HayamiHinata: Yeah, who knew Spectra contained a bit of foreshadowing? It occurred to me as I was writing how many opportunities for akumas she gave Hawk Moth that week.
LaViolaViolaRosa: I can't take any credit for Spectra; she was a ghost in the original show that contributed to one of the most important episodes of DP. I am trying to include original akumas when I believe the story calls for them.
Jahoan: Well said about the comparison between Spectra and Vlad. Yeah, Hawk Moth was so confused by all the misery and he wasn't even to blame for it. Good point about how Spectra and Bertrand may have slipped under the radar; it makes sense with how Ember was able to become popular and famous in her episode.
Pokémon fan 1991: Yeah, Danny escaped being akumatized this time thanks to the crowd of negative emotions around him.
Danifan3000: First, I suspect the reason Hawk Moth didn't do that until the season 2 finale in canon and not here is because he didn't figure out he could use that loophole yet. Second, I've already stated before that I am not going to include the magical charms in this project because I hate them and I think they are pointless.
Matt: Yeah, a reoccurring flaw of Marinette's is how she lets her feelings toward Adrien cloud her judgment on important calls, such as choosing him for the Snake Miraculous first instead of Luka. I think Fu's argument about the secret identity thing had some merit early on when the team was still new to being heroes, but I think after how they handled Hero's Day, they should have earned the right to make a reveal to friends they implicitly trust so they may have a wider support network. That contrast with Danny having friends share his secret from the beginning is part of what makes the comparisons in the fic so interesting. I do plan on doing Dark Owl; Damocles hasn't appeared as much as Lancer, but he is in the fic.
Rosetrang628: Thanks! I wanted to give an answer of where the strap on the thermos came from after it started to appear in canon, and it was a neat way to integrate more of Marinette's fashion hobby. I won't say much about the love square and their rivals other than I have plans for all that. Beauty pageant episode and the others you mentioned are a while away yet so we'll see about them when we get there. Thanks for the fic rec!
Jebest4781: Thanks!
Okami2312: Thanks for reading! Glad to have you here! We'll see who Danny and Marinette end up with.
King of Fans: True about Kagami and the Dragon Miraculous in Heart Hunter. Both sides of the argument have merit, and that's why the fandom is so divided on Marinette's choice on that. Yeah, the episode was so important to Danny and Jazz's connection with each other, so I had to keep the heroes busy. Glad you understood why Danny managed to not get akumatized during Spectra's appearance. I wanted to explain where the strap on the thermos came from, and Marinette seemed like an obvious answer here. Not sure how it got there in canon, but whatever. True about Jack and Maddie; they are quite oblivious to their children stashing weapons away for themselves to use. Yeah, Spectra is one of the darker enemies in Danny's villain gallery. You have a point about her second appearance. Interesting suggestions for a more helpful school counselor; mind if I file that idea away for later?
Dyna-Man 21: I've already explained that there are some ghosts and akumas that occur more privately in the heroes' lives. Spectra was very important to the development of Danny and Jazz's sibling bond, and I felt getting Ladybug and Chat Noir involved would have messed that up. I know you want to see all three heroes together at every fight, be on the same page, but the truth of the matter is that's not going to happen. That is particularly true for this first story in the series; for them to be on the same page, they must get there first. I'm trying to give them turns in the spotlight to develop and grow like any show worth its salt does, so the point where they are finally on the same page makes sense narratively and is more satisfying. Please understand that.
Leonardo: Yeah, I am working hard to make continuity and consequences relevant, something ML fails at most of the time. I heard ML had gotten renewed for an eighth season when it's currently only on season five, and I worry how many more holes in the plot they can create if they stretch it out to twelve seasons.
Erica phoenix16: Thanks for reading!
Before we begin, I have a few extra notes. Firstly, I do not tolerate discourse in my review section. A Guest reviewer tried to call King of Fans an idiot for expressing their opinion about the Heart Hunter debacle and Fu's competency as a school counselor; I deleted that review immediately after I saw it. Keep personal insults and discourse out of my review section. Understand?
Second, friendly reminder that speculation about future chapters and what you want to see is okay, but please leave a comment about the chapter I just worked very hard on if you intend to speculate.
Finally, Two Kinds has a TVTropes page, so if you think of any trope examples for it, go ahead and add them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.
One Kind of Gaming Competition
"Marinette, come on! Let's go!"
"Coming!"
Hurrying down the stairs and nearly tripping over herself in her haste, Marinette joined Alya in the family bakery below her apartment. Greeting each other, the two best friends made their way through to the front.
"Bye, Papa!" Marinette kissed her father on the cheek as she passed him, then hugged her mother at the register. "Bye, Mama!"
"Oh, Marinette!" Her father called out suddenly, and the two teen girls stopped their exit to see Tom hurrying over to them, a paper in his hand. "Don't forget that the tryouts for the Ultra Mecha Strike 3 tournament are after school today."
Marinette took the sheet from him, and recognized it as a flyer she had brought home a few weeks ago. It advertised a gaming tournament being held for high schools across the state. She remembered first hearing about it during morning announcements one day, and eagerly snatching a flyer from one of the bulletin boards to show her parents since they spent family nights playing video games. [1]
"That's right! Thanks for reminding me." With everything going on, Marinette had honestly forgotten that was happening.
Tom smiled supportively at his daughter. "Whether you get in or not, we'll be proud of you for trying."
Walking around the register to join the conversation, Sabine leaned against her husband. "It really is a special opportunity. It's not every day there's a video game tournament held by the school."
"I'll do my best. You both have a good day too." Still holding the flyer in hand, Marinette started to walk out of the bakery.
"Bye, Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Cheng!" Alya followed her. As the two friends walked the block to Casper High, Alya grinned at her bestie. "It's so cool that your parents want you to try out for the tournament."
"Yeah, they're great." Marinette glanced at the flyer. "Just imagine, Alya. If whoever from Casper High gets in and wins, that means more money for the school budget."
The state department of education was looking to give out some extra money it had leftover to a school, but couldn't come to an agreement on where the funds should go, so they took a diplomatic approach and organized a state-wide contest to decide the receiver. Since video games were highly popular for the age group that would be receiving the money, they chose Ultra Mecha Strike 3, the most popular game release in the past year, as the competition's game.
"That would be cool, and as your bestie, I would get bragging rights," joked Alya.
Both girls chuckled before Marinette added, "Let's wait until I actually get in before you prepare to brag, alright?"
They arrived at their school, and headed toward their lockers to arrange their things before homeroom. However, as they turned a corner, they witnessed a horrifying sight.
Dash shoved Max against some lockers.
"This-this is highly unproductive," Max stammered out.
Laughing at the younger boy's comment, Dash glanced over his shoulder to Kwan and Dale. "What do you think, guys? Wedgie, wet willie, or locker stuffing?"
"Eh, I'm leaning toward wedgie. Kwan?" Dale asked his teammate.
"A wet willie is sure to wake him up. It's still pretty early," Kwan said.
Watching the bullying from a few feet away, Marinette and Alya both bristled at their classmate being tormented. Just when it seemed like either was ready to step in, someone else beat them to it.
"Lay off, Dash!"
Kim wrenched Dash's hand off Max's shirt, and pushed the older boy into his fellow A-listers. As Kwan and Dale stumbled to catch Dash before he tipped the three of them over, Kim took a defensive stance in front of Max.
Dash scoffed, regaining his balance with his friends' help. "Look, guys. Little Lean and Mean here is protecting Kant Throw a Football."
"Walk away, man. Walk away," Kim ordered, crossing his arms.
"You know we can just beat you up too, right? It's three against one." Dash pounded a fist into a palm.
Kim nodded. "I know, but while you guys may have power as A-listers, the B-listers still have power too. What do you think would happen if I had to explain to the track and field coach why I can't be at practice this week?"
The four athletes stared each other down for a minute until Kwan huffed. "Leave him be for now. We'll get him some other time." He stomped away, then Dale did, and Dash made a warning gesture to Kim and Max before following his teammates.
