Down at the near , as the day turned into dusk, Evillustrator was on a barge, preparing everything for his birthday date. As he sat on the top of the wheelhouse, he drew lanterns and small bushes along the sides, and on the deck of the barge. After that, a miniature display of the Eiffel Tower and a bench in front of it, appeared in the middle of the deck, foliage surrounding it.

But just as he finished drawing up two lanterns on either side of him and smiled to himself in accomplishment Hawkmoth decided to butt in again.

"That is a lovely little scene you're setting. But I don't want you to get distracted, boy," Hawkmoth reminded Evilustrator. The purple menace didn't give him these powers just to get revenge and impress his crush.

"But I just want Marinette to love me," The Evilustrator argued, trying to appeal to Hawkmoth's softer side... not that he had one though, but it was worth a shot.

"And I want the Miraculous. So get it! Or else," threatened the man who could be the Shredder's slightly more powerful cousin as he clenched his fist, paralyzing the Evillustrator's hand, making him grab it to stop the pain and drop his pen.

"Okay, I will, I will!" The Evilustrator assured fearfully. Thankfully, Hawkmoth relented and his hand went back to normal. And just in time, for...

"Happy birthday," A sweet voice behind the Evilustrator greeted, causing him to turn around. He then saw Marinette had arrived, and was standing near the gangplank that led to the barge, smiling.

"Marinette!" The Evillustrator exclaimed when he saw her, happy that she had come after all. He then jumped off the wheelhouse, and joined Marinette as they began to stroll down the barge.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation," The Evillustrator began as they walked down the length of the barge, Marinette in front and him behind her.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," Marinette complemented as they walked, admiring the work the artist had put into this date.

"You like it? Well hold on, 'cause I'm just getting started," Evillustrator proclaimed before he jumped up and onto the wheelhouse, ready to draw something else. But just as he was about to, dark clouds appeared, clouding the moon and blocking his light.

"Grr! Come on, you've gotta be kidding!" The Evillustrator growled, glaring up at the darkened sky above him. Marinette was suddenly surprised by his aggression, which made Evilustrator's realize he might have been a little short.

"Uhh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. It's just... I can't draw properly in the dark," The Evilustrator explained before he leaned in close to one of the lanterns he drew up before, and continued to work on his drawing, while Marientte found that little fact interesting.

'That could come in handy later on,' The designer thought to herself as Evillustrator drew a glowing moon above the miniature Eiffel Tower, lighting up the barge.

"Voilà!" The Evilustrator exclaimed, feeling accomplished as the whole scene came together.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon enough Marinette and the Evillustrator were sitting on the bench in front of the replica Eiffel Tower while the barge moved along the river. As the Evillustrator played some music on his pad by drawing the notes and letting them fly into the air, Marinette looked up at the rooftops and noticed Chat Noir leaping across them.

'Time to do my part,' the designer thought to herself before turning to face Evilustrator.

"You're so talented! I just don't understand why you wanna use your power to hurt people," Marinette gushes as she scooted closer to Evilustrator, trying to establish conversation.

"Not all people. Just Chloé. And I'm never doing that again. After all, you were true to your promise, so I'll be true to mine," The Evillustrator promised, stopping his melody to speak to her. Marinette smiled at his words before he continued to draw more music notes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, as the barge passed under a bridge, Chat Noir landed on said bridge as the front of the barge went underneath, and leapt directly to the boat, landing as silent as his namesake behind the wheelhouse.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over with the 'love birds' Marinette was still trying to strike up conversation to distract Evillustrator.

"I...actually draw a little too, I'm not as good as you are, of course," Marinette admitted, hoping to keep him focused on her.

"I'm sure you're a wonderful artist," The Evilustrator praised, trying to assure Marinette to not doubt her talents as he kept drawing the music notes to life.

"Well, can I draw you something special for your birthday?" Marinette asked, turning slightly to see Chat Noir was crouched on the top of the wheelhouse, ready to attack. But Marinette placed her hand behind the bench and looked back at Chat Noir, gesturing to him to back off. She then used her other hand to grab the top of Evilustrator's pen, stopping the music again.

"That would be amazing," The Evilustrator gushed, surprised that Marinette wanted to do that for him. But as Chat Noir took Marinette's advice and backed up after seeing her grab ahold of the pencil, the artist noticed him retreating from the corner of his eye.

"Marinette, give me my pencil back. I need to draw something, now!" The artist akuma demanded, trying to pull his pen back from Marinette... but she wouldn't let it go.

