Chapter 87: Pearly White

It's early morning in the apartment Madam Gros shares with Dr. Gerald Theroux and his niece and nephew. Only Brynne and Zenon are there at the moment—and, of course, the captive Master Fu. The two college-age adults are talking in a low voice, and this is the first time we see them seriously concerned. Master Fu has hardly eaten anything since they imprisoned him, and the siblings are getting worried. While they're willing to do a lot of things to find out what happened to their father, letting someone die is not one of them. Brynne is also taking it as a personal insult that he's refusing her food. He just spends all his time in a meditative trance and doesn't even break from Ivory's Oblivion to answer any of their questions.

Zenon points out that they can't just let Master Fu go—he now knows too much about them and would reveal everything about them and Ivory to Ladybug and Cat Noir. He's assuming Oblivion failed. Brynne argues that there's still Oblivion for that, but Ivory would never agree as Master Fu is the only link they have to what happened to Grant Theroux, her fiancé. Brynne wonders though if it would be better to let him go just so he doesn't die, even if it risks undoing everything they've fought for in France. Zenon argues that he isn't going to a foreign jail, and they can't turn on Ivory and Tarantula; they're the only family they have left. Brynne has to agree, but it still doesn't solve their dilemma—and if her double-stuffed, lemon and thyme tilapia won't get a man to eat…

Luka Couffaine is taking care in his preparations this morning as he has a date with Marinette Dupain-Cheng after class. However, that doesn't stop him from tuning his guitar and checking the Team B Discord. Froppy suggested the shrine in the catacombs for their new practice ground, and half of the team seems to be in favor of it. Only Snow Leopard and Honey Bee are wary. Luka, under his Alpha account, pushes through with that idea and schedules a practice session with his pack that evening. Sass and Luuna are both eagerly trying to help him get ready by fetching his socks and sheet music and stuff. Both kwamis are trying to show the other up.

Juleka pops her head into his room with Roarr hovering over her shoulder. Luka greets them both. Juleka tells Luka that she wants to talk to him, and Luka listens. Juleka then tells him that she's worried things won't work out with him and Marinette. She stops herself from admitting Marinette is in love with someone else, but she does tell him that she doesn't want to see him hurt. Luka is impressed that Juleka was able to say as much without stammering or averting her eyes, and he appreciates her concern. But he insists nothing is going to go wrong as Marinette is such a sweet girl, missing the root of Juleka's concerns. Juleka droops, wondering how much about Marinette's heart she should reveal; how much is really her place to explain. Ultimately, this is where she falls silent.

Sabrina Raincomprix leaves her house early. Her father offers to drive her to school, but she insists on walking. Sabrina goes a long walk with Barkk in her purse, treating it as if she were actually walking a very small dog. Barkk loves the exercise. However, while they're out, Sabrina Raincomprix sees her old best friend, Miranda Edgarov, on the street. This causes Sabrina to panic as she remembers how bad things got during the Evil Empress chapter. Barkk immediately notices something is wrong and asks. Sabrina rubs the kwami's head; she knows she has to get out of the situation. However, she's frozen where she stands. I'm no expert on PTSD, but she is having some pretty traumatic flashbacks of Miranda's words and actions. Barkk realizes that Sabrina is internally panicking. She licks her palm to get her attention. Once she has it, she disappears into Sabrina's purse, steals her phone, and flies off with it. Sabrina protests and chases after the kwami, who leads her nice and far away from Miranda. Plus, Barkk enjoys a good game of Keep Away.

Lila Rossi is about to head out of her apartment. However, her mother stops her. Lila internally rolls her eyes. She knows her mother is too busy for her. In fact, Ms. Rossi has realized this too. She tells Lila that all of her overtime has result in an abundance of comp time, and she wants to use that time to bond with her daughter. Lila doesn't believe it at all, and her thinly veiled sarcasm reveals as much. Ms. Rossi insists and tells Lila to invite "her boyfriend, Adrien Agreste," to dinner that evening. She wants to meet him. This does get Lila to sweat just a little as she knows she's libel to get caught in that lie—but she's only sweating a little as she believes her mother is also lying. Lila promises that she and Adrien will be waiting. On her way to school, Lila begins to ponder what she can do. She could always use the Gemini's Duality on Adrien and convince one half of him to come home with her. In fact, she actually really likes that idea. She could go on dates and all kinds of things by exploiting Duality. Lapinna the cabbit kwami points out that when both light side and dark side Adriens re-merged, they would share memories. So Adrien would quickly learn half of himself went on a date with Lila. Then, it wouldn't be too hard for him to realize she's actually Mink. Lila curses Lapinna for making a good point.

In the Kante residence, Kaalki hides as Max's mother tells him that she's going to have to leave for several weeks as part of her astronaut training. However, she is proud of him and knows he can keep house and finish his school work without her hovering. Max promises he will but states that he will miss her—and finishes by saying he's incredibly proud of her too. They hug, but the moment is broken when Markov asks to define the word "pride." He has Googled the term, but it seems irrational. Claudie tells Markov that she expects him to help Max while she's gone and suggests a couple of programs Markov can run to help Max balance his allowance and living expenses. Claudie is going to still take care of all the bills, but she's going to open a joint bank account for her and Max, and it'll be his responsibility to buy food and school supplies and clothes and whatnot. Max and Markov both promise they'll do their best—and email her often.

Alix Kubdel wakes up early due to Fluff, whose sense of time has all been shot due to time travel. Alix considers calling her good friend, Stella Tenebrae, so that they can go on a job/skate before school, but she decides against that as Stella is not a morning person. Since she has time to spare, she uses it to watch more of the future in her Burrow. She's aware time is running out; Ivory is about to make a major move soon—and so many of her classmates have fallen under the elephant's sway. But it's not yet time for Bunnyx to move. Sure, she could jump in now (pun) and help Nicolette Lacroix or straighten things out for Tristan Fortier. However, in aiding them, many more people will suffer. Alix/Bunnyx flips through possible scenarios in the Burrow. A lot of "bad endings" involve Ladybug and/or Cat Noir getting hit with Oblivion, followed by Ivory's triumph. However, the worst endings involve Nathalie/Hawk Moth going off the deep end for failing to save Gabriel and turning the whole city into chaos and nightmares. And yet, Bunnyx knows that she could easily help Hawk Moth and get her off of the Eastern Order's back. But if she helps keep Nathalie sane, that involves waking Gabriel up. He returns to being Hawk Moth even worse than before, and if the timing is all wrong, he learns his own son is Cat Noir, and basically brainwashes Adrien (and in some scenarios, Emilie too) into being his slave(s). Bunnyx sighs; why is their victory the one with the least chance of happening?

Rose Lavillant is about to head out the door of her family's apartment. She's talking to Daizzi, but Daizzi hides when Rose's mother starts fussing over her. Rose insists she's all right and that her illness hasn't flared. Her mother clearly isn't convinced and continues to fuss and be overprotective and helicopter-ing. This also makes it clear where Rose's dislike of being treated differently comes from. As much as she insists she's capable, her mother just won't hear it. She finally just bolts out the door to stop being smothered. Daizzi reappears then and encourages Rose. Rose remains optimistic and chooses to ignore her mother. She tells Daizzi that she's going to live her life freely without worrying that she might be a "silk glove that gets snagged." Daizzi tells her that's the spirit, and Rose starts detailing her plans for school. At one point, she also realizes she got a text message from Prince Ali, which causes her ears to turn pink.

Mylene Haprele and her father prepare to head to Francoise Dupont High School together. Mylene has to spend some time in their home bathroom, giving herself a "you got this, girl" speech to overcome her anxiety to start the new day. Her father greets her warmly and drives both of them, but they usually part ways once they enter the building as Mr. Haprele doesn't want his position to influence his daughter's social life or seem as if it's influencing her grades. During the drive, Mullo sneaks into Mr. Haprele's lunch box and helps herself to the granola bar. Both hear the sound of nibbling, and Mylene tries to play it off. When Mr. Haprele looks into his lunch box, Mullo has already darted out. All that's left of his lunch if crumbs. Mr. Haprele makes a comment about "mice," which causes Mylene to sweat.

Like always, at the Kurtzberg residence, Nathaniel has to go about his morning routine alone. Fortunately, he's no longer completely alone as both Orikko and Lucciola are with him. Nathaniel has to grab up his scattered drawing supplies, and the kwamis help by grabbing his different thicknesses of pencils and sticking them into his backpack. He head into the kitchen and checks out the dry eraser board, where his parents leave him notes. His mother was apparently there overnight as she mentions she did laundry; it's on the couch and needs folded. She also has some groceries she wants Nathaniel to pick up on his way home from school. Orikko comments about how disappointingly absent Nathaniel's parents are. Lucciola mentions she's new to the world, but she wonders if Nathaniel even cares about them when he never really sees his mother and father. Nathaniel insists he doesn't care while making his own notes on the dry erase board, complete with a rather impressive sketch of a vase of flowers he draws just for them. Orikko and Lucciola do note that and remark amongst themselves that Nathaniel's feelings towards his parents must be complicated.

