Njistar: They deserve it for what they did. You don't do that to a show with such a well-crafted story and world. Ever. Anyway, yeah, the problems keep piling up.
Danifan3000: I would agree that Wes is Danny's Lila, like how Plasmius is his Hawkmoth. True about the Amity Park residents.
Pokémon fan 1991: Glad you liked the chapter. I'm not very knowledgeable about Spider-Man so I'll take your word for it about the Eddie comparison.
Schweenieboy: Yeah, playing with Wes is interesting. Not sure what you mean by Dash getting punished, he didn't show up in the chapter at all.
Jebest4781: Glad you liked the chapter as always.
La gran diosa zorra fantasma: Glad you liked the chapter. I wanted to expand on how everyone was assigned the jobs in the Horrificator episode they had, and it helped establish why Chloe was even there besides to cause Mylene's akuma. Yeah, I honestly can't ever forgive the mouse company for what they did because of the huge effects it had on the story's direction and pacing. Everything I've heard about what they had to sacrifice of the plot and character development makes me angry every day. The crew and fans deserved better.
Yeah, I'm trying to treat the characters better than the canon is. Every episode of season 5 has reinforced my decision to do so with how ridiculous they have been. Emilie is missing, not dead. I feel like Gabriel would refuse to accept her death considering how far he's going to try bringing her back instead of accepting it like Adrien has. Unlike canon, Lila is actually going to attend class because there's no way the school closure lie would ever work as long as it did; plus unlike the crew, I intend to treat Lila as a character rather than a plot device.
Matt: Gamer already happened, bro. And I have thought of a name for Black Cat Nino that I think I like.
Julimart: Yeah, proving he was right about Danny will be a challenge for Wes since Danny always seems so average to everyone else. Yeah, the underwear bet was gross and I was glad to get rid of it. Still have a few chapters to get through before Ember. Not a fan of Ghost King Danny, since he wants to be an astronaut and canon never alluded to the idea he could be the next king. I've had a few crack ships, mostly of characters who haven't canonically paired up. For example, in the Owl House fandom I ship Edric x Jerbo and Emira x Viney even though they haven't interacted onscreen ever.
AngelicTrinity: You're valid for not liking Wes. Some fans like jerk characters, and some fans don't. Thanks for adding to the TVTropes page; it looks better every day.
Freaky Fiction Friday: Wouldn't that be interesting? Danny using one of the Miraculous. Haven't quite figured out yet what would happen if he tried.
Spear: Glad you enjoy the crossover! We'll see when it comes to the Ember episode. I'll confess the only reason Fright Knight didn't notice Horrificator is because I genuinely forgot he could do that until it was pointed out to me after I had already posted the chapter.
Erica phoenix16: Thanks for reading!
Fan: I have seen the newest episodes of season 5. They stink.
Friendly reminder that speculation about future chapters and what you want to see is okay, but please leave a comment about the chapter I just worked very hard on if you intend to speculate.
Also, Two Kinds has a TVTropes page, so if you think of any trope examples for it, go ahead and add them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.
One Kind of Romantic Luck, Part One
Now that Halloween was past and so was the film festival, the class found themselves watching their finished movie during homeroom a few days later, all except Chloe cheering as onscreen Mylene and Ivan kissed and the end credits rolled.
"Sorry that your movie didn't win, Nino," Marinette apologized as the bell rang for everyone to prepare for their first real class of the day.
"It's cool," he said as everyone gathered their things to move classes. "Tenth out of dozens of high schools competing is nothing to sneeze at, anyway."
"At least we didn't almost get disqualified for accidentally including Ladybug, Chat Noir, and an akuma in our project. The nerve of that one school that tried to call involving them cheating." Alya bristled, walking out. [1]
"Nino!" Nino, Alya, Marinette, and Adrien turned to see Mylene following them out of the classroom. The aspiring actress beamed up at him. "Up until I got scared and everything, I was having a lot of fun making your movie. If you ever need an actress for your next project, let me know!"
"Sure thing, Lene," Nino said, giving her a thumbs up.
Mylene shyly twiddled her thumbs at what she said next. "Just, no horror movie next time. Okay?"
"Sounds good to me!"
The five students laughed on their way to their next classes.
Behind them, Rose and Juleka walked with Ivan.
"Hey, did you hear Prince Ali is making a tour across the United States?" Rose spoke up, looking at something on her phone.
Ivan looked at her in confusion. "Who?"
Rose turned her phone and held it up for Ivan to see. "Prince Ali of Achu. He's only our age and he's organized several charities for sick and traumatized children." On the screen was a European teenager with tanned skin, olive green eyes, and short, dark hair in a fancy suit.
"He's one of Rose's favorite celebrities," Juleka supplied in her usual murmur.
"Oh, so what's he doing here?" Ivan asked.
Rose looked at her phone again, excitement in her eyes. "To promote his charities, Prince Ali is visiting children's hospitals all over the country, visiting with children being treated and seeking ways he can help improve the buildings structurally and technologically." She sighed blissfully, holding her phone to her chest. "He's so kind and thoughtful and caring. I'd love to meet him someday. He's one of the reasons why I want to work for children's charities when I'm done with school." [2]
Juleka shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe one of his stops will be here. Do they say where he'll be visiting? Like one of those concert tour advertisements?"
"No." Rose shook her head. "I think since he's a visiting royal, they aren't publicly advertising where and when he'll be for his own safety. It'd be amazing if he stopped in Amity Park, though."
A few nights later, Phantom was hard at work on his patrol for ghosts. His current opponent was a ghost squid, pale gray with green spots. It snarled at him then sprayed ink. Phantom quickly ducked and dodged each shot, his Fenton Thermos in hand.
"Hey, easy on the ghost ink! I just had this suit cleaned," Phantom quipped. Unscrewing the lid of the thermos, he sucked the ghost squid into it with little issue.
Before he could applaud himself for a job well done, his phone rang and he answered it.
"Wolf thing!" Sam exclaimed without greeting. "Big ghost wolf thing! Down by the Nasty Burger!"
Hanging up, he quickly flew over to his social circle's usual hangout and found Sam cornered in the alley behind the restaurant by a gray and green-furred ghost wolf the size of a car. As it bared its teeth at his friend, he landed on the canine's back.
"Down, boy!" He taunted, grasping some of its fur to discourage further attacking. "Don't eat that; it's a vegetarian!" Brandishing the thermos again, he sucked in the wolf at point blank. Once it was inside, he wiped sweat from his brow while Sam decided it was safe to get close. "What a night. Every time I turn around, there's another ghost."
Further proving his point, his phone rang again. This time it was Tucker calling. "Ghost snake, by the park!"
He hung up and took flight to go rescue his other best friend.
At the park, Tucker ran down the path. As he fled, he somehow got tripped up by the strap of his backpack and stumbled to the ground while his various gadgets spilled out of his bag, including but not limited to his laptop, an older PDA, a tablet, and a few other electronics. [3]
Tucker looked up from his tangled foot to his stuff. "I gotta stop carrying so much geek gear; it's going to be the death of me." A shadow loomed over him and he glanced up even further to see a large ghost cobra hissing at him. "Literally."
Before the ghost could zip forward and bite him, Cujo pounced onto the scene from the side, tackling the snake from the side. In his beast form, Cujo shook the cobra back and forth with his jaws like an elongated chew toy.
Phantom arrived, the thermos in hand, and began figuring out how to catch the snake without catching his dog too. As he contemplated the issue, he had one question in mind that he couldn't help vocalizing. "Where are all these ghosts coming from?"
The answer laid in his parents' basement lab at FentonWorks.
Jack pressed his ungloved thumb to a fingerprint scanner, and the portal to the Ghost Zone opened behind him, Maddie, and Jazz, the latter two he was showing off the scanner for.
"I told you this genetic lock was a great invention," Jack boasted, oblivious to the ghosts exiting the portal every time he opened and closed it to use the new function repeatedly. "It's the perfect way to prevent any unauthorized access to the Ghost Zone."
On the other side of the portal, ghosts were lining up to escape through to the living realm. When it opened, a ghost would jump through before it closed again, and the process would repeat. Word was spreading around about the easy accessibility of this particular portal, so the line grew longer with every passing moment.
Some ghosts were not in the mood to stand in line.
On a black and green motorcycle, a couple of ghostly teenagers rode toward the line. Both teens were around Jazz's age, maybe a year older, and they were had pale skin. The driver was a male with ashy blond hair and green eyes, wearing a black long coat over his white shirt and black pants and boots; his passenger was a female with green hair and red eyes, wearing a red jacket and skirt to match her eyes and a purple scarf to match her lipstick.
"You sure we're going to make it?" The passenger asked, questioning her boyfriend's idea.
"Oh relax. Trust me, will ya?" The driver replied confidently. "Shadow!" The shadow that had been underneath his motorcycle suddenly came to life and separated from the vehicle. The driver pointed at the portal. "Keep the portal open."
Snarling happily, the shadow appropriately named Shadow flew ahead of the line to hold the sides of the portal door open.
"I don't know if using that stupid bad luck shadow of yours is a good idea, Johnny," the passenger said, eyeing the portal distrustfully.
The motorcycle's driver, Johnny, took that comment as a challenge. Revving his bike, he sped up and zoomed past the other ghosts standing in the line. Once they got near enough, Shadow stopped holding the doors open to make his way through with Johnny and his girlfriend close behind him. One of the ghosts in line, another pale teenager with fiery blue hair and a guitar, watched them in shock at the risk they were taking. [4]
As Johnny and his passenger passed through the portal, the two sides of the door started to shut. They were nearly through when the doors shut on the girl's hair. She let out a scream of pain as electricity coursed through her form and she was thrown off the motorcycle.
"Kitty!" Johnny braked his motorcycle, halfway through the vortex between the two realms, and stared back at his girlfriend in concern.
Kitty struggled to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself as if trying to hold her body together. "I knew it." She shuddered. "I can't maintain my form. I'm split between here and the Ghost Zone."
Knowing it was his fault for not listening to her earlier worries, Johnny could only watch her form fizzle. With the last of her strength, Kitty pulled off her jacket, scarf, and a green and gold ring that matched Johnny's and levitated them over to him.
"I spread my energy into my stuff," she explained, "Get some girl to wear them so I can reform around her to make up for the body you fried." As he folded the clothes up together so they could be packed away safely, she added, "I gotta go back to the Ghost Zone before I completely fall apart. Don't forget me, Johnny." She faded back through the seams of the doors. "Don't forget me!"
