Ladybug: The Adventures of Libby Walters

Season 1

Episode 6

"Shadows of The Night"

It was now February 6th, a Monday. Libby was taken aback that Marcus didn't bother her the previous day.

"Guess he took the door slamming as an insult."

"He would take a get well card as an insult."

"Maybe I should get him a card that says 'get fu-'"

"Still practicing your voice throwing Bug?" Jack asked.

"Gotta stay sharp with it!" Libby grinned. "Bye pop, see you after school!"

"Bye Libby. Hope this week doesn't suck for you."

"One can hope."

Libby reached Irka, who had a big smile on her face.

"Ooh, what's his name?"

"..."

"Irk?" Libby waved her hand in front of her friend. "Earth to Irka, this is Houston. Please acknowledge."

"Good morning Ash"

"That was underwhelming."

"I've been waiting for the chance to say that." Irka said.

"Good morning Irka."

"Nice having a new friend, huh?" Libby asked.

"Certainly. Now if only we could rid ourselves of Belloehs.."

"Yeah I'm telling her you said that."

Libby and Irka entered the school grounds, and Edison was hanging near the front of the building.

"Hiya chief." Libby greeted him. "How was your weekend?"

"Oh, uh, very productive." Edison said, shifting his feet around.

"Mine too."

"Yeah, I really figured some important things out."

"Guess we both did."

"I have something for you Libby." Edison remembered.

"You sir, have my attention." Libby said. Edison smiled and took his pack off.

"One sec Lib."

Libby looked on with anticipation, which was making her wait.

"Oh no."

"Did your process have an error, Ed?"

"I left it behind!" Edison kicked the ground.

"I know the feeling." Libby poked fun at herself. "Just give it to me another time."

"I was banking on you getting it today!"

"Chillax dude."

"Libby, I..."

"Yes?" Libby asked.

"I l-" Edison struggled to find the words.

"Irka, go ahead. This might be a while."

"I l...l...like your hairclip a lot."

"Thanks bro."

"Eh heh, yeah, huh."

"You're such a funny boy Ed!" Libby chuckled.

"You're so beautiful..." Edison somewhat blurted out.

"Why thank you Edison, you charmer! Catch ya later!"

Libby winked at Edison. He hugged her unexpectedly.

"That was okay, right?"

"Yeah dude."

"Hurry up Libby, your class is starting soon."

"Since when do you know ventriloquism, Libby?" Edison asked.

"Uh, not very long." Libby laughed.

"Hey Libbster." Matriel said. "How the Bug are you?"

"What'd she say?"

"Hi Mats."

"How the Bug are...oh, yeah, I get it."

"I assume Misty is nearby."

"Libby, hiii!"

Mistral nearly tackled Libby.

"Why do you Fen girls like doing that to me?" The Brown haired girl asked.

"Hmm?" Mistral asked.

"Libby, hell will be frozen by the time you get to class." Irka reappeared.

"Let's walk in together!" Edison suggested.

"Well c'mon then!" Libby exclaimed. Edison nervously reached his hand towards Libby, and she grabbed it and smiled. Irka took Libby's other hand.

"Look at me, getting love from everybody today!"

The group of friends walked past London, who looked dispirited.

"Why is she holding his hand? Hmph, so much for being friendly to her!"

London followed at a safe distance, though close enough to observe everything. They arrived in the classroom, and Libby's friends released their hold on her.

"Ooh la la." Trinity whistled.

"Good morning Miss One-Track Mind." Libby said. "Hi Belloehs."

"Yo Libby."

London burst into the room dramatically. She bashed the door in so hard that it gave Matriel a headache.

"Hello Libby Walters." She said coldly.

"Oh God, the voice." Libby grumbled. "She hates me again."

"Was it nice holding hands with my man?"

"If by that you mean Edison...wait, are you two even together?"

"We're together forever."

"I was unaware." Edison sulked.

