"I shouldn't feel like this" said Arianne, inside one of the toilet cubicles, while looking at Ayu floating besides her "I shouldn't feel...sad about them. I should feel happy for Marinette, right?" she questioned sadly, while her kwami looked at her sympathetically "Then why do I feel like crying?"

"Because you're in love with Adrien, Arianne" replied Ayu, stating the obvious "And, as much as it pains you to say it, you'd feel devastated if he was with another girl"

"I'm such a terrible friend" said Arianne, burying her head in her knees. Ayu was right, she didn't like it, but she had to say it.

She would be heartbroken if Adrien was with another girl.

"Aria?" the violinist heard the door of the bathroom opening, and Marinette's voice "Are you in here?"

Arianne wiped some tears away, before coming out, as Ayu hid inside her bag.

"Yeah, I'm here!" she replied, putting on a happy tone "What's up?"

"My uncle is about to present his soup" 

"Really? So soon?" she questioned, and her friend nodded "Okay, let's go! I'm sure he'll win!"

"Hey, are you sure you are okay?" questioned Marinette, thinking about the fact that Arianne had spent almost twenty minutes in the bathroom.

"Yeah!" she replied happily "I'm just tired, I didn't sleep well last night"

"Okay" nodded Marinette, but she didn't really believe her. Arianne smiled once more before walking with her to the main hall, where Adrien was waiting.

"Aria, there you are!" said Adrien with a smile "We were worried about you! Are you okay?"

Arianne swore that if someone else asked her if she was alright, she was gonna start throwing punches.

"Yeah, fine" she replied, smiling yet again as they watched the judges having the celestial soup.

The news reporter, who was also a judge, spit the soup with disgust.

"What is this?!" he questioned, making Arianne, Adrien and Marinette open their eyes wide. The mayor was disgusted, too, and gave the soup three stars out of ten, claiming that 'it wouldn't suit well' with their guests, in an attempt to sound polite. Chloe, of course, gave it a zero; she didn't even try it. Jagged Stone gave it a zero, and the head chef gave it a one. Arianne looked at her mother hopeful, thinking that maybe she would give it a higher score.

But when Layla looked at her daughter sadly, Arianne knew that she hadn't liked it either.

"I'm sorry" she replied, looking at Wang Cheng, and she sounded genuine "I was expecting a bit more. I give it a four out of ten"

Wang Cheng approached the table where the judges were sitting, while the trio exchanged sad and worried glances. When Cheng-Sifu tried the soup, he spit it, too.

"I don't understand!" he admitted, much to Arianne's sadness "I never put these ingredients in! It's a mistake, someone sabotaged soup!" the judges exchanged worried glances, Chloe smirked, and Arianne noticed.

"Guys" she called, looking at her friends, who looked back at her curiously "I think Chloe has something to do with this" Adrien and Marinette looked at her surprised upon hearing that.

"How do you know?" questioned Adrien.

"Did you see her smirk? I think she may have sabotaged Cheng-Sifu's soup!" just as she said that, the judges stood up and left the room, and a violet flower petal fell out of Chloe's clothes. Adrien and Marinette opened their eyes wide with surprise "See?"

"I'd like to say you're wrong" replied Adrien, shaking his head "But I know her only too well" Marinette went after her uncle, who was leaving the room sadly.

"Uncle Cheng?" she called, placing a hand on his shoulder, and making him look at her "I'm sure it's not your fault. In fact, I know it's not. I'm pretty sure Chloe is behind this" her uncle looked at her curiously "It was...it was actually because of me" Adrien and Arianne exchanged glances upon hearing that, before looking back at the girl "I provoked her, and—"

"Shame is on Celestial Soup" Cheng-Sifu cut her off, placing a hand on her shoulder "I shall never be world's greatest chef" that being said, he left towards the kitchen

"No, uncle Cheng!" Marinette cried, as Arianne approached her friend sadly, and surrounded her with her arms.

"We'll wait for him downstairs, Mari. And I will also make sure that Chloe gets what she deserves for doing this" the girl nodded sadly, and the trio went off.

Marinette, Adrien and Arianne were on the lobby, waiting for Wang Cheng, when the cameraman ran towards the door yelling 'Get out! Get out while you still can!'

"What is going on?" questioned Arianne frowning, just as what seemed like a camera showed a screen with some violet guy dressed in orange.

"Not polite to leave without permission" said the guy "Cut off all exits!" the trio narrowed their eyes angrily upon hearing that. An orange substance started to cover the door, and getting into the building.

"What is that?" asked Marinette, as Adrien knelt down.

