Marinette stumbled along besides Nathaniel, appreciative of what he was trying to do but wishing he would leave her alone so she could transform. She tripped on a rock in their way and fell forward, closed her eyes as she fell, and felt a pair of strong arms catch her. She opened her eyes expecting to see Nathaniel and had already formed the 'thank you' on her lips, when she saw a pair of bright green eyes looking into her own.
'C-Chat Noir!' She exclaimed, then looked behind him and saw Nathaniel looking annoyed that he hadn't been the one to catch her.
'Guess you fell for me, princess.' The feline winked at her. Then he turned to Nathaniel and said 'I'll carry her to safety, you go and stay safe.'
Nathaniel hesitated but saw Chat Noir already lifting Marinette into his arms and did as he was told, running after the others.
Chat Noir hoisted Marinette into his arms and leapt away. They landed out past the field and across the road behind a row of buildings, and Chat put her down.
Marinette groaned internally as she realised how much further she would have to travel with her sore knee but gave Chat a thankful smile.
'Thanks for saving me once again Chat Noir.'
He gave her his Cheshire-like grin and gave a deep bow.
'No purr-oblem, princess.'
His ears pricked as he heard a voice booming over the speakers from the oval, and he turned to leave.
'Stay safe.' He said, and he leapt away over the rooftops.
She dropped her thankful façade as soon as he was out of sight and opened her bag to let Tiki out.
'That was kind of him.' Tiki winked at her.
Marinette rolled her eyes.
'Oh yeah, saving the damsel in distress, such a hero. Tiki, spots on!'
She closed her eyes as the transformation took place, concentrating on her knee to see what would happen. Once again, Tiki was right about everything. Her bulky bandages disappeared, the tight suit taking its place in support of her knee, somehow reducing the pain. She opened her eyes and took a couple of hesitant steps forward to see how it felt, and was pleasantly surprised when she barely felt anything.
Ladybug grinned. Time to go catch that silly cat.
Chat Noir watched the akuma from his hiding place in a sturdy tree on the edge of the field. The akuma seemed to be a young man, and Chat assumed that he was from their school based on his outfit. He was wearing the mandatory PE shorts, which were black with a red trim along the bottoms. There were random red lines covering his black shirt, glowing like lava. He was also wearing a red sports headband featuring what looked like devil's horns, and had a red rope looped around a hook on his waist.
Although the akuma seemed to be walking, he was moving at a pace more akin to Chat's own jogging speed. He didn't seem to be doing anything too destructive and was actually cleaning the start of the race up after it had been trampled by the stampede of students trying to get away.
Despite his apparent harmlessness, the oval was scattered with students slowly fleeing. Those closest to the akuma had their legs bound together at the ankles, forcing them to jump as they attempted to retreat.
As the akuma turned towards one of the unrestrained students, Chat prepared to intervene, but was taken aback when the strolling akuma rapidly outpaced the running student. After closing the distance between them, the akuma threw his rope around the student, catching them by their ankles and causing them to trip over. He then pulled the rope back and walked away, leaving the student to struggle where he had left them. Interesting, Chat thought.
Then he heard a twig behind him snap, and he turned around with a start before relaxing as he was it was Ladybug.
'My Lady,' He said bowing to her, 'I was afraid you had gotten tied up.'
Ladybug rolled her eyes, having also seen the effects of the akuma on the students below them. She was about to reply to him when the voice came again from the loud speakers.
'Ladybug and Chat Noir, I know you're here! My name is Speed Demon, and I am the fastest in the world! To prove it I am going to challenge you to a race. If you win, I will surrender to you. But if you lose, you must surrender your miraculous' to me! You have one minute, or else I will force all of Paris to feel my wrath!'
Ladybug and Chat looked at each other, contemplating what he had said.
'My Lady? What are we going to do?'
Ladybug frowned, trying to come up with a solution.
'I'm not sure…winning a race seems too easy. I think we should go down and talk to him to see what the catch is. Stay back though Chat, I don't want either of us to get caught, it'd make beating him very difficult.'
Chat nodded and offered her a hand.
'We'd better get down there then, before we run out of time.'
Ladybug was about to jokingly take his hand but snatched her hand away at the last second when she heard his pun, and grumpily jumped down from the tree.
She winced a little at the impact, remembering her injured knee just a little too late. Chat, who had noticed her reaction, was instantly alert.
'Bugaboo? Are you ok?'
'Yes, I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little run down from your puns.'
Chat grinned at her, stunned for a moment that she had used a pun of her own.
Ladybug ignored his reaction and began walking to the oval. Speed Demon saw them and began to walk over to them, but Chat held up a hand for him to stop.
'Not so fast Speed Demon, we heard you have a challenge for us and we'd like to discuss the terms.'
Speed Demon stopped and put his hands together just below his chin.
'It's very simple. We do the 5 kilometer race that has already been set out by these 'kind' teachers here, and whoever wins the race wins the battle. However, you two cannot use your yoyo or baton in any way to help you win. You must win it with your own speed.'
Chat Noir hesitated at that. He had seen how fast this guy could move when he chased after the students and he knew that their chances of beating him were slim.
'Chat Noir and I will discuss this together and be back here in 2 minutes.' said Ladybug
Speed Demon's eyes narrowed.
'One minute.' He growled, and turned to sit on a chair, watched the two superheroes.
Ladybug led Chat Noir to behind the trees again so they couldn't be seen. He looked at her curiously.
'I don't think we can beat him, my lady. He moves way too fast and without your yoyo and my baton we can only run at a normal speed.'
Ladybug nodded.
'And actually, I'd prefer not to run, I…. I rolled my left ankle the other day and it'll slow me down.'
Ladybug felt bad for lying to him about the exact details of her injury, but she didn't want Chat to connect her to the girl he had carried away earlier.
Chat nodded.
'Ok, I can run for you but still, I can't beat him! Do we have to do this race?'
'I don't like the idea of the race either, but I don't know if I'm up to beating him while I'm injured so if there's another way I'm going to try it.'
She thought for a moment, furrowing her brow in a way that Chat thought was totally adorable, then took out her yoyo.
'I think the best chance we have is to use whatever I can get from my Lucky Charm, but then I'll only have a few minutes until I detransform.'
'Go for it bugaboo, while I run you can have a break, just be back at the end to watch me win.'
He winked at her and she ignored him, throwing her yoyo up into the air and saying quietly 'Lucky Charm!'
A bag fell into her hands. When she opened it she pulled out one of the pieces of black cloth and held it up, thinking it looked familiar. Then she saw that just below it in the bag were some cat ears and she realised that in the bag were several Chat Noir costumes. Not very good quality, but they would seem real enough if you didn't look too closely.
'What are we going to do with those?' Chat asked confusedly. 'I'm not going to need a change of clothes am I?'
'Twenty seconds!' Speed Demon's voiced called over to them.
Ladybug sucked on her lip for a moment, an idea forming in her mind. She looked around to see what her Ladybug vision would tell her, and as she suspected the costumes flashed up in ladybug print as well as some students who had taken shelter nearby.
She grinned up at Chat Noir.
'I have a plan.'