At the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Marinette is gathering not only her things for school but what she thinks she'll need for her date with Luka. Tikki is floating nearby, looking very worried. Marinette notices and asks, and Tikki replies, wondering if Marinette really should be dating Luka when her room is wallpapered with Adrien's picture. Marinette sighs; Juleka told her the same thing. And Marinette admits that they're both right. It's not fair to anyone if Marinette keeps being unsure of her own heart. Marinette promises Tikki she'll tell Luka the truth that afternoon when she's with him. She doesn't want to hurt him; she's incredibly elated he likes her, and part of her likes him too as he really is a wonderful guy. The last thing she wants to do is ruin her relationship with him; she wants to be great friends with him. And she needs to tell him that. Tikki nods and encourages her to be honest.

Chloe Bourgeois is sashaying around her manor while Butler Jean struggles to get her through her morning routine. Of course Chloe isn't going to lift a finger to gather her own homework or make her own breakfast. She asks for some extra caviar, which she feeds to Barbarra on the sly. As she heads to the limo to be driven to school, she's surprised to see her father waiting for her. Mayor Bourgeois says he's going to head to the office late in order to travel with his daughter to school because he wants to spend time with her. Chloe acts standoffish and basically tsundere, exaggerating any lingering resentment she has about his divorce. This forces her father to grovel a little, which is what she wanted all along. She then "allows" him to travel with her. During the whole ride, Chloe makes a point of fussing with her make-up rather than appearing to listen to him. While things are a bit better between them since the divorce was finalized (namely due to Chloe needing her father's wallet for things, like a new phone), Chloe still can't admit she's sorta forgiven him (though she's nowhere near forgiving her mother). So Mayor Bourgeois eventually falls silent. He tells her they don't have to talk, just being together is enough for him. And despite Chloe's hard face, those words do reach her heart.

It's pretty chaotic at the Cesaire household as Ella and Etta are running around, not getting ready for their school, thinking it's a big game to run under and over furniture with their parents chasing them. It takes until Nora steps in and scoops them up, one handed, that the excitement stops. Nora, logically, has moved out by now and has her own apartment, but she happens to be visiting her family for breakfast today. Their parents thank her and usher the twins to the bathroom to brush their teeth. That gives Alya and Nora some minutes together, and Nora asks Alya how her boyfriend is. Alya tells Nora that things are great between her and Nino. Alya asks Nora about her MMA, and Nora brags she has a shot at the title next month. Nora then laughs and tells Alya to "protect that scrawny boyfriend of hers" because he's going to need a strong woman to watch his back. Alya's just glad her sister approves of who she's dating. Trixx sneaks grapes while everyone is distracted.

Speaking of Nino, he's walking his little brother, Chris Lahiffe, to school. Chris is protesting the entire way, as usual. "I'm not a baby; I don't need you to treat me like one. I can get to school on my own." Wayzz, who is hiding in Nino's bag, just shakes his head at the predictability of the conversation—because, as usual, Nino points out that the elementary school is on the way to the high school. Fortunately, Nino is incredibly laid-back and all of his brother's whining just rolls off his shoulders. He placates his little brother by letting Chris be in charge of the dinner shopping that evening, which Chris accepts.

Le Chien Kim is already halfway to Francois Dupont High School, texting Ondine as he walks. He mentions to her that he's wearing his swimsuit to school and looking forward to practice that afternoon. Ondine replies back with a series of laughing emojis. He tells Ondine to "say 'hi' to that flying dolphin plushie," and she tells him to "say 'hi' to the flying monkey plushie" back. Xuppu tells Kim to tell Finn to respect him (Xuppu) as his "kwami senpai." Kim laughs it off but is drowned out by the sounds of his older brothers carrying on in the kitchen. Xuppu takes it as a sign to hide, and Kim heads out to fight with his family for breakfast, in a manner befitting having three large sons.

Ivan Bruel is actually one of the first to arrive at Francois Dupont High School as he wants to practice the drums before classes. It is, after all, hard to practice the drums when he lives in an apartment. Stompp even gets in on it by playing a pair of castanets like cymbals. Ivan gets so caught up in the music and having fun that he starts singing the lyrics to Zombie Skull Crushes, which eventually prompts the art teacher to pop his head in and encourage Ivan to keep it down. Ivan slinks out of the music room, embarrassed.

Kagami Tsurugi is dropped off at her school by her mom's car, sans driver. Like Ivan, she has arrived early to practice her kendo swings. Now, while she could easily practice at home under her mother's guidance…well, that's the exact problem. She wants time alone to focus for herself without her mother's overbearing perfectionism. So Kagami heads towards the gym after putting everything else in her locker. She takes out her wooden sword—and then reveals two very small wooden swords that she had custom made. She gifts them to Longg and Tiia, happily explaining how they can now practice alongside her and hone their own spirits. Longg sorta gets it, and Tiia is absolutely confused. Nonetheless, Kagami insists on practicing together until someone else shows up.

Giselle Winters-Blanchet arrives after Ivan and Kagami do and heads to the quiet of the library to finish reading her late mother's letters. She knows her mother actually used to be a member of the Western Order of the Miraculous, and she's worried her mother was a bad guy who worked with Tarantula and Ivory. As she reads, she learns that after her mother graduated from college, she was sent by the Western Order to investigate the rumors of magic in Paris that date roughly to the time of the French Revolution (because, as a Western Order grad, she was expected to do some type of study project. Quite a few went to search for evidence of the Eastern Order, like Grant Theroux. Giselle's mother opted to study European magic.) The Western Order had a contact in Europe who could have possibly pointed her mother in the right direction, but her mother failed to locate that contact. (This, of course, being the Crane.) So instead her mother investigated history, even getting into a grad program, to search for any old rumors or inconsistencies that might be explained by magic. This not only led Ms. Winters into meeting her future husband, Leon Blanchet, but also into eventually tracking down the snow leopard item. It was just at that time that Ms. Winters/Mrs. Winters-Blanchet stopped getting letters from the Western Order (as that's when Dolores and Gerald overthrew the Order and had Giselle's mom's allies eaten by Hypnos). Unsure what to do, Mrs. Winters-Blanchet halted her European investigation and looked into where her Order went. She even briefly returned to Canada only to find the entire temple gone. Fearing the worst and convinced she was alone, Mrs. Winters-Blanchet searched for other allies in the magic world. It was that time she was diagnosed with cancer. Within her last weeks of life, she managed to locate Master Fu, but was too unwell to visit him. That's why she entrusted her bracelet to her daughter, figuring that Master Fu would know what to do with it as she knew she was on her death bed. She ultimately hadn't intended on Giselle getting pulled into the magic world—at least, not so early, not without herself to be around to teach her and introduce her, face to face, to the good people within the Western Order. She certainly didn't know the full extent of the bracelet as an antique akumatized item. Giselle, of course, when she finishes reading this is blown away by how much her mother was hiding. She knows she should be angry at her mother for keeping such huge secrets, but if anything, she worried about what it all means. The Western Order is attacking Paris, but their whole temple vanished. How? Why?

Nicholas Sancoeur arrives at Francois Dupont High School with Adrien Agreste and his cousin, but they all go their own ways fairly quickly. Nicholas feels nervous as he approaches the school as he knows it's warded against magically made beings, which includes senti monsters like himself. He reaches into his pocket and rubs the head of Dapple, the tiny unicorn senti monster Aunt Nathalie made just for him, to protect him specifically from the wards. He enters the building, and he can feel a type of pressure from the wards, but Dapple prevents all other side effects. Nicholas wonders how long this can continue though; he'll collapse or worse if he's separated from Dapple while at school. He, as Adamantus, does not like at all how Ivory's team has effectively managed to disable (female) Hawk Moth's network of spyders. He believes that he and his aunt should be able to do something about it; after all, the spyders are a great idea and way too useful to shelf. They could find out so many identities if they just had free range of the city. But ever since the Western Order erected the wards, Hawk Moth let it slide. Why? It cripples us so much—and that's before factoring in the powers of the peacock miraculous! Nicholas is oblivious to the fact that Aunt Nathalie is willing to sacrifice her network of spyders to protect him. Instead, Nicholas begins to brainstorm ways he could remove wards without getting sick himself and without causing the Western Order to retaliate or double down. However, he also is inclined not to act on his own unless ordered to do so by his creator.

