Mamoru and Hachi decided to go to the Trocadéro in order to post some flyers for the shop only to stumble upon a photoshoot with the one and only Adrien Agreste. Though the grandeur of the landmark was enough for Mamoru to hesitate to post anything, the photoshoot was the final push for his decision to call it a day.
"So much for advertising." Mamoru says, tucking the flyers into his hoodie pocket.
"You didn't even try!" Hachi hisses from behind.
He simply ignores Hachi's complaints and decides to head home since the sights weren't something he was used to. He already stumbled upon one thing, why not another. In view was Juleka, as she struggles with a no-parking sign. Despite the odd scene, he decided that it wouldn't hurt to give a hand.
"Uh... There's a problem..." Juleka whispers, alerting the others of the mishap.
Juleka struggles more until she finally decided to take matters in her own hands and lift the sign itself. After putting all her strength into pulling the stubborn pole, it finally gives putting her off balance. Instead of Mylene coming to the rescue, Mamoru reaches her just in time to catch the sign and Juleka. He grabs the sign with one hand while placing a other on her back.
"Huh? Uh... ummm... thanks." Juleka mutters, taken by surprise.
"… sure." Mamoru expresses the same amount of awkwardness, forgetting his lack of social skills.
Mamoru takes the pole and even grabs the cinderblock.
"Errrr, do you need this somewhere specific?"
"Yeaaaah, I need it over there... by that car." Juleka continues to mumble, but lucky for her Mamoru is a good listener.
"What happened? What's the problem, Rose?" Marinette buzzing into her earpiece.
"I have a problem?" Rose asks in confusion.
"Not you, Rose... I mean Tulip." Marinette hisses.
"Everything's fine, Rose just got a hand from a... boooooy." Mylene teases.
"Ooooo, you go girl." Alix chimes in.
"Me?" Rose asks again, still confused.
"W... would you stop." Juleka mutters in embarrassment.
"Huh?... s...sorry." Mamoru was taken aback and starts to break out in a nervous sweat, looking away while putting the sign in place.
"No no, I don't mean you... I was just... sorry, I'm weird and not really good with..." Juleka becomes more silent as she speaks.
"Rose, calm down." Marinette says, only to trigger another mishap.
"Come down, aye!" Rose yells and signals the rickshaw.
Even though Juleka was still stuck in her situation, she did her part therefore the plan could proceed forward. Officer Roger makes his appearance and does his lawful duty, forcing Adrien's bodyguard to move the car.
"Is this a crime?" Mamoru asks himself, realizing what he did, but quickly brushes it off.
Just as Adrien's bodyguard tries to drive off, the rickshaw almost collides with him causing the operator to ride onto the sidewalk and in front of Mamoru and Juleka.
"Hey, watch it!" The rickshaw driver yells before switching his tone.
"Sorry for the sloppy entrance, but more importantly, your chariot awaits."
"Huh?" Both Mamoru and Juleka blurt out.
"Oh, you two on a date? You're also in my daughter's class, right? Man, small world, but anyway get a move on you lovebirds." Officer Roger says enthusiastically, before pushing the two onto the rickshaw.
"Wait, there's a mistake..." Said Mamoru, confused and nervous.
"Y... yeah, it's not for us, but for..."
Despite the protest, the two get whisked away.
"Uh, we just lost Rose." Mylene announces.
"I'm right here." Rose answers.
"No, the other Rose. Anyway, you just lost your ride Lotus." Mylene follows up.
"Gahhh! It's good... it's good, we can compromise. Buttercup's photoshoot is almost over." Marinette tries to keep her cool.
"We have another problem." Alix calls in.
"What?" Marinette asks with frustration.
"That bananny or whatever is coming your way and he doesn't look happy."
Just as the gorilla shows up, everyone panics, especially Marinette, but not because of the bodyguard instead it was due to the sighting of the akuma flying his way. It turns out Adrien was helping out a mother and her child up the stairs keeping him out of sight.
