Next few chapters will be going about how the heroes will prepare for the upcoming final battle.
Sorry again for the delay. Life is not kind to me. I'm distracted, I'm tired, and I'm finding it more difficult to write. I wnat to move on to other projects. I really wnat to try to finish this fic as fast but also as correct as possible. But so many delays. HOpe you guys can forgive me.
I have the week off now, so I hope to write another chapter at least before it ends.
Lysander sat opposite of his uncle Sebastien, whom looked sheepish. The man sighed as he looked sad and defeated. Lysander decided to break the silence. "So…when were you going to tell me that Latombe, the supervillain, was my father?"
"I'll be honest, I hoped you'd never had to find out." Sebastien said.
"And you think I didn't have a right to know?" Lysander tried to sound angry. But he sounded more disappointed. Which may make it somehow work for Sebastien.
"The problem is…how do you tell a kid that their father is a convicted serial killer. And the worst was, we didn't find out until that one faithful news report that revealed his colors to the world. It destroyed your mother…and you were all that was left. I didn't want the truth to destroy you like it did to her." Sebastien said.
"I can understand in a way. But with him having returned, and being dangerous enough to get the attention of the Miraculous team…why didn't you ask for help?" Lysander asked.
"Because I was scared and stupid. He knew where we lived Lysander. Passing on that info the Miraculous team, it would let the truth come out and…maybe for Latombe to lash out against us if we shared his history. I'm not a hero, I am just a single uncle whom has to play a mascot to get by." Sebastien said as he buried his face in his hands. "I…I failed you, I failed my sister. I could not protect you from this and…you have every right to be upset with me."
Lysander looked down. Part of him wanted to be mad. But part of him…his uncle basically raised him. "I am not happy that you haven't told, but I also understand that it is not something easily said. When I learned…it was diminished by the fact that he was dead at that point and maybe if I had learned it prior, I may have reacted more intensely. But at this point, it's a bit too late to think about it." Lysander took another deep breath. "I am not mad, but at the moment I just…want to be left alone for a bit. I'll be in my room."
"Sure, take the time you need. Stay in your room, go out with friends or that girlfriend, whatever you need to process this." Sebastien noted.
"I cannot do much of the latter, my friends are all…working on a project. I don't think I could be much of a help to them." Lysander noted. "And me and Kagami broke up."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that…" Sebastien wondered.
"It's ok. We were hanging out more as friends rather than a couple. We like each other but she's not the one for me. And we're still on good terms. I guess I just…need a bit of distance from everything for a while."
"Oh…I understand." Sebastien noted. "Before you leave there is something else I need to tell. It may not be the right moment, but I'm no longer keeping secrets. Me and Gerard are planning on tying the knot. And I thought you should know, and if it will be any trouble."
"No, not at all. He's a good guy. And you deserve to be happy." Lysander said.
"That's a relief…" Sebastien said.
"Yeah…going to my room now." Lysander said as he left the scene. His uncle was left, sitting on the coach, hands in his hair and staring at the ground.
Lysander had put on a DVD of his favorite comedian Harry Clown. But even that didn't cheer him up. His friends were heroes, and they were going through hard training for the next inevitable thing so any social activities were put on hold. He wasn't sure if he wanted to look his uncle in the face now. His life felt like a mess. "And I said 'Get out of here!'" came from the tv set as the crowd laughed at the comedian on screen, but he didn't.
He felt a bit lonely now. Maybe he should see his friends? However, he gave up his Miraculous. He wanted distance to deal with the revelation. But now he didn't have anyone to talk to. Was he wrong? Would he need to be a hero at all? They just needed numbers the last time, but they wouldn't need him for what's to come, right? Was he a coward, for wanting a normal life? To get away from everything after recent revelations? Lysander just stopped his program, and buried his face in his pillow. Wondering what the others were doing now…
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ranger Blaze (Kiva) delivered fiery punches and kicks at Carapace. Carapace was easily able to dodge the blows, or create small light shields on his hands or forearms to deflect the blows. "Come on, dude! Faster, harder! I'm one of the slower wielders, but you are not keeping up. Put some oomph into it." Ranger Blaze's eyes glowed, he growled and then started launching his punches more rapidly and forward. Carapace just held his forearms up, which glowed green with protective energy. "It's hitting harder, but your blows are straightforward. Don't aim at one spot. Try to find a weakness, find a way to actually hit me."
