Midnight Under The Eiffel Tower

Chapter 3

Cat Noir frowned. "Why, what'd he do?"

"He's drunk!" Ladybug exclaimed, pointing at the man. He was hunched over the wheel once more, but he was snoring.

"Ew." Cat Noir retreated a step. His face brightened. "Or we could just call the cops, let them deal with it!"

Ladybug thought about it, glancing out the window toward the center of Paris. "Ummm..."

There was a sudden shriek, followed by a loud crash.

"You're right," Ladybug decided hastily. "We have other problems. Will you call them? I'll go see what's going on?"

"Why do I have to talk to them?" Cat Noir whined, collapsing into an empty seat. "Police don't like me."

"That's because you dress in all black. Like a criminal." Ladybug's eyes twinkled as she raced up the aisle toward the hole in the roof.

"Hey!" Cat Noir protested, but Ladybug was already outside. She scanned the city around them and spotted a group of her fellow high school students crowded around the bus. Their eyes were wide and worried, and they were whispering to each other and pointing up at the bus.

"Hello!" Ladybug waved, grinning. "No need to worry, Cat Noir and I are on the case!"

Alya shook her head, pointing to something behind Ladybug. "Ladybug-behind you!"

Ladybug turned around, confused-and just managed to dodge a large vine.

"My orchard! My trees!" A voice cried. "The world will soon see the value of botany!"

Ladybug landed down on the ground in front of the high schoolers and looked up above the bus.

A woman stood above it, standing on a thick, green vine. She wore a leafy green dress laced up with grass, and her hair was a muddy shade of brown. Her skin was brown and had lines running up and down it, like bark. Her eyes were a bright purple and made Ladybug think of pansies. A pitchfork was clutched in her right hand.

"Who are you?" Ladybug demanded, unslinging her yo-yo and swinging it threateningly by her side. "What do you want?"

The plant-woman smirked. "I am Poison Ivy. And this is what happens to those to those who hurt the plant life!"

She thrust her pitchfork down at the bus, and a bolt of energy surged through its tines. A huge tree trunk burst out of the grass in the orchard underneath the bus, lifting the automobile off the ground. Then the trunk expanded like a spring and launched the bus over the school.

"Cat Noir!" Ladybug gasped, watching the bus fly over her high school.

"And you!" Poison Ivy levelled her pitchfork at Ladybug. "You have something I need."

"Gee, I wonder what..." Ladybug flicked her yo-yo up towards the akumatized botanist, aiming for her pitchfork, but the villain simply swayed to one side.

Ivy snorted derisively. "So, this is Ladybug without her pet cat? My my..."

"Come on Cat, please be okay," Ladybug murmured, ducking to avoid a flying tomato. She wrapped her yo-yo up around a lamp post, trying to get above Poison Ivy, but a leafy branch suddenly sprouted out of one side of the pole, and Ladybug crashed right into it. Her head spinning, she began to fall back down to earth. Quickly, she pulled her yo-yo back in and used it to hook onto the roof of a nearby building, letting it pull her up.

"Let's try something else." Ladybug flung out her yo-yo, intending to wrap Poison Ivy in it, but the super villain's pitchfork sparked with power and Ivy was suddenly surrounded by a grove of aspen trees. Ladybug felt a flash of annoyance as her yo-yo only wrapped around trees.

"Ugh! Why can't I do anything?"

A vine shot out from the grove of quaking aspens and wrapped around Ladybug's ankle.

"No!" Ladybug cried, hastily locking her yo-yo around a chimney as the vine pulled her off her feet. She clutched the magical wire, barely staying put as the vine jerked and pulled her toward the trees.

The vine snapped as Cat Noir's claws sliced through it. He landed lightly on his feet, then stumbled slightly as his left ankle buckled.

"Cat Noir! Thank goodness! Are you okay?"

"Fine." Cat Noir gritted his teeth as the black cloud faded away from his right hand. "I got out of the bus with the driver before it hit the pavement. Mr. Stinky Alcohol is chained up to a lamppost outside the school. Police are on their way." He smirked as he straightened. "I see you're handling well without me."

"If you weren't hurt from the bus, what happened to your ankle?"

Cat Noir shrugged. "I rolled it earlier today. No biggie." He winced again as he shifted his stance.

"Cat Noir, you should go sit down!" Ladybug rushed over to him, slipping under his arm and walking him over to the edge of the roof.

"No way!" He slipped away from her, limping back toward the trees. "I'm not just going to sit here! I'm going to help!"

"You stay here!" Ladybug ordered, grabbing his tail. "I'll get the akuma and throw it back up to you. Then you break it and we're home free."

"But-" Cat Noir protested.

"The pitchfork must be hiding the akuma," Ladybug mused, spinning Cat Noir's tail as she pondered the situation. "If I can halt the current passing through it-" She broke off as Cat Noir's ring beeped warningly.

"Hey! I won't just sit here while you stop Poison Ivy!" Cat Noir yanked his tail back out her hand and extended his staff, preparing to leap off the building.

"No!" Ladybug grabbed his hand. "You're about to change back! Go regain your energy and wait for my signal." She squeezed his hand. "I don't want you getting any more injured than you already are! Stay, kitty!" Ladybug jumped off the side of the building, wrapping her yo-yo around the closest aspen and swinging closer to Poison Ivy.

"Hmph!" Cat Noir scowled, folding his arms. He crouched and sat on the edge of the building, swinging his legs. He tapped his ring and transformed back into Adrien. "Alright Plagg, eat up."