Sorry this took so long. I just got my hands on Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, and let me tell you, some of the levels can be FREAKING HARD!

Rudi was lost in his thoughts when he entered the school's locker room. Did Alya betray him? Did she tell Kellaway to arrive? Did she tell Ladybug about the project? Did she know he had the Mask of Loki? Did anyone else know about the Mask besides those involved with the project? Did she...

"Rudi!" He turned his attention to Max. "You're my only hope! I want someone to test my game but everyone's too busy!" He then noticed something off about him. "Rudi? Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, I am. A game, you say?"

"Yes! A fighting game!" The little nerd looked relieved to finally have found someone to play his game. "But get this: the player characters are Ladybug, Chat Noir, Big-Head, and every akumatized villain they fought so far along with the other Miracle Heroes!"

That tickled Rudi's interest. "That so? I'd like to play it."

"You will?! Oh, thank you! Come on!" He grabbed Rudi by the hand and pulled him along as he walked to the library. There, he set up a console and a small viewer screen and turned on his game. It kind of looked like a Street Fighter clone but with the aforementioned characters he explained.

"Looks good," said Rudi as he picked up his controller. He frowned at the sight of one particular character. "Queen Bee? You seriously added Chloe's character to the game?"

"Well, I had debated over whether I should include her or not," said Max as he selected the Gamer character. "But I decided to go for it since I didn't want Chloe chewing my head off over it. Not that she would care anyway."

Rudi raised his eyebrow. "You're playing as yourself? Isn't it kind of awkward to play as your evil self?"

"What? Don't judge me."

Rudi said as he picked Big-Head, "I'm not. Just saying it's kind of strange to pick Gamer. Doesn't it bring up bad memories?"

Now that he mentioned it, Max did feel some pang of guilt. Then he shook his head. "Whoever that was, it's not me anymore."

For how long, I wonder?

"Shh," Rudi hissed at the Mask.

The two began to play. Gamer formed a wall of polygons that slammed onto Big-Head, squishing him flat. Big-Head retaliated by smashing the wall with a giant boxing glove that also sent Gamer onto his back. Quickly, Gamer got back up and snapped his fingers, creating a sword made from pixels that slashed at his opponent. Big-Head countered by taking out a machine gun and shooting the sword to pieces along with its owner.

"Hey, you're pretty good," said Max. "For an amateur, anyway."

"I'm not giving you the pleasure!"

Big-Head then pulled out a bomb out of his pocket and threw it at Gamer. Gamer retaliated by kicking it into Big-Mouth's mouth, making him explode into a pile of ashes.

Player 1 wins!

"Ha ha!" laughed Max.

Rudi frowned. "You know, the real Big-Head could recover easily from that."

"Hey, I don't want the characters too OP."

Rudi gave Max a weird look. "OP?"

"Overpowered."

"Fair enough. Best two out of three?"

"Sure. But, let's use a different character next time. How about Mime verses Zombizou?"

"Damn it!"

"Reverser verses Copy Cat!"

"Damn it!"

"Gorizilla versus Gigantitan!"

"DAMN IT!" The librarian shushed Rudi. "Oh, shush yourself!"

"Boy, you're really bad at this," said Max with a chuckle.

"YOU THINK?!" snapped Rudi. "I'm not used to playing fighting games! I'm the kind of guy who just mashes buttons randomly and hope for the best!" Then he said to himself, "I think I'd rather play CarnEvil instead."

Max raised an eyebrow. "CarnEvil?"

"It's an old arcade rail shooter game. The kind you put coins in every time you lose a life?"

"I don't play those old things. Why bother leaving your home when you can get something at a cheap price?"

"Kind of like this game? Stupid controls."

"How about I just show you the move sets." Max handed him a slip of paper with a bunch of directions on it.

"You already made a move set?"

"Duh. I'm the one who programmed them, remember?"

But at this point, Rudi was slowly losing his patience with the game. "One more round, nerd."

"Uh, on second thought," Max said. "How about we shut off the game for today..." SLAM! "YIPE!"

"One. More. Round."

The circular window to Hawk Moth's lair opened and butterflies swarmed around him. "Anger. Frustration. Impatience. The perfect recipe for my akumas." He grabbed one of the butterflies and turned it from white to purple. "Fly away, my little akuma and evilize him!"

"Uh...maybe we should stop," said Max, who was on the verge of winning.

"I have a lot on my plate right now, Kante," growled Rudi. "I have a lot of trust issues I need to deal with. I think I'm going insane." His hands holding the controller started to tremble. "I don't know who to trust right now and I am tired of that stupid voice in my head!" The controller snapped in two. At that moment, the akuma flew toward him and absorbed itself into the controller.

