Isekai'd as the new French Miraculous Superhero Team.

Chapter 37: The Gamer vs. The Player.

(Quantic Universe Earth 19274729568301958374, Paris, France, January 13th, 2016, third person POV...)

In the Dupain-Cheng kitchen, Marinette uses two napkins to clean her hands and to wipe her mouth of vegetable, beef, cheese, and bread crumbs, as she ate a cooked vegetable salad and a roast beef and chopped cheese sandwich for lunch, as she detests pork due to having grown up in a religious family in both of her lives. And she also had a cooked vegetable salad as she only ate one half of a roast beef and chopped cheese sandwich to avoid gaining weight and to avoid getting the itis before she researches her term paper with Alya.

As Marinette goes to wash the dishes, her mother Sabine then comes up and says, "Go on back to school, Marinette; I'll handle the dishes. And please take care to avoid the possibility of Max getting Akumatized into The Gamer."

Marinette nods and she takes Tikki with her after she finishes her own lunch of cooked vegetables, boneless and skinless grilled chicken, and two grilled roast beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sliders in a homemade version of Arby's style sliders in the United States.

Marinette takes her time so as to let her lunch digest.

On the way, Marinette telepathically says to Tikki, "Remember to use telepathy at all times to communicate with me out in the open on the streets of Paris if you're not using your human form and/or in the hallways and classrooms and other rooms of the school if you're hidden in my purse, Tikki, for while kwamis can't be perceived by any form of technology not of magical origin or infused with magic in their normal forms, they can still be seen and heard by passersby and basically anyone who either doesn't know my identity, or who isn't part of the French Miraculous Superhero Team, or who is a total stranger, especially if kwamis choose not to use their human forms to communicate with their owners, and therefore people will start to get suspicious."

Tikki telepathically replies, "I'll try, Marinette, but no promises. You know old habits die hard."

Marinette telepathically replies half-jokingly and half-seriously as she enters the school, "Not if God has anything to say about it."

Tikki telepathically laughs at that, knowing how true it was based on her own experiences with God, most of them good, and others not so good.

Suddenly, Marinette and Tikki both hear something coming from the library.

Tikki asks telepathically, "Is that the class watching Adrien and Max qualify themselves for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III video game tournament that Mr. Damocles purposefully and accidentally pushed onto Chloe to arrange for the school at the last minute?"

Marinette answers with a growl, "Ugh, yes. And I say this to whoever is listening aside from you and aside from God, if Mr. Damocles and any other teacher in this school ever pulls a stunt like this again, even aside from our combined wishing power beginning to wear off, they're going to get a big ear and mouthful from the school board, big time."

Marinette heads to the library.

In the library, students are watching Max and Adrien playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III on the giant screen TV connected to the CCTV cameras and connected to the local TV stations for anything.

When Marinette creeps inside, she sees for herself that Adrien and Max are indeed playing while Alya records them on her phone, and Chloe is standing off to the side, looking irritated, frustrated, and enraged all in one while holding onto a medium-sized thermos containing her Starbucks French Dark Roast style of coffee.

Technically, this version of Reincarnated Chloe normally detests drinking coffee, but because she had to pull a few all-nighters to get the school qualified for the video game tournament, she decided to break her rule just this once to keep herself awake until she has to go to sleep at the hotel, hence why her thermos is still filled with her Starbucks-style French Dark Roast Coffee.

Mr. Damocles and Ms. Bustier looked extremely nervous as they tried to keep their eyes on Adrien and Max, but sometimes they continued glancing at Chloe's face before quickly looking away, somehow getting the message from Chloe's face that she wasn't happy with either of them or with Mrs. Roaiz, one of the only other incompetent teachers in the school aside from just Ms. Bustier and Ms. Mendeleiev to an extent, and the look on her face, the way she bore her half flat and half razor sharp fanged pearly whites, the way she was softly growling like an angry dog, the way she occasionally raised her arched eyebrows and widened her angered eyes in unison whenever either Ms. Bustier, Mr. Damocles or someone else looks her way fearfully or to attempt to talk to her made it clear: that the four educators had better wise up to the fine prints, rules, regulations, etc. that dictates precisely how they should do their jobs lest she sic's the school board on all four of them hard.

And at the same time, the everything that makes it clear Chloe was in a very bad mood right now ensured that anyone who attempts to calm her down or try to crack a joke knows that they had better back down unless they want to see how violent Chloe becomes when she loses her temper and becomes easily comparable to certain iterations of Symbiote Spider-Man and/or Venom in Rage Mode.

Kim remarks, "Come on, Max."

Marinette sees Alya recording, but says nothing wisely as she walks up to see.

Kim says, "Use the kitty claw."

Marinette looks over at Chloe, and the moment their eyes meet even though Marinette kept her cool under pressure for one of the first many but still few times in a row in a short and long while, they nodded in unison, thinking the exact same thing.

