10/12/24
4 Reviews, 5 Favs, 6 Follows
Ladybug and the rest of her teammates managed to defeat an Akuma victim again as well as the sentimonster. It was too predictable and it was very tiring of them to save the day 24/7 without Cat Noir. Shadowmoth has no idea why he never showed and even if Cat Noir is not here, he still wants all the miraculous.
"So tiring. Okay, let's check up on Panthera and see if she found Adrien yet" She hid in the alley and called Panthera until she answered.
"I found another trace and...well...he's still alive and learning to defend himself with bow and arrows like a hunter in the wild. I knew he was a smart kid, chica. Always gotta learn survival instincts" Panthera said.
"Thank goodness" Ladybug sighs in relief.
"But I still can't find him. I just know he's still alive out there. Brazil is nearly the same size as the USA and less populated areas too. This jungle can go on and on" Panthera said.
"I am nervous! What if he is captured by cannibals? What if he sank in quicksand?" Ladybug hyperventilating.
"Relax! I'll do my best. Meanwhile, you can try to contact my partner in Cambodia if he's transformed" Panthera said.
"I'll try. Knowing your partner, he knows how to restore memories more than anyone else" Ladybug pacing back and forth.
"Panthera out" Panthera hung up.
"Please, please answer, elephant boy" Ladybug dials Blu Tembo, hoping he is in his transformation form.
"Blu Tembo here" He answered thankfully, he had just helped up a truck filled with fruit.
"Tembo, thank god. Listen, you heard the news about Adrien Agreste's disappearance? The son of a famous fashion model in Paris? The model of the Gabriel brand?" Ladybug asks him for specific details
"Yes, that he supposedly died in the Amazon jungle. No one has found his body" Blu Tembo nodded.
"Yes, but I have your jaguar friend to find him in Brazil and she informed me he's alive out there. The problem is that we don't know if Adrien is still holding onto his sanity alone or if he could forget who he is altogether. Which is why I'm hoping there's hope from you to restore his memories if he's found" Ladybug said.
"It's a possibility and I'll be in Paris in two days," Blu Tembo said.
Ladybug heard an elephant trumpeting behind Tembo, "And I suppose your elephants will miss their daddy too" Ladybug teased him.
"Uh, yeah, I had some help pulling the truck up," Blu Tembo said while petting the elephant.
"Aww….such a sweet creature" Ladybug awed at it, "Anyways, keep in contact with Panthera just in case if I'm on Akuma duty," Ladybug said, making a lie to cover Cat Noir's absence.
"Got it, I'll see if she's transformed," Blu Tembo said.
"You also remember the power-ups I gave you, right?" Ladybug asked.
"Yes, I kept some" Blu Tembo said.
"Good. I'll meet you soon face to face" Ladybug said before hanging up.
Blu Tembo turns to the elephant and walks into the jungle with it, "Jag hoppas att Panthera hittar honom" He thought.
x
Adrien was eventually captured by the natives earlier and woke up with his wrists tied up until he groaned from the stench of rotten human corpses in a cave that was half eaten. It was as if a ritual sacrifice or cannibalism from the natives but lucky for Adrien he's breathing.
"Plagg? Plagg?" Adrien panicked but saw his kwami.
"Finally. I thought you'd be unconscious for a day but it was only an hour ago" Plagg said.
"Where the hell are we?" Adrien swings back and forth to lift his legs up on the cave ceiling to get untied.
With one mighty push the rope broke but he had a rough landing, "Ow!" He rubs his head.
"Kid?!" Plagg flies to him.
Adrien strained to move slowly before getting up, moving away from the piles of corpses that smelled really bad as it's covered in flies, "Let's get the hell out of here" Adrien said and spotted his weapons and his backpack that the natives probably forgot to take away before thinking he was dead but unaware he was unconscious.
Footsteps were heard and Adrien quickly grabbed his things before spotting another hole in the cave to hide. He hid in the hole and waited for the footsteps to go away.