Marc and Mathieu Anciel decide to walk to school together, but the entire way Marc is staring at the cover of a book. His book. As in, the first printed volume of his and Nathaniel's comic. He honestly can't believe he's a published author; he can't stop smiling. At one point, Mathieu stops walking at an intersection, and Marc plows into his older brother's back. Mathieu laughs and tells him that while he is proud of his little brother (something Marc seldom hears), he (Marc) really needs to pay attention. Marc apologizes and continues walking. Mathieu then suggests for Marc's next book that he do something new, like maybe a goat-themed hero. It should be obvious to the reader that Mathieu is referring to his own alias as Ramson, especially when he has to catch Zaggy and pull the Aries kwami back into hiding. However, this just causes Marc to sweat as he wonders if Mathieu suspects he's Buck. When he gets a quiet moment, Marc quickly asks Ziggy if Mathieu ever even caught a glimpse of her. Ziggy insists that Mathieu didn't.

Marie Chauveau watches Felix Graham de Vanily walk by and sighs. She wonders why she finds herself feeling attracted to him when she swore off all men after being cruelly dumped. But still… Is it is suave sense of style? His cold demeanor? His lovely green eyes? Pann the Capricorn kwami notices she's spaced out and draws her attention back to the present. The kwami asks Marie what she's going to do, and she admits she doesn't know. The wise thing to do would be to bury her feelings, after all, Felix really does seem to be the type to turn her down as cruelly as she was in the past. So why doesn't her heart listen? Pann suggests Marie listen to her stomach instead, which gets a laugh out of the teen. She does agree that Pann has a point. Then the kwami darts into hiding. Marie looks around to try to find out why.

Her best friend, Suzette Rault, approaches. She notices Marie staring at Felix and remarks Felix would only be interesting as a person if he was dating his cousin. Marie tells her to shut up, which surprises Suzette as Marie usually gushes over yaoi, and incest yaoi has never stopped her before. This leads to a rather idiotic argument between the two that ends when Marie makes a comment that Suzette is just a normal girl and nothing will ever be special about her, and Suzette fleeing in tears. Pann whispers to Marie that she should apologize to Suzette, but Marie refuses. She insists Suzette deserved it. Suzette, while crying in the bathroom, swears she'll prove her worth, come Hell or high water.

Gilles Chastain is there fairly early as well in order to monitor his continued experiments on organic fertilizers in Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom. While poking around in the dirt, he discovers scraps of paper that he knows he didn't put there. He digs them up to find it's a shredded newspaper article that sings praises of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Gilles is flummoxed. He asks Ms. Mendeleiev, but she has no idea how those got there either. Gilles brings it up to his best friend, Nicholas Sancoeur, who remarks that not everyone at school likes the golden duo, so maybe it was one of those people who shredded the article. Gilles still finds it weird, and Nicholas challenges him, asking what really is so great about the superheroes. Gilles praises them for all the times they've selflessly saved people, himself included, at which point Nicholas realizes the topic is a lost cause and changes it.

Shortly after this conversation, Raissa Deschamps joins them. It continues to surprise Nicholas that Raissa wants to hang out with him after just being study partners once. Raissa says it's because she likes working with him with emphasis on the "like." She invites him to hang out with her and her friends during lunch, and of course Gilles is invited too. Nicholas's instinct is to refuse, but Gilles accepts on their behalf before he can. Raissa then mentions that she thought she heard them talking about Ladybug and Cat Noir, and Gilles explains the shredded article. Raissa then, uncharacteristically bitterly, wonders aloud that if Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't exist, then Hawk Moth wouldn't be terrorizing Paris (as the item she's carrying is causing her to confuse the effect for the cause). Gilles is surprised to hear someone badmouth the heroes, and Nicholas merely shrugs.

Rachel Beauchene emerges from the bathroom after ensuring her make-up is perfect. She rakes her long, garnet nails across a poster of Ladybug and Cat Noir, leaving slash marks across their faces. A rather sinister smile stretches across her face, but it turns to a sincere one when she sees her boyfriend, Tristan Fortier. Tristan looks at the damage but doesn't realize that Rachel was behind it. However, Tristan does remark that it seems other people are questioning the heroes too. "Too?" Rachel asks.

Tristan explains his experience during Labyrinth, where he was saved by "Rhino," who was trying to lead him out of the maze, and then attacked by Blue Ox. Rachel stops short. "Was it really Rhino who saved you?" Tristan insists it was. "Didn't you tell me before it was Ursa?" Tristan shakes his head. Rachel knows him well enough to know he's telling the truth and not lying. Which causes her to fall silent as she knows the truth. Ursa saved him, and she knows this for a fact because she's Ursa. But she can't tell him that without revealing her secret identity. What's going on? Why does he think he was saved by Rhino? A rhinoceros and a bear are nothing alike!

Adrien Agreste makes a point of finding Nino and hanging out with him before class. However, he notices Marinette and Alya talking to each other, not too far away. He remembers his suspicions of Marinette: her cellphone ring tone, the unique pencil that matches Ladybug's, how many of their miraculous allies are also classmates… Adrien can't help but suspect. He then asks Nino, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if there's a guy Marinette likes, would you?" Nino just stares at him. For a long time. Finally, he's able to ask, "Why do you want to know? I thought you were all about Ladybug." Adrien stammers and insists he is; he just wants to know because Marinette is a friend and all. Nino pats Adrien on the shoulder. "My good dude, isn't it totally obvious?" Nino walks away, and Adrien doesn't get it at all.

Tsuyu Asui seeks out Fumikage Tokoyami to confirm if he got the same message from Alpha. He did, and they look it over together. Alpha is suggesting a Team B practice session that evening in the catacombs dedicated to Lazare Carnot. Dark Shadow, the crow kwami, complains about having to go underground, away from the skies. Tsuyu points out that there's a lot for them to go over—not only practice-wise, but also in figuring out how to save Chip Bluestone. Fumikage adds that they also have yet to defeat Hypnos, and based on Alpha's testimony, innocent people are still trapped inside that senti monster. He asks Tsuyu and both their kwamis if anyone has any ideas on even finding a senti monster. Tsuyu points out that they know that the Western Order controls Hypnos, so if they can find the Western Order, they can find Hypnos.

Stella Tenebrae jogs in with enough time to use the showers in the locker room before class. The one thing she does not remove is her amethyst ear cuff. Once done, she returns to the locker hallway. However, her thoughts are elsewhere. Anger (only in part due to her tainted item) towards her demanding mother simmers in the back of her brain. She hates how little control she has over her own life; she wants out. That's when a flyer on the bulletin board catches her eye. It's looking for exchange students (the same program Cameran Tyler worked through). Stella's face lights up as she sees her way of escape. She tugs the flyer from its thumbtack and sticks it into her bag. She knows if she pitches it as a way to further her education, her mother will let her go. She'll finally be able to escape!

Etienne Fontaine has his hair perfectly coiffed and moisturizers applied when he arrives. However, that isn't enough to stop Mr. Haprele from calling him into the classroom to explain the fact Etienne hasn't turned in any homework in over a week. Etienne first insists he did, but Mr. Haprele points out all of the 0s in his gradebook. Etienne then says it's not like it's a huge deal, it's just some homework. Mr. Haprele reminds him that without these assignments, Etienne is going to fail the class. Etienne then gets confrontational, insisting that it's not his fault. He has more important things to do, like updating his "handsome-care products" blog. Mr. Haprele argues that it is Etienne's duty to do his homework as his job is "student." Etienne rises to his feet in anger and blames Mr. Haprele, saying that the situation is all his fault for being a bad teacher. He yanks his backpack under his arms (with Bubbles and Betta protesting from the rough treatment inside) and storms out, insisting that if he fails the class, it's everyone's fault but his own.

Jakeel Aristide comes from the library with a stack of books—which is incredibly unlike him. The only thing that justifies it is that these are all joke books. He is turning from a self-absorbed prankster into someone who genuinely tries to make other people laugh—into a real comedian. And right now, he wants to cheer up his best friends, Jean Duparc and Pierre Lefevre. Pierre has been down lately due to his crush on Lila while Jean…well, Jakeel doesn't know why Jean is depressed, he just knows that he is. Jakeel continues along, somewhat carefree himself—because what he doesn't realize is that the peridot raccoon choker is still around his neck.

Felix Graham de Vanily blows off all attempts at socialization and heads to the roof to sulk, alone. Of course, the roof is off-limits to students, but that doesn't stop him. Once he's alone, Leeroy the Leo kwami reveals himself. He asks what's bothering Felix, and Felix insists that it's everything. Everything is wrong. He had a life he enjoyed, now he's stuck in Paris in this stupid school. Fed up, Felix pulls out his cell phone and calls himself off sick—because as we know, Francoise Dupont High School sucks at following up on things like this. Leeroy wonders why when Felix declares "Roar, Leeroy!" and turns himself into Pride. As he's being pulled into the lion tie clip miraculous, Leeroy protests that Ivory would never approve, but Felix/Pride ignores that. He leaps off from rooftop to rooftop, playing hooky and enjoying his powers and even occasionally taking his stress out on some light vandalism.