A deep baritone voice rang out in his head, "Tökkentäkker, I am Hawk Moth. Your anger and frustration shall be quelled when I give you a world of your own to control. In return for your service, you will bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous and Big-Head's Mask of Loki!"

No! Don't listen to him! Put me on!

"I...I won't!" Rudi shook his head. "I don't want to hear you anymore," he screamed as black smoke enveloped him.

Max took one look and took off running out the door.

Outside, all of Paris shook violently as dark spiraling towers and strange carnival stands and rides popped out of the ground. Clouds blocked out the sun, making it look like night time. Then a spot light shined on a single individual: Rudi, who was now wearing a flamboyant blue and red ringmaster outfit. He shouted in an over exaggerated German accent, "Velcome to CarnEvil!" He laughed maniacally as he pressed his cane onto the ground and in a flash, the people transformed into zombies, clowns, freaks and other kinds of circus performers.

Everyone except Ladybug and Chat Noir, who arrived at the scene. "Rudi!" shouted Ladybug. "Why are you acting like this?!"

"Rudi has left ze stage! I am Tökkentäkker and I rule zis circus! And I already have something zat Hawk Moth vants! Ze Mask of Loki!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir gasped. "No! How did you manage to swipe it off of Big-Head,?"

"It vas so easy, I..." The ringmaster stopped talking when he felt nothing in his pocket. "Vhere is it? No!" He patted the rest of his pockets, only to find nothing. "NOOOOOO!"

"What's wrong?" laughed Chat Noir. "Got a hole in your pocket?"

Tökkentäkker glared at the two heroes. "No matter! I still have your friends!" He snapped his fingers and zombie clown versions of all the citizens burst out of the ground. "If you vant to save zis city, vou vill give me ze Miraculous and my Mask!"

"We don't have the Mask," said Ladybug as she used her yo-yo to swat away three zombie clowns. "Even if we did, we'd never give it to you!"

"And you can forget about the Miraculous," Chat Noir said while he used his staff to smack a pair of conjoined twins upside the head before tripping a pinhead and a dwarf.

"You don't give me orders," Tökkentäkker shouted. "I AM ZE RINGMASTER! AND ZIS IS MY TROUPE!" He slammed his cane down, summoning carnival freak versions of Marinette and Adrien's classmates. "Behold! Lyla und Alya ze Fox Women! Chloe und Zabrina ze Two-Headed Tvins! Kim ze Strongman! Max und Nino ze Acrobats! Mylene ze Mime! Ivan ze Stoneman! Und Rose und Juleka ze Snake Charmers!"

"Yikes," Chat Noir shuddered. "Talk about a circus of fear."

"The akuma has to be in his cane," said Ladybug. "We have to get past these freaks and get to him!"

"You vant my akuma? Pass my three trials!"

"Trials?"

To the left of Tökkentäkker, a haunted house burst out of the ground. The center, a ferris wheel, roller coaster and bumper cars. To the right, a freak show. "Defeat my minions in zese three areas, and you may proceed to the big top! Hopefully, you will be defeated before that happens!" He slammed his cane once more and he and his troupe sunk into the ground before either Ladybug or Chat Noir can stop him.

"What do we do now?" asked Chat Noir.

Ladybug groaned with impatience. "I do NOT have time for this! Three trials?! I am too busy to deal with this!"

"Take it easy," said Chat Noir. "We just have to take our time and get through these 'trials' of his."

If only you had all the time in the world, huh, Ladybird Beetle?

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked around, but they couldn't see who was talking. "Did you hear that?" asked Ladybug.

"Yeah," said Chat Noir. "But who..."

Down here, you bimbos!

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked down. At their feet was an ornate green mask with red eyes looking up at them. They recognized it right away. "The Mask of Loki!"

Yeah, it's me, you two simpletons! Now, would one of you put me on so we can rescue my owner from that crazy ringleader?

"Heck no," said Ladybug as she picked it up. "As a matter of fact, you're coming with me to Master Fu! He'll make sure you don't cause any more trouble."

Did you say you didn't have the time to deal with this carnival gone wrong? Put me on and I can help you put it all to a screeching halt.

For a moment, Ladybug seemed tempted. But she shook her head. "No. We're going to do this the old fashioned way," she said.

"How did you get separated from Big-Head," Chat Noir asked it. "I thought he never took you off."

