"Where do you think they're going?" asked Marinette. "No idea" said Adrien and saw that a beam was blocking the door from opening. The teens stepped away from the door and as Marinette struggled to break the bed leg she was chained to, Adrien did the same and then helped her. Once free, she fashioned a noose and slipped it over the beam and it clattered to the ground. They quickly followed the children down a staircase into a cavernous room that had a portrait of the princess at the other end. One of the children moved the painting and crawled through as the other followed. "Wa-" began Marinette, but was cut off when Adrien covered her mouth. "We don't want to draw their attention away. Let's just follow" he whispered as he removed his hand and she nodded.
As they waited for the children to come back, foot steps were heard and they whirled around. "Doctor Kyle? What are you dong here?" asked Marinette. "Your companions told me that you two had disappeared and I volunteered to come here to see if you had come to the castle" he answered. "How did you know to check here, though?" she asked, walking towards him, stopping when Adrien blocked her with his arm. "Was it you who was capturing the children?" asked Adrien as they stared at the doctor. "Clever boy" he replied. "What did you do to the children?" demanded Marinette. "What makes you think I'll tell you anything?" retorted the man. As the children shuffled out of the hole, Adrien and Marinette were surprised to see that a boy was holding her encased butterfly. "This is what you were after?" she asked after she took it and he stalked forward, but Adrien stepped in between them. "Get out of here!" he cried and she took off, clutching the butterfly tightly. Using his distraction, Kyle slipped past him and chased after Marinette and Adrien followed the man. When he caught up to them, Kyle had her butterfly in one hand and a knife resting against her throat. "I'd be careful if I were you" he warned, pressing the blade tighter causing her to whimper and blood dripped to the ground. "Okay. You win, it's yours. Just let her go" he pleaded and more blood fell. "Adrien" she cried. "You're going to be fine" he reassured her. "I'm leaving and she's coming with me" he stated. "Yeah, that's not going to happen" scoffed Adrien. "She's the reason you can't attack, I'm not going to just give her back to you" Kyle shot back as he backed up, dragging her with him. As they were heading out, cracking could be heard and Kyle froze as he looked down. Without warning, the floor crumbled away, taking him and Marinette with it. "No!" cried Adrien, rushing forward. He was relieved to see that she had managed to grab the butterfly and was gripping the edge of the hole. He grabbed her arm and hoisted her up. He ripped a length of cloth from his coat and tied it around the thin line on her throat that was bleeding. "Let's get the children and get out of here" he said and she looked relieved.
When they got all the children out, they saw Kurogane, Fai and Mr. Glosam waiting for them on the other side. "Are you okay?" asked Fai. "Yeah" she answered. "Where's the doctor?" asked Mr. Glosam. "We didn't stick around to find out. He fell when the floor opened up" replied Adrien. As the group walked back to the village, they stopped when they heard rumbling and watched as the castle collapsed in on itself. As this was happening, the glass encasing the butterfly broke and Tikki purified it before it went into Marinette. Adrien bent down and picked her up bridal style and they continued back to the village.
When the group arrived at the village, the children ran to their respective parents and a tearful reunion ensued. Tikki watched from the window of their room as Adrien laid Marinette on her bed. "It doesn't appear that the children were hurt" remarked Fai. "He needed them to get her butterfly, he wouldn't risk to have his only means suffer any injuries" said Adrien. "She did mention that she saw the former princess, could the doctor have done anything to make Marinette see her?" asked Kurogane. "It's possible, but why? It doesn't make sense" replied Adrien. As Marinette began to stir, he sat next to her on the edge of her bed. "Are the children safe?" she asked. "Yeah. We returned them to their parents and it looks like there aren't any lasting effects of the hypnosis" he assured her and she smiled. "Shall we go to the next world?" he asked and she nodded.
On the outskirts of the town, a portly man used binoculars to survey the town and the former castle. "The doctor has failed" he reported, speaking into a headset. As he turned away and walked back to his horse, the sign displaying the town's name was wiped clean as a purple butterfly appeared.
"Thank you for your report" said the man as his assistant looked on. "It's time to make the next move" he said.
