A pink bike burst down Boulevard South, narrowly avoiding the other cars on the road that it was keeping pace with. Although, if you asked any Parisians, they would say it wasn't a particularly big accomplishment given how terrible Paris traffic is. The bike made a sharp left onto Place Cardinal Lavigerie and continued past the end of the road to its destination: La Pelouse de Reuilly, a massive concrete corridor at the western edge of the Bois de Vincennes. It made a hasty stop at a bicycle rack, the rider almost tripping as she dismounted and removed her matching pink helmet, rustling out the ruffles from her blue-tinted hair.
Without stopping, she hurried down the road towards a group of almost a dozen people gathered at the crossroads in the center of the space. Only when she had reached them did Marinette allow herself to gasp for air.
"Wow, someone was in a hurry," Alya quipped, watching Marinette stand there, doubled over, not having said hi to any of the friend group yet. They had all come to expect this sort of behavior from their oftentimes-scatterbrained friend, but Alya was the best friend that got to call her out on it.
"Yeah… I didn't… want to… be late… for once."
She looked up to see who all was present. Alya happened to be the closest, with Nino standing next to her and holding her hand. Max was behind him, giving what appeared to be a lengthy speech to Kim (who looked bored), Rose (who looked fascinated), and Juleka (who looked somewhat nervous behind Rose, but seemed engaged by her friend's enthusiasm, if nothing else). Ivan was holding onto Mylène from behind, both looking with interest at a drawing Nathaniel was showing them. She was surprised to see Marc present, standing shyly at Nathaniel's side, but he gave her a small wave when he noticed she was looking at him.
That meant that Alix wasn't present yet, so she wasn't the last one there! Finally catching her breath, she beamed as she stood up. Then Alya and Nino both raised an eyebrow at her and suddenly she didn't feel so excited.
"I know what you're thinking, girl. Alix texted the group and said she'd be running late, which I'm guessing you didn't see." The brunette raised her phone for emphasis.
"Yeah, sorry, dude," Nino added. "It was something about a new friend from her football practice?"
Marinette smiled. "Yeah, Lucille! She got akumatized the other day because the other girls on her team were bullying her. It's good to see that she and Alix are getting along!"
"Speaking of people you're getting along with…" Alya started with a mischievous grin. "I'm surprised you didn't ask you-know-who to join us since you-know-who-else has a photo shoot today."
The bluenette blushed, scratching the back of her head. "Ah, yeah, Luka, well, I just didn't, uh, want to make things awkward, y'know, because Juleka's here and everyone else is our age too, and, uh…"
"Alya's only teasing," Nino said, putting a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder with a firmness that told her to tone it down. "I get it, this is still new to you, and not every couple is as smooth as Alya and I. Kim didn't bring Ondine along, either."
"She's right, though. I really should spend more time with Luka. I'll have to make sure to arrange a date with him in the near future. A real one."
"Good on you, Marinette," Alya approved. Even if I still support you going out with Adrien 1000%. All in due time, I suppose.
"Oh, there's Alix! I see her!" Myléne suddenly shouted, getting everyone's attention. Approaching from the west, perpendicular to where Marinette had come from, was a girl blazing through on roller skates, keeping clear of other parkgoers with ease. As she neared them, she slowed down and gave an enthusiastic wave that the non-shy members among them returned.
"Finally, the gang's all here," Kim said. "So, uh, how do we want to spend our day in the park? I know I want to visit the stadium where the 1900 Olympics were."
"That's, like, right here," Juleka miffed.
"There's also INSEP way on the other side," Alix countered, coming to a stop in the space next to Marinette that was still open. "That's the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance, for those who weren't aware. You know Kim and I are considering trying out for the elite teams when we get to lycée, right?"
"I did not, actually," Alya replied, a little surprised. "That explains the sudden football interest."
"Well, yeah, rollerblading isn't really a professional sport, though it totally should be. I don't know how far I'll go with it, but it's an option my old man approves of."
"I see. I was going to drag Nino to the Vincennes Zoo. My old man works at the Ménagerie du Jardin des plantes, and I want to compare the two to prove that his is better."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Kim commented.
Max pushed his glasses up. "You should. If memory serves, he was the zookeeper whose panther you taunted in front of him, angering him to the point where he was akumatized and chased after you."
"Oh, yeah, that guy. That was your dad?"
The reporter leered at him, albeit not seriously. "Uh, yeah." She pointed her finger at him teasingly. "Why am I not surprised you're the one behind that?"
A particular thought came into Marinette's head, one that gave her a sly grin even worse than Alya's was. "As fun as this argument is, I know that the real reason Alya's taking Nino to the zoo is because they first became a couple at one. They're going to reminisce, if you know what I'm getting at."
Alya's jaw dropped, her finger left suspended in mid-air. Alix whistled, long and low, while Nino's face turned as red as his cap.
"Marinette, you dirty, dirty girl!" the accused teen gasped. "I cannot believe that pure, innocent, Marinette Dupain-Cheng just said those words."
Marinette was trying really hard not to lose her composure and burst into laughter. But she was on a roll, and she should know, since her parents owned a bakery. "Aw, come on. Your one-year anniversary is pretty soon. You're just getting a little, heh, head start. Maybe without the start."
Alya's face was transitioning to the same red as Nino's, but whether it was embarrassment or indignation was up to interpretation. It was probably both. "Oh. My. Gosh. Is this real life? There's no way this is real life. This must be an akuma. That's it, an akuma that takes the minds of teenage girls and tosses them in the gutter."
Without warning, she pounced onto Marinette, putting her in a headlock with one arm while poking her in many locations with the other, causing her victim to start laughing from what was evidently being quite ticklish.