Chloe asks telepathically, "You do know I could never be mad at you, right, Marinette?"

Marinette answers telepathically, "Yes, I know, Chloe, but right now, I'd have to run damage control to prevent anyone other than Max from getting Akumatized even if we manage to avert his first ever Akumatization into The Gamer."

Chloe telepathically replies, "Yes, I know. I'll try to keep my anger controlled to avoid potentially getting suspended, but no promises."

Marinette nods in understanding before whispering to Rose, "(Softly) Rose, am I correct in guessing that these are try-outs for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament?"

Rose replies in a whisper before asking, "(Softly) Yes. How'd you know?"

Marinette answers in a whisper, "(Softly) I keep track of the school calendar to keep myself up-to-date with any events about to happen within a week or within a month, simply because I like to take part in it if it means we get additional good grades on our report cards and if it means I get to help everyone have a good time."

Rose whispers back, "(Softly) I see. Well, anyway, our school is indeed sending two of our classmates to participate because of their highest scores."

Kim whispers to Marinette, "(Softly) Actually, the tryouts offer Max a partner to participate in the tournament."

Marinette whispers back as she asks, "(Softly) And I'm guessing that Max is attempting to qualify because he's unbeatable by even all of our standards and because he's been working his butt off to get a chance to participate in the tournament for years?"

Kim whispers back as well, "(Softly) Well, yeah. Yeah, he has."

On the screen, Adrien's robot, NA03, uses his special attack, which consists of a flying/leaping charge attack, on Max's robot, MX-01. The robot is crushed and NA03 wins.

Ms. Bustier then says, "Adrien is now in the lead."

Kim asks, "What happened, Max?"

Everyone cheers.

Adrien looks at Max, who looks briefly exasperated.

Max muscles up as he says, "Hmm. Interesting. You did great, Adrien. I have a feeling that we will make a profound team."

Adrien gives Max a high-five as everyone finishes cheering.

One of the new girls in Ms. Mendeleiev's class by the name of Violette Debussy then asks Kim in a whisper, "(Softly) So, let's see if I got this straight. If someone manages to completely beat Max's score, they'll get to team up with Adrien in the tournament?"

Chloe and Marinette notice this and they say telepathically to no one in particular, "Oh, no." "Oh, no."

Kim answers, "(Softly) No one can beat Max, or rather, Max and Adrien. It's a complete slam dunk. And now, they're our school's dream team!"

Another new girl in Ms. Mendeleiev's class by the name of Aisyah Capdeville takes Violette by her left hand and drags her to a bookshelf before saying, "I can see clear as day where this is going, little lady."

Violette replies, "Just imagine, teaming up with Adrien!"

Marinette mentally snarls, "He should get to choose who he wants to be with or to team up with in situations like this one, you stalkerish harpy!"

Aisyah points out, "Are you insane? This is about stepping up and representing our school, not snuggling up and snogging! This is serious business we're talking about here!"

Violette replies back, "Seriously Aisyah, do you really think I'd actually go through with it?"

Violette runs back as Marinette says, "Congratulations are in order for the both of you. You both were efficient in many ways."

Max and Adrien blush in unison before Max says, "Well, uh, thank you for the compliment, Marinette."

Marinette nods and goes to leave.

But then, Ms. Bustier asks, "Marinette, where are you going?"

Marinette turns around to answer, "Getting started on the term paper Alya forgot the both of us were assigned to research before tomorrow at the latest."

Alya now looks sheepish as she replies, "Oops, sorry. It's just that – "

But Marinette holds up a hand for silence, Alya shuts up, and Marinette says, "I get that you were distracted by the tournament, but you know as well as Adrien, Ms. Bustier, Mr. Damocles, and pretty much everyone else in our school that I was not raised to accept excuses. Now, that might sound particularly harsh, but excuses makes the other parties think you're being irresponsible, and people tend to jump to conclusions in such a manner no matter how smart they are. And I'm only saying this as a friend and close associate to all of you: I get that circumstances cause you to forget things, but I don't want to hear excuses."

Alya sighs as she replies, "You're right, Mari. Sorry."

Marinette nods and then says, "Now, if there's nothing else to behold, I'll be starting on the term paper right now."

Marinette goes to leave again, but then, Kim asks, "Wait, Marinette. Don't you want to try out for this?"

Marinette whirls around and she looks furious, and even Chloe is scared as she holds onto her coffee thermos carefully.

Marinette demands coldly, "Have your memories gone bye-bye, Kim? This is about stepping up and representing our school's good reputation. And besides, the library is closing in fifteen minutes. Right, Mr. Damocles?"

Mr. Damocles answers confidently, "Yes, Marinette, the library is closing in fifteen minutes."