"No, I'm keeping it!" Marinette exclaimed as she grabbed the pencil and got back onto her feet.

"Chat Noir! Now!" The designer shouted as she ran from Evilustrator, right before Chat Noir's staff extended in front of him, blocking his path and making him realize what was happening.

"Marinette! You're working with him?" The Evilustrator questioned as the designer turned back to look at him in apology when she was far enough away.

"I'm so stupid... I actually thought you liked me! But you're really just like Chloé. Teasing me, mocking me, leading me on!" The artist akuma growled, his feelings of betrayal bleeding into every word. But his words did the trick as Marinette grew angry at his choice of words.

"Come on! Seriously? Of all the people to compare me to, why are you comparing me to Chloé?" Marinette shouted in disbelief, stomping her foot on the deck of the barge in anger. It was just the distraction Evillustrator needed as he kicked Chat Noir's staff, making it fly away from him, and into the air.

Thanks to its current length, it hit Marinette's hand, knocking the pencil out of her grip. While both Marinette and Chat Noir were distracted, Evilustrator slipped off the bench, jumped up to grab the pen, and landed on the moon he drew earlier. Once he did, Chat Noir jumped up after him, staff raised above him to attack the artist, only for Evilustrator to draw something on his tablet.

A transparent cube then appeared from thin air, and fell at an angle that not only trapped Chat Noir, but also Marinette when it landed on the deck. When Marientte and Chat Noir were trapped inside the box, Evillustrator then landed on top of it, knowing they couldn't try anything.

"And I'm taking back my promise! Chloé's gonna get a little lesson she'll never forget!" The Evilustrator exclaimed before he erased a part of the hull, and created a hole in the boat. As the boat started to sink, the artist escaped by jumping onto the wheelhouse roof, and then up onto a passing bridge, leaving Marinette and Chat Noir trapped.

"We've been penned in! Literally!" Chat Noir exclaimed as he tried to fight his way out by jamming the end of his staff into the bottom of the box. While doing that, Marinette watched as he struggled to free them, but then had an idea of how to get out.

"Chat Noir, your stick! Like this!" Marinette explained as she knelt to the deck, and made Chat Noir do the same as she placed the stick against the deck, facing up and at the top of the cube.

"And extend it!" The designer finished as she pointed to the top of the box, explaining her plan.

"Great thinking!" Chat Noir exclaimed, impressed with her quick thinking as he wrapped his arm around Marinette's waist and pulled her in close and leaned in close with a smirk.

"Yeah...I'm a genius," Marinette said, annoyed with his antics, and pushed his face away before she wrapped her arms around his neck. A second later, Chat Noir extended his stick, lifting himself, Marinette-who held onto him for dear life-and the cube into the air, extending the stick long enough for them to safely reach the rail of the bridge Evilustrator had used to escape.

Once the stick was leaning against the rail and the box flew off the end of the baton, Chat Noir quickly gathered Marinette into his arms and planted his feet onto his stick before leaning toward the ground and slid down to the end. His feet finally landed onto the ground, where he let Marinette back onto her feet, and retracted and spun his baton, before catching, and putting it away.

"Gotta go. A superhero's work is never done," Chat Noir began as he turned to face Marinette after their daring escape.

"Damsels in distress, ladies in waiting... I've got a lot more saving to do," The feline superhero fibbed as he counted on his fingers, his so-called 'work' left to do.

"You can thank me later," Chat Noir said to Marinette before he ran away, leaving Marinette on the bridge in disbelief.

"Me? Thank him? Please! He should be thanking me. We'd still be trapped if I hadn't told him how to do his 'job.'" Marinette vented as Tikki flew out of her purse, and floated next to her.

"Speaking of which..." Tikki reminded Marinette.

"That boy's gonna need our help saving Chloé," Marinette remembered, now recalling they still had to save Chloé's butt from the Evilustrator. With that, she ran to a hiding place, transformed, wrapped her yo-yo around a chimney and swung towards the hotel.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over at the hotel, Chloé was in front of her bathroom mirror, trying to think about some stuff, like a reflection of her actions. Like Sabrina had told Marinette, she went straight to Chloé's after they agreed to postpone working on the presentation. And they did talk... about a lot.

Sabrina had brought up that she had been Chloé's friend for a long time, and thought that she should be treated as such. At first Chloé didn't allow herself to turn away from her normal behavior. But since they were in private, she did admit that she did feel bad for the stuff she did. So after a long conversation about new boundaries and talking things out, they reached an agreement. But that didn't mean Chloé didn't have some stuff to reflect on afterwards... some but not much.

