Partners by Chance

Chapter 16 - Trapped, like a fox

He kicked her and, with the shock, she dropped the ring. Thankfully, he was able to grab and put his ring back on. His mask returned.

Lila was back on the ground, but what she didn't count was that Rena was down to fencing with her. She should have taken the fact that she stole her powers pretty seriously. Her flutes kept clash into each other.

"Ok, I'm done with this brat." said Ladybug.

"Hey! Ladybug, what the hell are you going to do?" asked Adrien.

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted.

A bottle of perfume felt in her hands. What could that mean?

"Cataclysm!" shouted Adrien, gathering a giant amount of destructive energy in his ring.

Lila

It was time.

Lila pushed her opponent with all her strengths. Rena fell over on the ground, giving Lila enough time to cut the connection between her akuma and Hawk Moth. At the same time, she played her flute, casting an illusion to make Hawk Moth see the battle the way she wanted him to see.

Everyone looked around to see what was the illusion. When they weren't seeing, Lila played the flute once again, casting a new illusion she had developed for months. She could make a dark fog surrounding everyone that would shape shift to keep their fields of view blocked yet the barrier untouchable.

The plan was going well so far.

Marinette

Out of something, her view went dark, as some sort of fog was blocking her eyes. So that was Lila's idea. Marinette quickly rubbed her eyes to destroy the illusion. But nothing happened.

"Are you having fun with this new illusion?" laughed Volpina.

Marinette was entering in panic. The incapability of seeing was affecting her more than she imagined it would. It was more than only seeing a black endless dimension, it was not seeing at all, as she has forgotten what colors looked like and all images in her head started to blur and making no sense.

She couldn't see, but the other weren't as affected as she was. Lila has designed that illusion specially for Marinette. Without her eyes, everything that she could do was to swing her yo-yo like a fool.

In a moment of desperation, Marinette decided that she would touch her very eyes to see it that would make the illusion go away. If you never tried to touch your eyeball, keep the good work.

Lila was getting closer and closer. All she need to do was to take her earnings. She ran her hands through Marinette's hair in a soft way.

"Say goodbye to your secret identity." she wispered.

Marinette tried to fight back, but it was already too late. Lila had her earrings in her hands and Marinette's mask was vanishing.

At the same time, she recovered her view. Alya used her powers to make an illusion that made people see what was happening. A bit complicated to understand, but it worked. Just in time for everyone to see Marinette in her normal form.

Well... not exactly.

Marinette was wearing her costume and the mask. She was totally unrecognizable for someone that didn't figure out who she was with her Ladybug costume already.

"What in name of..." said Lila, not being able to finish what she was saying as Alya returned to the fight against Lila.

The good part was that she wasn't able to use both hands to fight, since she had to hold the earrings with one. Carapace didn't took long to join the fight, helping Rena where he could.

And Chat? The picked up Marinette and took her to a safer place, a few meters away from the fight.

"You're stunning in that costume." he said "Going to a party tonight?"

"Yeah, kinda." she replied.

The ring beeping reminded Chat that he still had the Cataclysm in his other hand, waiting to be used.

"I'll just cataclysm some stuff back there." he declared "don't run away too far, ok?" 

"I'll try, kitty." she flirted.

Adrien

Ladybug had a designer costume. And, today, there was only one place in Paris where you would use a designer costume. His father's party. Adrien and whoever is under Ladybug's mask were going to be under the same roof for the whole evening. He could spend some time trying to figure out who she is, if things with Kagami didn't work out.

Ignoring this thoughts, Adrien jumped back to the battle field. The akuma had to be in her necklace, as usual, so he aimed for there.

Even with only one hand, Lila was managing everything pretty well against three super heroes. Carapace was the first to be knocked out, followed by Rena that was already growing tired. It was Chat Noir and Volpina now.

Just like Lila, Adrien couldn't use both hands, but that didn't became a problem. In fact, it was the solution.

He disarmed her of her flute, making her weaponless. She had to hold Chat's staff with the free hand, making her an easy target. She would have to either drop the earrings or let her necklace to be destroyed. Turned out that the first thing happened and, thanks to a kick response from Rena, Ladybug got her earnings back.

Two minutes for Chat to be destransformed, one for Rena to call it a day. They were short in time.

Ladybug used her Lucky Charm again, and got the same bottle of perfume, but now she knew what she needed to do.

"Take a bit of your own medicine, Volpina." she said, as she pointed the bottle at her and pressed the button, making a puff enter in Lila's eyes, blinding her temporarily.

Volpina quickly picked her flute and played it a bit, but it wasn't fast enough. Adrien destroyed her necklace and the akuma flew away.

"Pound it!" said everyone to celebrate.

Marinette

Back home and after lunch with her parents, Marinette made everything Alya told her too. Bath, manicure, makeup and, finally, dressing up. When both were ready, it was almost half past seven. At anytime, Luka and Nino would be picking them up to go to the Party.

"Don't you want to check out how do you look?" asked Alya, not being able to turn her face away from Marinette.

She approached her full body mirror, but she wasn't able to see her own reflect. The only thing she saw was a gir- no, a woman. A gorgeous woman with long black hair and deep blue eyes. Her face was soft and dreamy, her lips as red as the coral in the seas. Her teeth looked whiter, like pearls in a crown. And her dress? Oh... her dress... Aphrodite looked down from the Olympus to envy that dress... It looked even more beautiful... The black velvet contrasting her white soft skin, the mask hiding her identity from others and from herself, the black high-heels... She may have been wearing only black, but she was emitting light. A pure and sweet light of sensuality. She looked older in that costume, but older as in more mature. She looked like she had eighteen even knowing she was only fifteen.

"I... I am..." she tried to say.

"MARINETTE!" her mom yelled "THE BOYS HAVE ARRIVED!"

"COMING!" she yelled back.

Alya and Marinette went down. Both Nino and Luka were wordless about Marinette's look, to which Alya felt a tinny little bit jealous, but she knew Marinette deserved it.

A night of fun was coming ahead of them. They could barely wait.

So little did they know...