Miraculous: Tales of Blaze and Artemis
MDM: Holy cow! I am so sorry for taking a long time on this. Classes were driving me up the wall, then I moved back home once the semester was over, and then I had to do Christmas shopping! Yeesh, that was exhausting. But hey, at least we can count this as a Christmas present to all of you guys, huh?
PokemonFreak90: We sure can! This chapter is our Christmas present to all of you loyal readers out there! Roll it!
Chapter 14
Double Villain Trouble
If Allen and Bianca could say one word about this day in particular so far, it would be "weird."
Chloe had come into class, looking exhausted, and with no sign of Sabrina. Well, Sabrina had been absent since the day before, but Chloe hadn't looked utterly tired until today. Something was up.
But then, the next series of events that happened were even more weird! First, Chloe claimed that something had pulled her hair. Then something tried to pull her purse away from her, making the blonde girl fall out of her seat and onto the floor. Then the purse seemed to move on its own and started hitting her, making her run towards the back of the classroom to get away from it.
Since Ms. Bustier was out for the day, the class had Ms. Mendeliev as a substitute teacher, and this much-more-strict teacher was not buying any of this, trying to get Chloe to settle down and compose herself. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Bianca whispered to Allen as Ms. Mendeliev finally got the prissy blonde to settle down.
"If this is karma finally coming back to bite her, this is better than anything that I ever could've thought of!" Allen replied, biting back an amused grin. Bianca slightly snickered as well, despite the situation possibly being the cause of an Akuma.
Just then, a multitude of pens started flying through the air, hitting Chloe. She screamed and ran back to the front of the room. "Chloe, we do not run in the classroom!" Ms. Mendeliev shouted at her, making the girl flinch. "Get back to your seat!"
The prissy blonde girl was just about to do that, but then her sunglasses were torn off her head by an invisible force. Chloe grabbed them to put them back on her head, but the force harshly pulled her forward, making her crash onto the teacher's desk. The sunglasses then fell out of the air and the force started pulling on Chloe's hair.
"Compose yourself, Miss Bourgeois!" Ms. Mendeliev said to her.
Everyone started laughing as Chloe raced out of the classroom, her arms flailing around in an attempt to ward off the invisible presence that was harassing her. But it seemed to be following her, having pushed Adrien's tablet almost off the desk, but Nino quickly caught it.
Once Allen and Bianca were done laughing and had caught their collective breath, they heard Marinette and Adrien strangely give out excuses to go to the restrooms before Ms. Mendeliev could give either of them a proper answer. Then, both of them felt a small jab into their sides, Allen from his fanny pack and Bianca from her purse. It was their Kwamis, and they carefully opened their carriers to look at them.
"Guys, I know that karma can be harsh sometimes, but I don't think that what happened to Chloe was karma." Fenixx whispered.
"I agree." Claaw added quietly. "This reeks of an Akuma. Which means that Blaze and Artemis have to make their appearance sooner, rather than later."
Just then, everyone's phones started chiming with notifications. Everyone opened them and they saw a whole stream of photos depicting Chloe. It had to be the invisible force because all of the photos had been taken when she had been harassed. This was really starting to have more markings of an Akuma at work, and they seem to seriously have it in for Chloe.
Allen quietly groaned in annoyance while Bianca just huffed. But they both composed themselves and nodded. "Fine." The Canadian boy whispered. "We'll transform once class is over."
"When will that be?" Fenixx asked.
"In about ten minutes." Bianca answered before she and Allen closed their carriers and pretended to be working on their assignment when Ms. Mendeliev looked over at them.
But even ten minutes felt like an eternity. When the bell finally rang, they couldn't get out of the door soon enough. They raced into the locker room and shut the door before anyone else came in. They then opened their carriers to let their Kwamis out.
"Well, looks like we're about to save Chloe's hide." Bianca muttered. "Again."
"This is the part of being a superhero that stinks. Saving people that we don't want to." Allen added. "But like you once told me, it's our duty."
Bianca nodded. "Well, let's see if we can figure out the mystery of this invisible being."
"Fenixx, Flames Up!"
"Claaw, Let's Prowl!"
With flashes of gold and silver light, Allen and Bianca became Blaze and Artemis. They then leaped out of the window and headed over to the Hotel le Paris, either by fire wings or grappling gun. Hopefully, Ladybug and Cat Noir were already there and had figured out the identity of the Akuma.