Ranger Blaze inhaled. Steam came off of him as he shot forward and started to launch punches and kicks in a less predictable pattern, looking for the right angle to hit Carapace. "You are getting it, good. Keep going!" Though Ranger Blaze wasn't able to break through even the milder shielding of Carapace. Ranger Blaze started to pant…if only his reinvigorating and enhancing Phoenix powers worked on himself…wait, could it work on himself?
Ranger Blaze tried it out. He summoned his fiery phoenix aura. Then he channeled it in his foot, which glowed with burning hot white flames. He shot up and launched a flying kick. Carapace's forearms went up again and glowed green, btu as the kick hit it, Carapace was knocked backwards and the sound of glass shattering came. His forcefield on his arms had cracked. "You found a new way to apply your power. Good. You're improving." Carapace took his shield of his back. "Now I can stop holding back a little."
"Wait, what?" Ranger Blaze asked surprised. Suddenly Carapace closed the distance, moving faster then a Turtle wielder was expected. Ranger Blaze tried to throw a punch, but it bounced off the shield, and Carapace whacked him hard with the shield, sending him flying.
Eryer (Reece) flew in the air, trying to match Queen Bee. They shot around, but Queen Bee dodged all the sky tackles Eryer tried to land on her. "Come on, bird boy. You can do it. You're supposed to be the eagle. Aren't they like king of the skies? Though don't quote me on that, I am pants at biology." Eryer then drew out some feather darts and threw them at Queen Bee. But she deflected it with her trompo. "Don't throw them straight ahead. Aim them, keep me guessing."
Eryer then pulled out more feathers, juggled them a bit and started picking and throwing them out of the air at random and throwing them. Queen Bee deflected several more with her trompo, but one slipped through and she leaned her head aside to dodge that. "Ok, that's better. Let's take it up a notch." She then summoned a small swarm of her bee drones.
"What? That's not fair!" Eryer noted.
"In real life it's not always going to be one-on-one, rookie." Queen Bee said as she shot the bees at Eryer. Eryer flew around avoiding the stings of the bees. But between them and Queen Bee he couldn't take hold of all of them. As they charged at the same time, he projected his eagle-like soul self around him to slow them down and hold them back. But they pushed at each side of the soul self. Eryer strained to keep it up. But then he pushed onwards, projected the soul self outwards…and it split in several smaller astral eagles which each tore into the bee drones, whom faded away.
"What?" Eryer asked surprised as the astral eagles returned to him.
"Oh, a new trick. You can split your soul self. You are unlocking more powers. Now, let's see if we can recreate that trick." Queen Bee said as she swung her trompo. Eryer readied himself, more confident for the next round. "Stand still!" Queen Bee said, an echo in her voice and Eryer suddenly couldn't move.
"You don't know how many Akuma tried brainwashing or creating minions. We have to learn each and every one of you how to resist compulsions. Now try to throw mine off…before they get to you." Queen Bee said as she summoned more bees. Eryer was feeling far less confident now.
Gharial (Scott) swung his crocodile-shaped bear trap around like a long range biting weapon, snapping at various copies of Rena Rouge, only for all of them to fade when he snaps it up. Gharial felt being hit in the back of his head, only to turn and around and find more Renas.
"In battle, not only trust what you see. Enemies will have dirty tricks. Use your brain." One Rena said. "Otherwise, you'll be kicked around like a soccer ball." A second Rena said. "So try to guess, don't be amiss…among all of us the true me is." A third said mystically.