Once the football players were out of sight, Kim turned to check on Max. "You alright, dude? Nothing injured?"
Max shook his head. "Aside from light bruising on my back, I should be fine. Thank you for stepping in."
Kim looped an arm around the geek's shoulders. "No problem. I got your back."
"I'm glad you're both okay," Marinette said as she and Alya finally decided to approach.
Alya frowned deeply. "The nerve of those guys, seriously. Is it just me, or have they ramped up the bullying lately?"
"I can confirm. According to the statistics shared with me by other students that fit my, um, category, the A-listers have increased their bullying by at least twenty-five percent as of recent," Max agreed.
As the four of them walked to homeroom together, Marinette and Alya's intention of visiting their lockers first forgotten, Marinette had to wonder if the escalation in bullying incidents was due to Spectra's recent drain of everyone's spirit and the A-listers' need to seemingly make up for lost bullying opportunities that week.
Having been on the receiving end of Chloe's bullying for years, the idea that more was happening frustrated her. Looking at Alya, it was apparent she had even less patience for the mistreatment given her fiery temper.
Alya visibly fumed as she and Marinette sat down in their seats. Kim and Max went to their own seats, retelling the confrontation to any of their classmates that listened.
"It all happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to record any solid proof," Alya ranted, her phone now in hand and gripping it tight. "It's so unfair that kids like the A-listers get away with stuff like that just because they play the most popular sport in school, or their families have influence in the city. They're almost old enough to attend college and live on their own, they should be held accountable for their behavior by now!"
Marinette agreed with all that was said. "So, what are you going to do?"
Alya glanced over with a fire in her eyes. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to protest this, and dig up stories about what happens when bullying goes unchecked. Once I post some online, the school will have to do something about it."
For the entirety of that morning's homeroom period, Alya was hyper-focused on her mission. While the rest of the class chatted about the tournament tryouts or scrambled to finish homework that was due for a class later in the day, Alya not once looked up from her phone. Once classes actually started, she was forced to put what she found aside and pay attention to her teachers.
At lunch, Marinette had to remind her to eat, and she did so while simultaneously continuing her research. The rest of the table looked concerned about Alya's intense concentration, but once Marinette explained, they understood and didn't poke at her business further.
After the final class let out, Marinette followed the other students that intended to try out for the tournament to the library, where a widescreen TV and a console was setup. Looking around, she noticed that among her competition was Danny, Sam, Tucker, Max, and Adrien. Most of their homeroom was there too, but they were spectating and supporting their classmates. She spotted Chloe and Sabrina far away from the group gathered around the TV, but didn't call any attention to it since they were texting on their phones.
"Alright, here's how it's going to work," Lancer said, appearing to oversee the matches with Ms. Bustier. "Two students will go head-to-head in a grudge match. The winner advances to the next round, and fights another winner. The two students remaining at the end will represent Casper High at the county tournament, then the regional if they win, and so on until the state match if they reach that far. Understood?" The teens mumbled their agreement. "Good. Everyone interested, please sign up so we can sort initial matches." He held out a clipboard to the nearest student, who scribbled down their name and passed it to the next person.
As the afternoon progressed, the number of prospective participants slowly dwindled, match after match knocking players out of the running. With the pool shrinking, Marinette wondered if she should find it odd that a majority of the players left were from her homeroom, or write it off as a coincidence. [2]
"Yeah, that's my girl!" Alya cheered, taking a break from her research to support Marinette as she won and advanced to another match.
"Marinette is good," Kim admitted with a smirk. "But Max is unbeatable. He's a total rocksord, and has the highest APM over anyone."
Alya looked at him in confusion. "APM?"
"Actions per minute," Marinette clarified, rejoining her bestie. "While that's true, it's the move combination that matters."
She knew from plenty of experience playing against her father in fighting games. When she was younger, she simply tried button mashing her way to victory until she grew older and more strategic.
Danny was knocked out in the semi-finals, and then Tucker, both by Sam, who was proved early on to be relentless. Nobody could beat her until Adrien caught a lucky break, and struck a move with just enough power to give him the win.
"Good game. Glad to see you have an edge," Sam remarked, shaking hands with her recently reunited friend.
"You too," Adrien said warmly.
"Adrien has won a slot for Casper High's team," Ms. Bustier announced. "All that's left is for Marinette and Max to decide who will be joining him."
Marinette let out a squealing noise, and Alya raised an eyebrow at her. "Girl…" The young blogger reminded her friend.
"Just imagine, teaming up with Adrien," the young designer whispered.
"Remember this is about representing the school and playing the game, not snuggling with a boy."
Shaking her head, Marinette put on an expression of seriousness. "Right. Focus on the game." She stepped back over to the console, and took her controls.
"Good job, passing all the other boss battles, Marinette," Max praised, "but I'm afraid you won't be defeating the final one."
"Cute that you think you're the final boss when really, it's the other way around," Marinette bantered.
They both selected their fighters, Adrien picking one that resembled a black cat, and prepared to start the final match of the afternoon.
"Hey, I just realized something," Kim spoke up to the other viewers, who looked at him curiously. "Has anyone else noticed three of the characters in the game look like mech suits for Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom?"
Tucker blinked at him. "Oh, so you saw it too?" [3]
The match began, and Marinette and Max rapidly pressed buttons on their controllers, making their characters run and jump across the screen, punching and kicking the other avatar and making them lose health points.
"Go, Max, you can do it! There's no way Marinette can win against him," Kim cheered for his friend.
Alya glanced at how intensely her girl was playing the game. "Unless the particular player has a particular motivation…" she mumbled, not convinced Marinette's priorities were in order since Adrien was announced as one of the official participants.
"You best give in. I've been grinding for this tournament since it was announced." Max barely blinked as he flicked the joystick to make his mech move, and pressed a button to perform an attack.
Marinette had tuned out all distractions since the match started, so she didn't hear Max's taunt. Instead, she focused on her character's moves. "And now, a quarter super plus heavy kick, and Flying Hyper Storm!" She mumbled her tactics to herself with each action. "Triple head combo, Marinette style. Booyah!"
She leaped to her feet, shouting as the match's timer clocked out and declared her the winner. She started doing a victory dance while Max lowered his head in defeat.
Kim's jaw dropped while the other students that had stuck around to see who would be representing the school started to cheer. "Wha! I can't believe it! She… she beat him?"
The disbelief in his voice made Alya stare at him. "Beat him? She pulverized him!"
Tucker fell to his knees. "The king has been dethroned!"
Ashamed by the loss, Max gently set down the game controller. "I accept this defeat. I relinquish my position at the tournament. Congratulations, Marinette and Adrien."
Adrien held out a hand as Max stood up. "Max, wait."
"Oh, Max…" Kim said softly.
Max shook his head. "Look. I'm fine, I lost fair and square. But if you don't mind, I'd like a little solitude." His head down, the geek exited the library. Kim moved to follow, but Alya put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head when he looked at her questioningly.
"So, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste will be representing Casper High at the Ultra Mecha Strike 3 tournament," Lancer announced, clapping both students on the back. "Good luck to both of you." He then frowned sternly at them. "Don't think of this as an excuse to shirk on your homework."
Keeping the vice-principal's warning in mind, Adrien smiled at Marinette. "Well, I guess I'll be coming over to practice. With my new partner. Let me just grab my stuff from my locker, and then we can go to your house." Adrien started leaving the library, along with Mr. Lancer, Ms. Bustier, and everyone else.
Marinette stayed where she stood, her face red and a wide-eyed smile on her face. "New partner…"
Alya crossed her arms, walking over to her friend. "Now you gotta win and you're gonna be representing the school, not just hanging out with Adrien."
"Oh, Adrien…" Marinette's eyes got starry.
Seeing her bestie was lost in a daydream, Alya facepalmed. "Oh, brother."
Having missed his afternoon bus, Max walked home. As he wandered home, his footsteps got firmer and harder as his walk turned into a march and his anger rose.
