(Two days later)
"Welcome to the finals of our KIDZ+ competition!" Alec Cataldi (a well known insensitive jerk/T.V. show host in Paris,) greeted in the T.V studio, while a limo arrived at the building.
"Where today, one lucky winner will be announced as our brand new KIDZ+ weather girl!" The T.V. the host explained before the camera cut over to allow the TV audience an opportunity to reveal them. Mirelle was dark-haired, biracial, and a bit anxious in her cloud-patterned sweater while Aurore was blonde, enthusiastic, had that parasol prop and a dress of sky blue with either clouds or suns as the pattern.
"We started off with 5000 contestants. But with the help of our audience at home, we whittled our talent down to just these two amazing young ladies! So, let's welcome our fantastic finalists!" Alec continued as the camera cut to him, Aurore and Mireille as they stood on the studio stage, looking right at the camera.
"To my right, Aurore Beauréal…" the T.V. host introduced as the camera switched to Aurore on his right.
"...and to my left, Mireille Caquet!" Alec continued as the camera changed to Mireille on his left.
"Who will be the lucky winner? Vote now! Text 1 for Aurore and 2 for Mireille," the T.V. host finished as the camera shifted back to him.
Over at Marinette's house, the girl in question was dealing with a small little imp-like problem. It had been a very quiet two days after the derby hat competition with Mr Pigeon, and Marinette was looking forward to taking that time to relax and start working on the 'Geode Beanie' she was designing for Toby… But then her mom sprung a babysitting job on her.
So now, she was chasing the little troublemaker around her living room, trying to get an unfinished hat out of her tiny hands.
"Come on, Manon, give that back!" Marinette begged as she chased Manon–Nadja Chamack's 5 year old daughter–around her living room/kitchen.
"But I wanna be a fashion designer too!" Manon exclaimed, only to jump off of the couch just before Marinette could follow after her, making her end up face planting into the couch.
"Manon, please, it's not finished!" Marinette argued as she got up from the couch and tried to find Manon.
Manon giggled from the kitchen.
"You're gonna ruin it!" The stressed babysitter exclaimed as she ran after the little girl.
Another giggle from Manon gave her away, making Marinette scramble under the table to see her just as Manon moved to the nearby chair. Marinette lunged and promptly bumped her head on the table.
The chase continued for several minutes until Marinette found the hat on a doll, but no Manon in sight.
Immediately, she began to panic, until she heard someone messing with her phone behind her. Turning around, Marinette then could see that the culprit was none other than her charge, perched in front of the T.V..
"I'm gonna vote for Mireille, she's the best!" Manon proclaimed, entering her vote through Marinette's phone. But after she hit 'send' Marinette grabbed her phone back.
"Hey, my phone!" Marinette complained, only for Manon to jump up and grab Marinette's unfinished hat again, much to her exhaustiveness.
"Ughhh... Why did I agree to do this again? I could be working on Toby's beanie right now!" Marinette griped, feeling tired from watching the rambunctious 5 year old. 'And it isn't even noon yet, ugh...'
"Don't worry. You know what? If you can handle Manon for a day, any villain here on out will be a piece of cake," Tikki encouraged from Marinette's shoulder, making Marinette smile.
But they were soon interrupted by the doorbell ringing, making Tikki hide before Marinette walked over to open the door, only to be greeted by…
"Alya?" Marinette questioned, while the reporter waved 'hi' to her with a smile.
"Hey, I got a huge scoop for you. Guess who's on a photoshoot in the park?" Alya asked excitedly.
Her phone revealed a picture of Adrien in the middle of a photo shoot. Marinette grabbed Alya's phone in excitement to get a closer look to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"Now? Adrien is in the park right now?" Marinette questioned as Alya leaned against the doorframe smugly while she had her joy overload.
"As we speak!" Alya confirmed, glad to see her BFF so happy.
"Oh, gosh! What...what am I gonna say to him?" Marinette began, before Alya took the mic and decided to answer for her.
"The same thing as usual…" Alya began before she started to imitate Marinette's usual responses to the blonde haired Adonis. Marinete's words, not hers. " 'I... uhhh... dahee... wha... ahh…' "The reporter teased, mimicking the same flailing movements that accompanied the stuttering, much to Marinette's amusement. She knew full well what she was like, so no use denying it.
"Stop it," Marinette playfully commanded, before Manon grabbed her legs.
"Uh, who's she?" the kid asked, looking up at Alya curiously.
"Whoops! I forgot about this little detail!" 'I guess seeing Adrien in the park might not be that simple.'.
"And who's she?" Alya asked, giving Manon a wave.
"This is Manon, I'm watching her all afternoon for a friend of Mom," Marinette explained, having about three seconds till her train of thought brought up the very reason why she couldn't leave.
