Marinette's focus was disturbed when her computer began to ring. She paused her work and went to check the caller ID to see Adrien calling her. She hit answer but quickly went back to her sewing machine.
"What's the sitch?" She called out from her sewing machine as she resumed work.
"My Lady? Bugaboo? I can't see you."
Marinette rolled her eyes at Adrien's pet names for her.
"I'm in the middle of something, what's the sitch?"
"Alya told me to ask you about what you are wearing for picture day tomorrow. Said to send her a picture."
"I told her I would see her a picture once I am done. Same as Nathanael."
"Nathanael?"
"Yeah, he wanted to see."
"Oh," he paused, "can you show me?"
"Sure, once I'm done," Marinette responded, her irritation growing as she tried to focus.
"Are you alright?"
"Just trying to work on the dress. A few finishing touches and I'll be done."
"Oh, sorry, I can go."
"No it's fine, I'm probably stressing over this more than I need to," Marinette stopped her machine to pull out the fabric, scooting herself close to the computer where she could add the last bit of decor.
"So what are you wearing," Marinette looked up to see Adrien ready for bed, his hair looking like Chat Noir at the moment.
"Right now, a Jagged Stone shirt from his 2015 tour," Adrien teased.
"I meant for picture day."
"Oh, I don't know, my father has something ready for me in my closet. He insisted since we are doing pictures for the yearbook, that we have a Gabriel's photographer do the photos."
"That's nice of him."
"Well it was either that or send in a photo from a modeling shoot."
Marinette rolled her eyes.
"And done, now to try it on," Marinette raced over to her bathroom only to be stopped by another call on her screen from Nino.
Adrien took the liberty to answer for them.
"Hey Nino, what's the sitch," answered Adrien.
"Kitty Paws has been spotted in Thailand."
"Fine, we're on it," moaned Marinette before hanging up the call. She placed her outfit on her dress form, admiring it before going to get her uniform.
"Looks great Marinette!" Adrien called out as he passed by the computer, setting Plagg down in his seat. He quickly hung up the call before she could say anything more.
She quickly sent a picture of the completed dress to Alya and Nathanael.
"Looks Amazing Girl!" Was Alya instantaneous response while Marinette switched from pajamas to her uniform.
"Awesome job. The dress came out exactly how you designed and nice detail with the flowers. You'll look beautiful tomorrow." Came Nathanael's late response. Marinette's cheeks warmed at the message before leaving.
"Thanks for the ride, Professor Acari," Marinette rode shotgun in the aged professor's jeep as it cruised through the jungle of Thailand.
"Oh, Ladybug! It's the least I could do, after you saved my cybergenetic tick."
"Oh, it was no big," Marinette brushed off, trying hard not to remember that day.
"Tick, tick, tick, oh, was it that thing that nearly blew your face off and you and Nino took over a science lab saying it was for some online science challenge?" asked Adrien as he tried pulling Plagg out of a bag of chips in the back.
"Yes," Marinette slumped in her seat. She had been so worried Adrien "The model who never got zits" Agreste would see her with that thing on her nose and nearly died of a panic. Nino found out his spicy sauce on his sandwich was enough to short the circuits, detaching the cyber-tick from her nose.
"I only study real insects now," the professor changed the subject, seeming to also regret that experiment.
"Is that why you're here in Thailand," pried Marinette.
"Indeed. I am investigating the nutritional value of common native species. Ant soup, stir-fried beetles, roasted grubs, all quite plentiful and rich in protein," Professor Acari answered proudly.
"Yum." Marinette looked back to Adrien, who was inspecting the bag his cat had invaded. He took out on of the snacks and proceeded to eat it.
Marinette shivered in disgust.
"Not bad, could use a little more balance with the spicy, but crunchy makes up for it" Adrien complimented as he chewed.
"Oh that would be toasted chili peppers and mountain grasshopper."
Adrien nodded, looking carefully at the bag.
"Can I have this?"
"Adrien," Marinette scolded, slightly turning in her seat.
"What? I barely ate anything for dinner. A growing boy will take what he can get," Adrien ate another leg. Marinette shook her head, resuming a forward facing position as they approached the museum.
The jeep stopped in front of the entrance, with statues of cats guarding the front.
"Um, Professor, what's with the cats?" asked Marinette.
"Siam's royalty believed that when a king died, their soul would inhabit a cat, specifically the siamese cat," proceed Adrien, "The cat would live a life of luxury and would even attend coronations of future kings."
"Correct, you have done your research young man," congratulated the professor while Adrien beamed.