"Let's get out of here before I vomit," Plagg said.
"Yes, let's go" Adrien ran out of the cave.
He nearly retched and puked from holding in his nausea for a few minutes before wiping his mouth, "I don't think I can eat again" Adrien groaned before moving.
"Let's keep moving before you're dinner," Plagg said.
"They are definitely people but cannibals are extremely dangerous when it comes to an appetite for human flesh. I told you that killing is to survive" Adrien said before seeing a pile of eaten corpses becoming skeletons, "And without becoming bones too" Adrien shuddered at the sight of it and moved away from the pile and tried to find another road.
Until a native ululated in alarm to see the 'white demon' getting away. It tackled Adrien down to stab him but Adrien blocked it with his bow, grunting to get the native off of him.
"Get off!" Adrien reached for his knife and stabbed the native in the gut before pushing him off.
More natives came with spears but Adrien was quick to shoot them. He jumps up and fires one arrow at and strikes three down with his bow like a sled. Then two attacked him but he stabbed them both. Rolled aside to whack them with his bow and snarled like an animal to scare them off. He used the corpse as a shield to block the poison darts.
"There are too many, Adrien!" Plagg screamed.
Adrien knew he couldn't last long so he had no choice, even if he goes mentally savage like an animal, "Plagg, claws out!" He transformed into Cat Noir before letting out a yowl like a cat and attacking the cannibals with his staff aggressively.
He somehow made a spearhead appear on the staff and impaled one of the cannibals, "HYAAAAARGH!" He punched one very hard with his claws impaling the cannibal's chest.
His cat eyes well completely slit like an aggressive predator to kill but it was out of instinct to survive between a man and a cat. He crouched on all four, snarling like a beast. The natives show no fear as they all think he's a white demon but now a werecat beast. Unfortunately, it only became worse as Cat Noir used cataclysm in the cave for it to collapse on them before he made his way out of there and nearly got crushed.
Cat Noir panted after using all his strength. He clutched his head from fighting his mental state between humanity and savagery all altogether, "Grrr! Plagg, claws in!" He detransformed, panting in fear at what he just did, "God! Such bloodlust I had!" Adrien panted.
"Kid! Focus! Focus on what you see! What do you see?!" Plagg smacked his head.
"It's been months since I was Cat Noir. I knew I'd be a scary beast transformed" Adrien got scared.
"Kid! Focus! What do you see in front of you?!" Plagg trying to knock sense into him.
"The jungle and you" Adrien panted out of fear.
"What colors do you see?" Plagg asked again.
"Green, blue, and…black" Adrien replied.
"And what do you feel around you?" Plagg asked.
"Cold and moist. I have a feeling Ladybug was afraid I'd get too destructive" Adrien said.
"Well, kid. Knowing my previous kittens, they all get scaredy cats. Now that your mind is back, let's go. Unless we are near a village of cannibals waiting for you to get devoured" Plagg said.
"That's what I'm thinking and I need food, not human flesh. God, I hope they have something useful" Adrien said, finding mud to cover his scent before lurking in the jungle in hopes of finding the village, without getting caught.
"This is gonna get rough," Plagg thought.
"My social events in Paris are slipping away," Adrien said, before coming to the top of the edge and seeing the village it sure had lots of decorations of human skulls on sticks as well as skinning alive people to death.
Adrien looks away from it before hearing them speak in their native language. He needed more arrows for ammo and possibly fresh food too. He snuck down to the village to the food storage, snatching some grilled fish. The blow darts would come in handy for paralysis and maybe fast death for anything that comes his way. Adrien knew the natives used poisonous frogs' venom for the arrows. So he took a blow tube as well. He can hear the screaming of the victim being sacrificed but it was too late anyway to save a life. Not even as Cat Noir he used to be.
"I think I got enough supplies" He ran off before he got spotted.