"Now where's that akuma hiding, Dupain-Cheng! Nino, come help me!"
"I, uh, um…"
He didn't get the chance to put his brain back together, because Marinette, with surprising strength, escaped from the headlock and completely turned the tables by getting behind Alya and forcing her to the ground with her hands behind her back.
"Looks like Hawk Moth wins this time, Rena–aaaaaissance Fair. Yeah, because the, uh, Renaissance Fair is held here. And now it's ruined, because of the, uh, akuma."
No one else seemed to have been listening to her near-slip up of Rena Rouge's identity. Throughout the whole exchange, they all just stared. And kept staring, even as the fragments of sentences started falling from their mouths.
"Did Marinette really just…"
"Did Alya just…"
"How did Marinette do…"
"Can you get off of me, please?!" Alya grunted, snapping everyone out of their dazes.
Marinette stood up quickly, her face joining the round of reddened complexures, while her BFF pulled herself up from the ground.
"Wow. Today we learned what happens when Marinette decides to make trouble," Alix stated.
"I think I'm kinda scared now," Myléne said jokingly.
"Yeah, remind me never to get on her bad side," Kim added.
"Look, uh, just," the bluenette stumbled, "forget this ever happened. Please don't tell my parents. Or Adrien. Or anyone. Ever."
"I'm still not sure I believe it myself," Nathaniel said rather quietly.
"Where did you even learn that kind of language?" Alya questioned, folding her arms before instantly losing her serious face. "Wait. It was me, wasn't it? Who else could it be but me. I did this to myself."
That finally broke the tension, and she and Marinette just fell over in laughter. Everyone else was laughing too, but none so hard as the two girls who could hardly stand and were crying. Nino had to physically support his girlfriend, a big smile on his face despite himself.
Off to the side, a young man on a bench huffed, closing the book he was reading and standing to leave. Of course the collégiens would make vulgar humor and treat akumas like a joke, he thought. I doubt any of them even know any akuma victims.
No late-summer sun pierced the dull cloud cover to reflect off of Lac Daumesnil as the group, sans Alix and Kim, now walked their bikes along Promenade Maurice Boitel and continued chatting about their plans.
"The Ferme Georges-Ville? That sounds so quaint! Are you going to pet the animals?" Rose asked cheerily.
"Actually, I wanted to learn about sustainability," Myléne answered. "The farm holds educational workshops, but they're only on the weekends, so I think it would be hard for our teachers to organize a class trip. Since we're here, I want to see what it's all about."
"Petting the animals isn't out of the question, though," Ivan assured. "You're welcome to join, if you want."
"Thanks, but I'm good," Nathaniel replied. "I wanted to work on my landscapes, and yes, it's partially for the Ladybug comic. I'm pretty good with human shapes, but my backgrounds could use some improvement. Although, now that I think about it, pretty much all of the akumas happen in the city proper, don't they? They're never out in nature like this."
"The park's beautiful to see anyway…" Marc added softly.
"Yeah, the four of us," Rose said, gesturing to Juleka as the fourth, "just wanted to walk around the park and look at all the pretty scenery!"
"Oh. That's fine." Mylène said. "What about you, Marinette? And Max too, of course."
"I didn't have any particular plans… I was kinda hoping we wouldn't splinter off into our usual couples, to be honest."
"Oh. Well, sorry… we made a reservation in advance."
"Yeah, us too," Alya said. "The zoo isn't free."
"In that case, perhaps you could offer me assistance with something?" Max asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Am I right in claiming that you possess experience in scheming?" he continued, prompting a strange look from her.
"Uh… I guess? I don't know if that's the nicest way of putting it."
"It's certainly accurate, though," Alya quipped, tapping her chin. "Does Operation Secret Garden ring any scheming bells?"
There was a round of nods from all the girls present, and one of confusion from the boys.
"I'm guessing that's the name of some plan to win over Adrien, right?" Nino figured.
"Right on the money, honey."
"Now I want to hear how that went down. Can't be any worse than our supposed date at the zoo, am I right?"
"No, you don't, because yes, it can," Marinette asserted, pouting as her face flushed red. "No one needs to know about that, okay? Or the zoo, since we're on the subject."
"Relax, Marinette," Mylène assured. "We're not judging you based on embarrassing things that happen in your life."
"Your floundering around model boy isn't exactly news to us," Juleka added, causing the redness to deepen.
"Hey, I'm working on that, and… Max what did you need help with!"
"It will be easier to show you."
After making a full lap around the stadium, Alix and Kim had determined that it was closed to the public, as it was fully surrounded by a fence with locked gates. There was a dressy-looking guy trying to read his book that didn't seem happy that they were snooping around, but he wasn't a park ranger or anyone important, so they tried to ignore him.
Of course, the solution there was simply to jump the fence. They wouldn't mind for an hour or so, right? No one was practicing right now. On the inside, Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil was a typical outdoor playing field. There was a full-sized football field almost literally encapsulated by the concrete of the cylindrical cycling track that gave the facility its name. On one side was a set of covered bleachers for spectating, connected to a modest brick building that contained a restaurant by the name of La Cipale. It was reservations-only and not cheap, so they did not plan on eating there.
Although it wasn't grand, Alix was here to appreciate the history behind it. Understanding heritage was something that her father Alim had instilled in her, even if she had little interest in his museology and archaeology and other -ologies that Jalil had taken after in spades. Idly, she thumbed the pocket watch she kept on her person at all times – the one that was secretly the Miraculous of the Rabbit.
