Marinette

I started running, knowing Bloom would be nearby. My small purse with Tikki inside started fluttering, and I knew she was telling me to hurry.

Finally, I found a small shop that was empty. I went behind one of the aisles and knelt down.

"Time to go, Tikki!" I whispered, "transform me!"

As I felt the mask appear on my face, I darted out and saw the fight had already begun.

Bloom had transformed into her fairy form, Bloomix, I recalled, from our conversation yesterday. She was firing at the akuma, but the akumatized boy just dodged her bursts of energy. Chat and the other mysterious man in blue, were shielding civilians as they escaped. I couldn't wait any longer.

"Hey!" I yelled, distracting the villain. I swung my yoyo, wrapping it around the miniature Eiffel Tower, and propelled myself forward. Grabbing the yoyo back, I started hitting the oversized boots he was wearing but he dodged. It was frustrating.

"Chat, over here!" I called, as Bloom took over firing duty. He used his baton to lift himself, and landed with a small thunk beside me.

"The akuma's called the Shrinkerator, his boots, although hideous, shoot shrink rays and miniaturises everyone and he can fly," he summed up. "I think all of us," he motioned towards Bloom, and the other man, "have to fight together to defeat him."

I looked at my partner, shocked. His eyes were firm, and there wasn't even a hint of humour on his face. Since when did he make the plans? Since when did he stop making puns?

This Chat was so different, I stood there, my mouth gaping until he looked at me, a little confused. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, and focused on the situation at hand.

"Right," I said, "we'll corner him and then- WATCH OUT!" I yelled to Bloom, watching in horror as Shrinkerator's shrink rays darted across and hit Bloom.

"AH!" She called out, before falling. I went forward, to catch her, but the man in blue beat me to it. He zoomed forward in his flying bike and caught her… wait, flying bike? This I had not noticed the last time he was here.

I had no time to worry about peculiarities, because Bloom was now the size of Tikki. I ran towards her, shielding myself from the rays that Shrinkerator was still firing. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Chat resume fighting him, swirling his baton to use as a shield, and sometimes prodding him and attacking him when the villain was overwhelmed.

"Bloom!" I called to her. I saw a little figure fly in mid-air, and come towards me.

"Hush!" she said firmly, although it was hard to take her seriously because her voice sounded like a chipmunk now. "Chat Noir should not know that you know who I am!"

Once I figured out her confusing choice of words, I blinked. "Oh, right, sorry," I said, before frantically looking at the akuma. It had flown away, and was shrinking everything now, from buildings to cars. Chat Noir was chasing after him but with no buildings to leap off from, it was becoming increasingly harder.

"Can you still fight?" I asked, turning to look back at Bloom. Her face was scrunched up in concentration. I saw shimmers surround her and a quick flash of light made me turn away. When I looked back, she was back to normal size.

"How…what…" I mumbled incoherently, as she put her fists in front of her, grinning.

"Hey, Shrinkerator!" she called tauntingly, "you can't shrink me!"

Her cat-calling worked. Shrinkerator turned, a furious expression on his face and rushed back to fight her again.

This time, she was ready, and I fought alongside her. I thought back to my fencing class, and the moves I'd learnt. I decided to use my yoyo to hit him in those similar movements.

"That's it! You've really shrunk my patience now!"

I glanced in the direction of the voice that spoke. There was my favourite cat in the world, his endearing puns back.

Wait. I didn't just think that, did I?

Nevertheless, it felt good for the energetic, frolicsome Chat Noir to return. I liked the fact he was serious and sombre when necessary, but could cheer me up that easily too. He jumped beside me, shielding me from the shrink rays while I attacked; I saw the man in blue do the same for Bloom. In the midst of fighting, I glanced at him, smiling briefly.

"It's good to fight with you again," I said to Chat, before leaping to kick Shrinkerator. He recoiled, and attacked, forcing me to move back in our defensive line.

"Wait, you like fighting with me? I thought we were partners! We're meant to fight together, not with each other!" He exclaimed in mock indignation, despite being tired; his arms were tensed from rotating his baton for so long.

I rolled my eyes, but I wasn't angry. "You know what I mean," I said, "and I hope you know what to do when I say it's time! Lucky Charm!" I yelled, throwing my yoyo into the air. Out of the air fell…

"Really? A bar of soap?" I wondered, clutching the packet. I scanned the surroundings, my eyes falling on the man in blue who had fought alongside us, without introducing himself. Okay, so he was part of the plan. Then my eyes fell on Bloom, who yelled something like 'Volcanic attack!' Out of her hands came out a plume of pyroclastic flow, which arched towards the akuma, forcing him back.