"Thanks," Marinette sighed with a smile, leading Adrien into the museum. Inside the museum were artifacts of older times, their destination was an exhibit on the royalty. In the center of the room, holding up a jade amulet with a cat engraving was Kitty Paws.
"That doesn't belong to you," accused Marinette, Kitty Paws turning in their direction.
"Ladybug. But how? The stealth of the Ninja Cats are legend. How did you find us?" Out of the shadows appeared several felines alongside Kitty Paws, including a couple siamese.
"Too many fish bones along the way," joked Marinette.
"Yeah, Plagg was not to happy about that," added Adrien, stroking his pet in his pocket.
Kitty Paws turned to one of her lackeys, "What have I told you about on-the-job snacking?" The cat cat paid no mind their employer, turning up its nose.
"No matter," Kitty Paws turned her attention back to Marinette and Adrien, "In a moment, I will become the Cat King of the modern era. Until then... Cat Ninjas, attack!"
"Technically speaking, the King of Cats is a myth from Engla-AHHH!" Adrien dodged to the side as several cats came after him. Marinette ran over to Kitty Paws. Kitty did a low sweep which Marinette dodged, while coming around with a high kick of her own. Kitty attempted to grab her, but Marinette backflipped to give herself more distance.
Adrien kept running until her came up to a wall, pulling out his baton and stretching to a fighting staff.
"Who's the better cat now, huh?" He taunted as the cats came after him, using the baton to push them away. "Plagg, get out of your pocket and help me," he pleaded as the cats kept coming after him.
Plagg burrowed deeper into the pocket.
Marinette roundhouse kicked the amulet out of Kitty Paws, sending the accessory across them room. Kitty quickly raced to retrieve it.
"At last, my transformation will be complete," Kitty Paws gloated, holding up the amulet.
Marinette threw her yoyo to the frames of the glass ceiling, and swung across the room.
Adrien was trying to keep the cats at a distance by swing his baton, but it swung out of his hand, hitting instead where the yoyo held onto the frame, causing Marinette to fall onto Kitty Paws.
Kitty Paws shrieked in surprise when she noticed the amulet gone from her hands.
"The amulet!"
Marinette sat up, noticing the amulet around her neck.
"Oh... was this what you're after," she asked smuggly.
All of a sudden, a glow from seemingly nowhere lifted her up, surrounding her in a flash of green light. AS quickly as it came, the light disappear, Marinette falling to the ground.
"I was to be the Cat King! And so I shall be!" Kitty Paws and her cats made a hasty retreat through the open window.
"LB, you OK," Adrien rushed to Marinette's side, pulling her up
"Yeah," she felt something irritating on her neck, "Hey, what happened... " She pulling down her collar to reveal a cat tattoo, "Oh, man!"
Adrien grimaced.
"At least your dress should cover it for picture day," he offered weakly.
Marinette tried to suppress another yawn as their class waited for their group photo. So far the dress covered most of the tattoo, the exception being two points sticking out of the collar for ears, and the bottom of the cat barely visible through the sheer fabric of the collar.
"You sure you don't want a coffee," asked Nathanael, his shoulder being used as a prop to hold Marinette up.
"I'll be fine, so long as I don't yawn in the picture, we'll be good," reassured Marinette.
"Honestly girl, I don't know what your were thinking taking a mission before picture day," chided Alya, who was adjusting her own outfit.
"They invented makeup to cover up bags like this," Marinette pointed to where the dark circles under her eyes were covered by make-up.
"Maybe, but not that," Alya booped Marinette on the cheek below the bags.
"What?" Marinette searched herself for a compact, finding none.
"Juleka, can I borrow your compact?" Marinette turned to her friend looking at the compact on wrist.
"Sure," Juleka lifted her wrist for Marinette to see sprouting out of a couple freckles, whispers.
"No!" She screamed as she clutched the whiskers to her face, momentarily drawing everyone's attention. She offered a hesitant smile, and everyone went back to doing whatever they were doing.
"I have whiskers," she whispered, panicking as she took a closer look.
"They're not really visible from far away, I'm sure the camera won't see them," offered Alya.
"Plus they can probably use photoshop to remove them if anything," added Nathanael, putting a comforting arm around his girlfriend, "You'll be fine."
"At least you're going to be in the photo," lamented Juleka as she pulled back her wrist compact.
"No, Juleka," her best friend, Rose came up beside her, "I'm telling you, you're not jinxed! This time it's gonna work out, I can feel it!"
"What's this about being jinxed," asked Marinette, gradually releasing the whiskers.
