(The next morning)

After their less than stellar training; the Gumm-Gumm dummies winning against the heroes 8-2, Ladybug and Chat Noir headed back home to sleep off their exhaustion. Granted, Marientte wasn't too exhausted to participate in her normal nightly video call with Jim and Toby, who were excited to hear about her Great Uncle's visit and surprised to hear about Adrien asking for her autograph. But once again, Marinette had failed to see the latest Changeling spy following her home, this one being sent out after the first one didn't contact their superiors since being assigned to his task. Thankfully, Artemis made sure that the second spy would meet the same fate as his predecessor. However, since Marinette didn't know about those events, she was more occupied with meeting her Great Uncle... who her parents entrusted to make him feel welcome while they were out with a catering event.

So Marinette was sitting in her living room as she waited for her Great Uncle, who was due to arrive very shortly, and decided to kill time by taking measures to make her relative feel welcome. While she could speak French, English, and Italian fluently; her being fluent in Troll was still a work in progress, she had been meaning to learn Chinese at some point, but had decided to wait until she finished learning Troll. But her decision had left her thoroughly unprepared to greet her Chinese speaking Great Uncle, leading to her needing to come up with a way to communicate with him for his visit. This entailed downloading a French-to-Chinese translation app on her phone to help her with siad problem.

"You'll see Tikki. With this app, I'll say it just fine." Marinette assured her kwami, the little fairy-like creature floating next to her holder as she watched Marinette press the microphone button on the app. "Welcome to my home. My name is Marinette." the pigtailed girl spoke into the recorder, the app taking her words and translated them into the desired language Marinette needed.

"欢迎来到我的家, 我的名字叫马里内特." the translator app repeated back in Chinese, giving Marinette a chance to copy the words the translator app gave her, only for her to pronounce the sentence wrong.

"No, that's not right." Marinette muttered to herself, clicking the microphone to repeat the translated statement, this time getting it correct.

"Good job Marinette!" Tikki cheered, happy for her holder's accomplishment.

"Thanks, Tikki! Guess learning Troll has rubbed a few tricks off on me." Marinette remarked, a smile gracing her lips before looking back at her phone with worry. "But that doesn't mean I'm any less nervous!" the designer exclaimed, her nerves of meeting her great uncle going through the roof as she glanced at the purple flowers on the coffee table in front of her.

"Do you think he'll like them?" Marinette asked her kwami, reaching over and grabbing the flowers as she spoke, quickly showing them to Tikki.

"Well of course! They're fine!" Tikki replied, much to Marinette's displeasure at her answer.

"They can't be fine, they have to be perfect!" Marinette argued, her nerves growing more shot by the second. "My Mom's uncle is a super famous Chinese chef. He's very particular, so things have to be just right." the pigtailed girl elaborated, only for the doorbell to ring and interrupt their conversation.

"That's him! Hide, Tikki." Marinette said as she opened her jacket, allowing Tikki to hide in the folds of the jacket fabric before the girl made her way to the door, unintentionally tripping over the back of her couch in her haste. Thankfully, she managed to catch and compose herself before opening the door, revealing her Great Uncle Wang.

"你好 (Hello)." Wang Cheng warmly greeted his great niece, happy to see her.

"Uh, welcome Mari you're at Nette's." Marinette stammered out, nervous to make a good first impression. "Uh, I mean, welcome to Marinette's! You're Chinese!" the designer tried to correct, only to realize that she was making things worse.

"No no no no! In Mandarin!" Marinette muttered, quickly attempting to greet her Great Uncle in Chinese... and failing as a result. "Ugh, no wait." the pigtailed girl continued, remembering her recently added app and reached for her phone while handing her great uncle the flowers.

"Welcome to my home. My name is Marinette." Marinette whispered into the translator app on her phone, not noticing her guest smelled the flowers she gave him and putting some of them into his satchel. "Ugh, this is so lame." the designer softly added, critiquing herself before she held her phone out towards her great uncle.

But when she did, the app malfunctioned and kept repeating 'ugh, this is so lame!', it translates into 'ugh, this sucks'. As soon as she realized what was happening, Marinette scrambled to close the app and let her great uncle inside with a nervous chuckle. Once her relative was in the apartment, Marinette closed the door behind them and dialed up Alya while she watched her uncle head into the living room.

"Alya, you've gotta help me!" Marinette exclaimed into her phone once Alya picked up. "I don't know what to do with my mom's uncle. You know, the one I told you about? I don't think I can pull this off..." the pigtailed girl admitted in a worried tone.

"Chill out Marinette, I got the solution." Alya assured on the other end, she herself was doing her homework at the park at the time Marinette called her. "Just hang tight." the reporter assured before she hung up.

"Thank you! You're amazing." Marinette praised, still not noticing the dial tone that had replaced her best friend's voice. "Wait, what solution?" the designer asked, only to finally notice the dial tone. With Alya leaving her without any idea of what she had in mind, Marinette put her phone back into her pocket and joined her great uncle in the living room.

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A little while had passed since Marinette's call to Alya, and the dark haired girl was feeling antsy as she uncomfortably sat on the Dupain-Cheng family sofa with her Great Uncle Wang. Thankfully, after a while of awaiting Alya's help, the doorbell rang, prompting Marinette to run to the door to answer it. But when she did, she was surprised to see who it was.

"Hey Marinette!" Adrien greeted the girl with a smile and wave, causing Marinette to panic at the sight of him.