Her future career as Bunnyx had been on her mind a lot recently, as she had realized a very important fact: Once she became the superheroine that watches over time, there was no going back. The others, they might be able to eventually, but the idea of having a future was completely meaningless when she could see the future and go there, and to any other time in all of history if she needed to, with the goal of preserving the right future that she would already know about. Well, it was probably meaningless. Maybe if everything was over, and then she went to the end of the time she had observed and renounced her Miraculous, she would be able to live a normal life, but when would that be? How old would she be – does she even age when transformed and travelling through time? Time travel was complicated. There were so many questions and so few answers.
"Hey, Alix, you up for a game?" Kim asked. He had dropped his bag and taken a football out of it.
She raised a pink eyebrow at him. "I didn't know you played football, Kim."
"I don't! But I figured it'd be good to spread my wings a bit. Track and swimming are both excellent cardio, but football takes skill and coordination with others."
"That's not how that saying works."
He merely shrugged. "You get the point, right? Isn't that why you're trying it, too?"
Well, actually… The real reason was that Future Alix had said she'd get her miraculous once she was cool enough. It was her mission now to be as cool and responsible as she could be, and her trying out for the football team was her first serious attempt at it. It was a team sport, and earning her spot, especially if she went for it in lycée, meant putting in a lot of hard work towards getting better at it. And it would branch out her friend pool, which was off to a great start with Lucille.
Wait… was she going to have friends once she became Bunnyx? Well, other than her superhero team, of course. She knew Ladybug and Chat Noir maintained civilian lives, and presumably they weren't all alone there. Although, it was hard to imagine how they'd pull off the crazy antics they'd need to hide that double life from the people they knew.
Like how she needed to come up with a lie right now to cover that up from Kim.
"Well, sort of. Like I said, rollerblading isn't going to pay the bills, and I don't really know what I want to do in the future. I don't want to get stuck at some sucky minimum-wage job because I didn't see what could've been waiting for me, y'know?"
"I guess that makes sense. So, a game or not?"
A mischievous smile appeared on her face. "It'll have to be quick, before the cops find out we're here!"
Kim put on his best bravado as they walked out to center field. While he meant the things he said, he would be lying if he said his true interest in the sport wasn't for the head-to-head competition. It was built for teams and was quite easy to play pickup matches, unlike track and swimming, which both ultimately had the goal of improving one's own times despite being performed in races.
Why did that matter? The answer is King Monkey. Despite spending a whole three minutes as the superhero, it unlocked a thirst within him that couldn't be silenced. Working with others to take down a bad guy… he had wished for it ever since the heroes had first called upon Rena Rouge to help them, but the fantasies couldn't compare to the real deal when it finally happened. However, he had heard absolutely nothing from the old man who loaned him the Monkey Miraculous or Ladybug since then, so he was looking for something else to try and fill that desire.
"Since we don't have teams with us, wanna do shoot-outs?" he suggested.
"You're on, Kim! …Man, that's not fun to say when I already use your last name."
"Let me do it, then! You're on, Kubdel!"
Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Marc kept their visit to Reuilly and Bercy Islands on the lake short, because a certain someone among them was really excited to see the Parc floral, for some reason. They had a nice bike ride through the forested heart of the park, the only problem being some guy walking down the middle of the road with his nose too deep in a book to see them coming. When they passed through the entry gate from Route de la Pyramide, Rose ran to the left straight to the Valley of Flowers… where there wasn't a blossomed flower in sight.
When Juleka caught up, she could see the disappointment on her girlfriend's face as she turned around all poutily. In return, her one visible brown eye gave an incredulous look.
"You really didn't realize that most of the park isn't in bloom at this time of year?"
"I heard that part of it had flowers year-round… I was hoping it'd be here."
"No, it looks to be a fair bit east of here," Nathaniel's smooth voice carried from behind them, as he looked at a fold-out map that Marc was holding.
The dark-haired one looked a bit miffed. Apparently, she was the only one among the four to have actually looked up their destinations online before they got there. She even planned a whole route through the Vincennes for them so they could get everywhere they needed, with minimal crowds…
"It looks like it's called the Garden of Four Seasons," Marc added. "Pretty fitting, I guess."
"Y'know, I was hoping to save those for last…" Juleka informed, her voice attempting to leave her. She cleared her throat before continuing, "Figured we'd build up the anticipation with the other stuff first."
"Hmmm!" Rose hummed with content. "Not a bad idea at all!"
They continued on, admiring the small lake named Miroir d'eau, the water mirror, and the performance stage on the other side.
"You know what's also not a bad idea?" the bubbly girl continued. "We could get Kitty Section to play at the stage here! Imagine a beautiful outdoor concert!"
"You'd want to wait until the spring to have all the flowers in bloom, wouldn't you?" Nathaniel suggested.
Juleka nodded. "Concerts are usually planned way in advance… we wouldn't be waiting long before audition. Would be worth asking the others."
Beyond the Valley and across the perpendicular path was a set of brick-roofed pavilions and covered walkways arranged in a diagonal grid: The Butterfly Garden. The thought of butterflies caused a small spike in Juleka's anxiety. After all, she was pretty sure that her three akumatizations (four if you counted Heroes' Day where everyone was akumatized), near-fourth one, and a sentimonster added for good measure were the high score among anyone in Paris. She really didn't like the feeling of weakness it gave her, because most of them were caused by her own doubts about herself or her friends.
That anxiety topped the long list of things Juleka didn't understand about herself. The scariest movies, creepiest alleys, and deadliest akumas couldn't scare her, yet receiving almost any attention from all but a select few people caused her brain to shut down and get worked up all at once. It was the tragic irony of wanting to be included yet feeling too inadequate to include herself.