Juleka sighed, "Ever since I was little, every time someone takes a photo of me, something always goes very wrong."
"You're wrong Juleka, you'll see," insisted Rose.
"For sure! We'll do everything we can to make sure it goes right this time. Don't forget to smile," promised Marinette.
"Uh, Marinette," Alya pointed to her nose, Marinette turned Juleka's wrist to see her nose a black cat nose. She quickly covered her mouth before she could let out another scream.
"Can you cover it with makeup," begged Marinette, turning to Alya.
"We don't have time, our class is up next," reminded Alya. Marinette pulled at the whiskers, hoping to pull them out, only to find out how sensitive they were.
"Cat girls are cute, right," she looked up at Nathanael with pleading eyes.
He shifted nervously, "You look like you can pull it off."
"We could get you fake cat ears," offered Rose, lighting up at the idea.
"Adrien might have some," Marinette was about to turn to Adrien when the photographer came over.
"Thank you kids, you've been wonderful. Ok, time to flash your pearly whites, guys! You kids take a seat in the front bench." He pointed to Max, Alix, Rose, Marinette, and Mylène, who made their way to the front bench. Marinette quickly covered her nose and whiskers as she passed by the photographer.
"Quickly please, I've got sixteen other classes to shoot." The chosen students sat on the bench, Rose sitting next to Marinette.
"You do look cute," Rose giggled, Marinette feeling a little better.
"Look Sabrina, they're up front in the baby seats! Go on rugrats, don't forget to take your thumbs out of your mouths," Chloe hollered from where the rest of their class stood. Marinette frowned, her whiskers twitching in annoyance.
"Well, next row! Hmmm...You, you, you and you go stand on the rear bench, please."
He pointed to Nathaniel, Alya, Sabrina, and Chloé.
"Wait just one minute," Chloe stormed up to the photographer while the other selected students took their place. "I'm supposed to be in the middle row, right next to Adrien. Preferably the center. Look, we're the same size!" She stood next to Adrien, waving her hand between their two heads.
The photographer took a moment to consider,"Nah, go stand in the back row, behind the rest."
"How dare you, put me behind the rest? Do you know who my father is?"
"Is he a photographer?"
"NO! He's-"
"Bummer, I could really use an assistant. Now hurry up and take your place, or I'll put you up front with the babies!" Marinette could barely suppress a laughter as Chloe stormed off to the back row fumming as she did. Marinette liked this photographer.
"The rest of you boys, go stand in the middle row." Kim, Adrien, Nino, and Ivan made their way to the middle section.
"It's no big deal Chloé! As long as we're all in the same photo, right," Adrien offered. Why he was still nice to Chloe after their last mission was beyond her.
"Perfect! You guys are awesome! Now stop squirming and let's get this photo shot!"
He stepped behind his camera.
"Uh, excuse me sir, you forgot Juleka," Marinette pointed to where Juleka stood waiting.
"Huh? Ah sorry, my bad! Go stand in the middle row, next to that blonde haired boy," the photographer directed. Juleka moved from her spot to stand right beside Adrien.
"And you're gonna be right in the center! All eyes will be on you! No more jinxed class photos," Marinette reassured Juleka, both her and Rose giving the girl a smile.
"Hey Marinette, where'd you get the whiskers," asked Adrien.
Marinette's response was interrupted by the photographer's musing, "No, this isn't right! Something's not working here!"
"Uhh, course it's not working! I'm in the wrong spot," whined Chloe. She was duly ignored.
"You, move over there will you? Lets see…," he pointed to Ivan to move, which the boy did.
"Excuse me, but do we have a problem," asked Principle Damocles.
"It doesn't matter where I put him, it throws the whole picture out of whack!"
"My spot is unacceptable,"Chloe protested, attempting to elbow Juleka away from Adrien, but Juleka held her ground.
"That's right Juleka, don't let her push you out of the way," Marinette cheered
"Ms. Bourgeois, behave yourself," addressed Ms. Bustier.
"Hey! Nobody asked you loudmouth," retorted Chloe."
"This isn't gym class, you know Chlo," commented Adrien.
"You, over here, you here, and you here," Vincent directed people around, everyone eventually switching until he was left staring at them for a while, "There, perfect!"
"Uh, no! It isn't! It's not perfect at all! I'm totally not next to Adrien!"
Several people groaned.
"Please Chloé, we still have sixteen classes to photograph! Go ahead Vincent," instructed Principal Damocles.
Vincent stepped behind his camera.
"Say spaghetti!"