"Oh no! I can't go out!" The designer exclaimed now seeing why this was going to be a challenging task. (This author was wondering how long it would take for that to sink in.)
"Let me guess. Another 'you couldn't say no' favor?" Alya guessed, already knowing her new friend's overgiving and 'need to please' nature all too well.
"No, I just couldn't... say... no," Marinette gave in. She couldn't lie to Alya, and she was only her friend for two weeks!
Jim, Toby, Aunt Barbara and her parents had experienced her antics for years! At this point, Marinette did wonder if they took advantage of it a bit too much. Today being a prime example
"Look, no problem! I'll look after your little detail for you," Alya offered, right before Manon decided to run off back into the living room, much to Marinette's exhaustion.
"Thanks, but I'm responsible for her," Marinette argued with a tired look in her eyes. This little girl would be the death of her
"Besides, I couldn't do that to you. She's... an absolute angel!" The designer tensely continued, before a loud crash was heard, making Marinette run after Manon, as she ran around with a pot and a spatula in her hands.
"Manon! Put that down! Ugh! Come back!" Marinette demanded as she continued to chase after Manon while Alya only watched the chaos. She even walked over to the back of the coach and leaned against it as she watched.
"You're just a pushover, Marinette," Alya said as Marinette walked back to her, while Manon continued to pull on her arm as Marinette retained an iron grip on it.
"I have to babysit my sisters all the time, which makes me an expert in dealing with angels," The reporter revealed as Marinette stood tiredly in front of her. Manon tried to get away, but gave up, and turned her attention to Alya.
"Who are you, anyway?" Manon demanded. But thankfully Alya knew exactly what to do, crouching down to meet Manon's eye level.
"I'm a mythical unicorn from the world of Reespa, disguised as a totally fabulous human girl! I grant magical wishes, but only to little monkeys who behave!" Alya regaled, ending the claim by booping Manon's nose, making her laugh.
"Tihihihihi! No, you're not! ...Are you?" Manon questioned before Alya grabs Manon in the air, spins her around, bringing laughter to the little girl before she puts her on Marinette's shoulders.
"Okay, let's all go to the park!" Alya proclaimed as she placed Marinette's hands onto Manon's legs and flicked her bestie's chin with her finger before walking towards the door.
"Yay!" Manon cheered while Marinette processed what just happened. When her brain finally caught up, she just decided to roll with it.
"Okay!" Marinette exclaimed as she walked out the door, happy to have an excuse to see 'the love of her life'. Again, Marinette's words.
At the KIDZ+ studio, everyone waited in anticipation.
"This is the moment we've been waiting for!" Alec announced, as the screen behind him counted down to zero.
"The viewers at home have made their decision, and the new KIDZ+ weather girl is…" The T.V. host said as the countdown finished, and the votes were totaled up on-screen, with 18% for Aurore and the other 82% for… .
"Mireille!" Alec announced loudly, causing Aurore to gasp in surprise, while the crowd cheered for their winner.
Aurore began to seethe as the cameras all focused on Mireille.
"Man, she crushed you, eh? Better luck next time!" Alec said to Aurore as he clapped for Mireille while she continued to glare at the winner in rage.
"Ughh…" Aurore growls out before she quickly leaves, very angrily, much to Alec's confusion.
"What's the big deal? You only lost by half a million votes!" Alec remarked insensitively as Aurore left the studio.
Meanwhile, in a certain underachieving villain's lair, the Butterfly Bastard himself could sense yet another opportunity to obtain the miraculous.
"The vibrations are so strong, I can feel the imminent anger and sadness," Hawkmoth mused as the window of his lair opened up, as he stared out at the city in his cowardly hidey hole.
"The moment of weakness at my next victim... Such easy prey for my akuma," So saying, he released a dark butterfly to seek out his next victim..
Back over at the KIDZ+ building, Aurore stomped into the elevator when it finally arrived, and once the doors were safely closed she backed into a far corner and curled up on the floor miserably.
"I should have won, I have the talent, the star looks, everything!" Aurore spat furiously while she continued to clutch her parasol like a lifeline.
"But she took everything away from me. They took everything away from me!" The pigtailed girl ranted, her grip on her parasol tightening in her anger.
"They…" Aurore said, just before the elevator suddenly stopped, and she saw the akuma enter the elevator, via squeezing through the gap between the doors. The girl started swinging her parasol as a means to protect herself as the akuma fluttered closer.
In her panic, she opens the parasol in an attempt to shield herself, but the akuma takes the opportunity and infects it. The purple energy encases the middle of the parasol, allowing the purple mass to encase the tip of it while Aurore accepts the power of the dark butterfly.
"So correct you are. You should have won. Yes…" Hawkmoth crooned as he spoke through the psychic link to Aurore as she lifted her head to look straight ahead of her, her eyes darkening into a menacing stare.