When they finally came over to the hotel, they saw that Ladybug and Cat Noir were both in the lobby, talking with Chloe's butler. "Sorry we're a little late." Artemis said, getting their attention. "Have you guys figured out who we're dealing with?"
"Chloe obviously wasn't going to tell us." Ladybug said, sounding a little disdainful. But honestly, it wasn't a huge surprise. "So we think that her butler will give us more useful information."
The butler did look a little nervous about talking, so Ladybug came in to try and assure him. "Whatever you tell us won't go any farther than this room." She said, and that seemed to do the trick.
"Mademoiselle did have a run-in with someone." The butler began to explain. "Miss Chloe and her friend Sabrina like to impersonate Ladybug and Cat Noir. I was playing the part of Big Mustachio that day."
"Big Mustachio?" Ladybug interrupted, while Cat Noir, Blaze, and Artemis were trying so hard not to laugh at the ridiculous name.
"One of Mademoiselle's ideas." The butler clarified. "Big Mustachio wants all Parisians to be defaced with heinous mustaches."
"Wow, what a hairy situation." Cat Noir joked, making Blaze chuckle while the girls sighed.
"Please go on." Ladybug said.
The butler then continued to explain that while Chloe and Sabrina were cosplaying, they saw Jagged Stone in his hotel room. At first, they all thought that Chloe was the real Ladybug, and much to her selfish delight, she actually played along with it!
"She pretended she was me?!" Ladybug screeched in rage. "How often does that happen?"
"She idolizes you." The butler replied.
"That's the price you pay for being the main hero of the team." Artemis muttered while crossing her arms, actually feeling sorry for Ladybug.
The butler then continued the story and told the heroes that Sabrina had outed Chloe as not being the real Ladybug. Needless to say, Jagged Stone was not impressed, and Chloe was furious.
"Mademoiselle does argue with her friend Sabrina at times." The butler continued to explain. "I'd even go so far to say that it's the norm. But it was different this time. Sabrina came back the next day to apologize and to make up for her little mistake, but Mademoiselle pushed her away, saying that she doesn't exist. Poor Sabrina then left and Mademoiselle didn't even look back."
Ladybug tapped a finger against her chin in thought. "This invisible person is obviously Sabrina." She concluded, removing her finger.
"Who's been akumatized by Hawk Moth." Cat Noir added as he, Blaze, and Artemis came to the same conclusion.
Ladybug turned back over to the butler. "You've been a great help to us." She said to him. "Thanks."
The butler nodded, and then left the lobby. As the heroes headed to inspect the lobby, Cat Noir strayed behind to pick a red rose from one of the vases before quickly catching up to his teammates.
"It's not going to be easy to find someone that we can't see." He said, handing Ladybug the rose. She did take it, but then she put the flower back into another flower vase.
"So we'll just have to wait for her to find us." She said, and Blaze and Artemis slightly winced at the effortless retort. "And we do have an advantage, since she doesn't know we're onto her."
As the heroes were about to split up, Cat Noir's ears slightly twitched at a faint sound from behind them. He immediately turned around, the others quickly copying him, since they didn't doubt his heightened sense of hearing. "What's up?" Artemis asked the black cat hero, her own heightened hearing having picked up the faint sound as well.
The rose that Ladybug put in the vase from Cat Noir was now on the ground.
"Uh, the flower. It–" Cat Noir trailed off, unsure.
Something was up. When Cat Noir looked back at Ladybug, he noticed that a slightly darker and unnatural shadow was casting over part of her face. And it only grew darker as it seemed to reach for her ear. Or rather, her earring!
"Look out, Ladybug!" Cat Noir exclaimed, his staff at the ready as he came in close to her side. Blaze and Artemis immediately formed a circle with Ladybug and Cat Noir as they all got out their weapons to shield themselves.
The akumatized Sabrina had already found them. She started to throw things at them to try and break their shields, but the heroes kept circling around, trying not to give her an opening... until she started throwing bigger things at them, like chairs and vases!
After Ladybug destroyed one of the vases with her yo-yo, she decided to use her power. "Lucky Charm!" She exclaimed, tossing her yo-yo into the air. With a flash of red and pink ladybugs, a small glitter container fell into her hands.
"How handy." She said dryly, but at least for once, she knew right away how to use it. The glitter would make the Akuma easier to see.
