CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

ALL-POWERFUL KWAMI

(FINAL BATTLE, PT. 2)

Volpina's eyes were burning so furiously, Marinette thought she would burst into flames and disperse into ashes right then and there. But then she remembered that kwamis couldn't kill.

At least, not directly.

Behind her, Marinette heard Darkblade snivelling in a pathetic, high-pitched squeak. Now that Volpina had no more use for him, he had more reason to fear her than any of them.

"Ladybug..." the sorceress rasped, her face twisted up into the face of a tiger that had just been denied its meal: teeth bared, voice growling, body hunched and ready to pounce. "Still alive?! NO!"

The blast of magic happened so fast, Marinette barely had time to shield herself, Adrien, and the king with her spinning yo-yo. At the same time, her prince tried to leap in front of her and spin his staff into a shield of his own.

Both of their efforts were not enough, and four bodies were sent flying into the balcony railing.

Marinette cried out as she collided with hard stone, but she shook her head of the small pain quickly.

Then, she felt it: the rumbling. The cracking.

Darkblade let out a frightful yelp.

With good reason, because enormous cracks ran along the grand balcony towards the group, slithering towards them and leaving jagged trails in their wake. Marinette stiffened as the stones beneath her hands and feet shifted sharply, jerking her up and down.

Then, like pieces of a puzzle, they fell away.

Gabriel and Darkblade were the first to fall, both of them letting out terrified cries as they plummeted into open air. Marinette and Adrien followed close behind them.

Despite the fact that her stomach was now lodged in her throat, preventing her from screaming, Marinette didn't let that stop her. She twirled around in mid-air until she was facing the forest of lush trees below. They were getting exceedingly closer.

To her right, she saw Adrien shooting past her like an arrow towards his flailing father.

Marinette imagined herself as stiff and straight as a sewing needle, and fell after them.

Adrien reached Gabriel first, hooking an arm around the king's torso before turning around and reaching out with one hand to Marinette.

She reached down and grabbed his hand. With the other, she fired her yo-yo straight back up to the broken balcony with all her might.

It seemed to go on forever, and the ground was only seconds away from them.

Finally... the string softly tightened, slowing their descent.

Marinette gritted her teeth as gravity caught up to her and her arm argued against the extra weight, but she refused to let go of Adrien's hand. Marinette willed the string to pull harder, and soon they were no longer falling. It felt more like being lowered into a pond on the end of a fishing pole.

They broke gently through the canopy of leaves and branches, all of which brushed past them with ease. Then, grass came into view.

Adrien and Gabriel touched solid ground, and that's when Marinette finally called the yo-yo back to her. The long string whirled and whipped around her before disappearing back into its holding, and the blunette sank onto the soft grass with relief.

All the while, Adrien was helping the king to his feet. "Father, are you all right?" he asked breathlessly.

The king shivered, though Marinette had to give him points for keeping a straight face. "I am... obviously quite shaken," Gabriel replied, "but alive... thanks to you two."

Marinette smiled as Adrien lent her a helping hand. She took it and he lifted her back up. "Well..." she panted with a hint of amusement at Adrien, "... we can definitely scratch "Fall from a Tower" off our honeymoon wish-list."

"Guys!" came a voice from above.

Marinette was further relieved by the arrival of Nino and Alya, the latter using her magic to levitate the pair of them safely down to the palace gardens.

"Dudes! That's was a close one," Nino said exasperatedly.

Alya's face flashed from relief to alarm. "Darkblade – where is he?"

Marinette's chest constricted. "I...I..." She could barely speak. She had been so preoccupied with saving Adrien and the king, she had completely forgotten about Darkblade.

Everyone quickly surveyed the forest-like area... until Adrien called out and pointed, "Over there!"

Five heads turned to see a squirming, gleaming body hanging off the end of a large branch, cursing and muttering under his breath.

Darkblade!

The trees must have broken his fall, and his armour protected him from the brunt of it! Marinette wasn't quite sure whether she should be thrilled about it or not, but it was definitely surprising.

Just then, something caught the red light of the sky above and fell like a sparkling diamond to the ground from the treetops.

Marinette gasped. "The Miraculous!"

"Come on!" Alya stated.

Alya led the charge, the others following in like soldiers to their commander.