"Spaghetti!" Everyone smiled, except Vincent, who frowned at his camera.
"Oh, I don't believe this! I'm sorry, I have to go and fetch another battery. Nobody move!" He sunk down to his camera bag, searching for the spare battery.
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
Marinette turned to see Juleka talking to their teacher.
"Yes Juleka, but hurry!" Juleka scampered towards the bathroom.
"Ms. Bustier! He said nobody is to move," scolded the principal.
"It's an emergency sir," protested Ms. Bustier.
"Ms. Bustier, I need to go too!" Before their teacher or principal could respond, Sabrina hurried off the bench towards the bathroom.
Marinette glared at the bathroom. This was probably some scheme concocted by Chloe.
"Marinette, where'd you get the whiskers?" Adrien leaned forward to whisper.
"I think it's from the talisman, Nino, once we're done, can you do some research," Marinette turned to Nino, who raised his eyebrows at her recently developed cat features.
"Sure, although…" Adrien quickly covered Nino's mouth before he could anything more.
"You look cute," offered Adrien with a nervous smile.
"We're back in business," Vincent put the new battery in the camera, checking his settings after he did. Chloe took this opportunity to jump down next to Adrien.
"Hey! What are you doing? Where's Juleka," questioned Marinette.
"How'd she get here," asked Adrien.
"Urgh, Who cares? At last, I'm in the right spot!"
"I want you to flash your best smiles! Because it's the last time we are doing this!"
"OH WAIT!" Marinette reached out to stop the camera man, only to notice instead of a hand, it was a white paw.
The camera clicked.
Marinette immediately raced to the bathroom.
"Thanks kids!" The photographer proceeded setting up for the next shoot.
"Oh wait! Please sir, we have to redo the photo," Marinette could hear Rose call out before she disappeared into the bathroom.
Marinette paused at the sink to find both her hands had turned to paws. Looking into the mirror revealed that along with the cat nose and whiskers, she now had cat ears that matched her dark blue hair.
"No, no, no, this can't be happening," Marinette paced as she panicked, finally noticing the chair holding one of the bathroom doors in place.
"Juleka, are you in there," she called out, the sound of sniffles her response.
"I'll get you out of there," Marinette removed the chair from the door.
"Ladybug, so good to see you," Kitty Paws sat a top of the open window overlooking the girl's bathroom, a few cats sitting beside her.
"Kitty Paws," Marinette growled.
"Get her," the cats leapt at Marinette.
"Ok, lunch break," ordered Vincent, students and teachers dispersing. Alya, Nino, and Adrien sat over on the steps, Nino deep invested into research on the amulet.
"Looks like ancient legend believes that when a Siam king was dying, he would wear the amulet so that his spirit would transfer into a cat," answered Nino, showing his friend's his laptop screen..
"So Marinette's soul is being transferred to a cat," asked Alya.
"More like being turned into a cat. Maybe because she isn't dying it has a different effect," offered Nino, opening a new page to do more research.
"I'm going to see what going on, she's been in the bathroom a while," Adrien jumped up and ran over to the bathroom, ignoring Alya's protests of boys going into the girl's bathroom.
He ended up meeting a very furious Rose half way.
"He refuses to retake the picture with Juleka in it," she lamented as she followed him to the bathroom.
"Maybe I can talk to him about retaking the pictures later. One with Juleka and Marinette not looking so… catty," he jested, earning a giggle from Rose. He stopped at the door to the girl's bathroom as Rose went inside.
"Marinette? Juleka?" He heard her call out.
"Rose?" He could hear Juleka's feeble voice.
"Is that?"
"I don't exactly know." It went silent in the bathroom.
"Rose, is everything alright," asked Adrien from his post.
"Is that Adrien," came Juleka's voice.
"Yeah."
Another pause.
The door opened to reveal Juleka, Rose, and a Siamese cat with black ears, white fur littered with redish-orange speckles.
"Is that?" Adrien looked between the two girls and the cat. The cat jumped out of Juleka's arms and into Adrien's.
"Marinette was in the bathroom with me, and she unlocked whatever was blocking the door. Someone asked for her alter ego, then said 'get her', the cat was kicked under the door. But I didn't see anything else happen."
Adrien held the cat up to eye level, seeing it's bright blue eyes.
"Marinette turned into a cat," he concluded. Rose gasped in shock, while Juleka looked confused.
"Marinette and I retrieved an amulet last night that is apparently turning her into a cat," answered Adrien.
"What will Principal Damocles say? He won't let Marinette stay at school if she's a cat," asked Rose.
