that morning. If he wanted to do measurements and report numbers he would have been there.
Then there was radio silence from his classmates because the classes had started. He wrote a few whining messages to Ondine, but she wrote just one brief reply. She was in school too and she probably silenced her phone. That was another drawback, he was supposed to train with Ondine that afternoon and they would have went for burgers or ice cream or both after the training. The girl might be willing to come over for a visit after the training but he did not want her to catch the virus.
Then there was a short break in the school for sure because there was an influx of messages again. He groggily opened his eyes and looked at what he got. Marinette was concerned and asked if he needed anything. The boys sent various 'get well soon' messages, Nino sent him a playlist, Adrien sent nice long grammatically correct and properly punctuated message, Nathaniel draw something while Ivan sent just a briefest of messages. Max took photos of his notes and sent him. Kim frowned at the number of pages and equations written in Max's tidy style. They were having two consecutive periods in the science class and the next one was in the lab where they were about to do a few experiments with that and Max was apparently very excited because he sent Kim the whole experiment set-up. It was about collisions. The elastic and non-elastic collisions. If a body of mass m1 and velocity V1 hits an object of m2 and velocity v2 at this angle, what will be the velocities of both bodies after the collision?
Kim frowned. What kind of a lab experiment was that? That was an assignment for a gym class that afternoon. What would happen when Kim collided with Alix? How far could he make her fly? Because the messages she sent him definitely made him want to do just that.
Then there was silence again and he dosed off. What woke him up this time was noise that came from outside. He was so annoyed that he actually got to his feet to look through the window. It was a bunch of kids who raced around the park below. One won, then another won, then they had an argument. Kim frowned, he was faster than any of them, he would have gone there and showed them. He felt weak. His bladder was full and he took the epic journey filled with pain and exhaustion towards the toilet. He was not sure if he had the strength and the stamina to actually return to his bed from there. He might just stay there and die. But the idea that he night be remembered as the one who died on the toilet made him find the strength. So he got to his feet again and stumbled over towards his room and his bed. The living room was closer, so he collapsed there. Perhaps he would be able to reach his bed after he got some rest on the sofa.
Kim woke up after undetermined time, his whole body felt cold and shivered. He curled onto himself and whined for a while. But he was home alone, there was nobody to rush over with warm tea or at least water and meds. He had to get up. He had to walk over to the kitchen. He had to take the glass from the cupboard. He chose to take water because who in their right mind had the energy to boil water for the tea?
He took the ibuprofen and swallowed it with water. It almost went straight back out, but he made it stay inside. He was taking deep breaths as he tried to steady his digestive system from the shock of cold water and the pill. Then he stumbled back towards the sofa. But there was no blanket, nothing to cover himself, and he was shivering with the cold. So he relented and stumbled over to his room and his own bed. The phone was waiting for him there, but he was not sure if he had the strength. He just collapsed on the bed and barely collected the strength, by the sheer force of his willpower, to grab the blanket and cover himself before his mind and his body went their separate ways. Well his body in fact went nowhere, at least not on its own, but perhaps he was transferred straight to hell because he started to feel hot after a while. His mind was in some strange kind of limbo. He closed his eyes because it was just too much effort to keep them opened and process the information. But he was not asleep either. He felt hypersensitive to the sounds. And he could hear the cheer of the children who played outside.
After a while, the pain and the fever probably subsided slightly, because he felt strong enough to actually reach for his phone. His mother wanted to know what his body temperature was and when did he take his last pill and so on and so forth. If he wanted to report any of those numbers he would have written them to Max and Markov in the morning, if he wanted to do measurements he would have been at Mme Mendeleev's class, not here in his bed.
The science classes have finished long time ago, because he had a whole new set of snapshots from Max. Then there were many get well messages from his classmates. Marinette asked if he needed anything during lunch break and if he had anybody to take care of him. That girl was so sweet. That Adrien really was an idiot, if Ondine was right. Kim knew he had no clue himself, but his girlfriend told him, apparently girls had eyes for those things, so Ondine knew, although nobody told her, that Marinette had a crush on Adrien. And Kim knew for a fact that Adrien did not have a clue about that.
