I realized because of the Update post, you probably didn't get the update for the chapter before this. So there is a chapter to read before this one.
Adrien laid halfway on Nino's bed, letting his legs hang off, while Nino was sorting through his music on his computer. Above his head was a collage of pictures Nino had taken over the years of them in high school, practically covering his entire wall. Adrien adjusted his head to see a picture of their friend group during his first year of school, Marinette's cheeks marred by a pretty shade of pink as she tried to smile, squished between Adrien and Alya. Adrien smiled at the picture, glancing over to a more recent picture after Adrien's father agreed to let him stay as Chat Noir. Marinette's cheeks still had a slight tint of pink, but then again, so did Adrien's as they wrapped an arm around each other's shoulder.
"Ok, what do you think of this dong? To much for Alya or what." Nino pulled off the headphones, turning to pass them over to his best bud, only to find Adrien lost in the sea of pictures.
"I can make you copies of the pictures if you want," he offered, but still no response. Nino sighed.
"Marinette, glad you stopped by," he called out.
"What, where?" Adrien shot up from his laxed position, eyes turning to the door to see no one. He turned to Nino and glared.
"I wanted to ask your opinion on song, to help me ask Alya to the prom." Nino dangled the headphones. Adrien relaxed and moved over towards Nino. He took the headphones, placing them over his ears.
The song was nice, slower than what Nino would normally would go with, and the lyrics were more romantic.
"Your mix?"
"Sorta. Marinette recommended a song by Clara Nightingale, so I did a remix of it for Alya. You think she'll like it? Get the idea about prom?"
Adrien nodded as he took off the headphones, handing them back to Nino.
"Yeah, it's really nice."
Nino smiled, turning back to his computer.
Adrien flopped back down on Nino's bed.
"Hey, do you think it's been long enough?"
Nino pulled off his headphones and turned to his friend, "What?"
"Do you think it's been long enough? After Marinette and Nathanael."
"Dude, long enough would have been during election week if Marinette wasn't running. Now you are just over due."
"I don't know!" Adrien sat up in frustration, "I wanted to give her space. Plus you and Alya always hit and advise for these sort of things."
"As much as Alya likes to pretend she's your mother, she's not. Sorry to disappoint."
Adrien rolled his eyes as he adjusted his seating, being on eye viewing level with Nino.
"So you think then I can ask her to prom?"
Nino frowned, turning back in his seat to look back at the computer. "Sure dude. Whatever you want."
"Why are you doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"Avoiding eye contact. You didn't look at me when you answered."
"Reasons."
"Reasons?"
"Alya reasons."
Adrien opened his mouth to question, but then shut it after much thought. Alya knew Marinette best. And if Alya had reasons for Nino to be decrypt, then probably better not question them.
"Do I have to remix a special song to ask Marinette to prom?"
Nino turned back around to face Adrien, his look confounded by Adrien's question.
"Dude, I'm remixing a song because I'm dating Alya. It's our thing. If we had more time I would make a movie, but the election and Prince Ali held me up a bit, plus I got a new project by the same company who asked for the speed shoes."
"So, how should I ask her then?"
Nino shrugged, "However you want man. This is practice for proposals, so however you do it now is a step to how you'll do it later."
"PROPOSALS!?" Nino jumped forward, slapping his hands over Adrien's mouth.
"Quiet, my brother is sleeping."
Adrien whispered a muffled sorry, Nino slowly pulling his hands away.
"What I'm saying is, if you want to ask Marinette, ask her in a way that is unique to you."
"Even if I'm just asking her as a friend?"
Nino mouth pursed together, as if he had something he wanted to scream out, his fists clenching as he did. He turned back to face his computer, slowly breathing out once he did.
"Friend, Boyfriend, what difference does it make. Now give me a minute, I need to listen through this again." Nino quickly pulled back on headphones, staring intently at his computer.
Adrien huffed before flopping back onto the bed, his eyes meeting a picture Marinette and Nino from Junior High graduation. She still had the Minnie Mouse buns, and a wide happy grin, almost like when she found him safe during that Christmas Eve catastrophe.
Friend or Boyfriend?
"Oh no! I'm late!" Marinette ran out the door, almost crossing the street when the traffic light turned green, cars blocking her path. She glanced across the street to see the royal car for the kingdom of Achu standing in front of the school.
She quickly pulled out her phone and called Alya, knowing she probably wouldn't have time to talk to Alya about it in class.
"Hey girl, where are you."
"At the crosswalk, on the wrong side. Why is Ali's car here, I thought he wasn't starting school here til next fall."
"He stopped by to ask Rose to prom, so looks like we'll be seeing him again soon."
Marinette huffed, just as the pedestrian crossing turned green, "Great."
"Rose actually asked where you were. Wanted to say thanks for bringing Ali to Paris so she could meet him."
"Well give my regards to Rose. You heard anything from Nino."
