Meanwhile, Marinette had gotten home from dropping off the gift, and was now in the middle of her and her brother's noon video call. All the while, she had no idea what was happening outside in the city.

"So how did giving Adrien his present go?" Jim asked, as they already told each other how their day went and was eager to find out if Marinette actually did it because...he honestly hoped a little that she didn't, otherwise she would have been better about her crush than him. Not that it was a competition, but mostly for his pride.

"I tried to give it to him at school, but couldn't, so I tried to do so at lunch break, but Chloé prevented me from doing so, and when she left, he had to go to a photo shoot. So then Alya and I went to his house to drop it off and managed to do so, but I... forgot to sign the gift," Marinette explained, much to Jim's humor since that was a step up from him, but not by much.

"Seriously? Oh my god, only you Mari. How could you forget something like that?" Jim asked, not believing that Marinette was this unlucky, despite her alter ego's representation, while Marinette just sighed and started to play with the remaining bits of her lunch.

"I don't know, but honestly, I just hope it makes him happy. Adrien must have gotten his gift by now," Marinette said as she was daydreaming while moving her peas with her fork to make a heart-shaped out of them. She could just see it!

"What was that you said?" Sabine asked, as she walked into the room to open a window near the T.V., not hearing what the two siblings were talking about before, but managed to hear Marinette's last little sentence. Nothing to shock you out of your romantic delusions like your mother!

"Uh- I was just telling Jim that I can't wait to get back to school this afternoon!" Marinette exclaimed, as she turned to face her mom, while Jim merely tensely smiled and waved at his Aunt Sabine to help sell the cover story. But Sabine was not fooled. A mother knows these things. She muffled her laughs.

'Ah, to be young again. How nice it must be,' Sabine thought to herself. But the moment was soon ruined when Jim saw one of Bubbler's bubbles coming towards the open window

"Huh?" Jim said out loud, bringing Marinette's attention back to her mom, seeing what Jim was confused by. They both saw it coming before their mother/step-mother did. A bubble came through the large window and captured Sabine, who was surprised to now be trapped by the magic bubble as it began to float back outside.

"Mom!" "Aunt Sabine!" Marinette and Jim shout out, while Marinette takes her phone with her as she runs after the retreating bubble, as it takes her mom back out and up! But unfortunately, Marinette had to stop herself from falling over the railing of the window, helpless to save her mom.

"MOM!" Marinette shouts out as she reaches out for her mother, as they both reach out for one another.

As she was doing so, Marinette and Jim could see more adults floating away in bubbles too, including their...

"Dad? Dad!" "Dad!" Jim and Marinette shouted out as soon as they saw Tom floating away in his own bubble prison next to Sabine, the family reached out for each other as more adults in the area were lifted away in green bubbles. Marinette tried holding onto the railing with her free hand till her knuckles turned white, and Jim could only watch as the adults soon floated away out of sight.

Tikki flew up to Marinette, as she looked at the situation in worry.

"Your parents! Hawkmoth must have unleashed another akuma!" Tikki said, bringing Marinette's attention from the sky, and back to the little kwami.

"I have got to find his newest villain ASAP!" Marinette exclaimed before she brought her phone to her face, looking right at a panicked Jim.

"I've got to go, bro. I'll tell you and Toby about this next time we call," Marinette said, bringing Jim out of his panic.

"We can just watch it on the news, and Alya will probably be able to get footage," Jim said, trying to reassure her that she didn't have to worry about them.

"It looks like the bubbles are taking adults, so I doubt the news will cover this akuma. And I don't know if Alya will get any details this time around," Marinette said, bringing up logical reasons why this akuma probably wouldn't be on the news.

"Fair point. You'll just tell us what the cameras didn't get anyway. NOW GO! I held you up enough already." Jim shouted, realizing that she needed to do her job, and bringing her back on point.

"Right, gotta go. Bye Jim, tell Toby I said 'hi'," Marinette said with a tense smile and a wave of her hand, while Jim returned the tense smile and wave.

"Bye sis. See you next time. Hope you and Chat Noir win," Jim responded before he hung up, leaving Marinette and Tikki alone with the screen black.

