Coccaerus and Vantacat stood warily against the akuma-of-the-week, weapons at the ready. This time, it was Dividend, a person who apparently had far too much going on in their life.

"It's not easy being torn between task after task!" Dividend yelled. Their akumatized object-a binder-opened and magically shuffled through page after page. Dividend slid their fingers along the pages, then crunched one into their hand. The page disintegrated into pieces, turning into sparks of lightning that spread along Dividend's arm. They thrust their arm forward, taking aim at both Coccaerus and Vantacat. "Now I'll teach you how it feels!"

The lightning shot out in sporadic waves, but Coccaerus and Vantacat separated, going in different directions to avoid the lightning. The energy continued straight until it hit a wall, causing it to dissipate pathetically into the air.

Dividend huffed, busying themself by moving to crunch another page in their hands.

Seeing his opportunity to act while they were preoccupied, Coccaerus stopped in place and threw his yoyo skyward. "Lucky Charm!"

The yoyo shimmered brilliantly, giving off its usual light. The light rose up, taking shape and then dropping down into Coccaerus' hands.

An open backpack. Just... an open backpack.

Coccaerus glanced at Vantacat, who gave him a similar look to his own.

"It's... stylish?" she offered with a smile. "At least it matches, Cae."

He snorted, smiling back at her as he slipped the backpack's strap onto one shoulder. It was a particularly strange Lucky Charm, but he'd make it work.

They'd make it work.

Dividend didn't seem at all afraid by the summoned object, their arm charged with energy once again. They shot forward, once again missing the both of them as they dodged.

Coccaerus took out his yoyo, letting it spin in preparation to shield himself. Vantacat, meanwhile, steeled herself up and rose her hand into the air.

"Cataclysm!"

Her hand charged with black energy, the color in particular spreading to her suit, her face, and even her hair. Her eyes, however, turned to a vibrant blue color, giving off wisps of light as she dashed along the street to face her foe.

Coccaerus was positive that he'd never get used to how cool she looked when she did that.

Dividend jumped back, shutting their binder and immediately going on the defensive. Vantacat's Cataclysm hand jerked forward, aiming for the binder but missing it as Dividend pulled it against their chest.

Coccaerus followed after her, yoyo spinning with an intent to lash out. Dividend wiggled out of Vantacat's grasp of their jacket, then leaped up and onto a streetlight, clearly realizing that they couldn't take on both heroes at once.

They aimed at Coccaerus, now having a closer distance to shoot with, but their fire was blocked by Coccaerus' yoyo shield.

He threw his yoyo outwards, but Dividend ducked out of the way, simultaneously going for another piece of paper to grab.

While Dividend was distracted by avoiding the yoyo and getting more energy to shoot with, Vantacat ran close and jumped up to join them on the streetlight. Dividend glanced up, barely having any time to react and Vantacat fought against them to touch the binder with her Cataclysm.

Coccaerus looked around, desperate to help, but nothing was sticking out to him. His Lucky Charm apparently didn't have a use here, and there was certainly no room on the streetlight to join Vantacat in the fight.

Meanwhile, Dividend's hand shot out to fire at Vantacat. She stepped back with the little space that she could, instinctively pulling out her baton with her non-Cataclysm hand.

Unlike Coccaerus' yoyo, however, her baton was made of metal. Though she spun it expertly, the lightning hit the baton and spread to her. She cried out, flinching and staggering back before falling off the streetlight.

It was a small fall for a superhero, but Coccaerus nonetheless rushed forward. "Vanta!"

He held his arms out, Vantacat landing safely in them. She looked up at him with now-bleary blue eyes, opening her mouth to speak before being cut off by a white crack forming along her ribcage.

Coccaerus, gaping, immediately set Vantacat down on the ground and stepped back, afraid of hurting her.

The crack spread outwards into five lines, one going straight down, two going horizontally along her torso, and the other two going up and outwards along her shoulders.

Vantacat let out a strangled noise, like she was being squeezed. Her body glowed white, everything within a meter of her becoming indistinguishable.

As the light faded, Coccaerus looked on as Vantacat was now split into five tiny versions of herself, each of which could fit in his hand.

They all pushed themselves up simultaneously, though only with their free hand as their other was still charged with Cataclysm, albeit a weaker-looking Cataclysm now. They looked disoriented at first, staring up at Coccaerus before immediately noticing the size problem. The moment after, they looked at each other and realized the second issue.

Dividend cackled from their place on the streetlight. "Doesn't feel good, does it?" they asked. Reaching back into their binder, they grasped another piece of paper. "You're next, beetleboy."

Coccaerus glared, but kept his cool. Dividend was playing with fire now, but he wasn't going to let himself be taunted.

They would certainly pay for doing this to his partner though.

He looked back down, ready to instruct his partner to head for safety, but all five Vantacat had already come to a stand and were heading for the streetlight.

It took Coccaerus a split second to realize what they were doing. He smirked, readying his yoyo.

Dividend watched the five tiny Vantacat run, but stood smugly in place, clearly not concerned.

The five touched the streetlight simultaneously, their Cataclysm spreading up and across the object. Their suits and eyes returned to their normal color from the energy spilling out.

Just before the streetlight fell apart, Dividend leaped up, wholly intent on easily jumping to the nearest building.

At the same time, Coccaerus threw his yoyo outwards. It wrapped around Dividend at his command, and they were tied up in an instant. Startled, they let out a yelp and fell to the ground, their hand charged with energy but not having as much free movement with it as they did before.

Coccaerus stepped forward, unafraid of being shot. Before he got even a few meters away, however, Dividend regained their composure and began to laugh.

"I wouldn't worry about me right now if I were you!" they taunted. "Do you think my power only splits the person in fifths and nothing else?"

Coccaerus paused at that, an alarm bell going off in his head. Not just the person? What did that mean? Vantacat's Cataclysm worked as normal - granted, it needed all five of them to be at full strength - but-

Coccaerus stiffened, realization striking.

Their timer.

A million thoughts running through his head at once, he jerked his head back, looking around for any people in the immediate vicinity. To his horror, there were indeed people off in the distance, out of the akuma's striking distance but still taking in the sights.

Some of them even had their phones out.

Coccaerus glanced down at the five Vantacat, who were all looking at him with the same terrified expression that he had on. Immediately, he reacted, reaching for the backpack on his shoulder and tossing it in their direction.

Without a word, they understood, all five of them rushing in to make it into the backpack before they de-transformed.

Coccaerus turned to Dividend, who was still tied up but also ready to fire if he got close. Initially, he hadn't been afraid to approach, even if he got shot, because he was wholly intent on fixing everything immediately afterward.

But now, he couldn't afford to waste the time, especially when he had priorities that ascended far beyond purifying the akuma.

Turning away, Coccaerus ran towards the backpack, all five Vantacat safely inside. Just as he picked it up, he saw the flash of light, confirming that they'd de-transformed. Unflinching, he slipped the backpack on.

"C-coccaerus," five small voices called out to him. "The akuma..."

"I'm not leaving you," Coccaerus said firmly and without a hint of hesitation. "Hang on."

Abandoning the tied-up Dividend completely, Coccaerus leapt up to a building and dashed away, ignoring the warning beep of his earrings as he focused on getting out of public view.