That was difficult. The illusions have become more real. They hear right, they look right…hell, they even smell right. They even have shadows so how could he distinguish the illusions. He felt another knock in his back and he quickly turned around launching his beartrap, but it went through again. It hit the ground though and kicked up of dust…then he got it. He launched his bear trap into the ground, burying the jaws inside. Then he ran and pulled at the jaws, whom scraped across the ground and kicked up some dust.
The dust went around the area, and Gharial looked at the particles. The particles floated around, going through most of them. But they didn't go through one. He shot out his bear trap…and Rena caught it in her hand. "That's good. Step one: seeing through glamours is successful. Now the second step: deal with the enemy whom goes all out after the parlor tricks have failed."
"Oh crud…" Gharial said as he realized that was the easy part…it is going to get harder now. And then Rena pulled him in, hard.
Roi singe was deflecting the blows that came from Aquara (aka Ondine) her shell weapon, which due to the seaweed-like string worked like Ladybug's yo-yo in a way. "You know it reminds me after my first few sparring matches against Ladybug when I was still green." He said as he kept deflecting the attacks. "Only I was on the receiving end and I was thrown to the ground many times. I hit the ground so much I felt like a woodpecker…only with dirt instead of wood."
"Oh, I won't be hitting the ground that easily. I'm more of a water person as you know." Aquara said as shot her shell weapon forward again. Roi Singe held out his staff to the point that the shell wrapped around the tip. Then he twisted it in a way and sent a whiplash across the wire that it bound Aquara's hands in her own string.
"This is a whole lot different then swimming practice. Unlike there, I'm the one ahead this time." Roi Singe said smugly. Aquara couldn't get untied, but she could still pull the shell towards her. She did as Roi Singe moved in. She acted on instinct and blew it, short range and it let out a loud thunderous sound that stunned Roi Singe. "Whoa…" he said.
"Whoa, I didn't think I could that." Aquara noted.
"What did you say, my ears are still ringing. I didn't know your shell could do that." Roi Singe noted.
Aquara got up again and had managed to untie herself. It was a mere sparring…but Aquara was competitive and she wanted to give her all. It's just…she may liked the shell weapon, fitting, she thought she would be more of a match for Roi Singe if she had a polearm of her own. But it was not like some would just pop into existence for her. Then the inside of her conch shell grew. "Huh?" she reached inside and felt something. She pulled it out…and it was a trident. She recalled Ladybug pulling weapons from past wielders out, was this the same?
"Now that is cool." Roi Singe noted. When Aquara closed the gap her trident clashed with his staff. "Though this is the first time you wielded one. You think you can handle it?"
"I learn fast as you know." Aquara said with a smirk.
Roborion (Markov) was up against the worst person you could want to spar with. "You disabled the Ultimate Mobilizer with a toothpick, an abba CD and a tapenade cracker." Roborion noted. Using his power to build the right tool for the job, thwarted by the most random of objects. "I saw you do it, but it was so illogical my processor didn't retain the info."
"That's life, my robotic buddy. It isn't always logical. That's why I spar with you." Pipistrello said. "People don't act logical, so you got to anticipate. Like that time I saw that tiramisu in the fridge…It was over date, but it still looked good and was tiramisu. I smelled it, and while some smells were familiar and some that were not, but it was freakin' tiramisu. Despite that I ate it because I love tiramisu. And spent all night in the bathroom, because of that tiramisu. You need to be that tiramisu, buddy!"
"Does not compute." Roborion said.
"Don't compute. Maxie made you more then a machine. You are…in a way human. So use that human part to think of something so illogical to throw others off. Something where logic can't take you." Pipistrello said.
"Well…against my logic programs, I will try." Roborion said as he lifted his omni-tool weapon. The scrap of nearby earlier created tech accumulated into something new. He took the device and started firing.