When they arrived in the next world, Adrien held Marinette's hand to keep her steady as they slowly touched ground. Suddenly, four women all dressed in similar outfits appeared before them. "Welcome to San Francisco!" they greeted at the same time. As they took in their surroundings, Adrien was surprised to see they had landed in 1920s San Francisco and people were wearing outfits from all different time periods. "Have you registered yet?" asked one. "What do you mean?" asked Adrien. "Every traveler who comes here has to register at City Hall" replied a second woman. "We'll take you" said another and the women lead them a few blocks to an ornate building. Once inside, they approached a woman sitting behind a desk. "Welcome. Please fill out these forms" she instructed and Adrien took them from her. "What kind of job do you want?" he asked Kurogane and Fai and they walked up to him. "Do you have anywhere to live yet?" asked the woman. NO. We just arrived and don't have any of this world's currency" replied Adrien. "If you don't have any money, you can exchange any thing you might have and I will give you its converted amount" explained the woman. "Tikki! Can you come here?" called Adrien and she floated over. "Can you give her all the outfits from our journey to her?" he asked and she nodded. After the forms were filed and they received money after the exchange, they followed the directions to their new accommodations. When they got there, Marinette beamed when she saw it was an empty café and bakery. "What's up?" asked Adrien, already guessing as to why she looked happy. "Oh! Where I come from, my parents owned a bakery and I would help out on the weekends" she said. "Did you remember that from the memory you got in Jade?" asked Fai and she nodded.
Once inside, they were amazed at how spacious the building was. Seeing that Marinette was starting to nod off, Adrien led her to a sofa where she promptly fell asleep. "Be on your guard" ordered Kurogane, looking out one of the windows. "Is someone out there?" asked Adrien, coming over. "Not sure. I can sense that we are being watched, but I don't think it's human" he replied. "What do you mean…" he started to say when the window suddenly shattered and a towering black creature with a skeletal face loomed over them. Fai, who was closest to Marinette, grabbed her sleeping form and leapt away. The creature went after Adrien and he was put on the offensive as it thrust its arm toward him. Being quick on his feet after it sliced his arm, he gained an advantage and killed the creature. As it disappeared, the teen and two men watched in surprise. "The hell was that?" wondered Kurogane. "No idea. We should ask that woman about it tomorrow" answered Fai.
When they arrived at City Hall, they approached the woman from yesterday. "Good morning! It seems you had quite the night last night, not many new arrivals fight and defeat a kaiju" she said. "That thing last night is called a kaiju?" asked Adrien. "How did you know that?" asked Fai. "It's the city's job to track the movements of the kaiju. They usually come out at night, but sometimes move around during the day. There are different levels of kaiju. The one you defeated last night was a level five. I should warn you though; this job pays more than others because of how dangerous it is. Did you still want to have that as your job?" she asked. "Yes" replied Adrien. "What job would you like?" she asked Fai. "I want something that doesn't take a lot of effort, but is a good source of information" he answered. "I have just the thing for you. One more thing, if you're going to fight kaiju, you need one more person. Do you have someone in mind?" she asked. "Yeah. He's at our place taking care of someone" Adrien replied. "Great! You're all set!" stated the woman. "Thank you" said Fai and they left.
"We're back!" called Fai as they walked into the damaged room. "So, did you learn anything about that creature last night?" asked Kurogane. "Yes. They're called Kaiju and you have to be in a team to fight them. I chose you as my second member" answered Adrien. "Sounds interesting. But will you be able to fight?" he asked. "What do you mean?" asked Adrien. "We don't know how powerful the kaiju are, but seeing as how the payment is quite large, this job isn't for inexperienced fighters" said Kurogane and walked over to Adrien and pushed his hair above his right eye back. "Besides, you're blind in this eye" he finished, surprising Fai. "When did you first realize?" asked Adrien. "In the first would we arrived in and again last night. Your reaction was delayed when it attacked from the right" he answered. "I understand where you're coming from, but I know that last night didn't show it, but I have made adjustments because of this in order to fight" said Adrien. "How long have you been blind in that eye?" asked Fai. "My whole life, when I was young I was in an accident that damaged this eye and my parents were told that my vision would never be same. So, my father found someone to train me how to make up for that loss" he replied. "That's why you use kicks, it helps you judge distance" said Kurogane and Adrien nodded.
