Twenty-two wielders, a Sentimentel and an army of Champions were now making their way through a quarry. Laika in the lead, her bouncing ball opened up in its compact mode and following the signal she had planted on Latombe's tablet eons ago.
"We're getting close." The Dog Wielder said softly.
"I don't like it, it is too quiet." Queen Bee said as she had to prevent her wings from twitching too much.
"We suspect she may know we're coming. She has centuries of experience on us." Ladybug said. "She wants us to come."
"And why may that be?" Carapace asked, still confused.
"She may feel she has something to prove." Rena Rouge deduced.
"Then let us prove something in return. Our worth…" Ladybug said. She looks in deep concentration. "She's close."
"If the hairs in the back of my neck stand up, that's a bad thing, right?" Kempfhahn asked. "That and the incredible sense of dread?"
Ryuko grabbed the hilt of her sword as she gritted her teeth. "My blade will taste blood tonight."
"Girl, too intense." Aquara said as she eyed the dragon wielder.
A pebble was rolling off a nearbly cliff, but in the quiet quarry that sound was amplified for the heroes, sounding like an avalanche instead. They turned towards the top of the cliff of the quarry where they saw a shape. "Is that…the Mime?" Petit Souris asked. It was someone whom resembled the Akumatized form of her father.
Then the Mime would be joined by Frozer…Reflekta…Silencer…Antibug…slowly more and more Akumas, then Sentimonsters, or corrupt wielders, magical monsters and other beings appeared on the cliffside. Now the heroes were looked down upon by an army of them, or flew and circled the sky above them.
"I'm here so whom is the new Dark Cupid? He must be fake." Roi Singe noted.
"Yeah, that Dark Cupid has an unusually dull look on his face. Which means he looks the part." Bunnyx quipped.
"Screw you!" Roi Singe said. He said it softly as he knew it was a small joke to lift the tension.
"I can sense no complex mental activity from them. They are copies…Little more then mindless machines. No offense, Roborion." Pan explained
"No offense is taken. I am fully aware there are a lot of machines that do not have artificial intelligence." Roborion noted.
"So…another army? Really? After we last time mowed down another army a month ago with Latombe?" Tigresse said.
"To be fair, we are an army in our own right, she would not go up against us without one of her own." Porcelet noted.
"That and the author wants to make sure there is enough for all of us to fight for the finale." Pipistrello said.
"What are you even talking about?" Ranger Blaze asked.
"Don't break your little author avatar head over it." Pipistrello said as she patted the toku-themed wielder's head. You just knew he looked confused behind the visor of his helmet.
"I don't recognize half of these guys. And some of them came out of those weird time and space portals from when we faced Multiversity." Carapace noted.
"So several of them are effigies of enemies our counterparts in other worlds have faced? We may be in for some nasty surprises." Rena Rouge said.
"I feel insulted there are a dozen whom bear my face. Are there so many universes where I didn't grow out of my alpha bitch face?" Queen Bee said annoyed.
"No worries, they aren't you." Viperion assured her.
"We beaten half of them before, and the other half are villains beaten in other worlds, we can beat them here too!" Chat Noir said.
"Indeed, so don't let up, be ready everyone." Ladybug spun her yo-yo in anticipation. Among the effigies, Steeleo roared, like a cry of war as he and all the other effigies jumped of flew down the cliffs to charge at our heroes.
Once again Ladybug faced a version of Miss Fortune. While she had originally surpassed her evil counterpart, she had grown even stronger and the lash of her counterpart's yo-yo was dodged, before she grabbed it and pulled her counterpart in and sent her flying with a single kick to the jaw, in the air where she burst into smoke. She dodged under a sword swipe for an alternate version of herself trying to skewer her with a sword. It was a version of her as a Warrior princess Akuma. She took to the air, where this 'Princess Justice' couldn't reach, pulled a spear from a previous Ladybug out of her yo-yo and threw it at her, the copy bursting into smoke again. She was nearly shot out of the sky as she dodged the blasts, seeing a version of her resembling her old costume holding a polka-dotted firearm, and somehow with an Eiffel Tower charm on her belt. She kept dodging in the skies and moving in to random patterns, until the copy lifted the giant weapon straight up, but then it became unwieldly in that position. Ladybug dove in and whacked the copy with her yo-yo, as she burst into smoke as well.