"ADRIEN!?" Marinette exclaimed, surprised to see her crush instead of Alya "What in the—uh—what are you—" the pigtailed girl tried to ask, not sure of Adrien's reasons for being at her house.

"Alya called me. She said you needed someone who speaks Chinese?" Adrien replied, explaining why he was there. "Well, here I am! Translator at your service." the model announced as he bowed to her, happy to be of service in helping out a friend. Surprisingly, his father was okay with him going out on a last minute favor for a friend when he explained that it would be a great opportunity to practice his Chinese. Plus there was the added bonus of hanging out with a friend too... It was basically a win-win situation in Adrien's opinion.

"Seriously? Thank you!" Marinette gushed, not believing that Alya had managed to pull this off. Speaking of... "Wait, where's Alya?" the designer questioned as she looked around for her bestie, only to receive a text from Alya to confirm the situation was real.

"Never mind. Come on in." Marinette cheerfully said as she stepped aside to clear the path, allowing Adrien to walk into her house. Once he was inside, the pigtailed girl happily closed the door behind her, glad to be both spending time with her crush and having a way to communicate with her Great Uncle.

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Soon enough, the time to head over to the 'World's Greatest Chef' contest had arrived, leading Marinette, Adrien and Great Uncle Wang to board Adrien's car to make their way to the contest. On the way, Adrien decided to make conversation with Marinette's uncle, hoping to help the two family members get to know each other a bit more.

"郑师傅, 这是你第一次来巴黎吗? ( Master Cheng, Is this the first time you've visited Paris?)" Adrien asked, breaking the ice between the three of them.

"不, 我三十年曾经来过这里;你说一口流利的中国话. (No, I have been here 30 years ago. You can speak Chinese fluently.)" Cheng Shifu replied, taking note that his Great Niece's friend was quite fluent in Chinese. All the while, Marinette was looking around at anything but her Great Uncle and Adrien, having no idea what they were talking about and thus not interested in the conversation.

"谢谢, 郑师傅. (Thank you, Master Cheng)" Adrien thanked, giving the master a bow as he spoke.

"My French very bad. Not like your Chinese." Cheng Shifu admitted in French, surprising both Marinette and Adrien with his sudden language change.

"I thought you couldn't speak French." Adrien remarked in joyful disbelief, glad for this turn of events.

"Me too!" Marinette added, she herself left in awe at this new development.

"Oh, no, not good. My French not good." Cheng Shifu elaborated, making Marinette giggle. If anything, that was something she and him somewhat had in common.

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It didn't take very long for the trio to reach Le Grand Paris, where the 'World's Greatest Chef' competition was taking place. But when the car arrived, the entire front entrance was crowded by both the filming crew and fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the contestants while Alec Cataldi was taking point in beginning the broadcast.

"Since our 'World's Greatest Chef' contest kicked off, the best culinary masters from around the globe have been blowing our minds with their gastronomic creations." Alec announced, the camera crew filming Cheng Shifu's arrival as he waved to the fans to the sides, Marinette and Adrien standing by the open car door behind the chef.

"Cheng Shifu, I am delighted and honored to have you here on our final show, where you will have the chance to defeat all of the chefs who have completed thus far." Mayor Bourgeois greeted as he walked over to the famous chef and bowed to him, Cheng Shifu smiling at the warm welcome before he, Marinette, and Adrien walked into Le Grand Paris.

"Only one will be awarded the title of 'World's Greatest Chef.' The winner's dish will become the new Mayor's Special on the Grand Paris Restaurant menu!" Alec elaborated to the audience at home, right before the broadcast switched to show the host inside the hotel standing next to Cheng Shifu. "Tell us Cheng Shifu, what dish will you be honoring our panel with today?" the show host asked, prompting Adrien to translate what Alec said to the chef.

"My dish is: Celestial soup." Cheng Shifu replied with pride.

"Wow! We've heard so much about your legendary Celestial Soup, but today we'll actually get to taste it!" Alec exclaimed, allowing the television broadcast to end so Cheng Shifu could begin making his dish.

"Would you like me to come with you, Cheng Shifu?" Adrien asked, offering to help the great master.

"No, thank you Adrien. Cooking needs no words." Cheng Shifu assured before he let Alec lead him to the kitchen.

"Thanks, Adrien." Marinette thanked once her Great Uncle was out of earshot. "I'm totally sorry for bothering you for nothing. I really thought he couldn't speak French." the designer apologized, feeling guilty for wasting Adrien's time for nothing.

"No problem Marinette. It was awesome to be able to practice my Chinese." Adrien replied, trying to assure Marinette that he didn't mind either way. "Especially with a Shifu." the blonde haired boy added, much to Marinette's sudden confusion.

"A Shifu? What do you mean?" Marinette wondered, familiar with the term Adrien had used... considering she was half Chinese herself. Just because Marinette didn't speak the language, doesn't mean that she didn't know some words thanks to the times she's heard her mom speak it when she was younger.

"You didn't know? Your Mom's Uncle is a great master!" Adrien explained, causing a prideful smile to appear on Marinette's face.

"Well look who it is! My favorite person, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." a voice behind Marinette spoke, startling Marinette to look behind her and see it was Chloé who had spoken. "I mean, seriously? Does your great-uncle really expect to win the contest with a SOUP!? It's not even a main dish! Please!" Chloé complained, being very rude towards Marinette's Great Uncle and causing both the dark haired girl and Adrien's anger to rise.

