Quick note: I don't own the songs referenced in this chapter; they belong to their original artists.

Flashback

Marinette went rigid when she felt the unwelcome sensation of a butterfly mask over her eyes and heard a severely unwanted voice in her head. "Marionette, I am Shadowmoth…"

"Stay with me, Marinette!" she heard Jazz say once she was done quoting that silly American Christmas movie her dad liked. "Being akumatized is not fun, believe me, I know!"

As she tried to focus on Jazz's voice, Marinette muttered, "No! I won't listen to you!"

"Oh, but someone's planning to pull everyone's strings again," Shadowmoth smirked. "Don't you want to beat them to it? They can dance to your tune instead…"

"Marinette, fight it!" Jazz encouraged her again. "You don't need Jagoff-Moth or his powers! You're stronger than him! You can beat him with one hand behind your back! I heard that Adrien calls you the 'everyday Ladybug!' Don't prove him wrong by becoming an akuma!"

As she gasped in surprise at hearing her curse, Marinette kept trying to ignore Shadowmoth, knowing that it was just empty promises he was offering if she accepted. 'I won't become an akuma! He doesn't want to help me! I don't want to give Tikki to him…TIKKI! Don't give her to him! I don't want him to hurt her! I won't let Shadowmoth get me! I don't want to let Lila get me this time! I can't let him win! I don't want to give him my miraculous! I have to focus on Jazz! I-'

She was vaguely aware of Jazz encouraging her not to give into him. As her thoughts became more frantic, she felt her willpower start crumbling. The last thing she wanted to do was give up, but everything was starting to come down around her, but she was starting to become overwhelmed with Shadowmoth, Jazz's, and her own voice sounding around her.

"I can help you regain control of everyone around you. All I ask in return is for you to give me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous!"

Marinette looked around and saw Jazz next to her, trying to encourage her to focus on her voice and stay with her. She trusted her friend to help bring her back. She took the earrings out and put them in Jazz's hand, closing her fingers around them. She ignored Jazz's cry of surprise and murmured at last, "I accept," As she told her friend to run and heard her promise to help her, she felt the dark magic overcome her, and she gave in at last to Shadowmoth.

End Flashback

A few moments later, when the bubbles cleared and she watched the akumatized Marinette walk down the hall, Jazz took her mystery-loving cousin Craig's advice and followed her at shadow distance when she saw her come up to a student. 'Well, this guy's in the wrong place at the wrong time! But seriously, I'd better record this, so when I see Ladybug and Chat Noir, I can explain how the akuma's powers work!' she thought as she put the earrings in her left pocket (her right pocket was currently occupied by a keychain she was supposed to use for a speech class she had later), got her phone out, turned the volume all the way up, and ducked behind a water fountain. She knew that doing something like this in Paris was illegal, but this was an emergency situation, since there was the threat of an akuma, so it would probably be all right. As she started recording, Jazz watched as Marionette, since that was what her name was now, reached into her purse and took out what looked like a wooden X-shaped device, aimed at the student, and strings came out of the ends of it. The strings came in contact with the student's wrists, ankles, elbows, and knees, then they fell limply to the ground, as if they had no bones and all their energy was drained out of them. Marionette then raised her hand holding the wooden object, and the student rose jerkily to their feet. For a moment, it looked like they were wearing an old-timey harlequin's outfit, but when Jazz looked again after Marionette waved her hand a second time, their clothes were back to normal. Their eyes had taken on a purple glow, and he gave a jerky bow to her.

"What are your orders, Mistress Marionette?" he intoned.

"Help me find Ladybug and Chat Noir, and get me their miraculous," Marionette ordered, waving her hands around, as if she was pulling the strings of a puppet.