Marinette replies back before saying, "Exactly. And besides, even though Max is unbeatable, it's only a matter of time before someone does defeat him in playing such a video game, and there's a 99% chance that he'll get upset enough to get Akumatized over it in private, without any of us around to witness it. And, not to be rude or anything and no offense to anyone present, but from a logical viewpoint and from a video game player's perspective, that makes Max out to be a sore loser."

Even Ms. Bustier looked aghast even though she knew Marinette was right.

Max then asks, "Why are you so concerned about even me, Marinette?"

Marinette sighs as she answers, "Because, even long after each of us first met in most cases, I grew to care for each and every one of you like if you were my army of siblings."

Even Mr. Damocles and Chloe didn't see that coming.

Every one of Marinette's classmates looked like they were going to cry joyfully.

Alya then says, "Oh, Marinette..."

Alya hugs Marinette, and she returns the hug.

Ms. Bustier looks happy to see Marinette and Alya having a tender moment.

Adrien then asks, "And what about me, Marinette?"

As she and Alya break their hug, Marinette answers, "Adrien, you may be the love of my life, but that wouldn't apply if you were adopted by my parents instead of being taken in by your aunt Amelie if in the event your father, for whatever reason, either lost custody of you, or died, or got sent to prison for unknowingly breaking several Parisian child labor laws and several parenting laws."

Adrien says in understanding, "Oh."

Marinette then questions, "Max, someday after the tournament ends, you feel up to seeing if you can beat me in Ultimate Mecha Strike III?"

Max questions in response, "Some time after the tournament ends?"

Marinette nods as she says, "Yes."

Max asks again, "Do you even know how to play Ultimate Mecha Strike III?"

Marinette answers, "Yes. I learned from having video game nights with my dad, even though I mostly prefer to exercise."

Max replies before asking, "I see. And not even your father has managed to beat you in any Ultimate Mecha Strike installments?"

Marinette answers again, "Nope. But I'm hoping that you can give me your best shot as a bit of a friendly competition."

Max questions one last time, "And you're concerned that I might get Akumatized just because I was upset at losing?"

Marinette answers, "Yes, because, from what Ladybug posted online last night, another of the many causes for someone in Paris to get Akumatized is being upset at losing video game competitions or even gamer competitions on multiplayer video games such as Ultimate Mecha Strike I, II, and III, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Transformers Prime, Minecraft, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Rocket League, Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, World of Warcraft, Mortal Kombat 11, Overwatch, Diablo, and even Call of Duty: Warzone."

Everyone looks at Marinette and she says, "What? Just because I play specific video games that don't involve the zombie apocalypse or demon uprisings doesn't mean I don't do research on popular video games that allow multiplayer."

Everyone nods in understanding.

Max then questions, "And you only permit yourself to video game nights with your father to keep him happy even though you prefer going out for walks and exercising?"

Marinette replies, "Yes."

Max thinks for a moment before answering, "Well, to answer your question and proposal for testing our mettles in Ultimate Mecha Strike III, sure, Mari. I feel up to it."

Marinette nods as she says, "Splendid. See you later, guys." And she proceeds to exit the library.

Mr. Damocles then says, "Well, I think that we have our duo of champions for the tournament."

Just then, Violette speaks up as she asks, "Wait! Uh, is it too late to try out?"

Kim, Rose, and the others gasp in shock.

Mr. Damocles replies, "Well, the library is closing in 12 minutes, but..."

As Violette marches up to one of the seats, Aisyah and Alya remark in unison, "Oh, boy..." "Oh, boy..."

Violette sits down and holds out her hand for Adrien's joypad.

After looking around before realization hits him, Adrien gives Violette his joypad.

Violette says, "Thanks, Adrien. Hmm, it looks similar to the controller for an Xbox."

Max remarks, "Huh, good analogy."

Kim asks, "Is she serious? There's no way this could happen."

Aisyah replies, "Unless the player has a secret motive."

Alya goes on to record this on her phone.

Max says, "The rules are elementary, you battle each other's robots with your own and every time you win, you loot its items and gain experience points, allowing you to upgrade your robot."

Violette remarks, "Ah, I see. Sounds simple enough."

Max remarks while holding out his right hand, "May the best effort player win."

As Violette and Max shake hands, Kim remarks, "Well, this should be fun."

Off to the side, Chloe whispers to Sabrina, "(Softly) This is definitely going onto Violette's record."

Sabrina adds, "(Softly) And this is definitely going to get Marinette mad enough to administer one of our custom punishments, if it doesn't result in actual execution which I would have to sacrifice our friendships to because my dad taught me to always uphold the law."

Chloe replies, "(Softly) Well, I'm not standing around to see the funny papers."

Chloe quietly runs out of the library, followed by Sabrina.

Violette chooses LB-03, the ladybug robot, while Max chooses MX-01.

Kim remarks, "Come on, Max. You can do it."

Violette and Max start playing.

Midway through the game, everyone sees Violette winning, similar to Marinette in the original timeline winning.