Eh, he's been having a bad mood lately. So much so he forgot to put me on just as an akuma possessed that stupid kid. Fucking idiot. Look, if none of you will put me on and put a stop to this the easy way, then at least do me a solid and head over to that shooting gallery.

"What shooting gallery?"

The one behind you, puddy tat.

"I don't see any..." BOOM! A shooting gallery burst out of the ground, knocking the two heroes off their feet. "Oh!"

Now, pick up those guns and go with the flow, babes.

Ladybug inspected the gun she picked up. "Wait. Is this real?! I've never used a gun before!"

"I have," said Chat Noir. "It just so happens I've gone hunting before."

Ladybug was surprised to hear that. "You have? Then you carry them both."

"Sorry, these guns require two hands."

She exhaled in frustration. "I don't wanna do this."

"I don't think we have a choice. So, where should we go first? The haunted house, the rides or the freak show?" When Ladybug didn't respond, Chat Noir pointed to the attractions. "Eenie, meenie, miney...skip it. Haunted house."

Welcome to the Haunted House. Meet a ghoul who lost her head. If you'd like to stay and join us, you're always welcome...ALIVE OR DEAD!

The haunted house was crawling with zombies that popped out of the floor and walls. Ladybug whimpered as she hid behind Chat Noir as he blasted away with the shotgun. "It's a good thing my hunting lessons are paying off," Chat Noir said to himself before asking out loud, "Hey, aren't you enjoying this?"

"No!" shouted Ladybug. "I'm not a huge fan of horror! All this blood, and guts, and brain matter, it's...URP!" She put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from vomiting.

"Look, I cannot do this alone," the cat hero said as he jumped out of the way to avoid being bitten by a giant spider. He shot it in the face, making it explode in a rain of guts. "I could really use your help," he said as he wiped a leg off his shoulder.

Ladybug made an uncomfortable whine, then hesitantly fired at a zombie's chest, blowing a huge hole in it as it died. "Why am I doing this? I don't like using this level of violence."

"I don't like it either," Chat Noir said as they cleared the kitchen of zombies. "But it's a good thing these are just magic constructs and not actual people."

"That would explain why they look alike."

As they walked down a hall, the wall suddenly shook. "M-Must be termites," whimpered Ladybug. They heard a loud growl. "Very big termites." A giant fist suddenly punched its way out of the wall and a huge hunchback with a cannon for an arm burst out.

"RRRRRRRRRHAMMMBONNNNEEE!" he roared, firing his cannon at the heroes, who ducked out of the way.

"Is that...Officer Roger?!" exclaimed Ladybug.

Roger roared and fired his cannon at the heroes. The ducked behind a corner and Chat Noir returned fire. "Looks like our friends aren't the only people Tökkentäkker transformed," he said. "We gotta get rid of him to push onward!"

"How?" asked Ladybug as a cannonball wizzed by.

"Like this!" Chat Noir plugged the cannon with his staff, resulting in it exploding and Officer Roger, or rather Hambone, falling onto his back. Then he turned back into Officer Roger. He groaned as he looked around. "Where am I?"

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You're safe."

"I don't feel safe! And are you two carrying guns?!"

"No time for gun safety lectures," said Chat Noir. "Just head for the shooting gallery and wait there." They watched the cop leave by taking a back door. "Now let's get on with this carnival fun house gone horribly..."

Before he could finish his sentence, something plowed him and Ladybug out a window and into a cemetery. A memorial glowed, then exploded into little pebbles. What stood in where it once was was a woman in Georgian era clothing and carried an axe in one hand and seemed to be holding her head in place with the other. Ladybug could see why when she realized the woman was decapitated and was trying to keep her head from falling off. She recognized the woman's face. "That's Chloe's mom, Mrs. Bourgeois!"

"I am not a mom! I AM EVIL MARIE!" The woman swung the huge axe, missing the two kids and hit the large gravestone behind them.

What are you waiting for?! Shoot her! Shoot her!

"Shut up!" Ladybug screamed at the Mask. She twirled her yo-yo as she said, "We're doing it MY way!" She wrapped it around the axe and yanked it out of Evil Marie's hands before she punched her in the face, sending her flying into an obelisk-shaped tombstone. Then in she changed back into Mrs. Bourgeois, who looked around, confused.

"Chloe? Andre? Where are they?"

"Somewhere in this crazy carnival," said Ladybug. "But we'll get them back, I promise."

"You'd better," said the fashion empress. "Jean-Pierre is supposed to be making us dinner! Or was it Jean-Thomas?"

"Tell you what? Why don't you wait at the shooting gallery and we'll figure out the details.

