Disclaimer in the first chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Twenty: Mad Tomato
"A cooking competition?" Renée asked.
Juliette nodded. "Yeah, apparently, an aspiring chef is gonna be competing. You might like him," Juliette said.
"I dunno," Renée let out.
"Here, let me show you a picture of him," Juliette said, pulling out her phone.
Renée would take a look at the photo. The young man looked pretty handsome, being around 16 years old, with a fair skin tone, short brown hair that reached to his neck, he had an athletic body with a six-pack, and he wore a white t-shirt, with black jeans, white socks, and black running shoes. His eyes were a brilliant blue.
"Okay, he is kinda hot," Renée admitted, her face flushing a little.
"His name's Matthew," Juliette began. "He has a twin sister named Mackenzie, and they're both pretty popular YouTube stars. Matthew focuses on cooking and video games, while Mackenzie focuses on music."
"That's kinda impressive," Renée said.
"The competition's not until this weekend. I'm excited to go," Juliette said.
"Me too," Renée said.
Meanwhile...
Derek Stonewall would be with his two minions, Zoltan and Donovan.
"Uh, boss? Are you sure about this?" Donovan asked.
"Of course I am!" Derek sneered. He had a crowbar with him. There would be a box with air holes, as it contained wild animals. "When that rotten boy sees his garden destroyed, it'll be priceless!"
Donovan was still unsure. "We're going to university soon. Shouldn't we stop with these petty pranks?"
"I don't care!" Derek sneered. He would use the crowbar to break the box, and the wild animals would come out, pouncing on the garden, destroying it. Derek would laugh, along with Zoltan.
"You're unbelievable!" Donovan would shout. "I hate you!"
"Donnie, you don't mean that," Derek said innocently.
"Yes. I. Do." Donovan glared. "And don't call me Donnie. From this day forward, I will never hang out with you again. Consider our friendship terminated, permanently." With that, he stormed off.
"Ugh, whatever. Come on, Zoltan, we don't need him," Derek said.
The two men walked off.
Matthew would soon walk out, and looked shocked at his destroyed garden. "No!" he let out, upset.
His twin sister, Mackenzie, would hurry out. Her brown hair was tied into a waterfall braid, and she wore a blue chiffon tank top, blue jeans and white running shoes. Around her neck was a silver necklace with her first name on it.
"Matthew, what's wrong?" she asked.
"My garden!" He let out.
"Who would so something like this?" Mackenzie asked. She would take a picture. "Okay, I'm so posting this on our blog."
Matthew clenched his fist. "I need to cool down." He would storm inside.
A mechanical whir broke the chamber's silence, and ghastly blue light was allowed into the circular room. The moment the light struck the white forms along the ground, the butterflies, now luminescent, took to the air. They filled the dim chamber as a cloud of beating wings, hovering around the figure in the center of the room. It would soon reveal Hawk Moth.
"Ah, a chef who's been angered? They do have a lot of emotions, especially when their dishes go wrong," he let out, as he held out his hand for a butterfly to land on it. As soon as it did, he would cover his hand, and corrupt it, giving it the dark energy it needed to turn into an akuma. He would soon uncover his hand, to let the akuma fly out.
"Fly, my little akuma, and evilise him!" Hawk Moth twirled his cane, before letting it stomp on the floor for a bit.
The akuma would fly out into Paris, searching for its victim.
The akuma would soon find Matthew, who was in the kitchen, clenching a spatula. It would absorb into it, turning it a dark purple.
Matthew's face darkened, the area around his face becoming a darker shade of moderate vermilion. A light butterfly mask would also appear.
"Mad Tomato, I am Hawk Moth. Your tomatoes will now be your weapons of destruction, thanks to your spatula. You can grow your minions with your powers, and hurl tomatoes at people. In addition, if you happen to throw a tomato at a person, or your minions touch a person, they'll turn into a tomato zombie, and fall under your complete control. You will seek out the people who set the wild animals on your garden, and do whatever you want with them. Bring me the Miraculouses of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lionne, and Ocelot in exchange. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes, Hawk Moth," Matthew smirked darkly, letting the dark purple ether cover him.
