The next morning had come quickly, and Marinette was already dressed and had finished breakfast as the news played on the living room T.V.

"The stone beings are scattered all over Paris, and for the time being, they are showing no signs of movement. Police have cordoned off the area," Nadja Chamak reported as clips of some of the frozen stone beings played on the screen before changing into the mayor as he addressed a group of reporters in front of city hall, while Officer Roger stood behind him.

"We won't stop until we find a way to get these people back to their normal selves. But now we are not making much headway," the mayor proclaimed before the screen changed back to Nadja Chamak, with a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir to her left.

"Paris is relying on our new guardian angels, Ladybug and Chat Noir to save us all. Our lives depend on them," The reporter replies while Marinette could only watch in shock and disbelief. The entire city was relying on possibly two teenagers to save them.

'No pressure, right?' Marinette thought to herself. Thankfully, Tom noticed her worry and stopped taking care of the dishes to comfort her.

"I know how upsetting and scary this is, but don't worry sweetie. We've got two superheroes looking out for Paris and the best way of helping them is to show them that we're not scared because we trust them," Tom comforted, trying to help his daughter not feel afraid of what is happening, but it doesn't do much good.

"But what if Ladybug fails?" Marinette worried, still resolved to pass the earrings on.

"Then..." Tom began to say, eyes going wide with thought for only a second before he sprung into a pose. "I'd come and save you! Super Baker to the rescue!" He proudly proclaimed as he pretended to fight a villain with a baguette making Marinette laugh. He and her brother always knew how to cheer her up.

"Thanks, Super Dad," Marinette said before she kissed him on the cheek and ran up to her room to finish getting ready for school. Before she left, she walked over to the vanity and pulled out the box.

"They'll have a better wearer after today, someone who could really save the day," Marinette whispered to herself before leaving for school, confident in her choice.

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Nathalie was waiting in the dining room for Adrien to arrive for breakfast and a briefing on his schedule. It was silent except for the clock that made the passing of time audible, as Nathalie became impatient.

"What is he doing?" She wondered as the clock chimed. She went to his room to check if he was ill or just lazy.

"Adrien?" Nathalie called out after she opened the door, only to find that he wasn't there. This was bad. This was very bad. Mr Agreste would not be pleased. And unfortunately, she was proven right when she told him.

"You didn't see him leave?!" Gabriel loudly questioned as he stood at the top of the main stairs, while Nathalie and the Gorilla stood next to each other at the bottom of the staircase, heads down in shame.

"If anything has happened to my son, you'll be held responsible!!" The absentee father shouted, while Nathalie and the Gorilla just took it like champs.

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Adrien, who had used his Chat Noir persona to escape his prison-like house, had just arrived at the park near Marinette's house and was booking it as fast as he could to get to school. He was determined to make this something that he wouldn't let his father stop him from doing.

"You're such a strange kid," Plagg remarked after he flew out of Adrien's messenger bag and floated in front of him as Adrien continued to run towards the park exit.

"Who would want to be at school when you could stay home all day?" The kwami laughed, not understanding why his new holder wanted to take part in the hell that is the education system when he could be staying at home all day as most teenagers wanted.

"You don't get it Plagg, I've had enough of being shut up at home by my dad. I want to meet people and make friends! Go to a normal school like everyone else," Adrien said as he continued to run. Adrien was certainly not like most teenagers. Considering that he had been a model from an early age, and had been kept in a gilded cage most of his life, it was time for him to get out and explore the world. And if that meant sneaking out of his house, and disobeying his father, then so be it.

"Ahg, I think I'm feeling weak," Plagg complained, right after he stopped flying in front of Adrien and hovered in midair while laying back like a drama queen, which annoyed Adrien to no end as he stopped running a few feet away from the cheese demon.

"You know what's strange?" Adrien asked as he backtracked to the kwami and reached for his bag, and pulled out a piece of camembert.

"The fact that all you eat is this disgusting, rotten smelling camembert cheese and then I have to smell like it 24/7. That's strange," He complained as he held the cheese away from him, allowing his kwami to take it and swallow it whole.

"If you want to be able to transform into a superhero then stinky cheese is the deal, my friend," Plagg said as Adrien sighed and moved his outer shirt so Plagg could hide in it before going the rest of the way.

