AN: When people write Miraculous fanfiction… why do they say 'Chat Noir' instead of Cat Noir?... I know it's French for 'Cat' but what the fuck.
Also, nobody say Augusto is overpowered for the lore, because he's not. Think about it. If you're making a hero to counteract a rogue hero, you're gonna want to make them stronger than who you're trying to counter. Just wanted to clear that up before you read the chapter.
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Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
The tiger themed hero's body dropped to the ground below with a sickening thud. He was sprawled out on the roof, his dark color blending in with the shadows caused by the metro. She, too, dropped down beside him, her intense fit of fear and anger over.
Tikki popped out of her earrings, her eyes wide and her tiny form shaking with pure horror. "Tikki?" she asked, staring down at the body of the unconscious boy fearfully, "What was that?"
Abruptly, a tiny tiger kwami popped out of the armband adorning the boy's left arm. "What have you done!?" he shouted, his glare flickering between Ladybug and Tikki. "R-Rybbo?" Tikki seemed to back away from the small tiger, her blue eyes glazed over in something akin to terror, but there was a small flicker of anger in there too. "Yes. That's my name," the tiger kwami crossed his arms in front of his tiny body, glowering at the small ladybug-like kwami, and replied with the sardonic comment curtly.
"Excuse me, but what's going on here!" Ladybug exclaimed, her eyes still straying down to the unconscious boy laying on his back in the middle of the roof. "Oh, you found another one to harness your powers, I see," Rybbo remarked, a veiled insult hiding behind the face value of the comment. "As if you don't do the same!" Tikki snapped out of her stupor, anger flaring in her small eyes. The tiger kwami was still, no sign of wounded pride on his face. "I give my wielders powers and they do what they will with it. I do not influence them like you do, messing with their minds and altering their perception of realty," bit back the small kwami, his small yet sharp fangs bared.
"Tikki?..." Ladybug was starting to become worried. Messing with minds? Perception alteration? I wonder what they're talking about, Marinette thought. "What does he mean, messing with minds?" she squeaked, her civilian side shining through. Tikki whirled back around, facing Marinette. "We will have this discussion later," she ordered, whipping back to the other kwami. Rybbo stared at Ladybug, then laughed. "You haven't told her?" he mewed in between laughs, finishing, "The original string of Miraculous were made so that both the kwami's and wielder's mind meld together when the kwami is in the jewelry, yet since us kwamis are miniature gods, or divines, we end up influencing our wielders – the other way around."
Ladybug paled, her skin now nothing but white. She looked like a ghost. "Remember Menodara?" the tiger kwami smirked, Marinette not understanding what he meant. This seemed to get Tikki to be even more angered. "Don't ever mention her! Your wielder, Corso Tallo, hunted her like an animal!" Tikki bit back. The orange kwami didn't seem fazed, though, seemingly smiling a bit at the memory. "After she slaughtered the Medici – and, technically, she was an animal. A ladybug to be precise; just not a good one," grinned Rybbo.
"Who is this poor boy you've taken over?" Tikki spat back, trying to change the subject. "Taken over? Poor?" scoffed Rybbo, "You're only calling him 'poor' because you made your wielder kick him in the head. If it wasn't for the suit and powers, he'd have a concussion – and that would be if he was lucky! Also, I never took over him; he willingly transformed. Plus, he's in a noble bloodline! How could he resist?" Rybbo replied, gesturing at the boy laying on the street in the tiger outfit. "Speaking of him, I really should take his Miraculous," Ladybug willingly forced everything from this conversation o the back of her head. "Yes; that would be best," Tikki glared at the tiger kwami. Ladybug expected the small god to look angry or fearful. Instead, he looked only smugger. "Too late for that," he shrugged, smirking. Before Ladybug could ask what that meant, Rybbo was pulled back into the armband as the boy started to wake.
"Now!" ordered Tikki. Ladybug obliged, diving for the armband. But before she could, she felt a pressure to her stomach, and then she was flung upwards, slamming into the bottom of the metro. "Ladybug!" exclaimed Tikki, staring at her wielder with wide eyes. Now, their window of opportunity had closed. They would either have to face or chase the tiger.