"Caramel?" he asked, tasting a bit, before standing up "It may taste good, but it's totally indestructible. Looks like we're trapped inside"

"My great uncle is still upstairs!" cried Marinette worriedly, not knowing that Kung Food was actually her uncle.

"Don't worry, I'll go find him" offered Adrien, and ran upstairs to turn into Chat Noir.

"I will go check up on my mom!" announced Arianne, before running off, too. She got into the bathroom, and took out her phone.

"What are you doing?" questioned Ayu "We need to help everyone inside!"

"I know" replied Arianne "I just want to call Thiago, and see if he can help somehow from outside"

"You heard Adrien, the caramel is indestructible. No one can get in or out" 

"But Kung Food is not inside, but outside. Didn't you see the recording?" replied Arianne, just as Thiago answered.

"Hey, I saw what happened" he replied "Is Wang Cheng okay?"

"I don't know" replied Arianne "But right now we have bigger problems" Thiago frowned confused upon hearing that "Someone's been akumatized, and he locked all the exits. He's outside, could you come and try to stop him while I try to find a way out?"

"Sure" replied Thiago "I'll be there in a few minutes"

"Thanks, Thiag" said Arianne, before ending the call "Now we can get down to business!" she looked at Ayu now "Ayu, transform me!"

"How did you two get in here?" questioned Loup d'Argent, when she saw Chat Noir and Ladybug in the lobby "All entrances are locked"

"Found a loop" lied Chat Noir.

"Really?" asked the wolf girl "Where is it? Maybe we could get everyone out of here through there!"

"I-I don't think so, m'lady" replied Chat Noir nervously "It closed right after I got in. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm a bit hungry"

"Let's eat then, shall we?" replied Ladybug, and the trio went off "Hey, where's Tigre Blanco?"

"I told him to go outside, since he can't get in" replied the other girl as they arrived to the elevator.

"It's jammed!" announced Chat Noir. As he pressed the button repeatedly, a camera showed up behind them.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, Loup d'Argent" called Kung Food, making the trio look at him "You soon have privilege to be ingredients in Kung Food soup, but first my special. You taste my special of the day!" at that moment, the elevator door opened, and a slaved Jagged Stone came out of it.

"Seafood appetisers!" announced the rockstar, with a sword made out of sea food in his hand.

"Seafood?" questioned Chat Noir, who just had to make a joke "This can't be happening. Let's see if you can carry a tuna"

"Now is really not the time, kitty" replied Loup, rolling her eyes.

"Look out!" yelled Ladybug, and the trio jumped away from his hit.

"That's not very 'rock n roll' of you, Jagged Stone" replied Chat Noir, making the wolf girl frown.

"What does 'not very rock n roll' mean?" she questioned, but Jagged Stone didn't let Chat Noir answer.

"Rock n roll is one thing, soup is another. When I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but meat!" he jumped towards them once more, but they dodged it.

"Hey, Jagged Stone!" Loup d'Argent called, making him look at her "I have a tune for your next CD!" that being said, she started to play the same melody she had used when Chat Noir was being controlled by Dark Cupid to break him out of it. It was working, and Ladybug took advantage of it to wrap her yoyo string around his leg, and throw him inside a closet.

"Just in case!" was all she said, as they got inside the elevator. Once inside, the elevator was stopped mid-way. Then, it opened to reveal the mayor, and Arianne's mother.

"Layla?!" for a moment there, she thought she was gonna say 'mom', but her 'hiding secret identity' training had really worked for her, apparently.

"You know her?" questioned Chat Noir.

"She's my...favourite chef! I talked to her a couple of times" she quickly came up with a lie "Well, who's up for a food fight?"

"I prefer my sausages with mashed potatoes" replied Chat Noir, as they got into a fighting stance.

"I'll get the chef, you get the mayor, alright?" questioned Loup, looking at her partners, who nodded.

Then, they attacked.

Layla's weapon was a sword made out of meat, which meant that the girl had to use her bow as a sword.

Loup d'Argent blocked Layla's attacks and attacked her mother herself a couple of times, specially aiming at her feet. She didn't want to really hurt her, because she was still her mother and would not be able to forgive herself if something happened to her.

She spotted a janitor's closet behind her mother some distance away, and it was opened. She smirked. She jumped over her mother's head, as she turned around and attacked her once more. Loup blocked her attacks as she scurried backwards; when she reached the frame of the door, she moved ahead just as Layla lunged at her, which made her fall to the floor inside the closet. The hero closed the door, and placed a cleaning cart to prevent her from coming out.

"My hair is ruined!" cried Chloe. Her screams could be heard from several roofs away, as Tigre Blanco sprinted through them to reach the terrace of the hotel. He stood on a roof not so far away from it, and narrowed his eyes, trying to get a good look at the scene.

