"I don't know, they're just so expensive," Marinette commented. Alya hummed thoughtfully, turning over the intricate ball-jointed Ladybug doll in her hands.

"Yeah, I'll have to think about it." she relented, gently placing the doll back on its stand next to the Cat Noir. Marinette glanced knowingly at the dolls before joining Alya to continue browsing through the cozy toy store.

"Are you seriously considering spending €250 on a Ladybug doll?" Marinette asked her. Alya picked up a cheap slinky and bounced it between her hands.

"No, I'm sure I can find something cheaper. But you have to admit it would be worth it, I mean the details on it are amazing." She responded enthusiastically.

"Eh, the yo-yo was a little small…" Marinette muttered thoughtfully, picking up a little black cat plushie.

"Huh? How would you know?" Alya asked, smiling curiously.

"Ehhh, I- I mean, its um, could get lost easily, that's all!" Marinette laughed nervously. Alya laughed and rolled her eyes.

"It's fine girl, I know you're secretly a huge Ladybug fan. Honestly, I was thinking the same thing about the yo-yo," she whispered. They laughed and continued looking around.

For a while Marinette was distracted buy some kids DIY kits, but Alya had found what she was looking for, so they decided to move on.

"Any plans for dinner tonight?" Marinette asked as the two meandered up the street towards a shopping centre.

"Yeah, I've gotta hit the books," Alya replied sadly. Marinette became frozen with fear and slapped her hands on her face.

"I forgot about the test... again." Marinette squeaked. Alya snorted patting Marinette's shoulder.

"You poor thing, you'd forget your head if it weren't attached. It's okay, we could always do a study group!" Alya suggested.

"Yea-"

In the distance, there was a huge snap, like a huge balloon popping.

"What was that?!"

They glanced at each other and took off towards the sound. Several cars had screeched to a halt and dozens of people were crowding by an intersection. The sounds of car alarms and screams could be heard further down. When they joined the crowd they stopped dead in their tracks. Several blocks down there was an enormous glittering cloud that was bursting with colour.

"What…" Marinette muttered. Before she could finish, Alya ran off toward it without hesitation. Sensing trouble, Marinette took a few steps backwards and turned to run back down the street. She ducked into a random building and found herself in the empty stairwell of an apartment.

"Something strange is going on, and I am pretty sure hawkmoth is behind it." Marinette whispered harshly. Opening her purse Tikki zipped out and gave Marinette an encouraging nod. Marinette prepared herself and felt the magic swell inside her earrings.

"Tikki, spots on!" she called. Tikki spiralled into her left earring and disappeared with a flash leaving behind their signature Ladybug design. She closed her eyes as the magic of the miraculous filled her body like fire. When she opened her eyes, she was fully transformed

Adrien sighed and slid down into his seat. His father insisted that his outfit for his next photo shoot did not meet Agreste standards and so once again he had to spend his free time getting his clothes adjusted. Even school work was preferable to standing still and being poked at for an hour.

He perked up when he noticed a little girl with a Ladybug-spotted dress out the window. He smiled to himself when the little girl clumsily threw a little red yo-yo at her older brother. His bodyguard slammed on the breaks and he was jerked forward. The force of the stop nearly knocked the wind out of him and he gasped when he hit the back of his seat.

His bodyguard let out a grunt of shock and threw the car into reverse. There was a loud pop, and an explosion that forced the car backwards. Adrien craned forward to look out the windshield and saw a rushing flurry of sparkles and colour. The windows became plastered with confetti, and the car went dark.

The car stopped and became eerily silent, Adrien could hear his bodyguard pushing buttons on the dashboard. When the interior light came on he could see he was trying to use the windshield wipers but it didn't appear to be doing anything at all.

"Wha?" Adrien mumbled. He reached for the door handle but his bodyguard touched his shoulder to get his attention and shook his head. Adrien watched him force open his own door and quickly get out of the car.

"Ugh, another day in paradise," Plagg muttered from inside Adrien's shirt. Adrien unbuckled his seatbelt and reached into his jacket to pull out the sleepy kwami.

"I'll take a glitter explosion over modelling any day!" Adrien said excitedly.

"I'm sure we don't need to-" Plagg yawned.

"Claws out!" Adrien called. His ring flashed and Plagg flew out of Adrien's hands and swept into the miraculous.

Cat Noir turned in his seat and tried the door. It wouldn't move at first and he had to force it open with a sound reminiscent of ripping off tape. The street and the buildings in front of him were all completely covered in confetti, and some of the colourful paper was still falling gently down over the street like snow. He got out and shut the door quietly behind him, though it wasn't necessary due to the sound of car alarms and general panic from civilians.

