Chapter Twenty-Six:

"Ladybug!" Chat cried out. He whipped out his staff as fast as he could and began to spin it, stepping over her. As he spun his weapon, more knifes came his way, but they were all deflected. Scowling, he scanned the clearing. There was no one.

"Is she okay?!" Fox called, and Chat could hear the worry in his tone.

"Show yourself!" Chat shouted, but it wasn't directed at Nathanael. "I know you're out there! Come and fight like a man!"

"Well, I'm not one, so why should I?" a voice replied. Chat spun around just in time to block a knife from stabbing into his own back. Under him, Marinette moaned and tried to pull herself up onto her knees.

"Don't get up, My Lady," he ordered. "You'll only hurt yourself."

"Why don't you let her fight? Besides, I've heard she's really good at it. Seen it, too."

Chat turned again, but wasn't quick enough to block the knife that sailed toward him. It flew by his face and sliced his cheek, including the bottom half of his mask. The knife hit the Cataclysmacopia with a clang! He winced, stumbling back and gripping his baton tighter.

"Quit hiding in the shadows! If you want to win, come get us!"

There was an evil laughter right behind him. "Gladly."

"Chat! Behind you!" Fox shouted.

Chat turned just in time to miss a blade that just barely nicked his ear. The person who was attacking them stood confidently in the middle of the meadow, no more than fifty feet away. Chat had been wrong, it wasn't a man. It was a girl, short and with bright pink hair. One half of it was pulled into a ponytail, like Marinette's had been, while the other half was in a free-flowing pixie cut. She had an evil smile plastered across her face, almost as if she were a doll. Though she wore the exact same clothes as every other charm did, hers were dyed black. It reminded Chat too much about his own costume to make him feel comfortable.

"What do you want from us?" he demanded, lowering his staff and pointing it at her menacingly.

The girl chuckled, but it almost seemed robotic. "Really? You don't know? You're the protector Charm here, I thought you would at least have some brains inside of that small head of yours." From a strap that crisscrossed over her back, she pulled out throwing knives, one for each hand. "I want to win these games. I want to survive this, no matter what the cost might be."

"Well, that caused is going to be paid right here, right now." Chat glanced into the corner of his eye. Fox stood not too far away from him, his fists raised in a fighting stance.

The girl smiled. "Now that's what I like to see. A couple of boys being men. Who knew it would take you this long to do it, especially since you've been fighting over the same girl for the past three weeks."

Chat narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about that?"

"Why should I give away my little secret? It's not like I plan on losing to the likes of you anyway."

The cat scowled, glaring at their opponent. "I am not afraid to rip your throat out if I need to. You hurt Ladybug, and that's enough to get me to destroy an entire city!"

The girl laughed. "Oh please, do you really think I'm going to stand down that easily? Just because you threaten me? A panther would know better."

Chat furrowed his eyebrows. So that's who she was. The Panther Charm, Alix. He had talked to her once or twice outside of the arena before the games had started. She had seemed nice enough, maybe a little on the harsh side in her humor department, but this seemed way too out of line, even for her. Something was going on. And he was going to find out what.

"We aren't afraid to fight you," Fox reiterated. "We can take you down faster than you could even blink. You threatened the one thing we care about in these games." He scowled, his glowering gaze indicating he was on the brink of murdering Alix on the spot. "And that's enough to push anyone to their limit."

Panther laughed. "How about we cut the chit-chat and actually have a fight, shall we? This should be fun. I've dreamed about taking at least one of you out, but two at the same time? What a lucky treat."

Chat barely had enough time to lean to his left before he saw a flash of silver. A knife barely missed his shoulder. Another knife had been shot in Fox's direction, but he had dodged it easily, diving forward and rolling across the ground. He stood up and balled his fists, sneering.

"I don't know what you call lucky, but this will be your worst nightmare."

"Oh, boo hoo. I'm so scared. What are you going to do about it? Scratch me with your nails?"

Nathanael let out a war cry and charged at her. Chat saw her smirk, the slightest upturn of her lips. She flicked her wrists, and pieces of silver went flying through the air. Fox closed his eyes, ready for their impact, but still pressing forward. He wasn't afraid of this girl. He was tired of being afraid.

The next thing he knew, he slammed into something hard and hit the ground hard. He opened his eyes to see Panther pinned beneath him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the thing that had saved his life: Chat's baton. It had knives sticking out of it, each one embedded deeply into the metal. One of the blades was making the staff spark. That couldn't be a good sign.