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At the same time as Adrien had his little conversation with Plagg, Marinette had walked over to the school and was climbing up the front steps, while Alya stood near the front door, looking through her phone.

"Marinette!" Alya shouted at her with a wave when she looked up from her phone and noticed her coming up the stairs, causing Marinette to look up and see her.

"Oh! Hi, Alya," Marinette said as she got to the top of the stairs and greeted Alya with a smile before Alya handed Marinette her phone.

"Check it out," Alya said, while Marinette confusedly looked down at the phone where she could see a homepage to what looked like a blog about...

"Ladyblog, bringing you all the latest news about the coolest superhero, Ladybug," Alya said excitedly as she placed an arm around Marinette's shoulder as the pigtailed girl looked at the phone screen, before looking back at Alya with hidden amazement. She really worked fast when she put her mind to it.

"How awesome is that? Check out the number of views since I posted the video!" Alya said as she took her arm from Marinette's shoulder, using it to take her phone back from Marinette and picked up her walking pace, while Marinette started to feel ashamed and stopped walking.

'How could-? I was a total failure as a hero, Alya; Ladybug made things worse than they were before. I'm no real hero,' Marinette thought to herself.

"But, why do you trust Ladybug so much? All these stone beings..." Marinette said, shame creeping into her voice, as she looked down at the floor to avoid Alya's gaze.

"She's gonna handle them," Alya proclaimed after looking up from her phone and turning to face her, not knowing that Marinette envied her confidence.

"But what if she's not really cut out to be a superhero even though everyone thinks she is?" Marinette questioned as her doubts got louder and louder in her head, telling her what she already knew... that she had messed up.

"What are you talking about, girl?" Alya asked, not understanding why Marinette was being so down in the dumps. But her confusion immediately cleared when she gasped in realization.

"Oh wait," Alya said, before walking closer to her new friend, almost invading her personal space, and adjusting her glasses

"I know what this is about," She began, much to Marinette's worry.

"You're scared," Alya concluded as she put a hand on her new friend's shoulder, while Marinette's heart began to calm down from her inner panicking.

"But don't be! I've seen her with my own two eyes, girl. Ladybug is a true superheroine! She's gonna protect us all. I believe in her," Alya said with confidence before she began making her way to class.

As she left, Marinette felt something swell inside of her as she glanced down at her purse.

'Alya will be perfect as the new Ladybug,' The designer thought to herself. So Marinette ran after her and soon noticed that Alya had stopped to listen in on a group of their classmates surrounding Ivan.

"So you really don't remember anything?" Alix asked as Ivan sat hunched over on a bench, trying to avoid their questions.

"You were totally going ballistic. It was soooo cool," Juleka said, who seemed a bit too into the events of yesterday to be concerned for the poor boy.

"You were seriously out to crush me, dude," Kim said, apparently too enthused to hold a grudge. But Ivan's focus was on Mylene, who was standing a few feet away from the group; she looked up from her feet to accidentally meet Ivan's gaze, but turned away again

"I'm sorry, I wasn't myself," Ivan said, shying away as much as he could. But unfortunately, it didn't do much when Chloé suddenly joined the group, while Marinette caught up with Alya

"Pfft. Once a monster, always a monster," Chloe said, just to butt in, when nobody wanted her to, especially when it made Ivan shoot up from the bench, growling and storming off.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" The she-devil said as she called after him before laughing.

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Meanwhile, in a certain villainous lair, Hawkmoth was standing in the centre of his lair, right in front of the large window as it opened up to let in the natural light of the day, once again awakening the hundreds of white butterflies, as he could feel chaos brewing in Ivan's soul.

"Yes, feel the burn of those words. Lose your temper, Ivan," Hawkmoth egged on before he lifted his cane towards his line of sight, looking directly at the gem holding Ivan's akuma captive.

"Your akuma awaits you," the escaped psychiatric ward patient said before he flicked the top of his cane, making the metal sound with a dull ring while aggravating the akuma inside.

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Adrien had reached the front of the school and began running up the stairs just as a familiar silver car pulled up to the curb.

"Adrien! Don't do this! Your father will be furious," Nathalie said in a mirror of the day before.

"Tell him you got here too late. Please," Adrien said and with his final plea, he ran through the front doors and into the courtyard. Nathalie sighed as she saw him leave. Unlike his father, she didn't have the heart to keep him locked up. He had become something of a nephew to her, and despite her orders, she knew this was what was best for him. So when she went back to the car and felt the Gorilla's questioning stare on her, she could guess what it meant... 'What are we going to tell Mr Agreste?'