Marinette finally saw the amulet and its chain lying uselessly amongst a bed of flowers. We're so close, she thought, her heart pounding. We can end this right now!

BOOM!

Marinette barely heard her own scream over the ear-splitting explosion of wind and lightning, and she flew backwards onto the ground.

Once she had regained her senses, Marinette dared to open her eyes.

All around her, trees shrivelled like dead weeds. Some of them split in two, leaving splintered daggers sticking out of the ground. Leaves turned to ash on the wind. The lush, green grass underneath Marinette became dry and yellow. The entire garden turned into a barren wasteland before her.

And in the centre of this garden of death, small and seemingly insignificant but surrounded by a pulsing orb of dark magic, was Volpina in her kwami form.

The evil creature let out an ominous cackle that cut through the air like a blade. It was as though a chorus of demonic voices were laughing with her, sending a shockwave of dread into the hearts of all who heard.

The sound of it made Marinette tremble. She had heard such a laugh many times – in her nightmares.

Not far from her, Adrien and Nino were coming around, and Alya and Gabriel were somewhere offside. Adrien shook his head of dizziness and gaped at the disastrous sight before him. Alya was glaring at Volpina despite having the wind knocked out of her. Nino already had his shield out, and he made sure he was crouched between the sorceress and the king.

Volpina hovered in her cocoon of power, staring at the humans with gleeful cruelty. The jagged features and dark contrast of her fur only made her more menacing, regardless of her size.

Marinette grunted and leapt to her feet. Then, she spun her yo-yo and flung it at Volpina.

It bounced harmlessly off the kwami's shield.

Volpina tsked at the blunette. "Typical street rat," she sighed with a sneer.

With that, the evil little fox raised her paws.

The ground grumbled, and black vines with razor-sharp, red thorns sprouted from the earth like living tentacles. They snaked towards the humans.

Marinette dodged, crawling in and around the evil vines. She almost got her foot caught in one of them.

Adrien used his staff to whack them away or otherwise leap over them.

Nino cut and bashed the vines with his shield as he led King Gabriel through the angry foliage.

Some of the vines latched onto Alya's wrists and curled around her abdomen. But with a flash of her pendant, the thorny brambles were nothing but soft, strings of flowers that fell to the ground.

Marinette retreated to her best friend's side, hitting a few more vines with her yo-yo. There has to be a way to get through, she thought.

Be careful, Marinette, Tikki's nervous voice urged in the back of her friend's mind. She's not kidding about that "all-powerful" part. She won't need to kill you directly with all that destructive energy she has at her disposal. One wrong step and you're done for!

Marinette acknowledged those words and turned to Alya. "Now would be a good time to transform and help out," she suggested anxiously.

Alya froze another vine before speaking. "I can't – I need Trixx for that. Besides, I don't have a lot of power left."

The blunette sighed. "It's never easy for us, is it?" she grumbled just as another vine came shooting at her.

In a flash, it was a black ribbon.

"That's it!" Alya exclaimed, but then lowered her voice so that only Marinette could hear. "Let's make it easy for her."

Marinette blinked.

Adrien tore through the last of the vines coming at him.

Now he was back out in the open, and the Miraculous was only a few feet in front of him.

Adrien rushed towards it with his hand outstretched.

"Not so fast!"

The prince snapped his head to the left just as Volpina shot a lightning bolt directly at him. Left with no choice, Adrien flung himself to the side. The bolt left a scorch mark on the spot where he would have been if he had gone for the amulet.

Cursing, Adrien rolled back up and crouched into a fighting stance, his staff lifted above him.

Volpina hummed with amusement... until she heard a sharp voice behind her:

"Give it up, Volpina!"

Both Adrien and the evil kwami looked to see Marinette standing some ways behind Volpina, looking uncharacteristically proud of herself. She didn't have her yo-yo out. She just stood there with her hands on her hips and her chin lifted in a defiant manner.

"We're obviously too much for you to handle!" Marinette declared with a hard glare at her enemy.

"Uh, Milady?" Adrien called worryingly to his fiancée. "As much as I admire your bravado, maybe provoking the furrball isn't the best idea."

Volpina growled and hovered towards the blunette. "You," she spat with utmost hatred. "You're a fool to challenge me. I am all-powerful!"