Pipistrello easily dodged of course. "I don't know what your weapon does yet, but I think you're not quite the-whowhowhowhowhowow!" Pipistrello started to slip and slide over the place as the floor was covered with cream pies. Slippery cream pies. "OK, you are getting there. Pie is a cliché but you are stepping out of your comfort zooooooooone!" Pipistrello said as she looked like a rookie going ice skating for the first time.
"It seems to be surprisingly effective in upsetting your equilibrium." Roborion said. But Pipistrello found her bearings again…and started to treat the slippery floor as an ice rink and doing skating tricks, all to the tune of Nutcracker music that came from…somewhere. "And again, the logics program is failing me."
Ryuko was now going up against not just Pink Prominent (Aurore), and not just Melek Taus (Jean), she also went up against a Mantis Sentimentel and a handful of the Butterfly Brigade. However, the butterfly drones were quickly dispatched with a sword swipe and poofed.
"Well, our numbers went down." Melek Taus said. "Can you whip up a few more?"
"I have limited energy, I rather save it for a single Tenshi instead of more Brigadeers. They won't last against someone like Ryuko." Pink Prominent said.
"I'm not sure if we can last against Ryuko." Melek Taus said as his blue mantis Sentimentel was clashing with his arm blades against Ryuko, whom expertly blocked, then she delivered a kick that knocked it back.
They had to take the sparring seriously and attacked from both sides. Pink Prominent drew her sword out of the cane/umbrella and Melek Taus pulled out his fans, but Ryuko was swift, it was like she knew what moves they'd make before she did. After finding their attacks deflected they found themselves quickly knocked on their back. "The Butterfly and Peacock are support. They can still bring forth great warriors…but it has to be the skill of the person behind the relic whom closes that gap. You are more then the Moth and Peacock because you don't only produce allies, you are willing to fight with those allies. If you have fight in you, show it to me!"
"Harsh…but true." Melek Taus said as he picked himself up. "Let's show her what we can do."
"I'm with you." Pink Prominent said. They got second wind. The two wielders and the Mantis rushed at Ryuko, attacking from three angles. Deflecting of blades were heard, first from the mantis, whom was pushed back as she stepped back to dodge a swipe of the Butterfly Cane sword, and ducked under a fan. She then caught a wrist that swept with the fan and threw Melek Taus into Pink Prominent. The mantis charged in and pushed back, but Ryuko rolled on her back, kicked the mantis in the stomach and kicked him in the sky, and he landed on the ground painfully.
"You have the guts, but you still lack experience. A warrior doesn't strike the hardest…the warrior strikes the right blow. Don't just rush, don't mindlessly lash and expect to get lucky. Think your strikes through." Ryuko said. She sounded like a really firm but fair fencing instructor.
"You want a well through out strike? Take this!" Pink Prominent opened up the tip of her cane and a few Tenshi flew out.
Ryuko sliced them apart with her sword. "You call that thought out? I deprived you of your greatest asset."
"No, I just needed one to get through." Pink Prominent said. Ryuko turned around. The Mantis had the last of the Tenshis. It swallowed it whole. It was then engulfed in light purple light and grew twice the height of the humans, and now had samurai armor and its forearms now resembled katana blades. "Meet the Slaying Mantis!"
"Tenshifying my Sentimentel, clever trick, sweetheart." Melek Taus said. "Now, Slaying Mantis! Go!"
Due to its size, and the added sword fighting skills of the Tenshi, Ryuko found that the mantis' strikes were swifter and more precise. Like a half decent sparring partner at the fencing school. However, she found that she could no longer focus on the three fighters at the same time, and Ryuko was tackled and held in an arm grip by Pink Prominent and Melek Taus. "We got you!" Pink Prominent said.
Ryuko smirked. "No…you forced me to fight seriously!" Her eyes glowed and she was engulfed in electricity. The shock knocked Melek Taus and Pink Prominent off her and they fell to the ground. She then charged her sword with electricity and sliced the Slaying Mantis in half, and he dispersed in blue and purple light. "Be glad, your training is doing well if you managed to get the drop on me."