"You and I both, bro," Marinette said to herself as she walked to the table, and placed her phone on the tabletop before turning to Tikki, ready to turn into Ladybug.

"Tikki spots on!" She called out, as she sadly transformed into her super alter ego. At first, Hawkmoth had sent out his evil butterflies sporadically so they'd had some practice, but it was never so personal! She'd make sure to take care of this one fast.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bubbler was perched on a random rooftop somewhere in the city, overlooking his handiwork with pride.

"And now... party time!" The Bubbler said excitedly as he soon released another stream of purple bubbles. But this time, they merely floated in the sky, acting as screens so he could broadcast an announcement, just as Ladybug exited the bakery.

"Hey, hey, hey! Today's your lucky day little dudes! The adults are taking the day off so make sure to make the most of it! No chores, no homework, no more nagging, just fun, fun, fun, fun! This is the Bubbler's gift to you," The Bubbler announced through the bubble screens, much to Ladybug's frustration, and the kids of Paris's sadness to see their parents ripped away from them.

'As if to add insult to injury,' Ladybug thought as she saw the akuma was using its bubbles to broadcast his gloating while the children all around her cried! She then kneeled down to the children closest to her to try and cheer them up.

"Don't worry, your parents will come back, I'll see to it," Ladybug reassured, bringing an awed smile to the two children. Next, she turned to the teenager that was standing with them and placed her hands on his shoulders to ground him from his awe that 'the Ladybug' was right in front of him.

"You look after them in the meantime," She said, before she swung away, determined to find Bubbler, while the little kids cheered her on.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien was having a... wonderful lunch alone on his birthday. The clock ticks by, just as he finished off his lunch.

"Wow, that was a birthday lunch break to remember. Yay." Adrien sarcastically said as he halfheartedly raised a fist in the air while he grabbed his school bag and headed into the foyer to go back to school, only to find no one there.

"Nathalie? Father?" He calls out as he stands in the foyer, only to be surrounded by silence. There wasn't even anyone there to greet him when he left. It wasn't like that was unusual but he thought maybe Nathalie would have been there.

But Adrien only sadly walked to the door and walked outside. It was a great surprise to him to find his classmates cheering 'Happy birthday!' for him when he closed the door behind him, with a table covered in food and sweets- birthday cake included- and a DJ booth across from it.

"Hey, hey, birthday boy! Guess what? Daddy's gone, and while the cat's away, the mice will play." A voice above Adrien called out, causing him to look up. It was an even greater surprise to be greeted by the Bubbler as he was standing on a bubble that floated in the air above them!

"Nino?!" Adrien questioned in disbelief. His father really went and got his best friend akumatized? Huh, why is he not surprised?

"The Bubbler's brought all your homies together for one sole purpose, to ce-le-brate!" The Bubbler cheered as he pumped his fist, then jumped to land behind the DJ setup.

"Let's get this party started!" the akuma shouted out, causing the crowd to cheer out, right before he started playing dance music, making the class start to dance. Meanwhile, Adrien took this chance to run back inside and consult Plagg. But when he left, everyone's cheerful mode disappeared, which the Bubbler noticed immediately.

"Come on everybody! I've brought you here to party! So dance... or else you'll join the adults up in the sky," The Bubbler threatens; causing the crowd to continue their forced dance; before wickedly cackling as fireworks shoot up into the sky, with the sparks turning into bubbles to prevent any fires from breaking out. Bubbler might have been a villain, but a fire would have been a major way to ruin a party, which isn't what he wanted.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Hawkmoth's lair, the butt-erfly man watches as the Bubbler basically shoots up a flare for Ladybug and Chat Noir to come and find him, but sees this as a good thing.

"It won't be long before Ladybug and Chat Noir show up to meet their doom!" The humanized eggplant said before evilly cackling. While the akuma did draw attention to itself with the fireworks, it did make it so that the resident heroes would find him faster, so they would face off against him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adrien had reached his room, and clenched his fist with his miraculous on, looking down at it as he contemplated what to do. That wasn't right. He'd only fought, what, five akuma? Six if you count doing Stone Heart twice, but despite the seemingly cheery atmosphere, he was sure Nino shouldn't be an akumat.