Everyone looks shocked, as evidenced by their widened eyes and gaping mouths.

Violette remarks, "And now, quarter circle plus kick and Flying Hyper-Storm! Triple hit combo, Violette style! Booyah!"

Violette wins the game.

Violette stands up and cheers, "Whoo! Yes! Whoo-hoo! I win! Oh, yeah!"

Kim states in disbelief, "Wha? I can't believe it! She... she beat him in the game?"

Aisyah replies, "Beat him? Try '"pulverized him,"' Kim."

Rose remarks, "The king has been knocked off his throne!"

Max says angrily, "This might've been slightly acceptable if it was Marinette who beat me just because she was concerned about me, but this? This is unacceptable!"

Max storms off speed walking.

Adrien says, "Max, wait!"

But Max already left.

Violette is still celebrating, but then, Aisyah slaps her hard across the face, sending her to the ground and shocking pretty much everyone.

Violette asks painfully and fretfully, "Why'd you hit me? I thought we were friends?"

Aisyah says, "I'm afraid you ruined the status quo of our friendship when you chose to celebrate your victory and rub it in Max's face, and in case you weren't paying attention to what Marinette said, Max is going to get Akumatized like a sore loser to get his revenge on you, and now both Chloe and Sabrina will have no choice but to put your actions in regards to the tournament on your record."

Violette's eyes widened in shock and horror as she finally realized what she did.

Adrien adds coldly, "And I'm starting to see why you did this: just so you could spend time with me. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but until my father lets go of my mother's memory, I'm not dating anyone who he wouldn't possibly approve of. And even if my father doesn't lose custody of me, Marinette is the only one for me."

Violette looks downcast as she also realizes that she could've incurred by Gabriel Agreste's wrath and Marinette Dupain-Cheng's infamous wrath.

Mr. Damocles then says, "Someone find Max and console him before he gets Akumatized, please. And as for you, Violette, you are hereby suspended for three weeks until further notice, pending an expulsion trial."

Everyone looks shocked, and Violette looks horrified before walking home, saddened as she finally realized that her actions had consequences, although it was already too late.

Meanwhile, outside of Francoise Dupont, Max says enragedly, "This is a travesty, an unequivocal travesty!"

In Hawk Moth's lair, the window opens as Hawk Moth remarks, "Ah, a competition. I know you love that, my evil little Akumas. Wherever there's a winner, there's bound to be a loser."

He turns a butterfly into an Akuma, and then says as he sends it off, "Fly away, my little Akuma, and evilize him!"

The Akuma flies off to find Max.

Meanwhile, in her observatory, Purple Streak detects the positive feelings of joyful happiness and jubilant relief from Mallory Bacrot, a student from School Public Turgot who also got qualified for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III tournament.

Purple Streak remarks, "Hmm. What if The Gamer had a Player opposite?"

Purple Streak makes a Tenshi and she says, "Fly away, my little Tenshi, and Championize him."

The Tenshi flies off to find Mallory.

Meanwhile, back on the streets of Paris, the Akuma flies for Max's glasses as he laments angrily, "I should've been the one to go to that video game tournament! I was the chosen one! I worked so hard to earn that privilege for years! This is inconceivable! And this is unacceptable!"

The Akuma merges with his glasses, and the butterfly symbol appears as Max looks ahead with an angered expression on his face.

Hawk Moth says, "Gamer, I am Hawk Moth. I'll give you the power you need to help you in winning the tournament you've always wanted to win. But in exchange, you must help me accomplish my own high score."

Max/Gamer replies darkly, "Absolutely, Hawk Moth. Now to see who's the greatest gamer in the city of Paris! Game on!"

Max turns into The Gamer and the smoke summons his control ship shapes like the top of a pyramid.

The Gamer cackles before sitting down at his control console.

Meanwhile, on the street corner leading to School Public Turgot, the Tenshi makes its way to Mallory and merges with his own sunglasses.

Purple Streak says, "Player, I am Purple Streak. I'm granting you the power you need to play any sort of game and win. All I ask is for you to help my teammates in defeating Hawk Moth's newest champion, Max Kante, also known as The Gamer. So, do we have a deal?"

Mallory/Player replies, "Yes, Purple Streak. It's playtime!"

Mallory is turned into The Player, an armored opposite color version of The Gamer, and the smoke also summons a ship, but it looks more like the Darksyde from Transformers Beast Wars combined with the Megastar from Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2001 and the Transformers Generation 1 iteration of the Ark.

The Player remarks, "Let's play, and let the games begin."

The Player makes his ship take off, searching for any actual bins and dumpsters of garbage to level up his ship.

Meanwhile, in Marinette's bedroom, Marinette says, "Okay, so Max still got Akumatized into The Gamer. No matter; The Player will be able to outplay and out-game the Gamer."

Alya replies, "Yes. In the meantime, Adrien told me that he wants to come over and train himself long enough to be ready for the tournament, even if Max as The Gamer will impede our schedules."

