its chloe time!!!! which means im working on, like, 4 akuma redesigns. heres the first of them. antibug!! :P im actually very happy with it. i wanted it to have the silhouette of a pencil dress and long gloves without breaking the standard. i based the suit off two of my scarab concepts and kept the inverted colours of the canon design, albeit a little less saturated (i hate pure black)
Chloé talking about her shoes and how she has nothing to wear
En: Those ones are so last season, those ones didn't cost nearly enough and these ones are never in season.
Fr: Celles-ci, elles ont deux tailles en trop, celles là elles n'ont pas coûté assez cher ! Et celles-là étaient à la mode il y a 6 mois.
Those ones are two sizes too big, those one didn't cost enough! And those ones were in fashion six months ago.
The supervillain impersonated by Armand (the butler) is called Big Mustachio in English, and "Super Moustache" in French.
Chloé about Sabrina
En: Impossible. She's too weak to do something so bold, especially to me. You're wrong.
Fr: Impossible, elle est bien trop peureuse pour s'en prendre à moi. C'est n'importe quoi. Vous avez tout faux.
Impossible, she's way too afraid/cowardly to attack me. It's nonsense. You're completely wrong.
Ladybug
En: Cat Noir and I, we're an unstoppable team!
Fr: Chat Noir et moi, on est une super équipe.
Chat Noir and I, we're a super/fantastic team.
Yeah there isn't really a difference between the dubs but I just wanted to remind everyone of this wonderful quote 🥰.
Antibug
En: I love a good catfight.
Fr: Ha ! Ça te fait plaisir hein, mon chaton ?
Hah! You like that, huh, my kitty?
Antibug uses different names to refer to Ladybug. In English, she calls her Ladybrat and Bugface. In French, she calls her Ladypeureuse and Ladyfroussarde, which roughly translate to "Ladyfearful" and "Ladycoward".
After Chat Noir tells her they're a team, Ladybug says "Unstoppable." in the English dub, but doesn't add anything in French.
It has been a few days since the meeting with Fu Cheng, and the group has started to take the idea of finding Hawkmoth more seriously. Right now, Marinette is transformed into Ladybug and has a new outfit based on Fu Cheng's suggestion.
The Seamstress outfit in question is far more on the wild side than any of her previous ones. She has a long-sleeved black jacket with red dots running along the sleeves and down the back, replacing her poncho. But that's not the only change. She has a holster on her body with multiple yo-yos attached to it. Her belt pouch is also bigger. On her pants are black claw marks instead of stripes. Her hair isn't short and is similar to her usual length again but tied in a single braid, hidden within her jacket. She'd look like a tracker in the wild if not for the vibrancy of her outfit. Her eyes are even slitted, like a wild animal's.
With this new outfit, Ladybug can track magic signatures from other Miraculous. She's tested it on the other members of Team Miraculous. It let her track their footprints. It's also further enhanced her senses and has given her a few more powers for tracking. However, it's still not providing her with anything to find Hawkmoth. She's gone to the places where they've fought Akumas. However, there's nothing for her to track with.
"It seems like this is a dead end." Ladybug sighs as she looks over the park where Juleka was Akumatized.
Cat Noir is next to her and watches as the girl searches.
"That's too bad." Cat Noir says as he looks disappointed as well.
"I guess it makes sense. It's like how scents disappear after a while." Ladybug states, causing Cat Noir to nod.
"I guess we'll have to wait for the next Akuma and hope we can use this to find out where the butterfly came from." Cat Noir states before an idea pops up in his head.
"What if we let the butterfly 'escape' and it leads us to Hawkmoth?" Cat Noir asks while making air quotes at escape.
Ladybug quickly shakes her head, remembering Tikki's warning about letting the butterflies escape and return to Hawkmoth.
"That's a bad idea. Tikki warned me about what could happen if the butterflies get away." Ladybug tells him, causing Cat Noir to grow curious.
"What did she say?" He asks, causing Ladybug to shrug.
"She didn't say anything. She only warned me not to let them get away." She explains, causing Cat Noir's curiosity to grow along with his worry.
"So, don't let the butterflies go, got it." He nods before the two jump off to explore the city for possible magic signatures.
