Alya had said, not twenty minutes ago, that things were incredibly peaceful. Adrien was going to have to teach that girl a lesson about the dangers of tempting fate.

The Scholar was wondering away from the school and was perusing the streets of Paris, absorbing the energy of those he found to be doing things he deemed 'unintelligent'. Chat could barely keep up as he pounced from rooftop to rooftop after the monster, worriedly noting that the Scholar had nearly quadrupled in height and tripled in breadth since he'd first appeared, as a result of the energy he'd consumed.

Pounding along, trying to catch up to the monster, Chat saw a woman texting intently as she walked along the pavement down below, but a hundred or so metres in front of him. She was nearing a junction as she texted, and the Scholar's head whipped towards her, as if sensing what she was about to do. Sure enough, the lady didn't even look up from her phone before she stepped off the pavement to cross the road, and the Scholar cackled in delighted scorn as he scooped her up with a giant hand.

"Who knew Paris was full of so many fools? Looks like I'm going to be unstoppable before long, if I keep coming across more idiots like you."

The woman screamed and writhed, but the Scholar's free hand descended towards her forehead. Touching her face with the tip of his right index finger, a green glow surrounded her until the Scholar absorbed the energy of the terrified 'idiot' until she faded away altogether. Chat groaned and stood up as the Scholar grew slightly. This was the fourteenth time the Scholar had absorbed someone he'd seen doing 'stupid' things, 'stupid' apparently being anything from seeing how far you could lean out of a window before falling, or simply not knowing where the capital of England was. Chloe Bourgeois, along with several other of his classmates had been consumed, and Chat was running out of time and options.

Admittedly, he had been trying to put off the inevitable confrontation because he was nervous about fighting without Ladybug, but the longer he waited, the harder the Scholar was going to be to fight. He'd have to get the akuma out himself, and keep it in a mason jar until Ladybug was back to health.

The Scholar dropped what was left of his victim (a red high-heeled shoe) back to the ground and chuckled.

"Next time, look before you cross the street." He gave the advice to no-one in particular, then continued on his search for stupidity.

Chat deftly flipped off his rooftop and landed on the street below. He cupped his paws around his mouth and yelled:

"Hey, Mister Teacher guy! I know a kid who is always getting himself into stupid situations where he's forced to go up solo against multiple enemies! He does it on purpose, as well."

The Scholar turned towards him, a gleeful grimace on his face.

"That is a very stupid thing to do. He sounds like an ideal victim. But then again, drawing my attention to yourself was not a very clever choice to make. I think I'll get rid of you first."

Chat dodged the hand that came swiping down at him, and smirked.

"Well, I guess today is your lucky day. I'm that very kid. Unbelievable coincidence, right? But you know what's even more unbelievable? Those enemies who fight him always lose. And I don't think you're gonna be the exception, bud."

The Scholar let out an angry roar and trampled his way towards Chat Noir, who in turn, ran towards the monster. As a giant hand swooped down to try and capture him, Chat extended his staff and did a pole vault-style leap over his head. Knowing the creature was slow and not very agile, Chat got a good head start as the monster struggled to turn around to chase him down.

By the time the Scholar had caught up to Chat, they were in the large open space outside the Louvre. On their way, the Scholar had managed to smash over 4 lampposts, dent 3 buildings and break about twenty post boxes, so Chat figured it was best to stay away from… well, everything.

He ran into the middle of the square and positioned himself into a fighting stance, his staff at his side. The Scholar squared up to him.

"Fighting me alone? You're stupider than I thought."

Chat was about to make a smart-ass response when he was cut off by a voice from across the square.

"Who said he was alone?" Ladybug stood atop the Louvre, one hand on her hip and the other spinning her yo-yo. All eyes on her, she leaped off the roof and landed easily, rolling forwards on impact so she came up in a crouch. "And stupider isn't even a word, Mr Smarty-Pants. Maybe you should absorb your own energy and give everyone the day off, hmm?"

As pleased as he was to see his partner, and even though knowing that he wouldn't have to fight alone was welcome information, Chat was worried. Now that he had been informed of it, he couldn't help but notice the way her suit loosely hung off her scarily thin body, and despite her strong, powerful stance, she gave off an aura of exhaustion. When she turned to smile at him, he saw the dark shadows under her eyes and in the hollows of her cheekbones. If she wasn't careful, she was going to get hurt.

He didn't get a chance to voice his fears, however because the Scholar had had enough. He charged, and let out a bellow as he pounded towards them. Chat and Ladybug readied themselves.