As the student bowed and went to carry out her orders, Jazz stopped her recording, emailed it to herself, sent it to Roger and Nancy with a text advising them to be safe, and ran into an empty classroom as the akuma alarm started to go off, all the while thinking, 'How will I help Marinette? And how do I get in contact with Ladybug and Chat Noir?' A few moments later, as she read Nancy's reply of 'Dad and I got your video. That was reckless, but we understand that you had good intentions when you did this. You be careful too, Jazz, and stay safe.', she suddenly felt the earrings in her pocket, and remembered that she had put them in there when she got her phone out. "I don't know why Marinette gave me these, but at least I can keep them safe for her until she's de-akumatized…And what better way for me to keep them safe than to wear them myself!" As she started to put them on, she couldn't help but think, 'Oh, this is going to hurt! I haven't worn earrings since Anna's wedding last year!' But at the same time, she thought, 'I'll work through the pain. Marinette's more important! And at least my hair's long enough to cover my ears so nobody will see how red they'll get, or the holes in them!' As she looked in the mirror, she noticed that instead of looking like the black studs Marinette wore, the earrings had turned into silver ones. "Weird yet cool…" she admitted, then she smiled to herself when she felt them. "And surprisingly comfortable."

Suddenly, she saw the little red floating bug-like creature in front of her. She smirked a little as the bug opened her mouth and saw a stream of pink bubbles come out as she tried to speak. "(Burp)! You're not (burp)! Where's (burp)?"

"Are you okay? Can I get you some water or something to help you with the hairballs?" Jazz asked, since she was near the sink.

"I'm fine," the little creature said at last. "Unfortunately, I always forget about the spell put on kwamis so they can't say the names of their holders. And I'm a ladybug, not a cat!" She still couldn't help but think, 'What? No giant bug-mouse comment?'

"Kwamis…" Jazz repeated. "Oh, that's right! I saw the original interview that Marinette gave on the Ladyblog about how she helped Ladybug and Chat Noir when Kwamibuster captured their kwamis. I also remember Alya saying that she saved the interview and put it back up on Miraculous LadyChat. But to get back on track, kwamis are what give the heroes their powers, right?"

"Very good," the creature smiled. "My name is Tikki, and I'm Ladybug's kwami."

"Nice to meet you, Tikki, I'm Jasmine, or if you prefer, Jazz," Jazz smiled back. "And I know this is a really bad time, but I have to say it…" she paused, grinned, and gave Tikki a little scratch under the chin as she said, "Oh my gosh! You're so cute!"

Tikki giggled as she leaned into Jazz's gentle touch. "Thank you! Unfortunately, we can't stay here and talk about how cute I am, as much as I'd like to. We need to get in contact with Chat Noir. He needs a Ladybug, and you're the only one here who can help him."

"You make several good points," Jazz agreed, then they looked out the window. "But wait…since you're Ladybug's kwami, and her Miraculous is her earrings, and Marinette gave me her earrings, and you came out of them, that means…Oh, my gosh, Marinette must be Ladybug!" she couldn't help but murmur to herself, "I knew algebra would come in handy one day!" she raised her voice again, "But in all sincerity, don't worry, I won't tell anybody about this! But are you sure I should be doing this? After all, I was akumatized before."

"Thank you, and don't worry, Jazz," Tikki smiled. "All of Ladybug and Chat Noir's temporary heroes were also akuma victims at one point or another." She looked around and added, "And they all agreed that you were their favorite akuma!"

"Yeah, them and just about everyone else in Paris!" Jazz couldn't help but laugh with her as she remembered the online comments from their fight, and how her cousin Brian had sent her a plush Jiro keychain, since he said that was who Earworm reminded him of. "But really, I guess you could call being akumatized a prerequisite to being a superhero?" she suggested, remembering one of the terms her mother used on the first day of her Philosophy classes.

"I suppose so," Tikki agreed.

"And at least Hawkmoth won't recognize a new holder, since I heard about what happened with Miracle Queen a month or so after Earworm," Jazz mused, recalling how Chloe had exposed the identities of several of the heroes, while she and her family had been frozen by the bees, then they saw several news reports about the fight that they had missed.

"That's true, but he calls himself Shadowmoth now," Tikki smiled sadly, but she perked up a little as Jazz gave her a little hug.

"Whatever. It's going to take me some time to get used to calling him by that other name now so bear with me, but still, isn't this convenient? Chat Noir's right outside!" Jazz continued, seeing the cat-themed hero helping the students and teachers to safety.