"Doesn't he know how to make sushi like everyone else?" the blonde brat added, making that the tipping point in Marinette and Adrien's anger towards her.

"Japanese people make sushi, Chloé. Cheng Shifu is Chinese!" Adrien corrected, feeling the need to defend Cheng Shifu's honor.

"Besides, he's not like 'everyone else'." Marinette spoke up, having had enough of Chloé's disrespect towards her family. "My Great Uncle is the best chef in the world. His soup is legendary!" the pigtailed girl added, praising her Great Uncle's skills with pride.

"Well, I despise soup." Chloé commented.

"So what?" Marinette questioned, even if she didn't really want to know why Chloé's opinion mattered.

"Didn't you know? I'm on the jury." Chloé smugly replied, flipping her ponytail as she spoke. "Your uncle will not be getting my vote, for sure." the heiress assured, which only fanned the flames of Marinette's defiance.

"Oh yeah? Well, he doesn't need your vote to win!" Marinette exclaimed, walking over to Chloé and poking her in the chest as she spoke. "There are other judges with much better taste than yours." the designer elaborated with a smirk, loving the way Chloé was getting so worked up by her words and decided to hit the final nail in the coffin.

"Huh, silly me, you don't have any taste! I mean, look at what you're wearing." Marinette added, her fashion designer side coming alive as she finally voiced her opinion on the outfit Chloé thought was 'to die for', making the blonde brat extremely mad.

"Ew! Don't talk about me like that." Chloé growled before she walked over to the stairs angrily. "You've made a big mistake." the heiress threatened, turning to glance back at Marinette before walking up the stairs. Once she was gone, Adrien proudly looked back over Marinette, happy to see her stand up for her uncle in such a confident way.

"Wow, you really stood up for Cheng Shifu. He would've appreciated that." Adrien remarked, which only brought a melancholy expression to the girl's face.

"I'm not sure. I don't think he likes me." Marinette replied, looking down at the floor in disappointment.

"Oh no, you're wrong." Adrien exclaimed, seeing the need to rectify this misunderstanding immediately.

"No, I swear! He even ripped up the bouquet I gave him." Marinette elaborated, recalling how it felt to see a gift she gave to someone being destroyed by the receiver. Considering her love language was heartfelt gifts from what he had seen beforehand, Adrien could see why she would think that.

"Cheng Shifu isn't just a chef, Marinette -- he's an artist!" Adrien began. "He said he improvises on faithful things that come his way, and told me he was gonna put flowers in his Celestial Soup. The flowers he mentioned must be the ones you gave him!" the model exclaimed, relaying what Marinette's Great Uncle had told him earlier, causing an awed smile to appear on Marinette's lips.

"So... you think he actually likes me?" Marinette asked, feeling a bit more confident in herself with Adrien's words.

"Totally!" Adrien exclaimed as he placed his hands on Marinette's shoulders. "He's shown you great respect in his own special way. Kind of like how you do with our friends." the blonde-haired boy added, causing a bright smile and a rose pink blush to appear on Marinette's face.

'If he keeps saying such sweet things, my heart might give out before the day is done.' Marinette squealed in her thoughts, trying to contain her joy before she said something to ruin the moment. When she finally calmed her racing heart down, both Marinette and Adrien made their way up to the Le Grand Paris's restaurant, both waiting for when the competition started.

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Meanwhile in the Le Grand Paris kitchen, Cheng Shifu had begun cooking his soup. If anyone had been present to see the man cooking, they would have seen the expert level skill the master chef was displaying as he concocted his signature dish. The ingredients Cheng Shifu used; plus the flower petals from Marinette's bouquet, were sliced, diced, sprinkled and added into the soup pot in a whirlwind of color, all in order to create the vibrant purple liquid. But as the soup was bubbling in the pot while Cheng Shifu was taste testing it, he failed to notice Chloé peering in from the kitchen door to his left.

"Mr. Cheng, Marinette's looking for you outside." Chloé spoke up, drawing Cheng Shifu's attention from his cooking and exited the kitchen to see what his Great Niece wanted. But once he was gone, Chloé devilishly smirked to herself as closed the kitchen doors and walked over to the soup simmering on the stove.

"Let's see if the other judges enjoy your uncle's soup after this, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." the blond brat taunted out loud, adding several disgusting things into soup before stirring her tainted concoction up and putting the lid back on just as Cheng Sifu walked back into the kitchen.

"Marinette wasn't there—" Cheng Sifu began, Chloé walked past him to exit the room.

"No speak Japanese. See ya." Chloé interrupted, once again being culturally insensitive before she exited the room, much to Cheng Sifu's slight confusion. But thinking nothing of it, the chef continued with his work and plated his dish to present to the judges...unaware of it being tampered by the heiress just moments ago.

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Quicker than anyone had expected, Cheng Sifu's dish was ready for judging and the jury was all present in the Le Grand Paris's dining hall, where 'The World's Greatest Chef' was being filmed.

"As usual, our panel of gourmets is made up of André Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris and owner of this luxury hotel, plus his daughter Chloé, representing the younger generation." Alec began, the camera panning over to the respective member of the Mayoral family.

"Following them is hot rockstar Jagged Stone and his killer crocodile Fang, the divine head chef of this very hotel, Marlena Césaire, and finally, yours truly -- Alec!" the show host finished after the camera showed the remaining judges, 'The World's Greatest Chef' logo flashing across the broadcast board before cutting to the judges as they sat at the table to taste Cheng Sifu's dish.