"As if I need to treat her more than my servant. It's not like I would actually change my ways," Chloé scoffed as she looked in the mirror. She then took her hands off the countertop, and playfully flicked her ponytail away as she smirked to herself.

"I'm perfect just the way I am! Like heck I'm going to change just because Sabrina said I need to otherwise we won't be friends," The spoiled brat laughed to herself, only for it to trail away after looking back at the mirror, and realized that she really was starting to lose Sabrina. With a sigh, she looked down at the counter.

"Maybe Sabrina's right. Maybe I do need to start edging away from this so-called 'toxic behavior' to get her back on my side," Chloé decided as she leaned on her bathroom countertop, and looked back up from the counter and sat in the mirror once more..

"I'll need to pull a 'nice' act for a few days to help me out. Ugh, the stress is making me age 10 years!" The heiress exclaimed as she leaned in closer to the mirror, and looked at her face very closely, before she laughed to herself.

"Oh, who am I kidding, even stress couldn't make me look bad," Chloé bragged, right before the door to her actual room rumbled, causing Chloé to cautiously walk out of her bathroom and to the door.

"Uh? Chat Noir? Is that you?" Chloé asked as she leaned her ear against the door, only for it to be erased, revealing the Evillustrator behind it. Chloé then ran away in fear, as the Evilustrator erased away more of her door. The spoiled brat screamed as she ran further into her room and hid under her bed, as Evilustrator entered the room.

"Chloé, where are you? Are you hiding? That is so cute. You're playing hide-and-seek. In the closet?!" The Evilustrator tauntanlty called as he walked further into the room-passing by Chloé's bed, as the girl hid underneath- before he turned toward Chloé's closet and started erasing things in it.

The girl screamed in shock from her hiding place, and that was all Evilustrator needed to find her, erasing the bed Chloé was hidden under with a sinister chuckle. When she saw her hiding spot was gone, Chloé screamed again as she got up from the floor and backed away from Evilustrator

"I win, Chloé! I found you!" The Evilustrator taunted, looking and sounding like a psychopath.

"Ah! My Chanel dresses! My Todelan heels! You're... you're a monster!" Chloé exclaimed, actually feeling emotion for her expensive stuff. Not that you can blame her... but still.

"You like to walk all over other people. But you don't like it when others trample on you! Do you, Chloé? Do you?" The Evilustrator questioned as he drew a giant heeled shoe that soon chased after Chloé. The girl screamed again as she was pursued by the giant shoe.

Thankfully for her, Ladybug appeared and broke the heel of the shoe, making it disappear before it stepped on the heiress. The Evilustrator was left angered as he looked over at the balcony door to see the spotted heroine standing there.

"Oops! Broke your heel! Better watch your ankles," Ladybug teased as she spun her yo-yo with her hand-turning it into a shield- just as Chat Noir landed on the balcony and entered the room.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Chat Noir greeted as he pulled out his stick, and smiled at his partner.

"No cat dragged me anywhere, Chat Noir. I flew in all on my own," Ladybug responded, returning her partner's banter with her own.

"So what was this secret mission?" Chat Noir asked, curious to find out what was so important for Ladybug to not help with an akuma.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret," Ladybug slyly replied, knowing that she couldn't say a thing that would compromise her identity. But their exchange was soon interrupted by the akuma himself.

"In the comics, this is what's known as the final showdown. The thing is, if you knew her, you wouldn't be breaking a sweat to save her skin! She's the real baddie!" The Evilustrator shouted as he tried to justify his actions to the two superheroes.

'Well... he wasn't totally wrong,' Both heroes thought to themselves.

"Oh! It's not true! Everybody adores me!" Chloé denied as she sat on the floor to the side of the soon-to-be fight, staying on the hero's side of the room rather than the villain's. But as soon as she finished, Evillustrator drew up three boxing gloves and fired all of them at the other people in the room.

"Look out!" Chat Noir shouted as he spun his baton in front of him to block the incoming hit, only to get knocked out of the room by one of the gloves, dropping his staff and flying onto the balcony. Meanwhile, Ladybug dodged a boxing glove, and jumped up into the air, stepping on the passing glove to use the momentum and swing her yo-yo to disintegrate the last one with her weapon, saving Chloé from the incoming hit.