"I'll just have to hide her in my bag," Adrien tucked Marinette into his shirt, buttoning up the white overshirt, "I've done it before with my other cat. But I need you both to cover me until I reach my bag.
Both girls nodded, stepping in front of Adrien. They shuffled over to his locker, where he quickly pulled out his bag and slipped Marinette inside.
"Adrien, did Marinette come out of the bathroom?" Nino and Alya ran up to Adrien.
"Yeah…" Adrien opened the flap of his backpack, revealing the cat.
"That was fast," answered Alya, reaching forward to pet the cat. Marinette leaned into Alya's pet as she scratched between the ears.
"Aw, so cute," cooed Rose as she joined in the petting.
Nino took a seat on the bench, "I'm working on a way to separate Marinette's genetic matter from the amulet. I'm just going to need a DNA sample," Nino pet along Marinette's backside and tail, ending up with some cat fur in hand.
"How long will this take," asked Adrien as he held his bag close, despite Marinette now being pet by all three girls.
"A few hours, I'll keep analyzing and looking more into the talisman."
"How about I look into the talisman, and you analyze," offered Alya, "We can get Marinette back to normal sooner if we split the work."
"Sounds like a plan babe, I'll send you what I've got so far."
"And I'll keep an eye on Marinette," Adrien assigned himself.
"And we can help. We still need to talk to the photographer about doing a reshoot," offered Rose enthusiastically, Juleka cracking a small smile.
"What about Nathanael, shouldn't we let him know Marinette's a full cat now," asked Alya while searching through her phone, quickly glancing up at Adrien who held his bag tighter.
"He didn't seem too thrilled about Marinette turning into a cat," Rose recalled.
"Then maybe keeping him out of the loop would be best," concluded Adrien, who noticed Alya smirking at his response. Why was beyond him.
"Everyone from Ms. Bustier's homeroom, please get in line for single photos," called out Principal Damocles.
"Right, we have the solo photos for the yearbook," Rose clapped her hands in remembrance.
"Marinette can do a makeup photo over the weekend. We need make sure Juleka gets a successful picture," Adrien smiled at Juleka, who returned the gesture.
Marinette, still mostly human with the exception of a cat tail amongst her previous cat features, sat on a weight bench surrounded by cats. Kitty Paws sat on a yoga mat front and center, sipping tea. The villain inhaled the scent before taking a cat-like lap from the cup.
"So, Ladybug... tea?"
"How about a steaming cup of 'What's going on'," Marinette growled, her ears folded back against her head, her tail twitching in mild irritation.
"Oh, as if you don't know," Kitty Paws snarked.
"All I know is thanks to that amulet, I'm living a cat nightmare," scowled Marinette.
"A nightmare? It's my dream," Kitty Paws rose to full height, "You don't deserve the power of the amulet!" She chucked her cup against the wall, crashing close to Marinette's head. Marinette didn't flinch but her tail stood on end.
"Yes, I'm an ungrateful kitty," she admitted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Don't worry. The amulet won't be your problem much longer. I'd like to say it won't hurt a bit, but that wouldn't be truthful."
Employing her new cat-like abilities, Marinette leapt from her seat, flipping over the cats and landing by the door, only to be caught in a cage.
"Bravo!" Kitty Paws clapped slowly as she approached the cage "A valiant effort, indeed. You
didn't think I'd actually allow you to leave? You are not a master of Hung ga, as am I. But the
Cat King amulet has given you much."
"Like a tail," Marinette looked back at the new appendage, moving at her command, before returning Kitty Paw's glare.
"And now, I plan to take what should have been mine… painfully."
"Next please," the photographer instructed as Adrien stepped forward, handing off Marinette to Juleka. As routine, he sat on the edge of the stool and flashed a model worthy smile, the whole scenario taking less than a few seconds.
"Next," Juleka hesitantly stepped forward, passing the bag over to Adrien as she took a seat on the stool. Adrien and Rose both gestured for her to smile, a small smile reaching her lips.
As if on queue, Marinette leapt from her bag and into Juleka's lap, her face panicking on seeing the cat.
"And done, next."
"Wait, she wasn't ready," called out Rose.
"I have a bunch of other pictures to take so move along," the photographer ordered, Juleka moving off the seat, while Rose took her place. Adrien quickly took back Marinette.
"Bugaboo, we are suppose to help Juleka get a good picture, not ruin it," Adrien scolded the cat before putting her away.
"Bugaboo," asked Juleka.
"A nickname. She gets annoyed by it."