Meg Delphinus finds her best friend, Rachel Beauchene, lost in thought. When Meg asks what's going on, Rachel asks Meg if she remembers what happened during Labyrinth. Meg sorta sweats as during Labyrinth, she had transformed in Angelica in an attempt to end the situation. Fortunately, Rachel doesn't notice. Rachel asks if Meg ever saw Rhino in the maze. Meg replies that she didn't. Rachel didn't either, and there's no reports of Rhino being present at all. Meg wonders why this is important, and Rachel explains that Tristan (her boyfriend) insists he saw Rhino—and Rachel has no idea why or what's going on. Meg plays off her ignorance while hiding Swanna from sight. She theorizes that maybe they both just didn't see Rhino—after all, Labyrinth was huge. Rachel still feels disconcerted.

The bell rings for classes to begin. Aurore Beaureal and Mireille Caquet have yet to arrive from their morning job at the weather station. They're on their way and talking together like the good friends they are. Just before they enter the school building, Aurore notices a mother with a stroller—and the stroller wheel has gotten caught in a storm grate. Aurore rushes over to help while Mireille complains that she's going to be late. It doesn't take long, but Aurore and the mom, with some hidden help from Pollen, are able to free the stroller. Once the mother is sent on her way, Aurore catches up with Mireille.

Aurore asks Mireille if something is wrong, but Mireille insists she's fine. Aurore points out that Mireille is the kindest person she knows; it's not like her to ignore someone who needs help. Mireille gets sarcastic at this point in no small part due to her sapphire earrings. She snaps and tells Aurore that she's allowed to think of herself sometimes and that she's "so sorry" that her personality doesn't reach Aurore's "perfect" expectation. Mireille huffs and hurries inside while Aurore just watches, feeling very very worried.

In Ms. Mendeleiev's first period class, Ms. Mendeleiev is gearing the students up for today's science experiments. She encourages them to remove all jewelry and accessories, including loose fitting things like scarves, so that they don't react with any chemicals being used. Cameran Tyler, the American exchange student, is ready to begin. However, Ms. Mendeleiev orders him to take his opal bracelet off. Cameran looks at his wrist—sure enough, he's wearing a bracelet. He gets a bit sheepish and wonders how that even got there (the truth is, he has no idea). He doesn't even recognize it, claiming it's not his. Ms. Mendeleiev continues to give him a firm look, so Cameran tucks it into his backpack, next to his baseball cards. Five minutes later, unknown to Cameran himself even, his subconscious has dictated to him to put the bracelet back on his wrist.

Viktor Vasiliev isn't really paying attention to the lecture. While it looks as if he's taking notes, he's actually scribbling out more details for that afternoon's Star Wars DnD session. He draws from his experiences as Tenrec to shape the plot and throw traps at the players. His partner for the science project, Guy Nigels, winds up doing most of the work.

Guy doesn't necessarily like this, but he's not about to fail the assignment. He does try to talk to Viktor, but their interests are incredibly opposite. Viktor likes high fantasy while Guy is completely obsessed with Westerns. Guy attempts to do some cowboy impressions, complete with his native French accent, which only causes Viktor to give him a weird look. However, Guy does prove to be very observant. He's the only one in class who realizes Viktor is working on DnD instead of the assignment, for starters. He also notices that Jean Duparc hasn't been acting like himself lately, that Nicolette Lacroix and Etienne Fontaine seem to be getting along despite their personalities but it doesn't appear that they're dating, and that some classmates are getting more hostile, including Meera Pugliese and Mireille Caquet.

Speaking of Meera Pugliese, she doesn't even follow Ms. Mendeleiev's instructions because she sees the experiment supplies as a chance to create imitation mermaid tears. When she inevitably causes an accident and sent to Principal Damocles's office, Meera uncharacteristically blows it off, likely due to the strange, new hair clasp she's wearing. She instead wanders into the courtyard where she ultimately lays down on her back and watches the clouds drift by.

Lunchtime rolls around, and Pierre Lefevre heads out of class the fastest. He's gathered his nerves, and he's finally going to ask his crush, Lila Rossi, to eat lunch with him. His Libra kwami, Dee, encourages him, and Pierre finally finds Lila and asks her. Lila's initial reaction is a lip curl of disgust. She planned on refusing, but then Adrien Agreste walks by with Nino Lahiffe. Lila believes she can make Adrien jealous, so she accepts Pierre's offer, which elates the Libra wielder. They have lunch together, but the entire time, Lila keeps glancing at Adrien. Adrien doesn't once look in her direction. However, Lila does notice that Adrien seems to be looking at Marinette a lot. Which infuriates her. And Pierre remains blindingly oblivious to the flaws within his ladylove.

He's not the only one struggling with feelings that could lead into an unhealthy relationship. Nicolette Lacroix seeks out Etienne Fontaine during her lunch break. Etienne tolerates her presence now as she fuels his ego in addition to them knowing each other's secret identities as June and Reef, respectively. Trapper, the Cancer kwami, sulks during the whole conversation as the crab doesn't like Etienne—though, to be fair, Trapper really doesn't like anyone. Etienne complains to Nicolette about how unfair Mr. Haprele is and how the teacher "didn't even give him a chance" to complete his assignments and is now being a terrible person by threatening his grades for the class. Etienne insists he did the work, and it's all Mr. Haprele's fault for losing track of it. The Pisces wielder claims he knows all the material and could ace any test at a moment's notice, so it's unfair for Mr. Haprele to treat him like an irresponsible idiot. Nicolette misses all the contradictions at first as she's blinded by love. However, she does catch a glimpse of her pink infatuation thread to Etienne, and she notices it's turning grey and toxic. That causes her to hesitate. And when she does, she realizes she feels lost. What do I do when I can't trust my own heart? Trapper also sees through all of Etienne's ego and narcissism, which only causes him to dislike Etienne even more, which only causes more tension between Trapper and the Pisces wielder. Trapper begins to grumble to Nicolette that that guy is no good for her.

Monique Imhof, Nicolette's best friend, catches her and Etienne at the tail end of lunch. Monique once again comments that Nicolette can do so much better (Trapper silently agreeing), and Nicolette admits her head knows even though her heart refuses to listen to that logic. While they talk, Monique slips one of her fish sticks into her purse for Oshii, the Aquarius kwami. Of all irony, Monique and Nicolette don't realize that they're both working for the Western Order as Zephyria the Witch and June, respectively. Monique offers the chance for a double date with Mathieu Anciel (Monique's boyfriend) and one of Mathieu's friends to see if Mathieu's friend and Nicolette hit it off well enough for her to forget Etienne. Nicolette thanks her for the thought, but she's not sure if she's ready for something like that yet. Monique tells her that she just doesn't want to see her get hurt.

Afternoon rolls around, and Genevive Faucher and Yvonne Garnier get to leave their final class early as they have an assignment as the school's main newspaper writers. They're currently two of the very few students not caught up by the Western Order, Eastern Order, or Hawk Moth's new birthstone minions. As such, they're both in pretty good spirits without such dramatic burdens weighing them down. However, they are on the fringes of things and do know that their new friend, Sabrina Raincomprix, is Hachiko. Since they have time on their way to the science museum and are otherwise alone, they feel it's safe to talk about superheroines and what they know. Genevieve admits it's sometimes hard to keep her mouth shut on the issue as she finds it really awesome that Sabrina is a heroine and she just wants to share her excitement with other people. Yvonne admits to feeling the opposite; she's sometimes concerned that Hawk Moth will use them as hostages against Hachiko. That's why, more than anything, she truly wants to keep this a secret. They laugh.

Yvonne also admits to being a bit jealous of Sabrina for having powers. Genevieve fully agrees at that point and verbally creates a scenario of them leaping from rooftop to rooftop, taking down bad guys with a single kick, turning into animals or gaining wings, having special powers and blasting crooks with their magic scepters etc. Both girls are fully wrapped up in their imaginary world building and co-mental-adventuring that they arrive at the science museum before they know it. The scene emphasizes that while they have their differences, they are truly inseparable best friends.