Chat Noir noticed a big red moon Sentimonster blasting some of the people of the Agency and making them disappear, led by a Peacock wielder in a hoodie. Chat moved in, the wielder pointing at him as the sun tried to erase him, but Chat was too quick. He charged up his hand with dark energy, blasted it at the Peacock wielder, whom was knocked into the red sun and they both vanished in a burst of black cataclysmic energy, restoring the Agents in the progress. Adrien saw a version of Chat Blanc jump at him, but he just took a step back readied his staff right across Chat Blanc's back as he jumped by and extended his rod so his counterpart was planted into the ground and burst into smoke. His ears twitched as he felt someone sneak up, and avoid being touched by Ephemeral. He planted his claws in the ground, it cracked and spread to his counterpart's feet and the Effigy fell down a hole.
Rena Rouge was surrounded by copies of the three same Akumas, the beastly Rena Rage, a red version of her old Rena Rouge and Lady Wi-Fi. Of either the beastly or red Rena Rage set up illusions. Copying…so uncreative. And being a true fox, she just had to set up her magic vision to see which of them were real, so she knew which one fired real projectiles. Avoiding the real Lady Wifi's attacks, she shot a fox flame at her, vaporizing her as the illusions fell. The other two fake Renas instead charged at her, but the real Rena vanished in a puff of Orange smoke. "Let me show how it's really done!" the image of a giant version of Rena Rouge's face towered over the two Rena Rages and spat foxfire at them, vaporizing them too. The giant image faded, and the real Rena Rouge blew the end of her flute like a gunslinger blew the smoke from his gun after a shootout.
Carapace charged in, shield first at an alternate Akumatized version of himself throwing exploding tears, them not doing anything against his shield as he sandwiched Rocketear between his shield and the cliff, as he poofed into a burst of smoke. "Why wasn't I Akumatized into you the first time, I looked like a clown!" He finished that sentence as a version of him resembling his old costume, a red version of his old Costume and the monstrous Shellshock created a shield around him to trap him. He just sighed and snapped his fingers, creating spikes on the outside of the shield and hijacking his counterparts' Shelter, expanding it and impaling the three fake Turtles, poofing them. Then two (?) Bubblers came in to throw…well, bubbles at him. Carapace just threw his shield, it split apart in tinier shields that popped the bubbles and impacted Bubbler and Sentibubbler and poofed them.
An effigy of Collector snuck up towards Carapace as he raised his tablet to try and get the drop on the hero, as suddenly he felt jerked backwards and choking and dropping his tablets. Antimena dropped her invisibility, as the whip, around Collector's throat; finished it and it poofed out of existence. She gave her adopted brother a thumbs up, and Carapace returned the favor. Then the two ran out to find more villains to fight.
Chloé looked around her, a circle of Akumas bearing her face in black and yellow aside Antibug surrounded her. She grit her teeth. Queen Wasp and Miracle Queen pointed at her. Then they looked confused and looked up and saw their own bee swarms were being overtaken by Queen Bee's. They sighed and just charged at Queen Bee with Venom out. One of them, a ridiculous banana-themed version of her in a flying car aimed her…banana pistol at her. Queen Bee wrapped her top around Queen Banana's arm and jerked it around, turning Queen Wasp, Miracle Queen, Chlonika, Penalteam and Antibug into bananas. She then pulled Queen Banana out of her vehicle, grabbed her wrist and forced her to shoot herself. Now all her counterparts were bananas. "It's bad enough these other me's are all bad. They are ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! I mean, a banana! Does someone in the multiverse has it out for me?" she then looked at Queen Banana's abandoned hovercar. She jumped in, and it changed shape into a more futuristic and bee-themed form. "I'm keeping this!" she said as she took her hovercar and rushed across the battlefield.
