Chapter Three
"You are ridiculous! Why would I give up being a superhero? With my current powers I can save the day! I am Paris' true hero! My sidekick and I never needed a little busy bee like you!" Scarlet retaliated by trying to punch Marigold and sweep her legs out from under her. Her attack was unsuccessful and more clumsy than threatening.
"You see Scarlet," Marigold tripped Scarlet and she fell onto her back, "You put up a good fight with your yoyo and you probably would have beaten me if you had worked on your physical attacks. You have been a hero longer than me after all. The only reason you failed is because I fight the akumas with my top and my body. You swing around on that yoyo and never actually fight." Marigold towered over Scarlet and outstretched her hand. "Now give it up and return the Miraculous!" Now back to Alya Cesaire. The promising young reporter had climbed the fire escape and made it onto the rooftop next to the one the two were fighting on. She stayed hidden but made sure to catch the action on her phone still. She watched them fight and talk. She was hanging on to every word she could catch of the conversation between heroes. The smart girl also made sure to get it all on the recording as well. Marigold and Chat Noir were the true heroes of Paris and she would make sure that everyone else knew it. Scarlet smacked away Marigold's hand.
"You are a fool to think I would ever give them to you!"
"Then I'll take them by force. Venom!" Marigold leaned forward to prick Scarlet but was thrown off balance by a newcomer to the fray. Wearing a male version of Scarlet's suit and having the opposite spotted pattern they declared themselves as Lord Beetle.
"Paris needs Scarlet! How dare you try to hurt her!" They attacked Marigold and let Scarlet slip away, still nursing her now wounded pride. Marigold defended herself and took down the weaker Akuma. The purple butterfly flew off until a yoyo zipped out from below to purify it. Marigold took off in that direction but couldn't find Scarlet. All she found was a pissed off Chloe Bourgeois in her parents bakery. Which was a surprise since Chloe openly hated her and her family. She cursed herself but snuck into her room through her balcony and detransformed.
"It's alright my Queen. You'll get her next time after all Scarlet hates to miss out on good publicity."
"Thanks Pollen you are the best. Now to deal with the other pain downstairs." Marinette went down the stairs to greet her parents.
"Marinette! I didn't even see you come home earlier."
"Sorry maman! I'm just extra focused when I have so much homework to do." She gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and went to the front of the shop to see what Chloe could possibly want.
"Oh look it's Mari-trash." Chloe said quietly to Marinette. "I want the best thing you have in this trashy place. Make it snappy." Marinette shook her head but grabbed a box for the special macaroons her father made this morning. She filled the box with different flavours and rang up the total price.
"That will be twenty euros please." Chloe scoffed and tossed her hair behind her shoulders. God did that remind Marinette of a pissed off miniature horse. Or come to think of it the very reason Marinette herself was in a bad mood. Either way she didn't feel very intimidated.
"Just put it on Daddy's tab."
"I'm sorry we don't do that anymore since you never send your father to actually pay." Chloe's jaw dropped for a moment but then she gave an annoyed look.
"Fine how much does Daddy owe you?" Marinette calculated the total for a few minutes.
"Around three hundred and six euros." This time Chloe looked surprised.
"I didn't realize we came here that much." She murmured to herself, angry that she had given in to her guilty pleasures so often.
"Fine here." Chloe thrust out three hundred euro bills and one ten. "Keep the change." Chloe took her macaroons and left in a hurry. The next morning, however, neither of those two girls would have better days. For Chloe it started out with the Scarblog. The newest video went up and Scarlet's beat down was posted everywhere. The fact that she was only saved by an akumatized fanboy was worse. Not only had a petition started up to make Scarlet give her Miraculous to Marigold, hashtag Not My Hero was also posted around. Scarlet was losing fans by the minute and she was furious. When she arrived for class she immediately flipped out on Alya.
"How dare you shame your hero! Might I remind you that she SAVED you multiple times!" Alya fixed a glare on Chloe.
"Actually Chat Noir did all the work then. Scarlet has never been a true hero. She's been a wanna-bee this whole time. That's why I firmly support Marigold." She grinned. "She's the bee's knees! So I started a bee themed fashion line with Marinette helping me out. I am also going to bee using bee puns all day today to show my support to my new favorite hero Marigold!" For Marinette it started out with Nino then got worse. She brought in her usual food and extra coffee for Adrien who took the cup from her with a blush and a stuttered thank you. She had teased him and smiled back. Then came what she would call the worst whisper conversation ever. It was between Nino and Alya.
"Alya.. when do you think she'll notice? My boy is completely dying of lovesick syndrome."
"Nino shut up! She may be clumsy at times but she can still hear you." Marinette immediately knew what was going on. Adrien, one of her best friends, had a crush on her. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one to overhear.