Author's Notes:

Moving right along!

Enjoy!

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG: "CAT FLAP"

by Mythril Moth

Chapter 2

"'You have no talent. You lack focus. There's nothing special about you. You can't do anything useful.' Over and over again, they say these hurtful things to you. They keep you stuck in a demeaning job with poor pay and no chance to prove yourself.

"Copierre, listen to me. I'm Lady Papillon. I'll give you the power to copy, enlarge, and reduce anything you see. The very shape of Paris will be yours to command! All I ask is that you do a little favor for me..."

Kagami watched the little cat fairy creature flying around her room with guarded curiosity. "What...are you?"

"I just told you, I'm a Kwami," Plagg said.

Kagami's lips thinned. "I think you mean kami," she said.

"Nah, totally different thing," Plagg said dismissively. "Well, not totally different, I mean we're kind of where that word came from in the first place, but we're way older."

Kagami looked at the black ring which sat in the little wooden box. "This ring...this gives Chat Noir his powers?"

"It's the Miraculous of the Black Cat, yeah," Plagg said. "With me and the Miraculous, you can transform into a superhero."

"I see," Kagami said. "And...why have you come to me?"

"Like I said, I need a temporary partner for Ladybug," Plagg said. "My regular owner had to leave town for a bit, but with Hawk Moth on the loose, taking the ring with him is a no-go. Somebody has to fill in for him. You're a capable fighter, it seemed like a good idea."

Kagami digested this. "And if I decline?"

"Then I'll tell you where to take the ring so we can try somebody else," Plagg said. "But I think you'll accept. You do owe Ladybug one. Besides, Hawk Moth's Akumatized you twice now, don't you want a little payback?"

"Hmm." Kagami's brow furrowed. She took the black band from the box and, after a moment's hesitation, slipped her right middle finger through it, letting it rest next to her family signet. The ring immediately turned silver and near-featureless, the band magically adjusting to perfectly fit her finger. She held out her hand, letting the ring catch the overhead lights. Her eyes widened.

She laughed softly. "So that's how it is," she said. She looked up at Plagg. "Alright," she said. "I'll play along for a little while. Tell me everything I need to know."

Adrien sat in the VIP lounge at the airport with his father. Gabriel was calmly sipping tea and browsing work documents on his tablet. Adrien's own tea sat cooling on the table, and he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, tapped his toes, and squirmed restlessly in his seat.

"Drink your tea, Adrien, it'll calm your nerves," Gabriel said.

Adrien picked up his cup and took a sip, then set it aside. He continued to fidget. Gabriel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You can't possibly be this nervous about flying," he said.

"It's not that," Adrien said. "I just..." He sighed. "Nevermind."

Gabriel sat his tablet down and laid his hand over Adrien's. "Son," he said gently. Adrien looked up at him. "You can talk to me about what's bothering you."

Adrien offered a half-smile. "It's just...we're not even on the plane yet and I already miss my friends," he said. "I don't know how I'm going to make it through a whole month away from everyone." *Away from Ladybug...*

Gabriel nodded once. "Of course," he said. "That's only natural. But you'll have ample time to talk with your friends over the phone or Internet, and you might actually make a few new friends in Korea. My employees and colleagues have children your age who I'm certain you'll get along well with. There's also plenty of sightseeing you can do when you're not busy with shoots." He offered as warm a smile as he could manage. "Relax and enjoy this trip, Adrien. When we return home, you'll have many stories to share with your friends, I'm sure."

Adrien smiled genuinely, his eyes bright. "You're right, Father," he said. "I need to stay positive and enjoy this trip instead of moping around." He picked his cup up again and drained it. "I'm surprised Nathalie isn't with us."

"Nathalie is needed here," Gabriel said. "Another assistant will be meeting us on the ground in Korea. There are certain delicate projects that require more precise attention, and Nathalie is the only one other than myself who understands what needs to be done."

"I see," Adrien said. He frowned. "Isn't she overdue for a vacation? She's been looking tired lately."

Gabriel looked away, his jaw tightening, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "I'd like nothing more than to give her all the time I can spare," he said. "But right now, I can't get by without her."

Adrien's eyes widened slightly. A warm glow suffused and softened his face, joined by a small smile.

A commotion rippled through the airport, spreading from the lounges to the gates to the baggage claims and beyond. Screams, frantic shouts, whispers, and lots of running and moving were happening. Gabriel and Adrien looked at one another.

The flight announcement board suddenly turned solid red, displaying the words "EMERGENCY - TOTAL STOP."

Gabriel stood. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded loudly of the nearest person.

The panicked commuter looked into the lounge. "Akuma!" he said. "It's replaced the Eiffel Tower with a giant toilet!"