Taurus charged at the Stoneheart Effigy and they tried to wrestle one another to the ground. Both had great physical strength but Taurus managed, with some effort to lift Stoneheart over his head. He threw him upwards, slammed his fists together as his knuckledusters glowed and delivered an uppercut as Stoneheart came down, and shattered.
Petit Souris avoided globs of slime that Horrificator shot at her. She then vanished in a burst of pink light, and instead a whole group of Petit Souris mini-clones appeared and swarmed Horrificator. They continued multiplying, and for as much as it tried, the Horrificator soon became covered in a whole bunch of tiny gray Mouse wielders, until she was no longer visible. A poofing sound was heard and the tiny Petit Souris merged back together, as the heroine moved on to another bad guy butt to kick.
Bunnyx jumped up, doing a spread kick to knock down two Timebreakers to the ground at the same time. She held up her umbrella and started trading blows with the clock hand-shaped blades of Multiversity. As they were even Multiversity opened several portals from which more Clock Hand blades came, but Bunnyx opened several portals form which copies of her umbrella weapon came, opening up and blocking the blades. Multiversity charged in and tried impaling Bunnyx, whom just vanished and reappeared behind her, planting the tip of her umbrella in Multiversity's shoulder blades as she vanished.
Several arrows were fired at Roi Singe, whom just spins his staff in front of him to deflect them, Dark Cupid not getting a hit in. Dark Cupid then aimed to the other combatants around the battlefield, but Roi Singe extended his staff, swiping them out of the sky before they hit a target. Knowing he was kept on the defensive, he pulled out an Uproar, threw the resulting heart pillow at Dark Cupid, whom upon being hit couldn't fly straight and crashed into the ground, vanishing in a burst of smoke.
Pegasus ran around the Battlefield at super speed. Not only did the giant mech of Gamer manage to miss all the shots, but also blast several other Effigies into oblivion, as Pegasus planned. For one moment it was like the Gamer got a straight shot, but what he hit turned out to be Pegasus' after-image. As the Gamer looked stupefied, he suddenly found Pegasus has ran up the side of his mech, crashed into the cockpit and punched him in the face. As Gamer faded, Max sat down in the mech's cockpit, and it reformatted into a horse-themed mech. "I can finally pilot a mech and remember it!" he said happily for itself as he turned his new acquisition against other Effigies.
Roborion was flying up in the air, as he saw a copy of his akumatized form Robostus in his giant mech body swiping at him. He expertly dodged all the attacks as he calculated his next moved. He brought out his Omnitool weapon, avoided another swipe. Then he landed on the arm of the Robostus mech, and slammed his tool down, green lining of data crawling around the mech, and into the cockpit. The coding made it to the real Robostus Effigy inside, whom as the code reached him, sparked and crashed and vanished. Roborion then went inside the cockpit, hijacked the mech and it turned into something more to Roborion's own tastes.
Roborion and Pegasus' mech met and fist-bumped, before the duo charged at a giant Bibou and Strike Back and allowed their mechs to punch the living daylights out of them.
Reflekta fired at Tigresse with her wrist laser, but the cat-like agility of Tigresse meant that she couldn't be hit. She managed to dodge and move closer to Reflekta. However, Reflekta whistled and after hearing a rumbling behind her. She barely avoided being blasted by Reflekdoll. However, Tigresse saw the blast instead, the blast hit Reflekta without effect. Tigresse thought quickly. She jumped at Reflekta and grabbed her from behind, and held Reflekta in front of herself to absorb the blast from Reflekdoll. Tigresse let out her roar, pushing Reflekta through the air, diffusing Reflekdoll's beam and Reflekta was pushed into Reflekdoll's mouth. Reflekdoll was now choking on her own mistress as Tigresse inhaled and let out another roar that, now there was nothing blocking its path, blew Reflekdoll's head off. The headless body fell down and crushed a few more Effigies.
Princess Fragrance sprayed her perfume at Porcelet, but without success. The experienced heroine managed to avoid all the attacks. Princess Fragrance propelled herself with her perfume gun, but Porcelet hooked her rake into Princess Fragrance's foot and dragged her back to the ground. Porcelet grabbed Princess Fragrance's perfume gun, opened her mouth wide and swallowed it. A rumbling was heard from Porcelet's stomach, and the Princess Fragrance Effigy grew worried enough to run away. However, Porcelet spat out the energy she got from digesting the perfume gun and blew up her running counterpart with it.
