Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug, Cat Noir and Steel Butterfly.
Chapter 24: Gamer Averted.
(Author's notes: In this chapter, we'll see just how precisely Max Kante's Akumatization into The Gamer will be averted.
Also, there's gonna be a bonus scene in the chapter The Collector. It's a surprise though, and I've a feeling you readers are gonna love it. But here's a hint on what the bonus scene is about: it involves a journey to the center of the multiverse. It's up to you to determine what the entire surprise is based on that hint.
Enjoy chapter 24.)
(Quantic Universe Earth 139, Paris, France, May 19th, 2015, third person POV...)
In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette has just finished her lunch for the school day and is walking outside her parents' bakery to the school, having gotten a maximum of five minutes before she has to meet with Alya to research their terms papers.
At Francoise Dupont, Marinette and Tikki hear something coming from the library.
Marinette and Tikki quietly share a look and Tikki hides in Marinette's purse as she heads into the library.
To Marinette's surprise, the kids are in the library playing Marinette's favorite video game, Ultimate Mecha Strike III.
But then, Marinette suddenly remembers what Steel Butterfly had told her last night during patrol: the school was participating in a video game tournament to see who was the best at playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III, and Max worked so hard to participate that he'll easily get Akumatized if he doesn't get the first of two spots alongside the second best player. Especially if Marinette were to suddenly participate just to be with Adrien. That combined with her beating Max because of her own "supernatural" experience with the video game in question will easily be the catalyst to have Max Akumatized into The Gamer.
So, Marinette opted to sit back and let Adrien and Max have the competition since they've been working hard on getting their spots in the whole thing. After all, like Steel Butterfly had told her before that day, it's not worth it to get Max Akumatized into a video game supervillain with supernatural gaming skills, a giant upgradeable robot from the game, the ability to regenerate his robot, potential nigh-invulnerability, and reality bending simulators that can potentially put everyone in a giant video game with Gamer making all the rules.
Marinette heads into the library and asks Kim quietly, "Let me guess: the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III video game tournament?"
Kim replies just as quietly, "Yep. The tryouts are offering a partner to team up with Max in the tournament."
Marinette then inquires, "And I'm guessing that Max is participating because of the fact that he's unbeatable at this game?"
Kim replies in a whisper, "Yep. He's a total rock star, so to speak. He's got the highest APM over anyone!"
Marinette then quizzes, "What does APM stand for?"
Kim responds, "Actions per minute. This tournament is his whole life and he's been grinding all year to level up, so to speak."
On the screen, Adrien's robot, NAD03, uses his special attack on Max's robot, MX-01. MX-01 is crushed, literally, and NAD03 takes the win.
Ms. Bustier announces, "Adrien is now in the lead."
Kim quizzes, "What just happened, Max?"
Max replies, "Adrien used his special move on my robot. (Turns to Adrien) Awesome job, Adrien. We're gonna make a killer combo in the tournament."
Adrien and Max exchange a high five and the rest of the class cheers for them.
Mr. Damocles then announces, "Well, I think we have our two champions lined up for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III tournament."
Alya then asks aloud, getting everyone's attention, "Marinette, why don't you beat Max for his spot?"
Everyone looks at Marinette and she answers, "And risk getting Max Akumatized just because its common knowledge among our social circles that Max hates losing? I don't think so."
Max replies before asking out of curiosity, "Marinette, I appreciate your concern, and I appreciate that you want me to maintain my position in the tournament, but what makes you think I would get Akumatized if I lost?"
Marinette counters, "Well, before we met several years ago, I also gained a lot of experience in playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III thanks to the fact that I played the game with my dad on game nights. Plus, I'm well aware that you have been grinding your tuchus off to get your spot in this tournament and its common knowledge that you hate losing in any video game. As for you getting Akumatized, once you become Hawk Moth's servant, it's nearly impossible to outsmart him no matter how smart you are because Hawk Moth can see and hear everything that his servants can see and hear. Besides, Hawk Moth is a skilled liar who's able to make his Akumatized villains believe what he says about anyone trying to get the villains to stop their goals and find better solutions. In addition to that, Hawk Moth can literally inflict pain on his champions for disobeying his orders, and outright remove his champion's powers if they disobey him too many times. And on top of that, we all have to learn to deal with losses without getting ticked enough to get Akumatized because until the Heroes of Paris defeat Hawk Moth and any of his allies and future successors permanently by throwing them in prison, we can't have angry outbursts without Hawk Moth trying to take advantage of our negative emotions to Akumatize any of us."
Adrien adds, "I hate to say this, guys, but Marinette's right."
Marinette then says, "But if you want, Max, we can play Ultimate Mecha Strike III at my place sometime. But please don't be a sore loser about it behind even my back. After all, if Steel Butterfly finds out his efforts to help us in preventing you from being Akumatized fails, he is not gonna be happy about it. Not a single bit."
Max nods and approaches Marinette.
To everyone's surprise, Max actually hugged Marinette.
Even Ms. Bustier and Mr. Damocles were surprised at how much emotion Max was showing.
Soon, the library closes and the students get ready for the tournament the very afternoon later on while researching the term paper.
All the while, Steel Butterfly and Blueclaw were handling the new Akumatized villain of the day: Deeta Corcoran, also known as Dangerous Monarch, a supervillain with the ability to turn butterflies into big robotic butterfly-shaped attack drones and attack robots. In addition to the ability to make any nearby butterflies multiply into large numbers for Hawk Moth's Akumas.