"But even if we could see her, how can we get her to stop moving so that one of us can grab where the Akuma is hiding?" Blaze asked.
"I got it!" Artemis came in. "I can use my power to freeze her legs, making her immobile long enough for Ladybug to grab her Akuma."
Just then, there was a voice. "Looking for me, Sabrina?" Everyone turned in its direction and saw Chloe standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in her Ladybug cosplay costume. "I'm right here, come on!"
"Oh no, seriously?" Ladybug groaned in annoyance, along with Blaze and Artemis, while Cat Noir just facepalmed. "You need to leave!" The red-and-black-spotted superhero ordered the prissy blonde.
But Chloe didn't listen. "If you stop this ridiculousness right now, I might let you be my BFF again." She continued to jab at the invisible villain as she came down the stairs, looking around.
Just then, a book was hovering in the air near the front desk. "You've got no friends left, Chloe." The villain snarled. "And you'll never have any EVER again! I'll make sure of that."
The book was then sent flying in Chloe's direction, but Ladybug tackled her to the ground to protect her. Cat Noir, Artemis, and Blaze then took a stance in front of them, blocking any more flying books while Ladybug went to hide Chloe behind one of the columns in the lobby.
"You don't scare me!" Chloe shouted back. "Everybody loves me."
"That is seriously up for debate." Artemis muttered under her breath.
"This isn't a game, Chloe." Ladybug chided the prissy blonde.
But then, Vanisher managed to get away from the other three heroes, tackle Ladybug, and then grab her, rendering her immobile. "It's over, Ladybug!" The invisible villain proclaimed.
"Not yet, Vanisher!" Ladybug retorted back as she opened up the glitter container and bounced it upward with her knee and got it over her head. She then leaned forward, making it rain glitter all over the invisible girl so that she was somewhat visible by an outline of little red and pink sparkles.
Ladybug rolled forward in a barrel roll, making Vanisher release her as the superhero posed into a crouched battle stance. But then, Vanisher got back up on her feet as Ladybug stood up. "Just because you can see me doesn't mean you'll defeat me, Ladybug!"
Suddenly, Cat Noir planted his staff in front of her, stopping her from making any movements further. Blaze and Artemis soon joined him, their weapons at the ready while Ladybug quickly moved Chloe over to a better hiding spot.
"Look who's come to the rescue." Vanisher mocked them as she got ready to fight.
Ladybug managed to get Chloe behind a nearby counter. "You stay here! Don't move!" She ordered, before leaping over the counter to fight.
"Hey! This concerns me too, you know!" Chloe yelled to her, not liking that she was being kept out of the fight.
Ladybug rejoined her teammates as they dodged Vanisher's attempts to hit them. "We just have to destroy her bag and capture the Akuma." She said, searching every part of Vanisher that she could see to find the little handbag where the Akuma could possibly be.
But then, Chloe came out from her hiding spot, spinning her broken yo-yo. "Wait, Ladybug!" She said. "I don't think that's where the Akuma is." She tried to spin her yo-yo, but it slipped and flew out of her grip, landing on Vanisher's head.
The villain turned to face her former best friend. "So you wanna fight after all, Chloe?" She taunted.
"Can you handle this, guys?" Ladybug asked her three teammates.
"With pleasure, Milady." Cat Noir answered for all of them as they all jumped in the air. Cat Noir managed to grab Vanisher with his staff while Blaze grabbed her legs.
Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around Chloe and pulled her away from the battle before heading over to the elevator. She then unwrapped her yo-yo, letting Chloe drop onto the floor of the elevator. "Wait! The Akuma has to be in the designer pin that I bought her." The blonde girl exclaimed in realization. "She's wearing it on her sweater. Such an unfortunate ugly sweater. It was a gift from me."
"I won't tell you again, Chloe. So listen up." Ladybug said to her, her patience running thin. "You need to leave! You're putting yourself in great danger, and us, too. Got it?" With that, she pressed the button on the elevator to take Chloe back to her room on the top floor of the hotel.
"Wait! Why aren't you listening to me?" Chloe shouted from behind the door as it started to take her up to the top floor. "I'm telling you, the Akuma is in her pin!" Ladybug sighed with relief, visibly slumped forward, and felt so much better.
The other three superheroes noticed the way that she seemed so relieved that Chloe was out of her hair. Well, they all know that Chloe was… a bit much, to put it lightly. And they were also very relieved that she was out of the way and safe, but they all had the same thought that maybe Ladybug could have been just a tiny bit nicer to her about getting her out of harm's way.