"I'll handle it," Nathalie sighed.

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Back inside, Marinette had left the group to try and cheer Ivan up from Chloé's snide comment, while Alya had decided to once again, stand up to the stuck up prima donna.

"How could you say that to Ivan? You're the real Stoneheart," Alya accused as she stormed up to the little brat, having had enough of her horrible behavior.

"Ugh. So I'm the one who broke Sabrina's Dad's arm, am I?" Chloé sarcastically asked, before walking up to Alya, challenging her.

"Just because your footage of those lame superheroes was shown on TV, doesn't mean you have to get so high and mighty," The blonde snake said as she got up into Alya's personal space, and blew a bubble with her chewing gum, letting it pop dismissively.

"You little-" Alya angrily seethed, not wanting to take any of the spoiled brat's crap any longer.

"Oh! Look out, she's angry!" Chloé said, mocking Alya's anger, and not taking the bespectacled girl seriously.

"She's gonna split her underwear and turn into a huge muscley monster!" The mayor's daughter mocked, much to Alya's anger, as she stalked off before she totally blew her cool.

"Hey, Chloé," A voice suddenly calls out from near the school entrance. Chloé immediately became distracted by the voice and turned to see Adrien, who had just greeted his childhood friend with a smile.

"Adrikins! You came!" Chloé excitedly cries out before she runs over to the boy to embrace him. Her exclamation had soon alerted the general school population to his appearance as they one by one began to recognize him. A steady murmur formed before a crowd surrounded them.

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Marinette found Ivan as he was in the locker room listening to music to calm himself down as he sat on the floor. She walked over to him and crouched down next to him, then placed a comforting hand on his arm. Once he felt her hand on his arm, Ivan took off his headphones, signaling her that he would hear her out.

"You know, you should tell Mylene how you feel," Marinette said, taking advantage of Ivan's desire to listen to her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ivan denied as he looked down at the floor, trying to preserve what he felt was his pride, from his classmate. But unfortunately for him, Marinette wasn't having any of his denials.

"Come on, I saw the way you look at her," Marinette teased, just before he looked at her with wonder then looked away disgruntled, much to Marinette's worry.

"No negative emotions, Ivan," She said, trying to get him to stay positive, but it did cause him to glance at her in confusion.

"Oh! What I mean is... be positive. I'm sure Mylene has feelings for you, too. Go talk to her," Marinette encouraged, whispering the last sentence to help her get her point across.

"I'm no good with words anyway," Ivan sighed out while looking down at the floor in frustration. But Marinette was determined to help this boy.

"Who needs words? You... could draw her a picture, send her flowers..." Marinette began, listing things Ivan could do to show Mylene how he felt, while the boy looked up from the floor as she did.

"I could... write her a song?" Ivan said, thinking of his own idea while glancing over to Marinette, who thought the idea was perfect.

"That's a great idea! What girl wouldn't want a love song written especially for her?" Marinette exclaimed happily while imagining what it would be like if someone did that for her. But she quickly brought herself back down to earth so she could continue helping Ivan.

"Go for it Ivan, and, uh, stay positive," She said as she gave him a thumbs up and happily sighed as he practically skipped excitedly away, presumably to get to work on that song. She then got her things together, right before her phone suddenly buzzed. Immediately, Marinette pulled it out and saw that Jim had texted her on the group chat.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

Jimbo: Hey Sis, I hope your day is going well. Have you given Alya the Miraculous yet?

And at that question, Marinette was brought back to reality. But not wanting to leave her brother hanging, she started to reply back.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

MariFairy: I haven't been able to yet, but I will soon. By the way, she made a new blog, called the Ladyblog. It should be another way to get the details on akuma attacks here. I'll send you guys the link

MariFairy: (Link to Ladyblog)

Once again, she didn't have to wait long for a response, as she was about to leave the locker room, her phone buzzed, making her bring it back to her eye level to see Toby had responded.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

Toby Pie: AWESOMESAUCE!! But truth be told, both I and Jim are hoping you change your mind

MariFairy: Not going to happen Tobes. This is for the best. Talk to you guys at lunch

Jimbo: TTYL Marinette✌️

Toby Pie: Bye MariFairy😘

After Toby sent the text, Marinette then put her phone back into her bag and exited the locker room to meet up with Alya to walk to class. Time to do her thing.