"Mr. Agreste," Principal Damocles approached them from behind, both sheepishly turning to look at the principal.
"Pets are not allowed on the premise."
"Sorry sir, she slipped into my bag this morning when I wasn't looking. I'll take her home," offered Adrien eager to get out of the situation. Principal Damocles nodded before turning his attention elsewhere. Adrien offered Juleka and Rose a weak smile before quickly turning heel and exiting the school. He opened his phone to text Nino as he passed through the doors.
"Taking Marinette to my house. How's the research?"
"Still scanning the DNA, Alya's managed to make it over to researching lore of the King of Cats."
"Contrary to what Kitty Paws believes, the myth is actually from England and no physical proof."
"The more you know. Have Marinette play with Plagg and send me a video. The internet's been demanding a sequel to his fight with Hawkmoth's chinchilla."
"Ok."
Marinette pulled against the bars of her cage as hard as her paws would allow. Now she was covered in fur, her legs and arms those of a cat. The only things making her human was she was still standing on two legs, her pigtails popped out beneath her cat ears, she was wearing her clothes, and she still stood at her normal height.
She groaned at the difficulty of paws opposed to hands, noticing the cat standing guard.
"Any chance of you letting me out of here?" The cat looked at her, mildly disinterested before turning to lick itself.
"Didn't think so."
Marinette looked around the resort gym, noticing along the wall a ring of keys. A plan quickly put into action as she leaned into gap between the bars, trying to grab the keys with her paw. But her arm and paw came too short. A swish out of of the corner of her eye brought to mind her tail. She brought her tail forward, the edge wrapping around the ring of keys. Just as she brought it close to her, it fell out of her tail's grasp, drawing the attention of the guarding cat.
"Great! My tail's all thumbs," she groaned as she quickly grabbed the keys with her paws, fumbling to open the cage. She leapt over the oncoming cat, pushing him into the cage. At least she assumed the cat was a him.
"Love to stay," she slammed the door, and floundered with the lock and key, "but I don't want to be a cat forever."
"You don't know how lucky you are," Marinette turned to find Kitty Paws with accompanying fighting cats. "But your luck is about to change," Kitty Paws cackled in triumph as the cats surrounded her.
"Alright, they've been together for two minutes and they are already the best of friends," Adrien voiced as he recorded Marinette rolling a ball back to Plagg. The moment he had let Marinette out of his bag, she had sniffed out Plagg. A quick boop to the nose from Plagg and they had been playing contently with one of the foosballs that had fallen to the ground.
He reached over and poked Plagg's behind, frightening the poor cat, the foosball rolling away. No longer interested, Plagg moved close to Marinette, eventually snuggling on her side, Marinette remaining alert while he napped.
"Don't worry Marinette, I'm sure Nino will get you back to normal," reassured Adrien as he turned off the recording.
"We actually haven't hung out like this for awhile. Well, when we did it was at your house, but we haven't really, hung out. I think the last time we did was before Jagged Stone was sent to Jail," he flopped down to lay beside the cat. Marinette looked at him, then looked out the window.
"Don't worry, Nino will get you back to normal, and everything will be fine. Until then, I'll take care of you," He opened his bag and pulled out his lunch. With all that had happened today, Adrien forgot to eat. Marinette stood and stretched before walking over and digging through the bag. She pulled out a cookie Sabine had given him and ran to eat it elsewhere.
"Women," he sighed, slightly mourning the loss of his dessert.
His lunch was interrupted by a phone call from Nino.
"I'm afraid I've got some bad news," answered Nino, the slamming of lockers indicating he was in the locker room.
"Bad? How bad?"
"Well, turns out there's a 24-hour time limit. If we don't change Marinette back in by nightfall she'll be a cat permanently."
"We got time then, I'll just bring her over, and we transform her back," Adrien stood to find where Marinette had run off to.
"Actually, that's not Marinette."
"What?"
"The first sample was from a real cat. A natural born cat."
Adrien found the cat and pulled her up to eye level, "this cat's eyes are a lighter blue than hers."
Adrien could hear Nino huff.
"The point is, Marinette is missing and no one on campus has seen her since she ran to the restroom. Based on Juleka's report, Kitty Paws may have taken her."
"Then send me Kitty Paws location and I'll go get her," Adrien pull the cat in his bag, grabbing his baton as he raced out of his room.
"I'm working on that, I'll get back to you if we find anything. Alya, Rose, and Juleka are searching around the girl's bathroom. I'm going to let Nathanael know so we can him on the search too."
Adrien grimaced. He'd rather not get Nathanael involved, but if more people would bring Marinette back, then he would have to relent.