Adrien's heart lurched.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "I see," he said calmly. He resumed his seat and picked up his tablet. "Then I suppose we have a bit longer to wait. Come, Adrien. Sit down. Order some food."

"How...how can you be so calm?" Adrien demanded.

Gabriel offered him a pinched frown. "Akuma attacks are nothing new. We have Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect us. Once the Akuma is dealt with, everything will be repaired, and we will have suffered only a minimal delay. I see no reason to panic. Do you?"

Adrien took a deep breath. "N-no, Father, I...I suppose not," he said lamely.

*I have EVERY reason to panic. Marinette...I hope you're not in over your head. Ladybug...be safe...*

Ladybug tumbled ass over teakettle, pinballing between cars and buildings. She threw out her yo-yo, desperate to gain higher purchase, and chanced a glance back over her shoulder.

A toy poodle the size of a city bus was chasing her, yapping its floofy head off. Its yaps were shattering windows up and down the block. Ladybug seized the corner of an apartment building and swung up and over—

—only to find herself back on the street as the building she'd latched onto shrank to the size of a mailbox. Her butt skidded on the pavement as her yo-yo tangled up with a row of trees. Worse, a second giant toy poodle came bounding up the street toward her, boxing her in. This one had a rider—the Akumatized victim, a man with dark gray skin and an off-white bodysuit with an enormous glass panel in the chest, from which a red laser occasionally shot out, scanning random elements in his environment. He had shoulderpads that resembled paper trays on a copier, and goggles patterned after the large operational buttons on a copier.

"Do you like your little red chew toy, my pets?" Copierre asked. "Play with her to your heart's content!"

"I'll pass on the giant poodle slobber, thanks!" Ladybug said as she ran at the nearest building and propelled herself in a high jump, impacting against the wall with her legs and coiling them beneath her before jumping off, launching herself across the street and ever higher. In mid-jump, she flicked her yo-yo out and wound it around Copierre's waist, yanking him sharply off the poodle's back and dragging him with her as she ran straight along the wall, parallel to the street, before leaping and flipping and twisting to land on the nearest rooftop she could reach. She flung Copierre onto the roof with as much force to stun a bull.

The poodles started jumping up at the walls of the building, yapping their heads off.

As Ladybug withdrew her yo-yo and began spinning it at her side, Copierre's beams flashed out at a few loose boards and cinder blocks on the roof. They copied and enlarged, forming a four meter tall fort around Copierre. As Ladybug examined the structure for a weak point, one of the giant poodles leapt over the edge of the roof and landed just a few feet away, thick ropes of drool dangling from its massive jaws as it bore down on Ladybug. She tensed, searching for her best avenue of escape...

"Hey Fideaux! FETCH!"

A streetlight went sailing overhead. The poodle's eyes tracked its flight; with a happy bark and a wag of its tail, it bounded off after it. Ladybug heard a massive *CRASH* a few blocks away and winced.

A black-clad figure landed on top of Copierre's fortress in a low crouch, drawing Ladybug's attention. Ladybug's heart skipped a beat as she got her first look at her temporary partner.

Kagami's catsuit had a sheen to it that was more reminiscent of latex than leather, with two tails that lashed like shiny whips and a short, tattered black plaid miniskirt. Instead of a golden jingle bell, she had a ruff of silver-white faux fur around her neck. Her eyes shone an eerie orange-brown from the depths of her black domino mask.

She jumped silently over to Ladybug, gliding through the air with eerie grace, her baton twirling at her side as she landed. "Ladybug," she greeted cordially. "I hope my timing was satisfactory."

"I'd say it was purr-fect," Ladybug said with a grin, which faltered at Kagami's cool, inscrutable stare. Ladybug coughed. "Right. Thanks for taking care of the pesky pooch."

Kagami inclined her head once, leaning casually on her baton. "The Akuma victim is in that structure?"

"Yeah. Be careful, his powers seem like a joke, but he's already done a ridiculous amount of damage."

"So I noticed. So what's the plan?"

"Force him out of there, keep him distracted, find the Akuma, capture it." Ladybug looked Kagami up and down. "So what do I call you?"

Kagami blinked, tilting her head. "You...chose me for this role," she said. "Surely you know my name?"

"I mean your superhero name," Ladybug said. "To protect your identity."

"Oh, of course." Kagami considered that for a moment. "Seeing as you didn't simply call me Chat Noir, am I to assume that name is reserved for the genuine article?"

"It...wouldn't feel right, no," Ladybug said with a grimace.

Kagami smiled a mysterious smile. "Of course not," she said. "Very well. I suppose I shall call myself...hmm...Nekomata."

Without warning, a giant cinder block came flying at the two of them, expanding as it approached. The heroes scattered; the block sailed off the roof and smashed into the next building over, partially collapsing a wall. Ladybug cringed.