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Meanwhile, in Hawkmoth's lair, the villain had slammed the end of his cane into the ground in frustration.

"The negative emotions... they're fading!" The chrome dome growled as he took in what was happening.

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Back at school, Adrien had let Chloe 'show' him around the school; i.e. clinging onto him like a leech, telling him 'all he needed to know', and soon began to take him to their classroom, though he had to stop to sign autographs every so often.

"This is your seat, Adrikins. I saved it for you, right in front of me!" Chloé excitedly proclaimed, while gesturing to the seat in front of her stolen one before Adrien walked in through the door.

"Thanks, Chloé," Adrien said as he kindly placed a hand on her shoulder as he walked past her to sit down in his new seat, next to Nino while Chloé walked up and stood next to her friend.

"Uh, hey. Adrien," The boy said, as he reached out a hand to shake to introduce himself to his new seatmate.

"You're friends with Chloe then, huh?" Nino suspiciously asked, leaning away slightly. It wouldn't do to draw a bully's attention.

But then Adrien's eyes shifted to watching Chloé as Sabrina knelt like a servant on the steps up to the higher level desks, as Chloé placed her chewing gum into her awaiting hands and put it onto Marinette's seat. No one even said anything as they watched the deed being done, but there was one person who didn't understand why Chloé was doing this, and that was Adrien himself.

"Hey, what's that all about?" Adrien asked as he stood up from his seat and looked over at Chloé in confusion.

"The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding a bit of respect, that's all." Chloé said, having not seen the need to tell her friend that she was really just another school bully and wanted to torment people just for the fun of it.

"Do you think that's really necessary?" Adrien said as he kneeled down and prodded the gum trying to get it off of the seat. He knew he had a lot to learn, but he was pretty sure this wasn't it.

'Better get that off the seat before the person who had to sit there came in,' He thought to himself while Chloé laughed as she and Sabrina got back into their 'seats'.

"You've got a lot to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master," The blonde said as she leaned back in her seat to watch the inevitable outcome that was sure to soon happen.

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Alya and Marinette were making their way to their classroom, having taken a longer route to just talk to each other before the bell rang, and were closing in on their classroom.

"Alya, wouldn't you like to be a superhero and go out and fight monsters and villains?" Marinette asked, hoping that her new friend would say yes.

"Totally! I'm not scared of anyone! Why?" Alya said, totally confident in herself that she would be able to be a great hero too.

"Oh! No reason," Marinette dismissed before she looked away quickly.

'Don't make eye contact, she'll know something's up,' Marinette thought to herself as she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible while Alya turned her gaze from her and back to the path in front of her.

'Phase one is already in motion, don't mess it up now! Ok, phase two, go! Just slip the box into her bag,' She thought as she reached into her bag, pulled out the box holding the earrings, and carefully slipped it into Alya's messenger bag.

'Success!' Marinette cheered in her subconscious as they both walked through the door to their classroom, only to find Adrien kneeling still at her seat, which had chewed gum stuck on it.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Marinette angrily shouted as she stomped over to Adrien, who was suddenly pulled away from trying to clean the seat by her shouting.

"Uh- I-" Adrien tried to say, trying to defend himself, while Chloe and Sabrina burst into laughter, effectively rendering any response of his useless.

"Ok, I get it. Good job you three. Very funny," Marinette deadpanned.

"No! No, I was just trying to take this off!" Adrien protested as he stood up from his kneeling position to try and reassure her that he was trying to help

"Oh really?" Marinette said with a frown, getting into his personal space before she went to solve the problem herself, taking off her backpack and keeling on the floor to get a closer look.

'Aaaand she doesn't believe me. Dang, it!' Adrien thought as Chloé and Sabrina kept laughing while Marinette reached into her bag and grabbed a napkin to put over the gum.

"You're friends with Chloe, right?" Marinette questioned as she angrily glanced back at the model, not happy at all with him and there was not a person in the room who didn't know it.

"Why do people keep saying that?" Adrien questioned quietly before Marinette had stood up from the floor, and with a frown, went into her seat, and promptly began to ignore him. Immediately, Adrien went into his own seat, feeling bad that he had made a bad first impression on a possible new friend.