"What's the problem?" Plagg asked as he laid on top of Adrien's shoulder as if acting in the role of a 'shoulder devil'.

"Relax, you're getting the party you've always wanted!" He encouraged, trying to get Adrien to see that this might not be such a bad thing. Tikki was always the more serious, and yet fuzzy feeling one between them, and Plagg was okay with that. But he did care about Adrien. He just didn't show it like someone normally would.

"But Nino's been akumatized! I've got to help him!" Adrien argued as he looked at his kwami, not wanting to see his friend being used as a puppet by a psychopath.

"You may never get this chance again! Come on, let's have a little fun while your father's away! When we're done we can save Nino, trap his akuma, and all will be good!" Plagg reasoned, not really being responsible at the moment.

So maybe this wasn't the best thing to encourage, and Tikki would probably have his head if she found out, but his holder really did deserve something nice! He needed to relax. Everything would be fixed with the ladybug cure anyway, though he wouldn't point that out.

"Ok, you're right. This might be the first time that I get to do what I want to do for once." Adrien said, much to Plagg's hidden joy that he was going to have some fun. With that, Plagg flew back into his hiding place in Adrien's overshirt and he went back out to the courtyard to join the party and enjoy the music.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ladybug was running across the rooftops and soon landed on a roof that gave her the vantage point she needed to see the Bubblers fireworks as they shot into the sky.

"It's you and me, Bubbler," Ladybug said before she leapt towards where the fireworks were coming from. For her part, all she had to do to find the akuma was follow the fireworks, which was probably by design. She usually didn't get so mad about akumas, but with everyone over 18 being floated off to space... she had seen too many kids scared and crying for their parents on the way over. She wasn't even going to think about the infants.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Agreste Mansion, the party was in full swing- if you could call it that when the guests sans Adrien were there against their will- and Adrien was having a blast. Though it was hard when everyone there looked like their pet had just been run over. So he decided to break the ice and headed over to Rose as she joylessly danced

"Hey, nice party... I guess since it's my first one," Adrien admitted to Rose who merely gave him a double thumbs up and a tense smile before going back to dancing while Adrien continued celebrating. But after seeing first-hand how joyless Rose's reaction was, he looked around the other party-goers and saw that they weren't having a good time either. He'd never been to a fun party before, but he thought you were supposed to be in a better mood at those than the fancy ones.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown to him, Chloé and Sabrina were at the DJ booth, where Chloé was impatiently waving her hand at Sabrina to approach the akuma DJ, and unfortunately for Sabrina, she had no choice.

"I'm requesting a slow dance," Sabrina said, bringing Bubbler's attention from his spin table, and to the bespectacled girl as she looked up at him from the bottom of the DJ booth.

"It's a bit early for that, isn't it?" The Bubbler remarked, leaning over the DJ table to speak to Sabrina. But Chloé merely pushed her servant out of the way and took Sabrina's previous spot before looking up at the akuma.

"It's for Adrien. His first slow dance..." Chloé 'sweetly' explained, batting her eyelashes to hide her true intentions and make it seem she was asking out of the goodness of her heart.

"Oh, you know it girl!" Bubbler said, shooting her a couple of finger guns while standing up straight, quickly understanding what Chloé was up to. Well, somewhat at least. A few seconds later, the song changed to a slow dance song, and everyone paired up. Adrien could only watch as the partygoers continued to not really enjoy the party.

"Is it just me, or does everyone seem a bit weird?" Adrien asked Chloé when he saw her walking toward him. Normally, he always was on guard with her on the account that she likes to smother him with... affection. But, he felt relieved when she came up to him.

"Forget about them. Let's go dance! Come on!" Chloé said as she grabbed Adrien's arm and pulled him into the center of the crowd to dance with him, clinging onto him like a barnacle would do to a pillar of a pier.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But unknown to everyone, Ladybug had just arrived at the Agreste household and surveyed the situation on the top of the surrounding wall. From her vantage point, she saw the Bubbler was DJing the party but went to sift through the collection of records he had, while the guests were despondent. And in the middle of the crowd was Chloe trying to plant another kiss on Adrien while he tried to back away.