"Quiet!" London snapped.

"Look, unless you show me a property deed for Edison, then I'll hold hands with him whenever I want." Libby said matter-of-factly. "The hell do you care anyway? We're just good friends."

Edison's heart sunk with these words. He immediately had plans to tear up his letter.

"You stay clear of my Edison, got it?"

"Don't spend time with my closest guy friend you're horny for him and delusional?"

London looked incensed, and tried smacking Libby.

"Uh uh." Libby said, catching her arm mid-swing.

"Girls, please stop fighting over me." Edison asked. "I don't belong to either of you."

"Yes. I'm not even pursuing him."

"That's two strikes." Edison thought.

"Dude is like a brother to me." Libby put her hand on Edison's face.

"Strike three. You stink!"

"So kindly leave both of us alone, you b-i-t-c-h."

A collective gasp went up from the other students.

"This isn't over, Walters!" London exclaimed.

"Yeah actually is kinda it." Libby sighed. London tried jumping her, but Libby ducked, and her head met with one of London's boots.

"Owwww..."

Without missing a beat, Irka walked around some of the other desks, grabbed London from behind, twisted her around and rammed her face into one of the desks.

"Děvka!" (approximately means "whore" in Czech).

"Jesus, enough." Matriel said. Mr. Sanderson entered to see Libby on the ground clutching her temple and wincing in pain, and London staggering around like she was drunk.

"I see there was some roughhousing in my class today." He said calmly.

"I will take Libby to the nurse. Please, anybody else take this mrcha (bitch)."

Irka knelt down to Libby's level.

"Is that you Irk?" She said with difficulty.

"Up we go, Libbster." Irka grabbed Libby's free hand and pulled her to her feet. Libby's feet dragged on the floor as Irka led her down the hallway.

"You need me to carry you, Lib?"

"Where are we going?"

"Geez."

When they had nearly reached the nurse's office, Irka saw Belloehs helping London.

"Alright Bug, we're at the nurse. She'll fix you up."

Irka laid Libby down onto one of the beds. Belloehs entered with London. She shook her head at Irka and left without a word.

"Oh my, looks like quite a dustup in your class today!" The nurse said.

"Sadly yes, Miss." Irka said. "The rest period will be lengthy."

"Irka, am I in the hospital?" Libby mumbled.

"No, just the infirmary. I must return to class now. I'll be back when time permits."

"Irka, do you, you have the hairclip?"

"No." Irka shrugged. "I will retrieve it."

After Irka exited, London regained some of her bearings, and saw Libby lying on the other bed. Out in the hallway, Irka was striding towards her classroom, when she found herself facing one of the shadow beings from Kiwanis Park.

"Oh Heaven's sake!"

The creature blasted dark energy at her, which she easily sidestepped. It leaned back and the energy rebounded back at her.

"Whoa!" Irka exclaimed. She jumped and did a split.

"Pulled muscle. So natural."

Mr. Sanderson popped his head out to see where she was.

"How are you doing that, Miss Dekanov?" He asked. "Holographic projection?"

"Evacuate the building!"

"But there's no fire alarm this time..."

Irka gave an aside glance.

"Is that all you people need?" She asked. Mr. Sanderson went back into the room. Mistral poked her head out the door. The black creature noticed her.

"Eyes over here, beast!"

"Monster!" She wailed and retreated to safety. The shadow glided towards where Mistral had just been.

"When London is recovered, I will shoot her."

Irka, slowed by her freshly pulled leg muscle, got to the door, only to witness the entity phase through the door."

"Shit!"

Irka opened the door, and saw the creature moving towards Edison.

"Why's it after me?" He asked. Irka spied Ash's hairclip in his hand.

"Edison!" She yelled.

"What?!"

"You wanna make Libby happy?"

"Yes, but how?"

"Get that hairclip to me, no matter the method."

"Mistral, catch!" Edison underhanded it to her.

