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Carapace grinned as he made his way to the rendez-vous point. The day had been won, the akuma had been purified, and he’d kicked major butt. Everything was going great. Or at least it was until he accidentally jumped on an escaped panther.
In an instant, he was down on the ground. His timer let off a warning beep. Nino whimpered in fear as the panther gave him an annoyed look.
Oh God , Nino thought. I’m about to be eaten by an escaped Panther. One that was wearing a ridiculously oversized bell.
Nino did a double take. Yep. The panther was still wearing a stupidly oversized bell. It was so stupid, so weird that Nino couldn’t help but laugh hysterically even in the face of danger.
The panther glared at him and huffed hot air into Nino’s face. Actually, now that Nino was a bit calmer (it turned out hysterical laughing helped with stress, who knew?), he could see that whatever this thing was, it didn’t look like the normal panthers from the zoo.
It was fluffier and cuter, a far cry from the graceful, sleek predator. If anything it seemed clumsy and short. It didn’t have a smooth gait. It had a bumbling, almost drunken one. Its tail moved, but it was stiff and uncoordinated, and its face was…unusual.
It wasn’t ugly. Far from it. It was almost down-right adorable. Yet, the more Carapace examined it, the more he realized that it wasn’t a cat’s face. It was just cat-like, like it was more meant to invoke the idea of a cat than be a cat. A cat’s mouth wasn’t expressive like this one’s, and cats had much more whiskers than this did. Plus, Nino had spent a lot of time watching Alya’s dad mess with the panther’s and their eyes were never as easy to read or as human as this thing’s. In fact, in a way, the eyes more reminded him of Chat Noir’s.
As Nino watched he realized that the cat’s mouth wasn’t just chewing on something, it was mouthing words, silently grumbling at Carapace. It even rolled its eyes as it turned to hide itself in a mountain of cardboard boxes. It was just so human. Carapace couldn’t help himself.
“Chat Noir?” he asked.
The cat froze, and Nino knew enough about feline body language to know he was feeling anxious. Okay. Carapace thought to himself. This was probably Chat Noir, and he was human enough to know his name and to not attack Carapace on sight, which was good. Maybe Carapace could reason with him. Bring him to Ladybug and maybe she’d know how to fix this.
Cautiously, Carapace reached his hand towards Chat Noir, praying that the dude wouldn’t chomp his hand off. He petted the cat on the back and realized he was wearing a vest that felt almost identical to Carapace’s suit.
Chat turned to hiss at him, ears flat against his skull, and his eyes narrow slits. He crouched low on the ground and began inching away from him.
Carapace groaned. “Come on, man. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. We just gotta get you to Ladybug, and she can fix this.”
“Are you crazy?!” Chat Noir asked, surprising Carapace. He would’ve put money down that the guy couldn’t talk. “Ladybug has enough on her plate to deal with besides this.”
Carapace winced as his Miraculous gave its last warning beep. “Okay, listen. I gotta go recharge, and then we can continue this conversation later.
Chat Noir looked as though he was thinking about bolting, so just in case, Carapace added, “And if you’re not here by the time I get back, I’m telling Ladybug everything I know.” Which wasn’t a lot, but judging by Chat Noir’s mutinous expressions, it was enough to get him to stay.
Carapace recharged and left Ladybug a message saying that he had to take care of something, before he made his way back to an impatiently waiting Chat Noir. He’d taken to nudging the cardboard boxes into a makeshift fort, which wasn’t all that impressive until you realized the guy still moved with all the grace of a drunken monkey.
“So, dude,” Carapace asked, interrupting Chat Noir’s work, and earning him an irritated look, “What’s up with the cat thing?”
Chat Noir pouted. “Apparently, it’s a Black Cat ability. You can turn into a cat and go between a cat and human form as often as you like but,” Chat Noir curled up into a ball. “I can’t exactly control it, and I’m stuck between two forms. Usually, it’s fine, but sometimes, when I’m having a bad day, like today, all I can transform into is this.”
Carapace sat down beside Chat Noir and asked the obvious question, “Then why don’t you tell Ladybug what’s going? Seems like it’d be a lot easier if she knew.”
