Just An Ordinary Girl
A love square remix of A Friend Like That by @trainsinanime. Written for the @mlsquaredance. This fic was so much fun write. Do please read the original first. It makes this one more fun! Read on Ao3 ...
“We need to stay together!” Viperion called out. “Splitting up does not end well.”
The sheer exhaustion in Viperion’s tone didn’t bode well either. Carapace didn’t want to know how many loops Viperion had gone through this go around especially considering it was his third time loop this battle.
Even from Carapace’s less than fifteen minutes of experience, this battle was awful.
The akuma was like Miraculer - he could steal their powers. But he was worse because it could split into four clones of himself.
“Okay then!” Chat Noir called. “Ryuko, Rena, and Carapace, protect our backs. Tigress and I will guard the gap! Viperion stays in the middle.”
Carapace missed Ladybug. There was nothing wrong with Chat’s orders. Carapace didn’t disagree with any of his calls. This akuma just sucked. And Ladybug just had this insane creative genius for hare-brained schemes that seemed to be able to cut through anything.
The akuma struck. Carapace narrowly yanked Rena Rouge aside and they both fell to the ground hard. His elbow took the majority of the impact, which hurt like a bitch, but he was glad it was him who took the brunt of it instead of her. And it worked.
Except one of the other clones clipped him.
A mud brown impenetrable dome manifested around all six of them immediately.
Purple Tigress punched it with her power. Nothing.
Cataclysm dissolved it, but it was immediately replaced with another.
“Crap!”
That was one word for it. Carapace might have had a far less kid-friendly one ringing through his head. The six of them were getting their butts handed to them by this akuma.
Carapace took personal offense to the barrier that stood as a mockery of his own power.
“Viperion?” Chat called.
The snake hero shook his head. “We’re on loop number 1703. This is the best possible outcome. Trust me.”
Chat Noir winced.
Carapace really missed Ladybug.
“I think we have to call Ladybug,” Rena Rouge said, turning toward Chat Noir.
“No! We can’t!” Chat objected.
Rena raised an eyebrow. “We can’t let the akuma win. We’re trapped.”
“She only asked for one weekend off! She deserves to have one weekend off! We can handle it.”
“I hate to break it to you, but we’re not handling it,” Ryuko added dryly.
“We will not be calling Ladybug,” Chat declared firmly.
The other five of them exchanged a look.
“We can get help from someone else!” Chat insisted.
“Like who?” Rena Rouge demanded. “You’d need someone who is willing to pull off crazy stunts, who is a tactical creative genius against so many, and someone who is not intimidated by akumas.”
“Marinette!” Chat exclaimed, his face lit up in excitement.