What goes up must come down, now you're heading for Rickety Town! Ride all the rides, have some fun...THEN EAT YOUR HEART OUT ON A SESAME SEED BUN!

"Looks like Christmas came early," said Chat Noir as he and Ladybug climbed onto an old wooden roller coaster and ascended upward, shooting Christmas elves along the way.

"Good thing we don't have to deal with Santa Claws again," said Ladybug. Her eyes widened as she saw the track leading to the dip at the top of the hill was gone. "Uh...I think we have to get off."

"Where? There's nowhere to go!"

Ladybug looked around, then she saw a way out: a ferris wheel being turned by a giant Paul Bunyan animatronic. "There! On the ferris wheel!"

The duo jumped off the car and onto the ferris wheel where they were attacked by giant bugs as they were lowered to the ground.

Come on and ride! Big Bunyan Ride! No place to hide! Big Bunyan Ride! Come on inside! Big Bunyan Ride! We'll ride and ride! Into the night! YOU WILL SCREAM AND CRY AND THEN YOU'LL DIE! (Then you'll die, then you'll die, then you'll die...)

When they reached the bottom, they found themselves greeted by smiling mechanic zombies. "There's so many of them!"

"So? We've dealt with more than one enemy," Chat Noir said after he shot them down.

They ran past the smileys and into another section of the park, one that was clearly dinosaur themed, what with all the plastic fossils, spinning egg ride and creepy dinosaur mascots with sharp teeth and claws. Ladybug used her yo-yo to knock their teeth out, making them flee in pain.

Why don't you try that power up over there, kitty?

Chat Noir looked at the canister the Mask was talking about and his eyes widened. "Acid bath?!"

Give it a try! You're going to need it to get past these guys.

"These guys" where the zombies running the various food stands. Ladybug used her yo-yo to block the food they were throwing at them while Chat Noir used the acid bath to melt the flesh off their bones. Frankly, it made him queazy despite the fact he knew these things were constructs and not real people.

"Sorry, I'm not hungry," Chat Noir said as he fired the acid wash at the zombies...and then ran out. "Guess I'm back to using this," he said as he started using the regular gun again.

"I still don't like it," Ladybug said as she used her yo-yo to fling a zombie rushing at her away. And then she came to regret it when it landed in a vat of oil. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry," said Chat Noir. "They're not real, remember!"

"Still..."

They continued their attack in the bumper car rides, where more of those smiling zombies appeared, riding on the cars and trying to hit them with wrenches. Ladybug swatted them out of the cars. Another zombie tried to douse them with gasoline and throw a lit match at them, but Chat Noir shot at the bottle, spraying gas all over the zombie, which immediately caught flames thanks to the match.

Just then, the car the heroes were on crashed through the wall and they found themselves on the track of the roller coaster they were on earlier. "Hey, we're back," said Ladybug as the car climbed up.

"Hold on tight," Chat Noir said as they went down the hill and crashed through a fence. The next thing they knew, they were in an ice rink with a large Christmas tree in the center. Suddenly, the tree spun around, revealing a large chair and sitting in it was a man wearing a blue Santa Claus suit and gold ice skates. He had a long, scraggily beard, reindeer horns and claws made from pine trees. "I AM KRAMPUS!"

"Didn't we fight this guy already," Chat Noir asked as he and Ladybug jumped out of the bumper car and onto the ice. They regretted not using their ice powers as they found themselves slipping across the ice and landing on their butts.

Ladybug seemed to recognize the face despite the fact that it had an ugly beard. She exclaimed, "That's Andre the ice cream man!"

"Well, at least it's not that Santa Claws guy we fought before," said Chat Noir as he began to fire at the evil Santa, but Ladybug stopped him. "What are you doing?"

"I don't want you to shoot him! I'm going to stop him that doesn't involve this unnecessary violence!" She tied her yo-yo's strings around Krampus' legs and flung him into the giant chair, knocking him out cold and turning him back into the friendly ice cream man Andre.

"Nice moves," said Chat Noir. "You can string me along any time."

Ladybug pinched the bridge of her nose. "I do NOT want to deal with your lame puns right now. Let's just finish the last challenge."

It's the Freak Show, the Freak Show! See the strange and bizarre. Step right up, we'd like to see you! We think you could be the star!

The first creatures that attacked Ladybug and Chat Noir? Hideous flies with human heads that buzzed around their heads. They shot the flies down before they could attack. Then they went to the exhibits where they were attacked by a horde of conjoined twins and eight-legged spider monkeys.