"That was close. Gladly but you do know that this jungle is like walking into death traps" Plagg said.
"Yeah, but I'll be ready," Adrien said.
x
With Marinette, she was walking home from school thinking about Adrien being alive and well. Even worse for months to hear Chloe's constant bickering too since she always puts more blame on Marinette for losing Adrien.
"At least he's alive but the cat's gone because of me," Marinette thought, unaware Chloe was nearby.
"And where's your cat who obvioulsy has a thing for you? Utterly ridiculous for that fleabag to be interested in a peasant!" Chloe tormenting her.
"Mind your own business. He's not my boyfriend!" Marinette retorted.
"It is now! If you haven't been pestering my Adrikins, he wouldn't be dead by then!" Chloe scolded.
"Shut up!" Marinette walked even faster.
She knew if she attacked Chloe there would be consequences, "Leave me alone!" She turned.
"Not until you face punishment for Adrien's death!" Chloe accused.
"She said to leave her alone," A familiar voice said and Cat Noir was standing there but unaware it was actually an illusion from Rena Furtive just to get Chloe to back off.
"Cat Noir?!" Chloe gasped.
"You heard her, leave her or you'll get a taste of my claws!" Illusion Noir warned her.
"You'll regret it!" Chloe ran away.
"Sorry about that, girl. I just couldn't let that brat annoy you so much for weeks like this" Illusion Noir gave out his Alya side rather than calling her princess.
"Thank you, Cat Noir," Marinette said to not give away.
"Always a pleasure, princess" Illusion Noir said before leaving.
Marinette gives out a sigh of relief, heading home. She knew Blu Tembo would arrive in two days.
x
Adrien eventually made a campfire for the night in the abandoned cave to get away from the rain. He remembers Marinette's techniques in sewing clothes, he eventually designed a poncho from Jaguar fur skin to keep warm for the night.
"You're definitely turning wild, kid. Just like your ancient cave ancestors that do the same to survive and hunt" Plagg said.
"Yeah, and the Neanderthals too," Adrien said.
"Like I said, it's like humans have evolved and forgot all about their savage behavior when it came to adapting to civilization. But now the missing link in your DNA from your cave ancestors has finally been found in you" Plagg said.
"Cat Noir unleashed the beast in him" Adrien recalls his beastly behavior earlier.
"Mixed with feline and a man. But you had to save your life from cannibals" Plagg ate grapes.
"Yes, well, that is if I can get a signal service on the radio which obviously I won't," Adrien said, looking at the radio walkie-talkie. He clicks on it and tries to get a signal. So far, nothing but a static reception since there are no radio towers in the jungle to get a signal service.
"Nothing. Even as Cat Noir with communication signal, it would jeopardize everything to connect the dots" Adrien said.
"We need to keep trying," Plagg said.
"I can't go out there at night. I can't see" Adrien said before eating his roasted fish to live without starving to death.
"Let's continue tomorrow," Plagg said.
x
With Panthera, night wasn't her best option but while wielding the miraculous of the Jaguar, she can see at night like them. She found the plane wreckage and inside it was a near skeleton of the pilot. No wonder Adrien's bodyguard was lucky to use his parachute and call for help through the phone to be rescued but never found Adrien.
She does the cross sign for the pilot to rest in peace before using her clairvoyant vision and sees the answer that the bodyguard waited hours for a rescue chopper to rescue him.
"Oh, chiquito. What has your father done to you?" Panthera asked herself why Gabriel would want to send his own son to Colombia.
She used her clairvoyant vision again to look back further on how the crash site came to be. No explosion but the engine on the wing was on fire in midair until it tore itself off. The plane crashed repeatedly through the trees and it severely injured the pilot badly to his death from a head collision and body impact with no airbags to protect him.
As it crashed, it became a wreckage of its grave in the trees. The pilot did not survive but his body decayed for months now.
"Dear god" Panthera uttered.
