Akuma's that could time travel were always a pain. He'd literally been temporarily killed by Timebreaker, so he arguably knew that better than anyone, and then there was Timetagger, who they'd only beaten because they had help.
And now they had to deal with this guy calling himself Chrono King which he thought was a pretty tacky name which beleid his true nature as quite the formidable foe he could travel through time at will as well as freeze time but only for as long as he could hold his breath.
Worse still was that with Alix off sick. He was once again using the rabbit Miraculous in case Chrono King tried to escape into another time period. He had more experience with it than Ladybug, but he was still out of practice with the thing.
He was dressed in extravagant brightly coloured robes, and in one hand, he held a sceptre with a clock on the tip as well as a crown with clocks in place of jewels
"You're running out of Time Ladybug and Chat Noir!" The Villain yelled as he froze time just as Chat was about to punch him, rolling out of the way when time resumed. Chat only just managed to stop himself from punching Ladybug by mistake.
"Slippery one, isn't he?" She remarked a little out of breath. This fight had been going on for almost half an hour now. "We won't get anywhere if he can see us coming, but I don't think he'll let us slip away either."
Luckily for the pair, Chat wasn't the only feline prowling around the area of the battle, and unlike him, Purple Tigress hadn't been seen yet. Chrono King attempted to strike Ladybug with his sceptre, but she was a little too fast; she grabbed the weapon before throwing him over her shoulder. Chat was ready to strike, but he froze time again and slipped away.
"You're just wasting your time." The villain smirked as the pair took a moment to figure out what happened. "You can't beat me!"
He was cut off rather unexpectedly by a blow from Purple Tigres, sending him flying across the park they'd been fighting in crashing down in a lake, scaring a few unfortunate Geese.
"Nice timing!" Ladybug patted her on the back enthusiastically; she knew it wasn't over, but even he wouldn't shrug off a hit like that.
"Please, no more time puns. I'm sick of that guy. " Chat asking for the puns to stop was a seriously bad sign.
The vilain eventually made his way back to dry lan, but he seemed hesitant to engage the three of them. "Three on one bodes poorly, time to make myself scarce."
He tapped his sceptre against the groun, and a portal opened up. "I think I'll try again a little earlier." Before they could react, he was gone. Thankfully, Chat had the means to follow him.
"Be careful. Chat, changing history could be extremely dangerous." Which was why he'd be going along. Ladybug had decided that if they had to follow him into the past, it could be only one of them to minimise changes.
"Relax, Bugaboo, it's me, remember?" He smirked with his usual cocky demeanour before transforming into Rabbit Noir and following Chrono King into the past.
The Akuma had gone back to a complicated time for him. 8 years ago, when he was 14, just after his father had been defeated, before he even knew Marinette was Ladybug. He really had to be careful about what he did. Hopefully, he'd avoid running into his past self all together.
Well that didn't go according to plan at all, when he arrived in the past he looked around for Chrono King but the problem was he didn't exactly blend in and he quickly drew attention to himself.
And it wasn't long before he found himself face to face with. Well, himself. "That's a pretty well-made costume, but you aren't gonna outdo the original. Besides your too long"
"Excuse me? I'm no imitation." He was ready to argue with his past self, but he caught himself and refocused on his goal. "Look, Kid, I don't have to explain, so go hang out with Nino or something."
Wrong thing to say, he may as well have told him he knew his identity. Unsurprisingly, his past self didn't take this well he was immediately on guard pointing his staff at the imposter. "How do you know that name? Who are you anyway?"
Rabbit Noir raised his hands in moch surrender before in one motion, grabbing the staff and pulling Chat closer before tripping the boy and pinning him down with his own staff. "You tell me who I am."
Chat struggled before relenting and looming up at the man. After a moment, he realised it was his own face staring back at him. "You're me,"
"You got it," Rabbit Noir smirked before helping his past self to his feet. "I'm you from eight years into the future. You've got a lot too. I look forward to."
"Not that you'll tell me anything, right?" He brushed himself off before snatching back his staff.
"If I told you everything that happened, you'd be left with nothing to surprise you. Now, since you've seen me anyway, you may as well call Ladybug we could use her help." He patted Chat on the head as he looked out over the rooftop. Scanning for any sign of the villain.
Their timing couldn't be any better as Alya had told Marinette about some guy running around dressed like Chat Noir, and when she'd seen the pictures, it just created more questions. Nobody should even know about Rabbit Noir aside from her, Chat himself and Alix. She was about to investigate when she got a call from her chat noir.
"Hey, kitty, I can guess what this is about."
"Perceptive as always, Ladybug. This whole situation is pretty complicated. But apparently, we've got another Akuma from the future. Hey, what was he called?"
She heard mumbled, talking from the other side of the phone, Chat obviously, and then someone else he sounded almost like Chat, but his voice was… deeper? More mature? She couldn't place it. "Who are you talking to?"
"Myself," Chat answered with a Shrug. "The guy's name is Chrono King. He can temporarily freeze time and travel through time if he wants to. Anyway, meet us when you can. I'll text you where."
It took her about 10 minutes to reach up to the pair, and she came face to face with someone who looked like Chat Noir. Only he was taller, and his hair was a little longer. "Chat Noir from the future, I presume?"
"Got it in one. Forgot how short you used to be Baby Bug, " He teased with a smile that was so uniquely Chat Noir that he couldn't be anyone else.