He typed back only few brief words and emojis to reply to his classmates and threw his head back to the pillow. But he was not able to fall asleep. It would have been fantastic if he just slept through this whole experience because who would have wanted to be awake for something like this? But the sleep refused to relieve him from this torture, so Kim did the next best thing and opened the social media applications on his phone to distract himself. There was Ondine, there was Alix who bragged about her new speed record from yesterday. There were hundreds of photos of Chloe. Most of them were taken in the bathroom. The bathroom looked nice.
Apparently it was already lunch break because there were plenty of posts from his classmates. He also received more messages from his classmates. There was a long message from Rose who described how Lila was involved in some charity that was raising awareness about the flu and poor children in Africa or some other continent that began with A, Kim was not sure. Kim did not even read it till the end. If only Lila was involved in some charity that was about poor young French athletes who suffered from flu here in Paris France. Maybe then he would have bothered to actually read the message. He got no messages from Lila herself, the girl probably could not send any today because her arthritis got worse again, well at least someone else carried her stuff in school today.
Then there was silence again. That was because they had class. And the boy knew it was gym class, a double period that they always used to organize different kinds of games and competitions between him and Alix. There were times when Adrien or Marinette would win some athletic challenge that the teacher posed to them. He was amazed by the fact that a girl that clumsy could be so good in anything in the gym class. He was certain that Alix used Adrien to win a few times. The pink haired girl would strategically place the blonde model at a place where Marinette could see him and the girl would instantly make and error, stumble and fall.
Adrien had beaten him a few times, Kim assumed that the rich heir and a model had some kind of personal trainer who kept the boy in shape. Kim wished he knew some kind of weakness or distraction that would work on Adrien the same way Alix knew for Marinette.
He was still busy with those thoughts when an influx of messages announced that the gym class was finished. Alix won. Again. She posted her time wherever she could reach. It was even on the school blog. She was the fastest student in that challenge. She was faster than Kim was the last time. Kim used to hold the school best time. Now it was Alix. She took the record time from him. That was it, he was having none of it.
"Ahh, an athlete tied to bed because of the flu was beaten by a classmate." Hawk Moth smiled wickedly in his lair while he released an evilized butterfly.
"Fluracer" A voice echoed in Kim's head while a violet mask glowed in front of his face. "I give you power to spread flu and the weakness that comes with it and you shall gain power from each person you inflict so you will be stronger and faster than them."
"I accept" The dark energy washed over Kim, the first thing he noticed was his energy rose while the pain that was prominent all over his body was now gone. Kim jumped to his feet and opened the window. He extended his arms and rays of light flashed from his hands. The light hit a few persons in the street below. He felt stronger instantly while the persons in the street instantly felt weak and ill. Some coughed, other held their belly, the third felt their head.
Kim flew out from his window and hit more persons.
"Fluracer, find Chat Noir and Ladybug and bring me their miraculous." A voice echoed in Fluracers head while a violet mask glowed on his face.
Fluracer had no clue where to go to find Ladybug and Chat Noir. But he knew where Alix was. The classes in Francoise Dupont were just about to be finished. She should be out from the school gates in a few minutes. Besides, there were plenty of people in the streets below on his way, he might use their strength before he faced the superheroes.
Marinette had a typical day. She was almost late for class (almost was the key word). She greeted her classmates and hurried to her spot. She tripped on her way as she passed by Adrien, but she did not fall, she flailed her hands and Adrien caught the boy with cookies that she carried to the class. That was an excellent excuse to feed him a few cookies and the special macaron. She then took her place and noticed that Kim was missing. Max informed her that Kim had flu. She offered help through a text message but there was only a most basic reply.
She joined Max and Alix and watched a few videos about how to pass that obstacle course for her gym class that afternoon. Anything was better than listening to the stories from Lila or complaints from Chloe. She watched the moves and studied the way each obstacle could be passed safely or quickly or both. She found the videos rather educational and useful. Perhaps she should ask Max for some more help from Markov.
Someone was watching from over her shoulder but she was not paying much attention until a very familiar voice asked Markov to play one video again. It was Adrien. That was Adrien Agreste leaning over her shoulder, that was Adrien Agreste who was standing right behind her and spoke while his breath moved her hair and tickled her ear. She squealed and he apologized for startling her. Alix was snickering, Max was slightly confused, Markov played the video again. Marinette pretended to watch, her eyes were there but her mind was somewhere else, she tried to control her breathing while she blushed due to Adrien's proximity.