At least Rose would never give up on her. Even in her darkest days, she could always count on Rose's optimism and support to try and cheer her up. It didn't always succeed, however… Rose always followed her heart, but when you're plagued by dark thoughts, no amount of positive emotion could block out what they were saying to you. Marinette was better at that sort of stuff, but she was busy most of the time. Juleka was somewhat glad that her blued-haired friend was giving a shot at dating her brother over pursuing Adrien, because she definitely needed the stress relief and he was good at that. Apparently even Luka wasn't getting to spend much time with her, though, which was somewhat concerning. If only I knew the first thing about giving support rather than receiving it.
"Penny for your thoughts, Juleka?" Nathaniel asked. She blushed a little, embarrassed at having drifted away from reality like that as they walked through the garden.
"Um, it's nothing…" she mumbled. "The butterfly garden reminded me of akumas."
"You too, huh?" Marc said quietly from the side. "Darn Hawk Moth…"
"Let's not worry about that, okay?" Rose assured. "I don't see any of the pretty butterflies here anyway…"
"Sorry," Marc responded. "Can't help but think about what could be, or could've been, sometimes. It's sort of what I do as a writer…"
"And I as an artist. But you're right, reminiscing on the lower points of our lives isn't productive. If this isn't pleasant for us, we should really get moving to the other parts of the park."
"No… I'm fine," Juleka stated. "The butterflies might just be inside, really…"
The quartet crossed the street to the building housing the pavilion and went inside.
"You want to do what now?!" Marinette almost shouted in disbelief.
Fortunately, only a brown-haired man with a trench coat and a book was nearby to hear her; judging by the way he looked around and then fussed off, he didn't spot where Max and she were hiding in the bushes. The boy's scheme had brought her to the large fence of Fort Neuf de Vincennes. The fort was an active military establishment, and yet…
"I'm positive that I did not stutter. I want to steal away into the fort."
"But why? Do you want to get shot?" The blue-eyed girl was struggling to keep her voice down without it coming off as a sneer.
"I merely want to prove that it's possible. I even formulated a plan before our arrival today, which is what I requested your assistance with. It is only 20.1% likely that the plan is foolproof, and you seem experienced at infiltration. With your input, we could raise that up to 75 or even 80% assurance."
Marinette facepalmed. Max, evidently, was oblivious, as he opened his bag and Markov flew out. The sentient robot projected a small screen showing the floor plans of the fort, guard schedules, and other useful information in the air front of them that Marinette didn't want to look at. She really didn't want to know how the tech whiz obtained this likely-confidential information.
Tuning out the duo's exposition on their plan was harder, and eventually she gave in to the temptation to sneak a peek. It was… impressive.
"And then, after the watch is chasing down this trusty UAV of mine, Markov will sneak in from behind and–"
"Wait. What if the watch people don't take the bait?"
"Why wouldn't they?"
"Well, what if they have some sort of defense to disable it? Or have a separate group that investigates problems than the one in the watchtower? And what am I saying, we're not breaking into the fort."
"Fine. Let's treat it as a thought experiment, then. Hypothetically, if the UAV wasn't able to distract the watch, then…"
Ivan and Mylène walked hand-in-hand alongside their small tour group, as the guide wearing regular farming clothes provided information about the Farm and its activities. The guide stopped, as he had several times to show an area of the farm that he was talking about in that announcer-ish voice of his. This time, it was a pasture with a variety of bovines.
"Here we have our cows and bulls. During the summer, the cows produce milk for their calves that they birthed after 'fun times' in the spring. We have to collect the milk every day to prevent their udders from getting too bloated, as the calves do not drink all of what they produce. If you're interested, we have activities to milk the cows each morning and…"
Ivan was interested, but he could tell from the way that Mylène was resting against him that she was rather bored, so he wasn't going to say anything. He knew that she was more invested in the bigger picture, the sustainability stuff, but personally, he found himself really enjoying learning about where their food came from. It's pretty easy to take for granted the amount of work that goes into producing something that everyone needs to survive when all you see is the result that you buy.
Or maybe it was just because they were working with their hands a lot. He'd never been good at expressing himself, and he found that building and doing things were better outlets for his feelings than attempting to use words. Mylène once told him that the best part of any gift he gave her was how perfectly he had thought each one out to address whatever she was struggling with. She said that everyone could see how kind he was if he could help them in the same way, but, well… he didn't know the others very well. Even being in Kitty Section, he still wasn't comfortable opening those doors with the other band members. Marinette, maybe, but he knew she had a lot going on in her personal life that she wanted to keep private, so he wasn't sure what to do to help.
Part of the reason why he had fallen for Mylène was how she was the exact opposite of him in this regard. She was a natural with people and had big dreams of being a politician and advocate for good. It was that tenacity that tripped her up sometimes, when she failed to break down a goal into its parts and bit off more than she could chew. Those were the times when he would be her rock and catch her. Yes, he understood the irony of that when his akuma was a giant rock monster.
"Alright, from here we'll head on to the crop fields," the tour guide announced. "I'll tell you all about our innovative crop rotation!"
Ivan felt a noticeable shift from his girlfriend. Guess we're getting to the good part now, he wondered. Not that it was his forte, but as long as she was happy, everything would be just fine.
Begrudgingly, Alya had to admit that the Vincennes Zoo had some merit to it. While it wasn't as large as the Jardin des plantes as a whole and lacked the special exhibits and greenhouses for plants (as you might expect, since only one was named after them), the animal variety was cooler than in the ménagerie. Mylène would have been excited to see all of the endangered species that it kept, as conservation was one of the focal points of the zoo since its renovation. Maybe Marinette had a point about them keeping to their usual pairs too much when everyone got together, and it certainly didn't help that most of those pairs were dating.