"You're Chat Noir, alright. But what I don't understand is why you'd be here instead of Bunnix. "
"She's unavailable, she's fine but she couldn't help with this. I'm giving her the watch back once this is over, though."
"Alright, well, you used to be me, so you've done this before, right? Where is he?" Chat figured that Since Rabbit Noir was here, they'd beat this guy, and Rabbit Noir probably already had when he was younger.
"I don't remembe,r" The Older Adrien shrugged.
"You don't remember!? How do you forget this?" Ladybug asked in disbelief.
"Wel, I don't know. Clearly, he isn't paying attention." Rabbit Noir folded his arm, looking off to the side. Time travel made his head hurt.
"Don't you shift the blame onto me." The Present Chat began to protest before pausing as he realised how strange it was to argue with himself.
"Both of you quiet, we need to set a trap, Rabbit Noir, he doesn't know you're here, right?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Then you're our Ace in the hole. He came here because he thought it'd be easier to beat me and chat when we were teenagers, right?"
"Yeah, he could barely keep up with me and you from the future," He confidently proclaimed, choosing to leave out the fact it had been a stalemate.
"Well then, if he knows he has to fight you, then he likely won't show, so you need to stay hidden until you see an opportunity to strike. We just need a way to lure him out." Rabbit Noir smiled to himself, Ladybug always was quick to come up with a plan.
"Well, we can use ourselves as bait. I mean, he's after me and you, right? If we wait, he'll come to us."
"It's risky, but we don't have much choice, good thinking kitty."
Rabbit Noir couldn't help but smile as he saw them come up with a plan on the fly. He'd never really seen it from the outside. "I always forget how well we knew each other before we even -" He abruptly cut himself off before he let anything slip.
Thankfully, he'd spoken quietly. Neither of them seemed to have picked up on it.
The duo began to patrol the city like usual with Rabbit Noir discreetly pursuing them. They wouldn't have to wait too long, however, as Chrono King made himself known within the hour. They just had to follow the sounds of the Chaos as he'd used his time stopping abilities to cause a car crash. He was trying to get their attention.
And it worked as he only just managed to duck Ladybug's Yo-Yo. "Ladybug and Chat Noir, I assume? You've gone and gotten shorter on me, " the villain joked as the pair landed in front of him.
"I don't know where you came from, but I suggest giving up before you get hurt pops." Chat smirked, which annoyed the villain more than it should have. Now he was a little more focused on him he swung his sceptre at Chat, who dodged it before hitting him around the head with his staff. The blow connected, but the next instant, the man was gone. And then he was behind Chat, striking him in the back of the leg.
"Kneel before your King."
"Clealry someone doesn't know there history do you have any idea what happened to the last King of France?" Ladybug went to kick the villain, but again, he was gone, and unfortunately, she kicked Chat instead.
"Ow! What was that for?" He complained though he knew it wasn't intentional.
"Sorry! I'll make it up to you!"
Rabbit Noir considered stepping in, but he knew he had one chance at this. It didn't help that he still wasn't sure if the Akuma was in the staff or the crown. He had to be careful with this.
Ladybug called upon her Lucky Charm and, as always, got something that seemed to be useless, specifically a towel.
"Kitty, we need your cataclysm. We might even need two." She hoped Rabbit noir would get that signal from wherever he was. For now, just keep him off me."
Chat activated his power before rushing the villain he couldn't really get a moment to focus on stopping time. This kid was fast. And he was a smaller target. Maybe he should have taken his chances with the adult versions after all.
Ladybug lept onto him from behind, wrapping the towl around his face to prevent him from holding his breath, and Rabbit noir used the opportunity to strike Chrono King from behind. Tossing the crown towards Chat before destroying the sceptre with his own Cataclysm turned out the Akuma was in the crown. Not that it mattered too much.
The Villain turned back into a rather frail looking old man who seemed confused as to where he was. They could explain later.
Once everything was fixed by the Ladybugs, Ladybug caught the Akuma before fistbumping both Chat Noirs.
Rabbit Noir helped the old man up before opening a portal. "Well, good job, you two, I knew you could do it, but I better get this guy home."
"Hey, one thing, if we're still fighting Hawkmoth 8 years in the future, do we not make any progress on catching them?" Chat Noir didn't really like the sound of that made things seem pointless.
"Well, she's certainly a hard woman to track down, but it's never a waste of time to protect the innocent. Now, there are bad days coming some of the worst, but you've also got the best days of your life to look forward to." He placed a hand on each of the pairs shoulders. "The two of you have got this, trust me, so long as you stick together, you're unstoppable."
He bid them fair well before heading back to the future, taking the man who had been Chrono King back with him. As soon as he got back, he sighed to himself. "What a day."
The first to come and greet him was Ladybug, who immediately pulled him into a hug. "I was sure you'd be fine, but you had me worried there. Sorry I couldn't be there to help,"
"You kinda were, and I had a little help from Chat Noir as well. They're good kids." He felt a little awkward talking about himself in the third person.
"Yeah, we were." She kissed him on the cheek before stretching as she let go of him. "Come on, I promised to babysit for Ivan and Mylene, and you're helping me."
Rabbit Noir sighed dramatically. He'd just gotten back, and now he had another mission?
Hey, I know this is a little random, but this is just a fun one-shot idea I had. Nothing too serious or heavy, just good, clean fun, and time travel. Hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to leave a review. I always read them, catch you later