"Nothing girl, but he did seem a little suspicious this morning. I'll keep you posted. Any guys ask you? Namely a certain cat-boy."
"Don't call Adrien a cat-boy. And no."
She could hear Alya thump her head against the desk.
"Gotta go Alya, see you inside."
Marinette quickly pocket her phone in her backpack, running inside the school. Seeing the stairs already crowded with students, Marinette pulled out her yoyo, launching it to the second floor railing, her body following after it. She landed on the second floor, just in from of Chloe and Sabrina as they were about to enter, Marinette quickly entering the class as the bell rang, Chloe grumbling as she game in after the bell. Principal Damocles scowled at the two girls as they passed, not noticing Marinette step over Alya and into her seat.
"Listen up students!"
The students quickly turned their attention back to the Principal. Marinette scanned the classroom but no Ms. Bustier.
"Ms. Bustier, while grading some of your papers at the public library, unfortunately her foot fell victim to several encyclopedias."
The entire class grimaced at the thought.
"Rather than miss your prom, she will be taking some time off to recover. Ms. Rossi will be your literature, history, and English teacher for the time being."
"Ms. Rossi," whispered Alya.
"Never had her as a substitute before," whispered Marinette as their new teacher entered.
She was were a black pencil skirt and dark grey turtleneck, her outfit mostly covered by a dark orange coat. Her hair was held by by a matching orange headband, revealing the face of a person Marinette and Adrien knew very well.
Two gasps could be heard in the room as their new teacher wrote her name on the board. The teacher turned and smiled at the class before finishing.
"Good Morning Class," she greeted.
"Good Morning Ms. Rossi," answered the class robotically.
Marinette noticed her tablet got a notification from Adrien.
"What's Volpina doing here?"
"I don't know, but let's follow her after school. Could be some ploy of Hawkmoth."
"Right."
"And if there is anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to ask," assured Principal Damocles.
"Aw thanks Mr. Damocles," Ms. Rossi/Volpina blushed, Marinette grimacing at the cute, innocent act Volpina was putting on.
Just as Principal Damocles was about to leave their class, he stopped and turned.
"And don't let them tell you that they're supposed to have class outside. We put a stop to that after the jellyfish episode," he insisted
"Oh, that's so sweet," Ms. Rossi/Volpina cooed, "You took the class to the beach!"
"No beach. Just jellyfish... don't ask."
Principal Damocles left, Ms. Rossi/Volpina turning to the student slightly confused by Principal Damocles departing words. Her expression quickly changed as she lifted up their textbook.
"Let's get started!"
Immediately after school, leaving Alya and Nino behind, Marinette and Adrien began secretly following Volpina (Marinette refused to call her Ms. Rossi) around Paris, only stopping briefly at a department store to buy non-evil looking clothes. They continued to follow her even after that, passing a deserted construction area as they did.
"There you are," announced a masculine voice, a green and black arm reaching out and pulling Volpina into the construction area. Marinette and Adrien hurried to a slight opening into the construction zone to see Volpina surrounded by Tikki, Wayzz, and Pollen; the other members of Team Miraculous.
"Uh...h-hey guys," she offered with a nervous grin.
"You shouldn't have run off like that sis," scolded Tikki, Pollen immediately duplicating herself to form a circle around Volpina.
"Listen guys, I don't want any trouble," she pleaded.
"Since when," Marinette scoffed from their viewing position.
Tikki leapt behind a vehicle, lifting it up with her super strength.
"Hey, that's private property," scolded Volpina, "How would you feel if somebody did that to your truck?"
"Vengeful," grunted Tikki as she chucked the truck at Volpina. Volpina quickly dodged out of the way.
"She doesn't even have a truck," commented Wayzz as he came up behind his sister, shrinking to half his normal size. Then he pounced on her, pushing her back into the middle of the construction site. Just then Volpina noticed multiple Pollens, holding up a beam, before tossing it to another set of Pollens.
Despite Volpina being an enemy, it seemed to Marinette that Volpina's siblings were actually being more evil that Volpina, in their own way. Marinette launched her yoyo at an overhanging beam, throwing herself into a somersault that knocked down the Pollens as she collided into their parade.
"Aren't you guys being a little rough, even if it is Volpina," she chided as she got in battle position.
"It's Ladybug," exclaimed Tikki, momentarily happy at her arrival.
"I remember her, she was bossy," snarled the Pollens.
"Don't forget me," announced Adrien as he used his baton to launch himself into the group, but instead over-launched into a pile of wooden planks.
Marinette grimaced at the fall before dashing over to help her partner, only to be blocked off by a four Pollens.
"Get her," one of the Pollen's ordered, Marinette jumping out of the way as they ended up colliding into one another.
Tikki, slammed her fists into the ground, causing the earth to start cracking. Marinette barely noticed in time as the crack approached her, jumping up onto a beam, swinging around it once before launching herself at Tikki, knocking the former hero into the ground.