"Not feeling glad now." Melek Taus said. "Out of juice, can't create another Sentimentel. Enough for a Tenshi, love?"
"Unfortunately not." Pink Prominent said. "So it is hand to hand from here one."
"This is going to suck." Melek Taus sighed.
"Whoa!" Ranger Blaze hit the ground after the spar with Carapace didn't end with him on the winning end. "Ouch!" he said dryly.
"Incoming!" the voice of Gharial said as he landed on Ranger Blaze. "Sorry RB. You okay?"
"I'm fine…Phoenix Miraculous…gives me good healing factor!" Ranger Blaze muttered.
Another scream and Eryer landed on top of them. "Oh, sorry Ghar. Did I hurt you?"
"Not too bad. Crocodile Miraculous. Gives me really tough skin. Only RB was at the bottom."
"Argfhl!" Ranger Blaze muttered after now being pinned under two teammates, whom scrambled to get up.
"I see your training wasn't much better then ours." Melek Taus said as he and Pink Prominent said, plopping down on the ground next to the other trio, looking exhausted.
"Yeah, sorry guys. But you knew we had to have you get somewhat caught up, and trained before Mahamayuri makes her next move. We warned you it'd be training form hell." Rena Rouge noted.
"We know…" Aquara said as she staggered onto the scene and sat down with the rest.
"My logic sensors must be defragged." Roborion muttered.
"You'll be fine. It'll be hard, but at the end of this you will be verified badasses in your own right." Carapace said.
"Take fifteen everyone. Then we continue." Queen Bee said.
"Fifteen? That's not enough time to rest!" Gharial noted.
"Unfortunately, in real life you are not always going to go in a fight well rested. Damn Hawkmoth and his late night Akumas…guy must have had insomnia or something." Rena Rouge muttered.
"How are Ladybug and Chat Noir doing, by the way?" Pink Prominent asked.
"Right now, they are with Fu. He is teaching them one last thing…the only thing he still has time for him to learn them. The Guardians' use of chi." Carapace explained; "Or at least some basics, from there they can figure out the rest and then pass it on to us."
"Oh is it like that chi in the backstory with the shockwaves and levitation and stuff, you know the Hollywood spirit monk thing?" Ranger Blaze asked.
"As RB put it, yes. It is kind of like that. Mostly because we have no other way of describing it." Queen Bee said.
"Who knew there would be so much truth in movies in that regard." Eryer noted.
"Fu doesn't have long, does he?" Melek Taus said. "LB and Chat already gave us the suspicion he is nearing the end of his rope."
"Probably will not make it to witness the final battle. So that's why he is teaching this last thing. He has to use the last time he has wisely." Carapace explained.
"And we'll have to hope it'll be enough. Fu didn't live this long to see the world he fought for die." Rena Rouge added.
The recruits noticed the solemn looks on their seniors' faces. "Then we will fight harder." Aquara said. "We know we are going through training of hell right now…but we will go through it as many times as we need."
"Yeah…sorry if we complained a bit earlier. It doesn't matter. We will train hard." Ranger Blaze said.
"We will get knocked down a thousand times over, if it means we can rise up stronger." Eryer added.
"Until the end." Gharial said.
"Together." Melek Taus and Pink Prominent said as they locked hands.
"Is this is what it feels like to be proud of someone?" Queen Bee wondered. She smirked.
"Get used to it, we're team moms and dads for the rookies now." Rena Rouge said.
"You know what, we'll give you thirty minutes instead of fifteen, just for that. But just this once." Carapace said.
"And we'll switch up sparring partners." Ryuko said. "Test your flexibility. Next I'll spark with you three." Ryuko pointed her blade at Eryer, Gharial and Ranger Blaze, whom paled.
"Good luck, she's relentless." Pink Prominent said half-jokingly.
"I just hope that I don't end up at the bottom of the pile again." Ranger Blaze sighed.