When Ladybug landed back on the floor, she threw her yo-yo at the Evillustrator, but he quickly drew a wall to protect himself from the weapon, causing Ladybug to grab it as it went back at her. Evilustrator quickly drew a buzzsaw and sent it toward Ladybug, who dodged it by using her yo-yo as a shield, but it only redirects it towards Chloé.

The buzzsaw was about to hit the heiress, but Chat Noir-who had just gotten back from his recovery on the balcony-stopped it by spearing the hole in the middle of the balde with his stick. The blade then slowed down and fell to the floor, mere inches away from Chloé before it disappeared. Chat Noir then grabbed his staff, spun it and then split it into two before he threw them at the Evillustrator, who unfortunately dodged them.

One half of the staff buried itself into the wall, but the other half of the stick broke a lamp that was mounted on the wall behind the Evillustrator, forcing him to walk closer to another working lamp. The sudden change allowed Ladybug to remember what she had learnt earlier.

"The light! Chat Noir! He can't draw in the dark!" Ladybug exclaimed as she turned to face her partner.

"Got it!" Chat Noir replied as he looked around and he saw a light switch on the wall behind him. Once that was in his line of sight, he called on his...

"Cataclysm!" The feline hero cried, summoning his signature move. But before he could use his Cataclysm to destroy the light switch, the Evillustrator erased it. This made Chat Noir break the wall instead, wasting his shot.

"Here you go, kitty. A little ball and chain to play with," The Evilustrator taunted as he drew a ball and chain before they appeared on Cat Noir's ankle.

"Hey!" Chat Noir shouted in protest. This guy was playing dirty, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Sadly, those who get in my way get erased," The Evilustrator proclaimed before he erased a giant hole in the floor, which caught Chat Noir by surprise. He quickly fell into it, but managed to help himself by grabbing onto the ledge, while Ladybug tried not to fall in as well.

The rapidly expanding hole forced her to back up, until it had no more space to expand. All of this, and to top it off, Chat Noir's Miraculous started to beep.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Chat Noir panicked as his ring lost one pad. Right then was when Hawkmoth reestablished the physic link again.

"Cat Noir has a Miraculous! Take it! Take it now!" Hawk Moth demanded from the safety of his lair, sounding like a school girl talking about their latest crush they are obsessing. Not much of a difference between the two in this case.

"Before you go, you have something I want," The Evilustrator explained after the link was disconnected, walking to the edge of the hole he made, and stared down at Chat Noir as he hung from the edge.

"Ladybug! This cat doesn't have nine lives!" Chat Noir shouted as he hung on, leaving him defenseless. Seeing no other way, Ladybug summoned her...

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug shouted while her superpower gave her...

"A bouncy ball?" The spotted heroine questioned as the object landed in her hand and squashed it between her fingers.

'Okay, now Tikki's just being mean,' Ladybug bitterly thought to herself.

"Just try and stop me with that, little lady!" The Evilustrator laughed, not seeing how Ladybug could use that tiny thing to stop him. But as he was resting on his laurels, Ladybug looked around the room, and saw the ceiling lights and lamps around the room, forming her a plan.

"Gladly!" Ladybug exclaimed before she threw the bouncy ball at the lamps, letting the ball break them, and ricochet around the room to hit all of them, turning everything dark.

She then used the opportunity to throw her yo-yo at the artist akuma, dragged the Evillustrator from his feet, which made him fall and drop his pen, letting it fly up into the air. Ladybug grabbed the pen in midair, landed in front of Evilustrator, and broke it, releasing the akuma just before Chat Noir's Miraculous beeped again.

"Hurry!" Chat Noir panicked. Thankfully the ball and chain disappeared, allowing him to climb out of the hole and back onto solid ground as Ladybug started the cleansing process.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma!" She exclaimed as she opened her yo-yo to reveal the sparkling pool of cleansing energy inside.

"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug shouted before she threw her yo-yo toward the akuma, catching it in her yo-yo. A second later, she released the purified akuma, setting the white butterfly free.

"Bye, bye little butterfly," Ladybug said as the butterfly flew away. She then threw the bouncy ball charm into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She cried out. No sooner than she did, the miraculous cure swept through the city, returning things back to normal. The damage inflicted by Evilustrator and the fight between them in the hotel room was repaired and the Evillustrator turned back into Nathaniel.

"Huh? Where am I?" Nathaniel questioned as he looked around to see where he was, only for his gaze to land on Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Pound it!" The two heroes cheered as they fist-bumped, feeling proud of themselves for taking care of another supervillain, before Chat Noir waved goodbye before going to find a place to transform back. Ladybug soon followed his example and headed home. She, Jim and Tikki had a lot to talk about.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in Hawkmoth's lair, the butterfly man himself was not dealing with the latest defeat well.