Chat came running over to Nathanael, but before he could get there, Panther let out an infuriated cry. With as much strength as she could muster, she pushed Nathanael off of her and sent him rolling. She turned to face Chat, but was firmly punched across the face. She stumbled back and held her face. Even though she had been hit, she had a triumphant smile on her face. Except, it didn't seem real. It was like someone was stretching her face muscles and forcing her to do it.

"Who knew a kitty cat could punch so hard? I'm impressed."

"Quit taunting me," Chat warned. "You're still going to get beat to a pulp anyway."

Alix laughed. "You're kidding, right? Are you trying to make this harder for yourself or are you just that stupid?"

Chat let a fierce smile decorate his expression. "I think you have the wrong word there." From behind Panther, Fox let out a cry of attack. Before she could even turn around or react to his sudden noise, she was slammed in the face by Nathan's boot. Alix screamed and hit the meadow's dirt ground with a THUMP.

For the first time in his life, Chat felt like an animal. He could understand why the Miraculous Game's theme was animals this year. He could feel the adrenaline running through his veins. He was going to protect his life, his prosperity. He wasn't only going to save the people he cared about, he was going to save himself. He was never going to let his father rule over him again, now that he had felt this kind of power; the power of his own free will.

"Clever," Panther coughed out, rolling onto her side. "But I doubt you'll be able to keep this going on forever."

"We don't plan on it," Fox spat.

Alix chuckled. "Too bad. I thought you would at least give me some sort of game to play. Oh well, guess it's time to finally let loose."

Chat knit his eyebrows and was about to demand to tell her what she meant, but his answer came quickly, almost too quickly.

Panther was on her feet faster than he was ready for. She pulled a knife on him, slicing one of his arms and kicking him back before he could do anything. Chat fell back into the grass, wincing and trying to get his bearings. What had just happened? Something hit the ground next to him, but he didn't have time to look. With his right arm throbbing in pain, he moaned and tried to stand, but something pressed down on his chest. It was Panther's black boot.

"Ah, that's much better. Now everything's where it's supposed to be."

Chat struggled, but something cold and sharp was pressed against his throat. It was another one of her throwing knives. Where was she getting all of these?

"Make another move and you won't have a head anymore," she warned.

"You know," someone said from behind her, "all of you Charms are starting to piss me off."

Chat looked over his opponent's shoulder in amazement. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was unbelievable, impossible. There was no way this was happening. Did he hit his head too hard on the ground? She couldn't be... She couldn't be standing there. There was no other way to say it, it was impossible.

"Leave them alone," Marinette demanded, her expression as cold and steely as a piece of metal. "Or you will die by my hand."

Alix, who apparently had been able to pin Nathanael down as well with her knives, appeared just as shocked as Chat and Fox were. Both boys were staring at Marinette in utter disbelief. There was no explanation that could make sense of what she was doing. Ladybug, who had been stabbed in the back and was suffering from a severe fever, was standing tall. In her hands, she gripped Chat's baton. Though it still sparked, it didn't make her any less scary, and, in fact, it seemed to enhance the scare-factor.

"I said, leave them alone," Ladybug stated again. She jabbed the staff at Alix. She flinched, inching away from the sparking piece of metal.

"You can't take me on," Panther threatened. "If anything, if you move, both of your friends die."

Marinette shook her head. "One charm already did that to me, I'm not falling for it again."

In a swift motion, the staff extended and smacked Alix straight in the chest. The girl went flying, rolling through the meadow and doing somersaults over herself. Marinette took a few steps forward, pounding the staff into the ground. Luckily, for Chat's and Fox's sake, it stuck in the ground just mere inches away from their faces.

"Get out of here or you'll be thrown out," Marinette spat at Alix. Her eyes flashed murderously like she was about to tear the not-nice black cat to shreds.

Alix sat up, staring at Marinette as if she were afraid to make the wrong move.

"I'm sparing you," Ladybug shouted, causing both Chat and Nathan to jump as well as their opponent Charm, "so get out of here!"

Without another prodding of the stick (literally), the pink-haired Charm scrambled to her feet and ran for her life. After a few moments, she disappeared into the woods.

Chat pulled himself up into a sitting position. He rubbed the back of his head, about to say thank you to his Lady for saving them, but before he could, Marinette's hand slackened on the pole.

Without a second thought, Chat called out, "Ladybug!"