Marinette heard a thud behind her, briefly turning to see Wayzz land. As Wayzz jumped at her, Marinette rolled onto her back, Wayzz instead colliding with her feet as she pushed him towards a nearly recovered Tikki.
"Oh here Adrien, let me help," offered Volpina (Adrien refused to acknowledge her as Ms. Rossi).
"Help? Volpina wants to help?"
"We'll technically, I'm not Volpina anymore. I'm Trixx."
"Whhaatt?"
Marinette suddenly found herself surrounded by several Pollens on all sides. A few of them charged after her at once, quickly latching onto her before she could jump away again. Wayzz shrunk his size to the same as Pollen, jumping into to keep Marinette captive. Marinette fell under the weight, even more Pollens jumping on after.
Marinette struggled to break free of their grasp, only stopping when she noticing Tikki standing over her with a bag of concrete.
"Feel the wrath of this very large sack of what seems to be concrete," Tikki announced, just as a bright orange glow blasted the bag to smithereens. Marinette turned to see Volpina launching her plasma at her siblings, pelting a couple of the Pollens off Marinette, the rest scrambling away.
"You ok sweetie," asked Volpina as she and Adrien approached her.
"Sweetie? Um, yeah, but, uh-" Marinette scrambled for words to this whole weird situation. Normally she was fighting with Team Miraculous and fighting against Volpina. Not the other way around.
"Look out," exclaimed Adrien, drawing Marinette's attention to Wayzz as he grew up behind Volpina, Volpina "accidentally" jarring him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Ooh! Sorry... he always does that move. It never works," she answered with a prideful grin.
The rest of Team Miraculous regrouped, Tikki picking up some more concrete bags to launch.
"Uh, we should probably get out of here," suggested Volpina, as Marinette lead the group out of the construction site.
"All this roughhousing, ooh," Volpina shuddered as she turned back around, firing a couple of plasma blasts at her siblings, destroying the concrete Tikki had been carrying as well as several bags around it, creating a dirt cloud to cover their escape.
"Regroup!" ordered Tikki, the team unaware as Marinette, Adrien, and Volpina leapt over the fence.
"We're trying!"
"Watch where you're going, Tikki!"
"Maybe if there weren't so darn many of you!"
"Feet! Watch the feet!"
"Funny time to be shrinking, Wayzz!"
Whatever else was said was lost as they ran far away from the construction site to Adrien's new favorite place.
Volpina's eyes lit up as she tried her Mexican salad at Bueno Nacho.
"This is so good!? How have I never had this before."
"It's an American chain that's going global recently," offered Marinette, hesitant about digging into her food like she normally would.
"Yeah, it's um, relatively new," added Adrien with a bit of uncertainty in his voice, using a chip to pick at the cheese of his Naco..
"Ooh, something wrong, Adrien?"
Adrien grimaced at the way she said his name, so not murderous like normal and actually showing concern. It was weird. "Y'know, it's just that I've never been this close to you without sudden impact," he explained.
Volpina pursed her lips before bursting into giggles, "You're silly! I'm silly! This whole sitch is silly!"
"Heh, heh, heh... ehh... and how... huh," he scooped up his Naco, taking a big bite so he wouldn't have to talk anymore.
"So, one of Team Miraculous' old enemies-," began Marinette
"Yeah, yeah, Lady Wifi! Funny story – we put her away back in the day – oh, that rhymes! Did you notice?"
"Put her away? Oh, back before you signed on with Hawkmoth," clarified Marinette.
"Mm-hmm. She still thought I was part of the team. Told you! Silly!"
"Lady Wifi," asked Adrien just after he swallowed, "Hmm, electrical villain? Mmm, I guess we've been due for one of those!"
"Well, she's an electronics whiz! I mean, if it's got wires, she can make it a weapon! And if it's already a weapon, she can make it a better weapon!" Volpina giggled in amusement before taking another bite of her salad.
"And the weapon she made better…" asked Marinette
"Jack Hench's Attitudinator, yeah!" Volpina turned to Adrien, "Oh, you remember!"
Adrien's face immediately blanked out, his skin turning red from his neck up to the roots of his hair. He quickly shook his head, his face returning almost to normal if not for the red tinge on his cheeks and ears. Marinette was certain her cheeks looked a little pink as well at the memory of Adrien asking her out when he was evil.
"Yeah... heh-heh... good times," Adrien took another ginormous bite of his Naco.
"So," Marinette quickly changed the subject, "she used it to turn all of Team Miraculous from good guys to bad."
"Yeah."
"But you were already bad," stated Adrien, his mouth still partially full of Naco.
"Have you met Lady Wifi? You cannot tell her anything!"
"She turned you good... by accident," explained Marinette.
"Luckily, I have my degree in Child Development to fall back on," Volpina shrugged, taking a bite of her salad.
"Then the teaching thing…," asked Adrien before taking a final bite of his Naco.