Woah. It was my first time seeing her use one of her powerful spells, but I didn't have time to dwell on that. Lastly, my eyes fell on Chat, his jaw set firm as he raced to attack. Something in my head ringed- I remembered Chat telling me something important to defeating Shrinkerator.

All of us have to fight together to defeat him.

I nodded, realising what I needed to do.

"Hey! Over here!" I called to Bloom. She looked a little taken off-guard, but flew towards me.

"I need you to distract him, so he doesn't fire his shrink rays at us," I said to her quickly, "and I need that person over there," I indicated the man in the blue outfit with his cape billowing, "to have his shield ready to bounce off the ray when Shrinkerator finally does fire."

"Got it," she said, and flew back to the fight. I heard her confide to the man quickly before yelling some more insults at the villain.

"Chat!" I called. He bounded over, on all fours. I chuckled; he was such a cat.

"You have to destroy his boots," I conferred to him, "once I grab them and bring them to you, okay?"

"Sure, but how are you going to do that?"

"Watch me."

I saw the akuma getting really mad. Bloom must be really getting to him, and I knew it was almost time for my part in the plan. I looked at the packet of bar soap in my hands, and took the slippery substance into my gloved palm.

"Aargh!" Shrinkerator yelled, "I have no business with you, winged woman! I want Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculouses!"

"Not if I'm here to stop you!" Bloom growled, eyes flashing. She nodded to Sky as I saw the akuma prepare for his strongest blow.

"YAAH!" He yelled, as thousands of thin rays were emitted from his boots. They joined at one point to form a ray about a few inches thick, which bounded over to Bloom.

"Now!" I shouted, as the man in blue jumped, shielding her.

I had started running just before Shrinkerator fired, the soap in my hands. Just when I was close enough, I arched the bar of soap downwards like a bowling ball and it hit his boots.

"Wait-WAAH!"

Shrinkerator slipped on the soap, his arms flailing and feet now in the air. At the same time, the shrink beam that the man in the blue had deflected with his shield, hit his abnormally long boots. They shrunk, now the size of a doll's shoes, exposing his feet.

"Chat Noir!" I yelled, as I grabbed the small boots with my yoyo and flung them towards Chat. I heard him yell 'Cataclysm' and his one touch destroyed the shoes into a million little pieces.

"Time to devilise!" I announced, catching the black butterfly that came out. Opening my yoyo, a white, cleansed butterfly flew out into the open skies, as I bid it goodbye.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

All around, buildings and people were turning back into their normal sizes. The Eiffel Tower, too, was now back to towering up in the clear skies once more.

"Bien joué!" Chat and I said, pounding fists. I threw my arms around his neck for a brief second, before pulling away.

"You were amazing, Chat!" I exclaimed, "You were so in focus, level-headed, I'm impressed! And thanks for the plan!" I added, with a small wink.

His cheeks were a little rosy, but I presumed it was from fighting hard. "Oh, um, thanks," he said, before his eyes narrowed. "Wait, what plan?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter," I beamed, putting one hand on his shoulder.

My memories flashed back to the moment when Adrien had touched my shoulder, and told me to stay safe. He had left quickly, and hadn't noticed the blood flowing to my cheeks, or the jolt of electricity that had passed through me, causing me to buckle and grab the nearest tree for support.

Out of its own accord, my hand pulled back slowly, as I thought about my conflicting emotions. This wasn't right, but why did it feel so right?

Chat sensed my uneasiness. "You okay-" He was interrupted by the sound of our Miraculous' beeping.

I noticed that Bloom and the other man, I decided to name him 'the man in blue', did not leave this time.

"I know you don't have much time," Bloom spoke up, "but please be sure to read this note." She passed me a small piece of rolled up paper, parchment, it felt like, and bended her knees and sprung up, flying away. The man in blue behind her, who had mounted his 'flying' bike (How was that even possible?) flew behind her, in the same direction.

I glanced at Chat. He just shrugged.

"Guess we'd better open it."

Thanks for reading!

So since Bloom is a full-fledged fairy, she can shrink in size (otherwise known as being able to miniaturise) using fairy dust. So I figured, if she's shrunk, she can probably grow back to normal size using the same procedure, right?

Thanks and see you later!