"What and who are we dealing with here, Chat?" Ladybug cried as they dived in different directions to avoid the Scholar's grabbing hands. They came up out of their rolls on opposite sides of the square, the Scholar looking between them like he didn't know who to go after first. Was Chat imagining it, or was Ladybug's body sagging slightly?

"A boy from College Francois-Dupont." He called back, ducking under the Scholar's irritated swipe and jabbing his staff into the monster's face as he did so. He back-flipped away as the Scholar let out another bellow and rubbed his face. "As far as I can tell, he was being called some rather unflattering names after making a bad decision or the like. Now he's out to, and I quote here, M'Lady, 'destroy the ignorant and annihilate the uneducated'."

Ladybug let out a sigh Chat could hear from across she square and ran forwards to slide under the enemy's legs so she could ready herself next to her partner.

"Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?" She asked, throwing her yo-yo to catch the Scholar's leg to yank it out from underneath him. He fell flat on his back with a roar. "All that happened was some name calling, nothing exactly drastic."

Chat snorted and the two bounced up onto the top of a nearby building to escape their foe who was getting increasingly irritated as he pushed himself up.

"Hardly. The one who was calling him names was someone we're unfortunately very familiar with."

Ladybug frowned, catching the Scholar's arm with her yo-yo before he could pick up some nearby civilians across the square. He let out another yell, and Ladybug was forced to leap off the roof and let him go so she wasn't pulled off face-first by the angry monster. Chat followed her down.

"Who was it?"

They ducked under a swipe and skidded through the Scholar's legs, one after the other. The lumbering monster was slowing from tiredness, but getting more desperate and angry by the minute.

"Who do you think? That stupid blonde girl who's caused more akumas than anyone else in Paris." Chat told her, splitting his staff in two and throwing them so they hit the Scholar on both sides of the head in perfect synchronicity. "One Chloe Bourgeois."

Ladybug stiffened. It was such a small difference that Chat barely noticed it, but something more noticeable was the way her already-pale face whitened so much he was honestly worried she was going to faint.

"Ah."

That was all she had time to say, as the Scholar once more made a desperate grab for the two of them. They both managed to dodge, but when Ladybug finished spinning out of the way, she found herself face to face with Chat. They noticed their proximity, and both felt the blush rising in their cheeks.

Chat's strong chest was pressed up against hers, and neither could seem to move away. He looked down at her with a strange intensity in his eyes, and the shortness of breath Ladybug had been trying to hide couldn't just be attributed to her fatigue and the akuma fight anymore. He looked like he was about to speak, when there was a scream from across the square. Apparently, the Scholar had decided he needed more of the civilians' energy before tackling the superheroes, and was pounding his way over to where a solitary figure was doing their best to run from him. Despite their head start, however, the Scholar was gaining fast.

The duo sprang into action, Ladybug lassoing a chimney across the square so she could swing over, with Chat using his staff to flip himself into the air so they descended side by side to try and stop the Scholar from capturing the civili- too late.

An ear piercing shriek emitted from the civilian's mouth as they were caught up in a gigantic hand. The superheroes rolled the impact of their landing away, twisting as they came up to see the Scholar grinning as he moved to put his finger against his new victim's forehead. Chat could only see the back of the captured person's head, but she was clearly female, and something about her seemed familiar.

"Let her go, Scholar." Yelled Ladybug, spinning her yo-yo threateningly.

The Scholar paused, his finger an inch from the girl's head as she struggled and squirmed in his grip.

"But she's so perfect! I mean, how idiotic do you have to be to actually stay and film an akuma-superhero fight when the monster's victims are those who make bad, silly decisions! It's like, how much more idiotic can you get? Thanks to her inadvisable decision, she will be the one whose energy I need to make me strong enough to beat the two of you." And with that, the Scholar moved his finger the last inch, and the superheroes watched in horror as the girl in his grasp was surrounded by an eerie green light, and then faded away to nothing. Well, not quite nothing. A cell phone tumbled through the air from where its owner's hand had disappeared, and Ladybug dived forwards to catch it, suddenly desperate for a reason she couldn't name. Time seemed to stand still as she caught the phone, and turned it over in her hands. She stared at it, the Ladybug charm swinging from the top a clear indication of who its owner had been.

A stone dropped into Chat's stomach as the recognition sparked through him, too.

"Alya…" whispered Ladybug as she stared at all that was left of her best friend. "No!" Tears gathered in her eyes as she put the phone down, then looked up to glare at the grinning monster. Settling into a combative stance with her yo-yo in motion, she gritted her teeth.

"Alright, Chat. Let's take him down."