The school day ends, and we see the last classmate, Jean Duparc. Instead of heading to one of several parks in the afternoon to perform his magic act for any cash thrown his way, he heads to a quieter part of the Seine River to think. He stares at the turquoise glove on his hand—the one he was certain he left in his desk drawer at home but always seems to be on his hand when next he thinks to look. Adamantus said it's because he has innate powers that draw the glove to him—all the birthstone wielders do. They welcomed him and accepted him. But…then again…so did the B Team, initially. Before they thought he was working for an enemy. They're not really wrong… He's struggling, and he knows he needs to get his thoughts in order.

Mentally, he starts at the beginning. He discovered the mysterious glove in his bag, and it grants him the ability to turn in Chip Bluestone. He was immediately welcomed into the B Team as one of their own. However, I never was one of their own. Once they learned otherwise, his B Team friends accused him of working for the enemy. And at some level that's true; he knows he's been compromised. But then Adamantus reached out his hand (hoof?) to him and welcomed him as a member of the birthstone wielders—and that is clearly where he belongs; his item fits there and their powers are similar. Plus, all the other birthstone wielders also welcomed him. However, by aligning with them, Jean/Chip had to withdraw from the B Team. After all, the B Team and Adamantus are enemies. But in his heart…deep in his heart. Jean feels the pain—he can't deny it; the B Team are people he truly considers to be friends. But the birthstone people are also friends. How can he be friends with two teams who are enemies? Maybe…maybe I can get them to set aside their differences and work together? That idea truly does cheer Jean up. However, there is still the deep-seat concern. Have I been compromised? How? And is it even safe for the birthstone users to be around me? Jean considers withdrawing from them too for the time being, but the glove is really messing with his head and it's making it hard for him to fully see that all the evidence points to the birthstone allies being used by Hawk Moth. Under the glove's influence, Jean feels he cannot abandon Adamantus's crew; he has to continue to help them…and maybe from that side, he can actually bring some type of peace to all this fighting.

With it being afternoon, after school clubs and extracurricular activities are going full-swing. This includes fencing and music practice. Adrien runs into Kagami on his way to the locker room, and they start talking. It's a bit awkward with them being ex's, but they're at least still friends. Adrien notices Marinette leave the locker hallway with Luka, both chatting happily. The word "date" gets mentioned. Adrien freezes when he hears it, and his heart twists painfully. Kagami has to snap him out of it.

The Dungeons and Dragons Club is meeting for their first Star Wars campaign, though Giselle notes that she can't do every single afternoon of the week as she also has ice skating practice at Philippe's rink. Marc Anciel and Nathaniel Kurtzberg agree as they do need to dedicate time to their comic. Viktor Vasiliev says that as long as they can meet just once a week, they maintain their official club status. Everyone agrees that this is a good a plan.

Vivica hustles in moments later, apologizing for being late as her practice ran over. Due to the previous DnD session, her friends here know what she means. She sets her guitar case aside and gets ready to play her Twi'lek pilot character. However, before Viktor officially begins the campaign, Marinette, Luka, and Juleka walk by. Luka is seeing Juleka home before he heads off with Marinette—and of course Marinette wants to see them off too because she's friends with Juleka. Juleka isn't happy as she fears Marinette is leading her brother on. But Marinette has all plans of coming clean to Luka this very afternoon. Anyway~… Fumikage Tokoyami waves good-bye to them, and Nathaniel mentions Juleka by name as they leave since they're classmates. This causes Vivica to stop short. "Wait, Juleka. And Luka? You guys aren't the Couffaines are you?"

Luka is surprised Vivica knows their names as they have no idea who she is; she doesn't even go to their school. He asks Marinette if she knows her, and Marinette shakes her head. To be fair, Marinette did meet Vivica once, but she was Ladybug at the time. So civilian Marinette never met Vivica. Vivica starts gushing about what she knows about the Couffianes as her "boss" won't stop bragging about his kids. This is where things get crazy, as Luka realizes that that means Vivica works for Jagged Stone and blurts out as much. Now, the DnD group knows this, but they had no idea that Luka and Juleka are Jagged Stone's kids, and with Luka's comment, it doesn't take much for them to put two and two together and deduce his father. So while the DnD group (Viktor, Fumikage, Giselle, Nathaniel, Marc, and Tsuyu as a spectator) are all making various exclamations about the Couffaine's heritage, Luka and Juleka are both trying to wrench more information out of Vivica and Marinette tries to play peacemaker.

Vivica then starts getting a bit gushy about Jagged Stone, saying how much she owes him when he and Penny took her in when she had nowhere else to go and how she owes her job to them. She's incredibly grateful, and she does see him as a good but flawed person. Both Luka and Juleka's expressions sour at this point, and Juleka finds her voice enough to ask how long Vivica has been working with their father. Vivica mentions it's been about 18 months, which gets Luka irate as they only just reconnected with Jagged a few weeks ago, and they're his biological children. Vivica doesn't sense the tension and keeps mentioning good things about Jagged until Luka rather curtly interrupts her, declaring most of her remarks to be delusional as he did abandon them both for most of their lives. This starts to get things into an argument as Vivica feels the need to defend Jagged, and Luka and Juleka still harbor a lot of hurt that they're not fully through processing, and they have to repeatedly point out that while Vivica experienced these positive things, they never did. Juleka then in a very timid, hurt voice wonders aloud why Jared Stone would take in a total stranger their exact same age but still didn't make any attempt to contact them until (dark side) Alpha forced the issue. "Did he really not want us? Did he replace us?"

Vivica then realizes what's going on and tries to backpedal. By now, things are uber awkward for the rest of the DnD group. Marinette attempts to change the topic several times; Viktor keeps trying to start the campaign, but since he's a huge introvert himself, he doesn't really have the skill set to do so. Vivica does her best to apologize and tries to explain herself better, but Luka cuts her off as they don't really want to hear any more. Luka is mature enough to apologize for dragging her into their family drama. He then figures it's best if they just drop things because he doesn't see the conversation making anything better. He tells Juleka that they should be leaving, and she follows him out of the school. Marinette apologizes and hurries after them. Vivica slumps down in her chair from all the tension, feeling the eyes of everyone on her. Viktor makes another attempt to begin the session, but Vivica apologizes. She grabs her things and says she really needs to clear the air with the Couffaines. She grabs her things and leaves the school to find the Couffaine children. The others watch her leave, and Viktor tries yet again to begin the scenario. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…"

Vivica heads out of Francois Dupont High School and looks for which way Luka and Juleka went. She knows she owes them a better explanation than her previous fumbled one. She's pretty wired emotionally by this point, and the pearl charm she's been wearing for a while now glimmers to reflect that. She runs through the streets of Paris, trying to track Luka and Juleka, all while still hauling her guitar and stuff. It's actually pretty impressive. She ducks down an alleyway to take a shortcut, her adrenaline wearing out. And that's when her emotions top out, sparking the akuma that dwells within her charm to change her into an alligator-themed superhero (or, depending on your interpretation, super antagonist).

While Bunnyx is inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with her design being a fusion of the White Rabbit and Alice herself as well as Zephyria the Witch being inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with her design being a fusion of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West, Vivica's empowered design is inspired by Peter Pan with her outfit being a fusion of both Captain Hook and The Crocodile. Overall, her bodysuit is a shimmery alabaster white with a scale pattern. She has a long waistcoat and an embroidered tailed jacket that mimics a reptilian tail. Two or three sashes wrap around her waist which hold her primary iconic weapon, a trident, in place; however, there is also a small old-fashioned gun tucked into a holster at her hip too. She also gains a pirate bandana, which contains most of her hair except for some strays; the bandana itself is fringed to mimic crocodile teeth. Instead of a mask, Vivica gets a single eye patch; however, it doesn't seem to obstruct her vision any (just as Pierre can see perfectly fine as Sir Silver Hart even though his miraculous when transformed acts as a literal blindfold). She also gains pirate boots that have a distinctive claw flare as well as what might be a knife handle sticking out of the left one. To further show the parallels between her and Captain Hook, her right hand is silver as if it were a hook. It's worth noting that even though she's transformed, Vivica's braces still remain.

Vivica halts dead where she is in the alleyway, gaping at herself, temporarily forgetting she had set off to talk to Juleka and Luka. (Not that Juleka and Luka are together at the moment as Luka went off with Marinette as Juleka went home. But Vivica doesn't know that.) Of course, her emotions causing the pearl charm she's been wearing to surge instantly alerts Nathalie that one of her three remaining items is now active. She immediately contacts Nicholas through long-range telepathy and sends him to the precise location Vivica is.

However, Vivica doesn't remain rooted in one place all that long. The first thing she does is search for her cell phone to call a friend or Penny for help; however, she can't find her phone as she has yet to realize that it's features have integrated with her trident. With nowhere to turn for to help, she flees. And once she leaves the alleyway, she's in plain sight among the general populace. Who, after what is likely a full year of akuma attacks, have been well trained in sending out Akuma Alerts. Now, they have no way of knowing if this person is an akuma victim or not, a friend or foe or not. But they all err on the safe side and send out the alert regardless. Which, of course notifies Ladybug and Cat Noir and gets them coming ASAP.