"Noooo! The Miraculous was practically mine! And they will be. Once I have them all in my grasp, I shall obtain my wish!" Hawkmoth proclaimed for probably the 1000th time as the lair window closed up, leaving the man in total darkness.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Time skip)

A while after the defeat of Evilustrator, Marinette was in her loft bed, in her pajamas and ready for Tikki to explain some stuff before Jim called. She wanted to have as much information for Jim before he called.

"Okay Tikki, the Evilustrator is defeated. Now you have to tell me what you know about this... Trollhunter stuff." Marinette requested as Tikki sat in her hands, a notepad and pen sitting next to her at the ready so she could write down what Tikki told her. Tikki sighed and looked down at Marinette's hand, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's a long story." Tikki softly began, shedding a tear. Marinette raised her kwami to her eye level and moved one of her hands to use her pointer finger to lift Tikki's head a little by her chin.

"We've got time. You don't have to say it all at once." Marinette assured as she gently wiped away the tear falling down Tikki's cheek, making the little kwami smile a bit. She then took a breath and looked back at Marinette.

"It all started almost 2 millennia ago, when trolls in northern Europe went out of their Trollmarkets for a still unknown reason, and first crossed paths with both Roman armies and many tribes, leading to the first battles of a centuries-long struggle that quickly went out from spread out skirmishes to a mutual war or annihilation." Tikki began as Marinette placed her on her shoulder. "Eventually, it caused the birth and rise of Gunmar, the current leader of the Gumm-Gumms." the kwami continued, explaining some of the history she knew about, as Marinette started writing down what Tikki revealed.

"Who's Gunmar? And what are the Gumm-Gumms?" Marinette asked, wanting to know as much as possible.

"Gunmar is a Trollkind version of Hawkmoth in a sense, with the ability to take the minds of others to twist them to do his bidding, turning them into mindless slaves." Tikki answered before she saw this as an opportunity to explain more lore. "He was created when conflicts between humans and trolls caused a Heartstone-a source of life for troll communities-to rot from within, making him a byproduct of it crumbling away. As to the Gumm-Gumms, they are the evil trolls and the ones that myths depict as human eaters." the kwami finished, answering Marinette's question. But the answer halted her from writing more when Marinette heard the last bit.

"Wait, those guys are the ones who made that thing about 'trolls eating humans' true?" Marinette questioned, not believing what Tikki said.

"Unfortunately, yes. When Gunmar came into power, he used them to ravenge what the trolls call 'the surface lands' causing the conflict between the humans and Trolls to escalate even further, leading into an all-out war against them." Tikki explained, which allowed Marinette to continue writing.

"Which led to the Battle of Killahead?" Marinette asked when she connected the dots, making the kwami nod.

"Yes, and that was when Deya the Deliverer had become the new Trollhunter. The wizard Merlin had created the Amulet of Daylight as a way to defend both trolls and humans from the evil of Gunmar. Ever since its creation, the mantle of Trollhunter has been passed down from Trollhunter to Trollhunter after the previous one has died, continuing the fight against Gunmar." Tikki continued, letting Marinette connect even more dots thanks to the new information."Thankfully, the war ended when Deya locked them all away in a place called the Darklands, a realm Plagg and I created with help from our holders at the time to trap him in."

"Whoa!" Marinette breathed out, amazed by Tikki's past deeds before remembering the reason why she was learning it to begin with. "But you had said earlier that someone named Kanjigar was the previous Trollhunter. And that Jim must have found the amulet in his remains. Does that mean someone else had killed him?" She questioned her kwami, hoping to learn more about this ancient race.

"As far as I know, there are a few humans who know Trolls exist. But among Trollkind, many forces would benefit from the Trollhunter dying. One of those would be Bular." Tikki revealed, giving yet another detail Marinette could tell Jim.

"Who's that?" Marinette asked, needing to know so she could give Jim as much warning as possible. 'If he's going to do this, then he needs to know what he's up against.' the designer thought to herself.

"He's Gunmar's son. When his father and his soldiers were sucked into the Darklands, he got left behind and has been working to free his father. He must have killed Kanjigar the morning Jim found the amulet. Otherwise, Bular would have taken it." Tikki explained, once more confusing Marinette.

'What would have stopped this Bular guy from taking the amulet? ' the designer wondered.