"It's time for a Blowout! This party was over before it even started!" a man was cackling. The voice didn't sound close by, so he quickly turned to survey the area. He saw multiple people standing frozen, almost completely covered in confetti. Including a very large looking man standing not too far in front of his car.

He walked up to the man, his feet making sticky ripping sounds every time he took a step over the confetti. His bodyguard looked over at him from the corner of his eye, he was almost completely covered in it. He wiggled his arms, which were plastered to his sides, when the hero approached but it seemed that he almost couldn't move at all.

"Uh, hang in there sir. We'll take care of this." he nervously assured the silent man. Cat Noir lept upwards towards the side of a building, but the pull on his feet stole his momentum and caused him to fly into a streetlight.

"I had a feeling you were behind this." A familiar voice teased above him. His heart flickered and he smiled crookedly at Ladybug.

"You know I'd do anything to get your attention m'lady." he purred. He peeled himself off of the light and used his staff to join her on the confetti-less rooftop.

"This has got to be one of the strangest so far…" Ladybug muttered. She had her hands on her hips, looking down the street.

"It gets weirder." He warned. He lifted his arm and held his staff towards her, opening his hand and waving it around to show it was loosely stuck to his palm.

"Is there an annoying bug here to clean up this mess for me?" a wild voice asked. They looked around quickly to see the akuma, striding confidently down the street below them.

It was a middle-aged man in a moth-shaped mask with a solid navy blue military outfit and a white bulletproof vest. What stuck out the most was the belt of pearlescent pink grenades across his chest and the giant gun that was striped in a rainbow.

"I will once I get that gun away from you!" Ladybug retorted. Blowout immediately aimed his gun at the rooftop towards the heroes and fired a blast of confetti. It was much smaller than the explosion from earlier so they easily jumped out of the way. The villain launched himself up to the rooftop through the hail of confetti, with not a single piece sticking to himself.

Ladybug looked and Cat Noir and tilted her head towards him, gesturing at him to split up. They flanked the akuma.

"I don't think so!" Blowout yelled. He twisted and fired at the heroes, but they managed to split up fast enough to evade a majority of the blast.

"Ugh!" Ladybug cried. A few pieces of confetti had gotten stuck to her and she had to stop to pry her yo-yo off of her hand.

"M'lady, look out!" Cat Noir yelled. He leapt over the sticky part of the roof landing in front of her just in time for another blast of confetti. The force sent Cat Noir flying into Ladybug throwing them both off of the roof.

They got the wind knocked out of them as they hit the pavement and rolled a couple of feet towards the river. Ladybug silently thanked Tikki, she knew that if she weren't transformed a fall like that would be deadly. Triumphant laughter echoed overhead, urging the hero's to get to their feet. But Cat noir was face down and struggling to move.

"Mm shtuk." Cat Noir groaned, his entire front stuck to the pavement. She grabbed his arm without thinking and started to pull. He bent his arm and grabbed her hand to help pull himself off. With a sickening tearing sound Cat Noir's face and torso were pulled off of the pavement.

"Ow!" he yelled. A burst of confetti nearby alerted them to the villain. He landed a few meters away and aimed his gun at them.

"Pfft, too easy." he laughed.

As he approached, Ladybug threw her yo-yo skyward and yelled, "Lucky Charm!"

A ladybug-spotted umbrella materialized in mid-air and fell towards her waiting hands. She couldn't catch it though, and the Akuma watched humorously as the umbrella clattered uselessly on the ground. She would have caught it, but her right hand now had her yo-yo stuck in it and the other...

"Let go!" she demanded, feeling Cat Noir's hand still gripping hers.

"I really wish I could take credit for this m'lady, but I honestly can't let go," he said unconvincingly, with a big sheepish grin. Ladybug looked up, using her Ladybug vision to see what to do.

"Now, I'd like those magic accessories of yours." The akuma chuckled and walked towards them, with the heroes still in his sights. His gun lit up in a ladybug pattern, as she looked down so did the umbrella and Cat Noirs hand.

"Grab it!" she ordered him. With their right hands stuck together, Cat Noir had to turn his back to the Akuma to reach the umbrella with his left. The akuma stopped and pulled the trigger.

Cat Noir managed to open the umbrella and point it towards him in time for the blast, but the force snapped the ribs of the umbrella back into a closed position.

"Ugh, looks like this lucky charm was a one time use." Cat Noir bantered nervously. A purple butterfly symbol showed up briefly over Blowout's face.

"Right, Hawkmoth." the man chanted. He grinned menacingly and pointed the gun at them, but the heroes were running off towards the nearest buildings

"I can't grab my staff but this will have to do!" Cat Noir beamed at Ladybug, waving around the umbrella that was stuck in his hand. The gun burst behind them, coating their backs in a spattering of sticky confetti.