But then, Vanisher grabbed Cat Noir and then made him crash into a vase. "Try to keep her still!" Artemis shouted. "I don't wanna accidentally freeze the entire lobby!"
Blaze then tried to get her to stay in one place, using his sword and a couple of careful fireballs. "Geez, who would have thought that the shy pushover Sabrina would be this agile?" He asked.
Ladybug threw her yo-yo at Vanisher and managed to snag her bag away from her, based on what she could see from the glittery outline of her. She then ripped the bag in two.
"Your days are over Akuma!" She exclaimed. "Huh?"
But to her surprise, the Akuma wasn't in her bag. Vanisher then took advantage of her shock and ran up to her, but Ladybug stopped her from reaching for her earrings by grabbing her arms. She then saw the glittery outline of a pin on the villain's chest. Ladybug then threw Vanisher over to the elevator doors, hitting her back.
"Artemis, now!" She shouted, jumping out of the way, leaving the dazed villain behind.
"Flash Freeze!" Artemis exclaimed, stabbing one of her daggers into the floor. A stream of ice spread along the floor, quickly trapping the villain by her feet before she could regain her bearings. The ice then crawled up to trap her hands, which were by her waist, before finally stopping.
Ladybug then went back to Vanisher and snatched the pin off her chest. She dropped it on the floor and stomped on it. When she removed her foot, the telltale Akuma butterfly flew out of its remains. She quickly opened her yo-yo, revealing the sparkly pink inside before starting to swing it around.
"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug exclaimed as she swung the yo-yo over to the Akuma, catching it. When she brought the yo-yo back to her, Ladybug opened it again and a pure white butterfly flew out of it. Then, she went over to grab the empty jar of glitter that was her Lucky Charm.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug shouted, throwing the jar up into the air as it started to glow. Then, it transformed into swarms of magical ladybugs, repairing everything that was caused by Vanisher, clearing away the ice in the lobby, and even repairing the pin that the Akuma was in.
Once that was done, a powerless Vanisher fell onto her knees as she was enveloped in black and purple clouds. When they faded, they revealed that Sabrina had gone back to normal.
"Uh, what happened? What am I doing here?" She asked, looking around her surroundings. Then she saw the pin on the ground in front of her and quickly picked it up, holding it close to her. "Oh no! It's the brooch Chloe gave me!"
Ladybug held up her fist to do the fist bump with the rest of her teammates, but none of them reciprocated the gesture. "Why didn't you listen to Chloe?" Cat Noir asked. "She was only trying to help."
"I have to admit, Chloe did kind of help out a little." Blaze agreed. "As much as it pains me to admit it."
Ladybug just scoffed. "First, because that girl put us in danger. And second, she completely lied to us earlier." She said, before walking over to give Sabrina a hand. "I was not gonna listen to a liar."
Artemis bit her lip. "Well, she did do that." She muttered as her pendant chirped out a second warning, not noticing that her countdown had already started earlier. "But she was still right about where the Akuma was. It never hurts to listen to someone else."
But the other three heroes didn't say another word as Ladybug helped Sabrina to her feet and began guiding her outside, and they followed them. Blaze and Artemis stopped for a moment for Blaze to use his Heal Flame to recharge Artemis's pendant. She thanked him by giving him a "best friend" hug.
When they all got outside, there were already reporters on the scene, wanting to ask the superheroes questions about the day's Akuma attack. They answered their questions as best as they could, until Ladybug heard her earrings chirping out a third warning, reminding her that she had only two minutes left. Due to all of the adrenaline and annoyance from before, she almost forgot that she was on a time limit after she used her Lucky Charm.
"Excuse me, I gotta go." Ladybug said as she stepped away from the crowd. "Bug out!"
"Thank you, Ladybug." Nadja thanked her as Ladybug got out her yo-yo and started to spin it.
But then, suddenly, there was a familiar cackling as someone new came onto the scene. It was obvious who the villain was, and she was wearing an inversely colored spandex bodysuit of Ladybug's; with it being all black with red spots.
"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have defeated Vanisher." The copycat Ladybug said to the real deal. "And now, I'm going to defeat you!"
"Chloe?" All four heroes asked, confirming her identity.