Surprisingly, Steel Butterfly's own ability to control and manipulate butterflies overpowered Dangerous Monarch's own butterfly-related powers. Especially Steel Butterfly's ability to Tenshize more than one person into multiple superheroes via a multiplying Tenshi as long as the primary Tenshi has not transformed someone yet.
Steel Butterfly managed to Tenshize Ermelinda Tackett into Incredible Trident and Ermina Boudreaux into Scarlet Horse, the twosome having the same powers as Max Kante/Pegasus, Aquaman, Ocean Master and King Neptune.
After about three minutes, Dangerous Monarch was forced to retreat, but then, she was paralyzed by a scratch from the bluebird's claws.
Steel Butterfly destroyed the Akumatized object, a butterfly hairpin, and used his Miraculous Butterfly cure to fix the damages and return everything to normal.
Soon, the video game tournament went splendidly, with Francoise Dupont High School as the winner, with Adrien and Max representing their school.
In Marinette's bedroom, Miguel says to his two protégés, "The next Akumatization to prepare for is Alix's idiotic older brother, Jalil Kubdel, also known as The Pharaoh, a supervillain replica of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, or popularly known as King Tut. As The Pharaoh, he has the powers of every Egyptian god, including the ability to fly, the ability to create time bubbles that cause people to move and talk in slow motion if they run into one of them, and the ability to turn people into obedient mummies. As for the reasoning behind Jalil's Akumatization, he wants to perform an ancient Egyptian magic ritual to revive King Tut's wife, Queen Nefertiti, from the dead, but he chose to disregard the fact that his father could lose his job if the scroll needed for the ritual is touched, and Jalil hates it when people refuse to believe him or when people refuse to let him test out his theories regardless of the potential consequences. And unfortunately, Jalil's obsession with ancient Egyptian magic scrolls is gonna make him liable to be sentenced harshly by Christ to be tossed into the Lake of Fire at the end of days. In a nutshell, Jalil's fantasies and desire to prove his theories correct regardless of the consequences, especially in Hawk Moth's grasp, are all gonna be his end." Miguel snickers a bit as he adds, "And of a hilarious particular note, whenever someone enters the time bubbles by accident, their voices on the outside of the bubbles sound like men talking in deep voices at a slow enough pace that is not technically slow motion."
Miguel emphasizes this by showing Marinette and Adrien a hologram of Ladybug accidentally entering a time bubble.
Hologram Ladybug says, "Whoa! Oh, no! I ran right into one of those time bubbles! (Outside the time bubble) I've got to get out of this!"
Miguel, Leppey, Plagg, Adrien and Tikki burst into laughter.
Marinette just looks annoyed at how everyone was laughing at her in the hologram talking in slow motion.
Composing himself, Miguel says, "But seriously, that's not how people are supposed to talk in slow motion. This is how it's done: (imitates Optimus Prime talking in slow motion) Auuuuuuuttttttttttttoooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbooooooooooooooottttttttttttsssssssssssss, mmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ppppppppppppppooooooooooooooooossssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnssssssssssssss."
Everyone was surprised at how well Miguel impersonated his favorite Transformers character actually talking in slow motion.
But of course, Marinette said, "If you guys ever make fun of me talking in slow motion like that again, we'll just see how well you can move in slow motion when I get Miguel's remote."
Miguel laughed maniacally in response, "AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My remote is programmed to obey anyone legitimately sharing my DNA, including clones. Kind of like Judge Dredd's Lawgiver, if someone is not sharing my DNA and they try to use my remote, they get electrocuted. And the DNA scanners can also tell who's trying to use my DNA scans by usage of anything that copies someone's DNA. So don't even bother."
Steel Butterfly left and Adrien went home his now traditional way.
Marinette knew she had to prepare for the Akumatization of The Pharaoh, but she also wanted to make sure that Alya didn't get her hands on Marinette's history textbook.
Steel Butterfly had managed to tell Marinette about that little detail via telepathy.
Marinette prayed that she would be able to place the textbook into her yoyo. Because even Steel Butterfly is aware that it's the wrong time and place for Alya and the rest of Ms. Bustier's class to know the truth of Marinette's many successes, including her success in showing up for school on time and getting her schoolwork and her homework done on time as meticulously as possible.
The End.
(Author's notes: In the next chapter, The Pharaoh will have to contend with Steel Butterfly's version of Archangel representing the one true God and purely to show Hawk Moth and The Pharaoh that when it comes to transforming people into variants of real life and comic book characters, two can play that game. But in the battle to come, who will win, the Akumatized version of the real life King Tut, or the Tenshized version of Michael the Archangel merged with the Archangel from Marvel Comics? We'll find out.
Also, there'll be a bonus scene in preparation for the twenty-sixth chapter, which is the Volpina chapter. Do you know what the bonus scene entails? Here it is: telling Alya Cesaire the truth about Lila Rossi with physical evidence while taking into consideration Alya's reaction to finding out about Lila becoming Hawk Moth in the future and how far she's willing to go to make the lives of Marinette and Ladybug a living hell. Of course, since this is MY story, let's just say Alya is gonna do whatever she can to make sure that Lila doesn't garner any attention or sympathy, even if it means writing on the school blog that Steel Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir told her all about Lila's lies and her crimes, and to take everything she says with a large dump truck shovelful of salt.
See you all in chapter 25: The Pharaoh vs. Archangel.