He rushed forward, but wasn't able to get there in time before she hit the ground hard. When he saw her back, he stopped in his tracks. The knife was still firmly stuck there, sticking out like some sort of broken bone. Swallowing, he cautiously made his way forward and put a hand on her shoulder blade. She didn't respond. Marinette was out cold.

Groaning, Nathanael pulled himself to his feet. "That's it. We're leaving this arena before anymore stupid charms decide it's the perfect opportunity to wipe us out."

"Don't act like it's a joke," Chat snapped.

"I wasn't," Fox responded with a hint of edge in his tone. He folded his arms. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be the joke master here? Why would I want to steal your job? It's not like you've stolen mine before."

Chat scowled, and was about to spit out some names he thought fit Nathan perfectly, but he bit his tongue. This wasn't the time. Marinette was dying right in front of him. They needed to get her out of the arena before anything else happened to her."

"I agree with you," Chat responded cooly. "We need to get Ladybug out of the arena."

"Awesome, so let's quit standing here like a bunch of prairie dogs and get a move on."

Nodding, Chat reached over and pulled his staff out of the ground. He scowled and attempted to make it smaller. With a lot of creaking and moaning, it did it's job. He worried, however, that it would never be able to open again. But that was the least of their problems.

He bent down and scooped Marinette's weak figure into his arms. She didn't even wince when he accidently hit the knife. The only reaction he was able to pull from her was a small twitch under one of her eyes. He sighed, grateful for the fact that she at least had some sort of response happening.

It didn't take long for Nathanael and Chat to climb their way up to the top of the Cataclysmacopia, even with Marinette in Chat's arms. They still had plenty of adrenaline running through their veins, maybe a little bit too much. Both were shaking as Fox pried open the ear that lead to a ladder that lead straight down. As the hatch opened, lights along the wall lit up, revealing the hallway far below. Their escape route.

"I'll go first," Chat offered. "You close the door behind us. Remember, once I go through, Ladybug's miraculous will set off the alarm."

Nathanael gave him a single nod. With that, Chat took a deep breath and climbed down into the hole as cautiously as he could. He was lucky that he could hold Marinette close to him as he climbed down and that the hole was big enough for two people. As Chat reached the third rung down, the alarm sounded.

A screeching noise could be heard all across the entire arena. The sky, which had been once a cheery blue was now pulsing red.

"Time to go," Fox muttered. Chat took that as his cue to descend faster. As he was about halfway down the ladder, Nathanael climbed in and closed the cat ear behind him. Even with the hatch closed, both boys could hear the alarms in the arena still blaring. Luckily, they were out of the most dangerous part of their mission so far.

Reaching the bottom, Chat took a few steps back so Nathanael could join him. As his friend climbed off of the ladder, Chat readjusted Ladybug's form. She still didn't react, and the only thing that told him that she was still alive was the faint heartbeat that he could feel through his leather jacket. Call it his cat instincts or whatever, but he could feel her struggle, and though it was hard to bare - especially with a throbbing arm and cheek - he knew that he had to stay strong for her. He had to stay strong for his La-

"Well well, looks like you finally made it," said a cruel voice. "I never thought you would have gotten this far."

Both boys spun around. Chat's eyes widened in fear and he tightened his grip on Marinette. Standing in the middle of the hallway, his silver mask gleaming and a cane propped in front of him, the Game Master smiled heartlessly.

This was it. Their fight was over. 

---

Now, let's all take one calming deep breath. 

In... Out... 

There, feel better? 

A lot of awesome stuff is gonna go down in this next chapter, so stay tuned! If you want to get notifications on when this book updates, be sure to follow me! I'm in the drafting stages of a new MLB fanfic, so that will be coming soon (probably as soon as I finish this one and maybe finish my Soul Mate Trilogy. Who knows?)

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Favorite comment: 

By: Scratchstiffi

ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MARINETTE LIKE AUTHORS DO WHEN YOU REALLY REALLY LIKE A CHARACTER

YOU BETTER NOT

Ah... the wonderful feeling of knowing that your fans are right. 

(Guys, I love Marinette, and the reasons I do this to her is to show off how kickbutt she is and how well she can stand up for herself. She is a true superhero, even in my world where superheroes don't even exist. I hope that's a good enough reason for breaking your heart just a little bit. :D)

Again, thank you so much for all of the support and for helping Miraculous Games hit 6.6K reads! 

And, as always, have a Miraculous Day!