Marinette – to Adrien's bewilderment – brushed it off like it was nothing. "Some "all-powerful" you turned out to be," she noted, folding her arms with a smirk. "You've done every trick in the book, and you still can't get rid of a lowly baker's daughter."

Now Adrien was really worried.

More so when Volpina sneered at Marinette. "A problem I mean to rectify... RIGHT NOW!" the kwami roared as another burst of magic erupted from her body.

"No!" Adrien cried, sprinting forward.

A fiery bubble of light appeared and encased Marinette, lifting her off the ground. Then it began to shrink, causing the girl to curl into a tight ball.

Then... she was gone.

In the blink of an eye, Marinette faded into glittering, orange stardust, leaving the shrinking bubble devoid of its prisoner.

Adrien stopped in his tracks, gasping.

"What?!" Volpina bellowed, her eyes wide with shock.

Then, at last, Adrien saw it: the orange light in the corner of his eye.

Turning, the prince let out a breathless sigh as he realized that it was Alya, her glowing hand raised towards the red bubble where Marinette had once been.

Alya sneered as soon as Volpina noticed her. "Gotcha," she sang. Then she looked away and yelled to her left, "Go, Mari, go!"

Adrien was astounded for the second time that day as Marinette – the real Marinette – leapt from behind a shrivelled tree farther away... and swung towards the Miraculous on her yo-yo!

"NO!" Volpina shrieked, raising her paws at the blunette.

"Oh, no you don't!" Adrien stated with a grin. He sprinted again, and then jumped high into the air with a valiant cry, his staff raised.

When it came down, however, the weapon fazed right through the kwami, and she vanished into a plume of black and orange mist.

Adrien paused, appalled by what just happened. "Not again!" he whined.

But wait... If that wasn't Volpina, then where was...?

The prince snapped around just in time to see Marinette's fingers scooping the Miraculous off the ground.

"Marinette, don't!" Adrien shouted. But the warning came too late.

The "amulet" in his fiancée's hand vanished.

Marinette finally landed, reeling with shock.

One second, she had the Miraculous in the palm of her hand. The next, it dissipated like steam from a hookah.

Then, a low, girlish chuckle echoed throughout the garden.

Everyone was now turning in their spots. Marinette and Adrien spun their weapons, and Nino raised his shield. King Gabriel had his special dagger gripped in his hand. Alya had her hand on her pendant, but she was hunched over and panting from the exhaustion that last illusion had inflicted on her.

"A clever trick, Alya," Volpina said, still refusing to show her face, "but you are no true master of illusion. And now, you've wasted all of your strength for nothing."

Alya glanced around her, and Marinette could tell from that horrid look in her friend's eyes that Volpina was telling the truth. Oh, Trixx, why did you have to leave? Marinette thought mournfully.

Suddenly, Marinette felt something long and hard – a sword? – shoot down her spine and cause her to freeze entirely from head to toe, her arms suspended at her sides.

At the same time, not far from her, Adrien straightened suddenly in the same fashion, his cat-like eyes wide as he tried to regain control of his body.

Alya gasped.

"Adrien!" Gabriel cried.

"Let them go!" Nino shouted into the sky.

"Or what, Turtle-Boy?" Volpina's voice resounded. "You think just because you have a shield and a fancy uniform, you're now some kind of hero? You're nothing but a common servant!"

Behind his goggles, Nino's eyes glimmered like nothing Marinette had ever seen before. "My name," he stated firmly, "is Carapace. And if you hurt one hair on my friend's heads, I'll show you how common servants like me take out the trash!"

Even King Gabriel himself was surprised at the harshness of the boy's words.

Alya must have rubbed off on him a little too much, Marinette thought with a slight giggle.

At that moment, a tiny figure appeared out of some vacuum of space in front of the green-clad boy.

"Well, then, Carapace," Volpina cooed, opening her arms out, "go ahead. Take me out."

Marinette knew where this was going, but she was powerless to stop it.

With a gallant yell, Nino threw his shield at Volpina.

The kwami caught it in mid-air, stifling a yawn.

Then, the large, green-disc bent over, sideways, and under like a crumpling ball of foil, the metal screeching sharply. Then, once it was no bigger than a human fist, Volpina dropped it casually onto the ground.

Nino's mouth fell open, and then he growled at the witch and rushed at her.

"Nino!" Alya called frantically.