While doing this, Cat Noir looks at his teammate curiously.
"How do you think the others are doing with their investigations?" He asks, causing Ladybug to shrug.
"I'm not sure. We'll find out later." She tells him before the two return to their investigation.
Meanwhile, Canine is lying on a rooftop a few buildings away from the bakery while using binoculars to observe Chloe. While Ladybug focuses on using her new outfit to find Hawkmoth, she's been testing her theory about Chloe and André. So far, though. She hasn't learned anything remotely incriminating. Which she's both happy and angry about. She's glad to know her ex-friend, or her father, doesn't seem to be working with Hawkmoth and is mad that they still haven't found anything about the villain despite having theories and more options now.
With a heavy sigh, Canine puts the binoculars down before looking below at the bakery entrance. Since André took that picture with Cat Noir, more people have been showing up. She's not exactly sure if that's a good or bad thing.
"Even if he is Hawkmoth, when would he find time to create a villain when he's so busy?" Canine questions as she watches André rapidly move behind the counter to finish all the orders he's getting.
Her mind can't help but reminisce about the times she used to go there as a kid while she and Chloe were still friends.
A younger Sabrina and Chloe are in Chloe's room, giggling as they play with dolls. As they play, André suddenly enters the room with a plate of cookies and a bright smile.
"Here's something for you princesses to enjoy while stuck in your tower," André kindly says as he sets the cookies down for the two young girls.
"Thanks, Daddy." Chloe thanks her father with a bright smile as she takes one and munches on it.
"Thank you, Mr. Bourgeois," Sabrina says in a somewhat shy tone as she takes one of the cookies to enjoy.
"There's no need to be so formal, Sabrina. You're my daughter's friend and part of the family. Please, call me André." André pleads with the girl, causing her to smile at him before nodding.
"Alright." She says brightly.
That memory causes Canine to bite her lip slightly. She then decides it might be best to go with a different approach to her investigation. One that will let her talk to André while getting some of those treats she remembers from childhood.
She quickly jumps off the roof and looks around to see if anyone is watching her. When she realizes no one is around, she changes out of her superhero outfit and gets in line for the bakery.
"I wonder how the others are doing?" She thinks as she patiently waits for her turn to order.
At the Kubdel household, Alix is looking through her dad's home office while he's away. She wants to see if he has anything else involving the Miraculous that he may or may not know about. She's been rummaging through the different journals he keeps and looking through his notes. However, she doesn't see anything related to the Miraculous, making it seem more and more like her father doesn't know the panjas bracelet is one.
"Could he really have not known? But he said it was an heirloom." Alix mutters as she continues to read through one of the journals.
"What are you doing in here, Alix?" Jalil's voice suddenly asks, causing the girl to jump and throw the book up.
She quickly catches the book before placing it behind her back. She then looks toward her skeptical brother, who holds a hand to the doorknob.
"Didn't Dad tell you not to come back to the house early?" Alix asks her brother to try changing the topic.
"I asked you first. Why are you in Dad's office? You know he doesn't like you being in here after you almost destroyed something." He tells the girl, causing her mind to race as she tries to figure out what to say.
"I needed a pen for something and got sidetracked." That is all she can say after a moment of thinking.
Jalil seems to believe that. He knows his sister gets bored easily while doing things, and she'll sometimes look through things she's not supposed to.
"Fine. I won't say anything as long as you don't tell him I was here." Jalil says before closing the door to the office, causing Alix to release a sigh of relief.
"Jeez. Of course, he chooses not to listen to Dad today." She mutters as she takes the book from behind her back and re-opens it.
However, there's nothing helpful to her in it. The girl is growing more frustrated as she searches. Nothing is helping her find out anything about her father's past. Now that she thinks about it. Whenever someone asks her dad about his past, he always says he has trouble remembering. She never put much thought into it until now. The idea that Hawkmoth did something to him to cause this causes her to growl as she clenches the book in her hand harder.
If there's one thing everyone in the class knows about Alix, it's how she's protective of her friends and family. Which is why she's hoping Chloe is working with Hawkmoth. It'll give her a good reason to beat the girl up as payback for everything she's done, especially to Max and Kim. However, she puts those thoughts aside for a moment to keep investigating. Since there's nothing in her father's office, something might be in his room.