"It's time to determine the fate of Cheng Shifu's famous Celestial Soup. Let's get tasting!" Alec announced, prompting the entire jury to taste the dish, save for Chloé, who just twirled her spoon inside the soup. But as everyone waited on baited breath for the judge's reaction, Alec suddenly spat out the soup. "What IS this!?" the show host recoiled, leaving Cheng Sifu, Adrien, and Marinette shocked at the negative reaction.

"Uh, I don't think this soup would fare well with our guests! I'll give it a 3/10." Mayor Bourgeois announced after trying the tampered dish, lifting up a plate with his rating to show to the camera.

"Seeing as it seems pretty unappetizing, maybe I'll pass on the tasting. But I'll still give it a zero!" Chloé proclaimed, copying her father and showing her rating.

"Ech! It's like kissing a singer from the Zombeats! Negative zero." Jagged Stone exclaimed, giving the same rating as Chloé after tasting the soup. After Jagged gave his review, the camera went over to Marlena.

"I'm sorry, but it's inedible. I give it 1/10." Marlena announced, showing her review like the others.

"Uh... I..." Cheng Sifu began, not understanding how this happened while Adrien and Marinette could only feel sorry for him. But that didn't stop the master chef from walking over to the judges table to see what the problem was, taking a taste of 'his' soup before spitting it out like the judges had done. "Uch! I don't understand, I never put these ingredients in. It's a mistake. Someone sabotaged soup!" the master chef tried to explain, causing Marlena and Jagged Stone to look at each other worriedly while Chloé smiled smugly at the misfortune befalling Cheng Sifu.

"I'm sorry, Cheng Shifu, but I'm giving you a zero, too, which brings your score to 0.8/10 -- the lowest so far." Alec spoke up as he got out of his seat and walked over to the chef, showing his rating plate to the camera once he reached him. "Your Celestial Soup will therefore not be on the hotel's menu this year, and you will not be named 'World's Greatest Chef'!" the show host announced, causing Adrien and Marinette to feel even more upset for Cheng Sifu. But once the broadcast was over and the jury began leaving the table, Marinette noticed a flower petal fall from Chloé's jacket when she stood up.

"This isn't right, and I'm certain Chloé's got something to do with it." Marinette voiced to Adrien, her gut instinct growing stronger by the second as they watched the blonde brat leave.

"I'd like to say you're wrong, but I know her only too well." Adrien sadly admitted, knowing that Marinette had every reason to accuse Chloé of the sabotage. With the confirmation, Marinette quickly walked over to her distraught Great Uncle.

"Uncle Cheng? I'm sure it's not your fault. In fact, I know it's not. I'm pretty sure Chloé's behind this. It was actually because of me. I provoked her, and—" Marinette tried to explain, hoping to make her uncle feel better about his defeat.

"Shame is on Celestial Soup. I shall never be "World's Greatest Chef"!" Cheng Sifu interrupted, not wanting to hear Marinette's attempts to cheer him up before walking shamefully back into the kitchen.

"No! Uncle Cheng!" Marinette sadly called out, only to be met with silence.

"It's horrible to lose face in China." Adrien spoke up, explaining why Cheng Sifu was so inconsolable at the moment. But that still didn't make Marinette feel better about her part in this misfortune. "We can wait for him downstairs if you want." the model offered as he walked over to Marinette to comfort her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, let's go" Marinette replied in a soft voice, the two of them beginning their walk downstairs together while still feeling down.

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While Marinette and Adrien were making their way to the ground level of the hotel, Cheng Sifu was moping about his defeat in the kitchen. But down below the city, Hawkmoth could sense the master chef's growing negative emotions from his lair.

"A great artist was wronged today. I can feel it!" Hawkmoth exclaimed as the lair window opened, the butterflies disturbed enough to start fluttering around the space around him. "I can hear his heart screaming for revenge." The resident supervillain mused out loud, feeling sympathetic towards his fellow creative mind as he transformed one of the white butterflies into an akuma. Once the transformation was complete, he allowed it to flutter free from his grasp to flutter towards the lair window.

"Fly away my little akuma, and evilize him! Victory never tasted so good!" Hawkmoth proclaimed with an evil cackle, watching the akuma flutter through the lair window as it targeted the disrespected master..

Much like the last two akumatizations, the akuma had very little distance to cover with how close the Agreste Mansion was to Le Grand Paris. But while Cheng Sifu was standing sadly over his soup pot, he suddenly looked up and saw the mess Chloé had left behind in her sabotage and hadn't bothered to clean up. Seeing the mess, the master chef picked up one of the unfamiliar bottles Chloé had used and became enraged.

"Marinette was right. It was evil act by that brat!" Cheng Sifu exclaimed, now seeing that his defeat was truly not his fault. "No respect for Cheng Shifu!" the master chef seethed as his grip on the bottle tightened, not noticing that the akuma had arrived and entered his chef's hat.

"Kung Food, I am Hawkmoth." Hawkmoth proclaimed from his end of the newly created psychic link, a montage of images flowing into Cheng Sifu's mind to inform the foreigner of who his new benefactor was capable of. "Those who tasted your soup will become your servants, and the one who wronged you will pay dearly." the delusional psychopath offered, immediately catching Cheng Sifu's interest at the prospect of getting revenge.

"I will show I am greatest chef in the world!" Cheng Sifu announced, accepting Hawkmoth's offer before he was transformed into Kung Food.