Marinette replies back, "Don't worry; I'll be ready."

Alya nods before leaving, and Marinette sighs somewhat wistfully.

Tikki then asks, "You love her on an equal level to loving Adrien and Nino, do you?"

Marinette answers before saying, "Yes, but I can't let my love life get in the way of the mission, especially if I might be risking creating all-together different kinds of timelines similar to the original Cat Blanc and Ephemeral timelines."

Tikki then asks, "You always want to follow specific superhero rules aside from just the ones that the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies follow, don't you?"

Marinette answers, "Yes, and even though I have divine powers that involve curing people of illnesses and disabilities, reviving the dead, providing an abundance in rations and other kinds of supplies, providing an abundance in energy sources, and so forth, I'd rather take some chances with the way things are progressing right now. And thanks to our robot friend, we'll be sure to remind everyone of the impact on our planet we're having with our choices by choosing to not futurize the various cities and technologies of the world, not unlike what transpired a month after Gabriel's unified final victory and defeat in the original timeline."

Tikki then asks while gesturing to the photographs of Marinette with Adrien on dates, Marinette with her friends on outings, Marinette having tickle fights with the various girls and boys in her class, and so forth in her photo albums, "And won't Adrien be surprised at seeing all of these pictures?"

Marinette answers, "Admittedly, he will be, but he knows that I mean well with these pictures, and the fact is that putting the pictures on my walls means that eventually, I'd have to take them down if in the event I choose to abandon my friends if they refuse to listen to reason about Iris Verdi in the future and risk tearing off chunks of paint in the process. And that's why I choose not to put them on any of my walls, but rather into my photo albums."

Tikki replies, "Ohhh..."

Then, the doorbell rings.

Sabine calls out from downstairs, "Marinette! Adrien's here!"

Marinette calls back, "Coming, Mom!"

Downstairs, Adrien says, "Marinette's helping me train for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament."

Tom remarks, "No way. Well, she did learn from the best, Tom style! Boo-yah!"

Sabine adds before saying, "Yes, she told us about it. And you probably knew this already, but Marinette deeply cares about you and the rest of your class."

Adrien replies a little choked up, "Yeah, I know. She told us in the library when Max and I qualified for the tournament."

Sabine hugs Adrien, and he hugs her in return.

Marinette remarks as they break the hug, "Well, I knew there'd be some sort of reprisal."

Adrien and Marinette kiss on the lips.

Marinette then says, "Come. We got some time to use before we go on our hero duties."

Adrien replies, "Sure."

Tom asks, "Would either of you like some refreshments?"

Marinette answers, "No thank you; I just had lunch sixteen and a third minutes ago, and you know how I feel about additional snacking."

Marinette and Adrien go upstairs.

Tom and Sabine look at each other before Sabine says, "You know she's gonna blow a fuse at us intruding on her love life."

Tom replies, "Yeah, I know, but where's the fun in choosing not to do it anyway?"

Sabine points out again, "But you do know that in addition to her ladybug beast mode, she has a dragon mode fueled by her rage, right? Ergo, the angrier she gets, the stronger she becomes, the more dangerous she becomes, and the more she won't be able to think straight because her rage will be clouding her thoughts. Because of this, she won't hesitate to bite and maul you or me to death."

Tom sighs as he says, "Okay, you make a lot of fair points."

In the streets of Paris, a woman says to some customers leaving her store, "Bye, see you next week."

Suddenly, The Gamer's ship appears.

Inside the ship, the butterfly symbol appears over the Gamer's visor.

Hawk Moth says, "Gamer, it's time to upgrade to the next levels and show to everyone in Paris that you're the best video game player!"

Gamer remarks in reply, "No time better than the present!"

The Gamer's ship starts trapping people in green spheres and the ship absorbs them.

The Gamer cackles maniacally.

From a distance, The Player's ships now resembling the Arkbot combined with the War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron Trypticon and the Legacy Evolution Nemesis in robot mode remarks in Trypticon's voice, "You won't be laughing for long."

In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette waits for Adrien to grab his controller, and then she takes her own controller.

As they start playing, Adrien remarks, "I know that I've known your parents for a few years now, but they still seem pretty nice."

Marinette replies, "Ah, yes. We may seem like the ideal family, but sometimes, some of my issues with this timeline tend to drive a wedge in our relationships."

Adrien asks, "How so?"

Marinette answers as a flashback plays, "Well, when I told them about how easily fooled by Lila's lies their counterparts were, and when I told them about my plans to expose her on Heroes' Day for the coup de grace, they tried to shoot my plan down, even after I provided them with evidence about all of my plans in alphabetical, numerical, and coded order. And I blew up at them – or in other words, I lost my temper – and over time since then, I started to feel like they were trying to stop me from fulfilling my destiny and from changing the timeline to make things better for this universe and for all other universes similar to this one to be spawned in the future."

