Miraculous Ultra Adventures: Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Ultraman Tiga
Disclaimer: I do not own Ultraman Tiga or Miraculous. Ultraman Tiga belongs to Tsubaraya and Miraculous to Zagtoons. Fiorella La Chapelle is gabeherndon308's OC.
Special thanks to gabeherndon308 for his support.
Kamen Rider Sentry: Oh Chat Noir will get his spotlight, and I do have arcs planned for Marinette and Chloe.
NexusPrime42: 'Shodai'... I never thought of that! XD Thanks man!
gabeherndon308: The die is being cast, my friend. :)
Chapter 4: The Return of Ultraman Tiga Pt.1 - Lady of Thorns
Tuesday
Paris, France
Daigo drove through several of Paris' smaller sized streets in his Sherlock Discreet. Since it was the morning rush hour, Daigo avoided major roads used by a lot of suburban commuters and public buses. While appearing to be some well-off Asian man on a leisure drive on a bright morning, the human-disguised Ultraman Tiga was on a mission. He talked about his course of action yesterday with Hideki Go and Dan Moroboshi after returning from his test flight, and after some deliberation the three Ultras came to an agreement. Daigo was going to attempt to find an opportunity to build alliances with the Miraculous heroes of Paris.
Adrien Agreste would be quite difficult given the celebrity status and public profile he had as a fashion model and son of a powerful fashion designer. The last thing Daigo wanted to do was to draw attention to him and himself from a strict father, and possibly blow Chat Noir's cover to Hawkmoth. Unless he could figure out Adrien's exact schedule whenever he was at liberty outside of the mansion, his modelling gig, and school, Daigo would be hard pressed to talk to him without giving himself and the boy away. As such, Marinette Dupain-Cheng aka Ladybug would be Daigo's best bet for first contact. He drove up from across the bakery that he identified from the photo he snapped of Marinette. "Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie," Daigo read the name.
Soon enough, Marinette stepped out of the door. Daigo knew that he had the right address. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Daigo quietly watched as she walked out for her walk to school, which he knew to be Francoise Dupont, thanks to Adrien's public dossier information. While crime had been low recently in Paris due to Ladybug taking care of some of the lower level criminals, Daigo wanted to be sure that no one made a move on her until he found the chance to establish contact, most ideally beside Adrien Agreste. He then typed in the address on his Sherlock's GPS for the high school, and slowly began to drive there.
Francoise Dupont High School
Adrien was let out of the car as another school day began for him. As he looked around, he began to think about his precious 'Bugaboo' whom he now knew to be Marinette. Last night as Adrien slept, he kept dreaming about how he and Marinette would actually properly get together and truly cherish the time they had in and out of the mask. It was a bit corny, but since finding out, he could barely stop thinking about Marinette, let alone contain his internal excitement.
Adrien had to thank Ultraman for somehow opening his eyes with his presence triggering the Miraculouses. Now, it was just a matter of how to deal with what he had learned, and most of all, how to approach Marinette with this. It was then that Nino walked up to him. The resident DJ seemed to be really excited about something. "Hey Nino," Adrien greeted, "you seem to be very chipper this morning. Had a good evening with Alya?"
"Oh heck yeah, dude," Nino said with a breathless grin, "what made it even better was what we both found out!"
"Found out? About what?" Adrien asked, but his smart mind could already begin to guess that it had to do with their new friend, Ultraman.
"Who that Ultraman from Saturday is, dude!" Nino was definitely very cheery. "Oh man, you wouldn't believe how cool it all is!"
"I did tell you his name," Adrien reminded with a laugh.
"But I bet you didn't know the full name of that guy," Nino answered back. He then produced an image on his phone. Adrien's eyes widened as he saw the same Ultraman in red and purple on some cover art. "That was Ultraman Tiga, Adrien," Nino revealed, "you, Marinette, Chat Noir, and Ladybug just encountered the real Ultraman Tiga!"
"Ultraman... Tiga?" Adrien was stunned to see this Ultraman depicted in a Japanese toku show. He looked at the image on the phone for any inconsistencies or differences, but there was no mistake. The Ultraman from the weekend he and Marinette saw was indeed Ultraman Tiga, face, body, and everything else. "But how?" There were even more questions about Tiga in Adrien's mind now.
"I don't know dude, but this has got to be so cool," Nino said, "first we get Ladybug and Chat Noir, and now we got a real Ultraman Tiga! Paris has got to be the coolest place on the planet for heroes now!"
"Yeah..." Adrien said, still stunned at what Nino had just revealed about Paris' new visitor. Where did Tiga come from, and how was a supposedly fictional Japanese character now real?
Little did the teen model know that said Ultraman in disguise had pulled up in his black GUTS car across the river from the school. Daigo spied Adrien from Sherlock Discreet with his sharp eyesight. He even willed his senses and Sparklence to be tempered so as not to alert Adrien to his presence. He watched a little bit as the other students all began to walk up to the school, watching for Marinette to show. "Base this is Daigo," he radioed in, "I'm at the Francoise Dupont High School. I have eyes on Adrien Agreste." He then watched as Marinette ran across the streets to the school. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng has arrived safely as well."
"Copy that, Daigo," Dan Moroboshi responded, "let us know when you are able to make contact. Be careful not to expose yourself or them."
"Affirmative, Base," Daigo responded, then put the radio back. He continued to watch the front as Marinette ran towards the school.
"Marinette!" Alya met her with a bear hug. Marinette gasped as she wobbled around from her excited friend's embrace. "Alya! What are you-"
"Marinette," Alya finally released her, but she still had a starry-eyed look, "Nino and I just figured out that Ultraman character from Saturday! You and Adrien just saw a real life Ultraman Tiga!"
"What are you-" Marinette asked, but was interrupted when Alya shoved her phone screen in her face. "Look!" Alya emphasized as she pointed to the screen.
Marinette squinted her eyes, but then did a double-take as she saw the same Ultraman on a screen showing a TV series from the 1990s called 'Ultraman Tiga'. She thought it was almost a joke, but then realized that it was not. The character on the cover art of the streaming page was indeed the same Ultraman she saw as Ladybug alongside Chat Noir. "Ultraman Tiga?"
"It's... a TV show?" Marinette was now surprised and confused.
"Yeah!" Alya was then dancing and squealing in excitement. "Another superhero, but he's real! I mean, he's supposed to be a fictional character, but wow! I can't believe that guy was Ultraman Tiga, and he's real!"
"I... Alya, that can't be..." Marinette stuttered. This made the whole Ultraman case much weirder for sure. How did this square up with Tikki telling her about the Ultramen being a long-dead race with only one survivor and largely forgotten by the world at large?
"Um... excuse me?" Marinette and Alya were interrupted by a girl with brown hair in a ponytail and with green eyes. Marinette recognized her as the florist girl from yesterday, Fiorella La Chapelle. "Is this Francoise Dupont High School?" It was then that Fiorella stopped for a moment and took a closer look at Marinette. "Wait a minute, you're that girl Adrien was with yesterday!"
"Oh yeah!" Marinette blurted out, but then realized that Alya was still with her. The Martinique blogger had a sly grin with her 'shipping face'.
"Marinette, right?" Fiorella asked, "then this is where Adrien goes to school?"
"It is," Marinette answered shyly.
"Oh who is this, Marinette? A love rival?" Alya teased.
"Alya!" Marinette retorted.