"I should have won. Yes!" Aurore snapped as she stood up from the ground, gripping her infected parasol tightly in her hand and the telltale butterfly outline mask appeared on her face.
"Stormy Weather, I am Hawk Moth. I give you the power to seek revenge on them as my weather girl. All you have to do is bring me the Miraculous. Can you do that?" the psychotic villain questioned from the safety of his lair, having no intention of doing anything save for watching a brainwashed minion do his dirty work.
"Yes!" Aurore said, accepting the power, and allowing the purple energy on the her parasol to elope her, transforming her into Hawkmoth's latest puppet.
"That's my weather girl. Show the world who the best weather girl really is!" Hawkmoth said, having no idea how creepy he actually sounded as the elevator doors opened, revealing Stormy Weather. The newly transformed villain smiled as the glowing butterfly outline disappeared right before she walked out of the elevator, set on causing havoc.
Meanwhile, over at the Place des Vosges, Adrien was having a photoshoot, busy posing as the photographer, Vincent, enthusiastically took his picture while the Gorilla held up a white screen to help get better lighting.
All unaware of Marinette, Alya and Manon hiding behind a tree a short distance away.
"Okay, so what's your plan?" Alya asked as she poked her head from behind the tree, looking over at the photoshoot.
"I'm still thinking," Marinette replied, as she sat on the ground behind the tree, and glanced at Adrien, making her face erupt a fiery red. But she stopped herself from going into a daydream spiral, and focused on the task. Turning to face away, she thought of the advice her brothers had given her about dating-despite them not knowing or having any experience in the matter- to help her.
'Out of the two of them, they have little to go off of. But I might as well try. They are both boys, so…' the girl's thoughts trailed off. During the summer, Marinette had jokingly asked the boys what she should do to get closer to her crush. Of course she had no idea that she would use their suggestions, but here she was.
'Okay, Jim said that a simple way to get a boy's attention is to just go up and say 'hi'. But that's not an option," Mairnette recalled, knowing that she should try something else.
'They had also suggested inviting the guy of my affection to play a video game. A classic boy suggestion,' the designer remarked in her thoughts. But then again, maybe Adrien was the type of guy to play MechaStrike! She might have done research about him, but she didn't know his more personal interests.
'Maybe I should just stop overthinking this and go for it,' Marinette decided. With her mind made up, she got to her feet, turning to face Alya and Manon.
"Okay, here's the plan: We'll just walk by, as if passing through, and maybe he'll notice us. If he does, then I'll try and invite him to a smoothie at the end of the photo shoot," the designer explained, much to Alya's surprise. This was a much more tame plan compared to Marinette's usual ones.
"Sounds like a plan," Alya said, happy that Marinette was taking a practical approach to this.
Back over with Adrien, the boy was posing on the fountain, while the photographer continued to take Adriens pictures.
"Magnifico! Super! Come on now, I want to see hunger in your eyes!" Vincent exclaimed as he quickly took pictures while Adrien posed.
Unknown to them, Marinette (trying to 'play it cool'), Alya and Manon walked behind the fountain.
"Remember, cool! Just be cool…" Marinette reminded as they walked past the fountain.
"Um, we couldn't be more invisible," Alya remarked, right as Marinette noticed that they hadn't been noticed by Adrien.
"Okay, let's start over," Marinette decided, just before she started pushing Alya and Manon back the way they had come, only for Adrien to hear her, turning around to see them.
Caught off guard, Marinette stopped her pushing, and stood in place, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. Adrien only smiled and waved at them, before Vincent (annoyed by Adrien's attention not being on the photoshoot) glared at him, pulling Adrien's attention back to him.
"Did you see that? He waved at me!" Marinette exclaimed, using the opportunity that the photographer gave them to freak out from the attention Adrien had given her.
"Yeah, I saw it too. Pretty normal, since we're in the same class," Alya remarked, trying to get the girl to calm down and see that she didn't need to get so excited, but soon left her lost in La La Land.
Meanwhile, over at the KIDZ+ building, Mireille had just entered the elevator holding her trophy, smiling and proud of herself. But her joy was put on hold when the elevator stopped on her floor and just as she was about to exit, her path was blocked by a cackling Stormy Weather.
"Hahahaha! I am Stormy Weather. The only weather girl who always gets the forecast right! And unfortunately for you, there's a freak icy front moving in right now!" Stormy Weather menaced. She lifted her parasol and with a blast of cold she transformed the elevator into a frozen cage.
"Somebody get me out of here! Help! Help!" Mireille shouted as Stormy Weather flew off.
Back in the park, Vincent is still taking pictures of Adrien, while Marinette, Alya and a bored Manon watched, as she crouched to the ground, as they watched the photoshoot.