"Wrong. Super wrong." She said as she came down to the ground with her own yo-yo, the reporters quickly leaving the area. "I am Antibug!"
"Well, at least this villain's name isn't totally lame." Blaze muttered.
"Are you kidding me?! Two villains in one day?! That's never happened before!" Artemis exclaimed in annoyance, reaching for her bow. "Geez, Hawk Moth must be working overtime!"
Ladybug quickly came over to her teammates. "We've got an emergency here." She whispered. "I'm about to change back."
"Go ahead, we can take care of her." Cat Noir assured her as he and the other two got in front of her, their weapons at the ready.
"And you'd better hurry, too." Blaze added, gesturing to his wristband, which had just started his countdown. Ladybug nodded in understanding and quickly swung away to hide somewhere safe to hide and recharge.
Antibug just laughed. "Look at that. She's nothing without her pathetic superhero friends!"
"We'll see each other again soon. Trust me!" Ladybug shouted to her as she vanished into the skyline.
"Looks like it's just you and the three of us now, Antibug." Cat Noir said, holding his staff in front of him.
Antibug just smirked. "I love a good catfight!" She mocked, gripping her yo-yo and then spinning it around.
She then threw it over at the other three superheroes, but they managed to dodge it by jumping into the air. Cat Noir then led Antibug further up the hotel building. However, Blaze and Artemis heard a loud thunk and then they heard their teammate exclaim in pain.
"Cat Noir!" They shouted as Antibug grabbed their unconscious teammate and they quickly went up to rescue him.
However, when they reached them, they saw that Antibug had tied him up with some rope to his own extended staff, and she then got him dangling over the edge of the balcony. Luckily for them, Cat Noir had regained consciousness. Unfortunately, he was now struggling to free himself without using his Cataclysm. But it seemed that Chloe knew how to tie ropes, which oddly seemed kind of scary. Artemis and Blaze could only watch tensely, waiting for their moment to get Antibug away from him.
"Aren't you tired of playing second fiddle to Ladybug?" Antibug taunted Cat Noir.
"And aren't you tired of copying Ladybug?!" Cat Noir retorted back, making Antibug scowl at him while Blaze and Artemis briefly snickered.
Antibug's face briefly lit up with the telltale neon purple butterfly mask, meaning that Hawk Moth was communicating with her. After a couple of seconds, the mask faded away. "Team up with me, Cat Noir!" She tried to bribe him.
"Never!" Cat Noir answered firmly. "Not with a fake like you. Ladybug and I are a team, along with Blaze and Artemis. I just hope the real deal shows up soon." But then, Antibug started jumping up and down on the staff, making Cat Noir shake up and down!
"I know that you can hear me, Lady-brat!" She shouted, calling out to Ladybug, wherever she might be. "You're going to have to choose. If you want to keep Cat Noir alive, you'll have to give me your Miraculous. And if you refuse, well, then take a good look at Cat Noir, because this will be the last you'll ever see of him."
She then let the staff drop lower for a second before quickly catching it. "I'm going to count to ten! One…!" Antibug dropped it again, this time even lower, before catching it.
"Uh… could you make that twenty?" Cat Noir asked nervously.
"Two…!"
"Don't you even think about it!" Artemis shouted at the copycat Ladybug, firing an ice arrow right past Antibug's face, making her yelp. Then she growled.
"You are going to regret that, you mangy dog." She said, grabbing a box and setting it on top of the staff to keep it from falling. Then she went over to fight against Artemis and Blaze, the former whose Miraculous just chirped out a second warning.
"I guess I should have recharged Ladybug's Miraculous instead of yours, Artemis." Blaze muttered.
"Well, why didn't you?" Artemis asked him.
"Hey, I would have done it if I had known that we'd be facing a second villain immediately after defeating the first! How was I supposed to know that?!" He shouted defensively, a little angry at her accusation, but he had to make his point clear to his friend: It wasn't his fault that they were in this mess.
Cat Noir sighed with relief as he was set steady, but then he listened nervously to the battle that Antibug was having with Blaze and Artemis on the rooftop above him. Hopefully, Ladybug would get back and help them soon, since Blaze was on a time limit now, having used his power to recharge Artemis's Miraculous.
Just then, he felt someone pulling the staff, and himself, back towards the balcony. "Ladybug?" He said to himself.
Then, he felt lithe fingers touch his ankles as they worked at the ropes around them. When the ropes loosened, he was pulled in a little more until he was fully onto the balcony. He wanted to look, but what if Ladybug still wasn't transformed? So he kept his eyes forward.