It takes Marinette a little longer than Adrien as she was with Luka on their way to their date when she had to make up an excuse about leaving something at school, something she had to run back to get. Luka offered to go with her, but Marinette pushed him to drop his guitar off at his home so he doesn't have to carry it while they're at the park together. It's strictly an excuse, but it's decent enough for Luka to accept. Besides, he wants some time to check Discord and organize the B Team as Alpha.

As a result, Cat Noir lands in front of the pearl crocodile first. And being Vivica beneath the eye patch, she's actually pretty elated to see Cat Noir, up close and personal, to her. She is a member of the Cat Noir fan club, after all, and that is what she and Giselle initially bonded over. Cat Noir, expecting a confrontation, is seriously surprised to meet a fangirl instead. He plays it off well and even flirts back a little and cracks a joke or two. Vivica introduces herself as "Pearly White," and Cat Noir immediately starts calling her "Pearls" as a nickname. It seems odd she would default to using an alias when she doesn't even have an alliance with the heroes or villains of Paris yet. However, creating an alias is pretty much instinctive to miraculous and magical item wielders. Not to mention, so many superhero clichees have happened within their city that there likely isn't a child or teen alive who hasn't fantasized his or her own superhero persona. They're all familiar with secret identities by now and just go along with it.

Things go south when Ladybug shows up, and the pearl charm's subtle, negative influence on Pearly White kicks in—she gets immediately and irrationally jealous of Ladybug. It doesn't help when Cat Noir goes from somewhat coquettishly calling Pearly White "Pearls" to instantly addressing Ladybug as "milady." Ladybug then semi-demandingly asks what's going on and makes a remark about how, since Pearly White is using a birthstone empowered item, she must be working for Hawk Moth. Pearly White, rather indignantly, insists she'd never work for Hawk Moth. Ladybug attempts to explain that the item Pearls is using had to be created by him, which leads to an argument between the two. Pearls looks to Cat Noir for help; she hasn't hurt anyone—she isn't akumatized! (And she knows first-hand what it's like to be akumatized, after all, she was Desperada.) She insists she's innocent! Cat Noir winces but does side with Ladybug because he (and the Eastern Order and the B Team) are rather certain Hawk Moth made the birthstones based on evidence they have that hasn't been revealed to the general public. Pearls is crushed by the fact Cat Noir thinks she's an akuma villain. It gets worse when Ladybug asks the pearl crocodile to hand over her enchanted item before Hawk Moth takes control of her and in order for Ladybug to study it and/or purify it. Which would require Ladybug to break the item to free the akuma. Which plays into Pearls' irrational jealousy as she sees Ladybug as trying to depower her as she may become a rival for Cat Noir's affections.

Then Adamantus jumps down behind her. He opens by saying that he believes her. He knows Pearls isn't controlled by Hawk Moth (lies). Adamantus briefly explains that he and the other birthstone users want to be Pearly White's allies; they won't take her powers from her. Instead, they'll teach her how to use them properly. And while it is true that Adamantus has a secret sponsor, that sponsor is honestly not "him" aka male Hawk Moth (only technically true). Adamantus explains (lies) that their powers come from within and attract magical items to them. He knows she would never hurt anyone, and he acknowledges she has to be confused now. He'll help. She should trust him.

Ladybug and Cat Noir argue with Pearls not to listen to the diamond unicorn, and Ladybug sees an opening to finally peg down one of her greatest opposition. She throws her yo-yo at Adamantus. Pearls reacts out of instinct, draws her trident, and intercepts the yo-yo, protecting Adamantus. Though usually stoic, Adamantus lets out a small smile at that point which only Ladybug notices; it's a smile to say that psychologically-speaking, he won this round. This only irritates Ladybug even more, which causes her to attack Adamantus again, not caring that she has to go through Pearls to get to the diamond unicorn—which, of course, winds up cementing Pearls joining Adamantus (as if the charm influencing her wouldn't have eventually done it on its own). Cat Noir starts to attempt to calm Ladybug down as well as pacify Pearls, but before he can really speak, Adamantus draws his twin screwdrivers, which forces Cat Noir on the offensive as well. All four begin fighting, with Ladybug and Cat Noir attempting to get the enchanted items from their opponents while Adamantus sees this as a chance to get their miraculous for his aunt. Ladybug is exceptionally impatient as she has a date—a date that she's extra stressed-out about because she has to friend zone one of the nicest guys she knows.

Of course, Nathalie (who has transformed into female Hawk Moth) is thrilled by this turn of events as the golden duo basically handed Pearls to her. And with her long-range telepathy, she sees this as a chance to act quicker than the heroes can as the heroes have to rely on cell phone communication. Female Hawk Moth alerts several of her own allies to back-up Adamantus.

Meanwhile, as many heroes as are able are logging into their chat server to keep appraised of the situation ever since the Akuma Alert. Dauphine, Dauphin, and Froppy are notably missing from the Team B Discord as they are all at swim practice with their cell phones in their lockers. Firefly, Tsukuyomi, and Snow Leopard are responding less frequently as they are caught up in a club activity—not realizing it's the exact same club and they're sitting mere yards apart. That leaves just Alpha, who chimes in that he's not far from the incident at all (not knowing this started because Vivica was following him) and Honey Bee, who is tied up with her part-time, after school job. However, Honey Bee does have enough time to type and note that it doesn't appear as if Pearly White is an akuma victim as her skin tone is normal. She then gets called as she's due on air and has to fall silent.

On the A Team server, everyone is pretty excited at the chance of being called upon to use their powers again. Viperion and Nom de Plume are notably quieter than the others as they have to juggle between both servers and neither realizes it. King Monkey is completely silent because of swim practice, the same as his other alias as Dauphin. Ryutsume is also on the reserved end as she's finishing up some extra fencing practice. Tigress is more chatty than her civilian counterpart. Internally, Luka is hoping that this incident doesn't go on too long as he doesn't want it to cancel his date with Marinette; he only just arrived home to drop off his guitar, as she suggested.

Back at the fight, Cat Noir defends himself from Adamantus while wondering if they need back up or not. He glances towards Ladybug as she tangles with Pearls. He opens his mouth to ask, but his thoughts immediately jump out of his head as his suspicions whisper in his ear. Maybe Ladybug, that girl right next to you, the girl you love, is your classmate. Maybe she's Marinette. Ladybug notices Cat Noir looking at her, agape, and snaps at him to focus. However, she does seem to realize his question as she tells him that two on two, they can handle things. No sense risking additional miraculous getting stolen, right?

That changes when the words have barely left her lips as Ruddiger, Ebony Nicht, and Ursa join Adamantus's side. Ruddiger is a bit spacey (as Hawk Moth has to fully brainwash him), but the other two aren't. And Ursa is itching for a fight as she's still confused and getting progressively more worked up as to why her boyfriend, Tristan Fortier, thinks it was Rhino instead of the garnet bear who saved him during Labyrinth. As if Ursa wasn't already ridiculously aggressive as-is. It's worth noting that this is the first time the heroes even meet Ebony Nicht. So there's a brief introduction.

As usual, female Hawk Moth is guiding them. She sees this as not only a way to make it further look as if the prior Hawk Moth is still operational but also to test the powers of her birthstone wielders in order to give them more practice together—and, best case scenario, she walks away with her end goal (the golden duo's miraculouses) in hand. She's linked them all together through a communal telepathy and then largely remains quiet herself, eavesdropping, while Adamantus acts as leader.

Ladybug and Cat Noir exchange one single "oh crap" look as the other birthstone wielders arrive. Knowing each other well enough, Cat Noir charges forward to distract their opponents while Ladybug falls back to send a quick message to the Team A server. It only takes her about three seconds, which is all the longer she wants to risk Cat Noir against five empowered antagonists. She also knows what a danger Ruddiger and his Steal is, so she immediately moves for a "Lucky Charm" as she charges in to back up her partner.

Of course, upon seeing this, Ruddiger immediately counters with "Steal" and snags her yo-yo. However, he is just a second too late, and Ladybug catches her miraculous-conjured charm (and winds up with one of Ruddiger's paintbrushes). Nonetheless, that doesn't seem to faze Ruddiger as he just tosses the yo-yo to Pearls. At which point, Pearls reveals her special ability. True to a pirate, who use a wide range of weapons, the special ability of the pearl crocodile is instant weapons mastery. Pearls breaks out moves with Ladybug's yo-yo that put Ladybug herself to shame. Ladybug can only gape while Cat Noir remarks "you can do that, right?"