"Yeah, I'm fully credentialed."
"Well, this is great. Weird, but great! If it weren't for all your siblings being evil, I mean," offered Marinette.
"Well, I figured that this was the last place they would look, but," Volpina began sobbing, grabbing one of the spare napkins to dry her eyes, "now that they found me, I – I don't know what I'm gonna do!"
"Umm…," Marinette looked around, refusing to let Volpina's gaze meet her own.
"LB, she's giving you," whispered Adrien as he cleaned his face with a napkin.
"Not the Kitty Cat Pout!" Marinette looked over to see Volpina giving a sad look that could rival Manon's whiney eyes. "Oh, all right... maybe I have an idea."
Marinette finished setting up the air mattress in her room, complete with blankets, a pillow, and fresh set of pajamas for Volpina.
"You can stay here Volpina," Marinette assured as she gave a nervous smile to her former arch enemy.
"Thanks Mari! I knew I could count on you!" Volpina pulled Marinette into a hug, allowing Marinette to quickly twist her arm, allowing her watch to scan the back of Volpina's head.
"No big, at least until I have to explain it to my parents."
Marinette let go, and began heading downstairs with her own set of pajamas.
"Oh Mari?"
"Hmm," Marinette turned at the nickname, not sure exactly where it was coming from with Volpina saying it.
"Maybe since I've been turned to good now, we can go back to my original name?"
"Sure what was it again? I don't think you wrote it on the board at school."
"Oh uh, well, at school the name is Lila Rossi, but I would like it if you could call me Trixx."
"Trixx? That's your old hero name?"
"My old name. Lila Rossi is just my cover name like Redd is for Tikki."
Marinette gave Volpi-Trixx one last smile before heading down stairs.
She found Adrien sitting on the couch.
"Sorry we couldn't take her to my place," offered Adrien.
"No big, after Rosalba, I'm sure your dad doesn't want anymore house guests for awhile."
Adrien shrugged as Marinette called Nino on the communicator.
"Nino, did you get it?"
"Yep! Brain wave scan complete. But it'll take a while to analyze it."
"The sooner, the better! This is all majorly disorienting!"
"Sure thing. You might though want to talk to Alya to pass the time though."
"Alya?"
Marinette looked between Nino, who looked rather smug, and Adrien who was looking everywhere but Marinette.
"Alright." Marinette hung up the call.
"Um Marinette, could I, uh, actually talk to you about something," asked Adrien, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sure."
"Well," before Adrien could even finish, Marinette's phone rang with a call from Alya.
Marinette looked between Adrien and her phone, not sure whether to answer or not. Adrien just sighed, standing up.
"I should probably go. Alya's going to want to talk to you for the whole night if I keep you from her."
Marinette chuckled, Adrien's comment sounding like something Alya would do, both sharing whatever she had to talk about, inquiring about Volpina/Trixx, and whatever Adrien had said to her if she let it slip.
"Alright. Goodnight," Marinette waved, pulling out her phone to answer Alya's call. Alya seemed to waste no time recounting how Nino asked her to Prom, as Adrien slipped out the door.
"Morning," Marinette greeted as she and Trixx came down the stairs to see her family at the breakfast table.
"Um, isn't that the woman who's always punching and kicking you," asked Tom as Marinette gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Uh, guilty," Trixx weakly held up her hand, admitting her guilt.
"Hold the phone. Hon, why is your nemesis in our breakfast nook," asked Sabine as she began dishing out some breakfast for her daughter.
Marinette took a deep breath before recounting what happened, "Trixx needs a place to stay for a few days because one of Team Miraculous' old enemies blasted her with a personality reversal ray so that now she's good and her siblings are evil. Whew!" Marinette took another breath as she sat down and began to eat breakfast.
"Oh! Well... would you care to join us for breakfast," offered Sabine, dishing out a plate for Trixx.
"My eggs are cold. I'm gonna go microwave them." Tom was about to stand, when Trixx was beside him in a minute.
"Oh, I'll save you a trip!" Trixx took the plate in her hand, using a power-blast to heat the eggs, which only reflected off the plate and burnt the end of Sabine's dishing spoon.
Marinette gasped as her parents just stared at Trixx, as she gently set down the plate.
"Oops... sorry!"
"Thanks for walking me over Mari." Trixx beamed as they both approached the school, "thanks for everything! You're the best." Trixx pulled Marinette into a quick hug before disappearing inside the school, heading towards the classroom.
"Don't mention it," mumbled Marinette before dashing over to Nino's locker, where he was talking to Alya.
"Nino! Brain Scan! Anything?" Marinette panicked.
"It's the signature of the Attitudinator all right, Marinette! Not an evil thought in her head! You won't meet a nicer person!"
Marinette slumped against the locker.
"You ok girl," asked Alya.
"New reality. Adjustment taking time to process."
The group turned to look over at Trixx who was greeting Adrien as he entered the school with a warm smile.