Adrien replies, "Sorry to hear that."

Marinette replies back, "Don't worry; we all got over it eventually."

Adrien then steals a glance at Marinette's photo album and says, "I didn't know you had a photo album."

As she notices Plagg tearing up at the pictures, Marinette replies again, "Ah, yes, well, I wanted memories of the good times I had with you and the rest of our class just in case I ever develop Alzheimer's or dementia in the far future without my powers active."

Adrien remarks, "Really? Planning ahead a little too much, aren't we?"

Tom opens the hatch, and Marinette angrily points mockingly towards a Fusion Cannon-shaped disintegration beam blaster, and he gets the message as he quickly closes the hatch.

Marinette locks all the entrances and exits to her room, shutters the windows, and activates the soundproof security systems.

Marinette snarls, "And unfortunately, my parents are very nosy, and no matter how many times I warn them about impending death or impending pretty much other punishments I can think of at their doorsteps, they never stop intruding on my love life."

Marinette notices her parents teleport into the room using the boom tube, and she roars like the Ultimate Spider-Man video game iteration of Venom, "RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Tom and Sabine shriek as they immediately flee from Marinette chasing them with with a bunch of assault rifles, ready to open fire.

Tom and Sabine lock themselves in their bedroom, and Marinette calls out, "If you start being nosy one more time, I will be forced to tickle torture the both of you until I can find out if you'll end up peeing yourselves!"

Marinette goes back to her bedroom and she and Adrien continue playing the game.

Adrien questions uneasily, "Isn't that a little bit harsh?"

Marinette replies coldly, "I may be a superhero, but I don't have any problems with giving severe punishments to each and every one of you for doing anything I hate to an extreme, (she turns to face her parents again) especially including choosing to f(bleep!) ignore my warnings!"

Tom winces a bit, and Marinette bursts out laughing as she sees that her father peed himself.

Sabine exclaims, "That's not funny!"

Marinette composes herself to reply coldly, "Well, you should've thought of that earlier. After all, you wouldn't want any of my enemies to intrude on your love life, do you?"

Sabine sighs as she replies, "Good point, but it was mostly Tom's idea!"

Tom replies, "Traitor."

Marinette then says, "Drones, take him to the punishment chamber, and give him Level 3 Punishment number UA246 for the next instant."

Marinette's drones reply in unison, "Yes, Ladybug."

Tom is restrained and taken to the Punishment Chamber.

Meanwhile, in the streets of Paris, The Gamer's ship continues absorbing people.

The Gamer remarks, "Soon, I'll be at Level 2. My skills are unbeatable!"

His ship absorbs people and vehicles as he remarks, "I am unstoppable! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

His ship evolves into a two-legged robot.

Gamer exclaims, "Excellent!"

The robot starts absorbing more people, gaining more power.

In Marinette's room, Adrien growls determinedly while Marinette maintains a cold expression.

In no time, Marinette and Adrien win a round.

Adrien remarks, "Wow! We won again, thanks to you!"

Marinette remarks back, "You know what? I think we just did."

Adrien replies, "We? That was basically all you. You're amazing, Marinette, and I love you for being the most amazing girl I ever met in my childhood in spite of your flaws. I guess if you were participating in the tournament, you wouldn't even need me. I'm so lame compared to you –"

Marinette interrupts him to say, "Oh, don't be ridiculous; anyone can be an excellent video game professional or nerd without needing to win competitions or tournaments like this every time. Remember, video game players win only to level up and to have fun. Besides, like Valentin Avellan and Sebastian the Toy Maker once said at the conclusion of Spy Kids 3: Game Over, '"It's not whether you win or lose."' '"It's how you play the game."' Basically, what that means is, it doesn't matter how many victories or failures you gain, it's how you play a video game according to the rules and according to your preferences and the preferences of your fellow players that really matters. It's not about winning or failing every time; it's about having a good time with friends and other video game competitors."

Adrien, Sabine, and even Tom released from the Punishment Chamber and given a chance for an instant shower and instant change of clothes looked at Marinette in shock, still finding it hard to believe that Marinette could be so wise, hot-tempered, coolheaded, foul-mouthed, clean-mouthed, caring, and so forth that describes her personality and character overall at the same time.

Tom and Sabine quickly leave the room before quickly returning with two plates and Tom asks, "Is anyone hungry? I've got some fresh brownies just in case you wanted something to eat."

Sabine adds as she unveils a plate of Marinette's favorite ultimate health sandwich, "And I've got Marinette's fully loaded health sandwich ready."

Some of Tom's clones and some of Sabine's clones then ask one after the other as they reveal different kinds of healthy snacks, "With some additional fresh croissants."

Sabine Clone 1: "Along with some fresh chocolate chip cookies."

Tom Clone 2: "Along with some fresh peanut butter cookies."