By this point, there is live stream coverage of the incidents from both civilians (whom Roger Raincomprix is futilely trying to convince to evacuate) as well as Nadja Chamack. Which means not only are the A Team and the B Team watching, but also the Western Order. The fact that Hawk Moth has sent five of his allies against the golden duo does cause some concern for Madam Gros/Ivory (she has yet to know that this is a new Hawk Moth). After all, Ivory cannot let Hawk Moth become any more powerful. So she texts her would-be step-son, Zenon Theroux, and tells him to watch on stand-by. He complains about leaving Master Fu as-is, but Ivory points out that Brynne can keep an eye on their captive. She wants him as Draco to watch the situation. If it look as if Adamantus is going to win, stop him. If both sides exhaust each other, he is to take all their items. If it looks as if Ladybug might defeat Adamantus…let her, but then glean information about Adamantus's identity to trace back to Hawk Moth. She pushes hard enough, and Zenon complies. He sneaks out of the apartment window, transformed using the salamander tongue stud.

Back during the main fight, the birthstone wielders are showing a surprising amount of teamwork for having really just formed. It helps the Hawk Moth can guide them in addition to allowing them to share telepathy. Ebony Nicht with her hooked pole proves to be very adept at striking from blindspots and above, as befitting her role as the amethyst bat. Ursa is more prone to charging head-on in an overly aggressive manner, but her Metallurgy ability is very versatile as she attempts to both strike and imprison the heroes. In addition, Ursa also uses her free moment to fashion weapons out of metal, which she frequently toss to Pearls. Pearly White's own ability means she can use them all, from cutlasses to fishing poles, at the highest skill level. As Ursa manipulates more of the metal in the city to box in the fight, Cat Noir is forced to use his Cataclysm to get rid of it all. That puts both heroes on their timers while the birthstone wielders, still being fueled by non-integrated akumas, can use their powers endlessly. However, true miraculous still prove to have an advantage in defense, speed, agility, jumping height, and augmented strength. Basically saying, the stats of a real miraculous are much, much higher than those of an akuma-fueled item. Plus, the greatest advantage to miraculous is the sanity stat—as in, all miraculous wielders can react on gut, instinct, reflex, and training. Hawk Moth's subtle (or out-right in the case of Ruddiger and All-Star Rex) brainwashing slows the movement and reaction time of all the birthstone users.

Still, numbers are in the birthstones' favor…until Minimouse and Rena Rouge join the heroes. Ladybug had also requested Nom de Plume, but despite Nathaniel and Marc's best efforts, Nathaniel couldn't slip away from the DnD session without appearing suspicious. And perhaps that's for the best considering his identity, after all, everyone else in DnD is also serving one Order or another in this huge conflict. Minimouse is nervous about her ability to help them against five opponents, but Rena Rouge is ready to go. Also about this time, Draco arrives and hides in the shadows of the rooftops, per his orders.

Rena Rouge immediately helps drive Pearls away from Ladybug while Minimouse moves to back Cat Noir up (earning her a "cat and mouse" pun from him). During this, Ruddiger flips several Steals, including swiping Rena Rouge's flute so she can't cast a Mirage. Ruddiger immediately passes it to Pearls to see if she can use it. Much to their surprise, Pearls can't use Mirage with Rena Rouge's flute; she can actually barely use the flute at all. It's further surprising since Ruddiger has proven to be able to use miraculous's special abilities if their abilities need their weapon to activate. But "weapon" is the key word in this case. Pearls is a weapons master—and a flute simply isn't a weapon. (Now, it's highly likely as she gets stronger, she'll expand her skill set to all other type of tools and instruments and even special abilities, but this is literally her first day and she's not there yet. Instruments especially as she's a musician.) Realizing all this, Ruddiger aims to Steal the flute back so he can use Mirage. However, Rena Rouge anticipated this and uses Pearls' trident to reclaim her flute.

At the exact same time, Minimouse uses Multitude to split herself into dozens of little Minimouses. She swarms all over Adamantus to throw him off in order for Ladybug to get close to swipe his magical item. However, Ebony Nicht leaps to her ally's aid and reveals her special ability to the heroes: Minutes to Midnight. This causes an indiscriminate blackout over the area, to which Pearls and Ursa both protest. However, one Minimouse has been able to latch onto Ebony Nicht, and that Minimouse guides all the others to swarm her instead. Ladybug hears a rather comedic fight as dozens of Minimouse latch onto Ebony Nicht in Gulliver's Travels style. Draco watches from beyond the range of Minutes to Midnight, amused.

It's in the dark that Ladybug figures out a use for her Lucky Charm, which turns out to be a voice modulator. She creates panic in the ranks by making it seem as if Ruddiger has been captured. Since Ruddiger is on the silent end and, unknown to the heroes, can't really speak up for himself, her ploy works. Ladybug alternates between her own voice, demanding that Adamantus withdraw from her allies, as well as Ruddiger's voice, pretending to be hostage. The real Ruddiger does protest at one point, but Ladybug confuses them all the more by mimicking Ursa's voice and saying that the real Ruddiger is a trick. That only leads to the real Ursa protesting, with Ladybug thinking fast and shouting over her by pretending to be more of her allies showing up, including Nom de Plume and Blue Ox. Now, Rena Rouge knows Ladybug/Marinette well enough to see where this is going, and she quietly casts her own Mirage underneath it all. Then Ladybug impersonates Adamantus by ordering Ebony Nicht to lower her Minutes to Midnight.

When they can all see again, it looks just like Ladybug's bluff. Blue Ox, Viperion, Nom de Plume, and Hachiko all appear to be there. It looks as if Ladybug has Ruddiger bound by her yo-yo, and the real Ruddiger has been rendered invisible by the illusion. Adamantus tries to communicate with Ruddiger telepathically—but again, being brainwashed, it's ineffective. This also highlights Ladybug's natural luck as her ploy never would have worked had she picked anyone else. Cat Noir and Rena Rouge fall back to defend Ladybug while Minimouse is still swarming Ebony Nicht a la Lilliput. Cat Noir adds to Ladybug's bluff, telling Adamantus to surrender his magical item—otherwise, they'll claim the item from Ruddiger.

Adamantus is wise enough to stall and points out that even if he gives the diamond unicorn cufflinks to them, they would still take Ruddiger's peridot choker anyway. This confirms 100% to the heroes, if they didn't know already, what enchanted items Adamantus and Ruddiger are using. Ladybug offers her word that she would let Ruddiger go with his identity still a secret—after all, Adamantus is the bigger prize here. Adamantus doesn't believe she'd be honest. And during this, Draco inches closer—he knows he could pounce during their weakness if Adamantus does surrender. Ursa growls and lunges forward as she's aggressive and reckless, but Rena Rouge intercepts her before she can break the illusion.

It's Pearls who replies next, and she's heart-broken. She legitimately cannot believe that the fun, kind Cat Noir would take and threaten a hostage! Cat Noir immediately feels guilty, but he (and his allies) cannot explain it's a Mirage. Pearls then goes on to blame Ladybug for having a bad influence on Cat Noir, insisting he never would do anything like this if not for her. Ladybug starts to snap her own response, which takes her attention off of Adamantus. Using telepathy, he tells everyone to prepare to withdraw on his command. Ursa and Ebony protest this, but there's not much they can do to continue the fight without seemingly risking one of their own.

So Adamantus walks forward, placing himself between Team Ladybug and his own allies. Ladybug orders him to drop his weapons while Pearls protests this to Cat Noir. Adamantus slowly draws his weapons—and then throws them straight up into the air, which catches everyone's attention. Ladybug lashes out to stop him, but it's not him they had to worry about. Adamantus was solely the distraction. Ebony Nicht activates her Minutes to Midnight again, and the birthstone users withdraw. Ursa uses the darkness to escape Rena Rouge and charge Ladybug to force her to let go of Ruddiger, not realizing that that Ruddiger is an illusion. Once she senses Ruddiger is free, in both the illusion breaking upon contact as well as telepathy, she begrudgingly retreats. Draco makes a move, but he's lost in the darkness as well.

Team Ladybug also moves during the darkness; all four of them escape in the opposite direction of Adamantus rather than prolong the fight while on their countdowns. Rena Rouge expresses disappointment at having to withdraw. If Team Ladybug keeps having ties against Team Adamantus, they'll never stop him and Hawk Moth. Cat Noir is dejected by how Pearls chewed him out. Minimouse is rallying her own confidence, and Ladybug is pensive. When Rena Rouge notices, she asks why. Ladybug wonders why the real Ruddiger didn't say anything despite the illusion. If he spoke up, it never would have worked. So why didn't he? Why did he continue to let them bluff? For that matter, why he is usually so quiet during confrontations? Something feels off to her. Her allies agree, but they have no answers. And with no further answers and no sign of Adamantus striking again, Ladybug activates her world-healing wave. All four "Pound It!" Ladybug tells them to remain on stand-by just in case Adamantus isn't done for the day, but until then, they need to split due to their timers.