"Eventually."
"Come on girl, Nino asked me to prom and you promised we'd go dress browsing to help you come up designs for our outfits," insisted Alya as she pushed Marinette out the door of their school.
"But Alya, I'm sure if I'll even be going."
"Girl! It's Junior prom. You are going whether or not you get asked."
"Easy for you to say. You go asked," grumbled Marinette.
"I didn't get asked." Both girls turned to see Trixx exiting the school after them. "Granted I ended up going with my brothers in the end, but I still had a good time."
"That's it! We can make it a group date," exclaimed Alya.
"A group date," asked Marinette?
"Sure, we'll just make it a group thing with me, Nino, you and Adrien."
"Adrien," Marinette could feel her face heat up at the thought. She had been trying so hard not to think about Adrien asking her to the prom, either as a friend or maybe something more based on the couple times they had their personalities altered.
"Aw, you and Adrien would be so cute together," squealed Trixx in delight, "You two should totally go together."
"I, uh," Marinette stammered.
"But unfortunately Adrien still seems as dense as ever to asking Marinette out," insisted Alya, Trixx shaking her head in disapproval.
"Then we'll just have to pick a dress for Marinette that will make him regret not asking her," answered Trixx all knowingly, Alya nodding in agreement.
"Actually I wanted to design my dress," Marinette finally spoke up.
"Then what are we waiting for, we need to get you inspired!" Trixx and Alya both pulled Marinette in the direction of the mall.
Not even a minute later, Adrien came running over from the park, dressed nicely from a photoshoot, only to find everyone at the school gone. He quickly called Nino on his phone.
"Nino, do you have tracking on our communicators."
"Of course. Why?"
"Where's Marinette?"
"Umm, heading towards the mall I think. Plus Alya wanted to go inspiration hunting with her."
"Thanks. Keep me posted if they move."
And Adrien again took off running.
Trixx and Alya pulled Marinette all over the mall, Alya pointing out ideas for her dress, while Trixx was focused on Marinette.
"Ok, imagine if I got those purple and black heels," exclaimed Alya to Trixx as they rode the escalator down, all while Marinette was busily scrambling down notes. Today had been actually helpful. She was starting to get a good idea what to do for Alya's dress. Trixx insisted blue would bring out Marinette's eyes, but Alya said pink went best with Marinette's complexion, so she was having a hard time picking out a color. She knew Adrien liked ladybug red on her, so she might want to go with that.
Her thoughts were disturbed as they stepped off, a black cat jumping into her arms.
"Plagg," Marinette immediately recognized the silly kitten, his owner coming up behind him. His hair was tousled from the wind, his button up shirt opened by one button as his sport coat hung loosely about him. He was hot, reminding Marinette why she stuttered around him all those months ago.
"A-adrien. Found Plagg!" She hurriedly tossed the cat back to his owner, dropping her pencil and sketchbook. Adrien and Marinette both bent down to retrieve the fallen items, accidentally bonking heads as Marinette grabbed the pencil, and he grabbed the open notebook.
"Getting inspiration I see," he teased as they stood back up, handing over her notebook.
"Yeah," Marinette blushed, cradling her notebook.
"She's going to design our dresses for the prom. We are going to be absolutely fabulous," announced Alya.
Adrien smiled at Alya before glancing down at Marinette.
"I'm sure you will."
Marinette was certain her whole face was red. Sheesh, how could he reduce her to such the mess she was a year ago?
"Actually Marinette, I wanted to ask you something."
"Yes?" She looked up at him.
"Would you, um," Adrien shuffled nervously, avoiding her gaze as she scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah?"
"Um, uh would you, um, like to...help me pick out what to wear for prom? Because you know, father, it's been years since he went to a prom, you know, so he probably doesn't know what's in season. For prom."
Marinette's nerves immediately went away at his question. Even though Gabriel Agreste practically dictated the fashion seasons, she could also see Gabriel getting sentimental over his son's prom. Who better to convince Gabriel not to allow his son to leave the house in a 90's tux.
"Sure. What are friends for?"
"Heh, right, friends," agreed Adrien.
Marinette could hear Alya facepalm behind her, Trixx immediately cooing the "injured" girl.
"Well, we better get going, still lots to plan," insisted Marinette as she led the group past Adrien.
"Bye Plagg, bye Adrien. Let me know when you want me to help."
"Sure." Adrien waved halfheartedly as he watched them go. He stayed in that spot for awhile, until Nino called on his phone.
"Marinette has left the mall."
Adrien sighed, "I know."
"Did you ask her?"
"More like failed to. Tremendously."
"How did you do it?" Adrien began leaving the mall, tucking Plagg further into his arm.
"I just had a photoshoot, so after it was done, I raced over to the school, then to the mall. I ended up asking her to pick out my outfit."
Adrien could hear Nino snorting on the other line.
"Thank you for enjoying my misery."