"Can't! Taking a selfie~" Mistral responded. She caught the clip with her free hand and tossed it back to Charlie, all without taking her eye off the phone.

"...Damn sis." Matriel was stunned.

"Hashtag #Saving the Day Hashtag #Hells yeah"

Charlie caught the hairclip. The shadow sailed in his direction.

"I'm the quarterback, so good luck intercepting my pass!" He taunted. Charlie whipped the clip over to Sean.

"Nice defense, sucker!" He exclaimed. Sean went for the still open door, but threw on the brakes when another shadow creature appeared. Ash was starting to panic, so she took executive action.

"You must get through that door."

"Mother of fu-"

Sean threw the clip out the door.

"Ouch!"

"Fantastic work, Sean." Irka glared. She spun and dove for the hairclip, landing right on her pulled muscle.

"Argh!"

She fought through the pain, pushed off with her foot, and hobbled down the hall. The shadows fired more energy at her, but missed overhead. She barged into the nurse's room.

"Excuse you!" The nurse snapped. Irka ran up to Libby, who if she was awake, just barely, and lightly shook her.

"What on earth...?"

"Libby, sorry to do this, but..."

Irka flicked Libby's nose. She instinctively covered it.

"I told you never to do that!" Libby bellowed, and then jerked back in pain.

"I know you aren't great, but you simply must get up." Irka said.

"Irk, my head is p-pounding harder than a locomotive."

"...Yes Libbster, but the sort of help is needed that only you can provide."

"You do it."

Irka pressed her lips down hard on Libby's.

"If you don't get up now, Liberty Walters, we may never get to do that again."

She eyed the nurse.

"And you, get lost!"

The nurse fled, and just then a shadow entity took her place.

"Ready Lib?" Irka asked.

"As ready as I can be." Libby said quietly. Irka stuck the clip on Libby's ponytail.

"Ahhh!"

Libby changed to Ladybug, and rolled off the bed.

"Libby, you need to get up. You're both in danger!"

"What about my head?!"

The shadow seemed to hesitate.

"We are like ducks that can't move!" Irka exclaimed. Libby started laughing.

"Well Irk, you always know what to say to me." Libby cracked her knuckles, rubbed her head, and patted Irka on the back. "Now, h-handsome, you better not run out on me before we have a chance to get acquainted this time!"

Libby fired two darts at the shadow, which were ineffective. Next she tried the yo-yo, but it had the same lack of effect.

"Libby, listen to me. Clutch onto the yo-yo, and think of where you'd like to be."

"If you insist Ash."

Libby followed Ash's orders, and vanished from sight. She reappeared in a bathroom.

"What? I have to pee!"

"What about Irka?"

"She probably has to pee too."

"Libby!"

"Right."

Libby repeated the process, and returned for Irka.

"My hero!" Irka swooned. The two disappeared and came to in a separate classroom from their own.

"Irka, oh my God, hi!" A girl exclaimed excitedly.

"H-hello Geneva." Irka waved.

"Who's the red chick?" Another girl asked.

"I don't know who you mean, Palloma. I only see Irka..."

"Whoops. Laters, kids!" Libby exclaimed. After one more trip, they got back to their algebra room.

"Li-Ladybug!" Matriel exclaimed.

"Listen, Mr., uh, tall teacher whom I definitely have no ill feelings towards,"

Libby winked towards the 'camera'.

"Could you do me the kind pleasure of evacuating the room?"

"O-okay." Mr. Sanderson said.

"Also," Libby continued. "Libby Walters thinks you're a buttface."

Mr. Sanderson's face dropped.

"Worth it."

One of the shadows entered before any of the students could get out.

"Over here!" Libby got its' attention.

"Be careful Libby."

"Yeah, that's right. Just the two of us."

Libby spotted Mistral appearing to videotape the scene.

"Really Mistral? Now?"

A few students tried throwing assorted items, mostly composition books.