"Why couldn't he just take it? And why would Kanjigar's remains end up a pile of stone?" Marinette questioned as she looked through the notes she had already taken, thinking she had missed something.

"Trolls, even Gumm-Gumms, are not able to walk in sunlight, otherwise they would be turned to stone, and die. Some species of troll are immune to sunlight, but I don't know all of them. So Kanjigar must have sacrificed himself to keep the amulet away from Bular, and then Jim found it." Tikki explained, not only revealing what could have happened but also the main weakness of trolls.

"That explains that. But you talk of the previous Trollhunter like you knew him. Did one of your past holders know him?" Marinette asked, causing Tikki to smile a bit.

"I would hope so. She was Kanjigar's wife," Tikki revealed, which shocked Marinette enough to stop taking notes.

'Tikki said what now?' the designer questioned in her thoughts

"His wife? You mean one of your holders... was a troll?" Marinette asked, looking away from her notes and looking at her kwami in surprise.

"Yes. Her name was Maal, but her alias was Red Scarab. And she was incredible. You remind me a lot of her actually. Full of life, had a strong sense of justice, and loving to those she cared about. But she was quite scary when she was mad and incredibly stubborn." Tikki gushed, her eyes tearing up at the thought of her old friend. Marinette noticed right away when she looked away from her note-taking again and glanced at her kwami.

"Something tells me that you don't want to talk about what happened to her. " Marinette softly noted while raising a finger to her kwami to wipe her tears away while she nodded, not looking to make Tikki say anything unless she was ready. "It's okay. Though, I do have to ask... have there been other troll miraculous holders? Ones that Maal worked with?" she asked, hoping to take Tikki's mind off of her past holder for a bit.

"Of course. During the conflict before the Battle of Killahead, there were a select few trolls that were gifted Miraculous to help the Trollhunter protect humans and Trolls alongside them. Red Scarab was one of the leaders, alongside her partner, Sphinx who was the troll Miraculous holder of the Black Cat." Tikki revealed with a bittersweet smile as Marinette grabbed her pen and notepad to keep note-taking.

"They led the team with honor and valor and protected the Trollhunters they worked with. But it wasn't until a dark day after Killahead that... that..." Tikki trailed off, starting to tear up again. Marinette stopped taking notes and wiped the Kwami's tears away once more. After a few moments, Tikki managed to gather up her composure enough to continue. "After that day, the remaining holders of a Miraculous had them revoked and the Trollhunter was left as the sole protector of both humans and trolls. I don't know what happened to the other remaining holders that didn't die that day... but now I know what happened to Kanjigar." the red kwami sighed, still feeling sad about the news after learning of it a few hours ago.

"I'm so sorry Tikki. I didn't mean to open up that wound for you." Marinette apologized, dropping her notepad and pencil, and reaching up to her shoulder to gently grab Tikki. The girl then held her kwami to her chest in an attempt to hug her.

"You didn't know. But it feels nice to think about Maal every once in a while." Tikki admitted as she wiped her tears and continued to hug Marinette to the best of her ability. "But I hope that what I've told you is enough for you to give the heads up Jim needs." the little ladybug said as she looked up at Marinette, who only smiled at her words.

"It was more than enough Tikki. I can't thank you enough for opening up to me." Marinette thanked her, reassuring her kwami that she had enough to tell her brother. But there was still one last thing the kwami needed to tell her.

"There's one last thing I need to tell you. Something that will not benefit Jim, but you instead." Tikki continued as she pulled away from Marinette and flew up to float in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Marinette wondered.

"Now that Jim has become the Trollhunter, you need to go to someone I know. They know about the existence of trolls and can tell you more about them." Tikki explained, making Marinette's eyes widen.

'Tikki knows someone who has more knowledge about Trolls than her? Now that's interesting.' Marinette thought before deciding to learn more. "I don't get it, who is it that I need to meet?" the designer asked, wanting to know who this person was. But before the kwami could answer, Marinette's phone buzzed. The girl picked it up and saw it was Jim trying to call her.

"I'll tell you more later. Right now, your brother needs you." Tikki promised. Marinette nodded in agreement and answered her phone, allowing Jim to appear on the screen while Tikki flew back to her shoulder.

"Hey sis, how are you?" Jim greeted as he sat against the bike racks, alone this time around.

"I'm doing good. Where's Toby?" Marinette asked, making Jim roll his eyes.

"Dentist. He's been there since the night when those trolls came to my house." Jim explained as he opened his lunch bag, and pulled out a sandwich he had made earlier, an apple, and some cookies, while Marinette's eyes widened at the news.