The gym class was excellent, she concentrated and did her obstacle course just after Alix, she was good, she was fast and she had an excellent time, and then she enjoyed watching Adrien do the same exercise. It was a pure poetry of movement. She could not help but admire the way the blonde haired model moved. It reminded her of another blonde boy, but that other blonde boy was always wearing black cat suit and he would never miss an opportunity to just show off a little, well a little more than Adrien did, not that Adrien was showing off, he wasn't, he never was, he was just too polite for that, besides he did not need to, he was just so fantastic the way he was.
Adrien was rather happy with the way his day unfolded. He was in school on time, he evaded both Chloe and Lila while he spent some time with Nino and listened to the newest playlist. Kim got flu, which was bad, the boy only hoped that Gabriel was not about to pull him out from school during the flu season to keep him healthy for the photo shoots and other social events. Well, the school should not release such information to other parents and if Adrien did not tell them, there was probably no way for them to know, right?
He enjoyed the science class and engaged in the discussion with Alix about the upcoming gym class that afternoon. The boy completed all his tasks in the lab and computed everything on the spot. It felt easy for him, it was logical and clean. The boy noticed three groups during the break, Lila was so involved in her story telling that he was safe to look for other company. He evaded Chloe and her antics and beamed after Max, Alix and Marinette who were in a corner and watched what Markov was explaining to them. He sneaked up and stood behind Marinette. They were studying the obstacle course. He would never thing that Marinette would be interested in that. She tripped so many times before him.
All four of them did great on the obstacle course, Adrien was happy. He noticed that Marinette was rather red in the face when he twirled her around to celebrate after he realized that he beaten the time Kim set the last time the teacher set up the competition. Alix was even faster than him, but he did not care. Then he realized that Marinette was just as quick as he was and he just grabbed the girl and made a few turns.
The final bell for the day rang through the school at the same time as the akuma alert was announced. Excuses were not needed, everyone was running out. Marinette wanted to run to the bathroom and transform, but the two she tried were occupied, so she concluded that she had a better chance if she just returned to the classroom.
"You are welcome to hide here, Marinette, if you want. I will stay here and grade the papers until the attack is over." Ms Bustier told her. Marinette pretended she checked if she lost something and ran away.
Adrien was among the first students who was out from the main gates of the school. But the akuma was already there. The car and his bodyguard were also already there ready to pick him up. But there was a huge empty space between the door and the car and the akuma hovered above that empty space and faced the door to the school. Adrien sneaked over to the side.
"I am the Fluracer." The akuma shouted. "Bring me Alix, she won and set the school record just because I was ill with flu."
"That must be you, Kim." Alix shouted as she pushed forward from behind Adrien. The boy sighed, it was so much like the pink haired girl. She was not the one who would allow somebody else to take the hit that was meant for her. Besides her move was not entirely stupid. Adrien saw how fast she was today.
Alix had a wonderful day. Not because Kim was home with flu, she wanted a rematch for the competition they did last week. Because last week she only lost because she had to go first. Once she discovered how to pass that particular obstacle, it was easy for Kim to do it the right and the fastest way the first time he tried. Even Marinette passed that obstacle flawlessly, as clumsy as she was. The only way for Alix to save her face and not to let Marinette have better time than her was to pull Adrien just in front of the finish line. The girl tripped and fell just one metre short of finishing. Alix felt bad about that, but she did have to keep her appearance. Besides, Adrien hurried over, lifted Marinette from the floor and carried her to the bench on the side to check her up. It was not if Marinette would have complained about it even if she knew what Alix's intent was.
Alix did good with Mme Mendeleev, she performed her experiment in the science class from her first try. She ignored Lila's newest adventure for the benefit of studying several videos with Max, Markov, Adrien and Marinette. The videos were about how to pass the obstacle course in the gym class as quickly as possible. Alix had asked Max and Markov for help, because if there was some way to do it faster, Markov could quickly scan all the videos available on the internet and chose the best examples for her to watch. Max agreed. It was exciting for him to approach the problem from the scientific point of view. Marinette and Adrien tended to steer away from Lila's story telling so they both joined her to watch the video that Markov had chosen.