Sometime later, Marinette finally woke up to the smell of tea and watched as her traveling companions put the finishing touches to open the café. "You changed" she said, drawing their attention. "Oh, you're up! Did you sleep okay?" asked Adrien. "Yes" she answered. "We have your outfit ready for you in the back. Tikki will show you where" said Fai. "Thank you" she said and followed Tikki. "I want to thank you for opening a café. Marinette will be happy to do something that she is familiar with" said Adrien. "Think nothing of it. Actually she gave me the idea when she said that she helped her parents run their bakery where you come from" said Fai. "How do I look?" asked Marinette as she walked back in and Adrien smiled. "It looks good" he complimented and she beamed at him. "By the way, will you and Kurogane be working here as well?" she asked. "No. We have a different job that I signed us up for" he replied. "Just be careful" she said and Adrien ruffled her hair. "Always" he said. Tikki suddenly opened her mouth and a plate with four desserts came out and landed on the table. "Yuko sent these as a gift" explained Tikki. "They smell delicious" remarked Fai. "What are they?" asked Kurogane. "They're chocolate fondant. It's a chocolate cake with a warm chocolate center" explained Adrien. "You can have mine, Tikki. I'm not big on sweets" said Kurogane and she looked at him with big eyes. "Thank you!" she chirped.
That night, Adrien and Kurogane were patrolling the city while looking for kaiju. "That was nice of you to give your desert to Tikki" said Adrien. "Yeah, well I could see she was staring to drool over the smell and it would have been cruel to deny her that" replied Kurogane and Adrien secretly smiled at the response. "They're here" warned Kurogane right before the kaiju appeared and they wasted no time in defeating the creatures. "No fair! Those were supposed to ours!" cried a voice from the roof of the building they were next to. When they looked up, they saw a teenage girl, her wolf hybrid and her partner watching them. As one, the new arrivals jumped down from the roof and landed gracefully. "Hello! I'm Yuzuriha and this is my partner, Kusanagi" she introduced. "That was an impressive fight. I was surprised that someone of your skill was able to fend off the attack with a sword like that" remarked Kusangi. "It wasn't my first choice. The shop owner forced this on me" said Kurogane. "Are you the two new kaiju hunters that just arrived?" asked Yuzuriha. "Yes. We were actually heading back to our café. Would you like to join us?" asked Adrien. "We'd love to!" she said cheerfully and they headed back to the café.
When they walked into the bakery, Adrien immediately smelled the familiar scent of Marinette's cookies baking. "Something smells good!" he called, alerting them to their presence. "Welcome back!" greeted Marinette as she approached him. "Who are our guests?" asked Fai. "I'm Yuzuriha and this is Kusanagi" the other teen introduced. "How was patrol?" asked Marinette. "It was good. We actually met these two while on patrol" said Kurogane. "We're opening tomorrow, but would you like to try something?" asked Fai. "We'd love to!" cried Yuzuriha as they sat at the bar and Fai placed two cups of tea in front of them. "We'll be sure to tell the other hunters about this place" remarked Kusanagi. "The four of you just arrived here, right?" Yuzuriha asked Marinette. "Yes. We only arrived yesterday" she replied. "We had quite the surprise when that kaiju attacked us here shortly after we got settled" said Fai. "The woman at city hall said that we defeated was a level five" said Adrien. "That's odd. Only level two kaiju attack residential buildings" muttered Kursanagi. Suddenly, Yuzuriha's wolf-dog hybrid was on alert. "Already?" whined the teen. "Thanks for the treat" said Kusanagi. "Anytime. This time it was on the house" said Fai. As they left, Yuzuriha and Marientte waved to each other. "I going to call it a night" said Adrien. "Goodnight!" chirped Fai as he walked up the stairs, Marinette watching him go. "You should bring this to him" said Fai, drawing her attention and he slid her a mug of hot chocolate. "Thank you" she said and followed after Adrien.
When she got upstairs, she knocked on his door. "Come in" he called and she opened the door and walked in. "Is that hot chocolate?" he asked and she nodded. Once she set the mug down on the side table next to him and sat on his bed, she looked down. "What's up?" he asked. "Can you forgive me?" she asked. "For what?" he wondered. "After I first woke up, I didn't know anything. When you told me about the journey to find my butterflies and I asked if I was going with complete strangers. But that's not true, is it? You have gone above and beyond to find them, sometimes going through so much danger and pain and you hardly sleep. Please forgive me. When did we first meet? Have we always known each other? Are you someone…" she started, but gasped and stiffened and then fell forward, only to be caught by Adrien. "Was that the price that Yuko told him about?" whispered Kurogane. "Yes. If she even starts to remember what he is to her, it will be wiped from her memory" Fai replied quietly as the men headed back downstairs. "Adrien" whispered Tikki, fear evident in her voice. "I see them" he said and looked out the window and large amounts of kaiju appeared.