"There is no way this is happening!" Ladybug growled in jealousy, disgust, anger, and disbelief as she saw Chloé trying to forcibly plant a kiss on Adrien's face. No way. Not today or any other day, and certainly not on her watch. She then quickly pulled out her yo-yo and summoned her...

"Lucky Charm!" She cries out- which somehow doesn't draw any attention to her from the akuma or the party guests- and receives...

"A record?" Ladybug said when she had the object in her hands. Well, she knew just what to do with that! Looking around; while the Bubbler was still distracted by looking through the records he had to find the right one; she spied the turntable, the volume notch near it, and a ledge of the Agreste Mansion. Then with a confident laugh, she made like a discus thrower, and... yeet! The record went flying towards the ledge, ricocheted off of it, where it changed direction to fly towards the turntable.

When it hit, the notch she saw went up all the way and made the record stop its path, and land right on the turntable, causing the needle to fall on the record, to play the music on the vinyl disc. The funky music that began to play caused the captured guests to stop slow dancing and went to regular dancing, even cheering, while Adrien happily pulled away from Chloé who was shocked that the slow dance was over.

"Dude, who just hijacked my mix?!" The Bubbler said, abandoning the records he had been leafing through, to find the source of the upbeat bop his set was producing.

"Yours truly!" Ladybug said before her earrings warned her of an impending detransformation.

"Better bug out quick before I change back," She whispered to herself before she quickly dove out of sight to recharge, by leaping off of the wall and tumbling towards the ground landing in a crouch, near the front gate.

"Spots off," Ladybug said, just before the last spot on her earring disappears, and she stands up from the ground as her transformation fades away. A second later, Tikki flies out of her earrings, and tiredly falls into Marinette's awaiting hands.

"Marinette..." Tikki said as she sat up while rubbing her head to stop the incoming headache.

"Tikki, it was an emergency," Marinette explained as she held Tikki to her eye level, trying to defend her actions.

"Yeah, if by emergency you mean jealousy. You know what happens when you use your lucky charm. You only have minutes before-" Tikki began, about to head into a lecture that Marinette had already been through on the first day on the job.

"I turn back, I know, but I figured... The Bubbler, he's not going anywhere. We have time to get you food to get your energy back up. Then we'll get right back out there, I promise," Marinette said, understanding what Tikki meant, really. She knew they couldn't waste much time, but everyone had been so uncomfortable, especially Adrien!

If someone had been trying things like that on her when she didn't want them to–like Chloé was doing to Adrien–her Papa, Jim AND Toby would be locked up for first-degree murder. She took the chance, and maybe she shouldn't have.

Maybe there were more important things, but as long as she won, everything would be right in the end. But she paused her musings to place Tikki into her purse and headed to the front gate to enter the party. She then took the opportunity to check out the gathering she had just crashed to see what she was up against, and to check out the food table to get something for Tikki. Quickly walking towards the table, she spied a couple of plates of cookies. When she reached it, she opened her purse and carefully threw a few treats into her purse for Tikki to eat.

"I've gotta find a place to transform fast," Marinette whispered to herself as she looked around, seeing there weren't many places she could duck in and transform. She'd have to try to get back out unseen-

"Where have you been, girl? I was so scared something had happened to you!" A voice to her right exclaimed, bringing Marinette's attention to see Alya coming towards her to pull her into a hug. Alya might have been scared, but she nearly scared Marinette to death before she realized who had come up behind her.

"Me too..." Marinette said as she hugged Alya, her voice thrilled with the lie but it thankfully went unnoticed by Alya as she pulled back from the embrace.

"I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will show up at any moment to save us all. They've never failed us," Alya said as she looked over at the Bubbler as he continued to DJ the party, but soon perked up and fully pulled away from the hug.

"Meanwhile, come with me. I've got something for you," She announced as she walked away from Marinette and towards the mansion.

"Uh, there's something I have to do first," Marinette said nervously, trying to make an excuse to transform into Ladybug so she could defeat the Bubbler.

