To Alyce Reide (if/when you get here): Thanks for reviewing a bunch of my stories yesterday! It's fun to use reviews to track people's progress through the story. You may have noticed I really like the cliffhanger endings, especially with Adrien transforming!

To The Keeper of Worlds: Oh, it is definitely on in this fight!

To Rose Tiger: Yes, but which Adrien? :D

Adrien screamed at the surge of power coursing through his body from both hands. Over the last two years, he had become accustomed to Plagg's energy, the strength the miraculous gave him on activation. But this… this was on a whole new level – far beyond even his experience using the Eagle and Cat Miraculous together. Adrien spread his arms and flexed, testing his muscles as his suit formed over them. He felt strong enough to lift a building – or perhaps to tear it apart with his bare hands. With the power of both Plaggs, he could truly unleash destruction!

Double Cat Noir grabbed the baton from his right hip and extended it to staff length, giving it an assessing twirl as he did so. Across the room from him, Double Bug Man narrowed his eyes in anger and spun his yo-yo.

"You combined the miraculous, unbalanced your universe, and as if that's not enough, you threaten my universe, too!" shouted Double Cat Noir, tightening his grip on the staff. "You would murder my Marinette, after claiming that you loved your own? You are no better than Father!"

"Father?" scoffed Double Bug Man. "You would compare me to him? Father was weak! Father failed! I Cataclysmed him to dust myself after Marinette's death!"

"No, you're right," Double Cat Noir ground out, baring his teeth. "You aren't Father. Father threatened the balance of the universe and tried to combine the miraculous for his own selfish ends, but he never killed to achieve his goal. You-you have become something worse than Father! And now, I will end you!"

Double Cat Noir charged with a roar, holding the staff in front of himself with both hands. Double Bug Man raced to meet him, yo-yo swinging to his side. When several meters still separated them, Double Bug Man flung the yo-yo in front of himself, aiming for Double Cat Noir's legs. Double Cat Noir parried the yo-yo with his staff, using the same motion to swing the opposite end of the staff around at Double Bug Man's head. Double Bug Man ducked under the staff, and Double Cat Noir spun in midair, bringing the other end of his staff to bear on Double Bug Man's midsection. Double Bug Man caught the staff with his arm and held it against his side, swinging around and releasing Double Cat Noir to sail through the air behind him.

Double Cat Noir grunted and caught himself with his staff and hand, looking up just in time to dodge away from the yo-yo Double Bug Man threw at his head. He leapt into the air, swinging his staff downward with both hands, straight at Double Bug Man's head. Double Bug Man lifted his yo-yo shield to block the staff, angling it and stepping back so Double Cat Noir landed in front of him.

Double Cat Noir pushed against the yo-yo with both hands, but the shield refused to budge. Then he reached down with his left hand and found the second baton on his left hip, extended that, and brought it to bear on the yo-yo, turning the two staffs to form an "X" shape.

As Double Bug Man pushed back against the staffs, Double Cat Noir turned them in toward his body, wrapping the yo-yo's string around one staff. With a sudden jerk he pulled the yo-yo out of Double Bug Man's hand and flung it skidding across the room. Double Cat Noir quickly shortened both staffs to baton length, spinning them around in his hands as he did so.

"I always enjoyed baton fighting," he growled, striking out with his right baton at Double Bug Man's head.

"Please," retorted Double Bug Man, raising his left forearm to block the blow. "I'm you, remember? I know better! You were terrible with batons. You never won a single match with them!"

"Then there's no time like the present to figure it out!" Double Cat Noir grunted. He feinted high with his left baton just before bringing his right in from a lower angle. Double Bug Man moved to block each blow. Again and again Double Cat Noir attacked, each attack repulsed by Double Bug Man's defense.

Suddenly Double Bug Man stepped backward, pulling Double Cat Noir off-balance. He leaned forward, grabbed the baton in Double Cat Noir's left hand and wrenched it from his grasp, twisting around, elbowing Double Cat Noir in the gut, and pushing him backward in the same motion.

Double Cat Noir grunted and stumbled backward, just as Double Bug Man extended the staff and held it in front of himself one-handed. Double Cat Noir found the control and extended his own staff to the same length. He lunged forward, aiming his staff for Double Bug Man's exposed legs.

"Uh uh," Double Bug Man called, parrying the lunge effortlessly. "Striking below the chest is a penalty: point from you!" He swung around to slash at Double Cat Noir's back.

Double Cat Noir leapt into a back-flip, spinning himself around over the staff and landing on his feet as Double Bug Man's momentum carried him around, exposing his back. Double Cat Noir stabbed forward with his staff, only for Double Bug Man to sidestep and avoid the strike.

"Naughty Kitty," Double Bug Man mocked, dropping low. "Don't you remember? I know all your tricks because I was you. But–" while still in a crouch he swung his back leg forward, catching Double Cat Noir in the gut "–you don't know all my tricks."

Double Cat Noir stumbled backward, cradling his stomach with one hand. He fell to one knee and caught himself with his staff. Double Bug Man did have every advantage in this fight: age, experience, strength. He knew everything Double Cat Noir could throw at him. Double Bug Man had retrieved his yo-yo and was spinning it in his left hand, the staff still held in his right.