"Now do you see what I mean about respect?" Chloé snidely questioned while Adrien sighed. Looks like Chloé wasn't as nice as she was with him.

"I know I've seen him somewhere before," Marinette admitted as she glared at Adrien.

"Look at this," Alya spoke up, before handing her phone to her new friend, showing Marinette some pictures on the screen, which she immediately recognized.

"Of course! He's the son of my favorite fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste!" Marinette realized as she swiped through the gallery Alya had pulled up on her phone. Just her luck!

"Daddy's boy, teen supermodel, and Chloe's buddy? Hah. Forget it," Alya said, making Marinette nod and give Alya back her phone, as she turned to face the board... After that, Marinette pulled out her own phone from her bag, opened up the Arcadia's Unlucky Trio group chat and sent a text.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

MariFairy: I did it, Alya now has the Miraculous

Jimbo: That was quick

Toby Pie: Yeah, like lightning. We just hope you are making the right choice, Mari

MariFairy: I am. TTYL 👋

Jimbo: See ya soon 🔜

Toby Pie: Bye ✌️

After Toby sent his text, Marinette put her phone away and turned to the lesson. Meanwhile, Nino, who had witnessed the whole event, couldn't guess why Adrien had just taken the blame.

"Why don't you tell them it was Chloe's idea?" Nino asked, speaking his thoughts. Maybe this kid wasn't as bad as they initially thought.

"I've known Chloe since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend," Adrien admitted.

'This poor kid. He really needs a better influence than Chloé. Operation Protect Sunshine Child At All Costs is a go,' Nino thought before he brought out his hand towards Adrien with a smile.

"I'm Nino, and it's time for you to make some new friends, dude," Nino introduced, making Adrien smile as they shook hands to their new friendship.

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But on the other side of the school, Mylene, who had to use the restroom before class and got distracted on her phone as most do, ran out of the stall so she wouldn't miss class.

"Oh, no I'm going to be late!" Mylene said as she neared the door. If she didn't sprint, she was going to be late! That would be no good. She didn't want the teacher to be disappointed with her, but just as she ran through the bathroom door she nearly ran into something... someone?

"Eek!" The girl yelped as she ran into Ivan as he stood outside the door.

"Ivan! You scared me!" Mylene said, calming down a bit to see a familiar face

"I made this for you," Ivan said before he started playing some heavy rock music, causing Mylene to cover her ears to keep her hearing intact.

"MYLENE, BE SERENE! BE SERENE!!" The boy yelled out emotionally.

Sadly, Mylene was far too overwhelmed by all of the loud noises exacerbating her already anxious disposition and booked it out of there.

Ivan could only watch as she left. He didn't know what he did wrong, except that maybe Mylene didn't actually have feelings for him. He then crumpled the paper with the song lyrics, into a ball without letting it go, and threw his phone to the ground stomping on it, instantly regretting his actions. It was broken and there was no repairing it... just like his heart.

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"Yes... this is what I have been waiting for," The delusional old man exclaimed as the butterflies were once again stirred from their resting on the floor, and started fluttering through the air around Hawkmoth.

"You know the way, evil akuma. Track down your prey. Fly away and evilise him!" Hawkmoth said as he freed the Akuma to corrupt Ivan once more.

The 'villain' didn't have to wait long for the akuma to arrive at the school and enter the locker room, where it quickly located the devastated Ivan. Without hesitation, the akuma flew into the crumpled paper in Ivan's hand, allowing the purple outline of a butterfly to appear on his face once more.

"This is your second chance, Stone Heart, and this time you have extra help. No one will stop you from capturing the love of your life. Just remember, I'll need something in return," 'Hackmoth' said through the link, which brought a sinister smile to Ivan's face before he stood up from the ground and the dark aura appeared around him once more, transforming him back into Stoneheart. Once he was transformed, he took a few steps away from the bathroom door, and immediately all around Paris, the Stonebeings came to life and began to cause panic.

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Back in the classroom, the students were blissfully unaware of what was happening right under their noses, while they patiently waited for roll call to be over. Role call was supposed to be an uneventful time where you rehearsed saying 'present' approximately 500 times so you'd get it right when you were called.

"Agreste, Adrien?" Miss Bustier said, expecting the boy to know what to do. Unfortunately, Adrien was blissfully unaware so Nino had to let him in on the morning ritual.