His room is relatively simple, but things like carpets from different cultures are attached to the walls. It does show his career as a historian.
Alix walks into the room without care and starts looking for something to shed more light on her father's situation. She looks through some old documents he keeps in desk drawers. Sadly, most of it is about work. She then checks under his bed for anything hidden. However, there's nothing too interesting under there. She then checks his closet. It takes her a while, but she finds an old box in the back left corner.
What she finds in the box are keepsakes her dad kept while growing up. There's even a yearbook from his graduating year of high school. To Alix's surprise, it's not a school in France.
"Dad grew up in England?" Alix questions as she stares at the photo of a younger version of Alim Kubdel.
The photo is in a dark blue book with an English name along with the name of a city in England. Alix snickers slightly as she stares at her father's photo because he looks like Jalil.
"I wonder if he was as obsessed as Jalil?" Alix muses before getting back on track. She looks through the rest of her father's stuff and finds something interesting.
It's a picture frame. Inside is a photo of a younger Alim Kubdel with his friends. However, Alix notices that he's wearing the Tiger Miraculous in the picture. Another thing to note is that they're in the exact poses of the heroes in Gabriel's picture, with other Miraculous wielders. Alim is in the same position as the Tiger wielder.
"Huh, I'll have to ask Dad about that." Alix thinks as she stares at the photo.
Alim looks happy with his friends. Possibly happier than Alix has ever seen him before. She guesses that's what happens when you get older. However, the photo itself is still important to her. It shows her father wearing the Miraculous in his past. He might have used it at some point. It's not the Miracle Box, which was impossible for people before Marinette and Nate to solve. So, she pockets the photo before putting the picture frame back and setting the box back in its place in the closet.
But before she can exit her father's room, though. The front door creaks open. Alix's eyes widen in terror as she quickly jumps behind the bed. Jalil's shoes appear for her to see while peaking toward the door from the under gap. She then hears him release a breath of relief.
"Good, she's not here, either. Looks like she went to see her friends. Now, where are my papyrus?" Jalil asks himself as he snoops around the room, causing Alix to growl.
"Of course, he tries to find his stupid papyrus when I'm looking for stuff. Why now?" She mutters to herself in a quiet enough voice that Jalil doesn't hear.
"I'll bet you wish you used the second power I gave you for this," Roaar states in a surprisingly quiet tone as she appears in front of Alix's face.
Alix rolls her eyes at the Kwami's jab before noting that Jalil's feet are getting closer to the bed. Knowing that her brother will look under it for his dumb scrolls, she quickly bolts for the desk across the room before he's looking under. Luckily, Alix manages to move in time. Seeing her brother distracted and that he left the door open, she doesn't waste any time escaping. When she feels she's gotten far enough from her snooping brother, she pumps her fist with a victorious grin.
"Ha, who's not sneaky now, Sabrina?" Alix proudly says.
She then walks out of the apartment to show the other heroes the photo she manages to snag. She's confident she's the first to get any evidence about one of their theories. The others probably haven't found anything interesting yet. Otherwise, she would have gotten a call or something.
Back with Sabrina, she makes it to the front of the line after waiting for a while. When André sees the glasses-wearing girl, he gains a far more real smile, happy to see his daughter's old friend.
"Sabrina, it's amazing to see you again after so long. You've grown so much, as well." André kindly compliments her, causing Sabrina to give him an awkward smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Bourgeois." Sabrina accepts the compliment.
"Please, call me André. So, how have you been?" André asks as he takes a moment to talk to the girl, wanting to catch up with the girl despite the problems she and Chloe have had.
"I've been alright. School is keeping me busy." Sabrina nods to the man with a less awkward smile as she gets used to talking to the man again.
"That's good. I'm glad you're getting a good education. Chloe has been getting perfect grades lately." André reveals with a proud smile, getting another nod from Sabrina.
"I know; she's probably one of the best in our class." Sabrina nods, unsure about whether Chloe or Max are on top.
"I'm so proud of her. She's doing great for herself. I know she'll go far in the future with how hard she works. Since she lost that fashion contest, she's been working harder to improve her skills." André reveals with a proud smile, not surprising Sabrina.