"Lucky Charm!" Double Bug Man shouted, and a rocket launcher appeared above his head. Double Bug Man grabbed the rocket launcher, brought it to his shoulder, and fired in a single motion.

Double Cat Noir dove to his right and swung his staff one-handed like a bat in the same motion. He struck the rocket and deflected it to the left. The rocket continued to curve around and returned to Double Bug Man, who thrust his staff out to poke the nose cone before swinging his yo-yo as a shield. The rocket detonated, showering the cavern around them with shrapnel, which he deflected with the yo-yo-shield.

"C'mon, Runt," Double Bug Man called, slamming the end of his staff into the ground. "Time to put you down!"

Double Cat Noir, pushed himself to his feet with his staff and held it in front of himself. "I'm not the one getting put down today," he retorted. "Someone called Pest Control, and I'm the Exterminator!"

Double Cat Noir charged, spinning his staff and roaring in anger. He feinted a lunge at Double Bug Man's legs; when he moved the yo-yo to block it, he leapt and brought the staff down on his head. As he raised his staff to block the strike, Double Cat Noir pushed off the block and allowed his momentum to carry him over Double Bug Man's head. Before he landed, he planted his staff against the ground and kicked out with both legs into Double Bug Man's back, knocking him to the ground.

Double Bug Man hit the ground and allowed his momentum to carry him forward, pushing off with his hands and twisting in midair to land on his feet. "Impressive, Kitten," he grunted. He flicked his wrist, catching Double Cat Noir's ankle with his yo-yo. "Not impressive enough." He pulled on the yo-yo, pulling Double Cat Noir to the ground. "I'm going to kill you," he shouted, springing on top of him. "Then I'm going to take your miraculous." He slammed his staff down at Double Cat Noir, who lifted his own staff to parry. "Then I'm going to Cataclysm your girl for good measure after she stole my miraculous." He grabbed the staff out of Double Cat Noir's hands and threw it away. "Then I'm going to resurrect my wife!" He grabbed Double Cat Noir by the throat. "And you are not going to stop me!" He slammed Double Cat Noir's head back against the ground.

Stars danced in front of Double Cat Noir's eyes from the blow. He grabbed Double Bug Man's hand with both of his own, fighting desperately to draw in a breath. As hard as he fought, however, he felt his strength flagging, the energy draining from his body. He closed his eyes. He had fought as hard as he could. He had tried to restore the balance, to save Tikki from his evil future doppelganger's abuse, as the Plaggs had told him to do. But he had failed. He had failed himself. He had failed Plagg. He had failed Tikki. He had failed Marinette. He had failed his entire universe.

As darkness clouded his vision, his last thought was the feel of jet black hair against his face, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla, the sound of her laughter and taste of her lips.

Marinette…

Double Cat Noir's eyes shot open. His vision was tinged with blackness. He mustered all the air left in his lungs and let out a primal roar, slamming both fists into the ground on either side of him. The ground shattered where he struck, sending debris flying into the air. He grabbed a handful of rock shards in one hand and threw it into Double Bug Man's face, causing him to shut his eyes, raising a hand to shield his face. Double Cat Noir braced his arms and jerked his knee up, into Double Bug Man's groin. With a sound like an explosion, Double Bug Man was thrown upward. Double Cat Noir braced his arms and brought both his knees up to his chest before kicking Double Bug Man as hard as he could in the chest. There was a sonic boom as Double Bug Man was thrown backward, over Double Cat Noir, losing his grip on both his yo-yo and Double Cat Noir's neck in the process. In the same motion, Double Cat Noir flipped to his feet. He reached up to massage his throat, forcing himself to take in a deep breath and hold it.

"What? How is that possible?" Double Bug Man wheezed, pushing himself to his knees.

"I wield the Miraculous of Destruction," Double Cat Noir declared, advancing on him, "powered by the Kwami of Destruction." He reached out toward the two staffs, which flew into his hands, contracting to baton length as they did so. "You threaten the balance of two universes. And now your reckoning has come!"

Double Cat Noir stomped his back foot, and a small explosion went off where his foot landed. The force propelled him into the air as he leapt, holding both batons above his head. "CATACLYSM!" he bellowed. Both batons hummed as the Cataclysm force resonated with them. Below him, Double Bug Man raised his hands to shield himself, a look of terror in his eyes. Double Cat Noir roared and slammed the two batons home into Double Bug Man's chest, pushing him to the ground in the process. As Double Bug Man hit the ground, the Cataclysm energy erupted from the staffs in a massive explosion. Double Bug Man crumbled to dust, both sets of earrings falling to the ground where his head had been. The tidal wave of energy released by the double Cataclysm detonated in a massive ball, ripping through the lair, through the mansion, and expanding beyond the mansion grounds to encompass all of Paris.

The blast threw Double Cat Noir backward, away from the crater where Double Bug Man had been. He twisted his body in midair and saw that he was sailing toward where Marinette still lay, immobile. He adjusted his body, angling himself toward her, and slammed both staffs into the ground in front of her, pulling himself down to crouch over her. He braced his legs, covering her as best he could with his own body, anchoring himself in place with the staffs. He extended the staffs to form a protective frame above them and catch the falling debris from the mansion's destruction.

Then Double Cat Noir shut his eyes tight and prayed for the chaos to end.