Fiorella just chuckled, "no. I'm just an old friend of Adrien's. I'm here for my first day at school after moving here to Paris." Both Marinette and Alya noticed that she was carrying some sort of tray with a cover over it. "So I have the right school," Fiorella asked, "Francoise Dupont?"
"Well if you must know," Alya pointed over to where Adrien was talking with Nino.
Fiorella saw Adrien and smiled. "Then I do have the right school." She then extended a hand to Marinette. "Let me re-introduce myself. Fiorella La Chapelle."
Marinette smile at the florist's friendliness and reciprocated with a handshake. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"And I am her BFF, Alya Cesaire," Alya pointed to herself.
"Nice to meet you both," Fiorella replied.
However, the three did not know that Chloe was spying on them with a seething jealousy and anger that had not abated since yesterday. This anger Chloe felt towards Marinette had only increased since she had seen Adrien give her flowers from a hiding spot yesterday.
Sabrina also watched, but she was growing more concerned for her friend. "Chloe, I don't think that new girl meant any harm. She was probably just helping Adrien."
"Those two are teaming up... to steal Adrikins..." Chloe growled. The blonde diva had a more visible frown and anger to her than Sabrina thought possible. "They need to be taught a lesson.
"Chloe..." Sabrina tried to interrupt Chloe's dark train of thought. The police chief's daughter had helped Chloe with many things, but something in herself was telling her that Chloe was about to do something drastic. However, Chloe just stormed off into the school. "Chloe, please..." Sabrina went after her to no avail.
Hawkmoth's Hideout
"Master, as your concerned kwami and servant," Nooroo begged, "it behooves me to advise you to not trust these dark kings. I sense nothing but ill intentions and malevolence from Noboru Watanabe and his cohorts." The Kwami of Empathy was trying to get Gabriel to see reason within the bounds of his service. These new allies of Gabriel and enemies of Ultraman Tiga bothered Nooroo to no end.
"I know what I am doing, Nooroo," Gabriel retorted as he gave him a small fruit. He studied the dossier on Tiga that Noboru gave him, while at the same time writing his own profiles on each of the other kings. "I am not blind as to their power and their own plans." He looked at some of the profiles of those he identified as some of the craftier aliens, including Mefilas and Nackle.
Noboru in particular was difficult. Gabriel had the strong sense that this partner of his had more under his black sleeves than he let on. While they had a common enemy in Tiga, and even Chat Noir and Ladybug, Gabriel was more interested in restoring his wife than actually any aspiration to rule the world with aliens. He would be darned if Noboru used the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses before he could. "Whatever advantage they give me over Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Ultraman Tiga," Gabriel muttered, "I will make sure that they do not become my Trojan Horses should the time come. They may think they own me, but I am only using them for a time."
Nooroo shook his head. Gabriel always prided himself on being the smartest and most strategic man in the room, be it business or even his former part of his life before he became Hawkmoth. The arrival of these thirteen Dark Kings from other worlds hardly fazed Gabriel, and if anything made him even more determined. Nooroo could only pray to the heavens that this would not terribly backfire on his master and his family.
It was then that Gabriel perked up at the presence he felt teleport into the lair. He closed the dossier and quickly hid it under lock in his desk. "Our partner is here. We best show our strength and part, Nooroo."
"Yes, master," Nooroo said a little downcast.
"Do not fear, I have this under control. Nooroo, dark wings unfold!"
Hawkmoth entered the butterfly repository. True enough, Noboru Watanabe was present, admiring the butterflies of light. Hawkmoth sighed, before approaching the visitor. Noboru just turned with a cocky smile. "Hello, Watanabe," Hawkmoth greeted.
"Bonjour, Hawkmoth," Noboru reciprocated.
Francoise Dupont High School
Caline Bustier's Class
Adrien sat alongside Nino in the front of the class. The two continued to discuss Ultraman Tiga, as Nino had revealed. "So if Ultraman Tiga is from this alternate Earth," Adrien surmised, "it still does not explain how this Tiga showed up on ours, if he is indeed the original."
"I couldn't tell you, dude," Nino replied, "but who else could it be? After all, Marinette said it herself that he looked too real to be some guy in a costume."
Adrien turned back to his phone as he looked up Ultraman Tiga. He was on the wiki that he just discovered for the Ultraman metaseries, and saw Tiga's profile page. "So Tiga is an ancient Ultraman who defended his Earth twice in ancient times and in the 21st century..." he read off, "and not only did he fight numerous monsters, but he also saved human civilization from destruction." He then came across something interesting... Tiga's human host, Daigo Madoka. "The guy... he's human?"
"That's right," Nino pointed to the image of the man with short brown hair in his GUTS suit, "Daigo Madoka is his descendant and inheritor of his powers. He's not only a pilot for GUTS, the monster defense team, but he can transform into Tiga with a device they call the Sparklence." Nino showed the image of the wand from his own phone. "They say that it allows the inheritors of Tiga's power to turn into light and power the statue that he left behind on Earth. That was what Daigo did in the first episode upon receiving Tiga's power."
"Ultraman is human," Adrien realized. Daigo/Tiga had a striking resemblance to the symbiotic relationship that he and Plagg had, Adrien thought.
"Yeah, pretty cool isn't it?" Nino laughed.
"Wait a minute," Adrien then thought aloud as he looked to his best buddy, "do you suppose that since Tiga is here in Paris, you think he might be somewhere around as Daigo Madoka in human form?"
"Maybe," Nino said with a shrug, "but Alya and I only watched the first episode. We haven't even gotten to the second one yet."
Adrien then glanced behind to see that Marinette and Alya were talking to each other as well. Listening in a bit, he could also hear that they too were also talking about Tiga over the Ladyblog...
"Alya, are you positive that Tiga is this Ultraman's name?" Marinette cautioned her friend, but Alya seemed to be dead certain.
"There's no mistaking it," Alya nodded excitedly, "I did my image comparisons between the Tiga of the original 1996 series and this new hero that showed up on Saturday." She clicked on the new post that she made last night after watching Ultraman Tiga's show. Marinette saw two pictures lined up. The picture on the left was a portrait of Tiga from the show, while the one on the right was him standing in front of Ladybug and Chat Noir at the park. Alya had enhanced and zoomed both in on Tiga, focusing on his defining traits such as his face shape and the chest area with its blue light. Marinette looked between the two pictures to find any differences, but there were none. Alya was right, there was little doubt that Ladybug and Chat Noir had actually encountered Ultraman Tiga that day.
"But why?" Marinette gasped as she stared at the Ladyblog, "why is Ultraman Tiga here? How did he get here?"
"Beats me girl," Alya admitted, "but because of him, my Ladyblog is getting some pretty rave traffic, including from Japan." She scrolled down to the comments section, showing several users commenting in Japanese. Marinette was amazed at the amount of Japanese mixed in with the French and English-speaking users.
"Ultraman Tiga must be really popular in Japan," Marinette muttered. For someone of a long-dead race, Tiga was certainly famous among the toku fans.
"And can you just imagine it!?" Alya was squealing into her hands. "Ladybug and Chat Noir teaming up with Tiga!? The views to my Ladyblog will just shoot towards the stars! Hawkmoth and his akumas had better watch their butts, because Ladybug's got a new friend, and his name is Ultraman Tiga!"
"Alya," Marinette facepalmed, "there is still a lot to him that we are still figuring out. Also, I don't know whether Tiga will even want to team up with Ladybug."