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As soon as Cheng Sifu turned into his akumatized self, back out in the Le Grand Paris dining hall, the entire jury besides Chloé suddenly got a monster of a stomach ache.

"Ooohhh, uhh..." Alec groaned, in the middle of filming a segment before needing to keel over with the sudden pain.

"Ohh, my guts are killing me." Jagged Stone whined, soon banging on the table right after he spoke.

"I'm feeling quite uncomfortable..." Mayor Bourgeois painfully admitted, holding his stomach in an effort to ease his pain. But the jury's joint unpleasant mood was further soured when Kung Food jumped onto one of the dining room tables with a maniacal laugh.

"You have eaten my soup, you become my servants!" Kung Food announced with a cackle, a quad of flying rice balls hovering behind him as the akumatized chef watched the jury's turn into orange, soon standing at attention.

"At your command, master." Alec proclaimed, he and the rest of the affected jury now ready to follow his command.

"Grab the girl." Kung Food ordered, pointing at a distracted Chloé. With the given command, Kung Food's possessed servants creeped towards the heiress, who was occupied with talking to someone on her phone.

"Yeah, well, I was wondering if you'd like to come—" Chloé spoke to the person on the other end of her phone, only to soon notice the people crowding around her. "Uh wh—w-wait! Calm down now. I'm Mayor Bourgeois' daughter, remember?" the blond brat protested, backing away from her assailants before she bumped into someone. However, with a quick look up to see who she just hit, Chloé was shocked to see it was her own father.

"Daddy!?" Chloé wailed in worry when seeing the state Mayor Bourgeois was in, only for her father to quickly grab her before she could get away.

"Kung Food will make new soup called Brat Soup!" Kung Food exclaimed, Chloé screaming as the rest of the jury approached her and Mayor Bourgeois.

"But I don't like soup!" Chloé protested, struggling against her father's grip while the others closed in around her, causing Kung Food to chuckle evilly at his new captive. All the while, Hawkmoth watched the whole thing with glee from his lair, eager for when his adversaries would show up to battle against his latest akuma.

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After Kung Food had taken control of the jury and captured Chloé, he sent his flying rice balls at the remaining camera man in the dining hall. Immediately, the poor man ran away, ending up in Le Grand Paris's lobby where Adrien and Marinette were waiting for Cheng Sifu.

"Get out! Hurry! Get out while you still can!" the cameraman wailed as he ran away from the pursuing rice balls, exiting the hotel and leaving the occupants behind. At the peculiar sight, both teens knew something was up just as one of the rice balls took to floating in front of them before projecting a holographic screen with Kung Food on it.

"Not polite to leave table without permission. Cut off all exits!" Kung Food yelled from the flying rice ball's projection, causing a slew of different reactions between Adrien and Marinette as they took in the new situation.

But while the teens were processing the new akuma, Kung Food's henchmen had made it to the roof and poured vats of caramel down the sides of the hotel, sealing the rest of the inhabitants inside. At the sight of the golden substance pouring down the front door, Adrien ran over to try to push it open, soon giving up when it wouldn't budge and spying some of the liquid had leaked into the room from under the door.

"What is that?" Marinette asked, walking over to Adrien just as he bent down and stuck his finger in the caramel.

"I think it's... caramel?" Adrien said in a questioning tone before he put his liquid coated finger tip into his mouth to taste it. "Yep, it's caramel. Tasty but totally indestructible, so it looks like we're trapped inside." the model confirmed, getting back to his feet as he spoke. But just after he finished speaking did Marinette remember...

"My Great Uncle is still upstairs!" Marinette exclaimed, worry filling her voice.

"Don't worry, I'll go find him." Adrien replied, quickly running over to the stairwell. Unbeknownst to her, while Adrien had every intention of keeping his promise to Marinette, he was using the opportunity to find a place to transform into his own alter ego.

"Thanks. I'll... look for a way out of here..." Marinette called out, also using the opportunity presented to her so she could transform into Ladybug.

"You are going to taste Kung Food's soup." Kung Food proclaimed from the flying rice ball's projected screen, drawing Marinette's attention back to the akuma on the other end. "Everybody become my servants, and Kung Food become 'World's Greatest Chef'!" the akumatized chef announced with an evil laugh. In his words, the pigtailed girl now knew who the new akuma was.

"Uncle?" Marinette uttered to herself in disbelief, watching the screen as it revealed Kung Food's henchmen adding ingredients into the hotel's rooftop pool and stirring the giant soup while Chloé hung over it.

Now knowing the fate that befell her Great Uncle, Marinette raced over to hide behind one of the lobby's decorative pillars. But that was mostly out of habit. Since the room had already been cleared out of any more people, she didn't really need to hide... but better safe than sorry. However, that was the least of Marinette's worries as Tikki flew out of her purse.

"I never should have riled up Chloé! I've gotta save my Uncle!" Marinette exclaimed, her kwami hovering next to her as she voiced her guilt in her part in this mess.

"You'll do it Marinette! I'm sure you will!" Tikki encouraged, bringing a smile to Marinette's face as she pulled out her runestone necklace and clasped her hand over it, activating her Ladybug disguise. Once the disguise had taken full effect, she finally called out...

"Tikki, spots on!" the designer exclaimed, triggering her transformation into Ladybug.

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Meanwhile, Adrien had already entered the stairwell within Le Grand Paris, and climbed up a few levels to make sure no one would hear him when transforming. But once he was in a good spot, he finally pulled his overshirt open and let Plagg fly out from his hiding spot.