Just the thoughts of "Marinette" and "dating" in proximity caused her to blush at her best friend's comments from earlier. The worst part is that Marinette was spot-on; if she hadn't made the very idea of it super awkward, Alya totally would have made a move on Nino when they reached the panthers.
Instead, their conversation drifted towards more family-friendly topics like deaths due to zoo animals. They had almost completed their circuit around the zoo, with the turtle and flying fox habitat being the very last stop. This was intentional, given that the animals in this habitat were special to them.
"What a coincidence that our Miraculous animals share a place at the zoo, right?" Alya noted.
"Yeah. Maybe it's a sign that we'll move in together, honeybear." He nudged her playfully, causing her to blush. She looked down, the turtle swimming in the pond suddenly grabbing all of her attention.
"Do you think Ladybug will ever let us use the miraculouses again?" she asked after a moment.
A couple of days after Chloé's parents were akumatized into Heart Hunter, Ladybug had told them that there was actually a second akuma immediately afterward, which was Chloé herself. Her power had exposed everyone on the team except the original duo to Hawk Moth, so Ladybug said that she had no choice but to revoke their privileges to the Fox and Turtle Miraculouses to keep them safe.
"I dunno. Given what happened, I can't think of any reason why Ladybug would change her mind – she's been strict about this identity stuff since the beginning. But who knows what the future has in store? Que será será. We gotta live with what happens no matter how it happens."
"True, it's surprising that she was even okay with us knowing each other's identities… but still, having Trixx was good for me. Actually being a superhero is so much different than running after one, and that's helped me understand that pursuing the truth isn't always everything and keeping secrets can be important. Especially since I was paired with the kwami of illusion, of all things."
"I feel ya there. Granted, I got the protection power because I wanted to protect, but turns out there's more to it than that, y'know? Turtles aren't just immobile shells, they have flexible limbs too. Knowing what needs to be held onto and what can be let go… it's deep stuff, babe. And I think we can be flexible even without our powers."
Alya smiled at him and pulled her boyfriend into a one-armed hug. "You know what, you're right. Miraculous or no, we should help out however we can. I knew I didn't keep you around for nothing, turtle boy."
"Other than your zany schemes, you mean?"
"Ahhh... You wouldn't have a choice in those even if we weren't dating."
Light began pooling into a dark observatory as a lens opened its cover blocking a large window. It was a display that always pleased the one inhabitant of the room, as it heralded the time to reap what misery the chaotic elements of life had thrown in some poor fool's path.
"I can sense it… a pleasant day in the park, ruined by other people who don't know the meaning of peace."
One butterfly flew into the palm of his hand, which he clasped with his other and imbued with a dark power that blackened the butterfly to a deep purple. His empowered minion knew its task, and instinctively flew out of the gap in the center of the view to the streets of Paris, heading towards the forest on the city outskirts.
"Enjoy the park, my lovely akuma. It will be so much grander once you evilize that young man!"
Meanwhile, the brown-haired boy with the book walked angrily down Allée Royale. "Stupid kids, getting in the way all day… almost hit by a football, run over by a bike… just wanted to read my book…"
Hector didn't notice the strangely-colored butterfly that flew up to him until it landed on, and promptly absorbed itself into, his fantasy novel, turning it a deep purple. The outline of a purple butterfly formed at the edges of his vision, and then the silver-masked man became visible to him.
"Landover, I am Hawk Moth. I, too, hate it when miscreants soil such a calm day as today. I can grant you the power to close off this entire park and shape it into a fantasy world for your enjoyment only. Those other miscreants Ladybug and Chat Noir will also want to ruin your nice day… In exchange for your powers, I require that you take their miraculouses for me to collect once you defeat them."
"I shall reshape the future for us both, Hawk Moth." His book started growing larger, spreading its dark matter across his entire body, and the whole world began to shake.
"And once I capture the gateman in the tablecloth, Markov will disable the lock on the gate and we rush through to the barracks?" Marinette asked, pointing at the relevant spots on the digital map that she had heavily annotated.
"Negative, Marinette! Markov disables the gate first, because then the gateman will investigate the matter and leave himself open for your capture."
"Ohhh, right." She looked over everything once more. "Okay, I think I got it all down now. You ready?"
"Of course I am! Markov?"
"I estimate a 92.05% chance of success, with a margin of error of 4.23%. Ready to engage."
"Alright, Operation: Fort Thwart is a go!"
The two had hardly stood up when the ground beneath them rumbled deeply. It only lasted a few seconds, but something had changed in the atmosphere. Soon, things began changing in the biosphere, as the bushes spontaneously began growing rapidly, developing thorns and transforming into nettles that threatened to ensnare the two teenagers.
"I think the fort is thwarting us, Marinette!" Max exclaimed as they scrambled onto the road. The sky was darkening as the trees grew taller and their foliage spread out to block the sunlight.
"Our best course of action is to flee to the fort, where they can protect us!" Markov informed, his face now a red exclamation point.
"It's got to be an akuma! But all the way out-AAH!"
She nearly tripped as fissures opened up in the concrete, roots creeping up through the cracks and pulling the manmade infrastructure apart. The unstable terrain separated her from Max, with him closer to the fort.
"Marinette, hurry!"
"Go without me! I'll be fine!"
"0% chance! You don't abandon us, and we won't abandon you!"