"Seriously? Who goes to the dentist nearly three days in a row?" Marinette asked in disbelief.

"That's what I said! But yeah, he's not going to be here for school today. Other than that, how was your quote-unquote 'date'." Jim teased as he unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite out of it. Marinette rolled her eyes and groaned at the question.

"It wasn't a date, and you know it. But it didn't go as smoothly as I hoped it would be." Marinette began as Jim bit into his sandwich again.

"What happened?" Jim asked with his mouth half full. He wanted to know everything that happened after she hung up on him.

"Well, after I hung up on you, Chat Noir showed up at the front door and told me about the plan I was involved with." Marinette started, making Jim chuckle at the news.

"If only he knew that you were Ladybug and came up with the plan, to begin with." Jim laughed before he bit into his sandwich again, and Marinette smiled at the thought.

"Yeah, that would be worth watching. But after sunset came around, I went to the party, and true to his word, it was just me and Evilustrator. The sting was going well till he caught Chat Noir sneaking up on him, and I had to steal his pen to stop him from attacking. But he got it back, trapped us in a box, and erased a hole into the hull before leaving us for dead to go and attack Chloé. Thankfully we managed to get out and when Chat Noir left, I found a place to transform and headed to the hotel to help defeat the Evilustrator." Marinette finished, while Jim finished his sandwich.

"Thank goodness. At least things worked out in the end." Jim noted, glad that his sister was okay after another akuma.

"Yeah, but let's get back to what you said about trolls. Did anything else happen after I hung up on you?" Marinette asked, hoping that he had some more news.

"No, but do you have anything?" Jim asked as he grabbed his apple, looking at Marinette hopefully. And thankfully for him, Marinette had a plentiful source of information for him.

"I finally got to talk to Tikki about what she knows." Marinette revealed as she pulled up her notepad. Jim's eyes widened at the words.

"Really? What did she have to say?" Jim asked as Marinette moved her phone to show him all the notes she had taken.

"A lot. Are you ready?" Marinette said, causing Jim to nod. He wanted to know everything she had learned.

And so, the rest of the video call consisted of Marinette telling Jim what Tikki had told her, down to the last detail she wrote down while he continued to eat his lunch out of stress. She told him about the little amount of history before the dawn of the Trollhunter, the war between humans and trolls, and rise of Gunmar, his and his army's imprisonment, and Bular being the last one left.

She also told him about the Troll Miraculous holders, their leader being the wife of the previous Trollhunter, and their mysterious decommissioning, leaving the previous Trollhunter, alone to deal with the protection of humans and trolls, and possibly killed by Bular. All in all, Jim had a lot to take in.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in." Jim sighed as he finished off his last cookie, still taking in all of the information.

"Yeah. And apparently there's still more. Tikki told me that she has a friend who knows about trolls and that now that you are the Trollhunter, I have to meet them." Marinette explained, making Jim's eyes widen a bit.

'There's still more to know?' Jim wondered in disbelief.

"Really? Well, when are you meeting them?" Jim asked, hoping they could both get more information.

"I'll need to double-check, but the earliest I can go is tomorrow after school." Marinette admitted, making Jim feel slightly better.

"That sounds great. Though, the information you've got is pretty useful, let's hope this person Tikki knows has some more." Jim said right before the bell rang, signalling them that they needed to go.

"Looks like you have to go." Marinette noticed while Jim started to pack up his bag, getting ready to go to his next class.

"Yeah, looks like it. You'll tell me how things go with Tikki's friend?" Jim asked as he got up from the ground, and up to his feet.

"You got it. I better let you go to class. Bye Jim." Marinette farewelled as she waved goodbye to her brother, with him soon following suit.

"Bye, sis. See you tonight." Jim replied as he waved back, and then hung up, leaving Marinette in her room with Tikki.

Once she put her phone down, she looked at her kwami, wanting to get one last answer from her before going to bed.

"So... what else can you tell me about this person you know? Are they trustworthy?" Marinette asked, not exactly doubting Tikk, but also airing on the side of caution.

"I'll tell you more tomorrow. It's late, and you don't want to be late for class." Tikki deflected, appealing to Marinette's logical thinking and her exhaustiveness from the earlier battle.

"Okay, but we will talk about this tomorrow." Marinette assured with a yawn as she started to get under the covers, bundled up and started to fall asleep. Tikki flew to the girl's light and then turned it off before flying to lay on the pillow next to Marinette's head.

"Goodnight Marinette." Tikki sleepily said as she and her holder started to drift off.