Chloe has always been competitive. So, her working harder to crush Marinette isn't unexpected. She is worried Chloe is neglecting her health because of that, though.
"Is she doing okay?" Sabrina voices her concerns for the girl, causing André to smile.
"Don't worry; I've been checking up on her to make sure she's getting sleep," André promises, causing the girl to sigh in relief.
Despite everything, she's glad her old friend is alright. She then looks back at André and inspects his person for anything that might be a Miraculous. However, she doesn't see any jewelry on him. But André isn't wearing any jewelry right now. Sabrina guesses that's because he's working. If he is Hawkmoth, he might have his Miraculous hidden somewhere.
"Has everything been okay with the bakery?" Sabrina asks as she steps to the side to continue their conversation while letting André continue to serve customers with his various pastries and sweets.
"Stupendous! Ever since Cat Noir came by, business has been booming. I'm thankful for him. Business was getting slow before then." André happily tells Sabrina as he hands another bag over to a customer.
The treats he's been giving people are Cat Noir face-shaped pastries. They're his most popular item now.
"I'm glad to hear that." Sabrina honestly says, despite her uncertainty about how moral what André is doing is.
"Thank you. Is there anything I can get you? Would you like to see Chloe?" André asks while motioning to the stairwell to Chloe's room.
"No, no, no. I was just taking a walk and saw your bakery. I thought I would visit since it's been so long." Sabrina explains while shaking her head, to André's disappointment.
"That's too bad. I would have loved to have you and Chloe talk again. Let me at least get you something to eat on your way out." André states before grabbing a couple of sweets for Sabrina and giving them to her in a bag.
"Thank you." She thinks him with a smile as she takes the bag before preparing to leave.
"No problem. Come back any time." André tells her with a smile as he watches the girl go.
As Sabrina leaves, she thinks about André's attitude. It doesn't seem like he's Hawkmoth. It doesn't look like he has any time to create a supervillain and control them.
Later that day, the heroes meet in a cafe in their civilian identities. They're each enjoying the sweets André gave Sabrina.
"So, you couldn't find anything with the new costume?" Alix asks in disappointment as she rests her head in one of her hands while eating a pastry with the other.
"No. We didn't find anything." Marinette sighs before taking a sip of her drink.
"Did you guys find anything?" Adrien asks as he looks at the other two.
Sabrina shakes her head.
"I went into the bakery to get a better look, but André wasn't wearing any jewelry," Sabrina states, causing Marinette to nod.
"That makes sense. You shouldn't wear jewelry while in the kitchen. It might fall into the food while it's cooking. My mom doesn't wear any when she's working." She explains to Sabrina.
"So, we'll still have to keep an eye on him?" Adrien curiously asks, causing Marinette to nod.
"For now, yeah. At least until I can use the new suit to find something, or you two unlock a new ability." Marinette says while pointing to him and Alix.
"How do we even do that?" Alix questions with a raised eyebrow.
"You have to grow in some way or achieve something incredible," Marinette explains what Tikki told her about getting a new power.
"That doesn't help me much." Alix sighs before taking another bite of her food.
She then sets it down before reaching into her pocket to show the group the picture she found in her father's room.
"I found this in my dad's room. It was in the corner of his closet." Alix says while setting it in the middle of the table so everyone can see it.
"A picture of your dad in high school?" Adrien questions, causing Alix to sigh before pointing at the panjas bracelet.
"No, a picture of my dad in high school wearing the Miraculous," Alix states while tapping the photo.
"Oh, you're right." He says in surprise as he sees the bracelet.
"What does that prove? Roaar could have just not talked to him." Sabrina points out, remembering Fu Cheng's talk about the Miracle Box.
"It shows that he was wearing it for a long time. He might have used the Miraculous at some point. It shows that he might be under a spell that made him forget everything." Alix says while tapping on the photo again to emphasize her point.
Hearing this causes everyone to nod. Marinette mentally lists how their leads are going so far. Searching for Hawkmoth with her new costume and investigating André isn't helping much. But at least Alix's lead seems to be giving them something.
"I guess we'll start with your dad then. It doesn't seem like Hawkmoth will create any Akumas today." Marinette states as the group gets up before Alix stops them.