"Sorry man, only you or Marinette could botch asking someone out."
"I'm not asking her out. I'm asking her to prom."
"Which is out."
"Technically in, since its inside the school."
"Stop being so literally bro. Maybe just jazz things up a little."
"Like make a cd?"
"No, that was my idea, and girls hate it when you copy another dude's idea. Unless it's like a universal thing. Get her flowers or something so she can't mistake what you are asking her. Or write her a letter, like with your letter to Ladybug."
Adrien blushed, remembering his long ago Valentine letter to Ladybug.
"Another letter might be worth a shot."
"There you go."
"So, how the designs coming along," asked Alya, looking over Marinette's shoulder as the three girls sat at Bueno Nacho.
"I think you are really going to like yours Alya."
"What about yours," asked Trixx, sipping the last of her soda.
"I'll worry about that later. I need to get Alya's going first so I can make a matching tie for Nino."
"Girl!" Alya squealed, "You're the best isn't she the best?"
"Absolute best. Refill, anyone else," asked Trixx as she stood up, shaking her empty drink.
The other girls shook their head no, Trixx retreating back to the machine.
"Girl! Are you believing this?"
"I know!"
"Trixx is really cool when she doesn't want to kill you, despite being older and such."
"I know, I'm amazed we actually have a lot in common now that her brain waves are flipped. It's almost like having a big sister."
Alya gave her a look, "You know I'm older than you?"
"I know, but we are practically the same age. Plus you have Nora."
"I know, I'm teasing you girl. Trixx does seem like a cool sister. I wonder how her siblings are doing."
"We'll help them, eventually. We'll just let Trixx enjoy herself a little first until something must be done."
Alya nodded in agreement as she finished the last bite of her burrito.
"Mari!"
"Marinette!"
Two different voices called for Marinette, one from Trixx who was approaching with her drink and flyers, the other from Adrien as he entered the door, holding a paper in his hands. It almost happened in slow motion as Adrien ran towards them, Trixx smiling with her eyes closed, waving her flyers. Just as the two approached the table, Adrien crashed into Trixx, Trixx's refilled drink exploding over both them.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Adrien," Trixx apologized profusely, setting down the empty cup and wet flyers, exchanging them for napkins to clean them both off with.
"It's fine, it was an accident. I should have been looking where I was going," Adrien apologized wiping himself down with napkins Marinette passed to him. The girls at the table luckily suffered no damage.
"You sure your alright," insisted Trixx. Adrien looked down to the paper in his hand, completely drenched by the soda.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to get more of those flyers," Trixx insisted as she stepped back towards the counter, an employee coming to mop up the mess as Adrien sat opposite of the girls. He opened up the paper.
"Adrien," asked Marinette. He looked up at her, his hair and the front of his clothes dripping with soda.
"Yeah?"
"You seemed in a hurry to talk to me?"
"Oh um," He glanced down at the paper, before folding up the drenched thing.
"It's nothing."
"Hey Mari, two-for-one coupon for the Louvre," announced Trixx, waving new coupons.
"Sounds great, you both want to come," asked Marinette as she stood up, slipping her sketchbook and pencil into her purse.
"I'll pass, I have to get back to my sisters anyway," answered Alya.
"Pass," answered Adrien, still looking glum.
Marinette offered a sympathetic smile, giving Adrien's hand a slight squeeze before following after Trixx, Trixx asking to stop by home to change before going.
Alya watched Adrien sulk across the table, holding in his lap the folded note.
"What was on the note?"
Adrien sighed, standing up out of the booth, and leaving.
Alya watched him go before calling Nino.
For the life of her, Marinette couldn't sleep. Despite how draining the day way, especially with her inspiration at the Louvre, Marinette kept tossing and turning.
"Mari? You alright sweetie," asked Trixx from down below on the air mattress.
"Sorry Trixx. Am I keeping you up?" Marinette turned on her side so she could see Trixx below.
"No, I was just thinking about my siblings?"
"You worried?"
"A little. What if they find me again?"
"Don't worry, you have Adrien and I here to help you. Plus Nino and Alya can be pretty handy when not otherwise distracted by each other."
Trixx giggled at that.
"Young love. How long have they been going out."
"A few months now I think. I can't remember."
"And you and Adrien?"
Marinette signed, rolling back onto her back.
"Not even once."
"But what about when he turned evil and demanded that whole date thing?"
"Never went through. Plus I was already dating someone at the time."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"But your not anymore?"
"Not anymore what?"
"Dating the guy?"
"No, he couldn't handle the whole teen hero thing."
"That's what sucks about it doesn't it. When your a hero, they're intimidated by a girl who is stronger than them and weirded by whatever you come home as. And evil scheming takes all your time when your a villain."
"Did you date, back when you were a teen hero?"
"Tried. There was this boy named Steve. I used to call him Stevie."
"What happened?"