"Alright, I'll meet you guys back at school," Adrien rushed out the door, thankful Nathalie was too busy to notice his disappearance as he hightailed it back to school.
"I was destined to be the King of Cats," ranted Kitty Paws as Marinette sat secured to a weight bench. "According to the ancient text, there is still one way for me to achieve complete and total catosity."
"I think you should do a little more reading. The King of Cats comes from England, not Siam," corrected Marinette.
"King of Cats is a loose term claimed by the English, but where true power lies in the ancient mystic arts of Siam. There is only one way to part you from the amulet. A very painful way," Kitty Paws taunted.
"Hello," one of the hotel's visitors approached them, ready to work out as he carried over some weights, "How are you doing? What's with the furry?"
Marinette groaned, "I'm an actual cat. I have an actual tail." She flicked the additional appendage in irritation.
"Oh, yeah," he laughed in amusement, "How much can you tail press?"
"We'll see," Marinette's shot out her tail and grabbed one of the weights, chucking it at Kitty Paws. The villain flew across the room, crashing into an treadmill.
"Strong tail," she momentarily appraised before easily sliding her paws out of the restraints. She skitted out of the room on all fours, racing to get back to school while Kitty Paws screamed after her.
Adrien came to screeching halt in front of Nino, still sitting in the locker room.
"Agent Chat Noir reporting for search detail," he announced.
"Perfect, we got the girls covering the bathroom area, and Nathanael already informed the principal who is calling the police. Maybe you can try to get a high point?"
Adrien pulled out his baton ready for action.
"I'm on it," he ran back out and was about to raise himself towards the roof when he noticed the photographer still taking group photos.
He made his way over as Vincent dismissed the class.
"Hey Vincent," he waved as he approached, the photographer lighting up as he recognized his employer's son.
"Adrien! My assistant tells me your portrait came out magnifique!" He praised with a thick Italian accent as he made adjustments to the benches.
"Thanks, but I came to ask a favor. My friend Juleka wasn't in our class pictures. Maybe once you are done here, we could take some pictures with her?"
"But of course, anything for my favorite model," Vincent promised.
"Thank you!"
"Adrien!" Adrien looked past the photographer to see a humanoid-cat with blue pigtails and a red dress.
"Marinette," he ran over and pulled her in for a hug.
"What happened? Where's Kitty Paws? Are you hurt," Adrien pulled back to examine her. The only difference between her and normal Marinette were her cat-like features.
"I'm fine, Kitty Paws took me to some resort on the outskirts of town. Thanks for noticing by the way," she chided, but her expression still looked happy to see him.
"We thought this little kitten was you," Adrien opened the bag flap to reveal the cat, who stared blankly at Marinette. Marinette stared back, eventually booping her on the nose.
"Come one, we need to get you to Nino," Adrien shut his bag and pulled Marinette's paw towards the locker room, where Nino still waited, now accompanied by Alya, Rose, Juleka, and Nathanael.
"I found her," Adrien proclaimed.
"Marinette!" Alya raced over to hug her bff, the hug eventually turning to cuddles.
"So soft," Alya murmured, Rose and Juleka joining in the cuddles and pets. Adrien added a scratch between the ears and Marinette looked to be in heaven.
"Guys, we need to hurry. I need some of her DNA," scolded Nino. Nathanael went over to Marinette and quickly removed one of the hairs, handing it to Nino, who began to analyze it with his laptop.
"You doing ok," Nathanael ask standing opposite of where she was being mauled by pets from her friends.
"As much as I don't like being a cat, right now feels great."
Nathanael chuckled and pet her head, while Adrien began to scratch her neck.
"I'm working on a way to separate you from the amulet, hopefully we still have enough time," Nino mentioned as he began to zone into his computer.
"Take your time," she yawned out, immensely satisfied by the affection. As far as Marinette was concerned, nothing could ruin this moment.
"Ladybug," Marinette turned he face almost coming in contact with Kitty Paws' foot, but Adrien was quick to grab and chuck the villain into a locker. Kitty Paws quickly recovered and tried to land another strike only to be blocked by Marinette, Alya pushing back their friends away from the fight. Marinette and Adrien both ducked and dodged in sync until Marinette flipped to land on her front paws, kicking Kitty Paws down the hall into the men's restroom with her hind legs.
"Everyone, go to the park, the photographer will meet us there for class photos," Adrien instructed, Marinette wasted no time in urging her friends out of the locker hall, following after them.
"I'll hold her off." Adrien assumed a combative stance with his baton.