It was then that the rest of the class filed in. Adrien took notice that all the others were talking about Tiga.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Alix Kubdel admitted, "but that Tiga guy looks both hot and awesome!"
"That is the first time I have ever heard you say that about someone else, let alone a guy," Max observed about Alix.
"Looked a little scrawny to me," Kim just remarked, "then again, I guess Alix here is not that experienced in tastes with men-" Kim recoiled as Alix smacked him on the shoulder.
"Shut it, meathead," Alix retorted, "if those videos of him are anything to go by, Tiga can kick your fat butt to the moon and back without a sweat!"
Nathaniel Kurtzberg was deep in his sketchbook when he bumped into someone hard on the way to his desk. "Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, and saw that it was the goth girl Juleka.
"Y-you're okay," Juleka quickly and quietly muttered a she waved her hands. The two stared at each other briefly before Juleka looked down at Nathaniel's sketchpad on the floor. She bent down to get it for him, only for Nathaniel's hand to touch her's at the same time. The two stared awkwardly at each other again.
Juleka felt a soft warmth from Nathaniel's hand and began to blush slightly. She had begun drawing herself as a form of quiet self-expression some time after her episode being akumatized into Reflekta. However, the goth girl always ended up thinking that she was not that great a drawer, or at worse, ended up drawing things about herself that even ended up frightening her. It was only recently that Nathaniel started to help her as a part-time mentor after seeing her struggle one day by chance.
Nathaniel then let go, looking sheepish himself. Juleka then picked up his sketch book, and it just so happened that Juleka saw what he had been looking at. She saw that he had been drawing a picture of that new hero, Ultraman Tiga as the Ladyblog called him. He was depicted as standing with an aura of light in a dark sea with ruins all around him in a dark and raging storm.
"That is Tiga," Juleka simply said staring at the picture.
"Um... yeah," Nathaniel chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, "a bit different than the usual Ladybug stuff I do... but since I started doing some commissions online... someone from Japan actually commissioned that." He and Juleka then got up so that they were out of the way of other students. "I might not be finished though... still looks a little plain."
"Lighting and tornados," Juleka suddenly said.
"Sorry?" Nathaniel barely heard her.
"Add some lightning and tornadoes." Juleka then pointed at the depiction of Tiga. "The light aura is subdued... make it larger with an upward flaming effect..." She handed the sketch back to Nathaniel. "Wild and powerful..."
Nathan blinked as he looked at his sketch again, as Juleka's suggestion began to form in his mind's eye. "Hmmm... I might try that... thanks Juleka." He went to his seat and got his pencils out. Juleka went to her own and glanced from behind her bangs towards Nathan.
Next to Juleka was Rose, who was looking through her phone for pictures. She then squealed into her mouth as she came across a picture of Hiroshi Nagano, the actor for Daigo in the Tiga series. "He's so cute!" Juleka just rolled her eyes while smiling in silent amusement for her best friend.
"Tiga's now the talk of the room," Nino noted with some amusement, "Alya's post has got everyone talking."
"No kidding..." It was two days since, and Adrien was hearing more talk of Tiga as the new mystery, particularly how he had rescued Ladybug and Chat Noir and helped defeat two akumas with little trouble.
Speaking of Ladybug... Adrien glanced back again at Marinette with a small smile. He already thought of her as brave and beautiful, but now it was even more so as she seemed to have more of a shine to her. Perhaps it was because Adrien now knew that Marinette was what made Ladybug who she is. 'I guess I'll have to thank Tiga if I get the chance...'
As Adrien stared at Marinette, Chloe saw this and seethed with even more anger. Of anybody should receive his stare like that, it should have been her. She was after all one of the few childhood friends Adrien ever had with his sheltered up bringing. Chloe could not for the life of her understand how in her mind the trashy and clumsy Marinette Dupain-Cheng with those childish pigtails could attract Adrien's affections.
Why? Chloe was there for Adrien, and Adrien was a friend to her when everyone else ignored her or made fun of her for being a rich daughter. By that account, they should be together, Chloe thought. When her dad was too busy managing hotels, then managing city affairs, and her mother was almost never at home, Adrien was there. Chloe would never admit it... but she hated Marinette because she was stealing the one friend she had in this stupid world.
Caline Bustier then entered and called the class into order. "Boys and girls," she clapped, "we have a new student joining us today." She then turned towards the doorway and urged the student in. She walked in, and Adrien and Marinette saw that it was Fiorella. She smiled brightly to everyone in the room and waved. "My name is Fiorella la Chapelle. I hope to make good friends with all of you!"
Murmurs went around the room. While Adrien smiled for another old friend joining his class and Marinette seemed to be surprised, Chloe just regarded Fiorella with hidden contempt. If Marinette was the fuel to her fire of jealousy, Fiorella was the spark to light it up with how she helped to steal her 'Adrikins'. 'You will pay, both of you...' She paid no heed to Sabrina's increasing concern for her.
Daigo watched the school as pedestrian and auto traffic streamed past his Sherlock Discreet. Underneath the disguise of a sixth-generation Chevy Camaro, Sherlock Discreet looked as sleek and unassuming as a muscle sports car while boasting some of GUTS's most advanced sensor technology and weapons under the shell. Daigo scanned the surroundings and the airspace with his radar for threats air, ground, and even underground and on the water.
However, the Sherlock Discreet's sensors were so sensitive in the car's role as a stealth recon, that Hideki Go had to scale back the range and sensitivity of the radar and scanners, lest the computer overload itself from the massive energies permeating Paris. Like Daigo, this car was scanning at reduced, localized capacity, and he was already having to use the laptop built into the car to manage the data flow.
Daigo even made sure that he was in a public parking spot, so as not to get accosted by traffic police out on enforcement runs. Fortunately, the crowds went about their own business and no other driver bothered him as he went about sorting through the scan data. All in all, he looked like some rich Asian in black shades in a white and black jump suit in a black sports car just typing away at his computer.
"Help me!" Someone tapped on Daigo's driver side door. Daigo glanced sideways to see a distressed-looking woman staring at him desperately.
"I wasn't done talking to you!" An irate-looking North African man screamed as he yanked the poor lady off of Daigo's Sherlock. "Stupid wench!" He was dragging her away when Daigo slammed his computer shut and got out of the car.
The man dragged the abused woman over to his friend watching their car as Daigo stormed up to them. "Stop that," he firmly commanded.
The two North Africans looked at the Asian stranger butting into their business with the woman. "Get lost," the man dragging the woman barked at him. However, Daigo immediately took the woman by the shoulders and wrenched her out of the man's grasp. Onlookers gasped and murmured as Daigo protectively pulled the woman behind and away. This enraged the assailant who drew a knife on Daigo. "I told you to stop," Daigo told him.
"And I told you to get lost, chink," the North African spat a derogative at Daigo as he menaced him with the knife up to his face.
Suddenly, Daigo lashed out with his left arm, grabbing the man's wrist and twisting it with a crack. The man yelled in pain as he dropped the knife before Daigo wrenched again and slammed him on the asphalt.
The other biker saw what happened to his homie and reached into his coat. Daigo leapt over and swatted the gun out of the biker's hand and grabbed by the helmet. He slammed his helmeted head repeatedly onto his bike until it broke, before finishing with a fist to the face, knocking him out cold. The woman looked at Daigo with an expression of shock. Seeing that his own shades fell off during the brief tussle, Daigo knelt down on the road and snatched up the shades, putting them back on.