Ryuko had her sword in one hand. In her other hand she created a second blade out of solid lightning so she could fight off the two Ripostes fighting her. One Riposte was the original one. The second had both hands and instead wielded a huge buster sword. She held off both of them with her blades. Then a third foe jumped in. Oni-Chan (though she didn't know her Akumatized counterpart's moniker) also came in with a blade, and it became hard to fight off three swordswomen. But Ryuko never backed down. Never hesitated…The center of her sword hilt, where the elemental symbols were, glowed and the bokken she held close to her in her civilian life shout out, and she caught it between her teeth. The bokken took on the colors of her hero form and now she had three blades to fight off her three evil counterparts at once and pushed them back. Her sword's hilt glowed, the lightning blade going from yellow to blue electricity, wind energy around the sword and water energy around the bokken between her teeth and slashed the three counterparts each. They dropped their weapons, glowing cuts on their chests as they vanished into smoke.
Viperion avoided Silencer pretty well. He didn't get close enough to steal his voice, so Silencer could only use his Sonic voice. And it was not nearly as big, strong and didn't nearly have the range as her sister's power. He should know from sparring. All while he lazily played his new cobra guitar. Silencer kept whispering 'Die!' and firing sound blasts, no success. Silencer got impatient and jumped at Viperion, fingers outstretched. Luka grabbed his wrist. Silencer inhaled for another sound attack but Viperion headbutted and broke Silencer's helmet, dazing him. Then put his own fingers against his lips, with Silencer's true voice floating out of his mouth. Viperion caught the voice in his guitar, briefly glowing as it absorbed it. Viperion raised his hand with the guitar pick. "Rock on!" he said as a sound burst came from his Guitar, obliterating Silencer with his own voice. Best guitar ever.
Laika thanked her senses…she could smell herself from two directions, and she could hear their footsteps. She thrusted her elbows backwards, two versions of Vanisher got the wind knocked out of them as they planted in their stomachs. One version just looked like herself, the other Vanisher looked crystalline. She then smashed their heads together. She then saw Miraculer firing at her, shooting yellow burst that paralyzed people it hit, or black ones that hurt them. Stole the power form a few Agents no doubt. However, Laika could not be hit. She threw her ball, and like a bouncing ball it shot across the battlefield, confusing Miraculer. Laika tackled her to the ground, pulled her weapons from her hands and jumped aside. Just in time for the ball to do its final bounce and hit Miraculer in the face hard, poofing her, before it bounced up and Laika snatched it back from the air.
Evillustrator kept drawing monstrous creations at Kempfhahn, but each of them were quickly cut down by the Rooster hero's quill dagger. "Allow me to show what a real artist can do." He said as he drew something in the air with his quill. It was just a small black circle. Evillustrator was confused on how that would help him, but he was caught off guard as it shot at his face and wrapped around him, unable to see or draw on his tablet, and with one slash of Evillustrator's quill, he was poofed.
Reverser flew around on his giant paper airplane. He threw smaller paper airplanes in an attempt to disable the heroes. However, Pan reacted quickly, kicking some nearby rocks in the path of the paper airplanes with his strong legs. Then he blew his pan flute, creating a cloud of dusty sand, so the Reverser couldn't see his targets. Then the dust started to move towards him, Reverser trying to quickly turn around and fly away, but not fast enough as he was caught in the sand cloud, the sleeping sands getting to him. The Effigy fell of his glider, fell to the ground and poofed upon impact.
Pipistrello sat around a table with the Effigies of Volpina, Hoaxer and Chameleon (whom just looks like normal Lila). The three had a confused look on their face, as if they wondered how Pipistrello managed to rope them into a board game. Pipistrello rolled the dice. "I win!" she said. The Effigies had enough, Chameleon (whom was on the opposite side of her) crawled over the table…but the dice exploded and sent her flying into the sky. This startled Hoaxer and Volpina, with the former suddenly being bit upon and shaken around like a chew toy in the maws of the giant fox Pipistrello adopted during the Multiversity debacle. Volpina then was caught off guard as Pipistrello's hammer met the back of her head, knocking her down. Pipistello squatted down near Volpina's face. "Teabag!' before Volpina poofed from existence.