Mackenzie was trying to salvage the garden, when Mad Tomato came out. His skin was pale, and he had fiery, flaming red hair, and fiery red eyes. He was dressed like a chef, but his chef outfit was inspired by tomatoes. He wore a tomato chef hat on top of his head, and he also wore black fingerless gloves with tomatoes on them. He had tomato-inspired clogs. Completing the look was a wand, it had a tomato on top.
"Hey, sis," Mad Tomato said darkly.
Mackenzie turned around and screamed. "Matthew?!"
"It's Mad Tomato now. I'm on a quest to find the pests who set those wild animals on my garden! And I'll make lasagna out of them!"
He would wave his wand at some of the destroyed tomatoes, and they would grow, and grow, and grow. They grew into very large tomato minions.
Mackenzie would pale. "Yeah, you go do that. I'm...just gonna go hide." She would run off.
Mad Tomato didn't suspect a thing, and would command his tomato minions to find the two people who set the wild animals on his garden.
Mackenzie would start a livestream after activating the akuma alert on her phone.
"Hey fans, Mackenzie here! I need a huge favor from Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lionne and Ocelot! My brother's been akumatized! Please, I don't want things to get worse than they are now! I don't know what happened, I came out to Matthew screaming that his garden was destroyed, and he stormed inside the house to cool down! I tried my best to salvage it, and when he came out again, he looked scary!"
Fans were commenting their support to the YouTube star.
Renée was watching the livestream, and gasped. "Juliette!"
Juliette would look at the livestream, and paled. "An akuma attack! Okay, go and hide," she said.
Renée nodded, and would go to hide.
Juliette would let Leena out of her purse.
"Leena, LET'S ROAR!" Juliette exclaimed.
Leena would be absorbed into the barrette, which turned gold, and looked like a lion's paw. Juliette's eyes turned hazel, and became cat-like, and her platinum blonde hair was taken out of its braid, turning auburn, and becoming straight. Her clothes would be soon be replaced with a sleeveless golden and strapless dress that reached to her knees, and golden arm-length gloves with black claws on them. She also had long black boots, that had a golden lion logo on the back of each boot. A golden belt would be wrapped around her waist, and it had a long, lion tail attached to it. There were two holsters on her dress; each of them contained a dagger. Finally, a golden superhero mask would appear over her face. She would pose once her transformation was complete.
Roland hid in his bedroom to transform. "Occa, STREAKS ON!" he let out.
Occa is absorbed into the silver oval hair clip: which turns black and the inside turns a golden yellow. It has 5 rosettes inside.
Roland soon wore a golden yellow suit with large streak spots on the arms, torso, back, and legs that have a thick black outline and are light yellow in the middle. He has a light yellow middle section down his middle that goes slightly down his thighs before curving under him and partly up his butt. Around his waist is a belt-like structure that holds a long tail that is golden yellow with black spots. His tail is very heavy and usually used for leverage, but can be removed to wield like a flail. He wore tall boots that point up to his knees with a black heel and a light metallic yellow toe that are fashioned like paws.
The sole of his boots also have paws on the bottom. His collar is black and goes up his neck; though it comes down in the middle with a diamond shape around the middle of his collar bone. His mask is heavily marked like an ocelot's face with black and white markings on golden yellow. His eyes gain a blue sclera and turn to slits like a cat's do. He has fake ocelot ears including oceli on the back of them. His hair also gets long and shaggier, the longest parts on both sides of his head gain a golden yellow ombre at the ends. He has gauntlets with heavily armored fingers joints and knuckles that end with sharp claws at the ends. He would pose at the end of his transformation.
Marinette was running away from Alya, who had been turned into a tomato zombie. As soon as she managed to get away, she panted, and let Tikki out of her purse.
"Tikki, am I going crazy, or is Paris being taken over by tomatoes?" she asked her kwami.
"I think it's the work of another akuma!" Tikki let out.