"Yes it is, but before you begin, this is what you have to do," Tikki started, then she explained how Ladybug's powers worked, and what she had to do to purify the akuma.

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

A few minutes before Marinette gave into Shadowmoth, Adrien was in the empty boys' bathroom, pacing like a lion in a cage after he washed his face to be sure he got the terrible feeling of Lila off it and texted Nathalie to let her know what had happened. However, he did manage to smile a little when Nathalie responded quickly, informing him that Jazz's father had sent her and Gabriel the picture, they knew that he was not at fault for what Lila did, he would not be pulled out of school because of this, and legal action would most likely be taken to get Lila away from him as soon as possible. "Plagg, even though she's going to get what's coming to her soon, I've decided to do what you said you wanted to do once before. I'll transform right now, find Liar Rossi, cataclysm her into oblivion before she can open her big fat lying mouth, and I'll make it look like she died in a horrific accident!" he growled.

"That's my kitten," Plagg smirked. "But you should probably go and check on Pigtails first. I saw her go somewhere with Jazzy Baker Girl, and an akuma was following them."

"As much fun as it would be to face Earworm again, we can't let it harm Jazz, and I especially won't let any akumas get near Marinette either!" Adrien vowed.

"You just want to hear cat songs again, don't you?" Plagg snickered, recalling Chat Noir's reaction when Earworm played Nashville Cats. And even though he was immortal, the kwami had almost died laughing when Jazz played Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat for Adrien and their friends a few days ago, and he had a similar reaction (facepalming and blushing even redder than Ladybug's outfit while all the while laughing). Luckily, nobody noticed, since the girls and Marc were cooing and squealing over the kittens that were in the video it went along with, and the boys and Alix were rolling their eyes and sticking their fingers down their throats.

Adrien was about to come up with a snappy comeback when he heard the sounds of screaming coming from outside. "We can play cat songs later, but first, we've got work to do!" he said as he got into position. "Plagg, claws out!"

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

Making her way through a crowd of escaping students, Jazz waved Chat Noir over to her. "Chat Noir!"

Chat Noir looked up from where he was trying to fend off the newest akuma, then flipped over to stand by her and protect her from another attack. "You're Jazz, right?" he asked, recalling that he and Ladybug had also earned the right to call Jazz by her nickname. "I never forget one of the most a-meow-zing new bakers I've ever met! And dare I say it, you could even give my princess a run for her money!"

"Thanks, but there's no time for cookies right now," Jazz admitted. "I know you're busy fighting the akuma, but I've got some news, and you're not going to like it."

"Okay, I saw an empty room in here, so we can talk and make plans until milady shows up," Chat Noir agreed.

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

When they were in the empty room, Jazz explained, "Long story short, thanks to Lila and her never-ending supply of BS and chronic exploding diarrhea of the mouth…" She paused and smirked as Chat Noir tried and failed to cover his snort of laughter. "Yes, I said 'diarrhea'…anyway, thanks to Lila, and by association Hawkmoth, Shadowmoth, or Whatever-His-Name-Is-Now-Moth, Ladybug was akumatized in her civilian identity. I tried to help her, but I wasn't very successful."

Tikki appeared next to her at that moment. "It's all true. And Jazz," she spoke up, then swatted her as she scolded, "That was disgusting! I expect comments like that from Plagg! And don't think I didn't hear you curse earlier, even if it was directed at Shadowmoth!" She then proceeded to swat Chat Noir. "And you laughed at that?! What would Ladybug think?!"

Jazz nodded as Chat Noir sobered. "Sorry, Tikki, but focus please…But if it helps you and Chat Noir, I recorded some of her first attack, so you both know what she's like."

"Oh, my poor bug…" Tikki teared up when she watched it, but smiled a little when Jazz hugged her again.

Beside her, Chat Noir nodded sadly when he saw that. "Milady…I should have been there to help you!"