Melek Taus and Pink Prominent flew up in the skies, avoiding the lightning and magic blasts from Stormy Weather and Magician of Misfortune and knocked them out of the sky. As they landed, they were pinned down by Butterfly Brigadiers, allowing the due to slash the Effigies with their Fan and Umbrella, poofing them. The two wielders high fived the butterfly soldiers.
Ranger Blaze, Eryer and Gharial punched Rider Brave, Director and Steeleo in the face, the three Akuma Effigies sprawled on the ground around each other. Gharial activated his power, creating a huge crocodile maw-like construct to hold them in place. Ranger Blaze charged up a fireball and Eryer pulled out feather daggers and threw them at the trio of restrained Akumas, obliterating them. The trio exchanged fist bumps.
Papa Wolf was throwing WereDad across the Quarry. Mama Bear did the same for Kirin. Strongarm punched Boulangerix hard enough to send him flying. Nevermore blasted Befana with magic. The four landed into a pile. Mechitsune came in, firing the tips of her nine mechanical tails and vaporized the pile of Effigy villains.
Soldierbug fired her guns at Backwarder, blowing parts of her armor off. She then put both of the weapons together, combining them in a single gun, and fired a final shot, that hit Backwarder with much more power and blew her to smithereens.
Agent Peacock fought a version of herself, resembling a huntress. She used her war fans to block the projectiles she fired at her. She got in close and they matched martial arts for a while. With her being so close, her counterpart couldn't aim her crossbow at her. She manages to disarm the Effigy, and then delivered a vertical slash with the war fans. The Effigy fell on her back, eyes wide and faded from existence.
The Fox Soldiers, the Agents of the Agency upgraded with the powers of Mechitsune also worked closely together. One battalion fired upon an Effigy of Darkblade, whom fell down and poofed after being riddled with fox fire bullets. A group of Butterfly Brigadeers slashed Mime down with their Butterfly knives, whom fell down and poofed. A group of Queen Bee's bee drones swarmed a golden flying vault villain with Bob Roth's face and tearing it apart.
However, Ladybug didn't feel empowered. "Wait…this is too easy."
"You call this easy?" Rena Rouge asked. "We have trained rather hard, and all these Akumas are at the same power when we last fought them."
"True but still…" Ladybug noted.
"No, I can feel it too…Like a part of me is still on edge." Chat Noir noted.
Suddenly, a slow clapping sound started to fill the quarry. The remaining Effigies stopped and the startled heroes turned to the source of the sound. Mei stood there, in her human form. "Bravo, Team Miraculous. You put on a good show. I wanted to witness first hand how strong you've gotten in the last few months. And you don't disappoint. This army is no match for you."
"Mahamayuri…" Chat Noir hissed.
"We are here to end this." Ladybug said.
"I know. And I intend to do the same. Shame it has to come to this though, because…you really have my respect. Your strength, your creativity, your skills, your comradery…I never felt that with the Order long ago. If you guys had existed back then, things would have been a lot different. There would be a better world." She said. She signed and her eyes held unshed tears. "But unfortunately, I'm the last one of the old world…"
"It doesn't still have to be like this." Ladybug said. "There is no need for fighting."
"Fu told you about me, about the suffering? Did he ask to save me?" Mei asked. "It would be something he would say. I wish I could end myself, I could be with him. But I can't. I can't end myself if I wanted to. I can only end it in battle. And even if I end it…can I leave the world behind as it is? Corrupted, damaged…irredeemable! No. I cannot. I will end it, before humanity destroys it slowly and painfully. It would be a mercy."
"The world is not beyond salvation. It is not perfect, and there are people whom are effectively ruining the world. But there are also people out there, fighting and working hard to make the difference. It is not a fast progress, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth pursuing." Ladybug said.