One bat of Volpina's magical paws sent the boy flying backwards. Nino fell hard against the ground, and he lay there stunned before going limp.

Alya and Gabriel ran over to Nino, the former kneeling beside her boyfriend and heaving his head onto her lap.

Volpina lifted a lazy eyebrow at Nino. "Hmph. I liked him a lot better when he was a statue. Lucky for you, Alya, I have something much more painful in mind for him. But first..." She glanced between Marinette and Adrien's immobile forms. "... let's get rid of these ludicrous costumes, shall we?"

The kwami waved her hands again, and two tethers of blue light shot from her body towards her two prisoners.

Marinette cried out from the jolt of pain emitting from her earlobes.

In the distance, she heard Tikki crying too.

At the same time, Adrien winced and struggled as his own magic tether shot into the black ring on his hand.

Marinette knew from the sudden chill across her body that her Ladybug uniform and mask were gone. No doubt her yo-yo had disappeared as well.

Bobbing in front of her, looking absolutely horrified, was Tikki.

Looking back, Marinette saw Adrien in his normal form as well, with Plagg hovering right beside him with frantic eyes.

"Uh-oh," Plagg squeaked, "we've got a problem!"

"You think?!" Tikki hollered.

Volpina laughed. Marinette was really getting sick of that.

"Now do you understand, Marinette?" the evil kwami spoke directly to her. "You cannot defeat me. Even with Tikki, you are nothing against my power. You never stood a chance. It was only by sheer dumb-luck that you managed to imprison me."

Marinette felt a cold rush of dread fill her core. She wished with all her heart that this was just another one of her nightmares; that any second now, she would wake up safe in her soft bed, and Adrien would be sleeping peacefully down the hall as always.

But this was all real: the evil garden, Volpina's magic, the sweat trickling down Marinette's neck and arms...

The sorceress clapped her paws together.

Tikki and Plagg both screamed as tiny bolts of electricity shot through their tiny bodies, and they hung senselessly in the air. Then, Volpina gave another flick of her paws, and the two good kwamis went flying towards their cloistered group of friends.

Luckily, Alya caught them both safely in her hands and cradled them.

Angry tears formed in the corners of Marinette's eyes. Then, before she could stop herself, she bellowed with a cracked voice, "Leave my friends alone, you coward!"

Well, that definitely got Volpina's attention.

The evil kwami shot a reproachful look at the blunette. Then, without a word, she snapped her paws together.

Suddenly, Marinette was flown unceremoniously forward. She coughed as she collided with the ground.

Looking up, she saw something just metres away from her: the Miraculous!

The sight of it made Marinette crawl forward with all her might. She could almost reach the amulet...

The earth beneath her rose.

Marinette gasped as she was lifted off the ground by a pillar of rock that grew right out of the ground and carried her several feet up. The blunette grasped the edge of the rock, but it was so big and round, she almost couldn't get a good hold on it. Her feet dangled in the air, and she tried desperately to hook them into the rock for more support.

Below her, she heard Adrien cry her name.

The moment he felt Volpina's spell releasing him, Adrien make a break for Marinette.

She was crawling towards him...

No... wait... Towards the Miraculous! There it was lying right on the ground in front of her, the citrine jewel reflecting the blood-red sky.

Marinette's fingers reached out to it, and Adrien was this close to her...

... until a column of earth and rock shot out of the ground, taking his lady with it. The Miraculous remained untouched on the other side.

"Marinette!" Adrien cried as he pressed himself against the base of the pillar.

Volpina let out a maniacal cackle above them both, her yellow eyes gleaming with wicked delight.

She continued to laugh as both Adrien and Marinette glared at her.

She continued to laugh as tendrils of fire and lightning exploded from her, shooting into the ground.

Adrien reeled as the magical beams opened up massive cracks in the earth, and fire erupted from the newfound crevices. The walls of flame rose high, blocking the prince from his father and his friends. The air prickled with extreme heat, making Adrien cough.

Then, the world broke apart.

MB: First of all, yes - I used the "over, sideways, and under" part of the lyrics from "A Whole New World" (which I don't own). I just couldn't resist.

And yes, I'm sorry I made Nino seem like a weakling in this scene, but he's going to be more heroic in the next chapter. I swear on my word as a Miraculous fan!

So stay tuned for the third and final part of the final battle... if you dare. Mwahahahaha!