"Come on, look at the yo-yo!" Libby said, moving it back and forth to try and induce hypnosis. It was mostly ineffective.

"Okay, you guys are hard to entertain."

The shadow split into three.

"But you're doing a fine job entertaining me!"

By now, quite a few of Libby's classmates had gotten free. It seemed the shadows only had a bone to pick with Libby.

"Well Irka, I'm glad you woke me." Libby said. "Ash, anything?"

"The Shadows are not the toughest foe. They are very slow and ineffectual in combat. But you will need to rely more on your creativity rather than weapons to defeat them."

"Hmm. They're transparent, but they still have to be of something."

Libby surveyed the room. Before she could come up with something, a Shadow blasted dark energy right onto Libby's forehead.

"Agh!"

"Ladybug!" Irka exclaimed.

Libby swung her head around violently. She desperately tried brushing it off. More students got out, but some were frozen with fear.

"Get out of my head!"

"Focus!"

Libby concentrated as hard as she could on breaking free. The energy that was holding onto her suddenly blasted back at the Shadows, and it struck one of them. It seemed to cause a chain reaction, and they all appeared to burst.

"Yeah, and don't come back until you've learned some manners!"

"This is so cool!" Mistral exclaimed.

"Nice camera work, sweetie."

"Okay, did somebody slip me drugs, or what?" Trinity blinked.

"Nope, just Ladybug saving the day." Matriel said excitedly.

"You're probably gonna be seeing me a lot." Libby said.

"You know, my pal Libby..."

Libby's heart skipped.

"...Would really think you're awesome! She's a huge nut for Ladybugs."

"I know. We're friends too."

"What were those things?" Ridge asked.

"They're called Shadows. I don't really know much about them yet." Libby answered.

"I hate to sound rude," Mr. Sanderson said. "But I would love nothing more than to go an entire week without something delaying my class!"

"I better not spend much time here, then." Libby smirked. The remaining students were mostly silent, then erupted into cheering.

"I don't know who that girl is, but she saved us from those terrors!" Sean said.

"Shame Libby missed it all." Edison sighed.

"Speaking of whom, I should see her." Irka said. "Coming, Ladybug?"

Libby followed Irka out, and back down the hall.

"You know, after I became Ladybug, I started to feel better pretty quick."

"The suit has some self-healing abilities."

"Kickin'!"

The nurse still hadn't returned to her office.

"That'll make things easier." Libby said. She returned to civilian form, gave Irka a long hug, then laid down in her bed again.

"Am I in a dream?" London stirred.

"Y-yeah." Irka said. "And if you desire a trip back to the real world, you need to sleep."

"Okay Irka. Your clothes don't look so bad in my dreams."

London closed her eyes again. Irka scowled at her for many seconds. The office door swung open, and Edison popped his head in.

"Can I see Libby?" He asked.

"Hey Bud." She said.

"You missed the neatest thing ever Lib!"

"I told her already." Irka said.

"Who is Ladybug, anyway?" Edison asked.

"A very dear friend."

"I meant her identity."

"Trade secret." Libby put her finger to her mouth.

"Oh. Hmm. I hope that blow you took wasn't as serious as it looked."

"It was pretty bad. But no permanent damage!"

"And Irka, I hope what you did was worthwhile."

"It certainly was not." Irka shook her head.

"Even though Libby..." Edison was cut off.

"Dude, hush." She said. "You won't hear a disagreement from my end. I'm actually quite cross with Irka."

"Well maybe I should scoot then."

"Maybe."

Edison took the hint and vacated the room.

"Do not attack people on my account again, capiche?" Libby asked.

"Yes Libby."

"It's not worth it, especially when you break someone's face."

"She may have tried to go further." Irka said.

"I think Ladybug may need to pay her a visit soon, and let her know that Libby is not to be screwed with."

"And then she'll like you again?"

"As long as I'm cozy with Edison, that'll never be permanent."