"Use your power!" Ladybug urged him.

"What!? I can't-"

She looked back at him urgently. A moment of panic flashed in her eyes as she swung him around to pull him out of the line of fire of another blast.

"Trust me! We can avoid his blasts if we're stuck together like this!" He grunted nervously, squeezing their stuck hands briefly.

"Cataclysm!" his hand didn't even give off its signature black smoke, the second he called out his power the confetti that had stuck their hands together released in a puff of grey dust.

"The gun!" Ladybug instructed. She spun in a tight circle and threw Cat Noir towards the akuma. The man gritted his teeth and raised his gun at the black-clad hero. Cat Noir ran at him, not entirely sure what to make of Ladybugs plan. But when he saw the wide end of the gun in front of him he grinned and speared the umbrella towards it.

The gun went off with Cat Noir directly in front of it. But the umbrella was firmly wedged, and now thoroughly stuck inside the barrel of the gun.

"What?!" that akuma cried. He pulled back on the gun, pulling Cat Noir along with him.

"Sorry, looks like you're stuck with me." Cat Noir purred, leaning on the end of the gun with his free arm. The akuma reached for his grenade belt, tearing one of the pink grenades out of the holsters.

"Oh no you don't!" Ladybug cried. She jumped up and brought her heel down on the gun, tearing it off of his hand and snapping it in half as it hit the ground. The force also brought Cat Noir to his knees since the umbrella was stuck to his hand but he was smiling at her all the same.

As the butterfly was freed from the gun the strange man fell to his knees.

"Well done." Cat Noir praised. The sound of a small metal object hitting the ground silenced them both immediately. They looked at the ground where the loose grenade sat, the pin on the ground next to it.

"Uh oh!" they said in unison. Cat Noir leaned forward to reach for it.

"No, it'll get stuck on your hand!" Ladybug warned him. He glanced up at her and kicked the grenade unceremoniously towards the river.

"We have to get rid of it." Ladybug said. She grabbed the umbrella, effectively pulling Cat Noir to his feet as well.

"Will this even work?" Cat Noir questioned; Ladybugs earrings gave a warning beep.

"No time to wonder, Miraculous Ladybug!" They thrust the umbrella skyward, a moment of tense silence was followed by the umbrella blinding them in a brilliant pink light. Instinctively, Cat Noir held up his left arm to guard Ladybug as thousands of ghostly insects poured out of the lucky charm to clean up the damage.

"No more evil-doing for you little akuma." Ladybug said. She pressed her yo-yo to open and tossed it in towards the loose akuma catching it deftly in mid-air. "Gotcha!

When she released the butterfly she looked down to where Cat Noir was helping the victim to his feet. He was an older man with greying hair and a weathered face, after thanking Cat Noir he stooped down to pick up the cheap little confetti gun that was on the ground.

"Great job today kitty, see you later!" Ladybug called in a hurry. Her earrings were down to two spots so she decided a quick exit was better than a graceful one. She grappled a street light and launched herself onto the rooftop.

"Wait!" Cat Noir called behind her.

"I have to go." she told him urgently. He landed behind her and extended his fist towards her.

"Pound it?" he asked. She smiled and turned to him.

"Pound it!" They said in unison, fist-bumping.

Cat Noir rubbed the back of his neck nervously, he felt bad bugging her about her identity, but the pain in his chest urged him.

"So... Ladybug-" he continued. He was cut off by another pair of beeps.

"Another time kitty." Ladybug snapped, she was still smiling but her frustration was evident. With that, she leapt off the edge of the building and swung out of sight.

The feeling of desperation crept up on him and he reacted blindly, grabbing his staff. He vaulted over the next building right behind her.

"What am I doing?" He said to himself. He clenched his fists tightly round his staff and watched in desperation for that flash of red, but she was nowhere to be found. He stopped and collapsed onto another roof.

Oh man, what did I just try to do? He knew with this one simple action he would have betrayed her trust. He flopped down to take a breather, chastising himself for acting so callously. She would hate for sure if she knew I tried to follow her.

Movement in the alley below caught his attention, so he crawled closer to the edge to take a look. Blue hair in pigtails, poking out from the corner of a dumpster. Ladybug craned around to check if the coast was clear.

Oh!

Then a flash of pink light and Marinette was standing there instead.

Ohhhh.

He stared unblinkingly, his mouth hanging open. Marinette reached into her bag to give her kwami something. Marinette's kwami. She straightened her shirt, pulled out her cell phone and she said something he couldn't hear. He crawled backwards slowly, still clinging to his staff until it disappeared in his hand.