"Do you think we could do this at night? Dad is always busy during the day. I don't want to disturb his work." Alix tells the group, knowing how hard her father's job is.
Sabrina doesn't look like she likes this since she wants to find Hawkmoth as soon as possible, but Marinette gives Alix an understanding expression.
"I'm alright with it. What about you two?" Marinette asks as she turns to the other Miraculous wielders.
"I'm fine with that. What's a few more hours?" Adrien asks with a smile.
Seeing the other two agree with Alix's request, Sabrina sighs before reluctantly agreeing. She doesn't want to start any more fights within the group and does see Adrien's point about how a few more hours won't hurt them.
"Alright. We can wait a few hours. It's not like we don't stay up at night to have our meetings already." Sabrina sighs.
Hearing this causes Alix to sigh in relief.
Later that day, as the sun sets, Chloe sits in her room while working on one of her designs. Specifically, she's trying to improve the design of her failure bowler hat.
"This will surpass Cheng-Dupain's stupid design by a mile. When Mom sees this, she'll completely forget about that hat when she sees it at the fashion show." Chloe mutters as she works on the sketch for the new hat.
However, she immediately tosses her sketchbook aside when she hears her phone letting her know her mom is texting her. In less than a second, she opens her phone and looks at the messages between her and her mom with bated breath. To her surprise and joy, her mother actually sends a message this time. However, that joy changes into shock as she reads the message.
And you think these are worth notice
That's what the message states. Before Chloe can type anything, her mother is already typing more. Each message is like a gut punch to Chloe.
It doesn't matter if you have good grades! That's not thing exceptional! Anyone without a life can achieve that!
Seeing this causes Chloe to look at all the A+ test papers she keeps in a stack to remind her of her school achievements.
And why do you look so happy holding that pathetic trophy!?
All it shows is that you've done nothing but sit around with nothing better to do!
Hearing that causes Chloe to flinch. She's pretty proud of that achievement, even if she has to share it with Max. However, reading her mother's messages about it causes her to look at her video games uncertainly. Has she really been wasting her time on them? They've been something that's helped keep her going for so long.
And don't get me started on your designs!
You didn't even manage to win Gabriel's contest!
Pathetic, utterly pathetic!
Those last messages especially hit Chloe hard compared to the others. Hearing her mother insult her designs, things she's worked tirelessly on to impress the woman, makes Chloe heartbrokenly collapse to her knees. She has a broken expression as she stares at the ceiling. It's not despair. It's more confusion and tiredness. It's like she doesn't know how to react. She can't bring herself to think of anything.
She stays like this for a while, totally devoid of emotions. It takes a few minutes for her mind to reboot. When it finally does, she immediately feels the impact of her mother's words hit her like a truck. Heartbroken tears build in the corners of her eyes as she lets out a wail that would belong to a child.
Her life has focused on getting her mother to acknowledge her and return to Paris to meet her father again. But all of that seems to have been for nothing. As she cries, she looks at the pictures of Ladybug and other Team Miraculous members she has posted on her wall.
"I-if only I was like them!? Why can't I be exceptional enough to be admired by her?!" She cries as she bangs her fist on the floor.
Feeling these strong negative emotions and the underlying feelings of jealousy toward the heroes within her sadness, Gabriel can't resist escaping his office to Akumatize Chloe.
"A hard worker who's efforts have proven to be for naught. I feel for you, young one. I will give you the power to be like those you admire and to take them down so you're the only one seen as exceptional." Hawkmoth promises as he creates a butterfly and sends it after Chloe.
The butterfly soon arrives as Chloe cries into a ring she wishes is a Miraculous. The girl doesn't notice while in her turmoil. It's not until Hawkmoth's voice hits her.
"Antibug. It's good to hear from you again. I'm here to offer you my power once again. However, you'll be far more exceptional this time. Your previous powers won't hold a candle to what I'm willing to give you now. Prove you're better than your idols by getting me their Miraculous." Hawkmoth orders as his influence corrupts the unstable girl's mind.
"Yes, Hawkmoth." She states in a neutral, zombified tone as the black smoke envelops her.
When the smoke clears, Chloe appears dressed in Ladybug's Reverse Seams costume.