Unfortunately, the choice was made for him as the roots evolved upwards, forming irregular spiky walls that prevented them from reaching other. They were soon blocked from sight, and that's when Marinette opened her purse. A very irritated-looking Tikki flew up to her eye level.
"Were you seriously just convinced to aid in a scheme to break into a military base?"
"Look, I… it was just hypothetical! And we have bigger problems right now!"
Tikki gave her another unimpressed look that said this conversation wasn't over.
"Tikki, spots on! Haa!" With her spotted costume spread over her arms, body, and legs, Ladybug became a creature of the forest, just as magical as the environment that had appeared around her.
Even with the souped-up capabilities granted by her transformation, Ladybug had to be careful treading through the massive undergrowth of the forest, which was a place unlike any she had encountered before. Sure, she had seen fantastic forests of this kind in video games and movies, but it was an entirely different experience to be in one. This wasn't an action-packed level with the forest as a backdrop. It was a three-dimensional maze of brambles, exotic bushes, and oversized trees that took not just skill but also precision to navigate her way through. She had climbed onto a huge branch near the top of one of the massive trees to chart a path, but it was still hard to make out any of the park's layout due to how thick the canopy coverage was.
One landmark remained quite visible, because it loomed over the entirety of the landscape. In the center of the park was a building-sized tree that scraped the clouds, easily rivalling the Eiffel Tower in scale. It was essentially a giant beacon for the location of the akumatized villain. Before she set off, she made a quick call to prepare herself for the fight ahead. There was a certain someone she needed to find too, after all.
Unfortunately, the phone rang out with no response from the Chaton. I hope this forest didn't have the same magical interference that Weredad's beanstalk prison did, she fretted. Pulling up the GPS seemed to work fine, and it looked to be the only sort of navigation the heroine would have for this scenario. Too bad its magic powers didn't also chart the changes the akuma had made; none of the paths marked on the map likely existed anymore. From the looks of it, the tree tower was right where Allée Royale ended in a big circle. Quickly, she texted her partner to tell him to meet her there.
Hopping down from her perch, Ladybug slid all the way down the tree trunk, landing on a glowing, oversized mushroom. It trampolined her forward onto the ground, where she used the momentum to continue jumping through the nettled gaps between the trees.
The travel time gave her a chance to plan. Walking right into the enemy base was pretty high on the foolish-decisions list, so she needed to be prepared for whatever was coming. Calling her Lucky Charm right now didn't seem smart when she hadn't even encountered the supervillain yet; knowing her luck, that would proceed to happen while she was de-transformed to recharge Tikki.
What ways did she have to distract the akuma? While she didn't know what had caused someone to claim the entire Bois de Vincennes as their territory, she figured they probably wouldn't like it if it started getting destroyed in a blaze of glory. That plan would also be useful because the smoke signal would be sure to alert Chat Noir to her location.
On the other hand… there were civilians in the park. Setting the area alight would endanger anyone around, and they definitely had no way to escape with the state the ground level was in. Her Miraculous Cure could restore any physical damage caused, but as far as she knew, it didn't wipe their memories if the akuma didn't have a mental influence on them. (It wasn't exactly a conversation one could just have with a friend who had been akumatized, even if that was all of her friends, minus Adrien.) That meant people would remember getting burned alive, and maybe even who did it.
Fire wouldn't do as a solution, then. She really wished Chat would show up already to help contribute. Another call, another, "Cat got your tongue?" Sigh… I should remember to make fun of him for that voicemail message someday.
On the opposite side of the city, a small crew had set up alongside Lac Inférieur in the Bois de Boulogne, across from the open field of Pelouse de la Muette that offered a view straight into the heart of the Paris cityscape, with the Eiffel Tower at its front. Their lights and camera were trained on two teenage models, one a boy with matted blond hair, and the other a girl with silky red hair down to her torso.
"Alright, you two, let's take five minutes and start fresh with the next outfits!" the photographer, Vincent, announced.
Adrien sighed, removing his round-topped hat and going to lean against the sole tree between the lake and the lawn.
"Is something the matter, Adrien?" Lila asked in her usual sweet tone, approaching him from the same direction.
Yes, and I'm looking at her, he thought, hiding the malice behind his model game face.
"Just tired. Might be the weather getting me down."
"You know you can count on me to cheer you up," she promised, getting close and attempting to hook her arm through his.
He resisted, shifting himself to cause her to miss. "Didn't I tell you to stop doing that? I'm dating Kagami, not you. You've already caused enough trouble when you got her akumatized over this."
"I'm sorry that she felt entitled to your affection. I'm just trying to be a supportive friend, is all. Intimacy doesn't necessarily have to be romantic, you know."
"Sure, but you've made it clear that you see me in a romantic way, so I know you're lying."
The Italian girl scowled at that, but he wasn't done yet.
"I seriously don't know what your plan is here. Do you really think you can force me into a relationship by manipulating me and trying to drive off my friends?"
Her look transformed once more into one of hurt. "That's so harsh! I don't know why you would say such things about me. I might have to report to your father that his own son is making me uncomfortable on the job and unable to fully complete my duties as a model under his contract."
Now Adrien was furious, which Lila seemed to have read as she quickly reverted to a smile that rivalled the Cheshire Cat; however, her threat was legitimate, so he forced those feelings down. He could practically feel it in his Miraculous, as if it could hear his desire to transform into Chat Noir and escape. Well, Plagg could actually hear him, but he didn't know if a kwami interacted with its miraculous like that.
Simultaneous buzzing in the two teens' pockets might have provided just the answer he needed. He pulled out his phone and saw that it was indeed an akuma alert, located in…
"The Bois de Vincennes? All of my fr–our friends are there today! C'mon, we have to go help!"