"You got it, baby. I'll find you a new host." Johnny turned his motorcycle to continue onward. "I promise!"
Back in the Fentons' lab, Jack pressed his thumb to the lock one more time. "Now that I've installed this genetic scanner, the only way to open the Fenton portal is if someone in the family does this."
As the portal doors opened once more, Johnny rode out, the engine of his bike roaring. He was out of sight before Jack and his family could turn around.
"Suffering spooks!" Jack exclaimed, spinning around but not seeing a source for the brief noise. He turned more chipper as a thought occurred to him. "Where's Danny? I'll bet he'd love this."
Jazz let out a fake sounding laugh. "Oh. Well, I'm sure wherever he is, it has nothing to do with ghosts or akumas at all."
While the family returned their attention to Jack's new invention, Johnny poked his head out from behind one of the larger machines in the room, having silenced his engine quickly after his exit. Having a partial view of Jazz's face, he decided she was what he needed.
"Hello, new girlfriend," he whispered to himself smugly.
He would give her Kitty's clothes, allow Kitty to possess her, and they could celebrate their escape from the Ghost Zone together. Nobody would stop them.
Once Phantom seemed to have the ghost cobra handled, Tucker went back to what he was doing before he had started getting chased.
He was trying to ask out a girl.
He was walking along with a girl from one of his classes when he spoke the question. "I was kinda hoping we could hit a movie, or something."
"Okay," the girl said.
"Alright, but I'll have you know I'm persistent," Tucker pressed on until he realized she hadn't actually turned him down like many other girls already had. "Wait, did you say okay?"
The girl started to change her mind when Tucker pulled a bunch of his devices from his backpack in his scramble to retrieve his phone. "Do you want to beam me your phone number? We can share ringtones."
"No thanks, techno geek." Creeped out, the girl went on her way without him.
"Ugh, I am not a techno geek!" Tucker yelled out in frustration, accidentally dropping his devices. Realizing he could have potentially damaged them, he quickly scooped them back up into his arms. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
While he was fretting over his technology, Phantom was in a fight with yet another ghost animal. A ghost skunk the same size as the wolf, bearing neon green fur and purple stripes. The skunk swung Phantom into the side of a building with its massive, bushy tail.
"Come on, I've been fighting ghosts for 24 hours. Can't one be easy?" Phantom complained, peeling himself away from the wall. When the skunk turned its butt at him, intending to spray him like living skunks did when threatened, he went intangible and reappeared in front of the skunk's face. "So long, stinky!" He sucked it into the thermos. Before he could call it a night, his Ghost Sense went off again and he grew more annoyed. "Oh great, one more to go."
He heard the roar of an engine followed by the sound of Cujo's loud barking, and he turned to face the street.
Johnny was cruising down the street, Cujo on his tail. He had been scoping out Amity Park to put together a plan for tricking Jazz when the beastly dog started chasing him. As he sped along past Phantom, his ring on his left hand started to light up and he twisted his grip on the handlebar slightly so he could see it better.
"What's taking so long?" Kitty demanded from the ring.
"I'm trying to find the right girl for you to take over," he explained, not wanting to wear on his girlfriend's patience. "If I have to look at her face for all eternity, I want to make sure I like it. Dig?" He twisted his grip further so she could see Cujo. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm being chased by a giant mutt!"
Phantom then appeared, flying beside the motorcycle with the thermos strapped onto his back. "That giant mutt happens to be my dog!" The ghost hero narrowed his eyes. "And sir, I believe you're speeding."
"I'll show you speeding! Shadow, attack!" Johnny commanded.
Shadow emerged from its spot underneath the motorcycle and flew at Phantom, swiping at his face. Cujo changed direction, barking as he followed the inky creature. Johnny took advantage of the distraction to drive his motorcycle up a wall to the roof of an apartment building. Phantom fell onto the tar below it, and Shadow swiped a claw at a lamppost, causing it to tip over in Phantom's direction.
Phantom recovered enough to see the lamppost falling toward him and tried to roll over so it would miss. Shadow's bad luck came into play as he had only rolled over enough for the thermos to be struck. The weight of the post splintered the thermos open, releasing all the ghosts the hero and his friends had caught that night. Cujo had been coming over to check on his master, but changed direction again to pursue the wolf and cobra that were getting away.
Grimacing, Phantom finally stood and picked up the broken thermos. "Of all the rotten luck…" he muttered, glaring up at the roof he had seen Johnny climb up.
Johnny threw him a cocky smirk from his perch and drove off into the night with Shadow at his side.
At that point, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived, swinging in on their yo-yo and baton respectively.
"Sorry we're late," Chat apologized. "That vegetable akuma was no joke. She could be that Lunch Lady ghost's rival if she wanted." [5]
Ladybug shook her head. "All because she was getting frustrated with her kids refusing to eat their greens." She looked at her ghostly teammate. "What's going on? Why are there so many ghosts out tonight, and what happened to your thermos?" She then noticed the damaged device in Phantom's hand.
"I don't know how so many ghosts showed up," Phantom answered, turning toward his teammates, frowning at the thermos. "But I do know my thermos is busted because of a biker who might be the embodiment of bad luck."
After retrieving a backup thermos from Sam and Tucker, Phantom worked with Ladybug and Chat to round up the ghosts that had gotten free. To his dismay, he didn't see that motorcyclist and his active shadow again that night.
The next morning, Marinette had just finished getting dressed for the day and gotten down to the bakery when she found she had visitors.
Sabine turned away from where she stood at the register. "Oh, Marinette! Perfect timing! Your friends Rose and Juleka are here. They were just asking about you."
"Me?" Marinette looked over to Rose and Juleka, the former carrying a basket and the latter appearing more gloomy than usual.
Rose nodded eagerly. "Yep! We couldn't help noticing that you're really great at problem solving, so we need your help with something."
The aspiring designer shrugged. "Unless you need some clothes stitched or mended, I wouldn't say I'm great at problem solving…"
"You figured out how to give Adrien a birthday party, didn't you?" Rose recalled.
"Well…" Marinette stared into Rose's blue eyes and couldn't find it in her to reject helping her with whatever she needed. She sighed, giving in. "What do you need help with?"
Rose glanced up at Juleka, who continued to stare at the floor. "See, Juleka believes she's kind of… jinxed when it comes to taking photos. Which I keep trying to tell her she's not."
"Jinxed?" Sabine asked in confusion. A customer came into the bakery, and she turned away to give her attention to them, though she kept an ear on her daughter and her friends' conversation.
Juleka mumbled, "Ever since I was little, every time someone takes a photo of me, something always goes very wrong…"
Marinette frowned. "Juleka, are you sure you're not exaggerating?"
Juleka pulled out her phone and opened her photo album, holding it up for Marinette to see. Marinette's eyebrows shot up as Juleka swiped through a few. Somehow, Juleka's face was obscured every time she was in a picture, whether it was a pigeon flying in front of her when the camera went off or someone's hand got in the way or she was almost cropped out of the frame.
"Oh…"
"School picture day is coming up, and Juleka really wants her picture in the yearbook to be good since high school is some of the most important years of our lives," Rose explained as Juleka put her phone away. "If anyone can help her break this total not-jinx, it's you."
"I don't know. Making clothes or organizing events is one thing, but breaking a possible jinx?" Marinette wondered aloud.
Juleka pulled her gaze away from the floor to look at her. "Marinette, please… I can't be the one face in the yearbook nobody can remember after graduation."
After dealing with the customer, Sabine came over and patted her daughter on the shoulder. "It wouldn't hurt to give it a try, Marinette. Besides, even if you can't figure it out this time, there's picture retakes day."
Marinette glanced between her mother and her classmates. "I suppose I could give it a try. It would be an interesting challenge at least."
Rose clapped her hands, her basket tucked at her elbow. "Great! I'll leave you and Juleka to it then."
"You're not staying?" Marinette asked.
"Sorry, but I've got to run a few errands for my mom." Rose gestured with the basket. She smiled up at Juleka. "I'll be back once I'm finished." Heading out the bakery door, she waved farewell. "Bye, Marinette. Bye, Mrs. Cheng!"
Marinette gave Juleka an encouraging smile. "Why don't we head up to my room and see if we can't sort this out?"
"Okay, but I'm telling you I'm jinxed…" Juleka mumbled, following her classmate upstairs.
Tikki hid up on Marinette's bed once she saw her holder wasn't alone.
Grabbing her phone off her computer desk, Marinette faced Juleka. "Alright, I want to see what we're up against. What I'll do is start by trying to take a picture of you, and we'll go from there. Sound good?"
Juleka nodded slowly. "You can try…"
Opening her camera app, Marinette prepared to take a photo. "Alright, camera's on… face is in frame… smile!"
Juleka attempted to do so, and Marinette moved her thumb to click the camera button.
SMACK!
"Yah!"
Marinette and Juleka startled at the sound of something hitting a window, the former's phone slipping from her grip and falling to the floor. Both girls spun to see a pigeon flat against the same window Evillustrator had broken in weeks ago. After a moment, the pigeon peeled away and shook its head before flying away.
"The jinx…" Juleka whispered.
Marinette waved a hand. "Nah, that was probably a coincidence. Let's see what we got." She picked up her phone and went into her album to find the latest picture; once she found it, she frowned. The picture was only of Juleka's legs and feet from the knees down. Clicking out of it, she started the camera again. "Let's try that again. There's no way something like a pigeon hitting the window could happen twice in a row."
Once more, she framed Juleka's face with the lens and moved her thumb to the button.
"Ah-achoo!"
Marinette sneezed the moment her thumb made contact, and her phone started to fall out of her hands. She quickly fumbled to catch it, and once she had it securely in her fingers, she opened the album to the newest picture. The picture had Juleka's face in it, but it was extremely blurry to the point you couldn't tell it was Juleka if she didn't have the purple highlights in her bangs.
The aspiring designer blushed. "That-that one was on me. Let me just blow my nose quick." She quickly did so and tossed the tissue in the garbage. "There. My nose should be clean, and there shouldn't be another bird coming to crash against my window." The phone was raised again and her thumb moved toward the button.
While Marinette carefully performed the action, Juleka noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Uh, Marinette?"
"Not now, Juleka, I'm trying to concentrate."
"No, seriously. Marinette."
"Put your smile back on. It was good."
"Marinette, your garbage is on fire."
"What?!"