Sabine Clone 3: "Along with some fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies."

Tom Clone 4: "Along with some fresh chocolate and lemon cake cookies."

Sabine Clone 5: "Along with some fresh cocoa-Brazil nut-oat cookies since Marinette doesn't like coconut."

Tom Clone 6: "Along with some fresh peanut butter blossom cookies."

Sabine Clone 6: "Along with some fresh jelly thumbprint cookies."

Tom Clone 7: "Along with some fresh zucchini chocolate chip cookies."

Sabine Clone 7: "Along with some basil-berry lemonade sorbet."

Tom Clone 8: "Along with some key lime pie."

Sabine Clone 8: "Along with some lemon-maple icebox cake."

Tom Clone 9: "Along with some Sour Patch Grapes."

Sabine Clone 9: "Along with some peanut butter and banana smudgie s'mores."

Tom Clone 10: "Along with some two-ingredient banana and chocolate chip ice cream bites."

Plagg's human form comes up and adds, "Along with a citrus and pomegranate fruit salad."

Sabine finishes, "And along with a smoked salmon and spinach pie. You can tell me what you think of it."

Marinette then says, "Okay, first of all, that's way too much food, healthy as they all are. You all know I'm trying to avoid eating too much as eating too much, even with rigorous amounts of exercise, results in any amount of weight gain. And secondly, Adrien's dietician in all likelihood will end up telling his father about the extra intake of calories because Gabriel has Adrien on a strict model diet, even though Adrien's dietician does pitch in to make sure that Adrien is being fed."

Everyone looks at each other, but then, Adrien says, "Well, at least a little early Thanksgiving indulging won't hurt this once, right?"

Marinette sighs deeply before warning, "Very well, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Marinette then politely takes her sandwich and then takes a bite out of it, revealing to Adrien that the sandwich was a warm roast beef, pastrami, turkey bacon, deli turkey, sliced rotisserie chicken, beef salami, roasted sweet potato, sheet-pan egg, spinach, tomato, smoked salmon, lettuce, sautéed onion, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, avocado, cucumber, and Swiss cheese sandwich with fat-free butter in a submarine hero type of bread.

The real Tom then asks, "While you're at it, would you kids like some tips on how to win these rounds? You know, Dad style?"

Marinette thinks for a moment before answering, "Sure, why not?"

For the next two minutes, Tom offers Marinette and Adrien his tips on how to win at the game, while Marinette offers her own strategies thanks to her years in both lives playing the multiplayer options for the video games she mentioned in the school library.

And to say the least, Tom was floored by how excellent such strategies for winning video games Marinette had in mind, even though Ultimate Mecha Strike III was technically a fighting game similar to Mortal Kombat and Injustice.

And while they're eating the pie, Plagg remarks while wiping his mouth, "Wow. I didn't know you guys make such delicious pies."

Tikki remarks, "Try distinctive."

Marinette takes a bite of one of the lemon cake cookies and chews the proper way.

Plagg asks, "Marinette? Are you... um... a bit of a neat freak?"

Marinette slowly turns and answers coolly after swallowing, "Yes, I am."

Marinette takes a sip of her black coffee.

Marinette then says, "But in all seriousness, I'm glad the three of you love my parents' cooking style. I advocated for delicious and healthy alternatives to modern desserts thanks to my own cooking experiences in my old life on my old Earth and thanks to my extensive knowledge of healthy cooking for weight loss, muscle gain, and overall nutritional benefit. And in addition to lots of research on the internet."

Sabine adds, "Yes, and we didn't even know that baked goods can also be made healthy for anything, including weight loss."

Adrien then asks after he swallows a bite of his own fully loaded health sandwich, "But how will this much food factor into us having to fight Gamer?"

Marinette answers, "Simple. Any amount of food we eat, it gets digested quickly as it also gets turned into magical energy for our powers, and any amount of the foods' calories are burned faster when we are fighting Akumatized villains or otherwise doing superhero parkour in our Miraculous transformation suits. It depends on how long we do either of those while we're transformed and as long as we manage to do the jobs right long enough for either interviews, interacting with fans, or generally just doing things that someone like Superman would have the time and the heart to do. Not like Batman."

Adrien replies, "Oh. Okay then."

Marinette wipes her mouth of crumbs and drinks the last quarts of her water thermos before saying, "Okay, now that our meal is over, we got a game to win with The Player on our side."

Tom, Sabine, Marinette, and Adrien say in unison, "Sttraaw, silent feathers!" "Baaldie, corpses ahead!" "Tikki, spots on!" and "Plagg, claws out!"

As the heroes make their way outside, suddenly, The Gamer's robot appears, absorbing more people and vehicles.

The Player turns up, in his level 5 robot resembling a combination of Unicron and Primus.

The Gamer exclaims, "What the?! Primus and Unicron, the two most powerful godlike enemies in the Transformers franchise, standing before me?!"