"This is a travesty. An unequivocal travesty!" Max declared, clenching the straps of his backpack.
-LB-CN-P-
Hawk Moth's window to the city opened. "Ah, a competition. I know you like that, my little akumas. Where there's a winner, there's always a loser." He filled one with dark energy and sent it on its way. "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!"
-LB-CN-P-
"I should have been going to that tournament. I was the chosen one! I worked so hard for it! Inconceivable!" Max ranted, turning a corner. Blinded by his anger, he didn't notice the akuma until it was entering his glasses. His body went rigid as the connection was formed, and Hawk Moth's mask outline appeared in front of his face.
"Gamer, I am Hawk Moth. I'll help you win the tournament of your life. But in return, you must help me achieve my high score," Hawk Moth offered.
"Absolutely, Hawk Moth. Game on! Now to see who's the greatest gamer in Amity Park!"
Dark purple energy rippled over Max's body.
"Did you have to thrash us so hard, Sam?" Danny checked as he and his friends walked toward the main exit of the school, glad that the day wasn't interrupted by a ghost or an akuma.
Sam rolled her eyes. "You guys know I don't do things by halves."
Tucker nodded. "This is true."
"Hey, guys! Wait up!" The trio stopped and turned their shoulders, seeing Alya hurry up to them.
"What's up, Alya?" Danny wondered.
Alya stopped before the three other teens, and grinned. "Remember how you asked for that favor so you could study Delilah overnight? Well, I'm cashing in my favor now."
Danny and Tucker both raised eyebrows while Sam groaned. "Alright, what do you want?" questioned Sam.
Alya tapped at her phone, chatting as she did so. "I noticed that the A-listers have been bullying other kids more lately, and decided to make some posts online about stories of bullying going unchecked to point out how big of a problem it can become if the teachers don't do something about it."
"Go on," Tucker said, intrigued.
"Whenever I got a break today, I did some digging and found a particular story I think you guys might be interested in." Finding what she was looking for, she turned her phone around to show the trio.
All three leaned in to get a closer look, and after a minute, Danny read aloud, "Sidney Poindexter?"
Tucker's eyes seemed to blink in recognition. "Oh yeah, I think I've heard of him."
"You have?" Sam glanced at him doubtfully.
"Sidney Poindexter was a student here back in the fifties," Tucker explained, taking Alya's phone and holding it up to Danny and Sam's faces so they could read further into what Alya had pulled up. "Poindexter was the victim of more mean pranks than anyone in Casper High history. So many it could have been a graduation requirement. He got stuffed into his locker so many times, it's believed his spirit still inhabits it to this very day."
"Nobody has been assigned Poindexter's locker since," Alya added, grabbing her phone back. "They say opening his locker could release his soul, which would seek revenge on bullies tormenting other students since the very students that picked on him have long since moved or passed away." She smiled at the group. "That's where you guys come in."
Putting the story together, Sam clarified, "You want us to open Poindexter's locker and set his soul free?"
"Yes to the first part, and not really on the second. Since Danny's family are ghost experts, I thought maybe you guys could contain Sidney's ghost so I can interview him for my anti-bullying protest."
"What makes you think we can do anything?" Danny asked.
"Well, you guys did help Phantom with that Skulker guy. And since I can't exactly call Phantom to help me if Poindexter really is in his locker, I figured you guys were my next best bet."
"Can't we do something else for you instead, like do your homework so you can have more scoop-searching time?" Tucker suggested.
She shook her head fervently. "Nope! This is what I want, and you guys do owe me one." She bounced anxiously in front of them. "Come on… this could really boost my anti-bullying campaign, and that would help a lot of kids. If they get help, that could mean less akumas running around and less work for the heroes."
Danny, Sam, and Tucker were in their friendship long enough to communicate only through facial expressions. They all silently agreed while they didn't like the idea, it seemed Alya wasn't going to budge on this.
Finally, Danny threw his head back. "Fine." He let Alya get her squeal of delight out of the way before pressing onward. "Show us the locker."
Alya looked at her phone. "It says here that his locker was 724." [4]
Going through his mental catalogue of information, Tucker said, "That's near Dash's locker. Of course, a bully victim's locker would be near one belonging to a bully."
Straightening his shoulders, Danny started moving in the direction of Dash's locker. "Let's get this over with."
Marinette and Adrien went to Marinette's apartment above the bakery. Instead of his bodyguard hanging around and making things awkward with Marinette's parents, Adrien convinced the Gorilla to pick him up later once they had finished practicing for the day.
As they entered the Dupain-Cheng's living room, Marinette remembered one important detail about her room.
"Um, c-could you minutes a few wait? I-I mean few a wait minutes? Gah, few a minutes wait? I mean-!" Marinette stammered to her crush.
Adrien smiled through every flub until finding a space in her rambles to interrupt. "Wait a few minutes?"
The young designer sighed in relief. "Yeactly, I mean exactly! Wait right here!" She hurried up the stairs to her room.
Once she was up in her room and the trap door was shut, Tikki came out of her purse. Marinette stared at the many pictures she had up on her wall of Adrien. "This… is not… happening! He's downstairs right now, and all of these are up here!" Marinette exclaimed quietly.
"Calm down, Marinette," reassured Tikki as she floated beside her holder's shoulder, "you have time. Adrien said he could wait."
"Oh, you must be Adrien," both heard Sabine in the living room.
Knowing how embarrassing her mother could be, Marinette let out a strangled yelp and hissed to her kwami, "Hurry!" They then sprinted to take down every photo they could see and shove them in a drawer.
Downstairs, Tom and Sabine had closed up the bakery for the evening, and found one of their daughter's classmates in their home.
"Marinette and I will be representing Casper High in the Ultra Mecha Strike 3 tournament," Adrien told them while he waited.
Tom got an excited look in his eyes. "No way! Well, she did learn from the best, Tom style! Booyah!" He pumped his fists and did his usual victory dance when he won at a game.
"We're so proud of our Marinette," Sabine said, patting her husband on the arm as a way to tell him to settle down. "We knew she would get one of the tournament spots as soon as she brought home that flyer about it." She threw an intentional glance at the teen model's direction. "And isn't it interesting that you two are a pair? Marinette talks a lot about you, you know?"
Before Adrien could ask what she meant by that, Marinette threw open her trap door and called down, "Mom! I mean, you can come up now, Adrien!"
Adrien nodded to her parents. "Very nice to meet you." He followed Marinette up the stairs while Tom and Sabine gazed at each other knowingly.
The four teens stood in front of a rusted locker that looked less immaculate than all the others. Just a few feet away was Dash's locker.
"There it is," Sam said, "Locker 724."
Alya frowned, a realization occurring to her. "Darn. How are we going to open it without knowing the combo?"
"Danny knows a few tricks," answered Tucker, grinning at Danny.
"Tucker…" Danny hissed before sighing and stepping forward. "Fine. Let me see what I can do."
Knowing Alya would need to be distracted, Sam casually leaned closer to the blogger. "So, what other stories did you find, anyway?" She was partially curious as to what other bullying stories her classmate had dug up.
"More than I should have found. It's kind of horrific, honestly." Alya tapped at her phone, pulling her gaze away from the locker.
Once she was occupied, Tucker gave Danny a thumbs-up, who took that as his cue it was safe to use his powers. Turning his hand intangible, Danny reached into the locker and fiddled around the dial area for a few moments until he heard a click and tried pulling open the locker door.
"I got it," Danny said over his shoulder.
"Slick," Alya praised, coming closer with his other friends.
They all peered inside the locker, and saw nothing but rust, cobwebs, and an old-fashioned mirror.
Tucker cringed. "Sheesh, this locker really hasn't been opened since the fifties."
"And was he really that vain to have a mirror in his locker?" Sam pointed at the odd object hung inside. "I thought only A-listers had these things in theirs." She wiped at the dust on it. "Look how filthy it is."
Almost at the exact moment she pulled her hand full of dust away, the mirror began to glow an unearthly green.