Juleka was taken far away, losing contact with the group resulting in her just sitting in an ungainly fashion. Just like her, Mamoru also shared the fiddly feeling being alone with a stranger. He just continued to sit up straight, looking at the wheel of the rickshaw turn until they finally reached their destination in front of Andre on the Pont des Art bridge.
"Oh, I wasn't expecting another couple, but I'm sure Marinette won't mind. Now let's see, hmmmm... ah yes, these flavors will definitely mix well." Andre continues on and suddenly hands Mamoru an ice cream fit for two.
"Errr, how much?"
"First time customers are on the house."
"W... well thank you." Juleka says in a low voice as they walk away to the side of the bridge.
"Ah so shy, so innocent." Andre adds before returning to his art.
"Hachi what's happening? I don't even know where we are." Mamoru whispers over his shoulder as he rests his arms over the railings.
"I can't make heads or tails of this situation, but either way we got free food."
"Sorry for getting you involved in this." Juleka finally admits, rubbing her arm. She explains everything about operation Secret garden causing him to scoff a little.
"So that's how it is. Why couldn't this Marinette just talk to him?"
"If you knew Marinette then you would understand."
Slowly but surely the two start talking and even shared the ice cream, eventually moving on to scary movies and the like. Even the old movie, The Ringu, came into the talk.
"I...I'm Rose. I mean, Juleka!"
"O...Oh right, I'm Mamoru... This is embarrassing to ask, but I don't have a clue on how to get back to the 21st arrondissement."
"Marinette lives in that area, but yeah I could show you."
"That'd be gre..." Mamoru couldn't finish giving his thanks as he witnesses what appeared to be a large purple gorilla flying over the buildings and coming their way.
Mamoru grabs Juleka by the waist and runs over to Andre. He quickly pulls the ice cream artisan over the cart and tosses Juleka on top of him, before landing a front kick as hard as he can on the cart. Just as the cart rolls away from danger, the purple gorilla lands on the bridge, smashing it into pieces along with Mamoru. Juleka and Andre watch in panic as Mamoru falls into the water with the debris.
"Blub blub. (Say it)" Hachi commands under the water as Mamoru pulls the scarf out of his hoodie pocket and around his neck.
"Blub! (No!)"
Gorizilla continues to roar and beat his chest, searching for something or someone. After setting himself up to leap once more, he feels a slight sting from an ice cream cup being thrown at him followed up by a shoulder charge into his right cheek causing the massive gorilla to stumble sideways.
"Is this that butterfly man's doing?" Mamoru asks after landing on what remains of the bridge.
"It's hawk moth and more than likely, which means Ladybug and Cat Noir should be here too."
But much to his dissatisfaction, the heroes were yet to be seen. While he scans the rooftops, Gorizilla appears in front of him with both arms raised and slams downward, destroying the rest of the bridge and sending Mamoru into water. The screams from bystanders distract Gorizilla for a second, long enough for Mamoru to jump from the depths of the river and deliver an uppercut to his jaw. After stumbling backwards, Gorizilla attempted to swipe at him, but Mamoru lands on his massive arm to use it as a launch pad to deliver a flying knee. Upon connecting with the akumatized villain, he spins with enough force to stop himself in midair and land a powerful kick in the back of the gorilla's head hard enough to send him flying further down the river.
"Oh Nooooo! It's Honey Badger, he must be fighting over territories with that monster!" Some random citizen yells out.
"Ha ha wow, they totally think you're a villain." Hachi comments whimsfully.
"I'm not exactly a hero either." Mamoru responds, landing on the lower walkway near the water then begins to run towards the monster.
Mamoru jumps onto a lamppost and launches himself towards Gorizilla. Soaring through the air, he then gains speed trying to land another kick but gets block by his two massive arms. Regardless, the kick was strong enough to expose his chin thus follows up with a somersault kick to the jaw again. As Gorizilla's head whips back, Mamoru didn't expect a colossal slap from the gorilla sending him into a wall.