Then they blasted their way through a fun house dubbed, "The Fly Trap." At first, they were confused as to why it was called that. It looked like an ordinary living room. Until the floor gave way and they found themselves staring down at a pit of a yellow slime with maggots with human faces crawling about in it. They leaped out and tried to knock the heroes into the slime, but Chat Noir shot them before they got the chance.

The next exhibit the duo entered was the Museum of the Slightly Curious, a more morbid version of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Inside were more freaks that popped out from behind the displays, ranging from a limbless man, a hunchback, a bird woman, a giantess and a dwarf, all armed to the teeth with spears, knives and clubs. Ladybug used her yo-yo to bind them up and trap them in a coffin.

"I think we found where all these spider monkeys are coming from," said Chat Noir as they made their way to the Monkey House, where they were attacked by a troop of vicious monkeys that tried to bite them.

They left the monkey house only to find their path blocked by a two-headed cyclops wearing middle ages armor and carrying a sickle sword. "I AM EYECLOPS!" He swung the sword, but Chat Noir blocked it with his staff.

"I know that voice," said Chat Noir. "It's Mr. D'Argencourt, the fencing instructor!" Eyeclops swung the sword wildly, but the heroes dodged it. But then one lucky strike hit Chat Noir in the arm, making him yell in pain. "Ha, ha, ha! I am the master swordsman!" Chat Noir rolled out of the way before he could slash him with the sword again.

"I got an idea," said Ladybug. She twirled her yo-yo and helped Chat Noir up. "Get ready to strike his eyes. I'll hit the left, you hit the right."

"Right. No, wait, is it left?"

"Ugh! Just pick an eye and hit it on three!"

"Alright!"

"One...two...THREE!" Ladybug threw her yo-yo at the left eye and Chat Noir threw his staff at the right. Eyeclops let out a yell before he fell down on his back and changed back into Mr. D'Argencourt. "Wh-Where am I? This isn't my fencing school!"

"You got turned into a minion," said Ladybug. "But Chat Noir and I saved you."

"You did? Oh, thank you both."

"You should probably head for the shooting gallery," said Chat Noir. "It's where other rescued people are hiding out."

"Oh, I will," said Mr. D'Argencourt as he took off running.

The next exhibit they went to, the Chamber Of Horrors, was basically a medieval torture chamber with zombie gimps everywhere. "I think I'd rather do the haunted house than go through this," said Ladybug in disgust as she used her yo-yo to whack at the zombies' groins with her yo-yo.

"Me too," said Chat Noir as he shot at them. "They really don't leave much to imagination when it comes to clothing."

There's another power up over there by the rack if you'd like.

Following the Mask's direction, Chat Noir took the power up and he and Ladybug were shocked to see what it was. "A FLAMETHROWER?!" screeched the latter.

"Better than nothing," said Chat Noir as he blasted at the gimps at full power.

The next room the heroes went into was what looked like a meat processing plant. They watched as huge slabs of meat were being fed into a grinder before the liquified remains were poured into giant bowls that were being carted out of the building. Curious, they followed the people delivering the bowls, which led them to what looked like a giant play place.

Chat Noir plugged his nose. "Ew. What smells like diaper powder?"

Don't wake the baby.

"What baby?" asked Ladybug.

Suddenly, something roared, "MAAAAMAAAA!" Rising up from a giant crib was a giant Frankenstein Monster baby, armed with a skull rattle. Ladybug recognized him immediately. "That's August! He's been turned into Gigantitan again!"

"More like Frankentitan," said Chat Noir as the monster baby smashed his way out of the crib and roared at them. He chased the heroes into a doll house where it tore the roof off and tried to spew acidic bile at them, but they dodged just in time. The cat hero looked down at the flamethrower and said, "I suddenly don't feel like using this," before throwing it away. "Any ideas of how to calm a Frankenbaby, Bugaboo?"

Ladybug could only think of one. "HEY! Junior! Over here!" The monster baby turned his attention to Ladybug, who cleared her throat and began to sing.

"Hush, my baby, don't cry a peep
The moon's in the sky
Let's count the sheeeeeeeep

"1, 2, 3, 4
Hush-hush, shush, shhh, snore...
Not wah, blaaaa, raaah, or roar

"1, 2, 3, 4
Hush-hush, shush, shhhh, snore

"1, 2, 3, 4...
Sleep tight, not a sound, 'til morn."

It seemed to work as Junior began to sway, yawn, then collapse on his back and began to snore. Then in a puff of smoke, he changed back into August. "We'll take him to the shooting gallery," said Ladybug as she picked him up. "I'm sure his mother is worried sick."

They completed all three challenges. Now it was time stop Tökkentäkker.