"Even in the darkest times…I can know…there is always a light. A bit of hope. Something to reach out to and keep going." Chat Noir added.
"You'll find values, and truths you haven't seen before. You can be at an edge, but you'll find there are those whom care, whom can pull you back. Makes you believe you are worth something." Queen Bee said.
"What you have gone through, no one should have. And…while some of your actions are harsh and difficult to overlook…we still know you are a little girl hurting on the inside. And you need help." Rena Rouge said.
"You don't have to be alone." Carapace simply added.
"I want to believe you…" Mei said, solemnly. She seemed genuine. "I want it so badly. But you are too optimistic. There is no going back for me. But…if you all want so badly fight to protect this world, if you think it is worth saving…let's put it to the test. A clash of our ideals, which one will win out. Let's compete, the Miraculous team against my Champions. Miraculous team, meet the Venomous."
Five flashes of green sickly toxic light with the added effect of poisonous looking smoke appeared beside her and the five Venomous came into view. Each of them smirking in their own way.
"I'm Malezard, wanna play?"
"Lady Centipede, that we are. And we love to bring the pain."
"I am Nemetoad
Through us stagnation comes forth
In battle you fall!"
"I'm Deathstalker and I'm totally on your side. Don't intend to end the world at all. I'm totally not a liar."
"Ah, the stage has been set, the setpieces are there and oh…I believe it will be the performance of a lifetime. Mark the grand entrance of Ourobouros."
"I forgot about most of them. But how did they wake up Gabriel Agreste? I thought the lights were no longer on up there." Carapace said.
"It's not them…" Pan said, looking more nervous as ever. "Their minds…they are so unlike…they're not human…They are something dark."
"I recognize them." Soldierbug said, sounding equally afraid. "Last time we faced them they weren't fully manifested and not at full power but still dangerous. The actions of an idiot occultist with delusions of grandeur and a lust for power, thought he could control them…"
"And it cost the occultist's life…and that of Felix and Bridgette. They had to sacrifice themselves to stop them." Mama Bear said, as she hugged herself, the wounds of past grief reopened.
"But now they are fully anchored thanks to their new copy Miraculous…what are you even thinking bringing them in?" Papa Wolf shouted in anger at Mei.
"They are embodiments of rot, stagnation and the end. Destruction without Creation to balance it out, existing outside of the balance. If I wanted to bring an end to the world, I had to bring them in. I am sorry for any past grievances they cost but…a common cause brings strange bedfellows." Mei admitted.
"They caused Aunt Bridgette…are you insane?" Ladybug said.
"I'm admittingly not sound…like I said, I'm beyond saving. Hence a reason the more, you will have to fight harder then before. Because you will face them if you want to save this world." Mei said.
"Oh, they look fun to play with. Last time someone wore the black and the red with dots, they were a blast to play with. Shame they broke, like all toys." Malezard said.
"Will this end in a tragedy? The suspense is to…die for!" Ouroboros said with exaggerated movements.
"I swear nothing bad will happen next." Deathstalker added.
"We hope we can see them squirm." Lady Centipede said as she licked her lips.
"A valiant fight
Though in vain it will sure be
Is admirable." Another Haiku sounded from Nemetoad.
"If a competition is what they want, we will give them that. We won't let them win. We will stop you, Mei…No, Mahamayuri. And we'll stop the Venomous too!" Ladybug said.
"Because we are a lot stronger and we are more numerous." Chat Noir spoke up.
"We don't stand alone." Carapace said.
"United we stand!" Queen Bee adeed.
"There is too much at stake." Rena Rouge said.
"And the warriors we are, in those circumstances, we will fight to our fullest." Ryuko said, brandishing her sword.
"We all will, for Paris, for the world…" Viperion continued.
"Team Miraculous!" Ladybug and Chat Noir said, raising their fists.
"TEAM MIRACULOUS!" everyone else shouted and repeated.
Mei chuckled, but it wasn't malicious. "The optimism of youth, the genuine desire for justice…so refreshing. That's the spirit kids…" Mei turned into her monster form. "Now, show us what you've got!"
TO BE CONTINUED