"Got too busy. Saving the world takes a lot of time from potential dates. I heard he's a high school principal in North America now."
"Huh?"
"Adrien seems though not to be bothered by all the weirdness."
"Yeah, but I can't get enough courage to ask him out unless I'm under an emotional control thing, and he can't ask me out unless he's evil."
"Yeah… definitely sounds tricky."
Their conversation was interrupted by Marinette's skype ringing over her computer. She rolled out of bed, opening up her computer to find Nino calling her from some research facility office.
"Do you know what time it is," she asked with a yawn.
"Knew you would be up. Check out this report."
Nino sent them a link.
"Team Miraculous," the reporter announced as a dramatic picture of the heroes appeared.
"Once our proud protectors, now our evil enemies."
The screen changed to a view of the reporter Marinette did not recognize standing in the midst of Miraculous City, where there was a building on fire and people fleeing in panic.
"And this is the scene tonight, as the city reels from the unexplained onslaught."
Before the report could continue, two Pollens ran past her, grabbing her microphone. Wayzz then came up behind the reporter, scarring her out of frame. As people continued to run about in a frenzy, Tikki jumped over some buildings, landing in front of the camera. SHe then punched the ground, the connection fizzing to static.
"Oh no! My family," Trixx exclaimed as she stood from her bed.
"What about Miraculous City? It looks totally trashed," added Nino.
"The best way to help Miraculous City is to help my siblings. Tomorrow-"
"We have to go to Miraculous Tower," answered Marinette and Trixx in sync.
"Jinx, you owe me a soda," teased Trixx as she ran to get ready, Marinette smiling at her as she left.
"Nino, let Adrien know, and can you hook us a ride."
"On it, although could you try calling Adrien while I handle the ride?"
"I gotta get ready first Nino. I'll see if I can after."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind the pajamas."
Marinette glared at Nino before turning off her the call. It was too late in the night to deal with Adrien feelings.
Luckily Trixx was able to give them a ride using the Miraculous Car she borrowed when she left Miraculous City to escape her brothers.
Using the element of surprise, Marinette Adrien, and Trixx went underwater with the car, pulling up on land when they finally in front of Miraculous Tower, dressed in their uniforms for battle.
Trixx used her team glow to let them in, confronting the rest of Team Miraculous as they arrived in the Miraculous jet. Their opponents jumped out of the car, ready for battle.
"What is going on here," called out a loud voice, everyone turning to see Lady Wifi. She was dressed in a black suit with a purplish-pink Wifi emblem on her chest. Marinette could swore the woman looked like an older Alya, but with copper coils for hair and pink sparks of electricity coming from her hands.
"We were just about to brawl with Trixx and Ladybug," announced Tikki to her master.
"And me, Chat Noir," added Adrien.
"Ugh, sidekick," the villain groaned, "well, don't let me stop you."
Adrien grimaced at the comment, but prepared his stance as did Team Miraculous."
"We'll take care of Team Miraculous, you get that personality reverser Chaton," instructed Marinette while glancing at Adrien briefly.
Adrien smiled back, before the trio split up, Adrien heading for Lady Wifi. His approach was stopped short by Pollen as she began to separate into multiple Pollens. They all ran towards Adrien, the Pollens tossing him into the air multiple times.
"I choose you , Buginette," called out Adrien as he tossed the cat he brought with him into the air, the cat landing on Lady Wifi.
Startled by the cat, she dropped the helmet, Buginette, jumping off to a spot near the helmet. Curious, she pawed the helmet, the light bulbs glowing blue before shooting down at Tikki, who currently had Trixx above her head. Once the blue glow around her finished, Tikki dropped Trixx down, Trixx barely able to catch her sister before she hit the ground.
"Foolish cat!" The woman screeched, and began chasing after Buginette with her feet, the cat jumping inside the helmet to hide. She rolled around inside the helmet as Lady Wifi chased, random red and blue light emitting from the helmet.
Just as Adrien was about to consider himself done for as he was surrounded by Pollens, a red light hit him. Once the light subsided, the Pollens grinning at each other.
"Get him," ordered one, the rest charging in, only to get stopped as Adrien's hand grabbed one of their heads.
"I think not!" Adrien began chuckling maniacally.
"Not again," Marinette groaned from where she was, glancing over at Trixx and Tikki talking as she help her sister up.
Adrien took the first bath of Pollens, slapping them aside before leaping over the next group, which lead into a flip kick of some more pollens following by a spin kick before stopping.
"You want evil, I'll show you evil," he snarled and he went into another spin kick, tossing more Pollens aside. He then jumped back up and pushed the remaining Pollens aside.
Up above, Lady Wifi was finally able to grab hold of the helmet, pointing it at Tikki.
"Evil up Tikki," She called out as she fired at Tikki, the hero turning villain again as she began fighting Trixx again.
"Oh, you are going about this all wrong," Adrien leapt onto the platform where Lady Wifi was viewing the whole fight. "You are acting like an evil poser!"