Nekomata launched herself at Copierre's fort, which was rapidly disassembling and becoming a hailstorm of flying debris, made all the more deadly as it expanded and multiplied in midair. Nekomata ran low to the roof's surface, dodging side to side and jumping with incredible precision, even as Ladybug opted to run around behind the fort and avoid the hailstorm entirely. As Ladybug used her yo-yo to drag the disintegrating fort to the ground, Nekomata crashed straight through the front, catching Copierre by the throat and dragging him out, snarling as she slammed his head to the rooftop and ploughed him through the concrete for a solid meter.

"Get off me you...little brat!" Copierre wheezed. His lasers scanned Nekomata, and she let out a surprised yelp as she started to shrink.

"Nekomata!" Ladybug cried. Before she could do anything to intervene, Copierre targeted her as well. She watched in dismay as Copierre loomed ever larger over her.

Nekomata ran over to her side as they continued shrinking. "My apologies," she said. "I thought I could knock him unconscious. I guess his head is harder than I thought."

"It was a good plan," Ladybug said. "But now we need an even better one, because this just got a lot tougher."

"Do you have a plan for when an Akuma shrinks you?" Nekomata asked.

"It's never happened before, so no," Ladybug said as the two heroes scattered to avoid being stepped on. "But we've fought enough giant-sized villains that I can work with this. I just need..." She leapt out of the way of Copierre's foot, then threw her yo-yo skyward. "LUCKY CHARM!" In a spray of dazzling lights, a ladybug plush appeared, dropping into her arms. She blinked down at it. "Okay, what am I supposed to do with this?!"

"It doesn't seem very useful in this situation," Nekomata said as she vaulted out of the way of another giant stomp by Copierre.

Ladybug's eyes darted frantically around. She bit her lip as she surveyed every inch of the surrounding area. Her eyes flicked up to the wide open sky above, then to Copierre—and a large toner cartridge hanging from his right hip she hadn't noticed before. She grinned. "Okay, Nekomata? We've gotta time this perfectly, because we're only gonna get one shot."

"I'm listening," Nekomata said.

"As soon as I use my Miraculous cure, we're gonna get big again," Ladybug said. "As soon as you're big enough to attack, use your Cataclysm on that toner cartridge on his hip. That's the Akuma, I'm betting on it."

"I see," Nekomata said. "Yes, I'll have to release his Akuma before he can do any more damage...very well. Alright. I'm ready!"

Ladybug threw the plushie straight up. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

A swarm of glowing pink and white magical ladybugs swarmed over Paris, restoring everything to its proper size, quantity, and location. Nekomata was halfway back to normal size when she gave a cry of "CATACLYSM!" and lunged at a stunned Copierre, destroying the toner cartridge on his hip. A purple-black butterfly fluttered out, flapping madly away.

"Oh no you don't!" Ladybug cried, her yo-yo whipping out and snagging the Akuma. "I'm freeing you from evil!" She reeled it in, then slid her finger along the seam of her yo-yo and opened it, releasing a pure white butterfly that flew away on delicate wings. "Bye-bye little butterfly!" Ladybug said, waving to it.

Nekomata walked up to her, smiling softly. "Not bad for my first battle," she said.

"Not bad at all," Ladybug agreed with a grin. "Pound it!" she added, offering her fist for a victory bump. Nekomata regarded it, gave an amused snort, and bumped it.

Both girls' Miraculouses beeped.

Nekomata waved. "I'll see you around, Ladybug," she said. She leapt off across the city. Ladybug watched her go for a long moment, then turned and swung away in the opposite direction.

As the connection to the Akuma faded, Lady Papillon leaned on her cane, deep in thought. "That...was not Chat Noir," she said slowly into the empty cloister. "What is going on here?" She turned away from the window. "I need more information before I act. I will have to send out another Akuma soon..."

The large shutters over the butterfly-shaped window irised shut, plunging the cloister into darkness.

Nekomata landed silently on the roof of her house, then flipped down through her open bedroom window and landed lightly on the floor. A green wash of energy traced over her, replacing her costume with her school uniform. Plagg floated out and landed on her desk. "Not bad, kid. You're a natural."

"It wasn't much of a fight," Kagami said dismissively. "You said you prefer Camembert, yes? I'll get you some, hold on."

As she walked downstairs to the kitchen, Kagami smiled secretively, looking down at the Miraculous.

"En garde," she whispered.

À SUIVRE...

Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Zagtoon, Method Animation, Toei Animation, and Thomas ASTRUC. This intellectual property is used without permission with no intent to profit from said use. The unique content contained on this page is the property of Mythril Moth, and redistribution of this content without express permission is strongly discouraged.