And then came the double school period in the gym. Alix loved it. They were to complete an obstacle course, of course. And the teacher would measure their time. Alix was excellent. It was a pure poetry of movement if you asked her. She completed the course in no time (if you asked her again). But the teacher did measure that some time had, in fact, passed. But it was so short that it was instantly a new school record. Adrien was also very quick and proud of his result. She was surprised how quickly Marinette did it. In her excitement about making a school record, Alix forgot to repeat the trick with Adrien in the finish line, but Marinette was slower than her anyway. There was something odd though, apparently Marinette and Adrien had the same time and the boy felt the urge to congratulate the girl, hug her, rise her feet from the floor and spin her around. The boy was probably excited about his own time too as all three of them had beaten the old school record (set by Kim). Even Max did excellent work on the obstacle course. She guessed that the video Markov had chosen really helped.
When she heard the akuma, who called himself Fluracer, called her out for her victory, she decided to step out. She knew she was going to become a superhero one day. She was not going to shy away from a fight if she was called out. Besides, the akuma made it clear who he was.
Max had an excellent day. Save Kim caught the flu. Yesterday afternoon Alix asked him if Markov could find a video on the internet that would show the optimum and fastest way to pass the obstacle course they had in the gym. Both the boy and the tiny robot were excited by the task and Markov had the result by the next morning. Kim was ill and Markov offered his assistance with that too. But Kim did not answer the messages nor send the data needed to feed into the program.
The science class was always Max's favourite and the boy sent his notes to his ill classmate. Then he played the video for Alix. Marinette and Adrien joined in. They studied the moves together. Max studied each move until he could compute the impulse and the angular momentum in his head. Then they had the gym class and Max was rather satisfied with his performance on the obstacle course. Apparently. Alix, Marinette and Adrien were much faster than the last time. Markov was really helpful.
The classes have finished but there was an akuma alert too. The boy wanted to reach home, but the akuma was right there at the school entrance, and after the first call from the akuma, few dots started to connect in the boy's head. But he had no time to finish his train of thought and conclude who the akuma was. Because Alix took a step forward.
"It is not my fault you got the flu, Kim" Alix taunted from the middle of the stairs. She stared at the akuma with determined eyes. She knew it was Kim who got akumatized and she understood why. She also noticed that the superheroes have not arrived yet. The akuma was targeting civilians in their absence and if she could do something to protect the civilians (the right way of thinking would have been the other civilians, but she knew she was about to become a superhero so she started to see herself as one) then she was going to protect the civilians. The akuma wanted her. If she stepped out, the other civilians were able to escape.
"I am not Kim, I am Fluracer." The akuma shouted and aimed at Alix. The ray of light was shot out from the hands of the akuma.
Marinette ran through the school entrance.
Adrien ran from the side.
They both missed the target and collided into each other. The ray that was meant for Alix hit both of them.
Alix was not there where she stood a fraction of the second ago. She was rolling away together with a bespectacled boy followed by a tiny robot.
"Sorry, I must have got all wired up after that gym class today." Max apologized to Alix who was on top of him. "Are you okay? Have you got hit?"
"Nah, thank you." Alix dismissed all concern. "But I could have handled that."
She had an opportunity to prove that the next second. Because Fluracer aimed a new ray of light at them again. Alix rolled them away to the side and then grabbed Max and jumped and they both landed together and were hidden in the bushes.
Adrien had to sit down, so he did. He felt weak and dizzy. All the muscles in his body ached. He was not sure if he felt hot or cold. He was not even sure where he was. He was probably sitting on the steps in front of the school. He felt Marinette plopped down on the step beside him. His hand reached out for her on its own. His both hands did. He wrapped his arms around the girl and held her. There was no strength involved. He needed to hold onto something and she was the nearest thing there.
Marinette was not sure what happened to her, her vision was blurry, her brain felt like an overcooked pudding (I am not British, I am thinking of a sweet dessert here) and her feet were not able to hold her. Well the last thing might be the consequence of the fact she just collided with her crush. She plopped down on the step and tried to assess the damage. She was sure that all her limbs were present because all of them ached. Then someone held her and she instinctively held that someone back. She felt Tikki patted her thigh through the purse. Yes there was an akuma, she should hide and transform and fight. The akuma was right there, just in front of her. She just needed a safe place. She just needed to get up and walk away. She just needed to get up. But someone held her, blonde hair, green eyes, it was Adrien. He was hit too. She had to get Adrien to safety. Yes she had to do that too. So, come on, on your feet.