As they head off, Ladybug's eyes widen as she remembers. "I have a date!" She bolts the scene. And she spoke just loud enough for Cat Noir to hear her. As far as he's concerned, that confirms his suspicions…Ladybug is Marinette. And on one paw, he is elated as the girl he loves has been by his side the entire time. On the other paw, he is so dejected because she loves someone else. He tells himself that he's been an idiot this entire time, not listening to Ladybug when she mentioned she had another boy she liked. She's in love with Luka Couffaine, not him. It's all his fault his heart is broken; he's been so selfish, pushing his will on her. He leaves for his home, tail metaphorically drooping.

Meanwhile, with Adamantus's team, Ursa demands to know why they left when they could have taken another shot at Ladybug and Cat Noir. She's very worked up. Adamantus points out how long the Eastern Order has been using their miraculous versus how inexperienced the birthstone users are. Ursa is about to further argue, but Pearls admits she is a total rookie. She notes several mistakes she and Ruddiger and the others made. (After all, as a musician, she knows she can't get better unless she acknowledges her mistakes and practices.) Adamantus tells Ursa and Ebony Nicht that the time will come, but it's going to be way better planned. They can't just hope to run into Ladybug and Cat Noir and all their allies and win. Their sponsor is gathering information and constructing the perfect trap. Each encounter up to and including now is merely information gathering; victory is second to the information the glean about the heroes and their allies. And this plan'll ruin not only the Eastern Order but also the Western Order and Hawk Moth, leaving the birthstones to be the true heroes of Paris. Ebony, Pearls, and Ursa rally behind that. Until then, Adamantus urges them to continue as normal and wait for the signal. Until that time comes, patience. Their innate powers will grow as long as they wear their magical items daily—and every encounter with the Orders is practice for the future victory.

Pearls then asks—who, exactly, is this sponsor? Why won't he…or she…tell them a name? Adamantus lies as smooth as silk. He admits the sponsor is afraid about being hunted down by Hawk Moth, Ivory, and the Western Order. It just isn't safe. It's why they keep their own identities secret, after all. But when the time is right, their sponsor will reveal him—or her—self. He hints strongly that the sponsor is like them—someone with "innate powers" and a "magical item" who had to learn everything on his or her own. And now, their sponsor wants to spare them the hardship by helping them grow their talents based on his or her experience. These are dangerous times, and with Paris believing the golden duo are flawless, the sponsor has to move very carefully. His allies buy it.

Once Pearls leaves, her transformation breaks as she calms down. She's still amazed by all that's happened. But then she remembers—she needs to explain things to Luka and Juleka! Vivica bolts off, trying to find them. But of course, they're not still in the street where she last saw them. She tries to remember where they live, and she recalls a houseboat from Desperada. Since she has a little bit of time left before guitar practice, she heads to the last place she knows the Liberty docked. However, they're not they're this time. With no other clues, all Vivica has left is to try to find them at their school day tomorrow. She sighs and heads home, hoping she didn't make things worse for her boss. He did fire her for drinking milk once before, after all.

During this, Ladybug lands on her own balcony. She transforms back just as Luka rings the doorbell. As a result, she has no time for make-up, styling her hair, or changing her clothes. She just runs downstairs, a little flustered, for their date. Luka remarks she looks beautiful regardless, and he's being completely honest. Marinette blushes, and her parents start to get nosy and coo about the cute couple. Marinette shoos them away. He wonders why she wasn't where they agreed to meet when he left to return his guitar home and she forgot something at school. Marinette insists she forgot where they were supposed to be and then her phone stopped working, but she's been trying to call him since. Luke shrugs it off and asks if Marinette is ready. As she is, he rides her to a local park on his bike.

The local park has a market with vendors selling hand-made goods, local produce, a few local bands (which really attracts Luka's attention), some amateur artists (including sidewalk chalk), and food vendors. The duo wind up having a ton of fun with both laughing and smiling a whole lot. Which makes it all the harder for Marinette to say what she wants to say.

Towards the end of the afternoon, she takes Luka aside. She's really serious, and Luka can sense something is wrong. Marinette does her best attempt to explain she's flattered by his attention but only wants to be friends as she is in love with someone else. However, she starts Marinette-ing really, really badly. Her words come out as a jumble, and she can't explain herself properly. Based on what she does stammer out, Luka is led to believe that she's just tired from the day and wants to head home but feels bad about calling their date short. He tells her he understands being tired; it is a school night after all. Luka graciously offers to take her home. Marinette attempts to explain again, with more malapropping, but she ultimately cannot speak straight and winds up going home.

At the Agreste manor, Adrien flops onto his bed, completely downhearted. Plagg tries to cheer him up with cheese, but Adrien refuses. He once again tells Plagg he thinks Marinette is Ladybug, which Plagg denies. Adrien says that he would expect Plagg to say that, whether or not it's the truth, as Plagg is forced to keep identities a secret. He then says he's giving up on Ladybug, which causes Plagg's jaw to drop. The kwami demands why.

Adrien says he realized how ridiculously selfish he's been, always pushing his feelings on Ladybug and flirting with her despite the fact that she very, very clearly refused him. Numerous times. But he wouldn't accept her honest answer. "She has a date today, Plagg. She's in love with someone else. And that makes her so happy. How can I take that from her? I want nothing more than to see her smile. Even if that smile isn't for me." Adrien also points out that Marinette has a date with Luka that afternoon as further evidence Marinette is Ladybug, but Plagg argues that thousands of girls in Paris go on dates and that Ladybug could be any of them. However, it does put Plagg on the spot because now he doesn't know what to say. He's seen Marinette's room; he is fully aware the one she loves is Adrien Agreste—is Cat Noir. So why is Marinette going on a date with some other boy instead? Plagg's not very good with emotions and cheering people up. He does tell Adrien, "Hey, you've waited this long for Ladybug to return your affections. So why not wait just a little bit longer?" Adrien shakes his head. He can't continue to force things—not at the expense of Ladybug's heart and happiness. Plagg argues that Adrien's heart and happiness matters to, but Adrien repeats that he brought this on himself and drops the conversation.

Elsewhere within the Agreste manor, Nathalie Sancoeur senses the deep heartache and depression stemming from unrequited love—and it's within the same roof. She realizes it's Adrien. And since she has the butterfly brooch, she fully realizes that he'd be very easy pickings for an akuma at that moment. Nooroo notices how she stopped working and asks why. Nathalie mumbles to herself. She could easily akumatize Adrien—that above all else would fully throw suspicion from her and Gabriel. But…But there's absolutely no way she could ever akumatize Gabriel's own flesh and blood. And she's come to care for Adrien as if he were her own (as well as Nicholas. Felix not so much). Gabriel would never forgive her. She'd never forgive herself. She can't do it. She tells Nooroo not to distract her and goes back to her work.

Evening rolls around, and the B Team sneaks into the catacombs to practice, meeting up at the shrine to Lazare Carnot. They're all able to attend with Dauphine there this time out of the dolphin pair. Alpha is pretty much on cloud nine during practice, even humming a song of his own making, which Froppy notices. Alpha vaguely replies about it being a good day and then organizes their practice. After all, they have a lot to accomplish in dealing with both Hawk Moth and his birthstone users as well as aiding Ladybug against the Western Order. Honey Bee points out that their first priority has to be in aiding their own—Chip Bluestone. Alpha and the others agree. But in order to help Chip, they need to find him. Tsukuyomi offers to add "finding Chip" to the list of people they look for during an akuma incident (as, during such incidents, they also try to find the HQs of Hawk Moth and Ivory). Alpha accepts that plan. He also reminds them that they want to save the people trapped inside Hypnos. They know the Western Order has Hypnos, so once they find the Western Order, they can set about a rescue attempt. Snow Leopard theorizes Pegasus would be useful as he might be able to teleport inside Hypnos and get the people out. Alpha recalls that that's how he got free, and Froppy agrees. Firefly remarks that it's a good thing they're now on great terms with Ladybug as he's sure she and Cat Noir want to help people as much as they do. Snow Leopard adds that the leader of the Eastern Order is still abducted and that she wants to help him too. Honey Bee seconds that motion, and the rest quickly agree. Dauphine points out that when they find Ivory, the find Hypnos, they find the lost master. Once their goals are set, they set about practicing different skills and abilities that they feel would be helpful against the opponents (and their respective powers) they know they'll soon be facing as well as skills that would be useful during a rescue mission.

To be continued in Chapter 88: Bronco…