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Only a little more.
If they could make it just a couple blocks further, just reach the entrance to the sewers...
The noon sun above her head was so strong she could swear it was caused by the akuma too, but she couldn't allow herself to stop right now. She and Kitty were so close-
Suddenly, Scarabella looked down, and found what could have easily been a gift from Tikki, the best of luck she could ask for.
A missing cover barely a street away from her.
"Kitty! This way!" she signaled to her partner so she wouldn't have to jump more.
Alya had made fun of Marinette's frequent trips there as Ladybug, but the more time she spent as Scarabella, and the more she tried her best not to do the same, the more she understood why her friend practically lived there at times while transformed.
It was perfect, a never-ending maze of tunnels perfect to lose the villains in.
However, the enhanced senses the suit gave here proved themselves a massive obstacle for the first time. The stench in there was so strong she was surprised she hadn't been knocked out yet with the first few breaths she took.
"Good eye!" Kitty complimented her, making Scarabella's heart jolt.
Not this again, she thought to herself as she felt her cheeks turn the slightest shade of flush.
"I mean, a hole in the middle of the street that big wasn't that hard to miss," Scarabella replied.
"What are you talking about? I was so focused on the fact we were practically being tailed I completely missed it!"
"Sure, sure," Scarabella said with a chuckle.
Suddenly, they heard a rumble coming from a few tunnels away. Had the arrows found their way down there?
"Don't tell me..." Kitty tried to say. A whirl of wind confirmed her suspicions, and a whirl of wind crossed the tunnel in front of them.
They barely had time to look at each other before they knew what they had to do.
"RUN!" Scarabella shouted.
"I hate villains with tracking powers so much," Kitty sighed as she resumed her escape.
The maze was useful to put a few hundred walls between them and the arrows. However, it was enough to lose them both.
"Should we try to go outside? The smell is going to kill me before the akuma even reaches us," Kitty said, feeling nauseous.
"It's too dangerous, I lost track of where we are about five miles ago. If we try to get out, for all we know we could pop up under Silver Shooter."
"It had to be a defeated archer- Why couldn't it have been, I don't know, someone who just ate bad sushi?"
"I don't want to know what that would be like. At least this is only a matter of escaping."
"Sure, but the arrows could have been a little bigger at least, or a little slower! If he's so bad he only got a second place in that tournament, how did he manage to make us the targets without failing?"
"Maybe he was so bad he needed magic to be able to aim properly?" Scarabella laughed. "Now, stop making me laugh, I feel like I'm about to pass out."
While the past few months of running and leaping around the city had gained her a good condition on top of all the running from and after akumas she used to do, running non-stop in the heat of the summer, inside the city sewers, with the smell magnified thanks to the weather, for over fifteen minutes, well, it was no easy task.
As her mind became foggier and foggier, the fumes from the stinky water at their sides doing nothing but cloud her thought more, Scarabella began thinking, pretty sure she was delirious.
Heh, how fun would it be if I just took a nap.
How did Mari do this so often? I feel I'm going to need a thousand showers now.
A shower would be nice.
I should change after the shower. Mme. Bustier is going to be so confused when I'm back from lunch in different clothes.
Mari and Chat always looked so different when they came out of here. Well, she and-
Scarabella's eyes opened suddenly, stopping abruptly as she realized what the rest of the thought was.
She and Mister Bug.
How had she not thought of that before?
Half of the times Ladybug and Chat had gone inside the sewers, it was to have a place to detransform and exchange their miraculous safely!
"Kitty? Kitty, stop! I have an idea!"
With a feeble sigh, Kitty Noire collapsed at her words.
"Good, I can rest."
"We don't have much time, but we're in the perfect place. You go- well, stay in this tunnel. I'll go to the other one. Detransform and tell Plagg to give me your Miraculous.
Unsure if she had actually heard correctly, Kitty asked between breaths.
"My... Miraculous?"
"If I give you mine, well, the arrows are meant to follow Scarabella and Kitty Noire, not Wonder Cat and..?"
"Wonder Cat?"
"Oh, shut up. You know I like to prepare my names."
After laughing idly for a few moments more than it took to worry Scarabella, Kitty slowly started to feel her full consciousness returning.
"Actually, that's a great idea. Hurry, run to the other tunnel!"
Scarabella nodded and checked her surroundings before entering the tunnel. While she could hear the echo of the arrows resonating somewhere, it was far ago enough that she hoped they had a few minutes to spare.
"Tikki spots off!"
The little Kwami came out zooming, and she could hear Kitty calling Plagg off from the other tunnel.
However, instead of the feeble sighing Tikki was emitting, from the sound of it Plagg was a mixture of delighted by the cheese-like fumes of the sewers and very annoyed at Kitty for staying transformed for so long.
While Alya couldn't help but feel sorry for the Kwamis, giving their energy so she and Kitty could run for a little longer, she was so grateful they did. Reaching inside her fanny pack, she pulled out an entire package of cookies, and gave Tikki the entire thing. Slowly but steadily, Tikki munched on a few, giving Alya time to rest. Well, as close as it could get. Despite the fact her nose had simply shut off the smell a few hundred tunnels ago, the heat alone was enough to make her feel completely exhausted. It was worse than beach weather! At least at the beach she could swim and refresh instead of just running for her life from an akuma.
Amidst the slight incoherence, a thought crept inside her brain.
It would be nice if someday Kitty and I could go to the beach.
Wait, what?
Shaking off the thought, she snapped back into the present.
Maybe, one day she would be able to. She hoped she would be able to.
Just not right now.
Instead, since Tikki hadn't finished her cookies or regained enough energy to fly, she shouted so Kitty would be able to hear her.
"Would Softpaws be a better name? Or is the Puss in Boots reference too much? Also, tell Plagg he can take some time too. If my theory is right, we have all the time we want."
At least for a while.