A Miraculous Tale

Chapter 9

Ladybug whirled around, panicked. The world was a swirling, blurry mass of fear. And there, in the middle of it was her worst enemy.

Hawkmoth laughed wickedly and raised his cane. A swarm of white butterflies encircled him, swirling and fluttering wildly. The citizens hurried out of the room as fast as they could, trying not to trip on long ball gowns as they escaped.

Chat roared and kept towards Hawkmoth, brandishing the microphone stand as if it were the baton he usually fought with.

"Ladybug!" He yelled as he swung the stand. It was like a sword fight, but with evil butterflies at the adversary's advantage. The creatures pushed Chat backward and be fought back as well as he could. "Get the people to safety. Quickly! And you'll need to transform."

"What about you?" She she called back.

"I can handle this!" Chat swatted butterflies away. He turned around for a brief second and winked. "Have some faith in me, Bugaboo," he joked.

Ladybug hesitated, but then ran. She hoped deep down inside that he would be okay. He could get hurt pretty quickly if he chose to take the situation as a joke rather than a life-and-death fight.

Ladybug stumbled and tripped over her long skirt as she ran, but she kept going.

"Mayor Bourgeois!" She cried, still sprinting at full speed. She panted, out of breath. Her necklace had fallen off and broken on the way there, but she didn't really care. She had much bigger things to deal with. "Get the people to safety. And fast. Everyone is a target. At any moment, anyone could be akumatized or captured. No one is free from danger. Hurry. Be safe. We can handle this."

With that, she ran to the nearest room and transformed as quickly as she could manage. She yanked the tulle out of her hair and knotted it around her hair in a messy ponytail, keeping it out of her face. She sprinted down the stairs two at a time. She was out of breath, but determined.

Chat was still fighting, but he was losing. Just as she ran in, he collapsed to the ground, surrounded by butterflies. Which, surprisingly, were more fearsome and ferocious in battle than she'd expected them to be. The microphone stand lay broken and forlorn a few feet away. Hawkmoth stepped down from his cloud of butterflies. He laughed as he sauntered toward Chat.

"Finally, your Miraculous is mine!" He cackled.

"No!" Shouted Ladybug. She swung her yoyo, hitting Hawkmoth on the side of the head. He turned.

"Ah, here for the show?" Hawkmoth smirked. "Well then, you're just in time."

As Hawkmoth leaned down, Chat Noir sprang up, punching Hawkmoth in the face. Chat ran. "I'll be right back," he whispered to his partner.

Hawkmoth's face was angry. Ladybug had never seen someone so full of hate in her entire life. She watched in horror as white butterflies surrounded him and carried him away. He was gone. And in his place were four glowing, purple-black butterflies. Akumas.