"As my dear sweet Grandma Mary used to say, what's done is done. In any case, it happened too fast for either of us to call for you," Jazz sighed as she squeezed his hand. "But before she gave in to Hawkmoth, Shadowmoth, or Whatever-His-Name-Is-Now-Moth, she gave me her earrings, which changed to silver instead of hematite." Here, as she mentally thanked her cousin Eric for sharing his love of geology with her and teaching her everything she knew about it, she moved her hair away from her ears to show him the now silver Miraculous, and covering for Marinette, as the earrings were black when they were in camouflage mode for her. "Tikki here came out of them when I put them on, and she says I've got to transform and purify the akuma. Will you help me?"

Chat Noir smirked at the name, but he still nodded. "I know what you mean by the miraculous changing; it did that with me when milady and I had our miraculous swapped." When he saw Jazz nod as she recalled the adventure of Mister Bug and Lady Noire, since Ladybug and Chat Noir had told Alya about that and she posted the interview, he continued, "But I'll still do anything for my lady. And don't worry, Jazz, I'll help you too. And did Tikki tell you what to do to transform and how Ladybug's powers work?"

Jazz nodded. "I say 'spots on' to transform, and 'spots off' to de-transform. The Lucky Charm gives me a random object, and I have five minutes to channel my inner MacGyver and find a way to use it, capture the akuma in the yo-yo, and cast the Miracle Cure."

"That's right! And I love the TV reference," Chat Noir grinned. "Now, do you have any fighting experience?"

"I actually prefer 80s music to 80s TV," Jazz hesitated a little. "And I don't really have fighting experience, but I took dance for a couple years, and I watched Alya's sister Nora when she invited me to one of her kickboxing matches. She even taught me a few simple moves the next day. I know it's not much, but along with that, as well as knowing some really basic kicks and punches, it's all I have to work with."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Chat Noir agreed. "I'll help you with anything you might have trouble with too."

"Thanks, and I have seen a fight or two on both the Ladyblog and Miraculous LadyChat, so I think I've got the gist of it," Jazz admitted. She took a deep breath. "Okay…I can do this!" She stood up to her full height and flipped her hair away from her ears as she called out, "Tikki, spots on!"

As Tikki zipped into the earrings, Jazz swept her hands over her eyes, making a Ladybug-like mask appear over her face. A black light engulfed her from the neck down, turning into a black shirt and matching pants, and a red light covered the upper half of her body, which turned into a red jacket with black spots. She felt Ladybug's iconic yoyo materialize at her side. She tipped the cap she was wearing, and it became solid red with a ladybug in the center. Red and black patterned sneakers and gloves completed the outfit.

Following the transformation, Jazz checked out her reflection in the mirror in the corner of the room and smiled to herself, noticing that the blonde highlights in her brown hair had turned red, and it was still down instead of in pigtails. "Snazzy! But still kind of interesting that I keep my own style of clothes rather than have them turn into something skintight like Ladybug's outfit. And look!" she grinned as she reached into her pocket. Her Elf on the Shelf keychain had also been transformed; the elf was still wearing a red outfit, but it was covered in spots, and the skirt was black with green pawprints. "How about that: Lady Elf, or Elf Noire! But I'll try not to use her too much during the fight. And no offense to Ladybug, but this is a little better for fighting akumas, since I've got decent footwear instead of spandex and no shoes. And I can't help but add this: note to self: commission Marinette to make an outfit like this for me after we save everyone from the akuma!"

"No offense taken, but I know milady looks meow-velous in anything she wears! And I know Marinette will be honored to make something like that for you after we save everyone!" Chat Noir grinned, taking a picture of Lady Elf, then emailing himself a reminder to have Marinette make him a keychain like that. "But what will I be calling you right now?"

As she put Lady Elf back in her pocket, Jazz thought for a few moments, then she smirked. "How about…Lady…Beatle?"

"Lady Beetle?" Chat Noir looked puzzled. "Isn't that just another way of saying Ladybug?"

"Check the spelling, Chat Noir, it's 'Beatle' with an 'A!'" Jazz, who now went by Lady Beatle, smirked. "Because after all, Tikki appeared out of the earrings and said unto me, 'Until my holder is de-akumatized, you are Lady Beatle with an 'A", and so I am!"