"Sorry you had to see all that," Daigo apologized before walking back to his car to the stares of the victim and onlookers.
During Lunch Break in the School Courtyard...
Marinette and Fiorella sat out together in the school courtyard by themselves with sandwiches in hand. Fiorella looked at the amount of food on Marinette's tray. "That is a lot of food there," she said in surprise, "are you sure you can eat all that?"
"What can I say?" Marinette said with a slight blush, "I work out a lot." The last bit was quite true, as being the superhero Ladybug did burn a lot of fat and calories. "Believe it or not, I exercise a lot," Marinette added.
"I never would have guessed," Fiorella said as she took a bite. She looked around the courtyard as a few other students also ate and hung around. "So why are we eating out here when Adrien is in the cafe?"
"Well, I think first of all," Marinette admitted, "we could use a break from Alya. She's sweet and all, but she can be very chatty nonstop." Fiorella could not argue with Marinette on that. Alya was friendly, but very excitable, especially about superheroes and all things about love.
"And another reason is that I'd like to get to know you better," Marinette said as she looked at the redhead, "you were the one who helped Adrien with the flowers yesterday."
Fiorella exhaled, but smiled, "of course you would remember that... I did help him. I advised him on the types of flowers to use, but the bouquet was still... his to express himself with."
"If I may, why did you?" Marinette was earnestly curious, "I mean... with your knowledge of such good flowers, you could have anybody you wanted." Marinette was surprising herself with her straightforwardness. The florist girl sitting with her had a sweet and calm personality, and with how she seemed to help and accept others with ease, it would be hard to see any boy who would not be attracted.
Fiorella pursed her lips, but gave a bright smile. "I'm a romantic," she answered, "and I love to help others express their love in ways that words can't." She took a flower out of her vest and admired it. "My family runs a church in Marseilles, and have always loved ministering to those who needed help the most," she continued, "and since I like flowers, I thought why not use my interests and gifts to help others find what's most important to them?"
Marinette was fascinated and interested in this new girl. "And Adrien, how did you become friends with him?"
Fiorella then took a more solemn expression. "Well, it was a bit of a sad story," she revealed, "it was after Adrien's mother died that his father was buying flowers for her funeral. He contacted my aunt who also runs a higher end shop for rich clients, and I just happened to be visiting Paris then, so I helped out. While it was not required after the job, I went ahead and attended the funeral... it was there and after the ceremony that I met Adrien." She shifted up against the wall. "He was confused and scared... and being the kind girl from Marseilles, I sat and talked with him. I became his friend in that moment when everyone else seemed to have left. Since that day, I kept in touch with him via email just to see how he was doing. He dropped off after a while recently." She then looked back at Marinette with a smile, "but seeing you, I can understand how he was preoccupied."
"M-me?" Marinette suddenly felt her shyness again as she blushed.
"Oh come on, Marinette," Fiorella giggled, "I can see how you get his good vibes going... when he walked into the Lovely Iris with you in hand, I could just see the lightness of heart and mind in him. It's nothing for you to be ashamed of. If he likes you and you like him back, go for it."
"Well... it's just that..." Marinette stuttered a bit, but before she could continue, a shadow appeared over both girls. Marinette looked up to see the blonde diva, Chloe.
"Chloe..." Marinette muttered. She half-expected a cocky, mocking smirk from the pretend princess of the school, but something felt different... Chloe seemed to have this barely suppressed rage from her expression.
"Marinette, who is she?" Fiorella asked, but the lightheartness in her tone was gone, replaced by fear.
"Chloe, if you have anything better to do than to scare a new friend here, please..." Marinette muttered, hoping that it would work. Sadly, she was wrong.
"Don't play coy with me, Dupain-Cheng," Chloe said in a dangerous tone, "I know what you and the flower girl are up to."
"Up to what?" Fiorella asked.
Chloe gave Fiorella a venomous look. "Listen, I don't know and don't care about who you two think you are, but Adrien is mine! You two are just vulgar trash who just seducing him with your clumsy, low-class charms!"
"Now hold on a minute, Chloe," Marinette glared at Chloe, "who said that Adrien was yours to begin with?" She was normally shy, but something about Chloe's nastiness was drawing out the jealous young woman in her. "You make him sound like your property!"
"He is mine, Dupain-Cheng," Chloe spat at her loudly, causing some of the other students to turn their eyes towards the altercation, "you think you have him wrapped around your finger, but you know nothing about him or me! I've known him longer than you, and I will not see you manipulate him, you damn hussy!" Chloe's vulgar and angry derogatives drew gasps. "And your childish pigtails really betray how stupid and airheaded you are to not see it!"
Marinette felt something start to crack in her. Normally she was used to Chloe's taunting and mockery. However, this episode felt raw, deep, and personal over Adrien. The blonde's insinuations over her manipulating Adrien and directly insulting her intelligence and appearance was starting to get to her. Marinette gave Chloe deep and simmering angry look. "Chloe, I don't know what your problem is..." She snapped up to standing, "but Fiorella and I were just having a nice lunch and talk about good friendships with Adrien, and if you cannot accept Adrien having other friends, I don't know what else to tell you!"
"You know what, that's fine by me, Mari-trash! You are below me," Chloe spat out, "you and the flower witch with her weeds!" That last bit seemed to hit Fiorella hard. Fiorella was now more frightened. "She can choke for all I care!"
That got Marinette really going as she shot up to a standing position with fists clenched. "Go away, Chloe! Now you are just being cruel, you sanctimonious, bratty, self-absorbed little b-" Marinette didn't get to finish as a loud slap echoed.
Marinette felt herself hit the ground with a stinging sensation to her left cheek.
"Marinette!" Fiorella cried out as the other students in the courtyard watched the whole altercation take a violent turn. She tried to help Marinette, only for Chloe to kick her in the stomach and cause her to double over.
"You both shut up!" Chloe screamed, "stay away from Adrien or I will do even worse!" All of Chloe's pent up fear and anger over losing her childhood friend was now boiling over.
"Chloe!" Sabrina cried up, stunned at what she was seeing.
Chloe's venomous eyes then settled on the tray that Fiorella was carrying before. In her rage-fueled mind, it looked like a gift-wrapped present. She grabbed it and ripped off the cloth. It contained flowers inside. She gave glares to both Fiorella and Marinette. "Oh, so you both want to bewitch my Adrikins again with your weeds do you!?"
Fiorella looked up with widened, desperate eyes. "Please don't! Those are friendship flowers I planned to share!"
However, Chloe did not listen as she opened the tray, and dumped the contents on top of poor Fiorella.
Adrien wandered the halls, hoping to find Marinette before the lunch break ended. He only had one sandwich before leaving Nino, not being particularly hungry.
Adrien had heard from some of the others that Marinette was most recently seen with Fiorella in the courtyard of the school. Hopefully with the remaining lunchtime on the clock, he could catch her and talk with her. As he walked he thought to himself about what he would say, and how he would act knowing Marinette was Ladybug. It also dawned on him that while Marinette was shy but attracted to him as Adrien, she would not connect him to the goofball punster Chat Noir. She was going to be in for a real surprise, and it could either totally throw her into a stumbling and confused mess, or completely shatter the ice wall between them.
As Adrien neared the courtyard, he saw some of the students crowd around as there was screaming and wailing. Adrien realuzed that the screaming was froman angry Chloe. His mind went into overdrive. "Move!" Adrien yelled as students recognized him and started to make way as he moved past the crowd.