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Augusto Vega/Tiger Miraculous Wielder
Friday, 17:46
Augusto awoke seeing the spotted form of Ladybug right above him, seemingly diving for something. He didn't know what had caused him to do what he did next, be it instinct or the powers. He had kicked Ladybug with such strength that would've caused his leg to cramp before today. He saw her being flung upwards, slamming into the metal underside of the metro. Wait, the metro! Augusto's eyes widened as he remembered the day's events. Activating and feeding Rybbo, transforming into a tiger-like superhero, meeting the Parisian trio of superheroes, being chased by Ladybug, and then being knocked out by the aforementioned red-clad heroine.
Anger flared up inside him at Ladybug's actions, like the roar of a lion, or growl of a tiger. Wasn't she the superhero of Paris, embodying all that's good and right? He had never been a fanboy of Ladybug's or the other two superheroes, but that's what the news painted her as. And she had knocked him out by slamming his face into an iron support beam. He felt a growl rise deep within his chest, knowing that it was the tiger-like instincts granted by Rybbo.
He saw Ladybug's kwami, red with black spots. She looked almost the same as Rybbo, except the eye color, limb shape, colors, and none of the cat features Rybbo had. He narrowed his rust-colored eyes in anger, flipping onto his feet. He stayed there, crouching with his tail twitching. Ladybug recovered, dropping down and shaking her head. "Listen, whoever you are. Your kwami has taken over your mind! You need to give him up!" begged Ladybug, her kwami zipping into her earrings. "Taken over my mind? I doubt it," he responded curtly. Something inside him simply knew that it wasn't true. He saw Ladybug flinch, as if someone had just poked her with a needle.
"And you should've thought of that before you slammed my head into iron!" he shouted, internally wincing at the soreness he felt in his forehead. With that, he unhooked his axe and charged at the red-clad superheroine. As he expected, she leapt upwards. He furrowed his brows, having anticipated this movement. He reached up, managing to wrap his fingers around her ankle. He then slammed her into the roof, causing multiple cracks in the concrete. She yelped in pain, wincing as her back slammed into the substance. Not letting go, he then spun around, relying on centrifugal force. Quickly, he let go, managing to fling the superheroine away. It wasn't as far as she had got him to go, but it was far enough that he lost sight of her.
Rybbo zipped out of his armband once he made sure that Ladybug was out of sight. He looked sagged, and his usually chipper energy and child-like mannerisms were gone. His ears were dropped down and his small tail was in between his tail-nubs. "Hey – what's wrong?" Augusto asked, the anger he had felt at Ladybug nearly completely disappearing at the sight of his sullen kwami. "It's Ladybug's kwami," Rybbo replied, his rust-colored eyes staring intently at the cracks Augusto had created in his fit of rage. He took a mental note to bring that subject up for a later date. "What about her?" he asked, guessing the kwami's appearance. "She thinks bad of me. I'm guessing it was bad blood that remained after the Corso and Menodara incident…" he sighed, floating in midair. "Wait… Corso as in…" Augusto trailed off, his natural curiosity getting the best of him. "Yes; you're ancestor. I've been alive for thousands of years, Augusto. I have been wielded by those who have come across me by chance and used me for greed, and those who had been temporarily given my Miraculous to take in rogue wielders," Rybbo sighed.
"So, what does she think?" Augusto asked, his body shaking at the revelation that this small creature was the very same one that his ancestor had talked to 500 years prior. "She thinks I'm imposing my will on you, only using you for my own advantage," he mewed, his voice sounding more like how Augusto imagined a cub would talk. "Well, you're not. I decided to become… now that I think about it, I don't have a superhero name," Augusto smiled slightly.
This seemed to bring Rybbo back to his prior attitude. "What about… Rust Eyes?" he suggested. "No… to keep in theme with Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Rena Rouge… how about… the Striped Tiger," Augusto struck a pose with his axe, making his voice deeper. "Why not the Bengal Tiger?" suggest Rybbo, his ears now back to their usual position. "Alright… Bengal Tiger… I like it," grinned Augusto, leaping off towards some of the higher roofs, and stumbling occasionally as his body still felt as dense as a brick.