"Bravo! That's it! Give me the smile when your mom brings in spaghetti! Okay! And now, Oh no! Mama dropped the spaghetti! And now, you have to eat the spaghetti off the floor! Oh yes, you're angry! Show me angry, yes, yes, yes!" Vincent exclaimed, as he continuously switched spots to get as many angles as possible.
During that time, Marinette; who was so entrapped with watching the blonde model; unconsciously goes slack jawed as she continues to stare at Adrien. Alya immediately noticed and used her hand to close Marinette's mouth and went back to watching the photoshoot, only for Marinette's jaw to drop again, making Alya fondly smile and shake her head at her antics.
Meanwhile, Manon's attention was pulled away from the photoshoot, and she spies a cart vendor selling balloons with Mireille on them. Must be a promotion for the KIDZ+ Weather Girl competition… which ended only a few minutes earlier, so why were there only balloons with Mireille on them?
But thanks to Manon's five-year-old attention span, she didn't think too much about it.
"Marinette, I want a balloon with Mireille on it! Can I? Can I!?" Manon asked, tugging on the daydreaming designer's arm.
"...Marinette?" the five year old tried again in confusion.
"MARINETTE!" Manon screamed, finally pulling Marinette out of her trance.
"Ah!" Marinette yelped, which unfortunately interrupted the photoshoot, much to Vincent's displeasure.
"Ngh! Silenzio!" Vincent shouted, angered that he was interrupted, while the Gorilla lumbered over curiously.
"Come on!" Manon exclaimed as she continued to pull Marinette's arm.
"Come on, small fry! I'll get you that balloon!" Alya offered, trying to appease the tiny girl, but Manon merely jumped up and grabbed a hold of Marinette's thigh, not wanting to leave.
"No! I wanna go with Marinette!" Manon said, not wanting to take the easy path like most little kids do.
"Hmmm…" Marinette sighed out before looking back at Adrien's photoshoot, seeing that they were not doing them any favors, so… she had to appease the little girl.
"I'll deal with it. I am her babysitter," the designer reassured her and then started walking to the balloon vender, with some difficulty since Manon wasn't letting go of her thigh anytime soon.
"But what about Adrien?" Alya questioned as the Gorilla walked back to the photoshoot, and saw that once again, the universe seemed to deny Marinette just one chance to get closer to her crush.
Meanwhile, outside the KIDZ+ studio, Stormy Weather had just exited the building, and walked down the red carpet a little and posed with her hands in the air; right hand holding her parasol; and a smile while the crowd chanted Mireille's name. But when they noticed the winner of the competition was not there, they immediately stopped cheering.
"Where's Mireille?" A civilian from the crowd wondered a little too loudly.
"Ugh…" Stormy Weather groans out, glaring at the offending civilian, infuriated that she wasn't getting the attention she thought she deserved. But merely goes back to her previous pose.
"For all of you who voted for Mireille, I'd advise you to move indoors," the akuma warned, right before lowering her arms and looking straight ahead of her.
"It's going to get very blustery! Oh wait... too late," Stormy Weather mocked, right before she swung her parasol. With each swing, gusts of wind sent people screaming into the air.
The area cleared, Story Weather flew away for more victims.
Over at the park, Marinette had just got Manon the balloon and was now digging into her purse to get the right change to pay for it while Manon held onto it in her small hand.
"Come on, let's go back," Marinette said as she frantically dug into her purse, while Manon looked around and immediately saw the merry-go-round on the other side of the park.
"I want to go on the merry-go-round!" Manon shouts out in excitement while Marinette finally gets the right change out, and runs towards the merry-go-round. Marinette then gives the money to the vendor and runs to catch Manon.
"No, no, no, no, not right now, I gotta get back to Adrien…" Marinette exclaimed as she caught up with Manon and grabbed her hand to stop her from running away. But the tiny girl only turned to look up at the teen, a sad look on her face.
"You promised! You aren't going to break your promise, are you?" Manon asked, pulling the 'guilt trip' card, and ready to take it to the next step, which Marinette knew all too well.
"Aw, please, please, not the baby doll eyes... You know I can't say no to the-" Marinette begged, trying to get Manon to see reason, but it's all in vain when Manon flashes her baby doll eyes.
"Aw…" Marinette gushed, giving into Manon's demand. Seeing her give in, Manon grabbed Marinette by her hand, giggling as she ran towards the merry-go-round.
Stormy Weather was flying above the city, growing more enraged as she saw multiple banners of Mireille, everywhere, and soon was stopped by a balloon of Mireille as it floated up to the sky, ending up above the Place des Vosges.
"Ughhh!" Stormy weather growled as she stopped flying, looking for where the balloon came from. Only to see that a little boy had let go of the balloon and was now crying.
"Alright, little boy, here's another one!" The vendor said as he got another balloon and gave it to the little boy. Stormy Weather immediately zooms towards the offending balloons.