But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar pink handbag on the person's hip. He blinked in shock. He recognized that little pink bag anywhere.
"Marinette?" He asked, turning around as best as he could to face the French-Chinese girl as she got to work on the ropes tying him to his staff. "What are you doing here?" He knew that Chloe, as a normal girl, hated Marinette with a passion. He really didn't want to know what a superpowered Chloe would do to her if she saw her right now.
Marinette just raised a brow at him as she finished untying the ropes. "You're welcome for getting you out of your little jam." She retorted back sassily.
Cat Noir brushed off the ropes and retracted his staff, bringing himself onto his knees. "Thanks for that." He said. "But seriously, what are you doing here? If Antibug sees you, she'll have you hung upside-down on the side of the building!"
"You were in trouble! I had to help." Marinette answered. "Blaze and Artemis were busy, and I happened to be stopping by the hotel with a bakery order. I had to do something!"
"But you could have been hurt." Cat Noir replied.
"I don't care." Marinette answered firmly, her bluebell eyes narrowed fiercely. "I wanted to help. Paris needs you. Your team needs you! I nee-" She quickly stopped herself, a light pink blush appearing on her face in little streaks.
But the black cat superhero got what she was about to say: "I need you."
The very thought that he personally meant something to her made his own face slightly flush with heat under his mask. It was sweet that Marinette thought that Cat Noir was someone special to her. He wanted to do something to show his appreciation for her thoughtfulness, but he stopped himself.
Marinette was still a little shy around his alter ego, even though they were making some progress, and he didn't want to scare her off by doing something too affectionate or teasing. And the slight irregular thumping of his heart was starting to catch him a bit off-guard. Only Ladybug ever made his heart jump like that before. He couldn't have this kind of problem, having two girls pull at his heartstrings like that, with Ladybug being the one who did most of the pulling, and with Marinette, who had somehow snuck her way in and was beginning to do the same thing.
"Um…" He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head before clearing his throat. "That was really brave of you. But I don't want you to risk yourself like that again. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."
And it was the truth, but she didn't need to know how or why she meant so much to him personally. She probably would think that he meant as an acquaintance, with a concerned superhero and an innocent civilian. But the thought of it did make her blush turn from pink to red.
But before she could say anything, there was the sound of Antibug screaming as she charged into Artemis, tackling her to the ground. Cat Noir looked over worriedly at Marinette. "Please go. Before she sees you."
Marinette just nodded mutely, her blush turning back to a nice shade of pink, and quickly made her way inside as Cat Noir grabbed his staff. He then jumped onto the roof, landing in a cool battle pose, shocking Antibug at his arrival and making Blaze and Artemis smile with relief. "Ready for round two?" He asked, before helping the other two heroes fight, hearing Blaze's wristband give out a third warning. It seems that they were going to cut it really close.
"Bad kitty!" Antibug said, spinning her yo-yo around. "Come here to get your leash back."
"Sorry, but I don't take any orders from a mere copycat." Cat Noir teased her, making Antibug even more ticked off.
She threw her yo-yo at him, but before either of the three remaining heroes could block her attempt of an attack, a familiar red yo-yo with black spots intercepted it and deflected it back to the supervillain. "Nice yo-yo. But mine's better!" Ladybug said confidently, yo-yo in hand.
"What kept you?" Cat Noir asked teasingly.
"Not the time for jokes, Cat." Blaze said. "I have two minutes left."
"We'd better go for a world record of defeating an Akuma in under two." Artemis added.
Ladybug nodded in agreement before getting down to business. "I'm thinking that the Akuma's in the yo-yo." She said.
"I'm thinking it's in her earrings." Cat Noir offered an alternative.
"Why?" Ladybug asked.
"She was already wearing them when she was akumatized, and her yo-yo was destroyed." Cat Noir reminded them.
"That's true." Blaze said.
Ladybug smiled at her partner. "Ah, pretty good advice... for a cat." She said, flicking the bell at Cat Noir's throat with a sly and somewhat flirty smile.
The smug black cat returned the smirk. "Thanks." He said, leaning in a little closer to Ladybug who, for once, wasn't pushing him away immediately.
