Thief | Lukadrien

Part 9 - Sandboy 2.0

"Plagg, claws out!"

Before I could escape through the window, a cage crashed down around the edges of my room. Remembering what happened with the last Sandboy, I quickly cataclysmed the first set of bars before another one could appear, then broke through the window.

I extended my baton and used it to launch me onto the top of a building across from my house. I looked down at the streets as I ran on the rooftops, worried about all the mayhem occurring. Some people were being chased by their phobias, others were being yelled at by what I assumed to be friends, family members, teachers, or coaches, and many were just hiding in their cars from whatever it was that scared them.

Lightning was striking frequently, followed by deafening thunder, but there was no rain. There were earthquakes happening in different places and water flooding several areas of town. Houses were exploding without an apparent cause, and fires were raging everywhere. This was nothing like the first time we dealt with Sandboy.

"Chat Noir!" I heard someone say. I looked down to see a girl with blue pigtails wearing a motorbike helmet. The glare from the helmet made it impossible to see her face, but based on the hair, I had a pretty good idea of who it was.

"Marinette?" I asked, lowering myself to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Not Marinette, idiot!" she said as she stomped her foot. "It's me, Ladybug!"

"Oh, M'lady! That was my second guess. Why haven't you transformed?"

"I can't," she sighed, as her kwami flew out from behind her. "Tikki's worst nightmare is not being able to transform me."

"Well, that's not good."

"No sh*t, Chat! What are we supposed to do?"

I was actually kind of surprised she didn't have a plan. Ladybug always had a plan.

"Well, if her worst fear is not being able to transform you, maybe she can transform someone else?" I suggested.

After a moment of consideration, Ladybug smacked the front of her helmet. "Why didn't I think of that?"

She handed me her earrings, then the two of us headed over to an alleyway. While her back was turned, I removed my ring and transformed into a red and black suit.

"Here," I said, giving Ladybug my miraculous. "Do you have something for Plagg to eat?"

She pulled a macaron out of her purse and gave it to the kwami. He swallowed it in one bite.

"Plagg, claws out!"

...

"Argh, this isn't working!" Lady Noir complained after our fifth attempt at trying to release the Akuma, which was likely trapped in the pillow Sandboy was floating on. None of our plans had been successful.

I shook my head and took a deep breath to prevent negative thoughts from creeping in. Maybe it was just all the fear we were surrounded by, but I was starting to feel my anxiety taking over.

"On the bright side, at least we've dodged all of his nightmare sand," I said as we ran over to another alleyway to regroup. "Lucky Charm!"

"Yeah, and let's keep it that way," Lady Noir said, just as a note pad and pencil appeared. "I don't wanna see your Ladybug nightmare again."

"My... what?" I thought back to last time, when Sandboy made a hateful version of Ladybug appear. "Oh, right. Don't worry, we won't be seeing that illusion even if I do get hit."

I replayed that sentence in my head.

"Hey, maybe that's it!"

"What?"

"An illusion. The reason why Sandboy was akumatized in the first place was because he woke up from a nightmare, which means it will be easy to frighten him. If we create an illusion of a monster or something to scare him, it might throw him off guard, and he won't be able to dodge us."

"How are we supposed to—you want me get Rena Rouge?"

"Yes, exactly."

She shook her head. "I can't."

"Why not? We can still trust her, can't we?"

"Yes, but that's not the problem. Master Fu won't lend me the fox miraculous."

"He won't? Did he say why?"

She didn't answer.

"Lady Noir?"

"I haven't been back to his place since Desperada."

"How do you know he won't lend you another miraculous?"

"It's hard to explain. But... maybe you can go to Master Fu's and get it."

Now I was really confused. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Nope!" she said quickly, then grabbed the red and black notepad from my hands. "Here; I'll write down Master's address. Go get the fox miraculous, then meet me back here."