Danny's Ghost Sense slipped between his lips, and he mumbled, "Oh no…"
All four teens took a step back as they heard a nasally, echoed voice chant. "Bullies…"
The green glow grew.
Then the mirror flashed green.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Alya all screamed as an ectoplasmic energy surrounded them and supernaturally pulled them inside the locker, which slammed shut.
Mr. Lancer, who had gone to his office to gather his things into his grading bag, came around the corner moments later and stopped at the end of the hall. Thinking he had heard a noise, he listened for it again. When nothing out of the ordinary caught his ear, he shrugged and continued his way to the faculty parking lot.
With all her photos that exclusively had Adrien in them stashed away, Marinette got her computer ready to play the game. She was somewhat thankful that they could play in her room rather than downstairs in the living room where her parents could watch and interrupt constantly.
Once the console was connected to her computer, they both reached for a controller, only for their hands to touch. Face going red at his touch, Marinette reeled her hand back like it had burned. "Oh! Sorry."
Though not as flustered, Adrien also pulled back. "No, you go."
"I'll use the other one," both said, reaching for the other controller and meeting hands again. Squeaking embarrassingly, they swiftly picked up a controller and started the game.
"Your parents seem nice," said Adrien conversationally.
"Oh yeah," agreed Marinette, "they are. But sometimes…"
Adrien noticed her trailing off, unsure of how she wanted to describe her parents, and glanced away from the character selection screen. "Sometimes what?"
As if to answer his question, Tom flipped open the trap door and held out a plate of croissants. "Everything going good? I just thought if you wanted something to eat…"
Marinette shook her head. "No thanks, Papa."
Tom set down the plate to flex his muscles. "Then maybe you could use a few tips? Dad style?"
"Thanks, but no thanks, Papa!" Marinette said more firmly this time.
Accepting his daughter's refusal, Tom picked the plate of croissants back up and disappeared back down through the trap door.
Marinette exchanged a look with Adrien, finally finishing her thought. "Sometimes my parents can be a little nosy."
Adrien returned his attention to the game while Marinette, who knew her parents all too well, sent a sharp scowl at her parents peeking through the door again. They seemed to get the hint because they closed it, leaving her alone with her tournament partner.
In the shopping district of Amity Park, people started to run and scream as a flying black pyramid with green accented lines flew over them, zapping people and making them disappear. The pyramid started zapping objects like cars and buses too.
Inside the pyramid, Gamer cackled as he watched his point meter on his dashboard rise. "I'll be at level 2 in no time! My skills are indisputable; I am unstoppable!"
Max's appearance had changed. His usual green shirt with brown suspenders was exchanged for a black jumpsuit and green jumpsuit that matched his pyramid, his skin had turned purple, and his glasses turned into a giant visor.
His point meter reached level 2, and on the outside of his flying pyramid, the machine gained stocky black legs.
"Excellent!" Gamer cheered as he directed his vehicle to continue stomping down the avenue.
In Adrien's backpack, Plagg was trying to enjoy a wedge of cheese when he noticed Adrien's phone buzzing with an alert. Curious, the cat kwami tapped at the phone screen and saw an akuma alert had been posted.
He groaned quietly. "And I thought we finally had a chance to goof off after being stuck in class all day."
Tikki also noticed the alert on Marinette's phone in her purse, and began fretting about how to inform her holder without revealing her secret to Adrien.
Oblivious to the villain attack going on, Marinette and Adrien continued to play the game. Since they would be working together, they decided the best way to practice for the tournament was to play 2-on-2 online matches. They proved to be just as intense as the matches they figured they would encounter in the tournament because at one point Adrien resorted to button mashing.
The fingers stopped flying across the controllers the moment the computer screen announced their victory.
"Wow! We won again, thanks to you!" praised Adrien, smiling at his partner.
Marinette's face went red at her crush's compliment. "Yeah, um, yes we did."
Adrien looked at her in surprise. "We? That was all you. You're amazing, Marinette. I guess you wouldn't even need me. I'm so lame compared to you."
The young designer's brain turned to mush as he kept saying nice things about her, almost taking away her ability to form sentences. "Um, nonono! You're so good. I'm the one who's not good. I mean, I'm lucky that's all."
The teens jumped as Tom flipped the trap door open again, this time presenting a new plate. "Anyone want cookies? They're hot from the oven!"
Adrien looked delighted at the idea while Marinette's annoyance with her parents' interruptions returned.
"Papa, we're trying to work here," she reminded him, unintentionally turning down the offer for herself and Adrien. The model pouted at not receiving a cookie, but quickly dropped the reaction when his partner returned to the original conversation. "Actually, you know what? I've got a secret. This is how I win." She pulled a beaded charm on red string from her pocket.
Adrien glanced between her and the charm playfully. "Are you messing with me?"
"Try playing a match with it," she told him, passing the charm over.
Right after the charm switched between hands, Marinette's parents burst in again. This time, Sabine was the one offering a treat. "How about a delicious salmon and spinach pie? You can tell me what you think of it?"
Before Marinette could refuse once more, Adrien gazed at her warmly. "Uh, Marinette. A little snack wouldn't hurt, would it?"
Marinette found herself unable to say no to those gorgeous green eyes.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Alya groaned as they all woke up.
"What happened?" Sam asked, sitting up.
"And where are we?" Tucker added, looking around. "Everything looks all gray like in those old photos before cameras could print out color."
The quartet were in what looked like a bedroom. On one side was a bookshelf lined with what appeared to be textbooks, another side held a desk area that had lots of papers, pencils, and mathematical tools such as a protractor, a ruler, and an old-timey calculator. Posters taped to the walls advertised new calculator models and science fiction movies. Across from the bed was a dresser.
"You're in my room, inside my locker." A nasally voice said.
The four teens looked in the doorway, and found a teen around their age standing there. Like everything else in the room, he was all gray. He had round glasses, buck teeth, wore a bow tie and plaid pants. Overall, he could have been the poster child for geek stereotypes.
Like all the other ghosts the group had seen before, he had an ethereal glow around him.
"Are you Sidney Poindexter?" Alya inquired as the teens stood.
"I am," Sidney nodded. "What's it to you? Why did you open my locker?"
Danny held his hands up. "Look, we don't mean any trouble."
The ghostly nerd rolled his eyes at them. "Oh, I know. I can sense when someone's being a bully."
"You can?" Sam didn't seem to fully believe him, but after ghosts like the Lunch Lady, Technus, and even the stupid Box Ghost, she did not rule the possibility out.
Alya stepped forward bravely. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
Sidney blinked at her. "You want to talk to me?"
"You said you can sense bullying. Have you noticed the bullying in Casper High?"
"Hard not to." Sidney walked over to his desk and picked up something to show them. It was a chart that was showed a steady pattern until the living teens noticed a dip followed by an extreme uptick. He pointed to the decline. "This is the amount of bullying that happened during spirit week, and the rise after it is now."
Looking at the chart, Tucker made a sound of agreement. "Yep, that checks out."
"See, I wanted to do something about it, and looked up some stories about bullying that wasn't stopped so I could make a point. That was when I found yours," explained Alya. She held up her phone. "Could I maybe interview you to get a perspective from a past victim?"
"If it's to curtail the bullying problem, I'll do you one better. Follow me." The ghostly teen set the chart back on his desk and had the four living teens follow him out of his room. They walked through a seemingly all grayscale house, down a flight of stairs to the house's first floor, and to the front door. Sidney pulled the door open. "Watch your step."
All four yelped as they passed through the door and landed on a new floor in a tangled heap of limbs. As they untangled themselves, they noticed the grayscale color was gone and replaced with eerie purples and blues.
"Now where are we?" Tucker wondered.
Sidney floated out the same way they came from, and shut the exit. "Casper High. The Ghost Zone version."
It was then the group realized they were standing in a hall they all recognized, and that the door Sidney had just shut was his locker. The exact same one, just without the rust. A few lockers over was Dash's back in the real world.