"Time to transform!" Adrien exclaimed as Plagg in front of him, eager to defeat the new akuma.

"You didn't happen to pick up a little piece of Camembert during all this cooking chaos, did you?" Plagg questioned his holder, hoping for it to be the main case.

"Cheese after the main meal." Adrien chidded his kwami as he pulled out his runestone necklace. "Here's to hoping this thing works as well as Ladybug said it does." the blonde commented as he pulled out his runestone necklace, eager to try it out now that he had it. Following Ladybug and Maray's instructions, Adrien clasped the runestones in his hand, commanding a soft dark purple glow to surround the black runestone and summoning his hero disguise. Once the disguise had appeared on his body, both Adrien and Plagg looked at the boy's current form in wonder.

"HA! It works! Styx really knows her stuff!" Adrien cheered, happy to find that the disguise was working so well. With his civilian identity thoroughly protected, he finally called out... "Plagg, Claws Out!" the model proclaimed, triggering his transformation into Chat Noir. Now in his alter ego, the feline hero went off to battle against the latest akuma, even if he was a little worried about facing them all on his own... or so he thought, that is.

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After both teens assumed their alter egos, they made their way to the center of Le Grand Paris lobby. But when they reached the foot of the grand staircase, they were surprised to see each other.

"Chat Noir?" Ladybug wondered out loud when see her partner in the building with her... seeing as the caramel blocked off the exits.

"Ladybug! I don't know about you, m'lady, but I'm a bit hungry." Chat Noir greeted his partner, also surprised to see her but less so, assuming she had her mysterious ways to get into the building.

"Let's go eat then. Shall we?" Ladybug responded with a playful smirk before they ran towards the elevator, hoping to get to the roof to defeat Kung Food.

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But while the two heroes were attempting to head up to the roof, they were unaware of Kung Food watching the duo from the pool area, thanks to one of his flying rice balls. Surprisingly, it didn't catch Marinette transforming into Ladybug, though that luck didn't allow for the heroes to properly sneak attack Kung Food.

"Who are those two?" Kung Food questioned out loud, prompting Hawkmoth to reactivate the link between him and his akuma.

"They are Ladybug and Chat Noir. They've come to stop you from completing your soup." Hawkmoth explained, forgetting that he didn't inform his akuma about the resident superheroes when he first akumatized him. "You must add them to your recipe!" the drama queen proclaimed, his words appealing to Kung Food's interests right away.

"Surprise ingredients? Hah! Delicious!" Kung Food cheered, quickly turning to face his mind controlled servants. "You! Go capture them!" the akumatized chef ordered Jagged Stone, pointing to the rockstar as he spoke.

"Yes, Master Kung Food." Jagged Stone complied, quickly running off like the anime character Naruto to intercept the superheroes.

"Brat Soup even more powerful with superhero flavor." Kung Food remarked as he turned to face Chloé as she dangled above the pool turned giant soup pot.

"I will not eat your soup!" Chloé shouted, ignorant to what the chef akuam had planned, despite her current position tied above the boiling mixture.

"Foolish girl. You are not eating soup, you ARE soup!" Kung Food clarified, his words immediately sinking into Chloé's thick skull.

"Someone help! Let me down!" Chloé cried before squirming around to try and free herself, only to stop when she didn't break free right away.

"Don't worry, you will be let down soon enough." Kung Food menacingly assured his captive, soon evily laughing to himself at his word play.

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Back down in the Le Grand Paris lobby, the two heroes were still standing at the elevators while Chat Noir pressed the control buttons, only for nothing to happen.

"Ugh! It's jammed!" Chat Noir groaned, giving up with the elevator when his attempts failed. But just when he did, the flying rice ball that had been surveilling them floated down behind them and started projecting a holographic screen with Kung Food on it.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! You soon have privilege to be ingredients in Kung Food's soup." Kung Food proclaimed from the projector, bringing the heroes attention to the screen behind them. "But first — you taste my special of the day!" the akumatized chef added, the elevator door opening to reveal Jagged Stone while he held a mace made out of seafood atop his right shoulder.

"Seafood appetizers." Jagged Stone quipped when the superheroes turned away from the screen to see their new opponent.

"Jagged Stone!" Ladybug exclaimed, surprised to see the rockstar was in league with Kung Food.

"Seafood? This scampi happening. Let's see if you can carry a tuna!" Chat Noir punned, as he got ready to fight Jagged Stone, much to Ladybug's annoyance that he thought that it was the time to goof around. But her exasperated thoughts were interrupted when Jagged Stone swung his mace at them.

"Look out!" Ladybug yelled, prompting the duo to jump backwards after Jagged Stone swung at them, narrowly missing the hit as they landed on the decorative show table in the center of the lobby.

"That's not very "rock and roll" of you, Jagged Stone." Chat Noir taunted from his and Ladybug's current perch.

"Rock is one thing, soup is another. When I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but minced meat!" Jagged Stone exclaimed before he leapt towards the superheroes, causing them to jump off the table before the rockstar destroyed it with his seafood mace.

With Jagged coming in the middle of them, the heroes had to split up. This led to the rockstar to attack Chat Noir, swinging his seafood mace at the feline hero, who dodged the blows before he needed to dive out of the way of a lower aimed hit. Thanks to a little parkour, Chat Noir managed to catch himself in a crouch before he crashed into the front doors and landed next to Ladybug, only to look back at the enslaved Jagged Stone in frustration. As the feline hero got back to his feet, he glanced over at Ladybug while pulling out his baton, the both of them thinking of the same plan to defeat the rockstar before attacking him. With the duo heading towards him, Jagged Stone began to advance on them as well, leading to Chat Noir to leaping into the air to attack him with his baton.

