Project: Scrapbook

Project: Scrapbook - Antibug (P. 3)

Comic By: texmexchexmix & rionydal & artgraveyard

Written By: kasumiafkgod & the-noble-idiot

Beta'd By: miraculousandcute

Summary: N/A

Words: 907

A snarl burst forth from Chat as he lunged at her in a tackle. She sidestepped him with a bounce to her feet, extending the staff to strike it down right along his spine. He gave another, strangled yelped as he collapsed onto the ground, shouting his protests as her yoyo line zipped around to bind him to his own weapon.

He wasn't Ladybug, she mused, but he would do for now.

Antibug balanced herself delicately on the extended bo staff, using her weight to counteract the trussed form of Chat Noir dangling from the other end. His struggles were entertaining, but there was no way he was going to escape those bonds. She fluctuated her weight on the balls of her feet and bounced, giggling when Chat Noir let out small mewls of fear.

"Doesn't it bother you to always let Ladybug play the hero?" Antibug asked, part of her genuinely curious and the other part trying to dig under Chat Noir's skin.

He didn't take the bait. "And you, doesn't it bother you that you're a mere imitation of Ladybug?"

The fact that Chat Noir would suggest that Ladybug was on par with her made her gasp in rage, lip curled and eyebrows furrowed.

Keep going, Antibug, whispered Hawkmoth in her mind. "Chat Noir makes good bait."

Antibug knew that a part of Chat Noir was right. She could never be Ladybug. At least, not until she had Chat Noir as her sidekick. Where was Ladybug without him by her side, even if he did all the work and Ladybug got the credit? Antibug relished the thought of stealing Ladybug's sidekick right out from under her tiny little nose.

"Team up with me, Chat Noir," Antibug coaxed.

"Not with some pale copy!" Chat Noir retorted. "Ladybug and I are a team!"

That wasn't the answer Antibug was looking for. She gave the staff a few hard rocks as punishment, Chat Noir's nervous cries like music to her ears.

It seemed that recruiting Chat Noir as her sidekick was a lost cause. "I know you can hear me, Ladychicken!" Antibug called loudly, giving the staff a few more hard bounces. "Where are you hiding?" She leaned over the railing, throwing her voice to the open city. "You're going to have to choose! If you want me to spare Chat Noir, you're going to come here and give me your Miraculous! If you refuse..."

Antibug took advantage of her preteen years in gymnastics, balancing delicately on the staff. "Take a good look at Chat Noir because it'll be the last time you ever see him!"

She jumped off the staff, the sudden disproportionate balance making Chat Noir tip forward dangerously. She snatched the pole with her hands to establish the equal weight. "I'm going to count to ten!"

Vaulting back onto the pole, she imitated a tightrope walker, with both hands flung out to either wise. "One... two... three... four..."

"Chat Noir and I make a good team."

Antibug turned toward the sound of Ladybug's voice like a moth to flame. Antibug hated that voice. Hated what it had said to her, hated everything about the person it belonged to.

Unfortunately, that voice was only a poorly laid trap, a decoy to draw her away. Antibug snorted. Ladybug thought she was so smart, didn't she?. What a coward.

"Come out, come out, Ladycoward!" called Antibug, twirling her own magical yo-yoy in a deadly arc.

"Ready for round two?" said a voice, and Antibug grit her teeth at the - now freed from his bonds - cat that was pointing his bo staff at her with a fierce look in his eyes. With her leverage gone, Antibug decided she would not let herself be fooled again, and reengaged her battle with Chat Noir. It took them across the layers of the Grand Hotel until they separated harshly, on either side of the rooftop pool.

"Bad kitty," Antibug cooed, twirling her yo-yo casually. "Stay put so I can catch you!"

Chat Noir was a stubborn one; she'd give him that. "I don't take orders from anyone, especially not from a copycat!"

It seemed that it was Chat Noir's mission in life to make her angry. Antibug lashed out at him again and again, but before her yo-yo made contact, it was shoved to the side by a distinctive and easily recognizable yo-yo of Antibug's inverted colors.

Antibug retrieved her yo-yo and glared as Ladybug reentered the scene, a hand on her hip and a smirk on that face that Antibug wanted to punch. Just seeing Ladybug again fueled all the anger that had welled up inside of her, frothing in her stomach and chest until she thought she would burst.

"Nice yo-yo, but mine's better," Ladybug taunted.

Antibug was going to throw back a response when Ladybug just up and ignored her completely, going to exchange quick words with Chat Noir. Antibug fumed. Was she just going to acknowledge her and then completely forget she was there? It was rude, quite frankly, and Antibug was having none of that.

She broke off their little chitchat with a well-aimed yo-yo attack, dispersing the two like the little scaredy-cats they were. Antibug wasted no time going on the offensive, throwing everything she had as Ladybug was forced into defense. Antibug had waited long enough for this fight, and she was going to prove, once and for all, that she was the superior Ladybug!