"Ghost Zone…" Danny murmured to himself.
Sam tapped him on the arm. "Guys, look." She pointed to a nearby window.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Alya approached the window and their jaws dropped at what was on the other side. Rather than seeing streets, cars, and the school campus, they saw a green void swirling around their location. In the distance, they could see other buildings, but they seemed to be isolated on their own little islands floating in the void.
"Whoa!" Alya gasped, scrambling to start filming on her phone. "What is this place?"
"I think this is what's on the other side of my parents' ghost portal in the lab," said Danny.
"That would be correct." Sidney hovered over them, hands behind his back like a professor teaching his students a lesson. "Welcome to the Ghost Zone, where some spirits go after their lives ended."
"Only some?" Sam checked, glancing up at him.
"Those who can't move on for one reason or another. Those who are lost," the gray ghost said. He pointed at the floating islands in the distance. "See those out there, those are ghost lairs. Homes for the ghosts that reside in the zone. We're actually standing in one right now."
"This Casper High is a ghost lair?" Tucker clarified, also having his phone out and rapidly typing notes.
"Yes, this is what we ghosts call a group lair. Allow me to explain." Sidney ushered the group into a classroom, and picked up some chalk to scribble on the blackboard. "A ghost lair acts as a home for a ghost, embodying aspects of their home life and personality. A group lair acts the same way, but for ghosts not strong enough to form their own lairs alone."
"Oh, so like an apartment building?"
"That's one way to put it, yes." Sidney made a drawing of the school. "Because myself and several other ghosts have identities that are tied to Casper High, we all share the lair. We do have our own spaces as you saw. A lot of us here manifest our previous homes inside our lockers to give us a private space to live."
He connected the school drawing to a sketch of a locker, which was then linked to a sketch of someone's space inside a locker. [5]
"So what about the lairs out there?" Sam pointed at the lairs seen out the classroom window. "The ghosts that live in those just had stronger willpower or something to make their own place without having to share?"
"Stronger personalities, stronger powers," Sidney shrugged, "stronger individuality basically."
Alya lowered her phone. "This is a cool ghost lore lesson and all, but what about the bullying thing?"
"Ah yes, the reason for you opening my locker." Sidney went to the classroom door and opened it. "Let me show you around."
Marinette and Adrien sat in the park close to her home, eating slices of the pie Sabine had given them.
"Uh, I'm really sorry," apologized Marinette as they ate, "it's really hard to get anything done with my parents around."
Adrien smiled kindly. "That's okay. I didn't know your dad made such yummy pie."
They both swallowed their last bites before Marinette spoke up, "Uh, yeah? Shall we go back?"
Adrien pulled out the charm Marinette gave him. "Let's see if it works!"
Then the pair heard screams, and looked over their shoulders to see Gamer's robot stomping down the street towards them. People were fleeing from the robot, passing the teens on the bench.
Marinette's eyes widened. "Please tell me this isn't some kind of publicity stunt for the tournament!"
The robot's pyramidic head turned in their direction. In the robot, Gamer clicked his tongue as his lens zoomed in on Marinette. "Well, well, Marinette, let's see who's victorious this time."
"Doesn't look like a publicity stunt to me." Adrien agreed. Then Gamer fired his robot's beam at them. Adrien reacted first, tackling Marinette away from the bench. "Look out!"
The bench they previously sat on vanished and transitioned into points for Gamer.
Hitting the ground running, the teens fled the park. "We better get out of here!" Adrien shouted, splitting up from his partner to transform.
As they went their separate ways, Marinette noticed that the robot was pursuing her specifically.
Gamer had his robot jump over Marinette to intercept her path, leering smugly over her. "Game over, Marinette!" He taunted over the mech's sound system.
Marinette looked confused for a moment. "How does he know my name?" She gasped as she quickly realized the robot resembled one of the characters from the game, and who had a bad moment earlier in the day. "Max!" She yelped, dodging the mech's lasers. Turning on her heel, she began running down another street. "I guess he really did want that spot in the tournament!"
With Gamer no longer following him, Adrien was able to duck into a cluster of bushes.
"About time," Plagg remarked, floating out from his hiding spot. "You got an alert for that akuma like half an hour ago."
"Time flies when you play video games, Plagg. Claws out!" Adrien called out his transformation phrase.
She desperately wanted to transform already, but she couldn't do that as long as Gamer was chasing her. It would reveal her identity to Hawk Moth. For the time being, she would just have to run as long as she could.
Which wasn't much longer because her natural clumsiness got her to trip over air and fall onto her side.
Gamer's mech loomed over her, charging up its laser. "Game over!" Gamer called from inside.
Chat Noir appeared on a rooftop, and threw his baton at the mech to disrupt the laser. "Not yet! Here comes a new challenger!"
Marinette waved her arms at her hero side's teammate. "Chat Noir, over here!"
Chat Noir jumped down and scooped her up into his arms, dodging each laser Gamer fired at them. Able to put some distance between them and the akumatized villain with his super athleticism, Chat set Marinette down on the rooftop of the Grand Amity Park.
"I heard Miss Video Game Champion really took down the final boss," commented Chat.
Marinette frowned. "Well, it doesn't earn him any extra points to go zapping everyone." Remembering something, she reached out to Chat as he started to leave. "Chat, wait! I left my friend Adrien at the park! He might be in danger, we have to go back!"
Chat gave her his best reassuring smile. "Uh, don't worry! Adrien's not in danger. He'll be fine. You're safe here. Just stay put. Don't worry; Chat Noir will take care of everything. Arch, leap, and do a barrel roll!" He jumped and spun himself off the roof to go collect his baton from wherever it landed.
"Ugh, he's so over-the-top," groaned Marinette at his show-offy maneuver.
Tikki decided it was safe to come out, and hovered up beside her holder. "If there was ever a game to win, this is it. Let's go!"
"Tikki, spots on!"
Sidney led the quartet of living teens through the halls of the ghostly Casper High, occasionally passing another ghost roaming the halls. The kids peeked into the classrooms once or twice, and found a few ghosts gathered inside like an afterschool club.
"Are all the ghosts here bullying victims like you were?" Alya asked, passing a ghost that seemed to be stuck in the 80's. Her phone was recording everything they saw and heard.
"Not all of us." Sidney jabbed his thumb at a ghost reading a book under a stairwell. "Lenny over there caved under too much pressure from his family to have perfect grades. We have a few ghosts like that around here too." He pointed to another climbing into their locker. "And some like Jessica there felt safer at school than at home."
"Is every ghost here a teenager?" Sam inquired, taking a second look at Lenny.
Sidney shook his head. "Of course not. Where there's a school, there's students AND staff." He led them into the cafeteria and pointed at the kitchen. "I believe your Casper High is familiar with her."
The group of teens recognized one of the ghosts lingering in the kitchen area.
"The Lunch Lady?" Danny exclaimed. "She's here too?"
The ghostly student gestured to the kitchen staff. "Like me and the students you saw out in the halls, the staff you'll find here have identities linked to the school." He looked at his guests. "That's how the Lunch Lady knew something was wrong with the cafeteria menu back in the mortal realm when the school year started." [6]
Sam and Tucker shared a look, recalling their conflicting protest rallies.
"It's also how I knew when someone was being bullied back there too." He clenched a fist. "For so long, I haven't been able to do a thing about it because the dust coating my mirror on that side became too thick and started interfering with my connection."
"Until we opened your locker and wiped it away," Danny realized.
Sidney grinned. "That's right. Now I can seep my influence through the mirror again, and defend all those innocent victims by taking revenge on the bullies tormenting them!"
Tucker raised a finger. "Uh, isn't that kind of hypocritical? Bullies hurt people, yes, but wouldn't hurting the bullies make you just as bad as them?"
The ghostly teen shot a furious look at him. "It is not! It's clearly justice!"
"Actually, Tucker's right. Getting revenge is really hypocritical if you're just going to do to them what happened to you," Alya said, lowering her phone briefly to make her point.