Kitty Paws emerged from the bathroom. She charged, ready to make a break past Adrien, but he lunged after her, pinning the villain to the ground. Kitty Paws rolled over and stood, pulling Adrien up to her height.
"Chat Noir," she seethed, "We have both experienced the mystical power of Hung Ga. The difference is I am a master, and you are not," she chucked Adrien into a row of lockers. The lid to his bag flew out, and the cat jumped out at Kitty Paws, scratching her in face.
"Go...Cat!" Adrien cheered, unsure what to call the animal he had spent the day with. Not like he could call it Marinette anymore.
This momentarily drew Kitty Paw's attention away from the savage scratching, before the cat resumed its offensive strike.
Adrien went in for another attack, only to have the cat torn off Kitty Paw's face and into a locker with him. She slammed the door shut trapping both of them inside.
"Why did I think climbing a tree was a good idea," Marinette whined as she looked down from below he point. Their group had split up, Nino to the library, while Alya and the rest went to gather their classmates for the photos. Marinette had ran to the park and shimmied up the first tree she saw.
"Here kitty, kitty," she heard Kitty Paw's taunting call, still from the school grounds it sounded.
Her concentration was broken by the vibration of her watch in her fur.
"Go Nino," she whispered.
"I'm just about ready. I'm going to route the DNA sequencer through the communicator's data port."
"I see you cat," Kitty Paws snarked as she kicked the tree, jostling Marinette out of her perch and onto a lower branch.
"Marinette!" She heard Nathanael call from across the street, barely able to see him leading their class over to the park.
"Get the sequencer to Adrien. I'm kind of stuck at the moment," She responded before hanging up the call. She had to get out of there or at least away from her classmates.
"Cats always land on their feet," she whispered to herself, letting go of her branch and dropping to the ground in a defensive battle stance. Kitty Paws gave her no room to catch her breath, swinging after her with everything she got, while Marinette backflipped away. Using her enemy's momentum, she grabbed onto Kitty Paw's arm and tossed her away from the approaching classmates and photographer.
Kitty Paws recomposed herself then went after Marinette, Nathanael and Alya doing their best to keep the class out of the fight as much as possible.
"On three," Adrien instructed the cat, getting ready to push both their weight against the door.
"One, two, three," He pushed with all his might, only to fall out of the locker at Nino's feet.
"How?"
"Tracking on your watch. We need to go now," Nino pulled Adrien up with one hand, balancing his laptop on the other.
"I routed the DNA sequencer through the communicator's data port. So you just have to point at Marinette and zap," instructed Nino as they ran outside, the cat following them.
They stopped at the edge of the park, the rest of their classmates being protected by Alya and Nathanael while Marinette fought Kitty Paws.
Adrien aimed his watch at Marinette and pressed the side button.
Nothing happened.
"Nino," he whined in a panic.
"I'm working on it," Nino sat down, more pages going up on his laptop as he tried to figure out what went wrong.
"Fixed, Zap away," instructed Nino. Adrien pointed again as Marinette leapt at her foe, a bright beam emitting from the watch. She crashed on top of Kitty Paws, pleasantly surprised to find herself human again.
"It worked," she exclaimed holding the amulet in hand. Police began to show up to the school as Adrien and Alya pulled Kitty Paws off the ground.
"Cat-napping Kitty Paws, that's grounds for arrest I believe," scolded Adrien as he led her over to the police, winking at Marinette as he left.
The students readjusted themselves around the bench they had picked for the photo, Juleka front and center. Marinette stood next to Adrien in the back row as he held the cat.
"So what are you going to do with cat me," asked Marinette as she scratched the animal between the ears, eliciting a purr.
"I think i'm going to keep her. She and Plagg got along well," answered Adrien.
"Any names picked out?"
Adrien's thought process was interrupted by Vincent directing their attention to the camera, "Okay, we're all good here, ready?
"I'm thinking… Buginette" he answered with a smirk. Adrien would combine his pet name for her along with her actual name just to name his new pet.
Marinette rolled her eyes as she felt Nathanael put his arm around her shoulder. Oh right, he was standing on the other side of her.
"I'm glad you're back," he whispered, giving her shoulder a slight squeeze.
"Say Spaghetti!" Vincent called out to the class.
"Spaghetti!" Everyone cried out with large smiles.
They took several pictures for the remainder of the afternoon, Juleka the star of many of them. The other star was Buginette.
#plagghasagirlfriend2018
I know people wanted the cat's name to be Tikki, but we already have a Tikki in this story.