“Look at me!” he cried, pacing restlessly. “I’m stuck as a giant 4 foot tall cat. I can’t fight. I can’t use my staff! I can’t even open doors! I can only carry one thing at a time, and it’s in my mouth.” He said back down, shaking his head. “The only thing I’m good for is Cata- my power, and it’s not even that useful,” he said mournfully.
Carapace patted him, “Come on man, don’t say stuff like that.” Chat Noir gave him another annoyed look. “Okay, sure, you look a little awkward, but you were just as awkward as Chat Noir.”
Chat Noir gave him a sharp look. “You don’t get it. My instincts are so much stronger now. It’s not even cat instincts either. I also get these super creepy, Black Cat instincts. Like,” Chat Noir lashed his tail, looking around. “Remember that Gigantitan attack last Saturday? I transformed into this and then I just stayed in the catacombs for 2 hours .” His ears drooped and he added, “I wasn’t even doing anything. I was just staring at nothing.” He shrugged, looking away from Nino. “I just felt like I had to,” he confessed.
“If anyone sees me like this, they’re either going to be completely terrified of me, or they’ll just see me as a joke,” he complained, curling up so tightly, he looked more like a giant hairball than a cat.
“No one sees you as a joke,” Carapace said, trying to be reassuring.
Chat Noir raised an eyebrow and reached behind himself, revealing his baton. Then he opened it with a tap of his paw and it began playing a playlist of the videos Alya most recently published on the Ladyblog: Chat Noir’s Most Hilarious Screw Ups, Chat Noir’s Most Ridiculous Cat Noises, Chat Noir’s Most Outrageous Pick Up Lines, and Chat Noir’s Most Outlandish Stunts.
They were all videos that Alya had made after she had to stop making recordings during Ladybug fights. Alya had thought that bringing some attention to Chat Noir would be a good idea, and ever since her first one got a lot of views, she’d made even more. Nino had even helped Alya a few of them.
Carapace tried again. “That’s just a few lighthearted videos. No one really thinks that-”
“You do.” Chat Noir flicked his tail as he stared despondently away from Carapace. “You think I’m annoying and obnoxious. Ladybug thinks so too. Everybody does, really. It’s no big deal. Ladybug’s the brains, and I’m,” Chat Noir laughed bitterly, “the funny one.” He deflated as he added, “Don’t worry about it.”
“Ladybug misses you,” Carapace reminded Chat Noir. Because even though it was obvious, sometimes when people got like this, you had to remind them of things like that.
Chat Noir huffed. “No, she doesn’t. She has an entire team of friends to replace me. Friends that aren’t as annoying or obnoxious. Friends she likes to spend time with. Friends she wants to talk with. The only thing she wants from me now is my Ring.” He sighed, “I’m basically useless as it is anyways. The only reason I haven’t just given it to her yet is because I’d miss Plagg too much. Does that make me selfish?”
Carapace shook his head, reminded of Adrien all of a sudden, “Nah, it doesn’t make you selfish, but you know she’s not going to just ditch you because you’re having a little bit of trouble with your new powers, right?” Chat Noir gave him a look that said he totally believed she would. Nino really felt reminded of Adrien. So, what would he say to Adrien?
“It’s not selfish to want to have friends, Chat.” Chat Noir looked at him, surprised, but he didn’t say anything so Carapace continued. “Look, I know it’s hard sometimes. You feel like people only like you because of what you can give them or what you can do for them, but it’s not true. You’re a great guy, Chat. You’re brave. You’re kind, and you never give up. Ladybug’s not going to just throw you away because you’re having a little hiccup with your powers.”
“This is more than a little hiccup,” Chat Noir pointed out. “I’m stuck as a creepy, giant kitten.”
“I promise you, you’re not creepy.” Carapace bumped his shoulder playfully against Chat’s as he said, “You’re actually kinda cute.”
“Plagg said I might try to eat the souls of the dead,” Chat Noir pointed out, stubbornly trying to resist Carapace’s charms.
Carapace just shrugged it off, and said, “Then we’ll just keep an extra close eye on you until you get a handle on this, okay, dude?” Seeing Chat Noir’s cautious optimism, he gave the poor guy another grin. “We’re a team, alright? And I’m not just going to let you get all down in the dumps over this. Look, we don’t have to tell Ladybug about this, I promise, but it doesn’t matter what you do, dude, you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”
Chat Noir gave him a hopeful look and asked, “Promise?”
Carapace held out a fist bump. “Promise.”