Marinette spun to face the trash can, which was indeed somehow starting a small fire. She let out a scream while Juleka acted quickly and slid down the railing of the stairs leading up to Marinette's room to grab the fire extinguisher from the kitchen. The goth girl rushed back up through the trap door, and sprayed the extinguisher at the garbage bin, quickly snuffing out the small flame.
While Marinette stared gobsmacked at the trash, Juleka opened the windows to let fresh air in. Once all reachable windows were open, she returned to Marinette's side.
"You, ah, didn't have anything that could have caught fire in there, did you?" Juleka wondered.
"No," Marinette replied quietly, still staring. "I just emptied it the other day. The only thing that was in there was the tissue I just used. So how…?"
"It was the jinx," Juleka sighed. "It's always something getting in front of my face, or getting partially cropped out of the photo, or something happening to disrupt the photo being taken."
Marinette's gaze didn't dare turn away from the garbage, fearing it could ignite again.
"We should probably tell your parents that something caught fire," Juleka quietly suggested. When her classmate didn't answer, Juleka glanced at her. "Marinette?"
"This jinx thing might be a little more difficult to solve than I thought," Marinette finally conceded.
Two hours after she had left Juleka at Marinette's bakery, Rose was finished with the errands her mother sent her on. She was on her way back to help Juleka, a few blocks away from the Grand Amity Park hotel, when she collided with another teen wearing a plain white jacket and a pair of sunglasses. They both fell onto the sidewalk, and the other teen's sunglasses slipped off their face.
Rose was the first to get up, brushing possible dirt off her skirt. "I'm so sorry. Let me help…" She extended her hand out and lost her voice when she looked at the other teen's face.
The other teen was a boy she would recognize anywhere; she had seen him in a bunch of news articles for the past several years. His tanned skin, his dark hair, his olive green eyes…
"Y-you. You're-you're," Rose stammered.
The boy quickly put his sunglasses back on and grabbed her hand in haste. "Yes. Yes, I am him. Please don't say anything; I'm not supposed to be out here by myself." He sent rapid looks over his shoulders and around the street, getting back on his feet.
Rose did likewise before whispering sharply to him, "You're the prince! What are you doing here?"
He rubbed the bridge of his nose in almost exasperation. "I'm here to visit Amity Park's children's hospital, but on my way into the city, my ride broke down so I'm staying in the city a few extra days until it's either fixed or my chaperone can arrange another one. I was tired of waiting and doing nothing in my hotel room so I snuck out to find something fun to do."
Rose's eyes lit up. "Ooh, if you're looking for somewhere fun to go, I could show you. I can be your guide so you don't get lost."
Ali brightened at her suggestion. "Really? That would be most wonderful and kind of you. Thank you, miss…"
"Rose. Rose Lavillant, your-!" Rose began to curtsy.
He waved his hands at her. "Please, none of that here. It might make people suspicious. How about a greeting normal strangers do? Like a handshake?" He offered a hand out.
Rose accepted the hand and shook it, giggling. "Like I said, my name is Rose. It's an honor and a pleasure to meet you."
"A pleasure likewise, and please call me Al while I'm like this."
"Sure thing. Now, you were sneaking out to go somewhere fun?"
"That is correct. Since you offered to be my guide, I suppose you have an idea."
She offered him a cheeky smile. "I might know a place or two."
At the amusement park, Danny walked with Sam and Tucker.
"And because of some stupid shadow, I had to spend another night rounding up the same ghosts again! At least Ladybug and Chat Noir were there to help speed things up," he ranted to them.
Sam glanced at Tucker. "Maybe you could do a web search on your phone."
Tucker took out his phone to do so, but it was immediately snatched away from him. The trio had the unfortunate luck to cross paths with Dash and Kwan.
Kwan, who held Tucker's phone, proceeded to mock him. "Check me out. I'm Tucker Foley, styling large with the latest in techno geek fashion."
"Dude, you do that a little too well," Dash commented to his friend, slightly concerned.
Realizing his teammate may have had a point, Kwan dropped the phone like it was hazardous. "Ah! Techno geek is contagious!" He and Dash ran off, screaming.
Catching his phone before it hit the ground, Tucker frowned at it then shoved it at Sam. "That's it! I'm sick of being labeled. By the end of the day, nobody's going to call Tucker Foley a techno geek anymore!" He stomped off, leaving Danny and Sam to follow him.
Along the way, they passed Jazz at a stall selling paintings of clowns without noticing it. The high school junior scrutinized one of the paintings closely.
"Sure, he's smiling on the outside, but I can sense the tortured soul just below the surface," Jazz critiqued.
"No, he's smiling on the inside too," commented the stall owner, who was also a clown and bored out of his mind.
Above Jazz, Johnny rode along the phone lines on his motorcycle. Once he found Jazz, he pointed his ring at her.
"There! That's her," he told Kitty through the ring, "The kid of the big fat idiot who fried your body."
Kitty took a moment to assess Jazz's appearance. "She'll do for now."
Johnny glimpsed around the amusement park, and saw a cargo truck not too far away from one of the rides. A plan formed in his head. "Shadow, truck!" He pointed at the truck, and Shadow flew out from the bike.
Down below, Danny and his friends walked past the truck Johnny had been eyeing. Tucker was still rambling about changing his image, not paying attention as he walked under a ladder.
"Maybe I could be the funny guy, maybe the smooth, maybe-!" Tucker finally stopped rambling when he was punched in the face.
Dash and Kwan apparently had gotten over their freakout and came back for round two.
"Check it out," said Kwan to Dash, "he just walked under a ladder into your fist."
"Hey, we should call him Bad Luck Tuck," Dash taunted, pulling his fist back. He and his friend prepared to gang up on the geek. They couldn't get away with it at school anymore, but somewhere else was evidently on the table.
Tucker backed up near the truck. "What? No, I am not bad luck!"
At that moment, Danny saw Shadow enter the cab of the truck while everyone else's attention was on the bullies and the potential victim.
"No, but I think I know what is," he muttered to himself.
Shadow sat in the truck for a moment, trying to figure out how to sabotage it before deciding on snapping off the parking brake then flying out to return to his master. As he fled, the truck started to roll down the slight incline it was on. Danny, Sam, Tucker, and the bullies all watched it go.
"Oh great, more bad luck," Danny sarcastically commented, running off to transform in private.
While he did that, the truck crashed into one of the rides, sending cracks up one of the rollercoasters and breaking one of the hills on the track in two.
Nearby, Rose and Prince Ali in his disguise were wandering the amusement park, each with a cone of cotton candy in hand and a stuffed animal they had won at one of the games.
"I've never had candy so fluffy before," remarked Ali as he bit off a piece of his cone. "What did you say this was called?"
"Cotton candy," Rose answered. "You've really never had it before?"
"Why would I have candy made out of material we use for clothes?"
Before Rose could explain how the candy was only called that because its texture resembled the material it was named for, they both heard a large crash and saw the truck ram into the rollercoaster and send cracks up the frame. Their jaws dropped open in horror as the tracks splintered just in time for the cars to fly off the ride completely.
"Is this amusement park always that unsafe?" Ali asked.
Rose shook her head. "Not usually, no. It's only really become a problem since the ghosts and akumas started."
To their relief, they watched Phantom fly onto the scene and catch the man who once had been Dino Scary, who proceeded to catch two kids in his arms. Though there was some brief worry as a third kid fell but luckily landed in a nearby ball pit.
"Though it's not so bad as long as we have heroes like Phantom, Ladybug, and Chat Noir around," she continued.
The pair heard a scream, and saw Jazz standing by a fence with her own cotton candy in hand. They then noticed that the rollercoaster cars were flying straight towards her.
Out of nowhere, Johnny sped by and swept Jazz onto his motorcycle without stopping, the rollercoaster cars crashing into the fence seconds later.
Johnny stopped his motorcycle several feet away from the crash site, Jazz on the seat behind him.
"I… you…" Jazz struggled to find words to say, but couldn't due to her life nearly flashing before her eyes.
Knowing what she was trying to say, Johnny smiled at her and she did so in return.
Danny, back in his human form, ran over to them. "Jazz, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks to…" Jazz attempted to address her rescuer but realized she did not know his name.
"Johnny," the biker introduced himself, "the name's Johnny." The pair stared into each other's eyes, and then Johnny cocked an eyebrow at the third party present. "Shouldn't you be somewhere else?"
"No. Shouldn't you?" retorted Danny.
The two boys leered at each other until Jazz stepped in between them. She took Johnny's arm as she scolded her brother, "Danny, don't be rude." Putting her smile back on, she began introducing herself to her rescuer. "Hi, I'm Jasmine. Jazz." It was then she got a look at her reflection in the mirror on Johnny's motorcycle; her hair was frazzled. "Ugh, I look like I was almost run over by a rollercoaster."
Which she was.
Johnny replied, "We, excuse me, I think you look great, Kitten. But here, I bet you'd look great in this." He pulled out Kitty's scarf from inside his jacket and held it out for Jazz to take.
"My name's not Kitten," Jazz said at the same time Danny did about the same subject. She took the scarf and draped it around her neck. Her eyes flashed green momentarily as the scarf took effect, and she nudged her brother to shut him up. "But, you can call me that if you want."
Pleased that the scarf was working as intended, Johnny then offered, "Ride home, Kitten?"
To Danny's shock, Jazz accepted the ride and got on the bike behind Johnny, donning a spare helmet Johnny kept on the motorcycle. While Jazz rode away with her new crush, Sam and Tucker discovered Dash and Kwan had rounded up Dale and a few other members of the football team to spread the latter's new nickname.
"Bad luck Tuck! Bad luck Tuck! Bad luck Tuck!" The jocks chanted.
Sam threw Tucker a sympathetic glance. "At least they're not calling you techno geek anymore."
That did not make Tucker feel any better as he dropped his face into his hands.
"Run by me what we're doing again, exactly?"
That afternoon, Marinette was gathered at the park with Juleka, Alya, Nino, and Adrien.
"We're trying to break a jinx on Juleka so she can get a good photo in the yearbook," Marinette explained one more time.
Alya raised an eyebrow. "A jinx? No offense, girl, but I didn't take you for the superstitious type."
Marinette groaned. "Alya, this is turning out to be a real thing. Juleka showed me a bunch of photos where she's barely in them, and when I tried to test her theory, a bird hit my window, I sneezed while trying to take a picture, and my garbage caught fire even though there was only like one thing in there that couldn't have combusted."
"Right, so what's that got to do with having us meet here?" Alya inquired.