But then someone grabbed Adrien and carried him away.
Adrien saw his bodyguard. He walked over and grabbed Adrien, swung the boy over his shoulder and carried him away. But Alix and Max just ran away and hid and the akuma was angry, he wanted another target so he aimed at the next best thing, and that was the largest and the strongest possible target, and that was Adrien's bodyguard.
The large man was hit.
Adrien felt how the large man came to a stop. It was sudden, but it took considerably more time and effort to stop a man of that size and proportions. Then the man was falling. Really slowly. He landed on his knees first. He stopped like that for a moment. Then he was falling again. He let go of the boy. Adrien was on the man's shoulder and over his back. The man needed his arms to stop his fall. Adrien rolled away and was trying to stand on his feet again. His bodyguard ended on his hands and knees.
Marinette got to her feet. It was a struggle, it was an internal battle between the excruciating pain in her muscles and the sheer power of her will. She was known to be stubborn for a reason. She forced her feet forward. She made herself take a few steps in the direction opposite to the way where Alix and Max rolled away. She noticed how Adrien's bodyguard got hit and threw herself in the nearest bush.
"Tikki" She whispered.
"Marinette." Tikki chirped tiredly. "I got hit too. You can transform, but I do not know how many powers I can give you. You better not use anything but the miraculous Ladybug to restore everything." The tiny goddess of creation warned.
"Okay, after that you should be okay and I should have enough time before I detransform, but I will try to get more heroes then." Marinette whispered and transformed into Ladybug. The magic washed over her body. She felt better instantly. The pain was gone, she was not dizzy and her vision was sharp again. She swung her yoyo towards her home to retrieve additional miraculous. She saw Max and Alix hidden in the bushes. She knew Bunnix was for the last resort. But she might take the glasses for Max. She also glanced around the rooftops. There was no sigh of Chat Noir yet. That was good this time because she needed to go through her hatch door and into her room to retrieve the glasses. She was in and out in a few seconds, her agility was not hurt that much, apparently, or just restored once she transformed.
The steps that lead to the school were now empty, save Adrien and his bodyguard. He wanted, no he needed to hide and transform. He wanted to lay down and die. But he was a superhero. He was Chat Noir. He had to go and hide and transform and fight. So he crawled over to the bushes on the opposite side from the place he knew Alix and Max were hiding. He moved on all four of his limbs, not totally unlike a cat, perhaps the movements resembled a really ill cat, but a cat none the less. He reached the bush, crawled inside and curled into himself.
"You have to transform kid." Plagg told him. "But I was hit too. I do not know how much time you will have once you use your cataclysm."
"I better not use it at all then." Adrien replied and called for his transformation. He knew it was serious because Plagg did not ask for cheese first. The energy washed over him. The pain was gone and he felt his strength and agility was increased as usually when he was transformed. He took a breath, it was a free breath of air with no pain in his lungs. He felt free.
"That thing you are pulling out here is sick." Chat Noir taunted as he jumped onto the school roof. He was happy that his strength was back and the pain was gone. It was his task to keep the akuma busy until Ladybug arrived. And he knew where the civilians were. So he went onto the roof.
The akuma followed him around and shot light beams after the superhero. The violet mask glowed stronger on the face of the akuma quite frequently as Hawk Moth was issuing instructions. But Chat Noir was good at evading blows. He was also good at taking them instead of someone else. This time, Chat lead the akuma onto the school rooftop, there was nobody there to protect.
Then he noticed Ladybug's arrival. She swung elegantly as always and landed next to him.
"My kwami got hit as well as civilian me. I should only do the miraculous Ladybug, if possible." Ladybug told him. "This akuma was around for some time before the alert was issued."
Chat Noir could relate. He knew how much effort it was for him just to crawl away into the bushes to transform. He wondered how far Ladybug had to go to hide. It probably took her considerable time and effort.
"Yeah, I know, Plagg and me got hit too. I can use cataclysm, but I might detransform right after that." Chat replied.
Ladybug sighed. So both of them got hit. Chat might be one of the first victims because he was on the scene of the battle before she arrived back from her home.
They evaded a few rays of light form the Fluracer's hands as they spoke.
"It is good that I brought a miraculous with me. I noticed Max was hiding in the bushes in front of the school on my way here." Ladybug explained.