"Beatle with an A…The Beatles…It's purr-fect!" Chat Noir grinned as he got the connection. "And I can think of so many puns to use with that!" He couldn't help but think 'Felix will either love her name or hate it, since he's a huge fan of the Beatles!'

"So can I, since I also love the music of the 60s and 70s along with the 80s," Lady Beatle smirked. "And I'm thinking between both of us doing puns and me using my music references and trivia, we should be able to drive Insert-Stupid-Name-For-The-Ladybug-Civilian-Akuma-Here so crazy that she'll either freely give up her akumatized object or be defeated in…five, ten minutes?"

Chat Noir smirked as he played a certain monologue in his mind, with a few notable changes: 'Insert-Stupid-Name-For-The-Ladybug-Civilian-Akuma-Here, I am Hawkmoth, Shadowmoth, or Whatever-His-Name-Is-Now Moth!' "Catchy name, and there's only one way to find out," he said at last. "But seeing as this is your first fight on the other side of the akuma, we'll have to take it one step at a time."

"You make a good point," Lady Beatle agreed. "And since you have more experience than me when it comes to dealing with akumas, I'll let you drive the boat."

"Drive the boat?" Chat Noir repeated.

"That's an expression from back home in the States," Lady Beatle explained. "When someone in my family says 'I'll let you drive the boat' to someone in the group they're in, that means that they'll let that person take the lead on whatever they're doing."

Chat Noir nodded to himself, remembering that he, as Adrien, had heard Lady Beatle, as Jazz, using the phrase when she, Marc, Nathaniel, and Aurore were getting ready to give a report in Ms. Mendeleiev's class, and she and her parents had explained the phrase to them as well. He then turned to his new partner with a grin. "Okay, then, young Padawan, are you ready for your first battle for good?"

"May the Schwartz be with you too, but yes," Lady Beatle smirked, having only seen bits and pieces of the Star Wars movies, but she knew some of the terms and preferred Spaceballs to Star Wars.

Despite her cockiness, Lady Beatle still felt nervous about doing this, but she knew it had to be done. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She also nodded as Chat Noir gave her a reassuring smile. This was it. It was time to go into her first battle as an actual honest-to-gosh hero of Paris. Lady Beatle knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir were probably as nervous as she was the first time they had to face an akuma, but she knew that they were able to help each other, and she knew that Chat Noir would help her as well.

Author's Notes

Thanks to Niagara14301 for helping with some of the details in this chapter.

The flashback was going on in Marinette's head during the end of the previous chapter.

Since Marinette hadn't renounced Tikki, the rule that Tikki can't say Marinette's name would still be in play here.

Marionette's powers work like this: She aims her wooden cross at her victim. Strings shoot out of it and connect with the person's wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. The person is drained of their energy and collapses to the ground, like the puppet when it's not in use. They slowly rise up when Marionette raises her controller. They get the harlequin-like outfit at first, and that's so Marionette can have some fun with some of her victims while other victims go after the heroes, but when Marionette moves her hands again, their clothes return to normal. I've also read other stories where victims of the akuma have purple eyes when they're under the spell.

Jazz's 'I knew algebra would come in handy one day!' joke is based on one from American Dad.

Tikki's 'What, no giant bug-mouse comment?' is a nod to the Ladybug episode Origins.

Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat and The Lovin' Spoonful's Nashville Cats are not mine; Nashville Cats was featured in chapter 5 of my story How to Have a Jazzy Good Time With an Akuma, and Adrien remembered how he reacted to that song!

Jazz's Lady Beatle outfit was inspired by the one Marc/Mariquita wore in BooksRBetterThanPeople's story Rise of Mariquita and Shvartse Kats.

Lady Beatle's "Until my holder is de-akumatized, you are Lady Beatle with an 'A', and so I am!" quote is based on a quote from John Lennon.

The TV show MacGyver, both the Richard Dean Anderson version, and the recent reboot are not mine.

Padawan, Star Wars, and Spaceballs are not mine.