Sidney jabbed a finger at her. "You shut up! You came here to interview me about bullying so you could do something about it, and now you're telling me not to do something that could help? I thought you were an ally to victims like me."
"She is! We all just think there's a better way to solve the problem than battling cruelty with more cruelty," said Sam.
"Excuse me, I'm the victim here! I think I get to say how the problem gets solved!" Sidney shouted, growing angry. Raising a hand, several lunch trays in the room floated into the air. With a flick of his wrist, he flung them at the four human teens.
Experienced in ghost fights, Danny, Sam, and Tucker reacted quickly enough to dodge them. Alya, who usually recorded fights from afar, wasn't as lucky.
"Agh!" She cried out, dropping her phone as a tray beaned her in the head. Alya fell to the floor.
"Alya!" Danny, Sam, and Tucker exclaimed.
Sam and Tucker rushed to her side, and examined her. "She's unconscious," Sam said, "we have to get her help."
Danny whirled on Sidney, transforming into Phantom. The ghost hero pointed at the other teen. "Look, kid. That right there? That was being a bully."
Sidney gasped, staring at Phantom, which the three still conscious teens thought was a strange reaction. "You! You're the new halfa that's been the talk of the Ghost Zone!" the grayscale teen exclaimed.
"Halfa?" Tucker glanced at his friends, confused.
"The Lunch Lady mentioned fighting a human kid that could somehow turn into a ghost. You're only one of two halfas in known existence. Lunch Lady, this is the kid, right- hey, where'd she go?" Sidney turned toward the kitchen to ask the older ghost for verification, but she had vanished.
While his back was turned, Phantom shot him with an ecto blast. Sidney went flying into the kitchen, crashing into some pots and pans. The geeky ghost teen emerged from the pile of fallen kitchenware with a scowl.
"I had enough of that in my human life. I do not need it here!" Sidney raised a hand again. This time, the lunch tables and the kitchenware floated up along with the trays. A sweep of his hand sent them flying at the ghost hero and his friends.
Figuring his friends wouldn't be able to get Alya out of danger fast enough, Phantom flew over to the three human teens and used his intangibility to have the cafeteria objects pass through the four of them harmlessly. The lunch tables crashed in front of the cafeteria entrance, effectively blocking off their exit.
Seeing this, Phantom ordered his friends, "Hold onto Alya!" Once he was sure they had a tight grip on the unconscious girl, he flew the four of them through the pile of tables and the door into the hallway. On the other side, he dropped the intangibility. "Get back to Poindexter's locker, and back through the mirror. I'll stall him to give you a head start."
"Be careful," Sam warned as she and Tucker lifted Alya up between them, "if he can control the stuff in this version of the school…"
"I'll be fine. I've faced tougher than him, just go!" Phantom shooed them away.
Immediately after they had run off, Sidney phased through the crowded entrance, furious. "You clearly haven't been bullied like I have. Let me show you!" His hands began to glow, and lockers started to fling open around the two. Textbooks, notebooks, and other assorted school materials flew out and started to swirl around.
As stuff began to bombard him, Phantom threw up his new shield he was gradually improving. School supplies smacked against the barrier. "Believe me, I think I have a good idea." Once he was sure the bombardment stopped, he lowered the shield and he fired another ecto blast. It struck Poindexter in the chest and flung him into the nearest wall.
"You know the best thing about being a ghost? Now I can actually fight back!" Poindexter shouted, firing an ecto blast of his own. Phantom was surprised by the fact that he could use the attack after previously using the supplies that he left himself open for the blast to hit. With Phantom momentarily stunned, Poindexter lifted up two lockers from either side of the hall and tried to crush the ghost hero between them.
Having collected his baton, Chat Noir followed Gamer's mech to wherever he was heading next. He noticed Gamer was heading towards a bus and picked up his pace to pass it along the rooftops.
Jumping down beside the stop the bus was at, he warned them, "Get away from here as far as you can! Hurry!"
Feeling the vibrations from the mech's stomps, the people heeded his advice and began sprinting away.
Dash, who had bullied Max earlier that morning, was among the citizens warned, but he was one of the unfortunate few to fail at getting away. Gamer zapped him with his robot's beam, converting him into points.
With the people cleared away, Chat Noir began drawing the villain's attention, waving an arm above him. "Hey, tin can! Over here!"
Gamer saw him through his robot's scope, and grinned. "My calculations indicate your system's about to crash!"
Before he could step any closer, Ladybug's yo-yo string wrapped around his legs. "You're the one about to crash, robot!" Ladybug called out, pulling the string taut and sweeping the robot's legs out from under it, causing it to crash to the ground.
"He's a life-sized robot from Ultra Mecha Strike!" Chat exclaimed as he ran over to join her by the fallen robot.
"I know, and it's nearly at level 3! Level 4 is the highest!" Ladybug replied.
Chat stared at her, disarmed by her response. "Wait, you know that game?"
"Duh! Of course!"
Putting on his flirty smirk and a hand to his chest, he teased, "See? You and me, it was meant to be." Ladybug groaned at her teammate's attempt at flirting.
While the pair of heroes compared notes, they failed to realize Gamer wasn't completely immobilized. The bus driver had abandoned their bus when Chat warned them of the akuma, so the bus was still sitting there. Grinning wickedly, Gamer fired his beam at the bus and converted it into points. The bus gave him enough points to upgrade his robot's form and inevitably untangle itself from Ladybug's yo-yo string.
Standing upright once more, Gamer's mech now had arms in addition to the pyramid-shaped head and the blocky legs.
The heroes blinked in bafflement at how easily the mech freed itself and got upright again.
"Uh, I think our problem just got a whole lot bigger," remarked Chat.
"Level 3!" Gamer cackled in his cockpit.
"If you want to be the most powerful robot in the world, you must capture Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Then it really will be game over!" Hawk Moth reminded him through their mental connection.
"Those Miraculous are mine!" Gamer shouted through his mech at the heroes. He started firing beams at them, but they started running and dodging; he directed his mech to chase after them.
"We have to get him out of here before he destroys all of Amity Park!" Ladybug told Chat Noir as they ran.
As they escaped the villain's beams, they noticed a place big enough to fight Gamer's robot without hurting anyone.
"The stadium!" Both heroes exclaimed, thinking the same thing. They changed direction, and ran towards Amity Park's football stadium.
After a few minutes of running, the Miraculous heroes were on the field in the center of the stadium. Their hunch was right; the field was big enough to efficiently fight Gamer, and nobody was around to possibly get hurt.
"Where has Clunky got to?" Ladybug wondered, their opponent not having shown up yet despite pursuing them throughout the city.
She soon got her answer when Gamer's robot landed on the field with a loud, ground shaking thump. The heroes tried to attack it with their weapons, but they bounced off harmlessly. Gamer laughed at them from within, and continued firing his laser at them.
Jumping around to dodge the beam, Ladybug yelled out to her teammate, "Attack the robot with your Cataclysm! It might be enough to shock him!"
Forming a cat's grin on his face, Chat Noir changed direction and ran at the robot. "My pleasure! Two can play this game. Cataclysm!" Leaping, he smacked his activated palm on the robot's chest, disintegrating it much more effectively than the attempt on Technus's suit weeks ago.
"Nooooo!" Gamer cried out as his mech vanished in pixels and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Smackdown, Chat Noir!" Ladybug joined her teammate and gave him a high five.
"Chat Noir style, booyah!" Chat Noir agreed, reciprocating the gesture. The two heroes then noticed a giant red sphere hovering down beside them. They both recognized it as something from the game they had played that afternoon. "Whoa hoa hoa! Check out that loot!"
Ladybug sent a victorious smirk the villain's way. "System crash, Gamer!"
Gamer got up on his feet and matched her expression with a devious one of his own. "You've forgotten the rules. I've saved my last level! Respawn!" Tapping the corner of his visor, his mech spontaneous respawned into existence and he was once again in its cockpit.
Chat pouted at the action. "Aw, not that old spawn point glitch again."