"Well, there's no time to lose! Tikki, SPOTS ON! YEAH!" Marinette let out, transforming into her alter-ego: wearing a red superhero jumpsuit covered in black spots and with a black collar/turtleneck. Her yo-yo was wrapped around her waist with a red string. On her face is a red mask with five black spots that are in a symmetrical design, and the waterlines of her eyes are coloured black. Her earrings are red with five black spots in a quincunx pattern, and the bands holding her hair back become red ribbons, resembling a ladybug's antennas or a ladybug flying when she's moving. Her eyes became a vivid azure. She would pose at the end of her transformation.
Adrien was running away from his best friend, Nino, who had been turned into a tomato zombie. He dove behind a tree, as the zombified Nino ran past him, not spotting him.
"Plagg, Claws Out!" Adrien let out, as his ring would turn black, and gain a green paw print on its face. He has cat eyes with green sclerae, dark green irises, and oval pupils. His hair becomes longer and untamed, and it covers his normal ears. Cat Noir wears a textured black skin-tight catsuit with metal details. He wears matching gloves that have claws on the fingertips and boots with a hidden wedge, silver toes, and paw-shaped treads. He has a golden bell on his neck, connected to a zipper on the front of his costume, and a long belt that wraps around his waist and hangs out from the back like a tail. He wears black cat ears and a black mask around his eyes. He'd pose at the end of his transformation.
The heroes would soon meet up on the top of a building. They would soon notice Derek lying down on an incomplete lasagna recipe. He was lying on one of the noodles and was bound to it in Ricotta cheese filling that had rosemary, parsley, sage, basil, garlic, Romano cheese and diced tomatoes in it. A giant ladle of tomato sauce was about to pour onto him at the hands of a tomato zombified Zoltan.
"SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Derek shouted.
"Well, we'd better get to work then," Lionne sighed, annoyed that Derek was the cause of this.
The heroes would jump down to confront Mad Tomato.
Mad Tomato would spot them. "Ah, it's the heroes of Paris! You'll make the perfect final ingredients to my amazing lasagna!"
"Lasagna...lasagna..." the tomato zombies moaned.
"Okay, this is ridiculous," Ocelot deadpanned.
"Tell me about it," Cat Noir sighed.
"We're gonna need some luck," Lionne turned to Ladybug.
"LUCKY CHARM!" Ladybug shouted. The magical ladybugs would surround her yoyo, until...
"Basil?" Ladybug was confused.
"Did you just say basil?" Mad Tomato raised an eyebrow.
Ladybug would smirk. "How about we make a trade? I give you the basil, and you free Derek from his prison?"
"But I need that brat to complete my recipe!" Mad Tomato glared.
"You can make a different recipe. Plus, won't it be better if Derek and Zoltan repair your garden from scratch?" Lionne caught onto what Ladybug was trying to suggest.
Mad Tomato would think for a moment.
"Don't fall for it!" Hawkmoth growled, communicating telepathically with his akuma. "They're trying to trick you!"
The butterfly outline would disappear, and Mad Tomato crossed his arms. "How can I trust you?"
"What if you make a salad? Enough for all of us to enjoy?" Ladybug suggested.
"Not a bad idea," Cat Noir smiled.
"I can go for a good salad. Plus, it doesn't require a spatula." Ocelot said.
"Very well," Mad Tomato replied, putting his spatula down.
"Now, Cat!" Ladybug shouted.
"CATACLYSM!" Cat Noir shouted, as the destructive power appeared in his hand. He would touch the wand, and it would be destroyed.
"No more evildoing for you, little akuma," Ladybug began, swiping her finger to open up the weapon. She then began to swing it around like crazy. "Time to DEEVILZE!"
She would capture the akuma as it was trying to escape, but it had no match for Ladybug's yoyo. "Gotcha!"
She turned to release the now purified butterfly. "Bye-bye little butterfly."
She would then grab the basil. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" she yelled, throwing it up into the air. Magical ladybugs would soon go around Paris, fixing all of the damage that had been done, returning the tomato zombies to their normal appearances, freeing Derek from his trap, but sadly, the only thing that wasn't fixed was for the damage that the wild animals did to Matthew's garden. Mad Tomato would soon turn back to normal.