"I'm not taking any more chances at my house when something worse than my garbage spontaneously combusting could happen. That's why we're trying this in a more public space."
"And the fire extinguishers?" Alya jabbed her thumb at Adrien and Nino each holding one.
"In case something catches fire here. They're also serving as lookouts for stray birds or other things that might block the shot."
Alya then pointed a finger at herself. "And am I here for?"
"You're acting as a second photographer. I figure if a picture from one angle is sabotaged, then we can still get one from a different position."
"And we're not doing pictures over by the fountain because Juleka could fall in by accident or something could knock her in because of the jinx?" Nino spoke up, gesturing to the fountain twenty feet away.
Marinette gave him a thumbs up. "Bingo."
"And not by a tree in case a big branch falls?" The nearest tree was also twenty feet away.
"Yep."
Adrien blinked at her, impressed by her foresight. "Wow, she's thorough."
Marinette blushed at the praise and stuttered out directions. "A-Alya, you t-take your ph-phone and stand over there. J-Juleka, pick a p-pose you want. N-Nino, you and A-Adrien on stand each Juleka side. Gah! I mean-!"
"You want us to stand on each side of Juleka in case something comes?" Adrien asked.
"Y-yeah, t-too close though n-not. Ugh!" Marinette's blush grew as she stumbled over her words. "You mean know I!"
Adrien looked at Nino in confusion at that last sentence, but the other boy shrugged and they went to their stations. While Adrien's back was turned, Marinette facepalmed at her flubs. Alya patted her on the shoulder before moving to her spot. Juleka stood a few feet in the middle of Adrien and Nino, each close enough to protect Juleka but not close enough to be caught in the picture.
She took a deep breath and opened the camera app. "Alright! Alya, on my count! One, two-!"
"Ball!"
"Duck!"
"Three!"
Adrien's reflexes were faster than Nino's due to his hero work, and he was quick to drop the extinguisher and tackle Juleka to the ground right before a soccer ball sailed through right where her head would have been if she was still standing. Marinette had to stumble to the side too because the ball came in her direction also.
Kim, Alix, and Max came running over.
"Are you guys alright?" Alix asked. "We were playing one on one match, but then Kim kicked the ball too hard."
Kim hunched his shoulders guiltily. "Sorry. I got a little too into it, I guess."
Max raised his hand. "I was scorekeeping."
"I'm fine," Adrien said, checking over Juleka as he helped her up. "How about you, Juleka?"
"I'm good. Thanks for the save," replied Juleka.
"The important thing is we're all cool," Nino added.
Marinette nodded in agreement. "Good." She addressed Alya next. "Did we get a good picture?" She and her bestie opened their albums. All she had was a blurry photo of Adrien tackling Juleka and the ball spinning toward her; Alya's wasn't much better since Adrien took up most of the view while a smidge of Juleka's purple could be seen. "Seriously?"
"What's the problem?" Max inquired.
Kim saw the fire extinguisher in Nino's hands. "Yeah, and what's up with the fire foam thing? The park isn't on fire, and there's not a barbecue going on. At least I don't think so." He glanced up and around just to double check.
While Alix grabbed the soccer ball, Marinette explained the whole thing to them. When she was finished, Max looked doubtful.
"There's no such thing," he scoffed. "While I will admit the odds of something interrupting every photo like that are astronomically low, there's always an explanation behind every coincidence."
Kim shrugged. "I don't know. We didn't know Hawk Moth and the Miraculous stuff existed until this year. Jinxes could be a thing too."
Max opened his mouth to argue, but he had to agree with his athletic friend on that point.
"Someone once told me that all stories have to come from somewhere," Marinette said, glancing at her album of failed pictures. "The more times a picture for Juleka gets ruined, the more I'm starting to believe that this jinx is real after all."
Juleka sighed. "Maybe we should stop… it's pointless."
Alya threw an arm around Juleka's shoulders. "We're not giving up." She checked around the park. "I don't see any other groups with balls or something else that could fly at us, so we should have better luck this time."
"Alya's right," Marinette agreed and began pointing at everyone. "Everyone, back to position. Alix, Kim, Max, you can stick around if you want but try not to do anything that could interrupt the shot again."
They all did as instructed, and Alix, Kim, and Max sat off to the side with their ball in Alix's grasp. Marinette and Alya prepared to take another photo, but right when their cameras clicked, a bee landed on each of their lenses at the exact same time.
"Oh, come on!" Marinette complained when she saw both her and Alya's picture were closeups of a bee.
Alix nudged Max's arm. "Bees landed on both their cameras. Coincidence or jinx?"
Max wanted to do the calculations of such a scenario, but he had to admit them doing it at the exact same time the picture was being taken raised some doubts.
Alya watched the bees fly away after realizing they wouldn't be finding any pollen. "Bees are gone. Try again?"
Marinette nodded. "Please. I'm sure we'll get it this time."
Juleka kept her mouth shut.
The two girls prepared to take another picture, but a terrifying sound startled them as they moved their thumbs.
Crack!
"Move!"
Kim's shout sprung the group into action and they all ran away from the noise's source. Moments later, one of the trees closest to them fell on the patch of ground that separated Marinette and Alya from Juleka, Adrien, and Nino.
The eight teens stared at the fallen tree in horror. After several moments of silence, Alix was the one that finally spoke up.
"Um, did that really just happen?" Alix asked, dropping her soccer ball.
Max approached the tree stump to inspect it. "Odd. It wasn't the work of a beaver, and we didn't see anybody near the tree with some kind of tool that could have chopped it down."
Kim joined his friend in looking at the stump. "Do you think the jinx did it? To prevent Juleka from getting a good photo?"
Adrien frowned. "Doesn't that sound a little ridiculous? It could have been the work of an akuma that hates trees."
"The important thing is everyone's okay, right?" said Nino, checking himself and Adrien over.
Alya waved a hand. "We're fine over here. Right, Marinette?" She looked to her best friend for confirmation, but her friend's gaze was elsewhere.
"Juleka?" Marinette softly called the girl's name.
It was then the rest of the group turned their attention to the final member of their group. Juleka was staring at the tree, her face terrified.
Marinette reached a hand out to her. "Juleka?"
The girl flinched at her name being said again, and then after rapidly flicking her gaze between her friends and the fallen tree, ran off with tears in her eyes.
"Juleka!" Marinette shouted after her in concern.
"Juleka, come back!" "Wait!"
That evening, Rose and Ali in his disguise emerged from the movie theater with the rest of the crowd, still holding their stuffed animals from the amusement park.
"That new Crimson Chin movie was amazing! I'm glad that they finally put Cleft the Boy Chin Wonder in. I hope the next one adds Cleft's dogs, the Chin Hounds," Ali rambled excitedly. [6]
Rose gasped delightedly. "That would be so cute! The only thing better than superheroes fighting crime are their super pets fighting crime!"
The two stood at the curb while Ali kept going, the crowd dispersing around them. "And did you see how many people were packed into that theater? I've never seen a crowd that big in a theater before."
"You haven't?" Rose blinked, surprised.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've only ever attended private screenings before, all pre-arranged and everything. I've never been able to just walk into a theater to see a movie whenever I felt like it." The prince looked back at the door they came through. "It was nice, being part of the public and enjoying the movie with them like that."
Before they could discuss further, a car pulled up to the curb. Rose didn't recognize it and suspected it was a threat to the prince's well-being, so she quickly put herself between him and the car with her expression puckered in defensive anger. A woman in a neat suit and a few men wearing black and white suits and sunglasses emerged from the vehicle.
The woman looked past Rose directly at the prince. "There you are! Your highness, we've been looking for you."
"A likely story," Rose growled.
Ali patted her shoulder. "Rose, it's okay. It's just my chaperone and my bodyguards."
Looking between him and the chaperone, Rose flushed. "Oh, sorry." She stepped aside to avoid further misunderstandings.
The chaperone tapped her foot impatiently. "I cannot believe you snuck out. Again."
"I apologize for distressing you and the others," Ali said, bowing gracefully. "I did not wish to spend the rest of the wait for new transportation confined to the suite when I could be out having fun instead." He smiled at her. "And fun I had, I went to the local amusement park, saw a new movie like a normal person, and I even saw one of the local heroes the Internet and the news have been discussing lately."
The chaperone's jaw dropped while the bodyguards were stoic, though one of them did raise an eyebrow in surprise. "You met one of the heroes here?" The chaperone asked.
"Not quite," Rose corrected, holding up a finger to interject. "We only saw Phantom from a distance. He was kind of busy saving people from a broken rollercoaster."
"A broken rollercoaster!" At her shout, the bodyguards started checking over Ali despite his protests.
He finally shooed them away. "Nobody was hurt, we promise."
The chaperone pinched her nose. "Your parents are going to have my head one of these days…" Shaking her head, she beckoned to him. "Come along, we need to return to the hotel."
Ali sighed. "I guess that ends one outing." He faced Rose. "Thank you for the lovely company, Rose. I had fun."
She smiled brightly at him. "My pleasure. Thank you for trusting me to be your guide. I had lots of fun too."
Nodding, Ali moved to get in the car with his bodyguards and chaperone. At the door, he paused then addressed his chaperone in a hushed whisper. Rose tried not to eavesdrop, but she did note a bit of shock cross the chaperone's face at whatever he was saying. The hushed whispering continued a little longer until Ali suddenly was walking back over to Rose.
"Rose, would you care to join us for dinner tomorrow night? It will be my last day in Amity Park before we move onto the next children's hospital," he said.
Rose touched a hand to her chest. "Dinner? With you? Oh, well, I'm not sure if…"
He insisted, "Please. Let me repay you for today."
She blushed at the offer. "Oh! Um, okay! Yes, I will!"
"Great! Be at the entrance of the Grand Amity Park at seven! My chaperone will bring you up to our suite." Glad that Rose accepted the invitation, Ali got in the car with the rest of his entourage and they drove away, leaving Rose at the front of the theater.
Rose waved as he departed.
Little did she, Ali, or his entourage know, someone had taken a picture of the meeting. Of Rose and Ali being confronted by the chaperone and the bodyguards, of Rose and Ali saying goodbye, and of Ali extending the invitation. One constant was in all the pictures, Rose and Ali were standing close to each other, much too close to be considered only acquaintances. To the viewing eye, unless they knew the context, Rose and Ali seemed to be friendly.
Danny arrived home to see Johnny's motorcycle parked outside FentonWorks.
"He's here? Oh man, that can't be good." He hurried up the porch.
Inside, Jazz and Johnny were on the couch in the living room.
"You do have a last name, don't you?" Jazz was asking Johnny.
Johnny reclined back on the couch. "Yeah, but everybody calls me Johnny 13. I kinda got this reputation for being… unlucky."
Jazz gazed at him flirtingly. "Well, you were pretty lucky for me."
Johnny picked up Kitty's jacket he had beside him and held it out to her. "Here, try this on."
Much like what happened with the scarf, Jazz's eyes glowed briefly when she put the jacket on. Overcome with Kitty's flirty instincts, Jazz leaned in to kiss Johnny with him doing the same. Before their lips could meet, Danny burst in through the front door. Annoyed at Danny for interrupting the moment, Johnny glared at him with the younger teen doing the same. Without breaking eye contact, Danny stomped into another room until the biker couldn't see him anymore.
Once he was sure Danny was gone, Johnny returned his attention to Jazz. "Hey, ain't you got a place in here where we can be alone? Like a basement?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Come on." Jazz took Johnny's hand and led him through the kitchen down to the basement lab.
In the other room, Danny overheard the exchange and formed a plan to stop them.
Downstairs, normally responsible Jazz threw caution to the wind and opened the ghost portal with the new genetic lock.
"Cool," said Johnny, admiring the open portal.
Jazz walked over from the control panel. "No, it's not, but at least my brother can't bug us here."
Maybe not, but a pair of certain parents could.
"Jasmine Fenton!" Jack's voice roared, and the couple spun around to see a smug Danny leaning against the wall next to the staircase leading up to the kitchen. Jack and Maddie rushed downstairs, both fuming. "You know you're not allowed to bring unauthorized personnel down here!"
"You know better," chastised Maddie.
Shockingly in unison, both Jack and Danny added, "You were about to let some strange punk activate the Fenton Portal?" Even father and son were surprised after the fact how in sync they were.
"Hey, lay off. We were doing nothing, pops," Johnny scoffed, crossing his arms.
"His name isn't Pops," Maddie and Danny snapped, quickly becoming startled by them speaking simultaneously too.
Johnny stuck his hands in his coat pockets and sauntered out. "Yeah, whatever. This place is getting too cramped for my style, anyway."
Jazz quickly followed him. "I'll walk you out, Johnny." Stopping by her brother at the bottom of the stairs, she pointed an accusing finger at him. "And could you be any more like them?" Huffing, she climbed the stairs after her new boyfriend.
"I am not like him!" Jack, Maddie, and Danny retorted as one. The phenomenon scared all three into looking at each other.
"This is awkward," Danny said right after, the parents and child silently vowing never to let that happen again.
The next day at school, Marinette found Juleka on her way to her locker and caught up to her.
"Juleka! I'm so glad you're okay." Marinette walked beside her, internally feeling sadness for Juleka's hunched posture as the latter clutched a textbook to her chest. "I'm so sorry about yesterday."
The mention of the previous day's incidents only made Juleka want to shrink behind her textbook. "It's fine… I'm the one who should be sorry…"
Marinette stared at Juleka in disbelief. "What? Juleka, no! It's not your fault."
"But it is," Juleka insisted, stopping in the middle of the hall. To Marinette's shock, the gloomy girl actually stared her in the face with the one eye that was not hidden by her long fringe. "My jinx is the reason why your garbage caught fire when it shouldn't have, and it's also why that tree fell without a clear explanation and almost hurt you guys. It's my fault."
"Don't say that. Listen, we can figure this out-!"
"I don't want to figure it out!" Juleka almost never raised her voice, so Marinette stepped back with alarm when she did. "Don't you get it? I've had this jinx for years and never found a way around it. Whether it's pictures for school or pictures of stuff with my family or my friends, they never come out good. The stuff yesterday is proof that it's getting stronger, getting worse! I don't want to be the reason why you, or Rose, or anybody else gets hurt or dies just from trying to take a photo!" Lowering her voice again, she added in a mumble, "Just… forget it. Please."
Juleka ran off, face hidden in her textbook.
"Juleka…" Marinette whispered her name, a hand feebly reached out to try and stop her from running away.
-LB-CN-P-
Hawk Moth's window to the city opened.
"A girl hoping not to be forgotten," the villain monologued, "well, becoming one of my allies will make sure everybody remembers you." He filled a butterfly with dark energy and sent it out. "Fly away my little akuma, and darken her heart."
-LB-CN-P-
Juleka was at her desk in the back corner of homeroom across from Danny and his group's usual seats. She had her head resting on her arms, trying to tune out the world. The akuma was outside the window and about to creep through the window somehow when Rose entered, beaming.
"Juleka! I had the most amazing afternoon yesterday!" Rose exclaimed, sliding into her seat next to Juleka's. "You would not believe who I ran into on my way to check on you and Marinette."
Juleka made a mumbling noise that sounded like "Who?"
Having known Juleka for years and could therefor understand her mumbling, she cheerfully responded, "Prince Ali! He's been in Amity Park visiting the children's hospital for the past few days, and his tour bus broke down so they had to stay a few days more. He was in Amity Park, and I didn't know it until we met on the street by accident. Can you believe that?"
A snort escaped Juleka and she finally lifted her head off her desk. A small smile formed on her lips. "I always believe you, Rose."
Rose giggled, touching her best friend's arm. "You're so sweet. Want to hear everything?"
"Sure, tell me all about it."
"Okay!" Rose went into full tilt gushing mode. "There I was, walking back to the bakery and I was only a few blocks away when I bumped into this nice boy going the other way. Turns out it was actually the prince sneaking out to have fun!"
The more Rose rambled on about her afternoon with the foreign prince, the less Juleka felt sad about her own problems.
Neither girl noticed the akuma change direction and flutter away.
-LB-CN-P-
"No, no! Her negative emotions are disappearing! What happened?" Hawk Moth demanded, pounding the bottom of his cane on the floor of his lair repeatedly in rage.
There was no one to tell him it was the love for a friend.
-LB-CN-P-
It was a beautiful day when lunchtime arrived, so Danny's group chose to eat outside that day. Now that they had some free time, Danny told Sam and Tucker of Johnny's visit to the house and his creepy synchronization with his parents.
"The weirdest part was me and my parents were actually on the same page! I'm not like them, am I?" He asked his friends.
Sam sarcastically went through the list. "Let's see, you're stubborn, overprotective, your last name is Fenton, and you hunt ghosts."
Tucker added brightly, "The only thing you're missing is the hazmat goggles and the wonder gut."
Two other students they vaguely recognized from other classes were already at the table they chose, one located under the shade of a tree.
"Eek! It's Bad Luck Tuck!" Aurore Boureal squeaked in disgust, standing up from the table and urging her tall, redheaded friend to do the same. "Come on, Ondine! Let's find a different table."
Ondine was reluctant to do so, but followed her friend with her lunch. She did give a friendly wave to the trio when Aurore was not looking, though. [7]
Little did the departing pair realize they were walking directly over Shadow, who was hidden in, well, the picnic table's shadow. The personification of bad luck slithered over underneath Tucker, tasting an opportunity to cause havoc.
Frustrated by the nickname, Tucker sat down at the table and picked up his spoon to begin eating. He waved his spoon around angrily. "I am not bad luck!"
Right after he said that, Shadow swept his arm up at Tucker's, flinging the spoon from his grip up into a wasp nest that was attached to the tree the group's table was located under. Angered by their home being attacked, the wasps emerged from the nest by the hundreds. Everyone that was eating outside that day screamed and attempted to flee inside the school for safety before they could get stung.
Several were unsuccessful.
Later that day when classes ended, Tucker had to endure glares from multiple students who were stung more than once as he and his friends walked out.
With a face full of stings himself, Tucker noted, "Suddenly, techno geek sounds like a term of endearment."
Ahead of them, Jazz reached the curb and saw Johnny on his motorcycle. Her face brightened at the sight of him. "Hey, Johnny. What are you doing here?"
Johnny shrugged. "What can I say, doll? No matter how hard I try, I just can't stay away."
Danny, Sam, and Tucker stopped to talk with Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino. While Danny, Sam, Adrien, and Marinette were all free of wasp stings, Alya, Nino, and Tucker were not as fortunate.
"Hey, how come you guys didn't get stung?" Nino complained, noticing how half of them avoided the pain. "We were all outside when the wasps attacked."
"Uh, good luck?" Adrien, Danny, and Marinette answered together. Adrien and Marinette chalked up their evasion as part of some sort of magical protection by their Miraculous; Danny, however, had used his ghost powers on himself and Sam to let the wasps go through them. He had intended to help Tucker too, but he was already stung before he could reach him.
Tucker groaned, fed up with someone mentioning luck of any kind. At the same moment, Danny's Ghost Sense tingled.
That was when Kyle approached the group.
Danny rolled his eyes, wanting to get away and investigate what set off his Ghost Sense. "Oh great. What do you want, Kyle? Did Wes send you to spy on me?"
"Spy on you? Dude, no. I was just coming to ask if Jazz recently got a new boyfriend," said Kyle.
That caused the youngest Fenton to become more alert, straightening his posture. "Dare I ask why?"
Kyle pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Because she's getting on some guy's motorcycle."
Danny looked past Kyle, and sure enough, Jazz was getting on Johnny's motorcycle and putting on the helmet she borrowed yesterday. Johnny revved the engine once she was seated and the pair were cruising away.
"Darn it, Jazz!" Danny snapped, running off to pursue the situation and leaving his friends behind.
After arriving home, Marinette set her backpack aside and opened to a fresh page in her design sketchbook. Thinking for a moment, she started sketching. After several minutes of drawing, she stopped to observe her design.
"What do you think, Tikki?" Marinette asked, holding up her sketchbook for her kwami to see.
Tikki looked at the drawing. "Ooh, that looks pretty. What is it?"
"It's a wrist mirror. You put it on like a bracelet, and then if you want to check something on your face, you flip open the lid to access the mirror."
"Why does the lid look like a skull?" Tikki wondered, pointing to the design for the lid.
Marinette lowered her sketchbook so she could continue modifying the drawings. "It's for Juleka. She was really upset this morning, so I want to make her something to cheer her up." At the mention of Juleka, the aspiring designer paused and glanced over to her kwami. "Tikki, jinxes are real. Aren't they?"
Tikki nodded. "Very real. Just like us kwamis and our Miraculous, or the ghosts. There's lots of magic in the world, and stuff like curses and jinxes are only one kind."
"Do you think Juleka was right, then? That her jinx is getting stronger? Do you know why?" Marinette set her sketchbook aside to regard her kwami seriously.
The little red creature tapped her paw to her chin thoughtfully. "If her jinx only got stronger now, it might be because the Miraculous were activated. Having more magic in the area might have given it a boost, especially if that bad luck ghost Danny mentioned is still running around, since not being able to have a good picture sounds like that kind of bad luck."
"Right," Marinette confirmed. She mulled the new information over in her mind. "So if this jinx really is magic, then we can't break it simply by organizing the best opportunity for a picture to be taken. A magical problem like this needs a magical solution." A pout crossed her face as she leaned back in her computer chair. "Ugh, but I don't know anything about magic!"
Tikki hovered over, not wanting her chosen to feel bad for long. "True, but I think I have an idea." She pointed at the sketchbook. "Make that wrist mirror for Juleka, and leave the rest to me."
Transforming into his ghost form the first chance he got, Phantom flew after Johnny and Jazz, who were driving toward an overlook on the outskirts of Amity Park. He tried to be subtle about following them, but one look at the rearview mirror told Johnny all he needed to know.
"Shadow, defend," Johnny hissed to his loyal shroud.
The inky ghost flew up to keep Phantom busy while Johnny and Jazz continued toward the hill; Phantom went after Shadow, figuring he would need to defeat him first before dealing with Johnny.
At the top of the hill, Johnny and Jazz got off his motorcycle and looked out toward downtown Amity Park, the tall buildings visible from their viewpoint and the roofs of suburban neighborhoods below them.
As they looked at the view, Johnny spoke, "Jazz, I know this is a little quick, but how would you like to be my girl?" Reaching in his pocket, he retrieved Kitty's last piece of clothing, her ring that matched his.
Above them, Phantom was in battle with Shadow. He tried to shoot an ecto blast at Johnny's follower, but Shadow merely opened a hole in his chest that allowed the blast to pass through harmlessly.
"Suffering spooks," Phantom muttered, realizing this foe was going to be trickier to beat than he thought. Then he had a worse realization once he heard what he had said, "Suffering spooks? Oh man, I am becoming my dad!"
His moment of crisis was the chance Shadow needed to launch his own attack. Phantom screamed as Shadow stretched wide enough to swallow him whole like a snake to a rodent or another equally small prey. His stomach strained and bulged as Phantom struggled to punch and kick his way out.
After a few attempts, Phantom managed to free his head and shoulders. "Got to break away from this thing," he muttered as Shadow tried to suck him back inside. He decided to try firing ecto blasts from the inside out and charged both fists.
Shadow seemed to enjoy pulling his captive back in his gut, but started to feel a warm, tingly sensation within. He let out a confused snarl as he glared down at Phantom.
The tactic worked as Shadow dispersed into tiny wisps when the ecto blasts fired. Phantom was fully free again, and Shadow reformed himself a few feet away. Noticing his foe was not finished yet, Phantom turned to fight but was briefly distracted by his still glowing hands.
"Okay, so bright light weakens it," Phantom concluded as Shadow shook his head like someone had set off a camera flash in front of his eyes. "I need some bright light." Looking around, he could see the movie theater in the distance with its brightly lit marque. "Oh yeah, that'll do." He flew in its direction with Shadow closely pursuing.
Coincidentally, Sam and Tucker were at the movie theater with Alya and Nino, the latter three having managed to make the wasp stings go away. They were at the concessions stand ordering food and drinks for their viewing of the Crimson Chin movie.
"One super large popcorn," the concessions stand employee passed them a bucket filled with popcorn. He blinked once he realized who he was serving. "Hey, I know you. You're Bad Luck Tuck!"
"And you're minimum wage Stan, but you don't hear me broadcasting it," Tucker quipped, taking his bucket.
Sam shrugged. "It's your fault for dumping the techno geek label. Maybe you need a new, new thing?"
"A new, new thing?" Nino wondered, sharing a glance with Alya, who held up her hands cluelessly.
"Yeah, you should go goth!" Sam declared, pulling out a black beret much like Tucker's red one. "Look, it says I'm Tucker, and I'm also edgy and dangerous."
Tucker frowned at her. "Why would I want to go goth? Isn't that you and Juleka's thing?"
"If she convinces Danny to go goth too, a quarter of the class would be goth," Alya teased to Nino, who chuckled.
"Imagine if the whole class went goth," Nino added.
Phantom and Shadow's chase arrived at the movie theater; they phased through the front doors and through the concessions stand. Shadow passing through had the effect of making a set of glass doors fall and shatter then the popcorn machine switched settings from medium to super high. That caused the popcorn machine to flood the lobby with popcorn, sending the patrons there out onto the sidewalk buried in the kernels.
Sam, Tucker, Alya, and Nino blinked as they all emerged from the popcorn.
Figuring goth was better than the bad luck label, Tucker sighed to Sam. "You win. Goth me up." Sam eagerly replaced his red beret with the black one.
"Popcorn?" Nino offered a handful to Alya behind them.
Inside, Phantom found a room that was starting to play a movie, and waited for Shadow to appear. Since they were both intangible, Phantom almost didn't see him until the projector turned on and Shadow let out a painful screech at the light affecting his body.
"Smile for the camera," Phantom smugly quipped.
The light was too much for Shadow, and he fled in wisps to recover.
Back at the overlook, Johnny and Jazz were curled up against his parked motorcycle, and Jazz had the jacket and scarf back on. Johnny subtly noticed Shadow's return to his side and figured he did not have much time before Phantom came back too, so he offered the ring again.
"So, Jazz? What do you say?" Johnny asked.
Jazz's initial shock at the ring wore off, and she started to gush. "A ring? You want to go steady? That is so old school!"
Phantom reached the overlook and hid in a tree above them. He didn't like how close his sister was getting to the guy. "Got to do something," he scrambled to find a way to interrupt when an idea occurred to him.
"You know what, Johnny?" Jazz moved to accept the ring.
De-transforming into his human form, Danny pretended to fall out of the tree right in front of the couple. Making it look accidental, he looked up at them as they stood in alarm. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
A scowl on her face, Jazz marched past Johnny and picked up her brother by the back of his shirt. "Were you spying on us?"
Rose arrived at the Grand Amity Park, wearing a black dress with pink accents Juleka had given her on her last birthday, and found Ali's chaperone waiting at the entrance with the doorman.
"Right on time," the chaperone said, motioning for the doorman to let them both indoors. "Follow me, please."
It was a bit awkward explaining to her parents she somehow got invited to dinner with a prince, and they were a little more than reluctant to let her go, but once she pointed out she could not refuse dinner with royalty, they let her attend if she dressed up nicely to make a good impression. She was certain Ali would have been fine with her wearing casual clothes like she had been during their day of fun, but her parents had the final word on the subject.
Ali's chaperone led her up the elevator to the top floor, where Chloe's family and the wealthiest and most famous guests stayed, and brought her to a door where two of the bodyguards from yesterday were stationed. Once the chaperone vouched for her, Rose was allowed into the suite and brought to a dining table where Ali was already sitting.
Ali gave her a warm smile from his seat. "Rose, welcome! Wonderful to see you again; please sit." He sat at the head of the table while the chaperone sat to his right with her back to the window and Rose to his left with her back to the living area. "Order what you would like from room service; the crown will pay for everything."
"That's very kind of you. Thank you!" Rose picked up the room service menu in front of her and considered her options. Once she came to a decision, they called the kitchen to make the order and began to wait.
After placing the call, Ali started some conversation. "While we wait, why don't you tell me about life here in Amity Park? It must have been quite peaceful up until a few months ago when that fiendish Hawk Moth started attacking and the ghosts began appearing."
She giggled at his comment. "You don't know the half of it. I've lived here my whole life and it's never been as eventful as it is now. Let me start from the beginning. See, I first met my best friend Juleka in kindergarten…"
"Were you spying on them?" Maddie demanded of Danny while Jack held him by his shirt so he couldn't avoid questioning.
After interrupting Johnny and Jazz's date, the pair took him back to FentonWorks so his and Jazz's parents could punish him. The pair stood off to the side, watching with annoyed frowns.
Keeping up the act, Danny caved. "Alright, alright, I was spying on Jazz, and I'm really-!"
To his confusion, his parents leaned in close to him with Jack whispering, "Good job."
Maddie added, "If you see Jazz with that hooligan again, let us know."
They all turned their attention to Jazz saying good night to Johnny as he rode off, and she glared in response to their stares.
Remembering that they were pretending Danny was in trouble, Jack and Maddie took firm stances and chorused, "And don't do it again!"
Jack leaned in and commented with an afterthought, "Seriously, feel free to do it again."
Rose had told her story up until her current year of school, and the arrival of the food didn't stop her from finishing the tale. Ali spoke up a few times to ask a question for clarification on a detail, and the chaperone did so as well but mostly stayed silent during the conversation between the two teens.
"I really admire the work you've done for the children's charities," Rose said when they were well into the meal. "It's one of the many reasons why I want to work in charity fundraising when I'm older. I've been in those sick and injured children's shoes before, so I understand how they feel and how someone helping them can make even one day of their lives so much better."
Ali gazed at her with concern. "You've been that sick in the past?" [8]
She dabbed her face with a napkin to keep it clean and set the napkin aside. "I get migraines, more often than average. I try not to let it worry me, so I focus on making everybody else's day brighter." Sighing, she finished her plate. "It's been a bit of a challenge lately since anybody's negative emotions can be used against them and transform them into a villain of Hawk Moth's choosing, but I've been trying my best."
He smiled gratefully at her. "That's all anyone can ask of you. Thank you for doing your part to protect the world from that madman. And for feeling safe enough to share your past with me, someone who you've only met a day ago."
She beamed back. "I've followed your charity work. It's easy to open up to people when they're as sweet and kind and generous as you have been."
"Agreed. Now, would you like some dessert?"
The next day, Danny and Sam left Casper High once classes were over. Tucker had called in sick, for some reason, so it was the two of them that day. [9]
"This is the worst," Danny said to Sam as they left the school courtyard. "My sister's dating a ghost, and I'm turning into my parents."
"Hey, guys!"
Danny and Sam stopped their discussion to see Tucker standing in front of them. At least, Danny thought it was Tucker. His hair was out of his signature red beret and his black hair was spiky all over; he wore a black shirt with a skull on it and purple sleeves, a spiked collar and bracelets, and thick black boots much like Sam's own.
"What the heck are you turning into?" Danny asked, staring at his best friend strangely.
Sam allowed herself a grin and stepped over to stand beside Tucker. "We're changing his image."
"That's right," Tucker confirmed, smirking. "No more Bad Luck Tuck. I'm changing my image, again."
The half-ghost teen chuckled. "Come on, you can't pull off goth."
"Sure he can," Sam challenged, "Tucker, show him your disaffected scowl."
At her command, Tucker schooled his expression into an emotionless frown. Danny cocked his head, not buying the face. Sam didn't appear to be accepting it either.
"No, no, you need some help." Turning Tucker around, Sam began pushing him away from school. "If you need us, we'll be at Tucker's, darkening his outlook on the world. Won't that be fun?"
At first, Tucker agreed. "Yeah, we'll- wait, what are we doing at Tucker's?"
That evening at Tucker's, Sam and Tucker were in his bathroom and the latter was judging his appearance in the mirror.
"I'm seriously not enjoying this," Tucker complained, pointing at the black eyeliner Sam put on him.
"But the ladies love the funky black eyeliner and mega onyx nail polish," reasoned Sam as she waved the makeup tools around.
Tucker held up his hands, which now had black nails. "Yeah, but on them!"
"Thanks again for dinner last night, I had a wonderful time."
Rose stood outside the Grand Amity Park with the prince and his entourage, Prince Ali's unassuming tour bus parked on the street. She had hurried over after classes finished to say goodbye.
"It was my pleasure." Ali dug in his pocket and removed a slip of paper, handing it over. "Here. This is my private phone number. I'd like to continue being friends with you even after I've left. If you ever have a question, or just want to chat, give me a call?"
She took the slip with awed reverence and tucked it in her backpack. "T-Thank you! I'll try to call when you're not busy."
"I will be looking forward to it, then. And please, do come visit Achu if you get a chance. You showed me around Amity Park, it's only fair I do the same for you."
The chaperone checked her phone and schedule. "Your highness, we should really be on our way."
The cue to leave given, Ali took one of Rose's hands and kissed the back of it gentlemanly. "See you another time, my friend Rose."
"You too, my friend Ali." Rose waved as he got on the bus.
Once the prince and his entourage were boarded, the bus started up and pulled away; Rose continued to bid farewell until the bus was out of sight.
Like at the movie theater, nobody saw a camera sneakily taking photographs of Rose and Ali's goodbyes. Of Ali passing his phone number to her, of Ali kissing the back of Rose's hand, and of Rose waving to the bus as it departed. This time, it could not be denied they were more than acquaintances. They were, indeed, friends.
Master Fu and Wayzz were doing some meditation after dinner when they heard knocking on a window. The Guardian of the Miraculous got up from his mat while Wayzz hid, and went to go open the window.
He unlatched it and swung it open. "Tikki? What are you doing here? Why are you not with your holder?"
Tikki flew into the bedroom, carrying a small box. "Master, do you know anything about lifting curses or jinxes?"
"I know a little about lifting both, but I can't remove something too strong. Why do you ask?" Fu replied, closing the window and locking it as Wayzz came back out of hiding.
The red kwami dropped the package on his bed and turned to him. "My holder and I need a favor."
Later that night, Johnny returned to FentonWorks and Jazz lit up from her bedroom window.
"Johnny, hi!" Jazz greeted, wearing the jacket and scarf.
"Hey, kitten. Is this a good time?" Johnny asked.
Jazz looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, my parents are asleep. Want to come up and listen to music with my earbuds?"
"Yeah… earbuds."
Jazz helped him sneak into the house, and after listening to a few songs, the pair snuck past Jack and Maddie's bedroom to creep downstairs to the lab.
"So, what do you say, kiddo? Want to be my girl?" Johnny offered the ring once more.
When Jazz moved to accept the ring, Danny's voice called out, "She's not anybody's girl!"
Annoyed at being interrupted yet again, the couple shouted, "Stop spying on us!"
Danny emerged from his hiding place and approached his sister. "No, I won't. Anymore than you would if it were me! Come on, Jazz. Think like the brain surgeon you keep telling us you're going to be. Does this seem right?" Casually, he slid the jacket and scarf off her shoulders.
Johnny checked on Kitty with his ring while Danny confronted his sister.
"What's taking so long? Johnny, get me out of here!" Kitty demanded.
Refusing to keep his girlfriend waiting any longer, Johnny turned his anger on Danny.
"Don't you think I'm doing this because I have a reason?" Danny continued to rationalize.
"You know what, punk?" Johnny grabbed Danny by his shirt at the same moment the jacket and scarf fell from Jazz's person. "We've had just about enough of you!" He reared his arm back for a punch.
Coming back to her senses, Jazz glared at the bad boy biker. "Hey, hands off the little brother!"
"Oh whatever," Johnny scoffed at her before throwing Danny across the room toward a cabinet. "Then we do this the hard way. Shadow, shelf!"
Shadow came out of hiding and entered the cabinet; when he came in contact with it, the cabinet broke and fell over Danny.
Jazz reached a hand out in concern for her brother. "Danny!" The action was exactly what Johnny expected, and he grabbed hold of it so he could put the ring on it himself. "Hey!" Her protests stopped as Kitty's influence took hold once more, and Shadow hovered over to drape the jacket and scarf back on her, completing the set he and Johnny needed. With her disoriented, Johnny pulled her over to the genetic lock and pressed her thumb to it to activate the portal.
Kitty stood on the other side of the portal door and once she had a clear view of Johnny and Jazz, she began the process of taking over Jazz's body. The process seemed to swap Jazz and Kitty's places. Before it could go too far, Danny transformed into Phantom and escaped the fallen cabinet with his intangibility. He quickly assessed what was happening to Jazz and swiftly flew over to grab the ring off her finger.
The transformation process ceased, and Kitty looked to Johnny in confusion. "Johnny?"
Johnny gasped and scowled in rage at Phantom.
"I don't know exactly what's going on, but I know you can't do it without this!" Phantom flaunted the ring in his hand and started flying out of the basement. "See you, freakshow!"
Johnny pointed after the ghost hero. "Shadow, fetch the ring!"
As soon as Phantom realized that Shadow was once again pursuing him, he reached for his phone and dialed his friends. "Tucker, Sam, please pick up!"
At Tucker's house, Sam stood by as Tucker washed his face in the bathroom.
"Tucker, I thought you wanted to wash away this bad luck thing?" Sam checked.
"The only thing I'm washing away is this stupid makeup," retorted Tucker.
Sam shrugged and pulled out a piercing. "Time for the ultimate goth accessory."
Tucker frowned at her. "I am not getting my ear pierced!"
"Who said anything about your ear?"
Realizing what she meant, Tucker drew the line. "Okay, that's it!"
Sam smirked at his frustration, tucking the piercing away in her pocket. "So maybe your first thing was your best thing, huh?"
It was then Tucker had a revelation and he cocked an eyebrow at Sam. "Yeah. Hey, you never really wanted me to go goth, did you?"
"Duh, goth's my thing," Sam answered as she dug in her backpack and pulled out a familiar red hat, "and I believe this is yours."
Tucker gratefully took the hat back and clutched it tight. "Oh, baby, I've missed you." Then his phone rang and he answered. Once he realized it was his other best friend, he put him on speaker.
"Hello? Hello? Tucker, you there?" Phantom shouted over the receiver.
"We're both here," Sam said, joining the conversation. "Goth and geek. What do you need?"
"I need geek!" Phantom pleaded and quickly gave them the rundown of a plan.
Back in the basement, Kitty was growing impatient with her boyfriend.
"Come on, Johnny, you know I can't switch places unless she's wearing my stuff!" Kitty scolded him, unable to pass through the portal.
The pair startled when they heard an adult voice from a floor above.
"What's going on down there?" Jack yelled.
"Oh crud," Johnny hissed and went to go take care of the situation. He grabbed a chair from the kitchen and hurried upstairs to jam the chair in front of Jack and Maddie's bedroom door. The biker heard a frustrated shout from Jack and replied smugly, "Sorry, Pops. Didn't want you cramping my style."
"Stop calling me Pops!" Jack demanded through the door.
Up above FentonWorks, Phantom kept leading Shadow in circles, making sure to stay out of the shroud's range.
"Come on, guys," he urged his friends over the phone.
"He's working on it," shot back Sam.
After a few more seconds of tinkering, Tucker hollered through the call, "We're good to go!"
Phantom ended the call, putting the plan into action. "Time for someone else to get a little dose of bad luck. Catch me if you can, Spooky!" He changed course and dove back into FentonWorks to catch Johnny's attention. He heard his father trying to break down the door, and led Shadow through it on purpose. Once Shadow passed through the door, it fell off its hinges.
Jack and Maddie stared at the door in surprise until Jack tried to take credit for the action, "I loosened it."
Diving back down into the basement lab, making sure to lead Shadow through the genetic lock to break it so it couldn't cause more trouble, Phantom snatched the jacket and scarf from Jazz. "You want this stuff? You're going to have to be faster than that!" He taunted to Johnny and Shadow both before flying out of the house again.
"Shadow, return!" Johnny ordered and the ghostly pair fled the house to the motorcycle. Johnny started it up and chased Phantom down the street.
Jack and Maddie arrived at the front door in time to see him drive away. "He's on the run!" Jack observed, grabbing a weapon.
"And I've got the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick!" Maddie held up a baseball bat.
"Sweetie, that's a regular bat," Jack pointed out.
"Yes," she agreed, "but it's a bat with the word 'Fenton' on it!" Letting out a battle cry, Maddie ran down the street after Johnny.
"Man, that's hot!" Jack grinned and joined his wife.
Johnny drove his motorcycle after Phantom. "I don't know what you're up to, kid, but there's nowhere to run. Shadow, fetch!"
Shadow emerged from the vehicle and rose to chase the enemy.
"Maybe I'm not trying to run," Phantom muttered cryptically, leading the pair to his trap.
Up ahead, Tucker fiddled with a fuse box while Sam shone a light for him. "Pass the circuit breaker here, ramp up the wattage there, reroute the power here…"
Phantom arrived on the scene, giving the command, "Hit it!"
"Hitting it!" Finishing his tweaks, Tucker flipped the switch.
Shadow was about to attack Phantom when he was suddenly flashed by tons of bright light, even brighter than the light at the movie theater the other day. He screeched in pain, trying to shield his face from it all.
Phantom had led him and Johnny to the baseball field near Casper High, and Tucker had turned on the flood lights the field used when baseball games ran long after dark.
"Maybe I'm exactly where I wanted to be," Phantom quipped in the tone of someone who declared checkmate in a chess game.
Shadow painfully dissipated, leaving Johnny to climb off his bike and try to find his bad luck partner. "Oh no, my shadow! My power! I gotta get out of here!" He attempted to run back to his motorcycle.
Sam threw Phantom one of the backup thermoses, and he uncapped it to point at Johnny. "Better luck next time! But next time… stay away from my sister!"
Johnny let out a scream as Phantom sucked him in the thermos, and his bike disappeared once he was trapped inside. Phantom landed on the ground and de-transformed moments before Jack and Maddie arrived at the field.
"Danny, where is Jazz's boyfriend?" Maddie questioned, holding the bat ready to strike.
"Gone," Danny answered proudly while hiding the thermos behind his back, "and he won't be coming back."
Jack stared at him, stunned. "You decked him?" Then his stare turned into a pout. "But we brought the bat with the word 'Fenton' on it."
Maddie cooed to her husband. "Oh, Jack, he's like a little you."
Remembering the creepy copying he and his parents had done a few days ago, Danny shuddered at the idea.
Back at the house, the whole family sat down at the kitchen table to discuss Jazz sneaking her boyfriend in. Sam and Tucker had gone home to their respective houses before they would get in trouble with their parents for being out late.
"I can't believe that kid broke into the house just to see you," Maddie told Jazz, smiling a bit. "That's so romantic," she said before becoming sterner, "but you still can't see him ever again."
"I told you that punk was no good!" Jack and Danny simultaneously called out, even shaking a fist in a similar manner. They both looked frightened at the mimicry afterward.
Jazz smiled fondly at her family. "Yeah, you did. You both did." She looked directly at Danny next. "But you told me first." She kissed him on the head as thanks.
"Hey!" protested Danny.
"Love you too," she said back.
Getting over the brief startle, Jack smiled down at his son. "Which reminds me, Danny. You've been such a model son lately, I got you a little surprise. A little piece of me you can always carry with you."
Danny frowned in confusion, suddenly worried about what he would receive. His parents never had the best ideas for gifts.
The next day at school, Marinette found Juleka at her locker.
"Hi, Juleka!" Marinette greeted on approach.
Juleka briefly side-eyed her before resuming arranging her stuff. "Hi…"
Seeing Juleka was still in a reluctant mood, Marinette fiddled with her backpack strap. "I just want to say I'm sorry about the whole jinx thing. I shouldn't have pushed it like that. I really wanted to help you break it."
"Hm…"
"And to make it up to you, I made you this." Reaching into her backpack, she brought out the same box Tikki had taken to Master Fu and handed it over to her classmate.
Juleka gasped softly at the box before slowly taking it and opening it. She gasped again when she looked inside. It was a wrist accessory with a skull design on top; she carefully removed it from the box and put it on her non-dominant arm. Noticing it flipped open, she opened the skull cover.
"It's a wrist mirror," Marinette said even though Juleka figured it out the moment she saw her reflection. "Just my way of trying to bring you a little extra luck."
"Thank you… I…" Juleka stumbled to find something to say, but Marinette held up a hand.
"Just enjoy it, okay?" Marinette gave her an encouraging smile and walked away. Behind her, Juleka resumed admiring her new accessory. The aspiring designer glanced over her shoulder to check if Juleka was still looking at her before turning the corner. Alya, Adrien, and Nino stood there waiting for her. "Did you get it?"
All three of them looked amazed as Alya opened her phone's album to the newest picture.
It was of Marinette and Juleka moments after the latter had put the wrist mirror on her arm.
As opposed to all the other previous attempts at taking a picture of her, Juleka was fully in frame and nothing blocked her face. It was a perfect picture.
"I don't know how you did it, dudette, but you beat her jinx," Nino said in wonder, looking at the photo.
"How'd you do it?" Adrien asked, looking at her instead.
Marinette's face grew redder than her hero identity's mask. "Ah well, you see… um…"
"I think by now we've learned not to question miracles," Alya interrupted, waving her phone at her bestie. "Should I send this to her?"
She thought about it and shook her head. "Nah. It would seem too pre-planned. Let's take a selfie with her in the background during homeroom and text it to her then."
Before anyone else could comment further, they saw Danny, Sam, and Tucker enter the school, Danny in the middle of trying to take off an oversized jumpsuit that they all thought looked like his father's. When the trio had pushed the doors open, they could hear Dash and his football teammates jeering at Danny until the doors closed again and tuned them out. Tucker was out of his goth clothes and was back in his usual attire and hat.
The other four students observed as the trio joined them, Danny peeling off the orange jumpsuit and cramming it in his backpack as best he could.
"Dude, what's up with that?" Nino pointed at the costume.
"Don't ask," Danny bluntly answered, shouldering his backpack.
"In other news," spoke up Tucker proudly, "no more Bad Luck Tuck. I'm back to being a techno geek, and I'm happy with it."
The group exchanged stories of how Danny had chased off Jazz's troublesome boyfriend and how Marinette broke the jinx on Juleka. By the time they finished, Rose walked through the entrance. Compared to everyone else's arrival, the petite girl's arrival was noticed by everyone in the hall.
"OMG, it's Rose!" One girl screamed excitedly.
"I want her autograph!" Another girl yelled, holding a pen.
"She's signing my shirt first!" A third one declared.
Rose's classmates watched as Rose was swarmed by boys and girls asking her questions and begging her to sign something or another. Initially taken aback by the crowd, Rose happily began handing out autographs though she wasn't entirely certain why the students wanted them.
Sam glanced at the others. "Uh, did we miss something?"
Adrien and Alya were the first to type on their phones for clues. It was Adrien who found something first.
"Um, guys? I think Rose might be famous," he said. Turning his phone around, he showed them headlines and photos, all involving Rose. There were photos of her and Ali outside the movie theater being confronted by the prince's entourage, of Rose walking into the Grand Amity Park with the chaperone, and of Rose waving bye to the prince and the bus.
Prince Ali spotted in Amity Park! New potential girlfriend?
Local Amity Park girl seen saying goodbye to visiting prince!
Friends with a prince? More likely than you think!
Like a singular unit, the seven students stared at the mob around Rose again, speechless. What had their classmate gotten up to while they were solving their own problems?
On a floating island in the vortex that made up the Ghost Zone, Johnny parked his motorcycle in the garage of his lair he shared with Kitty and Shadow. It was a bizarre fusion of his house from his life in the human realm and Kitty's.
Gathering Kitty's things from his motorcycle, he entered the house through the garage. Shadow, still weak from the lights, slithered into a dark corner to regain his strength. While the shroud did that, Johnny carried Kitty's clothes up to her bedroom across from his own. Setting them on her bed, he sat down next to them.
Gazing sadly at the pile, specifically the ring on top, he stared at his own. "I'm sorry, baby. I failed."
"It's not your fault, Johnny," she told him. "If it weren't for that girl's dumb brother, we'd be back together already."
"Yeah, I suppose," he exhaled a heavy breath. "What do we do now?"
She copied his heavy sigh, thinking. "I guess… I guess we do this the old-fashioned way. I need to take my time and gain the strength back to maintain my form. That will take weeks, though, maybe even months." [10]
"If that's what needs to be done then we just have to deal with it. Take it easy, alright?"
"I will. Talk to you later." Kitty's image disappeared from the surface of his ring.
Johnny sat in quiet for a few minutes but felt like hours; Shadow sensed his sadness at some point and curled up in the shadow of Kitty's pillow next to him. He spotted a framed picture on her nightstand and picked it up. It was of them riding on his motorcycle like they had done thousands of times.
"I'll wait for you, Kitten. As long as I need to," he vowed, tracing his finger over her face.
Sorry for the long wait! Since posting the previous chapter, I've been pouring all my time and energy into supporting The Owl House through its extremely unfair cancellation and premature series finale. I loved the finale; I applaud the crew for delivering one of the best finales I've seen in a cartoon despite the unfortunate circumstances they were put in. I just wish that we had at least two more FULL seasons to reach the conclusion we got, based on everything the crew has revealed we would have seen if the show hadn't been shortened. Now that the mouse is aware Owl House has a huge following, I'm hoping we can see more of that world once the creator has had a well-deserved break. Owl House caught my attention in a way very few cartoons I've watched in my life has, and it is going to stay a favorite of mine for the rest of my life. Thank you, The Owl House, for everything.
For this chapter, I chose to pair up the Prince Ali subplot from ML's Princess Fragrance episode with DP's 13 episode based on the theme of love, and to set up Reflekta, which I can confirm is next. As for the actual Princess Fragrance akuma, I'm not doing that one since I don't like it and it seems a bit too OP. Since magic is a thing that exists, I decided to play around with the idea that Juleka's bad photo jinx is real, and had fun coming up with the various ways a photo got interrupted. I have only one more chapter left in my buffer, and I'm still deciding when to post it, but I don't have any more currently written for Two Kinds after that due giving all my attention to Owl House recently and also because of my disappointment with ML's fifth season making me lose motivation. We'll see what happens.
[1] – I didn't like the ending of Horrificator with how Mr. Bourgeois disqualified the movie for bad special effects. Considering how they live in a world of heroes and akumas, he should have believed it.
[2] – In canon, Prince Ali visited Paris. Here, he visited the United States on a tour of sorts. He wanted to see all the children's hospitals.
[3] – Cameo from Tucker's PDA in canon, back when PDAs were popular technology.
[4] – Ember foreshadowing.
[5] – Vegetable akuma brick joke from the Mystery Meat episode.
[6] – Crimson Chin and Cleft the Boy Chin Wonder are references to The Fairly Odd Parents, another work from the same creator. Crimson Chin is a comic book series in that show, and Cleft is the main character's, Timmy, hero persona when he enters the comic books. The Chin Hounds are the hero personas of his fairies.
[7] – Cameo from Ondine, a character in ML. It is never clarified whose class she is part of in canon, so she'll be in Mendeleiev's homeroom for this project. I pity the students who got stuck with Mendeleiev.
[8] – Guiltrip foreshadowing.
[9] – For some reason, Danny and Sam never saw Tucker until the end of a school day in one scene during the 13 episode. I'm going with the idea that he faked sick and skipped school to complete his makeover.
[10] – Johnny and Kitty's original plan was likely a shortcut to her getting better. When that plan with Jazz fell through, they had to play the waiting game.
Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I just worked hard on, don't just use the review box to speculate on future plot points and what you want to see.