"Yeah, but did you see he pushed that button on his glasses? I bet the akuma is in there." Ladybug pressed her hand to the red sphere. A giant robot like Gamer's spawned into existence, only this one seemed to have elements of both Ladybug and Chat Noir incorporated into its design. It had rounded shoulders, a red and black color scheme, triangular cat ears and a tail. The heroes climbed to the top of the mech. "Ha! We've leveled up too!"
Chat Noir checked his ring. "Okay, but I've only got a few minutes left." They entered their cockpit through a hatch and each took a seat at a control panel. "I'll man it, you shoot."
"Why do you get to man it?" Ladybug argued with a pout.
He smiled teasingly at her. "What do you say we flip for it?"
Before Ladybug could retort, Gamer attacked their robot with his, punching them across the field into the football goal post.
"…Okay, you man it and I'll fire," Chat reluctantly agreed, the two of them tumbled over each other in the cockpit.
They switched seats and Ladybug looked through their monitor. "Look out! Here it comes again!"
Gamer's robot leaped on top of them and began punching them repeatedly.
Realizing they were in a good position, Ladybug taunted, "We'll let it go to your head, Gamer. Booster!" She pressed a button on her control panel, and the two heroes' robot launched a rocket fist at Gamer, punching his robot's head off its body.
Abandoning his assault on the heroes, Gamer directed his robot to retrieve its head. Once the robot was reassembled, he turned and noticed the heroes had their robot back on its feet.
"Round two, Gamer!" Ladybug taunted.
Sam and Tucker carried Alya around a corner, and Tucker called out, "There it is!"
They reached Poindexter's locker, and Tucker left Alya in Sam's care to fiddle with the locker combo.
"Hurry, Tucker," Sam demanded, cautiously looking over her shoulder for signs of trouble.
"I'm trying!" Tucker shot back, focused on the dial. "I don't know Poindexter's combination, so right now it's a guessing game."
"What about just ripping the locker open?" Sam suggested.
Tucker pointed at his arms. "With these weak nerd arms? I don't think so."
Both teens heard a loud noise, and glanced back the way they came to see Phantom being flung down the hall and Poindexter flying after him. Moments later, Poindexter was flying back into view and sending textbooks at Phantom. The ghost hero seemed to run on top of a few before swinging a punch at Poindexter and sending him crashing into a water fountain.
"We've got to figure something out and fast. I'm not sure how much longer he can hold him off," Sam said.
"You're trying to get into Poindexter's locker?" A voice inquired.
The two teens nearly jumped as they spun around and noticed one of the ghost teens inhabiting the school, Lenny, floating there with his book under his arm.
"Um, yeah?" Tucker answered hesitantly, sharing a look with Sam. "We need to get to the mirror in his room. It's our only way back to our Casper High, and our friend here is hurt." He gestured to Alya between them.
Lenny looked at them with a twinge of sympathy. "Oh. Here, let me help you then." He twisted the dial on the locker to three different numbers before something inside clicked and he pulled the locker open to reveal a gray swirling vortex. "You hang around here long enough, and you learn everybody's combinations."
Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "You're helping us? But why?"
The undead teen shrugged. "This isn't the first time Poindexter lashed out. Nobody deserves to be on the receiving end of that. Even though what happened to him was horrible, it still doesn't make him hurting others right." He looked up at the sound of loud crashes coming from Phantom and Poindexter's fight. "You better hurry."
"Thanks." Tucker gestured for Sam to go first. She climbed into the vortex before poking her upper body back out and helping her friend lift Alya through. He sent one last sympathetic glance at the ghost. "Sorry about what happened to you. Nobody should suffer under unreasonable expectations from their family."
"Thanks," Lenny parroted back, "good luck getting back."
Nodding at him, Tucker climbed into the locker.
A moment later, he and the girls were back in Poindexter's grayscale home.
"Up the stairs," Sam said, and she and Tucker supported Alya up to the house's second floor.
"My whole high school career, I suffered at the hands of bullies," Poindexter ranted as he shot ecto blasts at Phantom, but kept missing because of his bad aim and his opponent constantly moving. "Now I have a chance to defend other victims like me, and you won't let me do that? You're just a bully like the rest of them! A bystander letting it happen!"
Phantom swooped close enough to Poindexter to deliver a kick to the chest. "I'm not saying victims can't be defended. What I'm saying is that doing the same thing bullies did to you wouldn't fix anything. If anything, that would just make the problem worse!"
"How would you know? You've never even tried it!" Poindexter recovered from the kick and tackled Phantom to the floor.
Pinned down, Phantom struggled to break free. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to you. Nobody should go through that. And you know what? There's been progress since you were in school. Stricter anti-bullying policies. More support for victims, more confessions, more witnesses." He looked at Poindexter pleadingly. "Sure, things haven't done a complete 180 from your time, but there's been improvement. Isn't that what's important?"
Poindexter scowled at him. "Not enough improvement to count."
Phantom frowned. "Sorry you feel that way." He readied an ecto blast, and due to the close proximity between them, fired point blank into Poindexter's face.
Poindexter pulled away, taking off his now severely cracked glasses. "Oh swell," he bit out as he examined them, "you realize I have to fix these now? I can't see anything without them."
"That's not the only thing you'll have to fix," Phantom remarked, hovering off the floor. Turning his back on Poindexter, he soared down the hall to where he remembered the locker being. Sam and Tucker thankfully left it open for him, and he zipped inside, pulling the locker shut behind him. Inside Poindexter's home, he glided up the stairs to Poindexter's room and went through the mirror.
On the other side, he found himself back in his own Casper High. Sam and Tucker sat on the hall floor with Alya between them.
"You made it!" Sam exclaimed.
"What about Poindexter? With his mirror cleaned up, he can reach through it and affect our world," mentioned Tucker.
"Not if I do this," Phantom said, spinning around and reaching into the locker. He grabbed the mirror off the hook inside and threw it against the floor. The frame busted and the mirror shattered into shards. "That should take care of it."
Tucker stared at the shards warily. "That mirror was in there so long, you think it counts as school property?"
"If it does, I'll just give the school some money to pay them back," Sam said.
Alya stirred, and the three conscious teens snapped their attention towards her. Realizing he was still in his hero form, Phantom de-transformed back into Danny before she opened her eyes.
"Ugh, what happened?" Alya's eyes fluttered open. "Where are we? Where's Poindexter?"
"We're back in the human world," Tucker answered her, "Poindexter knocked you out with a flying lunch tray, so we brought you back here. As for Poindexter," he glanced again at the broken mirror, "I wouldn't worry about him. He's not going to be bothering us for a while." Remembering something, he dug into his backpack. "Oh, here's your phone back by the way." He passed her the phone she had dropped when she had gotten hurt.
"My head…" Alya groaned.
"Let's go see if the nurse is still here," Sam suggested, her and Tucker helping Alya up as best as they could. "If not, we may have to call your parents and have them take you to the emergency room."
"But… what about the bullying thing? I was going to…"
Danny held up a hand. "You can figure out another victim to interview for your campaign some other day. Right now, you really should get your head checked out."
Alya sighed, reluctantly letting Sam and Tucker escort her to the nurse's office. As they left, Danny peeked one last time over his shoulder at the broken mirror.
He needed to find a broom and a pan.
"Watch out, Ladybug!" Chat Noir shouted as Gamer readied another attack.
"Gamer Fire!" Gamer charged up a ball of energy he flung at the heroes' robot. His own robot seemed to teleport next to the heroes' side, and proceeded to shove their mech into the energy ball. He followed that up with a laser beam much like the one he had been using all afternoon. The villain let out an evil laugh as the heroes' robot collapsed. "Today, I shall be victorious!"
His laughter subsided when the heroes got back up on their feet. Chat Noir charged up a similar ball of energy and threw it at Gamer. "Catouken!" The heroes directed their mech to follow the attack with a body slam.