As Adrien pushed to the front, he was taken aback at the sight. A positively predatory Chloe stood over Marinette and Fiorella on the ground. Fiorella was sobbing as her heair and clothes were a mess from the flowers and soil that had been dumped on her. Marinette managed to sit up. Adrien saw that her left cheek and eye were red. She began to rub that side of her face with a groan.
"That Bourgois slapped Marinette!"
"Where did that come from!?"
Adrien heard the mutters of the shocked onlookers. Upon hearing what happened to Marinette, Adrien felt great concern for her, mixed with anger at realizing what Chloe had done to her and Fiorella.
Marinette looked up and saw Adrien shuddering. "A-Adrien?"
Chloe heard Adrien's name and spun around. "Adrikins!"
Adrien took a hard glare at Chloe. "Don't," he told her in a low tone. However, Chloe seemed to not take heed as she seemed disturbingly desperate for Adrien's affections as she now smiled manically.
"Adrikins," Chloe said in a chipper tone that disturbed everyone, even Sabrina watching nearby. "I was hoping to find you-"
"ENOUGH!" Adrien yelled out in anger, sending people flinching back from the volume. Chloe, even Marinette and Fiorella were taken aback by his outburst. "How dare you bully Marinette and Fiorella! How dare you go and hit Marinette!"
"Adrikins?" Chloe asked, seemingly confused with Adrien's reactions.
"And stop calling me that!" Adrien retorted, "I don't care what your reasons are! You had no right, Chloe! No right to do what you just did!" He continued to glare at Chloe as he walked over to Marinette and held her to the astonishment of the other students. He then looked to Marinette tenderly. "Marinette, does it hurt badly?"
Marinette looked to Adrien. It was then that Adrien saw how red her left cheek and eye were from the slap. "I-I'm okay... I'm not hurt that bad," Marinette claimed.
"Marinette, she hit you," Adrien looked her straight in the eye, "there is no need to downplay it. She had no right to hit you." He then helped Marinette up. "Enough is enough, Marinette. You don't need to put up with this sort of thing from Chloe."
"Adrien..." Marinette gasped softly, but then flnched as she held the upper right side of her forehead. She apparently hit the ground hard enough from the slap.
"We should get it looked at," Adrien suggested, but knowing Marinette/Ladybug, whatever bruises she had would heal rather quickly. He then turned his attention to the sobbing Fiorella. "Fiorella?"
"My friendship flowers..." Fiorella was crying. She was all soiled and the flowers were all over her and the ground. Adrien walked over with Marinette and was saddened by seeing Fiorella cry like this. Adrien then glared back over at Chloe.
"Why!?" Adrien demanded, "what is wrong with you Chloe!? You were much better than this when we were kids!"
Chloe did not expect these outbursts from a disapproving Adrien. In her mind, Adrien being her childhood friend would understand her. "But... they were-"
"This is not about them, or even me Chloe," Adrien growled, "this is about you and you made it this way."
"But Adrikins... they were tricking you! They were stealing you away from our true friendship!" Chloe tried to defend herself, but now it seemed that she was trying to convince him and herself more than anything.
Adrien let go of Marinette and stormed up to Chloe. "You want the truth, Chloe?" He pointed a finger at her. "You don't understand true friendship, let alone love..."
Marinette and everyone else saw Chloe gasp in shock. "Adrien," Chloe trued to speak, "I-"
"You only want to use me as a bragging right to lord it over others," Adrien told it to Chloe straight, "you don't care that I don't share your over-inflated sense of status and superiority. Marinette, on the other hand, is kind and amazing in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine or understand... She is beautiful because she cares for others and puts them first. Despite all the abuse you put her through, she is the kind of girl I can love because she loves others!"
Adrien's declarations caused gasps all around him, especially Marinette and Chloe. Marinette internally did heart leaps, while Chloe seemed shocked at Adrien's contradicting her deluded expectations of approval.
Fiorella then rose up and ran away crying. Marinette saw the girl run. "Fiorella!" Her concern for her new friend overrode her surprise as she gave chase. Adrien gave Chloe another look. "What did you do?"
"I did not-"
"No Chloe... you said something else to Fiorella.. what did you do!?" Adrien growled with fire in his green eyes. Chloe seemed to be stumped.
Someone spoke up. It was Nathaniel. "She yelled at her saying that she only used her flowers to help steal other guys! I heard her say it all!"
"Me too!" It was Alix who also gave Chloe a very angry look, "that evil witch even said that Fiorella girl did not deserve love like Marinette!"
Adrien digested all this with a deadly silence. It wad then that the fire in his eyes intensified. "Go away, Chloe..."
"B-but I..." Chloe seemed to be at a loss to defend herself now, and Adrien was not having it.
"Just go already!" Adrien yelled. "Maybe you should look at yourself before you say something like that ever again!"
Chloe wanted to say something, but for the first time in a long while she had nothing to say to her childhood friend reproaching her for her actions. The classmates and other students stared on before Chloe just ran off. "Chloe," Sabrina called as she ran after her.
"Marinette," Adrien muttered as he took off in the direction that his love interest and his old friend went. He hoped that the both of them were alright.
Hawkmoth's Lair
"Oh?" Hawkmoth perked up as his empathy picked up strong negative emotions, "what is this? Two sources of negative emotions?"
Noboru seemed to take interest as Hawkmoth seemed to extrapolate on the sources. "Ah..." Hawkmoth deciphered, "anger and surprise at being physically assaulted out of jealousy... and sadness at being insulted over love..." The Miraculous villain stroked his chin in amusement. "Two strong possible champion candidates." He summoned two butterflies.
Just as Hawkmoth was about to infuse them with darkness... "Wait a minute please," Noboru said with a shoulder tap, "do you remember what happened the last time when Ultraman Tiga showed himself?" Hawkmoth hummed with a frown. Noboru continued, "I doubt that simply creating two akumas will let you match Tiga and those two Miraculous heroes."
"So you have a better idea?" Hawkmoth raised an eyebrow.
Noboru just gave that irritating cocky smirk before saying. "Go ahead and infuse them, but then give them to me," he said.
Hawkmoth sighed. He did his infusion of the two butterflies in his palm, then he released them into Noboru's hand. Noboru held the dark butterflies up. "Oh Sacred Fire of my people! Bond these two little butterflies together in your holy flames!" His palm lit up with a bright orange fire. Hawkmoth watched as the butterflies did not burn up, but seemed to absorb the energy flames into themselves as they now glowed dark red-purple like embers. Noboru then handed one back to Hawkmoth while keeping the other.
"Why are you keeping the other one?" Hawkmoth asked, not exactly amused with Noboru's smugness.
"Just trust me and send out that akuma in your hand," Noboru urged him, "and it will become clear what we will do with this other one."
With a headshake, Hawkmoth let his ember akuma rise from his palm and opened the observatory window. "Go my akuma, and find one of these two sources of sadness and anger!" The akuma flew out.
Noboru then tapped on a wrist-watch communicator on his left wrist. "Darphia," he spoke, "please prepare the Clitters for feeding time. Hawkmoth has a little appetizer prepared for them."
"Consider it done," Darphia, the female alien Bat acknowledged, "let's hope that little butterfly actually gives us the advantage."
"You needn't worry about that," Noboru said, "I've made my own touches that you all will enjoy watching..." As he cut the coms, Hawkmoth stared at him.