Walking carefully inside the plane wreckage, she hopes there are some clothes for Adrien since 4 months of surviving can definitely leave Adrien to lose more fabrics on his clothes. She soon found a suitcase stored on the plane.
"Okay, they are still in good condition. Why does he have multiple of them looking the same?" Panthera asked herself why Adrien packs the same clothes he wears, "Hang in there, Adrien. Please don't let the jungle turn you into a wild man" She puts them in her backpack before leaping out of there.
x
The next day, Adrien was swinging from vine to vine through the trees since he was getting more aware of quicksands around here since it rained last night. He lands on one tree branch before switching to the next one, seeing several capuchin monkeys nearby, then some birds as well. He did manage to face paint himself for camouflage and as a hunter. Even sometimes confuse the animals too since spotting a human can give away to them. Eating bugs was even worse for him but they say bugs have protein and some humans do eat bugs, just not as wild beings like an animals.
"Being Jungle Noir is something" He said.
"Your senses are very heightened when you are evolving from civilized to wild. Unless the jungle is messing with you" Plagg teased him.
"It can still mess with me but I manage to keep my ass alive," Adrien said before noticing the monkey staring at him, "What are you looking at?" He scoffed and jumped to the next tree and landed on the thick branch and looked over the jungle.
He sees movements down below and he stays quiet to see what or who it is until he sees it's those big bad boys again like before. Mercenaries know a lot more about money obsession than causing trouble.
"I can't shoot at nothing! It's probably those damn monkeys enjoying peeing all over us" One of them said.
"Just shut up! Anything that moves, shoot it! I'm not gonna say this again! Now get your ass in gear or lose a head from those head hunters!" Another said.
"Yeah, they might grind our bones to their bread," The third said.
"One, that would be giants doing, and two, cannibals don't use bone wheat," the leader said.
Adrien hissed lowly in annoyance to believe such nonsense. He quietly jumps to the next branch to get a good close to terminate them with his arrows. He pulls an arrow and fires at one of them.
"SHIT! Someone here!" They panicked.
"FIRE!" They fired at where the arrow came from, "Don't lose sight!"
Adrien managed to dodge in time and loaded two arrows on the bow. He was grunting to shoot fast enough without missing. He fires the arrows and impales two mercenaries.
"Son of a bitch! Come out now!" The last one standing.
Adrien showed no fear as he came out of hiding, showing his savage side while aiming carefully, snarling like an animal.
"What the?! A child?! The threat's a mere child?!" They didn't recognize him as Adrien.
"Hmph!" Adrien scoffed at being called a child as he shot the mercenary in the leg to immobilize him.
"ARGH! YOU LITTLE BRAT!" The mercenary grabbed his leg.
"WHY YOU!" Another mercenary grabbed Adrien, tripping him.
Adrien grunts before elbow punches him back and whacks him with his bow, snarling in defense. Grabbing his blow tube to use poison darts to kill them.
"Alright, you brat! Time to die!" The last one was more resilient. He drew out a knife and tried to stab him.
"Shut up" Adrien blew blow darts from his tube to kill them.
He took some of their supplies for food. Eating savagely at how desperate he was to try other types of food than plain meat and fruits.
"What luck! More cheese!" Plagg found more cheese slices.
"I can't fucking move! He paralyzed me!" The mercenary complained.
"Not anymore!" Adrien took his gun and shot him in the head.
"Kid! Stop! You're not a killer like this!" Plagg shouted.
"Plagg, keep quiet. They'll see you" Adrien said before drawing parts of the gun off.
"Oh boy, I'm going as history as an anti-hero's kwami" Plagg complained.
"It's called survival" Adrien corrected him.
"I just can't stand to see you with blood on your hands," Plagg said.
Adrien looks at his hands and sees some blood on them. He quickly wipes it off to forget this ever happened, "Never mind that. Let's move" Adrien said.
"Gladly" Plagg got up with him.