The robot disintegrated into pixels again, but once more respawned. "I am the strongest player in the world! Hahaha!" laughed Gamer.
"How are we supposed to beat him if we can't even catch him?" Chat Noir asked his teammate, his timer beeping ominously.
"We have to beat him harder and jam the system! Tatsu-Lady!" Ladybug commanded the robot to do a spinning kick.
"Catouken!" Chat Noir fired the energy ball another time.
"Gamer Crusher!" Gamer tanked the energy ball and had his robot spin at them like they had just done to him.
"Shoryubug!" Ladybug directed a powerful uppercut.
"Catouken!" Chat spammed the move again.
Both robots threw a punch at each other and their fists met in the middle, a deadlock much like the heroes' traditional fist bump.
"We've got to get inside his cockpit!" Ladybug declared.
"This would be so much easier if Phantom was here. He could probably phase right into it and get the glasses," commented Chat.
"So we've got to get him out," she deduced, starting to climb out of her seat and out of the machine. "Take the controls, Chat Noir. I'll be right back."
"Right back? Where are you going?" Chat Noir hollered after her.
Standing on the robot's shoulder, Ladybug tossed up her yo-yo. "Lucky Charm!"
In her hands fell… a red and black spotted canister?
"Graffiti? Spray paint? Arts and crafts?" Ladybug stared at the canister in confusion. She looked across the mechs' deadlocked arms to the green eye of Gamer's robot. It almost looked like a window. "Bingo!"
She ran across the interlocked arms and climbed up to the head of Gamer's robot. Shaking the can, she sprayed red paint over the green window.
Gamer growled as his vision was obscured. "You won't get away with this!" Opening his window, he crawled halfway out to examine the situation, only for Ladybug to pluck his visor off.
"Game over, Gamer!" Ladybug snapped the glasses in two, and the akuma emerged from the broken pieces. "Game's over for you too, akuma. Time to de-evilize!" She caught the butterfly with her yo-yo and purified it. "Bye-bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" Tossing the spray paint canister into the air, it activated the Miraculous Cure.
All over the city, anybody and anything that had been zapped by Gamer's beam returned to where they were before they got hit. Both Gamer's robot and the heroes' robot dispersed into pixels for a final time, and Max changed back. The bespectacled teen was confused how he got to a sports stadium.
"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir ended the mission with their fist bump.
That weekend, the tournament was held. High schools all over the state sent their top two players to represent them. Each school was allowed to bus the two participants' homeroom classes to support them in the competition. As Marinette and Adrien shared the same homeroom, only one class had taken a bus.
Upon arrival, Ms. Bustier and Mr. Damocles went to go confirm Casper High's entry, leaving the students to sort themselves out. At the last minute, something changed.
"You want to give your spot to Max?" Nino gasped. "Dude, why?"
Adrien rolled his shoulders. "I've done a lot of thinking, and well, Max wanted this a lot more than I did. While Marinette and I were practicing, she was much better than me. It makes sense to put the better player with the person who wanted it most."
"What's going on?" Sam asked, coming over to them with Danny, Tucker, Max, and Kim.
"Adrien wants Max to play in the tournament instead of him," Nino said, shocking the group.
"Me?" Max stared at Adrien bewildered. "But you won in the original tryouts. You should be up there playing for the school with Marinette."
"Just because I won doesn't automatically make me the best player for the school. You saw my match with Sam, I won with a lucky last strike." Adrien pointed at his previous opponent. "Besides, you want this more than any of us."
"I, well, um…" Max stammered, unsure what to say to the offer.
Adrien gave him an encouraging smile. "It'll be okay, I promise."
Reassured by his classmate's positivity, Max took a breath and steeled himself. "Okay, I'll do it."
"Awesome! I'll go tell Ms. Bustier about the change." Kim jogged away to go find their teacher.
Away from them, Marinette and Alya stood together. "I guess you won't be playing with Adrien after all," Alya said as they watched Kim. "You okay with that?"
"Yeah, I think I will." Marinette glanced up at the billboard advertising the tournament. "You were right. I tried out for the competition because I love playing video games and want to win for the school, not because the boy I'm crushing on was trying out for it too."
"Glad you're focusing on the right stuff again, girl."
"Thanks, me too." Marinette's gaze drifted to the top of Alya's head, a small bandage over a section of her forehead. "How's your head?"
"Fine now that it's been a few days." Pulling out her phone, Alya sighed. "Too bad about Poindexter. I thought his story would be good for the anti-bullying campaign."
Marinette leaned on her friend's shoulder, reading the campaign Alya put together online. "I think what you went with is just as good."
After getting her head looked at, Alya came up with other ideas for dealing with the increased bullying. She ended up talking to Max and the other students he mentioned at the beginning of the week, and got their testaments from them.
The responses she got from the completed article were overwhelming. Dash and his friends were getting punished, and so were the other bullies that had been picking on students since Spirit Week. There were already talks of an assembly being formed, how the faculty would use that to make it firmly clear bullying wasn't tolerated. Given the age group the adults were working with, it remained to be seen if anything was actually learned from the lecture.
Eventually, the competition began. Marinette and Max sat on the stage with the other players, and their homeroom sat in the audience, cheering for them and waving banners. The banners bearing Adrien's name underwent quick revisions once it was revealed he dropped out, and Max's name was added over his.
"Next up, Casper High will face… Marmel High!" The announcer declared. [7]
Marinette and Max moved to take their positions while their classmates shouted words of encouragement.
Like Evillustrator, Gamer was meant to be a breather after the intensity of Spectra's chapter. In canon, it was implied that Marinette only auditioned for the game tournament specifically because Adrien was going to be on the team representing their school; I thought it was dumb when they also established in the same episode that Marinette's family enjoys video games and regularly plays them for family game nights. To correct that, I changed it so Marinette was already planning on auditioning for the game tournament long before she knew Adrien would be involved. Because I did this episode, I don't plan on covering DP's Teacher of the Year episode with Technus' return similarly to how I don't plan to cover the Pharaoh episode because I intend to do the King Tuck episode.
I originally didn't plan on doing the Sidney Poindexter plot due to the hypocrisy of his actions contradicting the moral of his episode, but after realizing he was the one to coin the halfa term for Danny and Vlad along with appearing several more times throughout the DP series, I decided to squeeze him back in. Hopefully, I addressed the bullying issue more respectfully than canon did. As mentioned in the notes below, I heavily modified Sidney's lair for this crossover because his lair in canon seemed worse than everybody else's. While everyone else has a lair suited to their personality and can be treated as a safe haven for them, Sidney's canon lair is an eternal nightmare because even in the afterlife he is still getting bullied by the ghosts of his classmates. Making these changes allowed me to create some headcanons regarding multiple ghosts sharing a lair too and expand the lore, so that's a bonus.
[1] – A reminder Marinette likes to play video games in her free time, not just when Adrien is playing. Not everything is about her crush.
[2] – I thought the way canon determined who would represent the school was kind of odd, so I went with the classic tournament bracket style.
[3] – A fun detail I noticed in the episode itself and decided to poke at.
[4] – I didn't care for the whole Danny gets assigned a new locker plot, so I went with this instead. Consider Alya's favor for the Delilah stakeout cashed.
[5] – Sidney's lair in canon didn't make much sense when you look at the other lairs, so I turned the Ghost Zone version of Casper High into a group lair much like the Far Frozen or Dora and Aragon's kingdom.
[6] – As part of the changes to Sidney's lair, Lunch Lady now shares the lair too. She and Sidney know each other from how long they've shared the lair with the other ghost students and staff, but aren't close at all.
[7] - Remember my note about referencing Steve Marmel later in the Technus episode? Marmel High is a reference to him. Marmel is one of the main writers for DP, whose absence from season 3's production is generally cited by the fandom as one of the main reasons why season 3 declined in quality compared to the first two.
I'm really excited to share the next chapter. It features a few divergences from canon that I personally enjoy, and I hope you all do too.
Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I just worked hard on, don't just use the review box to speculate on future plot points and what you want to see.