"I hope you care to tell me what you exactly did with my butterflies," Hawkmoth expressed.
"I simply bonded them with my Sacred Fire," Noboru answered, "and let's just say that when one feeds, the other receives as well. I'll admit that I've been experimenting a bit with some of the butterflies, but I believe that you will enjoy what is in store for our mutual enemies..."
Outside the high school...
Daigo drove around the area a little after this morning's altercation and got a take-out lunch of jambon beurre. He drove the Sherlock Discreet slowly as he ate, making sure not to look suspicious loitering around the high school. Daigo was a good Samaritan as evidenced by his saving the battered lady from the two thugs, who had been taken away by some patrolling beat cops as he remained out of sight for a while. Yet, his mission concerning the Miraculous heroes remained, and he had to minimize distractions.
Suddenly, Daigo's Ultra senses spiked and Discreet's energy sensors began to beep as it picked up a strong signature. Daigo recognized that powerful darkness from Saturday. 'Hawkmoth.' He looked around a bit, then checked his radar. The signature showed up on the screen as a red flashing dot that was indeed in Daigo's vacinity, and it was vectoring towards the school. Daigo knew that the akuma was headed inside.
"This is a job for me." Daigo quickly pulled up fast to the rear of the school. Making sure that no one was watching, he put on his GUTS helmet, armed his blaster, and stepped out of Sherlock Discreet. He ran up to a service door, most likely for school maintenance and custodial staff. He examined the lock to see if he could unlock it or if he had to kick it in.
Daigo saw that the lock was electronic, so he drew out his GUTS PDI. With his strength, he ripped off the interface cover and plugged the PDI in via cable to use the lock breaker function. The display scrolled through several number combinations until each dial lined up with the correct number before beeping in the affirmative. The door swung open with a click. Daigo quickly entered and ahut the service door behind him. He ran further into the school to find the akuma.
Girl's Restroom
Marinette walked into the restroom and found Fiorella sobbing over the sink. She noticed that she had hardly bothered to wash up at all, still soiled from Chloe's jealous assault.
"Fiorella," Marinette walked up to her, just glimpsing her own marked up face.
"S-she said that... I can't find love... n-nor deserve it..." Fiorella cried.
Marinette felt her anger at Chloe simmer again. The hurt she felt from being struck did not compare to the anger she felt at Chloe for her cruel words. She and Chloe never got along, but Marinette never felt any real animosity for Chloe the way that she felt now. Marinette almost wanted to strike back at Chloe, but now she was caring for Fiorella. "No, she is in the wrong, Fiorella," Marinette finally said, "she's just a jealous and selfish brat. I'm just sorry that you had to get caught up in the jealousy she had against me."
Fiorella continued to cry. "She even said... I steal guys-"
"No!" Marinette took the flower girl by the shoulders, "that brat does not know a thing about you, or anyone else for that matter! Chloe Bourgois is a selfish egomaniac who only knows how to belittle and hurt other girls! She's always comparing herself to everyone else while being a snob!" Marinette's voice was mix of concern and anger. "I ought to go to Mrs. Bustier and Mr. Damocles..." Deep down however, Marinette knew that she was just trying to comfort Fiorella with something that she knew was very unlikely. While Caline Bustier would no doubt be disturbed and disappointed with what Chloe did, she had limited power. Mr. Damocles was known to coddle Chloe as the mayor's daughter, and would likely let her off with a slap on the wrist. The whole unfairness of the situation only made Marinette angrier. It also was not only the slap and insults that Chloe hurled just now, but the fact that she was using Adrien as a justification was causing Marinette's composure to break ever so more. That Chloe would do the horrific things she did over someone as kind and handsome as Adrien was becoming too much.
Marinette was so angered by what happened, she failed to notice the new ember akuma flutter in. Fiorella looked up to Marinette with tear stained eyes, but ironically was the one to notice the glowing ominous butterfly. "M-Marinette... what's that butterfly?" Marinette turned around, and her eyes widened to see the red-purple butterfly glowing menacingly.
"Hawkmoth's akuma!?" Marinette recognized the akuma, but it looked different from the previous ones, and something about its fiery aura sent shivers down her spine.
"You mean that terrorist who turns people into villains!?" Fiorella questioned. The fiery akuma turned towards both girls who were giving off intense fear. It sensed that Marinette had some very strong negative emotions along with a strong aura of power, so it zoomed towards Marinette.
"Marinette!" Fiorella suddenly pushed Marinette down and out of the way. The butterfly landed on her vest next to the flower in her chest pocket. Sensing Fiorella's own fear and aura, it seemed into the flower and infected it. Fiorella groaned and cried as she felt evil invade her mind. "Aaahhhh!"
Hawkmoth sensed Fiorella's mind and emotions through the akuma. While not his first intended victim, she seemed to have enough potential. 'Fiorella la Chapelle, you have been wronged by a jealous girl over your beautiful flowers and slandered over love. I hereby grant you the power to use your flowers to empower other girls to express their love and take vengeance on those wrong them!'
Fiorella realized that it was a trap... yet a dark subconscious was fighting her self-control, wanting to respond to Hawkmoth. "I-I... can't..." She fought, but Hawkmoth seemed to realize this too, and intensified his attack as a holographic butterfly mask appeared on her face.
'You were wronged... and now I give you the power to make it right!' Hawkmoth pressed his mental attack.
Fiorella attempted to fight, but then found herself giving in as her subconscious gave in. "Yes Hawkmoth!" She was engulfed in dark energy. Unlike the previous akumas however, there was a fiery dark red-purple light as though she were bursting into flames. Marinette watched in shock and horror as she felt a more powerful burst of dark energy that she had not felt previously.
"Fiorella!" Marinette cried out.
As the dark flames faded, in Fiorella's place was a young woman with pale green skin and rose red hair. She wore a black leotard with elbow-length gloves and knee-length boots in the same color, all of which were accentuated by vines, with red roses lining the vines on her arms. Furthermore, the akumatized Fiorella wore the akuma flower in her hair on a headband. "I'm sorry about that, Marinette," she looked upon Marinette with a smirk and dark green eyes, "but I'm now the Lady of Thorns, mistress of love and vengeance!"
Marinette stood up, having gotten over her fear to summon her inner Ladybug. "Fiorella, Fiorella listen to me," she held out a hand as she tried to talk to her, "you need to fight this. Hawkmoth is just using your bad day as a means to hurt other people. Don't give in to this!"
"I'm through being bullied and slandered for helping people find love and not being able to find it myself!" The Lady of Thorns retorted, "and brats like Chloe Bourgois are about to get what's coming to them!" She looked to Marinette with a smirk. "Don't tell me that you don't want justice and vengeance against her for trying to steal Adrien."
"No!" Marinette protested as she glanced sideways to try and find avenues of escape to transform. "That's not what I want! I mean, I want Chloe to see some justice and to see the errors of her ways. Vengeance is not the way!" She then tried to shimi around the Lady of Thorns, who just laughed.
"Don't lie to me Marinette," the Lady of Thorns retorted, "you want Chloe Bourgois to pay for making you suffer over Adrien, and I have just the thing for you!" She then shifted one of the red roses on her right wrist vines into her hand. It shifted shape on its stalk until it took a dart like shape. Thorn's eyes glowed as energy flowed into the rose, before it flashed red. "Consider it an incentive to pursue love for yourself, my friend!" She threw the rose dart so fast that Marinette could not react before it hit her chest. Marinette stumbled back, expecting to feel sharp pain from being stabbed. Strangely though, she felt rather warm and fuzzy for a bit as the rose embedded itself over her heart like a lapel pin.