"You say 'present'," Nino whispered to his new friend, trying to help him. But it didn't do much because as soon as Nino said that, Adrien shot out of his seat like a rocket.

"Uh, Present!" Adrien called out, raising his hand into the air as well. His overenthusiastic announcement of being in school brought laughter to almost everyone in the class.

"Bourgeois, Chloé?" Mis Bustier said, as Adrien embarrassedly sat back into his seat.

"Present," Chloé said, still smiling from her friend's excitement.

'Give him a few months, and he'll see it isn't all sunshine and rainbows,' she thought. However, the third name was where the trouble started.

"Bruel, Ivan?" Miss Bustier called out, unaware that Stoneheart was lumbering towards the classroom door, intent on making a scene.

"Present!" Stone Heart burst through the door causing most of the class to scream and run, while the akumatized student could care less, as he was focused on...

"Mylene!" Stoneheart roared as many of the students, including Adrien, ran out of the classroom while others, including Marinette, went to the back to hide from Stoneheart, as he approached Mylene, and grabbed her in his hand, lifting her to his eye level.

"Let go of me, Ivan!" Mylene cried out, trying to reason with him. But unfortunately, it didn't do much good.

"I'm not Ivan anymore. I'm Stoneheart!" The akuma proclaimed, while the other students still in the classroom watched in fear.

"Why are you doing this?" Mylene asked, trying to help her friend, and possible crush, and understand what was going on in his head.

"So you and I can be together. Forever!" Stoneheart said, telling Mylene what he truly wanted. But unfortunately, Chloe had decided that unlike most of the class, she would stay in the room and call her Daddy as if he could help her.

"Daddy, the monster is back!" Chloé 'whispered' into her phone as she cowered underneath her 'desk'.

"YOU!" Stoneheart said, before he grabbed the desk, and threw it away before grabbing Chloé with his free hand, much to her protest.

With a girl in each hand, Stoneheart broke through the far wall and leapt outside. Alya filmed the whole thing as Marinette hunched beside her, hoping Stage Three would start soon.

"Put us down, Ivan!" Mylene cries out as Chloé whimpers loudly like a baby, while Alya runs to the hole and watches them leave.

"Come on! Let's follow him!" Alya said, wanting to get first dibs on the story before anyone else. But Marinette wasn't having anything to do with akumas anymore.

"Oh no. You go. I'm finding myself a safe place to hide," Marinette said, not wanting to get caught in the middle of the chaos. Well, not as caught up as yesterday... but still.

"Girl, you're gonna miss Ladybug in action!" Alya said, trying to convince her new friend. But unfortunately, Marinette knew that unless Alya looked into her bag and found the earrings, Ladybug wouldn't be showing up. Marinette then looked at Alya's bag as it sat on the seat next to her. She was having doubts that phase three would ever come to fruition, so she took it and held it out to the other girl.

"You and Ladybug will both be better off without me," Marinette resolved, not looking Alya in the eye out of shame.

"If you say so," Alya said, as she gave up trying to convince her, and ran to follow her scoop... without her bag!

"Wait! Your bag!" Marinette shouted out to Alya as she left. But she was too far away, so Marinette had no choice but to follow her.

'Dang it!' Marinette thought as she ran after Alya as the aspiring reporter went after the new story.

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Adrien had made it to the locker room and opened one of the unoccupied lockers, allowing Plagg to fly out of his overshirt.

"My first day of school and I don't even make it past roll call," Adrien complained as Plagg floated in front of him, but was also thankful he made it outside fairly easily thanks to the position of his seat.

"A day off? Now that's what I'm talking about," Plagg happily said as he then lays on a miscellaneous roller skate on the lockers top shelf as he smirks at Adrien. But unfortunately, it didn't last long.

"Oh no, no, no. We've got homework to do. Plagg claws out!" Adrien called out, right before transforming into Chat Noir. Once transformed he was easily able to catch up with Stoneheart between the giant footsteps in the concrete and the complaining Chloe in his left hand.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with. My Daddy, the mayor, will bring in the police, the army, the entire cavalry!" Chloé said, flaunting her dad's resources that she was sure he would use to make sure she was rescued.

"And don't forget the superheroes!" Chat Noir quipped as he leapt into the air from behind Stoneheart and hit the villain with his staff before landing in a crouch on the ground. But Stoneheart immediately began to grow in size, which Chat Noir had forgotten he could do.