The Player answers with his voice sounding like a mix of the Transformers Generation 1, Transformers Armada, Transformers Energon, Transformers Cybertron, Transformers Prime, Transformers War for Cybertron Earthrise, and Transformers Rise of the Beasts respective iterations of Primus and Unicron, "I am The Player, and I want to play the game!"

The Gamer remarks, "Hahahahahahahaha! You're challenging me? Well, challenge accepted!"

The Player activates his own Black Storm, and the Gamer's robot is destroyed.

The Player touches the Dark Energon purple orb and his robot levels up to Level 6, his highest level.

The Player then says, "Come on, Gamer! Let's see you take on the Gods of the Transformers!"

The Gamer respawns from his last saved level and Player uses a rocket punch and a rocket kick.

Player shouts, "Double Hawk Booster!"

His latest punches takes the head off of Gamer's robot, but he puts it back into place.

Ladybug remarks over a loudspeaker, "Round 2, Gamer. Fight!"

Gamer growls, "Arrrghhh... Pyramissiles!"

The Gamer's robot fires pyramid-shaped missiles.

The Player remarks as his robot activates its forcefield projectors on its shoulders, "Forcefield!"

The forcefield destroys the missiles without being destroyed itself.

Player remarks, "Dragon Saber!"

He takes the robot's dragon tail off and rushes towards Gamer's robot, using the tail as an energy saber.

He slices forward, but the Gamer's robot jumps high into the air and deploys a giant green-turned-to-black energy drill while saying, "Pyradrill!"

He makes the robot charge onto the other one, drilling onto the forcefield.

But then, the Player's robot deploys a taser gun and shoots a jolt of electricity at the Gamer's robot, shocking it and him inside.

The Gamer's robot falls to the ground, dematerializing as the Gamer lies motionless.

Ladybug takes Gamer's glasses and says, "Game over, Gamer."

Ladybug breaks the glasses in half.

She remarks as she does her usual spiel, "Game over for you too, little Akuma. Time to deakumatize! Gotcha! Bye-bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!"

Ladybug's Miraculous cure reverts everything back to normal, and the Gamer is turned back into Max.

Max asks, "What am I doing here?"

Ladybug and the others fist bump.

In Hawk Moth's lair, Hawk Moth snarls, "Such pitiful and treacherous insolence! The moment you challenged me was the moment you sealed your fates! This battle and this war are far from over..."

The window to his lair closes.

(Later, at the Parc des Princes, Chloe Bourgeois' POV...)

Fortunately for me, the tournament took place the next night, so I was able to get lots of needed sleep.

I got into the car, picked up Sabrina, and we made our way to the Parc des Princes.

I'll be honest, I think that a stadium is too much of a stretch to host a video game tournament, but then again, the people are only in it for the money and other prizes.

Besides, I only touched video game consoles because Adrien didn't have anyone other than me to play video games with, before and after I introduced him to Marinette.

But now that Adrien has more friends, those who would willingly and would love to play games with him, I no longer needed to play with him to appease him.

And I was thankful that Nino and Marinette knew just how to please Adrien in times of disappointment.

Then, the announcer says, "So remember, ladies and gentlemen, the High Score to beat in this tournament is 24,500 points. So, gamers, get your consoles! Game on!"

Marinette then says to Max, "Sorry about Violette, but remember, yesterday's events are still on your record, and they can increase if you do get Akumatized over the smallest things again."

Max sighs as he asks, "I deserved that and got it coming, didn't I and don't I?"

Marinette answers, "Yes, and yes."

The announcer announces, "And now, representing Francoise Dupont High School, we have Adrien Agreste and Max Kante!"

They enter the game and the other students cheer them on.

In her bedroom, Marinette says as she wakes up for school and crosses off The Gamer, "(Yawning) That was Max as The Gamer. Next is my great uncle, Wang Cheng, also known as Kung Food."

Marinette sighs as she says, "If my great-uncle does get Akumatized, we'll literally have a food fight on our hands."

The End.

(Bonus scene: Marinette attends Wang Cheng's funeral. September 30th, 2036, third person POV...)

Marinette wept hard as the priest said in Mandarin Chinese the verses of the Bible that describe someone of Wang Cheng's character.

After the priest says amen in Chinese, everyone leaves.

Marinette composes herself to say in Chinese, "Zàijiàn, wáng shūshu./Goodbye, Uncle Wang."

Marinette leaves the cemetery and goes on her plane back to New York City.

Marinette turns off her phone, refusing to talk to anyone for now and refusing to watch anything on her phone, as the unlimited battery will start arousing suspicions from other passengers and from the flight attendants.

Marinette goes to sleep, but not before sending a prayer to God to help her with her grief.

Marinette immediately falls asleep, not knowing that after she lands in New York, her prayer will be answered.

The End.

(Author's notes: See you all in chapter 38: Erysichthon vs. Kung Food.)