However, two seconds later, she had to push him away because Antibug threw her yo-yo at them again. They dodged it, and then Antibug and Ladybug were throwing their yo-yos back and forth across the pool, each of them hitting the other one midway. The other three superheroes just watched on the sidelines, seeing Ladybug smirk at her copycat, while Antibug was snarling hatefully.
"I feel like I should get some popcorn." Blaze whispered. Cat Noir just snorted while Artemis rolled her eyes, sighing through her nose while pinching the bridge of it.
Ladybug then summoned her power. "Lucky Charm!" A swarm of pink and red ladybugs appeared in the sky above her.
But Antibug decided to even up the score. "Anti-Charm!" It seemed that it was similar to Ladybug's own power, but it was a swarm of red, black, and white ladybugs that appeared above her.
Ladybug's Lucky Charm soon came together to form a bag of marbles and landed in her hands. "A bag of marbles?" She asked aloud. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
But then Antibug started laughing evilly as her Anti-Charm came together to form a giant sword with complex designs on the hilt. She caught it and placed it over her shoulders. "What? You're going to defeat me with marbles?" She taunted her main enemy. "Child's play."
Ladybug started looking around, her Lucky Vision activating as she looked around to see how to use the bag of marbles. She then saw each of her teammates briefly light up in red and black spots, and then the little bag in her hands.
"See, that's your downfall. You're always so quick to judge." She said to Antibug before sprinting over to her team while Antibug angrily charged after her with her sword ready to swing. "Over to you!" She exclaimed to Cat Noir.
"Got it!" He replied as she threw the bag of marbles to him and he used his staff to knock the bag open, causing the bag to open and the marbles to spill out.
The marbles caused Antibug to lose her footing and fall, dropping her sword. Cat Noir then caught the sword with his staff by the hilt. "I'll take that." He said, and threw the sword far away, eventually stabbing itself into the iron bars of the Eiffel Tower.
Antibug just scowled as she got back on her feet. "See? You're nothing without your precious Cat Noir! Or your two other lowlife teammates!"
Ladybug just ignored that as she, Blaze, and Artemis joined Cat Noir, and she put her arm on her partner's shoulder, saying, "The four of us are a team. If you take me on, you take the other three on, too. It's not my problem if you don't have any friends."
The Heroes of Paris smiled at each other, but then they heard Ladybug's earrings chirp out its first warning. Then they heard Antibug's own earrings chirping out a warning, and the neon purple light mask appeared on her face. Hawk Moth was telling her to hurry up and get their Miraculouses.
But Artemis wasn't going to let that happen. She turned one half of her bow into a ribbon wand, waving the icy blue ribbon around before wrapping it around Antibug, restraining her arms.
"Your turn!" She shouted to Cat Noir.
"Cataclysm!" He shouted, activating his power, black specks appearing around his right hand.
"Need a little help?" Blaze asked, holding up his sword.
Cat Noir smirked and then touched the pool cover, cracking it along towards Antibug. Blaze then stabbed his sword into the pool cover, cracking it even further until Antibug fell in, waist-deep.
Ladybug then saw this as her chance. She ran over to Antibug, jumping over her while grabbing her earrings. Once she landed on the other side, she dropped them to the floor and stomped on them. When she removed her foot, the Akuma started to fly away from the broken remains.
"No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma." Ladybug said, opening her yo-yo to reveal the sparkly pink inside before beginning to spin it around. She then swung it at the fleeing Akuma and caught it before bringing her yo-yo back over to her. Ladybug then opened up her yo-yo again and a pure white butterfly fluttered away into the sky.
Ladybug then grabbed the empty bag of marbles, which Artemis had tossed back to her, and then threw it herself up into the air as it started to glow. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She exclaimed, and the bag became swarms of magical pink and red ladybugs, repairing the damage to the pool.
A now-powerless Antibug was placed on the side of the pool, on her knees as a cloud of black and purple bubbles enveloped her. When it faded, Chloe was back to normal. "What am I doing here?" She asked, looking around her.
The four Heroes of Paris just smiled and finally did their little fist bump ritual. "Pound it!" They exclaimed.
"Ladybug?" Chloe asked, getting back up on her feet.
"Chloe, I… I'm really sorry about what happened earlier." Ladybug apologized to the blonde girl. "I would've defeated Vanisher sooner if I'd taken your advice."
The prissy blonde girl blinked at her with surprise. "Oh, huh." She said. "In that case, I might reconsider."
"Reconsider what?" Ladybug asked.
