Midnight Under The Eiffel Tower

Ladybug landed just outside the grove and ran into it, pushing her way through the tightly planted aspen trees.

"Back for more, Ladybug?" The villainess cackled, raising her pitchfork. She stood in the center of her aspen grove, a huge pear tree towering over her. "Hand over your miraculous, and I'll spare you and your friend!"

"That tree sure grew quickly," Ladybug muttered, looking up the huge trunk of the pear tree. Then she raised her voice. "Not today, Poison Ivy!"

Poison Ivy smirked. "That's what you think."

"Enough with this! It's time to do some weeding!" Ladybug threw her yo-yo into the air. "Lucky charm!"

Ladybug's yo-yo glowed, and a package of grass seeds fell into her hands.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. "Hay?" She scanned the objects around her, looking for the way to use her seeds. Poison Ivy obviously would be a tool, as would her pitchfork. The pears on the tree behind her also could help. Ladybug looked down at her seeds and smiled, the plan coming to her.

"Hey, Poison Ivy!" Ladybug reeled back and threw the bag of seeds at the botanist. Poison Ivy frowned in mild annoyance and shot the seed package with a bolt of energy from her pitchfork. A huge pile of hay suddenly fell to the ground in front of Poison Ivy. Ladybug, however, was already moving. She wrapped her yo-yo around the lowest branch of the pear tree and swung up into its branches before Poison Ivy could react. She grabbed two pears and turned to face her enemy.

"Don't you dare hurt my trees!" Poison Ivy huffed, hefting her pitchfork.

"Batter up!" Ladybug began throwing the pears at her enemy, grinning. Poison Ivy snarled and hit each pear as it came, covering her pitchfork in sticky pear juice.

"That should be enough!" Ladybug jumped out of the tree into the pile of hay. "Whee!"

"Stop this, Ladybug!" The botanist commanded. "Give me your miraculous!"

"Make me!" Ladybug ducked into the hay pile, laughing. Poison Ivy thrust her pitchfork into the pile of hay, trying to find Ladybug-while her pitchfork continued to get covered with bits of hay.

Ladybug burst out of the haystack and charged at Poison Ivy. "Game's up, Poison Ivy! Hand over your pitchfork!"

"Never!" Poison Ivy lifted her pitchfork, pointing it right at Ladybug. Ladybug ignored it and kept running. The super villain glared and thrust her pitchfork forward. Nothing happened.

"Yes!" Ladybug shot out her yo-yo, wrapping it around the pitchfork and yanked it away from Poison Ivy.

"Cat Noir!" She cried, turning and throwing the pitchfork like a javelin toward her partner.

"Got it!" Cat Noir yelled, dropping his staff as he prepared to catch the pitchfork. Jumping up, he caught the pitchfork with both hands and held the wooden handle in a forty-five-degree angle from the ground. Then he jumped on the shaft, snapping it in two. The akuma flew out of the broken tines of the pitchfork in a cloud of black mist.

"No!" Poison Ivy wailed, her powers dissolving. Cat Noir stumbled as he attempted to balance himself. Without thinking, he put all his weight on his left foot. He felt a shaft of pain in his ankle and he cried out, his ankle buckling. Quickly, he took another step with his right to steady himself, but his foot came down on the broken handle of the pitchfork. His feet rolled out from under him and he tumbled off the side of the roof, his staff still waiting on the ledge.

"Ladybug!" He yelled, free-falling through the air. "Help!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, not wishing to see the ground as he hit it...and then felt a jerk on his belt as Ladybug grabbed his tail.

"Hang on, Cat Noir!" Ladybug smiled down at her friend. "I've got you!
She swung back up onto the building and set Cat Noir safely back on his feet.

"Phew. Thank you." He took a deep breath and stepped towards Ladybug. His ankle buckled again, and he yelped, tripping forward. Ladybug caught him, gasping.

"Cat Noir! You need to get off your feet!"

"No no, I'm fine!" He looked up into Ladybug's eyes, beaming. "Just fine."

Ladybug grimaced, but helped Cat Noir back to his feet. "Promise me you'll ice that tonight?"

Cat Noir winked. "Aww, you really do care!"

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Just promise me, okay?"

"Just for you." Cat Noir put his hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Ladybug's earrings beeped, and she jumped.

"Uh oh! I got to go!" She unslung her yo-yo and quickly bounded off the roof. "Bug out!"

Cat Noir waved, then bent to pick up his stick.

"That was too close," he muttered, glaring at his twisted ankle. "You just had to buckle, didn't you?"

He limped to the other side of the building, then extended his stick down and slid down it like a fireman's pole, heading home.

Neither superhero noticed the akuma fluttering high above the city, still imbued with dark energy.