"It's about Adrien," Alya sang, immediately throwing any and all thoughts Marinette had of transforming, out the window. Of course Alya's surprise had to be connected to her Achilles heel.

"... Ok..." Marinette replied, knowing that she had no choice. Well she had a choice, but how could she plausibly say no to her best friend about that? Too suspicious. Plus she really wanted to know what it was. Sue her for being in love.

"Marinette," Tikki exclaimed as she peeked out from her purse, bringing Marinette's attention to her as she hurriedly ate one of the cookies.

"The Bubbler!" The sweet-toothed kwami reminded her urgently.

"Ok, ok. In a sec," Marinette said, trying to appease her kwami, before she followed Alya. The reporter led her inside the prison of a house and into Gabriel's atelier, where, laying on Nathalie's desk, next to her computer was the present Marinette had wrapped the night before, much to Marinette's joy.

"Look, now you can sign your gift," Alya said as they poked their heads through the office door.

"Yes!" Marinette squealed, happiness filling her soul. It might have been Adrien's birthday, but this was a wish come true for her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the party, Ivan had decided to break away, and was now leaning against the wall of the courtyard, seemingly in a brooding mood, catching the Bubbler's attention.

"Hey, you. Why aren't you having fun?" The Bubbler asked when he approached the boy, who glanced over at him.

"None of your business," Ivan said, not seeing any use in explaining why he wasn't having fun when... it was painfully obvious as to why.

"Then I'm gonna make it my business," The akuma growled out as he pulled out his bubble wand sword, shocking Ivan out of his brooding as the Bubbler cackled.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the mansion, Marinette had been left alone in the office, while she rectified her earlier mishap.

"Love, Marinette," Marinette read out as she wrote the words on a sticky note with a pen she had found handily laid out for her.

"There," She proclaimed as she finished writing the note, and placed it on the gift with a smile before lifting it up in the air, and kissed the present in happiness. She was so happy to be able to fix her mistake.

"Right, we're good. Spots on, Marinette," Tikki said impatiently as she poked her head out of the purse.

"I can't do it now, Alya's here," Marinette argued.

"Whatcha say?" Alya asked as she peeked through the door, making Marinette panic to cover her seemingly strange behavior.

"Go ahead. I'll meet you in the yard." Marinette said, with a tense smile while Alya left, closing the door behind her. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, but her peace was interrupted by Ivan drifting up past the window.

"No! You were right, Tikki. I never should have waited this long!" Marinette panicked as she ran to the window, not able to do anything to help him as he floated away and panicked.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back outside, everyone else was unaware of what the Bubbler had done and was occupied by Adrien as he stood on the stage, asked to say some words by the Bubbler, considering it was his party after all.

"Hey Paris, how you doing?!" Adrien excitedly exclaimed into the microphone. The other guests were not so enthused as the Bubbler had hoped, but all it took was to put a hand on his bubble wand for their attitudes to change, and for all of them to cheer as Adrien hopped down and surrounded him. But Adrien suddenly noticed a flash of red above them, and that was when he spotted her... Ladybug, as she stood confidently on the top of the courtyard wall.

"Ladybug?" Adrien questioned just before she quickly sent her yoyo and unplugged the set. Time was up! He wasn't too upset about it. Part of him had hoped that despite the akuma this would be a cool party, but he should have known that wasn't an option.

"Sorry, Bubbler, but the party's over!" Ladybug said when the yo-yo was back in her hand.

"Why you gotta be like that?" The Bubbler seethed, angry that Ladybug was interrupting his plans.

"You made all the adults disappear, that's why. And now you're imprisoning anyone who isn't having fun!" Ladybug said, stating why the akuma needed to be stopped, while Adrien fully used it to his advantage, and pulled away from Chloé; who was cuddling him; and ran back into the house to transform. He couldn't let Ladybug fight alone!

"You will not bust up my party!" The Bubbler shouted before he drew his wand and launched bubbles at the heroine. But Ladybug deflected them by spinning her yoyo before leaping off of her spot, while the Bubbler followed her lead, with both clashing in the air, the battle beginning in a shower of bubbles. Meanwhile, the captive partygoers fleed the scene, taking cover at the front of the mansion to watch the oncoming battle.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adrien had managed to reach his room, and let Plagg fly out of his overshirt while the kwami danced in midair, unaware of Adrien's regret.