"Adrien, are you CRAZY?!" Lila shouted, projecting her voice well more than was necessary, while also forming a death grip on his arm to keep him from going.
He looked back at her, no longer hiding the anger on his face, but he could see Vincent already rushing over to see what was going on. Lila must have gotten his attention.
"Adrien, what appears to be the matter?" the photographer asked innocently.
"He's worried about the akuma because our friends are near it," Lila answered for him, her tone now sounding distraught. "I am, too, and that's why I ask you earnestly to stay here, Adrien. I don't do well with situations like these, so I need your support if we're to continue the photo shoot. The akuma won't affect us from the other side of the city, and I'm way too busy to postpone it. And a good model should be able to keep a straight face for the camera no matter what, right?"
The blonde didn't buy a word of it, but she had clearly earned Vincent's sympathy. "I agree with Miss Ita-Lila-na. The shoot must go on. There's nothing we can do anyway; the alert says the park's perimeter has been blocked off by the akuma. Ladybug and Chat Noir are surely capable enough on their own to handle it."
And that's why I need to go! Adrien fumed. Ladybug's counting on me! I can't let her down like this…
As they returned to the shooting site, he tried brainstorming some excuses to leave. But he found that all he could think about is how bad the consequences for bailing could be.
Finally, Ladybug reached a clearing, or at least it was clear relative to the density of the rest of the forest. The source was, of course, the colossal tree that occupied most of the area, with any open air around it being the result of its leglike roots that arched over the ground in a near-perfect circle.
"Welcome, Ladybug," a two-tone voice greeted from seemingly all around. Along with a normal-sounding male voice, there was a booming undertone that felt as if the earth itself was speaking. It put the heroine on edge, and she brought out her yo-yo shield to ready herself for a battle.
"Show yourself!" she responded.
The ground in front of her rumbled, and then a pair of spectral green hands around half her size emerged from the ground, attached to noodle-y sprouts that were just enough like arms to creep her out. They scooped up the dirt and morphed it into a male human shape before retreating.
"I should introduce myself. I am called Landover," the human mound spoke. "Are you enjoying this land of wonder I made? It's a quiet fantasy where my reading shan't be disturbed. I find it quite pleasant."
Only confusion was drawn on the heroine's face. "That's it? You transformed this entire forest just so you could have a place to read?" Her eyes scanned the facsimile for any sign of a source of power. She doubted this was Landover's true form – the closest Hawk Moth had gotten to a formless akuma was Style Queen being made of gold dust, but even then, she was human-shaped by default and had to will herself to become a dust cloud. And she didn't have those eerie hands shaping her from the dust, either.
"I wasn't able to read anywhere with those brats running around the park!" Landover shouted angrily, the deep undertone rattling the ground a little. "I'm told you plan on disturbing me, too. Is that true?"
"You can't just claim a public park for yourself and trap everyone inside like this!"
"Fine. Be that way."
The rattling intensified, but it wasn't from his voice; in fact, the dirt double collapsed on the spot. Instead, several of the energy hands popped up around Ladybug, and she pulled herself into a tree branch with her yo-yo to escape their attempt to grab her. The branch proceeded to grow a cluster of smaller twigs around her to try and imprison her within their tangle, but she was one step ahead still and dove out into the clearing. She kept running towards the enormous tree as large numbers of hands sprouted up to capture her, searching for some way to climb or infiltrate it. That's how it worked in the stories, right?
No such luck appeared before her, unless it was hidden deep within the burrows of the roots. Since that would leave her vulnerable to both the hands from the ground and the spontaneous plant growth, it would be very risky without a source of light. If only her darned partner was here, because then they could baton-evator to the top in a matter of seconds, or he could just destroy the whole plant with a Cataclysm. Chat… where are you?
Looking at her yo-yo with a frown, she realized she didn't have any other choices. She did wait until she encountered the akuma, like she wanted…
"Lucky Charm!" she shouted, throwing her yo-yo into the air to exude a multitude of hearts. The hearts formed together into a packet containing black-spotted red trapezoids, which then fell into Ladybug's hands.
"Disposable blades? They're a bit small for these plants…" by themselves. Her yoyo… she had a plan, but it wasn't the right time, as she had also just thought of another way up the tree. She was going to have to work very quickly, unless she could make a distraction.
The first step was getting up there. She wound up her yoyo while jumping onto the big roots, then threw it as hard as she could around the tree. It wasn't a surprise when the yo-yo flew around the other side and into her other hand; it had circled multiple national monuments before, so she didn't expect this to be any different. Her real concern was tested when she gave both ends of the yo-yo string an experimental pull, seeing if it would hold or start cutting through the wood and destroying the tree the same way it did said national monuments.
There were no sounds of snapping bark and the line felt steady, so the bug-themed heroine began climbing the tree in leaps. It was effectively a partnerless belay, using the tension of the yo-yo string to hold her against the tree in between her jumps.
It was simple, except that Landover could still sense her against his tree. Thorny branches spontaneously grew above her path, forcing her to adapt to the side. Just when she thought she could clear the distance enough to reach the branches, her yo-yo string didn't go up with her when she jumped, resulting in her tripping vertically onto the face of the tree. Further vines began to grow at her limbs, and she made a split-second gamble on what had happened by releasing the main yo-yo and jumping to the side off the tree.