"I might just have to stay your most devoted fan after all!" Chloe announced proudly, crossing her arms.
"Oh, yeah. Uh… thanks? I suppose." Ladybug muttered nervously before changing the subject. "In that case, let me offer you some advice. You should work things out with your friend Sabrina."
Chloe looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Well, since it's coming from Ladybug." She said, nodding her head before chuckling nervously.
Ladybug just shook her head with amusement before looking over at her teammates. "Thanks for your advice, guys." She said to them with a wink.
"'Course. We're a team, aren't we?" Cat Noir stated, smiling at her while crossing his arms. He and Ladybug shared a glance as she ran by him.
"Unstoppable." Ladybug agreed before getting out her yo-yo. "Bug out!" She said, swinging away.
Just then, Blaze heard his Miraculous chirp out a fourth warning. "And just in the nick of time, too." He said, showing Artemis his wristband. Artemis's eyes widened, and they both zipped by Cat Noir.
"Well, we gotta skedaddle before this fire bird turns into a pile of ash." She said to him hurriedly. "See ya next time, cool cat!" With that, she and Blaze hurried back to find a safe place to de-transform.
The next day, Allen Flint and Bianca Snow were in their classroom, waiting for class to start, since Ms. Bustier had yet to arrive. However, they had also arrived a little early, to see if Chloe would actually take Ladybug's advice and make up with Sabrina.
Allen had a small question that he wanted to ask Bianca, so he leaned in a little bit closer to whisper in his best friend's ear. "Would you be willing to switch seats with Alya?" He asked. "You can sit with Marinette while Alya comes back here with me. I want to sit with my girlfriend."
Bianca raised a suspicious brow at him. "Um, are you sure about that?" She asked him. "How would Marinette feel about that? Alya is her best friend. Plus, I don't think Ms. Bustier would like that. You two would probably be flirting with each other rather than concentrating on your work. So yeah, that would be a no."
But if she was being a little honest, it did kind of hurt that Allen would expect that of her, since she was his wing woman. She expected that they weren't always going to be together, since they would both one day have to grow up and lead their own lives, but she didn't expect it to be this soon. And now that it was starting to happen, with Allen wanting to spend more time with his girlfriend, the auburn-haired girl was starting to find letting him go harder than she thought it would be. Her grip on him was starting to slip.
Allen just shrugged sheepishly, having an embarrassed red blush on his face. "Yeah. Point taken." He said. Luckily for Bianca, he didn't dwell much on that thought afterwards.
Then, the two of them saw Chloe enter the classroom and sit down in her seat, soon followed by Sabrina, who looked very much downtrodden. Both of them didn't say anything to each other for a few seconds before Chloe handed Sabrina a fancy-looking metal pin, although the former said that it was just to make the latter's sweater less ugly. Apparently, it was her way of "apologizing".
Sabrina looked thrilled, though. She smiled thankfully at the prissy blonde and then briefly admired her new pin before putting it on her sweater as Ms. Bustier came into the classroom. Judging from the knowing looks on both Marinette and Alya's faces, it seemed that the make-up present worked for both Chloe and Sabrina, and that they were back to being best friends.
"Who would've thought that Chloe would actually be apologizing?" Allen asked his best friend.
"Eh, it wasn't with words exactly." Bianca replied. "But at least Chloe did make it up to her. I guess in their own way, they'll always be best friends."
Allen shrugged. "Yeah, but I like our style of friendship better." He said.
"You can say that again, Hoops." She answered back, and they quickly shared a high-five before turning their attention to their teacher as she began to start the lesson.
PokemonFreak90: Between Bianca's accusation towards Allen during the fight with Antibug, and his want to switch seats with her in class to be beside Alya, it seems that Bianca is noticing that she's starting to lose her grip on her friend. He's slipping away from her, putting another girl first, before Bianca. Bianca knows that they'd have to live their own lives and go their own ways someday, but not this soon! And it's proving harder to let him go than she anticipated.
Clearly, some friction is starting to form between our two main characters. But will it eventually lead to a rift forming, destroying their friendship? Let us know what you think about this, and keep reading to find out!
MDM: Well, I personally wouldn't go that far. Bianca might be a little bit possessive, but at least she won't let that ruin her friendship with Allen. But then again, no friendship is perfect.
That's all for now, guys! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review about what you think, and remember to stay healthy.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Got to fly! ;)