"I think I've been a complete idiot. Plagg claws out!" Adrien called out, bringing Plagg out of his dancing as he was sucked into the ring, letting Adrien transform into Chat Noir.

Once he was transformed, he sprinted back to where the pseudo party had been held.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back outside, Ladybug had thrown her yo-yo at the Bubbler, but he had conjured a bubble that deflected Ladybug's yoyo and sent it hurtling back towards her faster than she could recall it herself. But at the last second, Chat Noir slid in and hit it up into the air, right before it could hit Ladybug.

"Looks like I made it just in time," Chat Noir remarked as he spun his baton before posing, while Ladybug waited for her yo-yo to drop back from the sky.

"I had it under control... " Ladybug began, trying to play it cool, just before her yoyo dropped back down, bonking Chat Noir in the head.

"... but thanks," She continued as the yo-yo landed into her hand, while Chat Noir processed what had just happened with wide eyes, making Ladybug smirk. A second later, the purple butterfly outline appeared on the Bubbler's face as he became enraged that both superheroes were present.

"Get their Miraculouses! I want those powers... NOW!" The pathetic excuse of a super villain screamed at the Bubbler from his lair, growing impatient. No sooner than he finished ranting, he cut the link, and the Bubbler roared out before he started rapidly launching small red bubbles at the two superheroes.

As they were being attacked, the two of them spun their weapons to help themselves, as they confidently dodged the barrage and stood tall after the bubbles had passed on, only for the Bubbler to grin. He snapped his fingers, causing the bubbles to change from red to green and begin attacking them again, and surrounding them like a tornado, while sticking to the two heroes as they passed by.

They were harder to dodge at this speed and there wasn't much they could do, when soon enough they found themselves trapped in a bubble together while the Bubbler laughed at their predicament. When they got their bearings again, Ladybug immediately tried to pop the bubble prison with her elbow, but it was no use.

"Give me your miraculous before you run out of air," The Bubbler demanded, holding out his hand towards the trapped heroes, before Ladybug gave up her attempts to escape to face him.

"Dream on, Bubbler!" Ladybug snarled back, not even entertaining the idea of them giving up to Hawkmoth.

"Total party poopers, just like adults," Bubbler remarked, not seeing why they didn't just give up.

"Kids need adults," Ladybug argued, trying to reason with the akuma. But past experience had not shown that to be a good idea. Earlier on, she and Chat Noir had dealt with an akuma by the name of Mathemagician, and he blew up when someone had said 2+2=3. It wasn't a pretty outcome, despite his main powers being math based.

"False! Kids need freedom and fun! Let loose and live it up. Adults are controlling and bossy," The Bubbler replied back while the captive partygoers watched the exchange.

"But adults keep children safe and protected. They care for their kids! They love them!" Ladybug argued, her personal emotions starting to surface as she brought herself to the front of the bubble to face the Bubbler. Normally she would think of this as normal business, but the Bubbler had taken her parents captive. This was personal.

"Most adults do anyhow..." Chat Noir grumbled to himself. Even if his father wasn't there for him, there were other kids who did need their parents. And maybe his father would learn to be there for him, too.

"You must bring the adults back!" He shouts out, trying to get his head back into the game, challenging the Bubbler. But that just seemed to make things worse.

"Nope, never. Know what? Since you enjoy these adults so much, why don't you go float with them for a while?" The Bubbler decided before he took a running start towards the large green bubble. Before they could process exactly how horrifying the Bubbler looked running towards them, the heroes were being launched into the air screaming as they rose higher while the captives watched in fear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But there was one person who didn't find the Bubbler's actions terrifying, but rather... inconvenient.

"What do you think you're doing, Bubbler? You're supposed to seize their Miraculouses!" Hawkmoth shouted in anger as he clenched his fist, while watching what had happened in his lair. (How he does this without having an aneurysm, this author honestly has no idea.