Her assumption paid off, as instead of falling, the string caught, and she swung around to the other side where she could see that the bark had been made to grow over the string to trap it. Shifting her weight, Ladybug landed against the tree below the anchor point and climbed up as fast as she could to get to it, meeting the yo-yo as it raveled around and got caught. She pulled the yo-yo out of contact with the bark to prevent the same fate, then rapidly tore open the packet of blades. She slotted each one in turn into the gap between the yo-yo halves, except for one that she used to scrape the bark off of the string.
In the split second before gravity had taken her very far, she threw her newly-fashioned buzzsaw up to the lowest of the tree's branches, where it looped around like normal and hooked in for extra measure. Tugging the string pulled her up to the branch, where she could finally catch her breath, also making sure her contraption wasn't at risk of falling apart.
Strangely, the tree didn't narrow as she ascended towards the top. When she reached the apex, she saw that it was really more like a giant rook piece from chess, with the top being open, and also covered in thorns. It was time for test number two, and she spun up the yo-yo and threw it in a hook. The saw-yo swept through the thorns with ease, opening an avenue for her to jump onto the rim and avoid the continuing attacks where she was. The plants may be many, but they were limited in their growth time.
From the top of the trunk, Ladybug could see inside. It looked somewhat like one would expect from a hollowed-out log, if it was also polished to look like a solid wooden cup holder. Sitting on a matching wooden throne was Landover, the real one, reading a book. Most of him was still a brown color like the dirt copy, but it was dominated by his huge overcoat that was a darker brown, almost like dark chocolate. His skin was a pale green starkly visible in contrast to its surroundings, despite only his face and hands being visible. The face also had a butterfly-shaped mask that was more of a forest green.
Basically, he had a tree-themed costume in his tree base. Not Hawk Moth's best design work. More interesting than the villain himself was his book, which was almost as large as he was and bound in what appeared to be old leather. It was obvious that the akuma was in there, in part because he was reading out of it in an inscrutable language.
Paris' heroine leapt into the heart of the tree, throwing her bladed yo-yo at Landover's book at the same time. The villain, without looking up from his book, jumped out of his chair to avoid the attack, and Ladybug found herself doing the same as the floor grew wooden stakes behind him. While her foe could simply grow a foothold for himself, she had to rappel off of the crest of the trunk with her yo-yo again, which prevented her from using it like she needed.
Such a thing couldn't stop her, of course. She kicked off the wall such that she rebound right to where Landover was, threatening to stomp him and the book into the wall if he didn't move. Ungrowing the plants didn't appear to be in his repertoire, so she was able to claim the foothold for herself and finally finish this fight in the home-grown arena.
With no floor, having to grow his perches in advance, and holding no direct weapons, Landover had grown himself into a corner. Ladybug had expected his magic hands to appear, but she guessed now that they were tied to the actual ground for his terraforming. Again, not the best work.
Not that she minded, since it made it pretty easy for her to overpower him. In less than thirty seconds, she made the final strike, hooking around his book with the bladed yo-yo and tearing it even as she yanked to bring it to her.
"No more evildoing for you, little akuma," Ladybug said, opening her yo-yo like a ladybug opens its wings to the glowing white compartment within, which caused the disposable blades to fall out into her hands. She swung the yo-yo in a circle to charge up her throw.
"Time to de-evilize!"
The yo-yo caught the akuma in one swoop, closing up to perform its magic purification.
"Gotcha!"
She opened the compartment again, and a regular white butterfly flew up and away. "Bye-bye, little butterfly!"
Next, she grabbed tossed the blades into the air as well.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
They burst into a swarm of ladybugs, which actually stayed together. The tree around them was eaten up as if the magical insects were termites, and they spiraled out to deforest the entire Bois de Vincenne back to its normal self.
A dark substance covered Landover and dissolved into the ground, leaving the boy with the coat on the ground. He looked around confusedly, before seeing his restored-to-normal book and scrambling to it.
"Pound it…" Ladybug said quietly, frowning at the lack of partner to share the victory with.
Hawk Moth shook his head from his place in his observatory. "Even without Chat Noir, that was pathetic. I expected better from someone who spends so much time reading about magic and fights in fantasy books. With the whole park at his disposal…" he slammed his cane into the ground in frustration.
"No matter. These akumas were mere placeholders while I worked on the Peacock Miraculous. The real fun hasn't even started yet."
The silver-masked mastermind turned away from the window, the light from it shrinking as the lens closed back in until it was completely filled with darkness.
Ladybug landed down on the walking path of Allée Royale, setting down the brown-haired man whom she had carried there bridal-style.
"What an honor, getting a lift from Ladybug," he commented, turning to shake her hand. "My name's Hector Écriteur, by the way. It's quite a pleasure to meet you in-person."
The heroine did not share the same opinion of him, though she didn't let it show on her face. "Yeah… Listen, I gotta go before I transform back. This is kind of far from my usual stomping grounds, you know? Bug out." She left quickly afterward.
Her spaced out response was also because her brain was preoccupied with other matters. Beyond Chat's failure to help, she considered that there were no less than three people in the park with her who had wielded miraculouses in the past. In a hypothetical universe where she didn't care about their identities being known to Hawk Moth and entrusted them with those miraculouses to keep, they would have been available in his stead. She may have pulled through this time, but was this something she needed to prepare for in the future? Was there a legitimate reason why Chat didn't make it? Had she taken for granted Chat's ability to reach every akuma fight?
"Spots off," she commanded, her superpowers dropping as her tired kwami re-appeared in her hand. She fetched a cookie for the godly little being and switched gears mentally. The only way to answer her questions would be to ask Chat himself the next time they met. Right now, she needed to be Marinette and try to enjoy the remainder of the day with her friends.
Maybe this time, she wouldn't let herself get roped into breaking national laws.