Using his seafood mace, the rockstar blocked the attack before Chat Noir could hit him, which left him open for Ladybug to slide through the space between Jagged's legs as she wrapped her yo-yo around his ankle. When she got back to her feet, the spotted heroine waited for Chat Noir to jump back from Jagged Stone before pulling on her yo-yo string, leading to the rockstar being swung around before getting thrown into the utility closet. Once Jagged Stone was thrown in, Chat Noir closed the door behind him before Ladybug slid a chair underneath the door handle, the girl smiling as she coily sat in the piece of furniture while doing so.

"Good job." Chat Noir complimented Ladybug before they fist bump, loving the little touch his partner added to Jagged's defeat.

"There's no time to lose! Chloé might just be the main dish!" Ladybug reminded, standing up from the chair just as Jagged Stone started banging on the closet door. "And we better not wait to find out!" the spotted heroine added before she and Chat Noir ran towards the elevator, glad to be able to use it to get to the roof faster.

"Ugh, get me outta here! Come on, then!" Jagged Stone demanded from the closet, still banging on the door while the elevator closed behind the heroes before making its way up to the roof.

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Up on said rooftop, Kung Food was standing on Le Grand Paris's pool deck as he watched Chloé hanging over it, waiting for his soup broth to be ready.

"This Brat soup is going to be Kung Food's masterpiece!" Kung Food mussed out loud, eager for when the soup was ready to add Chloé into the bubbling stock.

"Do you have to tie me up above this foul-smelling liquid! My designer clothes are going to stink of grease!" Chloé whined, caring more for her appearance than for her own life.

"Soup not greasy at all! Kung Food soup very well-balanced." Kung Food argued with an evil laugh, only to be interrupted by one of his flying rice balls's projector as it displayed Jagged Stone locked in the closet. "Bad sous chef." the akumatized chef exclaimed as he watched Ladybug and Chat Noir enter the elevator. Now needing to continue distracting the heroes, he turned to face his minions and then pointed to Mayor Bourgeois.

"You! Do me justice!" Kung Food demanded the controlled mayor.

"Yes, Master." Mayor Bourgeois replied, quickly dashing away after he spoke so he could carry out his master's orders.

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While Mayor Bourgeois was on his way to intercept the superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir were inside the elevator as it climbed up towards the roof. But with the small reprieve, Chat Noir had decided to take the opportunity to flirt with Ladybug.

"Ladybug, come on. It's just you and me together. We could go places." Chat Noir began as he leaned against the elevator cabin wall by his elbow, copying what he'd seen many anime characters do when they flirt.

"Uh, yeah. Like up." Ladybug responded in a tired tone, not falling for her partner's antics and focusing on their current predicament.

"Exactly! We've got nowhere to go but up!" Chat Noir rebutted, only for the elevator to short circuit and stop moving up, the sudden action sending the two heroes to the ground.

"You spoke too soon!" Ladybug exclaimed, righting herself to crouch on the floor of the elevator in preparation for a fight while Chat Noir got back to his feet to try using the buttons.

"I think the electricity between us short-circuited the elevator." Chat Noir quipped after the buttons failed to do anything, hoping to lighten the now tense mood.

"You wish. More like us getting ourselves into a sticky situation." Ladybug reflected just before the elevator door opened up, revealing Mayor Bourgeois as he held a flail made out of potatoes, sausages, lettuce and carrots in his hands.

"Royal hotpot with its giant string of smoked sausages!" Mayor Bourgeois greeted the two heroes, swinging his flail around in a display of skill to unnerve his opponents.

"Looks like a food fight is coming our way." Ladybug remarked, not liking where this interaction was heading.

"I prefer my sausages with mashed potatoes." Chat Noir punned, once again trying to lighten the mood before they begin to fight.

With both sides running towards each other, Mayor Bourgeois threw his flail at the two heroes, prompting them to jump up into the air to avoid the hit. But as they did, the sausage and potato chain of the flail wrapped around their ankles, allowing Mayor Bourgeois to flings Ladybug and Chat Noir into a nearby hotel suite.

"Welcome to the world famous Suite 36 of this hotel." Mayor Bourgeois said to the heroes after they landed on the room's couch, walking into the suite to continue the fight.

"If we're not careful, we'll be the mashed potatoes!" Ladybug spoke to Chat Noir as they got back to their feet, a little worried now that they had seen how skilled Mayor Bourgeois was with his weapon.

"You're no competition, Ladybug." Mayor Bourgeois taunted them before he charged at them, leaping onto the table in front of the couch.

From there, he swung his flail around to knock back Ladybug and Chat Noir, sending them to opposite sides of the room and making them kneel on the ground after catching themselves from crashing into the walls. Once he got his bearings back, Chat Noir pulled out his baton and spun it around before attempting to attack Mayor Bourgeois, only for the mayor to take advantage of the opening. With a quick throw of his flail, the controlled mayor wrapped the head of his weapon around Chat Noir's forearm and pulled him towards him, capturing the feline and bringing him to Mayor Bourgeois's feet.

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From his lair, Hawkmoth had reactivated the link between him and Kung Food and had witnessed the fight between Mayor Bourgeois and the two heroes, thanks to Kung Food's flying rice balls. At the sight of Chat Noir's sudden predicament, the resident supervillain couldn't help but point out the golden opportunity to his akuma.