"I think the akuma is in his t-shirt because there is nothing else on him and he is shooting rays form his hands." Chat Noir replied.
"Okay, I can give the glasses to Max and he will teleport us both just behind the back of the akuma so we can destroy the shirt." Ladybug explained her plan and jumped down straight to Max and Alix in the bushes.
"That outfit you are wearing is sick, mine is flueless." Chat Noir was doing his best to keep the attention of the akuma on himself.
"Follow her, follow Ladybug." Hawk Moth shouted to his akuma while a violet mask glowed on his face.
Fluracer turned around and saw not only ladybug, but also a mop of pink hair that was rather easy to spot in the bushes.
"No" Chat Noir shouted and threw himself after Ladybug.
The first ray hit Ladybug who threw herself on Alix and Max.
The second ray hit Chat Noir who landed straight on top of Ladybug.
All four of them escaped around the corner of the school building.
"You got hit, Ladybug?" Alix asked worriedly.
"Chat Noir got hit too." Max added.
"I am okay, but I can't really jump on a top of a building." Ladybug whispered. Perhaps it was because her suit took most of the blow and protected her from pain and injuries, perhaps it was because she was hit even before she transformed, but it was not as bad to be hit as a superhero than it was when she was a civilian.
"I can still fight, but I feel my powers are a bit low." Chat Noir whispered back. He was still amazed that he did not just break down and cry in pain once he got hit. The memory of the hit he received as civilian was still very fresh in his memory.
"We need someone to distract him while you sneak up behind him." Chat Said as he wanted to climb the fire escape.
"No, I can do that." Alix replied. "You two both got hit. You go and sneak up to him and I will keep him busy." The pink haired girl already climbed up two flights of stairs on the fire escape.
The heroes waited for her to climb one more flight of stairs so that she was out of sight and hearing range. If they were quick, they could go for the akuma before Alix reached the roof.
Ladybug turned to Max.
"Max Kante this is the Horse miraculous." Ladybug offered the octagonal box to Max. "You know the drill."
Max took it, took the glasses on and greeted Kaalki, the tiny kwami in the shape of a horse and transformed.
"You should teleport us straight behind his back. We have to destroy his t-shirt without using our powers." Ladybug explained.
They looked up to the rooftop. Alix was fast, she really was, she evaded a few rays even without any superpowers.
Peagasus waved his hand and created a portal, Ladybug launched her yoyo first and it wrapped around the akuma and tied his arms to his body. Then she and Chat Noir jumped through the teleportation portal. Peagasus followed after them in hope he would be able to help. But everything was finished in the next moment. Chat Noir clawed the t-shirt and Ladybug purified the butterfly.
Fluracer detransformed into Kim.
"Miraculous Ladybug." Ladybug called and threw her yoyo in the air. A swirl of Ladybugs washed over them. The t-shirt was fixed and back on Kim's body. Ladybug and Chat noir felt better. The people who were hit and were stuck in the streets were recovering and back on their feet.
Chat Noir raised his fist, Ladybug and Peagasus bumped their fists with him. A fourth, rather civilian human fist joined them, it was Alix. She ran over the moment she saw that the akuma was tied up with the yoyo.
"Pound it!" They said in unison.
All three superheroes checked on Kim. Alix chose to keep her distance.
"What happened? I was akumatized?" Kim looked very lost.
"It is okay, we fixed that." Chat replied gently.
"Hi Kim. You will get the chance to beat my time once you recover." Alix assured the boy.
Kim just stared at her, his eyes were glassy, his vision was blurred, he was dizzy and weak and in pain because all his muscles screamed at him again. Chat and Peagasus had to hold him upright.
"Could you take him home, Chat, he is in no condition to go there by himself." Ladybug asked Chat. She still had to collect the glasses from Max.
"I will." Chat Noir replied with a wink. He took Kim and vaulted away.
"Hey there, you won, you were great." Alix exclaimed to Peagasus. She knew both heroes got hit and that they could hardly win without the help from Peagasus. She also knew she was going to become a superhero and one of the team.
"You were great, Alix." Peagasus replied with a wide smile. "You taunted that akuma and evaded his rays even as a civilian." The horse themed superhero was rather excited to be talking with the girl.