"Ugh. Super incompetent, you mean," Chloe grouched as she could only watch the fight in Stoneheart's clenched fist.

"Hah! You wanted the cavalry? Well, here it is!" Stoneheart said, just as many Stonebeings began to flood the area. All the people who had been turned into statues were now being turned into mindless slaves under the original's control and surrounded the now nervous Chat Noir.

"Seize him!" Stoneheart yells out, just as the Stonebeings began to carry out the command, trying to catch Chat Noir ss he ran between them and dodged the many blows the Stonebeings were trying to land. He had no way to fight back against them as Stoneheart began walking away!

"Ivan! Where are we going?!" Mylene demanded as Stoneheart was walking down a street next to the school and towards the Eiffel Tower.

"To deliver a message and then we'll be brought together forever by a pretty black butterfly," Stoneheart said as if in a trance making Mylene nervous, while Chloé didn't seem worried at all.

"Uck! All this lovey-dovey stuff is making me sick," Chloé complained while looking away from him and Mylene with a roll of her eyes.

"Don't worry, little monster. I'm gonna take care of you, too," Stone Heart chortled, making Chloé fearfully shrink back further into his fist, as she realized that maybe being rude to and provoking the large monster holding you captive was a bad idea.

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Over in Arcadia, Jim and Toby were doing their homework at Jim's house, when Jim's phone buzzed with a new notification.

"Jimbo, your phone is ringing off the hook," Toby said as he continued doing his homework, not even bothering to look up.

"I'm on it," Jim said, before looking up from his homework and picking up his phone to see why it was buzzing. His face lit up when he saw a notification from the Paris News app.

"It's the Paris News! There's a live stream going on." Jim excitedly exclaimed, pulling Toby from his work.

"Really? What's it about?" Toby asked, curious if it was about Stoneheart.

"Looks like Stoneheart has been re-akumatized. And Chat Noir seems to be all on his own!" Jim reported as he opened up the app, while Toby scooched over closer to him to watch as well.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's see if Marinette actually gave the Miraculous to Alya!" Toby said, to which Jim chuckled and opened the video and they started watching it.

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Back in Paris, Alya had finally made it to the battle scene to find Chat Noir holding off several Stonebeings, and crouched down on the ground to film the action, just as a Stonebeing had thrown a car at Chat Noir. Thankfully, the cat hero dodged it but was wondering why he was alone in facing these monsters.

"If you can hear me, Ladybug, I could use a little help!" Chat Noir shouted, making Alya realize that Ladybug really wasn't there yet.

"What is she waiting for?" Alya wondered as she looked around to try and catch a glimpse of the spotted heroine. Little did she know, the person she was looking for was also looking for her as Marinette just rounded the corner to see the ongoing battle.

'Come on Marinette! There she is! Just get Alya the bag and...' Marinette thought to herself, just before her train of thought was interrupted when one of the Stonebeings threw a car at Chat Noir, but missed, causing the car to tumble towards Alya!

'Oh no!' Marinette's thoughts screamed out as she watched the thrown car about to crush Alya. But thanks to Chat throwing his baton, she was saved, but now Alya was trapped and one of the Stonebeings used the hero's lack of focus on them, to capture Chat Noir with his fist! Marinette dropped Alya's bag, watching in horror as the Stonebeings walked away with the captured Chat Noir.

"Let go, you rock head!" Chat Noir frustratedly cries out while trying to break free.

"HELP!" Alya cried out, while Marinette just stood rooted to her spot. This was not going well.

'WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?' Marinette panicked in her head. This wasn't what she wanted. But now, there was only one option left for her, and it wasn't to turn tail and hope everything turned out alright. With her mind made up, she reached into the dropped bag, pulled out the box containing the Ladybug Miraculous, and donned the earrings, just before Tikki appeared in front of her in a bright red orb of light.

"I think I need Ladybug!" Marinette said, much to Tikki's joy.

"I knew you'd come around!" Tikki excitedly said, glad that Marinette was willing to try again

"Well, I'm still not sure I'm up to this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing!" Marinette said with certainty, knowing that she had a job to do. And afterwards, hopefully, she would know what to do. But first...

"Tikki spots on!" Marinette cried out confidently, transforming into Ladybug.