"You want to see my power," Lady Wifi asked as she fired volt as Adrien, who easily avoided them with some flipped between the wall and the railing.
"Oo, someone's a little touchy," criticized Adrien as he low swept kicked at her legs, causing her to let go of the helmet, which fell into Adrien's hands.
"You couldn't even figure it out that the first person you should have used this on was Ladybug!" Adrien aimed the helmet at Marinette, who was struggling trying to catch Wayzz as he shrunk.
Lady Wifi knocked him over as he fired, missing his target. She then grabbed him by the helmet before flipping him into the railing. A few loose shots fired as she charged at him, struggling to grab back the helmet.
"Oh, no you don't! This is my evil revenge!" She screamed.
As they battle for control of the helmet, random shots continued to fire, at one point turning Wayzz good and Trixx back to evil, continuing their fight. Marinette managed to get two of the Pollens turned to good, who went to fight the rest of the evil Pollens. Tikki was also turned back to good momentarily. The good and the evil continued to fight, interchanging changing between the two, but continuing the fight all the same.
Marinette ran for the balcony where Adrien and Lady Wifi were fighting, knocking Lady Wifi out of the way as she landed.
"Ladybug! We meet again!"
"Not now Adrien. Go keep Lady Wifi busy," she ordered.
"Why should I help you? What do I-" Before Adrien could finish, Lady Wifi pushed him off the balcony.
"That's why," groaned Marinette as the two continued to fight on the ground.
She looked over to where Tikki, Wayzz, and two Pollens were surrounding Trixx and several more Pollens, Marinette aiming the helmet in Tikki's direction. A blue light was emitted from the helmet, turning the evil henchmen back to heroes.
Marinette redirected her attention back to Adrien, who dodged her shots and eventually another shot from Lady Wifi, his landing though, Marinette finally zapped him back to you.
Adrien's eyes widened in a panic as Lady Wifi's hands began to spark.
"Let me show you how I deal with interlopers!" She began approaching him, Adrien backing up as she did.
"Um, actually, I think I can guess, if you wanna save yourself some time," offered Adrien, before bumping into Wayzz, who was smiling down at him, the other members of Team Miraculous on either side of him.
"Step aside, Team Miraculous is back."
"Eep," Lady Wifi squeak as she stepped away from the heroes.
Tikki and Wayzz held Lady Wifi by the arms as they lead her to a police van.
"You win this round, but you haven't seen the last of Lady Wifi! No prison can hold me! I'll be back," she screamed as they set her inside. All of a sudden a blue light zapped her, all heroes turning to Adrien, who held the helmet.
"Whoops, my bad," he jested, Marinette rolling her eyes.
"Just as soon as I serve out my full sentence, with possible time off for good behavior!" The doors slammed shut on Lady Wifi, everyone watching the police van drive off.
"Good riddance to terrible Wifi," Tikki called out before turning to Marinette and Adrien. "Thanks for your help Marinette and Adrien." She then turned to Trixx opening her arms for a hug, that Trixx eagerly jumped into.
"Sis, it's good to see you on the side of justice, and all things right and good again!"
"Yeah, what she said," echoed Pollen, giving Trixx a side hug.
"Ditto," Wayzz came up behind, enveloping his sisters in a hug.
The group stepped back, allowing Trixx to approach Marinette, Adrien approaching the heroes to ask about the helmet.
"Tikki's right, it was good to be on the same side," agreed Marinette, noticing briefly out of the corner of her eye Adrien and the other heroes taking turns holding the helmet deciding what to do with it.
"Yeah Mari, I couldn't tell you this when I was evil, but-" Before Trixx could finish, she was enveloped in a red glow. Marinette looked past her to see all of Team Miraculous, Buginette, and Adrien looking equally guilty at the fallen helmet.
"We can fix this," assured Tikki, reaching forward to retrieve the helmet, when a light pole fell over, destroying the helmet. Everyone looked up to see Hawkmoth flying overhead.
"Volpina," he called out, lowering a ladder.
"He needs me. Later Bug," Trixx/Volpina snarked as she climbed up the ladder. Hawkmoth flying away.
"You know, I liked her as a good guy. But I guess some people never really change," offered Marinette as everyone watched her leave.
"She maybe on the side of good again some day. It'll just take more time," assured Tikki. Marinette looked at the rest of Team Miraculous, all with confident smiles their sister would return to good again, someday.
"Nino, I am a complete and utter failure," moaned Adrien as he sat in his room, catching up on homework.
"What happened now?"
"I turned evil again, and even then I couldn't ask Marinette to Prom."
"I don't think Marinette would want to be asked to Prom by Evil you."
Adrien groaned, slamming his head on his desk.
Now finally onto So the Drama.
Any preference what Marinette's dress color should be? I want to go with the light blue because Kim's dress if blue, but pink and red are really Marinette colors. Thoughts?