Irka gave a wry smile.

"Friendly. I said friendly." Libby pointed.

"I love you Libbster."

"Right back at you, Honeypants."

"Ehhhh..." Irka trailed off.

"I made her speechless." Libby chuckled. "I must be feeling better."

Matriel and Mistral entered the office.

"You doing alright, lady?" Matriel asked.

"Better." Libby answered.

"That was so nasty, what she did to you." Mistral looked irritated.

"What's her deal, anyway?"

"Bitches will be bitches, I suppose." Irka said.

"Like being Ladybug?" Matriel asked.

"Yeah, it has its' perks."

"I got good footage of you being all heroic!" Mistral said.

"You probably shouldn't have stuck around though, sis."

"What about you?"

"Ah, touché." Matriel said. "Anyway, Libbster, remember we've got your back. The four of us are in on this together."

"And eventually, so will Belloehs, Trin, Edison, and even my parents." Libby said.

"When the time is right?" Irka asked.

"Precisely."

"If you'd like Libby, I could give you a bit more history about who Ladybug is."

"Another time, Ash."

"Hey Libby." Mistral began.

"Yeah babe?"

"Thanks for protecting me from the monsters."

"I told you, didn't I?" Libby winked. Mistral kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sure we haven't seen the last of those dudes though."

"They aren't really 'dudes', Libby."

"Pft, whatever!"

Matriel suddenly sneezed very loudly.

"God Bless you." Irka said.

"Thanks."

"The best part about today is, I'm missing algebra!" Libby exclaimed.

"I'll fill you in on what you missed, Lib." Irka said.

"Later." The Fen sisters left, and before Irka did the same, she needed to ask Libby something.

"How did you do that?"

"I'm in the same boat as you Irk."

"More mystical voodoo kinds of things?"

"Maybe." Libby said.

"Can you guys be quiet please?" London asked groggily. "I'm dreaming about my Edison."

"Sure London." Irka rolled her eyes.

"It's probably a good thing I don't actually like him that way."

"Probably." Irka raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you start. I get enough of that shit from Trinity." Libby said.

"Sorry Bug. Bye."

Irka left, and Libby, although tired and still with some head pain, decided not to go to sleep. Finally the nurse returned.

"What the hell were those things?" She asked fearfully.

"Hmm? I was pretty out of it for a while." Libby said.

"You're probably lucky then. They seem to be gone now."

"If you say so."

"Has she been awake since I left?" The nurse asked.

"She has, but was delirious." Libby answered. She laid back down, and couldn't shake the feeling that she had when the dark energy contacted her.

Would you mind, Miss, if I practiced my ventriloquism?"

"Very well, Libby."

"Thanks." Libby smiled. "It's a new hobby of mine."

"Very creative Libby."

"Thank you, I think I'm very creative too."

"Somebody meant business today."

"Yes, they certainly gave you more trouble than on Saturday."

"But at least it got taken care of." Libby said.

"Did you and London fight?" The nurse asked.

"Uhhhh..."

Back in the classroom...

"It seems you know this Ladybug." Belloehs said to Matriel.

"Yeah, I owe that girl big time." Matriel smiled.

"She seemed confident."

"I guess."

"Where'd she come from?" Trinity asked. "Is she an out-of-towner?"

"I've only known her since yesterday." Matriel answered. "Same for Mistral."

"Can you arrange a meeting for us?" Belloehs asked.

"Miss Eahrkoff?" Mr. Sanderson asked.

"Yes sir?" Trinity asked.

"Your sister, I meant. Crystale, please go see Mr. Blake."

Belloehs sulked out of the room. Edison was still reeling from Libby's words earlier, Libby herself was relaxing after her first serious run-in with the Shadows, and she was thinking about London's wellbeing.

The school day rolled on, most were hoping uneventfully, but Libby and Ash assumed it would have more issues to deal with...

End of Episode 6

Until next time, Bug Out!