Once he reached one overlooking part of Paris, he sat against an air conditioning unit, leaning back to relax and soothe his aching body. He put his hands to his mask, lowering it. He expected it to stay stuck to his face, since a video on the LadyBlog showed that the Miraculous mask were permanently stuck to their faces. He shrugged it off, rolling with it, and took a deep breath, pain searing from his shoulders and neck and head. The red-tinged sky and cold air gave him a sense of freedom – one he had never quite experienced before. "Why'd you do that to Ladybug?" he heard a voice behind him.
Instantly, the mask snapped up, covering his lower face. He glanced back, expecting to a sort of akuma or something; but nothing like that, his body disagreeing with the movement. It was Rena Rouge, an angry expression on her face and clutching her flute with a white knuckled grip. "It's not my fault she went all psycho on my and slammed my head into an iron beam," Augusto replied, a small flicker of annoyance rising inside him, and then a wince from the memory. "She what!?" Rena Rouge exclaimed, her face morphing into one of shock. "Yeah. I was peeking out from under the metro to see if it was safe to exit, and then suddenly, Ladybug slams my head into the iron bar I was peeking out from!" he exclaimed, "And when I woke up, she was about to take my Miraculous, so I had to act!"
"Wait… so you're not an akuma?" Rena asked. "Do I look like one?" replied Augusto, raising his arms melodramatically. He internally winced at the pain he felt in his back at the movement, but soldiered on. Rena Rouge scanned him over, shaking her head no. "Well, then you get it. Not an akuma, attacked by Ladybug, I'm a superhero," shrugged Augusto, crossing his arms over his gray-colored chest. "By the way, a helicopter found me on my way here. I lost it, but it might find us again," Rena Rouge told him. "So, you, the famous Rena Rouge, got trailed by a helicopter? Why not just create another illusion of yourself, and they'll be hard-pressed to follow," Augusto suggested. "Wouldn't work; I'd have to stop and actually do a Mirage," Rena replied, looking around. His ears picked up on something; the faint hum of a helicopter. Rena Rouge didn't seem to hear it.
What better way to explain to Paris that there's a new superhero in town? he mused. The sound became louder to the point that the vixen heroine heard it, her eyes widening. "We've gotta go now; plus, you need to apologize to Ladybug and vice versa," Rena Rouge was already in a position to leap towards the metro and sprint down it like a fox. "Nope. I'm staying. I'm going to announce that there's a new hero guarding Paris from the akumas," Augusto stated obstinately.
The heroine stared at him intently. After what felt like a few moments' worth of the noise getting continuously louder. "Fine. Meet up with Ladybug and I the top of the Eiffel Tower tomorrow at midday," she ordered, leaping off the edge and out of sight. And that's when the chopper appeared.
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Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
She walked into her room, her whole body was sore. On top of that, she was frightened by these new revelations. What had caused this sort of rivalry in between the two kwamis? Why was Tikki talking about a Menodara? Was it true that she had been hunted down like an animal? From what Marinette gathered, she had some horrendous deed of killing someone she should've remembered from history class, since Rybbo's tone implied that the 'Medici' were important.
Tikki was uncharacteristically quiet, floating off to the corner where some cookies laid on the table with a few kwami-sized pillows. Marinette climbed up onto her bed, laying down for a second. She pored over all the new information. "Tikki?" she asked. The red kwami didn't do anything verbally, but she stared at Marinette, an invitation to go on. "Who was… Menodara?" Marinette choked out, not completely sure if she wanted to know. Tikki sighed. That couldn't be a good sign. "Menodara was one of my previous Ladybugs, during the Italian Renaissance. She was responsible for the killing of many of the Medici family, and she had gone rouge," Tikki explained, munching on a cookie while doing it. "Eventually, a bounty hunter that had come into the possession of the tiger Miraculous, calling himself 'Tigre Sfolgorante,' Blazing Tiger in Italian, was tasked with killing her. And he was ruthless. He hunted her down for months, always so close, but she evaded him."