"Goodnight Tikki." Marinette softly replied as she fell asleep, her subconscious going into dreamland, and awaiting the next day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Time Skip)

The next morning had come quickly, much to Marinette's slight worry since Tikki had told her that they needed to see her mysterious friend after class. But at the time, she was in the locker rooms, overhearing Alya interview Chloé about Evilustrator's attack last night.

"What happened when Ladybug and Cat Noir arrived on the scene?" Alya questioned, as she held up her phone to film Chloé as she interviewed the heiress.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, they only made matters worse. They came barreling in, and started smashing things to bits, throwing plastic balls around my room!" Chloé exclaimed, describing her account of the events last night-even though she was hiding for most of it-as she stood in front of her open locker.

"Plastic balls?" Alya questioned, not understanding what the spoiled brat was referring to. Marinette giggled to herself as she stood at her locker, and watched the exchange going on.

"I hope you had a good time last night taking care of that important thing you had to do," A voice behind Marinette greeted, making her turn to see Sabrina behind her, a smile on her face and a new beret on her head.

"Not as much as what you'd think. Again, I'm really sorry about yesterday, Sabrina. But I can now meet you in the library during study period and finally work on the project with you," Marinette reassured the girl.

"Great, and you'll be glad to know that I talked to Chloé last night before she was attacked, and she is going to help in doing the project with us." Sabrina proclaimed, shocking Marinette for a second.

"Seriously? You managed to convince Chloé to help with the project?" Marinette asked, not believing that Sabrina had worked a miracle. And in one night no less.

"You'd be surprised with what else I convinced her to do. I tried to get her to do more, but we settled on her writing a third of the report. Does that sound good?" Sabrina asked, shocking Marinette even more. Sabrina was a literal wizard for this unbelievable feat, especially since it put Chloé's manicure at risk. The second most valued thing to the heiress. It might not be much, but when it comes to Chloé, it was a good damn start.

"That's fine by me. Nice new beret, by the way." Marinette complimented, making Sabrina smile brightly at the compliment.

"I know, right! Chloé lent it to me, and I didn't even have to convince her to do it. She really is my BFF!" Sabrina gushed, thankful for the 'favor' Chloé did, before she walked toward the heiress with a smile. Marinette only watched with a fond look as she closed her locker, not knowing that Adrien was hiding behind the open door.

"Hey!" Adrien greeted from his spot, leaning on the locker, next to Marinette. But his greeting surprised Marinette so much, she jumped back from her locker and ten feet into the air before she realized who it was.

'Seriously, the boy needed a bell if he was going to do stuff like that,' Marinette thought to herself as she tried to calm down at the sight of her crush.

"I heard about your adventures with Chat Noir yesterday. Were you scared?" Adrien asked, wondering if she was okay after last night's events, considering he left her in a hurry to save Chloé.

"Me, scared? Pfft, it was a dream. I mean, you're a dream. I mean, in your dreams! Huh? Oh, this is a nightmare..." Marinette managed to stammer out, not able to keep herself from talking nonsense at the sight of him. Not that Adrien knew that when he became confused about her choice of wording.

"Okay... So, what do you think about Chat Noir? Was he awesome?" Adrien questioned, totally abusing the power he had of a secret identity to find out Marinette's opinion of his feline alter ego.

"I mean, sure! Yeah, but not as awesome as you, of course. Because, who could be? You're the most awesome of awesome." Marinette rambled, not being able to stop herself like multiple occasions before.

"So, that's a yes?" Adrien questioned, still confused by her answer. But he decided to take it as a yes, right before the bell rang, signaling them that they needed to go to class.

He then took a moment and pat Marinette on the shoulder as he walked away, leaving Marinette awestruck as she watched Adrien walk out. The lovesick girl then put her hands onto her chest, feeling her heart skip a beat as Tikki came out of her purse and sat on her shoulder.

"You do realize you just blabbered on to Adrien about how you think he's awesome, don't you?" Tikki pointed out. Not that Marinette was listening as she was lost in La La Land.

"He touched my shoulder... I'll never wash my jacket again!" Marinette lovingly sighed, hearts in her eyes as she acted like a fangirl would in her situation, much to Tikki's fondness, and slight exasperation.

"Girl, you have got to get better control of your emotions," Tikki teased-feeling a little sad when she suddenly thought about the news from yesterday, since her current holder reminded her so much of Maal-as Marinette, still in her lovesick trance, grabbed her bag and headed out of the locker room to her next class.