Ladybug had to take Peagasus away so he can detransform and return his glasses. She knew that Alix was going to become Bunnix and learn all their identities eventually and that Max's identity was revealed to Hawk Moth by the Miracle Queen. But she was sure that the information that Max was Peagasus was not widely known. Then again, she could not ask Peagasus to detransform in front of Alix because then he would rightfully ask how can Alix know his identity and Ladybug could not answer that question without revealing Alix's future identity. Huh, that was complicated.
"But you actually teleported Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were hit. Their strength and powers were seriously affected." Alix exclaimed back to the boy with wide eyes and even wider grin.
"I can tell with" Peagasus was talking but Ladybug nudged him. If he started to talk percentage, Alix would be able to guess his identity. "With certainty that there are not many civilians able to pull out what you just did out there." Peagasus was smiling widely.
"Well, you are still faster than me." Alix was smiling widely. "Actually you can make everyone faster than me." The pink haired girl replied more quietly.
"I could make you that fast once." Peagasus smiled widely back.
"I hate to break this." Ladybug stepped in. "But. You have used your powers already. We still have a little transaction to do before your time is up." She warned Peagasus. "Thank you very much for your help today Alix. Chat Noir and me would not be able to do that without you." She told Alix and swung away.
"Yeah, thank you Alix, you were awesome." Peagasus greeted before he followed Ladybug.
Peagasus detransformed into Max and returned the glasses.
"Thank you for giving me this opportunity even after Hawk Moth learned my identity, Ladybug." The short bespectacled boy was truly touched. Markov joined the duo from wherever he was hiding.
"You are very welcome. It is risky to let you use the miraculous now. But I think it was worth it this time." Ladybug replied.
They said their goodbyes and Ladybug swung away to the nearest hiding spot to detransform. Marinette knew that Adrien was taken by his bodyguard, but his bodyguard was hit and left on the school steps, while she did not see Adrien anywhere. The boy probably crawled away and hid somewhere, but she had to make sure, she had to know he was safe.
Adrien dropped Kim off in his room and had to leave quickly. Kim plopped on his bed and fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow so there was not much he could have done there anyway. Chat Noir vaulted back to the school and detransformed in a toilet. Then he ran outside. He was met by Marinette and his bodyguard who were both looking for him.
"Hi, um, I crawled back inside when you got hit." Adrien spoke with his signature model smile to his bodyguard.
"Adrien, you are okay." Marinette exclaimed the moment she saw him.
His bodyguard grunted with a small smile on his face and happy eyes.
"Yes, I am, Ladybug fixed everything. I am glad to see that you are okay Marinette." The boy replied quickly.
"Yes, I um, hid there, somewhere, in the bushes, I am not sure where exactly, my vision was blurred somehow." The girl stuttered and stammered and waved her hands in all directions. She was not even sure if she was nervous because of her crush on Adrien or the fact that she had to offer a plausible lie for him and his bodyguard who were both present when she made her escape.
Soon they saw Alix walk out from the school while Max pushed himself out from the bushes on the side.
"Alix." Max grinned widely. "You did so well, you evaded that akuma with no powers. I can say with 98 percent confidence that less than one percent of the population would be able to do what you did." The boy recited proudly.
"Thank you Max." She smiled proudly. "I was able to help Ladybug and Chat Noir and there was even this new superhero, Peagasus." Alix talked while a small blush crept over to her face.
"Really, tell me all about him?" Max asked as the two walked away from school (in the direction that was taking them neither to Alix's not Max's home).
Adrien's bodyguard grunted and motioned his hand towards the car.
"I guess I have to head to the mansion now." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck while he talked to Marinette.
"Yes and I should head home too." Marinette waved her arms in the general direction of the bakery as if she was signalling an aircraft to take a turn away from the piste.
"Okay, see you tomorrow in school Marinette." Adrien greeted.
"Yeah, see you." Marinette replied with a smile, turned around, took a step away, tripped, caught her balance and continued to walk away.
Adrien smiled and went to his car. He reminded himself he was supposed to have some extracurricular activities, but he did not care. He was only worried if his suit was protecting him from flu. Because that was the last thing he needed. The boy asked Plagg about it later, but the tiny god of destruction only recommended to take more Camembert (or give him more) as a measure of prevention. Adrien chose to feed his kwami and take more vitamins himself.