Marinette then felt a powerful rush to her head, frozen in place as Lady Thorn passed Marinette with a smile. "Enjoy your new love life, Marinette," Thorn waved, "and don't let anybody stand in your way!" Marinette found herself smiling as she felt this warmth in her heart and head. Every fear and shyness she felt about her deepest feelings for Adrien started to vanish. She was too euphoric to respond to the Lady of Thorns as she ran out.
Marinette giggled as she touched the glowing rose which pulsated a bright red over her heart. She had never felt this liberated before... and she loved it! Of course, Adrien loved her, and she loved him back! She would go and tell Adrien that and her world would fall into place! "Oh Adrien... I was a fool! I really do love you too!" Marinette's eyes shone all starry-eyed as she twirled about. It was such a wonderful feeling!
Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse with concern on her face. "Marinette! That rose is affecting your mind and mood! You need to come to your senses before that akuma drives all the other girls love-crazy!" The ladybug kwami would normally be happy for Marinette, but an akuma rose throwing her emotions and love into overdrive was definitely not okay.
"Sorry, Tikki," Marinette giggled, as she twirled and showed off the rose like it was a decoration, "but I am just feeling too good right now to care! Now hush up!" She grabbed Tikki out of the air and put her back in her bag. "I've got a boy model to love!" She happily leapt out of the restroom.
Adrien was rushing around to find Marinette when he heard screaming down the hall. He ran towards the source of the pandemonium as students, mainly girls ran past him. He overheard someone scream, "Akuma! Run!"
Adrien slid to a stop as he saw the new Akuma throwing a rose at Sabrina. His eyes widened as he saw Fiorella resembling Poison Ivy throwing roses about at girls. Some of the roses planted themselves into some of the girls' chests like darts, glowing with some sort of red energy.
"No..." Adrien muttered in dismay at seeing his friend akumatized and attacking people with rose-shaped darts. He managed to help Sabrina up and get her behind an open classroom door.
"I don't know... but I-" Sabrina felt a great warmth from the rose pinned on her chest. She then seemed to smile with a starry-eyed look to her. "Max..." she gasped as she shot up. "Maxie!" Sabrina said rather cheerfully as she ran off.
"What was that?" Adrien was befuddled.
"Alya, what are you-"
"I love you, Nino!" Adrien spun around to see Alya tackling Nino like a lovesick little girl and giggling madly. As the both of them fell to the floor, Alya pinned her boyfriend with hands to his chest. Adrien then saw a glowing red rose on Alya's chest just like with Sabrina.
"The roses... they're driving girls mad!" Adrien muttered as he realized what was going on. He watched as Alya's rose suddenly flashed as she crashed her lips into Nino's. Nino froze in shock. Before Adrien could say something, Nino's eyes flashed a pink-red as he slowly gave into the kiss. As Alya released him, Nino stood up with her. His eyes glowed as he had a loopy and dopey smile to his face.
"I'm at your service, girl," Nino moaned in hypnotized happiness. Adrien knew that whatever was controlling Alya had now taken hold of Nino. "Nino..." Adrien stepped back as the possessed Alya and Nino stared at him like zombies.
The rose pulsed again on Alya's chest. Glancing down briefly at it, Alya gave a smirk towards Adrien. "The Lady tells me that our sister, Marinette would very much love to see him," she told Nino with a mischievous tone, "I say we welcome him into our sister and brotherhood." She reached for her glowing rose, which produced a smaller dart-like rose which Alya took.
"It would be an honor, my girl," Nino still had that disturbingly dopey smile as a bark-like club materialized in his hand.
"No..." Adrien heard what Alya said about Marinette, backing away as his two friends began to menacingly trudge up on him. Adrien ran in the opposite direction.
Adrien ran into Lady Thorn who had just struck Mylene with her rose. "Fiorella..." The akuma villainess turned towards Adrien with a grin. "Ah, Adrien... Nice of you to join us."
"Fiorella, fight this! This is not the way to help others find love," Adrien reasoned, though he knew that most akuma victims had not responded to reasoning in the past. "Hawkmoth is tricking you!"
"Tricking me?" Lady Thorn retorted as the butterfly hologram appeared on her face, "he's given me the power to help others express their deepest love... and anybody who gets in the way of that will also suffer the consequences!" She then snapped her fingers, with the sound of a punch following before Chloe fell to the floor beside her.
"Ow!" Chloe tried to stumble back up, but Marinette appeared to kick her in the stomach. She had a glowing rose on her chest, but Marinette was being menacing and predatory towards Chloe as she towered over her. "What's the matter, Chloe? Did you break a nail or something?" Marinette was mocking Chloe in a parody of the latter's haughty tone, "need your daddy to pay up to fix them?"
"Marinette, no," Adrien now knew that this was REALLY bad. Lady Thorn now had Marinette... Ladybug under her spell, and it meant that the akuma could rampage without the purifying yoyo or the Miraculous Ladybug to fix things. He needed to transform into Chat Noir and destroy that rose driving Marinette crazy.
Daigo opened the door from the fire escape staircase as students ran to escape the source of the commotion. He knew from his Ultra senses that the akuma butterfly had now possessed a victim, and was giving off powerful waves of darkness in a rampage. He drew his GUTS Hyper and flipped his safety off, linking the laser sight to his helmet's HUD. Daigo was about to go into a hot situation with civilian students all around, and he needed to watch his fire.
"Move, get out of the way!" Daigo commanded the rowdy students as he pushed and rushed his way towards the source of darkness he was sensing.
"Help me! My students are going crazy!" Ms. Mendeleiev was running for dear life as two pairs of hypnotized couples were chasing her. Two girls were throwing rose darts about, while their hypnotized boy crushes were swinging their bark bats about. Ms. Mendeleiev came across Daigo and hid behind him. " Officer, please get this situation under control!"
Daigo knew what the teacher was talking about, as he sensed weak auras of darkness from the assailants. He drew his gun to Mendeleiev's shock and surprise and fired a warning shot at their feet. The girls glared at Daigo before summoning more rose darts from the magic roses on their chests, charged with energy. Not wanting to hurt innocent students, Daigo unclipped a flashbang from his belt and hurled it down the hall. "Run," Daigo pushed Mendeleiev in another direction as the flashbang went off, shielding his eyes from the blast. The four hypnotized students stumbled around dazed, then Daigo rushed up to each of them and clubbed them in the back of the heads with his gun. He then ran on ahead. "Chat Noir... Ladybug..." Daigo muttered as he held his GUTS Hyper up.
Marinette had stopped beating up on Chloe when she turned to see Adrien. Her menacing expression became all starry-eyed as she regarded the object of her affections under Lady Thorn's influence. "Adrien, my sweetie pie!" Marinette's rose glowed brightly on her chest.
"Marinette, snap out of this! You and Fiorella are being controlled," Adrien yelled. However, Marinette did not listen and ran up to Adrien, tackling him to the ground.
"Adrien! You don't know how much I've wanted to tell you this," Marinette had a manic lovestruck smile to her as she pinned him down. "I love you so much!"
Adrien blushed as Marinette confessed to him. Marinette pushed down hard with her own enhanced strength as she continued. "I've been wanting to confess to you for so long," she admitted, "but I've been too afraid and shy to be honest about it. Thanks to Lady Thorn, though, I can finally let it out!"
