Kai knew not to rush after his sister when she was in a mood, no matter how much he wanted to. It was best to let her cool off for five minutes before attempting to wrangle her temper.

"There is something else we need to talk about," Zane said. His image flickered back to titanium before returning to "normal."

"What's that?"

"We have already established that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses are used by superheroes in this realm."

"And?'' Jay jumped from one foot to the other. It was obvious that he could tell that what Zane was about to say was not good.

"There has to be a need for them. Who's the villain?"

The only noise was Kai whistling through his teeth. "Why couldn't we have just ignored that?"

"No, it's important," Lloyd insisted. "Remember what Master Wu said. We need to learn as much about this realm as we can so that when we do find our guy, we won't run into too much trouble. That's why we joined the school, remember?"

"I'm still miffed that Jay got us stuck with the freshmen," Cole grumbled, folding his arms.

"I said I'm sorry!" Jay squealed indignantly.

"'Sorry,'" Kai spat. "Doesn't change the fact that we are in class with kids five years younger than all of us."

"Ten years younger except for Lloyd," Zane corrected. "Technically, Lloyd is around their age."

Kai winced. "Er-right. Sorry, Lloyd."

Lloyd sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Doesn't matter; let's get back on topic instead of my age."

"Yeah, but how old are you?"

"Jay!" Cole barked.

"Hey, it's a genuine question!"

"Back to the villain problem," Lloyd said with some ice in his voice. "From what we know of the miraculouses, they are powerful artifacts. Possibly more powerful than the weapons of Spinjitzu. For them to be used right now in defense is a rather scary thought."

There was some quietness in the air. Zane finally broke the silence. "Well, I think we should…."

Alarms rung.

The five jumped back to back, all of them tense and ready to fight. Lloyd scanned the surrounding area. "What do we see?"

"A LOT OF RED LIGHTS!" Jay shouted over the noise.

A student with black and purple hair ran by that Kai recognized. "Hey, kid! What's going on?"

The girl mumbled something before taking off again.

"Boy was that helpful," Cole scoffed.

Adrien had just walked back into the school when the Akuma alert went off. He muttered some choice words under his breath, then darted into the nearest empty classroom.

"No time to waste," he said. "Plagg…."

"NOOOOOO MY CHEEEEEEEESE!"

"Claws out."

There was a flash of green light and Adrien felt the magic of the miraculouses extend their power over him until he was no longer Adrien Agreste, but Cat Noir.

He darted out of the room, popping out into the open air courtyard. Swarms of students rushed around him, finding safe places to hide.

Cat Noir extended his baton, lifting himself up to the roof. His boots connected with the tiled roof.

"EXCUSE ME MR. FURRY?!"

Cat Noir blinked and looked down to see a boy with spiky, brown hair squinting up at him.

Oh, they're the new kids. Cat Noir shook his head and straightened, looking out over the Paris skyline.

"Find shelter, let me and Ladybug take care of it."

Cat Noir got his breath knocked out of him by a blast of water.

Jay watched with sympathy as Cat Noir flew back, crashing into the wall with a sickening crack. He had been there before.

The person who had hit the hero dropped down into the courtyard. Jay's eyes flicked to her and his lungs constricted.

Nya.

She had merged with the sea again.

This time, though, she was purple and something was off. But that didn't really register fully with Jay. All he knew was that he had lost Nya. Again.

No no no no no no no.

"Nya…." he gargled out past his closing throat. Darkness closed in around his vision.

No no no not again no no no no no not again….

"NYA!" Kai's voice was heartbroken. They couldn't go through this again. None of them could.

"My name isn't Nya!"

My name isn't "girl"…

"It's Hurricane!"

It's Nya!

Jay could see Nya leaving, walking right through him, forgetting little by little who he was...

NO NO NO NO NO NO

"GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS."