Chapter 6

Mario Kart 8: Nintendo's most iconic characters from the hit video game series, Super Mario Bros, come together with some new faces to race in go karts and prove who's the fastest! Race around and hit each other with items to claim the highest position you can!

The next stream that Marinette hosted, she decided to play Mario Kart 8 for her viewers and invited Chat Noir for it. She claimed to him that it would be a good experience for to learn, seeing as now he has CPU controlled characters to deal with as he commentates but really, she just wanted to play Mario Kart with him.

"So my lady, who are you going to pick?" Chat asked, as he contemplated the same question. Ladybug looked at all the different characters she could choose from and thought. When it comes to Mario Kart, she has a few characters that she likes to play as but as for who to play for the upcoming races, she wasn't sure. She wanted to have fun with Chat Noir and perhaps toy with him a bit so she had to pick a racer that would do just that.

Her eyes drifted over to the left side of the character selection screen and her lips began to curl into a smile as she found perfect character that fit her bill.

"You'll see!" she slyly said as she locked in her choice. She assembled her racing kart and went to the track select screen. "Anything you wanna race on Chat?"

"Ladies choice!" he purred. She rolled her eyes to his response and examined the choices. "Hmm… How about Mario Circuit?"

"As you wish my lady!" Chat said, selecting the course. Ladybug rolled her eyes again and locked in her choice. The roulette began toggle back and forth between the choices, but Ladybug thought it was unnecessary considering what the only choices were. Despite that, Chat cheered when the roulette selected on his choice of the track. Ladybug just giggled and readied herself.

"Be right back!" Chat said as the track began to load. Ladybug couldn't help but think of how easy it would be to win if he didn't make it back in time. Despite her thoughts, she said to him "Hurry back!"

As soon as the track loaded, the two racers were taken to a lush green environment with nice smoothly paved track on the ground below them. Ladybug's character waited as the character known as Lakitu floated above them and began to count down.

"Back!" Chat called out, just as the turtle on a floating cloud held out its index finger as a "1" appeared on the screen. Just as the race was about to start, Ladybug called out "GO!"

As she took an early lead, she could hear some mechanical noises coming from Chat's end of the call. "Everything alright over there?"

"Yeah! I just fumbled with my controller a bit! I'm good!"

Being already quite ahead of the other racers, she drifted her eyes to the map of the track on the right side of the screen. She noticed that there was one character that was trailing quite far behind the other racers. She giggled at the thought that Chat Noir chose that character. She asked, "Are you Cat Peach?"

"Ring a ding ding LB!" Ladybug couldn't contain her laughter, her thoughts now being confirmed. "Isn't she just purrfect."

Her laughs quickly turned to groans and grunts at the mention of the pun. Although, thanks to it, she realized why he chose her in the first place. She still thought it was funny though.

"Now let's see who you are my lady."

Chat began examining the track himself as he raced, quickly making his way up in the ranks. He had just passed Toadette and the baby version of Princess Peach so he knew that neither of them were the streamer. Koopa Troopa was just in front of him and it was shown that it wasn't her so that only left him with 8 other options left. The other racers from what he could see were Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Mario, Princess Peach, Baby Mario, and the guest character from The Legend of Zelda, Link. He checked the placings and saw that the racers in the first two positions, which he assumed she would be, which were Bowser and Princess Peach. He smiled as he deduced who he thought she was. He could feel his heart bloom at the thought of what she chose.

"Oh Ladybug!" he gleefully called out. "I know who you are~!"

"Come and get me then~" she retorted.

"You know I will!" Chat began to chuckle. "I'm coming for you, Princess!"

After a few heart pounding twists and turns, many items that caused both racers to rage, and a couple of Bullet Bill items that helped Chat catch up, the two were on their last lap and nearing the finish line. Bowser was in first place, followed by Cat Peach, then Princess Peach. There was one last item box for the racers before they reached the finish line to help them gain a last minute lead.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Ladybug kept repeating as she was approaching the finish line. Her last item for the race was a stack of coins which she used immediately to help her accelerate faster towards the goal, although being completely defenseless.

In Chat Noir's characters paws was a red shell, a homing item that targets the racer just in front of the user. Chat smiled as Princess Peach drew up closer to him. "Don't worry Princess, I'll secure the first place finish for you!"

He tossed the shell in front of him which immediately homed into the turtle king in front. He sat back and waited for the praise that his lady friend was about to give him, smiling as he thought about all the different things she could say.

To his surprise though, instead of praise, all he could hear coming from Ladybug's end was large high pitched shrieks.

"Ladybug! What's wrong!" Chat asked, sitting back up and examining the screen. He watched as Princess Peach took first place finish, with himself taking second and Bowser slowly coming up behind them as he took third. "You got first place!"

"NO I DID NOT! I GOT THIRD PLACE THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR RED SHELL!"

"Third place?" The results came up on Chat's screen and he saw an icon of Bowser in third place and right beside it was the name "Ladybug."

His heart sunk and his eyes grew wide as he realized the error that he made. "I thought you were Princess Peach!"

"NO! I WAS BOWSER! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU KNEW WHO I WAS!"

"I did! At least… I thought I did."

"DID YOU NOT SEE MY NAME ABOVE BOWSER'S HEAD?"

Chat stopped and thought. "That's what it said?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ladybug shrieked again, grabbing the nearest pillow and letting out all of her frustrations into it. Chat couldn't help but burst out into laughter because of the way the whole situation played out.

"LAUGHING?! WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!"

Chat stopped immediately, realizing he had been caught even though he wasn't trying to hide it. He tried to think of a reason that would try and ease the situation and not make her hate him. Unfortunately for him, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Kill the streamer?"

"Kill. The streamer." Ladybug deadpanned at the screen. "KILL THE STREAMER!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

"I uhh… oh look Ladybug! The next race is about to start! Better pick a track before it's too late."

Ladybug glared Chat Noir`s Skype icon on her computer screen. "I'm going to get you back for that Chat."

And get back she did. For the rest of the grand prix, she hoarded her items and waited at the finish line for Chat Noir to come near her. She took it upon herself to hit him with as many items as she could and ensure that he got the lowest place possible, even if it meant that she got a low position herself.

By the end of all four races, she had finished second overall and acquired a silver trophy to commemorate her place. Chat Noir on the other hand, thanks to Ladybug`s sabotaging, only placed fourth overall. All that he received for his placement was a bunch of congratulatory claps from Lakitu.

"Phew." Ladybug sighed, placing her hand over where her heart was. It was beating faster than she had ever felt it beat before, the intensity of the races really working her up. Now that it was over, she was calming herself down but was craving for more. "Want another set of races?"

"NO!"

From that day on, Chat Noir knew never to cross Ladybug when it comes to racing games, especially when she gets near the finish line. This would pose a problem however when he starts playing them with her on his channel. He was not looking forward to that day.