The pool was filled with some orange substance, and Chloe was hanging from a pole just above it. A big man with violet skin and a white chef hat was speaking to her (probably the akumatized victim). Tigre grabbed a lasso from his pocket, and wrapped it around Chloe's waist.

"What the-?" she questioned, looking at it "More ropes?! Seriously?" she said annoyed, and Kung Food didn't seem to notice as he kept talking. The boy held the end of the rope with one hand, and he threw his boomerang towards the rope holding Chloe over the soup with the other; this cut the rope, allowing him to pull the girl towards him.

"You okay?" he questioned, looking at her.

"Ugh, about time you showed up!" she snapped, annoying Tigre a bit.

"You know, you could try to thank people for once" he stated, before putting her down on the floor "Now, if you excuse me, I have things to do" that being said, he sprinted towards the terrace, where Kung Food was looking around confused, searching for the one who had ruined his soup "Looking for me?" he challenged, landing on the floor with a pose and a grin.

"You ruined soup!" exclaimed Kung Food angrily "You'll pay for this!"

"Bring it on!" exclaimed Tigre Blanco, and Kung Food ran towards him with a stick. They fought for a while, until Tigre decided that he had enough. He tied Kung Food to the light pole with some ropes, and said "Espíritu animal!"

Kung Food was wrapped a white mist, and once the light appeared to vanish it, Tigre Blanco recognised the man as Marinette's great uncle.

"Tigre!" exclaimed Chat Noir when the trio arrived to the scene.

"When did you get here?" questioned Ladybug surprised, making him smirk.

"A couple of minutes ago" he replied proudly, folding his arms "You really took your time on this one"

"Where's Chloe?" questioned Loup, looking around and not seeing the blonde girl.

"Safe" replied Tigre "I left her on the street"

"We had it under control" replied Ladybug, folding her arms with pride.

"If you did, then why weren't you here when I arrived?" 

"Well, that's because..." she started, but couldn't say anything "Shut up" Tigre couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing that.

"Could you teach me how to make celestial soup, Cheng-Sifu?" asked Marinette kindly to her great uncle, holding another bouquet of violet flowers.

"With pleasure, Marinette" replied the chef with a smile, grabbing the bouquet.

"Cooking needs no words" Adrien repeated Wang Cheng's words to him earlier that day with a smile as he watched the scene.

"True" Arianne nodded, standing next to her childhood friend. Thiago had gone home, because, if not, his appearance out of nowhere would look suspicious.

"Seriously?" they both heard Chloe's annoying voice behind them, and turned around to look at her "Still making soup? I told you I hate soup!" Adrien narrowed his eyes angrily at her "Do you think the jury will approve of this?"

"Didn't your father kick you off the jury?" questioned Adrien "I think that Cheng-Sifu and Marinette got this covered. Why don't we let the real jury decide?" Arianne looked at him with surprise upon hearing that, it was time that Adrien did something about Chloe's attitude towards everyone.

Chloe marched away saying something like 'ridiculous', and Arianne looked at Adrien with pride.

"You're learning!" she stated, placing her hand on his shoulder "You're making me very proud"

"Thanks" replied Adrien sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" he needed to know what was going on with her, because there was definitely something wrong.

"Yeah, sure" replied Arianne, wondering what he wanted to talk about. They both walked off to the lobby, and closed the door of the kitchen behind to get some privacy.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" asked Adrien softly, and Arianne knew that he was talking about her strange attitude that day.

"I know" nodded the girl with a smile, though she couldn't tell him what was really going on.

"Then tell me what's wrong" he said, placing a hand on her shoulder "I know that something's bothering you. Let me help you" Arianne stayed silent for a few minutes, Adrien's concern managing to melt her heart. Maybe she could tell him what was really going on.... what had been bothering her all that time, and stop feeling so much pain....

No.

She couldn't.

Yes, she knew that she was a masochist, but she also was Marinette's best friend.

"It's nothing" she replied, making Adrien sigh tiredly. He didn't want to push her into telling him anything, but he also knew that something was wrong and he wanted to be there for her, and help her out with whatever it was "I'm fine"

"Arianne..." breathed out Adrien sadly, to which the girl just smiled, but he could see right through her smile.

"I promise" she said firmly, and then found herself wrapped in a warm hug. She was confused for a moment, but then returned the hug tightly "What was that about?" she questioned with a smile, once they broke apart.

"A reminder" replied the boy simply, making Arianne frown "That I'm always here for you if you need me" she smiled once more.

"Thanks"