Marinette mentally noted that this was from Tikki's point of view, and she sounded especially fond of this Ladybug, so maybe she only interpreted things this way. Marinette always tried to see the best in people. It was natural for her. "During that time, I had been trying to get her to go back not the path of good, to right her wrongs and to become a hero once more. But…" Tikki choked up, "She didn't listen. One day, she was trying to steal money from one of the forts. Tigre Sfolgorante was being quartered in that fort. She, focusing on trying not to alert the guards, wandered right into his room. After a chase into town, Tigre Sfolgorante managed to pin her to a wall on the rooftops by firing an arrow, and then killed her." Tikki started to sniffle, shaking slightly.
"In her last moments, I could almost see the girl that I had once cared for. The innocent Menodara that seemed ecstatic at the freedom of being Coccinella. I zipped out, trying to protect her. But in the last few seconds of her life, she glared at me with such hatred… such contempt… that I simply couldn't bear to watch. I turned around, heard the slash, her crying in agony, and then all was black."
Marinette curled up in her bed, her mind putting her in that position. Had that Tiger-themed boy come to take her Miraculous? Or even kill her in cold blood like Tigre Sfolgorante? No, she had attacked first, lashing out with her yoyo. Even then, he didn't do any offensive moves, just trying to dodge her swipes as he came closer and closer to the edge of the rooftop. She didn't know what had come over her. One moment, she was wallowing in her own misery at her failure to help Cat Noir before he broke most of the bones in his body, the next, she was overcome with such anger and fear that she had felt her own body tremor. She didn't blame the boy for beating her up. For all he knew, she was back to do even worse damage, and she could tell that he was battered from having to escape her, and then getting his skull slammed into an iron beam with all of Marinette's body weight. Not to mention that he had woken up at the exact moment she had been diving for his Miraculous.
She would have to try to figure it out. A soft tap came from the door to her balcony. She yelped, startled, momentarily thinking it was the boy, coming to take her life. But then remembering that he didn't even know who she was. She glanced up, seeing Rena Rouge's face grimacing down at her. Oh yeah, she saw part of it, Marinette frowned at the thought of having to deal with Alya's mother-like attitude. Both Alya and her knew each other's secret identities, a result of Cat Noir being absent for around three months. Marinette, slightly wincing at the small pain in her shoulders, reached up, opening the door for Alya to drop in.
Rena Rouge hopped in, using the sill around the door to swing onto the main floor of Marinette's bedroom. "Girl, what was that?" she asked as Marinette closed the door to her balcony. "Er… what?" she played dumb, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with one of Alya's lectures. "You know what I'm talking about!" snapped Alya, her mask morphing into somewhere between disappointment and exasperation. "Why'd you go psycho on that poor boy?" she reiterated. A small twinge of anger rose in Marinette. "Poor boy? I'll have you know he slammed me into a concrete roof, then flung me through half of Paris!" retorted Marinette.
"I know that – after you did the same, slammed his head into an iron beam, then trying to take his Miraculous," Alya frowned, crossing her arms. Marinette's eyes widened. "How'd you know that?" she asked, slightly fearful now. "I only managed to see you trying take his Miraculous, and be slammed into the bottom of the metro, and then what came later. After that, he ran off and I lost him," Alya fibbed, not wanting to reveal that she had talked to him and seen first-hand how beat up he was. His movements had been awkward and stiff, and she could tell he had winced more than once at the pain he felt.
Marinette glanced at Tikki for support, only seeing the kwami curled in on herself, trying to fall asleep. "I told him to meet us at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow at midday. You better be there," and with that, Alya leapt up onto her bed, and then out the balcony door. Marinette sighed, the small twinge of anger gone. It had been a long day, and right now, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed, and fall into a deep sleep.
AN: Please, please, please review! And I'll be adding in a new OC and the next Miraculous in the next chapter. I'm still trying to figure this thing out, so bear with me!
In other news, my busted ankle is coming along nicely. Doctor says I'll be all good in a two weeks. :P