"What happened?" Matthew asked, confused.
"POUND IT!" The four heroes let out.
Under the fluttering wingbeats, Hawk Moth growled and his cane creaked under the pressure of his grip. He clasped a hand over his brooch, and his voice rumbled against the metal walls. "Curse you all! I will get your Miraculouses! One day!"
"You guys have to recharge. Ocelot and I will make sure that those two don't get away without fixing the garden," Lionne said, as Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses would beep.
"Right, since you two didn't use your powers," Cat Noir nodded, as he noticed his ring beeping.
Ladybug would nod as she heard her earrings beep a warning. "Good idea. Bug out."
The spotted heroine and the black cat hero would leave, as Ocelot and Lionne would walk up to Derek and Zoltan.
"What do you two want?" Derek demanded.
"You know," Lionne smirked.
Derek looked at the garden. "Oh hell no!"
"Yes," Ocelot said, glaring at the mean boy.
"You can't make us," Derek glared at the two heroes.
"Oh, unless you want us to call your dad?" Lionne threatened. She actually didn't know the number of the mean boy's father, but Derek didn't know that.
Derek paled. "Alright, alright! We'll fix the stupid garden!"
Under the watchful eyes of the two heroes, they would begrudgingly fix the garden from scratch. Derek would be moaning and complaining the entire time.
"Don't complain, you were the one who caused this," Lionne said.
"She's right, Derek," Zoltan sighed as he fixed the garden.
Derek grumbled and moaned in pain and annoyance.
"My arms are hurting!" Derek moaned.
"Too bad, so sad," Lionne mocked the mean boy.
Derek groaned again. Finally, the garden would be fixed.
"Now scram you two," Ocelot said.
The two would leave quickly.
Matthew would approach the two heroes. "Thank you both."
"Anytime," Ocelot smiled.
"Now, don't you have a competition to prepare for?" Lionne asked.
"You're right! Thank you, Lionne!" Matthew would hurry inside to prepare for the competition.
The two heroes would also leave, so that they could detransform.
Later that weekend...
Juliette and Renée would arrive at the competition hall.
"You were able to get us a meeting with this Matthew, right?" Renée asked.
"I was, yes," Juliette nodded.
"I'm a little nervous. What if he doesn't like me?" Renée asked.
"Don't be nervous," Juliette reassured her.
"Are you sure?" Renée asked.
Juliette nodded.
The two of them would soon approach a stand, where Matthew would be setting up his ingredients. He smiled seeing them.
"Oh, hi there," Matthew said.
Renée blushed a little. "Hi."
Matthew would smile at her. "Are you a fan?"
"Well, I watch your sister's channel." Renée said.
"Don't forget, you also watch Matt's channel when he does his cooking," Juliette grinned at her friend, who only blushed even more.
"Oh?" Matthew raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Yeah, your cooking is very good," Renée admitted.
"Would you like to try some?" Matthew asked.
"Oh, we'd love to," Juliette replied.
Matthew looked at the clock. "Thank goodness there's two hours until the competition actually begins. I'm gonna make my classic Mango Chicken Thighs with Basil-Coconut Sauce," he said.
"Oh, that smells lovely," Renée let out.
"How long will it take?" Juliette asked.
"20 minutes to prep, and 30 minutes to cook," Matthew answered.
"That's not bad," Renée replied.
"How about you two go and take a seat nearby. I'll come get you when it's ready," Matthew offered.
The two girls nodded, before heading off to a bench close by. They soon noticed a pretty brunette, and Renée saw her going over to Matthew.
"You don't have to worry about her," Juliette said.
"Why's that?" Renée asked.
"That's Matthew's twin sister, Mackenzie," Juliette explained.
"Oh, I see," Renée let out.
50 minutes later, the meal would be ready, and Matthew would serve it to his sister, along with Juliette and Renée.
"Oh my goodness, this is amazing," Renée let out, as she ate.
"My brother's the best at cooking," Mackenzie smiled.
"Thanks, sis," Matthew smiled.
Okay, and that's the end of this chapter! Let me know your thoughts!