"Marinette, please... you can fight this," Adrien begged. It was bad enough that Ladybug was now under Hawkmoth's control via Lady Thorn, and him becoming her love slave would definitely be the end of Paris. "I know you can..." He knew he had the strength to fight back, but was afraid of hurting Marinette in the process.
"Sssshhhh..." Marinette put a finger to Adrien's lip, "allow me." Her rose began to flash as she slowly moved her lips to Adrien's.
"Yes..." Lady Thorn beamed, "and after they are together, it's on to getting Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses!"
"Freeze!" A voice shouted from down the hallway. Suddenly a beam shot arced over Adrien and Marinette's heads and hit Lady Thorn in her middle.
Adrien was surprised to see Lady Thorn being shot, but he quickly got back to his senses and pushed Marinette off of him. Marinette on the other hand seemed to be a bit dazed as the rose flickered a bit. Lady Thorn glared at the man in the shaded helmet and black and white suit holding a blaster on her. He fired again and hit her in the chest. The leotard was burnt, but absorbed the damage from the shots.
Daigo rushed up to Adrien and pulled him away from Marinette. "Adrien Agreste, you need to get out of here." The Agreste son looked up at Daigo with a quizzical look, but he could not see past the helmet or its shaded visor.
"Who are you?" Adrien asked, "and how did you get in here?"
"Not important right now," Daigo retorted in a calm voice, "Paris needs you right now. Get to a safe place and transform." Adrien gave him a shocked look. "I know you are Cat Noir, but it's not the time to explain! Hurry!" Daigo helped the boy up and shoved him along. "Run!" Adrien ran downstairs.
Daigo looked back to Marinette on the floor, and saw from his Ultra vision that the rose was a medium of darkness. "Ladybug," Daigo muttered as he reached out for the rose on the girl's chest. However, Lady Thorn threw a rose dart, piercing his left hand. Daigo grunted as he withdrew his hand, which bled from the top and palm.
"I don't know who you are," Lady Thorn menaced, "but you getting between my friends realizing their love has put you on my hate list!" Lady Thorn's eyes flashed as the vines and roses on her body grew with thorns. Vines sprung from her back as she elevated herself.
Daigo ripped the dart out of his hand as some blood spurted before the wound sealed up with his healing factor. He drew his GUTS Hyper and fired more shots, which Lady Thorn blocked with her wiry vines. 'Strong one indeed... and there's something different about this akuma from the last two,' Daigo thought as he perceived a fiery aura from Lady Thorn in his vision. He then shot at her legs, throwing her off balance before running up to her with his gun firing. Lady Thorn was distracted with blocking Daigo's laser shots that she did not see him from behind her vines until he got close up to her. He kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her sliding on the floor before hitting a wall.
"Stay down," Daigo told her.
Lady Thorn snarled, "NEVER!" She then shot up, and threw more darts. Daigo dodged them with his superhuman reflexes. Lady Thorn then got out her thorn vine whips and lashed out, landing some blows on him. Daigo jumped back and rubbed his wounds through the tears on his uniform as they started to seal up. He took out a flashbang and threw it at her, blinding her as he then shot at the vine whips, destroying them in precise clean shots.
Daigo's sense of danger then spiked, and he had to dodge a club swipe from a brainwashed Max. "How dare you attack Lady Thorn! You will pay for your interloping crimes against love!" Daigo blocked Max's club and kicked him into a wall.
"Max!" Sabrina glared at Daigo as she readied her darts. She threw them at Daigo, who just rolled out of the way. Setting his blaster to stun, he aimed his GUTS Hyper and shot at her. Sabrina fell back unconscious.
However, Lady Thorn flashed her eyes as she began to summon her girls and their minions. "Lovers of Paris, come to me! Aid your Lady of Thorns against this interloper!" Daigo knew that the akuma was summoning her hypnotic army to her side. Not wanting to chance being surrounded, he shot out the window. Just as he was about to jump out, a hypnotized Ivan and Mylene grabbed his arm. "Sorry children," Daigo muttered before punching Ivan and elbowing Mylene. Lady Thorn became outraged, then decided to grow more thorny vines, to attack Daigo. "Why do you keep getting in my way?!"
Daigo gave her a brief glare before jump out the window before the vines could catch him. Daigo landed and rolled on the sidewalk safely. Lady Thorn roared in anger as her prey got away.
Adrien burst out through an emergency exit as the rest of the school descended into pandemonium. Girls were being hypnotized with Lady Thorn's roses of manic love and seeking out their boyfriends and crushes to turn them into romantic zombies, and in the process attacking love rivals and people they blamed for getting in the way. "Marinette..." Adrien could still remember seeing his mad beloved beating up Chloe before she tried to kiss him. And knowing that she was also Ladybug also meant that he had no way of stopping the akuma's rampage without her help. Then he went to an alley and then brought out Plagg.
"Plagg, what was that just now?" Adrien asked, "who was that stranger that just helped us?"
"I'm not sure, but whoever he was allowed us to escape that akuma" Plagg said, "and that Lady of Thorns seems to really be building herself an army!"
Adrien agreed, "I know, but it got Marinette, and now she's under her control!" He wracked his head. "Now It's up to me to save her! And I hope that Ultraman would help as well."
Plagg then seemed to rub his head. "You know, I just seemed to have this strong tingle just now," he told Adrien, "I think he's close somewhere."
"Really?! We have to find him then!" Then Adrien held out his ring, "Plagg, Claws Out!"
"W-wait- waaa!" Plagg yelped as he was sucked into the Miraculous ring. Adrien felt the rush of his powering up as his catsuit and mask materialized. "Now to find Ultraman and stop Lady Thorn." As he then rushed out to confront Lady Thorn.
Meanwhile, back with Marinette, she stumbled into an empty storage room. She had a depressed look to her as she searched for Adrien. "Where did you go, my sweetie pie?" She had lost track of Adrien in the confusion.
Tikki then popped out of Marinette's pocket, "Marinette please! Its Lady Thorn who's controlling you! You must fight it!" Tikki pleaded, hoping her connection to her would reach her.
"My Adrien," Marinette muttered in a trance. Tikki was really worried. Marinette being under Lady Thorn's sway was really problematic.
Marinette started to cry as she found no signs of Adrien. "Where are you my Adrien?!" She shouted. She sobbed for a bit, then sprung up as she got a brilliant idea. "That's it," Marinette snapped her fingers as her manic lovestruck smile returned.
"What's it?" Tikki asked, not liking what she was about to suggest.
"I'll become Ladybug and find Adrien!" Marinette giggled, "he won't escape me!"
Tikki was shocked by that idea, "Marinette, no! It's too dangerous!"
"And why should I be concerned?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.
"Lady Thorn is controlling you, Marinette!" Tikki was really desperate. "Marinette, you've got to fight this!"
Marinette just giggled. "Don't be silly! I must find Adrien! And you're gonna help me! Tikki, spots on!"
"No!" Tikki cried as she was sucked into the earrings. As Marinette transformed, there were sparks and flashes of red, pink, and purple lightning. As the sparks faded, Marinette was in her Ladybug form, but with the rose still pinned on her chest. "Now it's time to find Adrien!" Marinette giggled wildly as she leaned out a window and jumped out, now on a mission to find Adrien and make him hers.
Chapter 4: The Return of Ultraman Tiga Pt.1 - Lady of Thorns