"He's tough huh?"
"Shut up, Hachi."
After recovering a bit, Gorizilla fires a punch his way, but Mamoru manages to jump out of the way before he blasts a hole in the wall where he once was. Even though he was without a doubt strong, Mamoru could tell he was tired from those blows to the jawline.
"They're not showing up."
"Are you going to finish this then."
"Yes."
Gorizilla tries to throw another punch, only to get countered with a double kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Gorizilla falls onto his back, grabbing his stomach in pain, and encounters Mamoru standing over his forehead. Mamoru inhales deeply then performs a downward punch with a loud bang causing the ground around them to crack. Mamoru jumps backwards to see Gorizilla reverting back into his normal self. The akuma begins to fly away, but as soon as Mamoru attempted to destroy it, the butterfly is captured by a yo-yo belonging to the hero of Paris.
"We meet again, Honey Badger." Ladybug announces.
"Kind of late, don't you think?"
"I think being late is part of being of a hero." Cat Noir gives his greetings and appears behind him.
"Either way, I need you two to surrender your..."
"Ladybug, Cat Noir! Please help, someone fell into the river and I can't find him!" Juleka yells from the side crowd.
"Juleka? I... I mean... I'm on my way!" Ladybug answers back, but not without giving a glance to Cat Noir.
"I'll keep him busy, my lady."
"I completely forgot about her." Mamoru whispers to Hachi.
"If you don't show up soon, she's gonna be sooooo heartbroken."
With that, Honey Badger had no choice but to run and just like that he takes off. Dashing through the alleyways, Cat Noir keeps his distance.
"Don't tell me you got cold feet." Cat Noir mocks him from behind.
"I just faced a Kong-sized gorilla, so no. I just have more pressing matters to attain to."
Mamoru rounds a corner after taking a path that lead them all the way back to where they were before. He turns one more corner with Cat Noir right behind him and just as he pivots, he runs into a judo throw that hurls him into the river. Once he successfully lost Cat Noir, Mamoru changes back and jumps down near the bottom of the bridge just in time for Ladybug and Juleka to find him.
"There he is!" Juleka hollers before hugging him.
"Ow ow ow, I thought I was a goner." Mamoru does a not so convincing voice while rubbing his head, but it was Juleka that was taking him by surprise.
"Thank you for saving me, Mamoru." Juleka says with a soft tone, looking down with a smile.
"O... oh yeah, no problem. N..no problem."
"L..looks like all is well." said Ladybug, slightly surprised by this development. Then moves on to using her tool to restore all the damage.
"Well, I need to get going. Family is probably wondering where I am. Don't want to miss work. It's been fun, Juleka. We should definitely talk some more." Mamoru spits out all these explanations then breaks off running in a random direction.
"Wait! I think you still need directions!" Juleka's plead goes unheard as Mamoru was already out of earshot.
It wasn't much later before her friends found her on the Pont des Arts.
"Are you alright, Rose? I'm pretty sure that monster came this way." Mylene asks.
"I'm fine." Rose says.
"Not you, Rose... I mean Tulip... No more code names! This operation is over!" Marinette screams.
"I'm fine, but more importantly, was the operation a success?" Juleka asks.
"Haaa, what do you think? A big purple gorilla was the one to ruin it this time." Marinette sighs in defeat.
"Well, I think someone benefitted from this." Alix motions toward Juleka.
"That's right, how was your blind date?" Asked Mylene.
"… it was good." Juleka whispers, looking at her shoes.
Marinette felt conflicted since it could've been her and Adrien, but she knew her moment would come soon enough. At that time, Mamoru was beyond lost.
"Maybe, I should have asked where to go before running off."
"That's a hard maybe." Hachi teases.
With hardly anyone around, he began his marathon to search for his way home.