"Time to pick up the bill, Kung Food. Grab Chat Noir's Miraculous." Hawkmoth reminded Kung Food, surprisingly excited for the chance to get one of the jewels he coveted. "His ring, bring it to me! Do it now!" the resident supervillain demanded from his lair, growing impatient the long it took for the ring to be in his grasp.

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Meanwhile, Ladybug was shocked to see Chat Noir taken down and hurriedly looked around the room for any way to help free him. Thankfully, her searching led her to spot the chandelier above Mayor Bourgeois, sparking an idea in her mind.

"You've got the wrong superhero, Bourgeois!" Ladybug called to Mayor Bourgeois as she spun her yo-yo into a shield, drawing the mayor's attention away from her partner and back to her. "I bet you don't know how to do this." the spotted heroine taunted her opponent, quickly doing a tick with her yo-yo.

"Really, Ladybug?" Mayor Bourgeois chided the red superhero, he himself copying the trick with ease. But towards the end of the trick, his weapon gets caught in the chandelier. Ladybug impishly chuckled to herself as she watched Mayor Bourgeois yank on his stuck weapon, making it and the chandelier fall to the ground. The mayor was then trapped in his own weapon as he tumbled to the floor, surrounded by the chandelier and debris from the ceiling as Ladybug and Chat Noir walked over to him in victory.

"Nice work, m'lady. Shall we go and find the head chef?" Chat Noir questioned as he pointed up to the hole in the ceiling, the two heroes noticing that it led to the dinning hall above them.

Unbeknownst to them, Kung Food had been watching from a projector and was less than thrilled by Mayor Bourgeois's defeat.

"Pea-brain! Useless! My recipe not perfect without those two!" Kung Food complained before he turned around to face Marlena and Alec, his last two remaining servants. "Capture them, and don't mess up or you'll end up in soup, too!" the akuma threatened, growing more impatient the longer he had to wait for his secret ingredients.

"Yes, master." Alec & Marlena replied with a bow, the two of them quickly running off to intercept the superheroes when they reached the dining hall.

"My hair is ruined! Do you know how long it took to style it this morning?" Chloé whined from her involuntary perch above the boiling soup, glaring at Kung Food with disdain.

"That won't be a problem soon." Kung Food assured in a menacing, turning to look back over at Chloé as he spoke.

"Ladybug, help me!" Chloé cried out, kicking her legs around and drawing an evil laugh out of Kung Food, who was entertained by his captive's attempts to escape.

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Below the roof and in Le Grand Paris's dining hall, Chat Noir extended his baton up through the hole while he and Ladybug held onto it, sending the both of them up through the hole and into the new area.

"We're almost there." Ladybug reported once hers and Chat Noir's feet were back on solid ground, looking around to see if the room was empty except for them.

"Great. All this fighting has made me hungry!" Chat Noir replied, putting his baton away as he made his humorous remark.

"Kung Food is generous." a voice to their left spoke up, causing the two heroes to see another flying rice ball as it projected Kung Food on a screen in front of them. "No need to choose between cheese and dessert, you get to have both!" Kung Food exclaimed from the projected screen, the elevator bell ringing behind them drawing their attention to see Alec and Marlena as they entered the dining hall, armed with weapons of their own.

"Watch the spectacular demonstration of the famous thousand flying cakes!"Alec announced before Marlena charged at the heroes, using a bow and arrows made out of candy to attack them. At the sight of the sharp sugar arrows, Ladybug and Chat Noir backflipped away from them, gaining enough room to use their own respective weapons to block the attack. Once the arrows were no longer coming at them, Alec prepared his crossbow made of cheese for his own attack.

"Oh ho, our guests seem to have a few tricks up their sleeves! But how will they fare against the blinding stinging cheese bombs!" the show host rhetorically questioned before he shot several stinky cheese bombs at them, to which prompted Ladybug to leap out of the way of the one directed at her. Chat Noir, however, decided to hit the one coming his way with his staff, which released its smoke and blinded him.

"Ow, he's right. The cheese really does sting your eyes." Chat Noir exclaimed, finding the smell worse than Plagg's camembert.

With her partner incapacitated for the moment, Ladybug took point in attacking Marlena and Alec, running towards them. As she did, Marlena continued to shoot more arrows at Ladybug, making her dodge them before she got close enough to kick the candy bow, disorienting Marlena before she and the superheroine started to fight each other. Well into the spat between the two females, Ladybug leapt into the air to avoid a punch from Marlena and landed on her opponent's back, then using it as a spring board and knocking Marlena back too. Landing on the other side of the room, Ladybug only had a few seconds before her opponent recovered from her tumble and started shooting at her again, keeping Ladybug away from her vulnerable partner.

"Ha-ha! You're no match for my..." Alec taunted Chat Noir as he prepared to fire another cheese bomb at him, only to get interrupted by Ladybug when she accidentally bumped into him in order to escape the arrows. "HEY!" the show host exclaimed when seeing Ladybug had knocked into him, only for Marlena to accidentally shoot at him, making him drop one of the cheese bombs as he fell to the ground. The cheese bomb then rolled over to Marlena, quickly exploding in front of her when it settled to the ground and bringing the head chef to her knees.

"I think it's about time we got to the second course." Ladybug quipped as Chat Noir joined back up with her, his sight now fully recovered. At his partner's words, they then ran to take the elevator to Kung Food, eager to finish this fight.