Nexus Hero 5, Book 1: Rise of the Miraculous

by E.W. Backup

Axel Frank is an normal boy with a normal life. But he has a secret. In the light of day, he goes about his daily life. But in the night, he becomes Nexus Hero Red, leader of the superhero team Nexus Hero 5 who protect the world from evil. What happens when Axel and his team meet up with two new heroes in the city of Paris and face off against a brand new supervillain?

4. Chapter 1: Miraculous Bond, Part 1!

Chapter 1: Miraculous Bond, Part 1!

?: (Distorted voice) Many centuries ago, when the world was overrun by chaos and darkness, a mysterious sage created a set of mystic jewels that would bestow extraordinary powers to whoever wielded them.

These were known as the Miraculous.

---

Within a darkened room with a spotlight shining on it, there is a black octagonal box with some sort of red symbol on top of it. It sits there for a moment before the top of the box lifts up and reveals a set of jewelry inside. Inside the box, there is a golden outline of a flower with five petals that each had a pointed tip at the center and a unique color. The outside of the outline was surrounded by red. On the petals, with a jewel in the same color as the petal they are on, there is a brooch the size of a button with four light purple strips that resemble butterfly wings coming out of it, a necklace with an orange charm shaped like a fox's tail, a yellow comb with nine teeth and resembled a bee, a bracelet with a green charm resembling a turtle shell, and a blue brooch shaped like the spread tail feathers of a peacock.

---

?: Bonded to the ancient spirits known as the kwamis, each of the Miraculous held their own unique power.

Over the centuries since their creation, the Miraculous were given heroes who would use the jewels for the good of the human race.

---

After a moment, the five jewels on the petals began to glow in their respective colors before they slowly floated out of the box. After floating a few feet upward, the five jewels began to follow each other in a circular pattern, quickly picking up speed to where their respective lights created a ring of rainbow colored light.

Within the ring, we are then showed images of different battles, such as a cave painting of what looks like a humanoid jackalope holding back a charging buffalo, a decorated vase depicting the hero Hercules fighting a monster of Greek mythology with three Greeks behind him, and a female knight dressed in red decorated in black sports using a spear to fight a green dragon.

---

?: Among all the Miraculous, only two hold power rivaled by no other, bonded to the first kwamis to ever exist: the Earrings of the Ladybug which provide the power of Creation and the Ring of the Black Cat which grants the power of Destruction.

Over the centuries since their creation, the Miraculous were given heroes who would use the jewels for the good of the human race.

---

With the jewels coming to a halt, they soon scatter into five directions when lights of red and green appear between the five before they begin to circle each other with a trail of their respective colors. In the red light are a pair of red earrings decorated with black spots. In the green light, there is a black ring with green paw print of a cat on the front.

---

?: As these are the driving forces of the universe, whoever wields both jewels at the same time will be granted absolute power, the ability to have whatever they desire and make the impossible possible.

---

Appearing behind them, a figure covered in shadow holds their hands out at the sides of the earrings and the ring, almost as if to grab them in both their hands. They stay like this for a moment before they finally grab the earrings and ring in their hands, the figure becoming surrounded in a white light. After a moment, the figure lifts their head up as their eyes begin to shine in golden light which fills the entire area.

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair, Paris]

As the light fades away, we soon find ourselves in a dark room that is only illuminated by sunlight coming through a large rise window with a design resembling a butterfly and the center having no glass. Within the room are two different figures: one appears to be a man concealed by shadow and the other is covered in pitch black with two eyes glowing in purple. Surrounding the two are a large group of white butterflies which rest on the floor.

"That is what I want." The figure in black said to the man, their voice being a mixture of different voices and tones. "I want that absolute power. I want those Miraculous! And you are going to help me obtain them."

"If what you say is true, what is there to stop me from obtaining the Miraculous and using their power myself?" the man said to the figure.

"Because I am the only one who knows how to properly use those Miraculous." The figure said to him. "In fact, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have a Miraculous of your own or even know how to use it."

"Yes, I know and I do appreciate you giving this to me." As the man says this, he rubs a single finger on a small, circular purple jewel on the center of the cowl he is wearing. "But I do not understand why you need me when you could obtain the Miraculous yourself."

"In case you forgot, I'm not exactly present within your world." The figure then turns and moves over to the window, doing so without moving their legs. "Also the Miraculous are under a special seal which makes me unable to locate them. While I do know they are in Paris, I cannot see where in this accursed city they are. There is also the guardian who watches over them, someone of which I do not know and could easily escape with the Miraculous. That is why I need you to find them."

"If I get you those Miraculous," the man then raises his head to the figure, "you will fulfill promise to me?"

"I assure you, my young pupil," the figure then turns to face the man, sounding pleased, "once I have the jewels, you and your beloved will be reunited." The man puts his hand into the jacket he is wearing and pulls something out, a silver pendant linked to the jacket by a chain. Pressing a button on it, the pendant pops open to reveal it as a locket with the picture of a beautiful woman smiling. The man then looks up at the figure as they stand in front of him and speaks again. "So, do we have a deal?"

"Just tell me what I need to do." The man solemnly says.

"Good answer. First, you need to get the Miraculous to be used. Like I said before, the Miraculous are given to heroes to fight any threat that appears. If you are to obtain the Miraculous, you'll need to create a threat that'll lure them out. That's where your Miraculous comes in."

"My Miraculous, M. Remind me of its powers."

---

M: The Butterfly Brooch grants you the power of Transmission.

With it, you grant anyone of your choosing their unique abilities and make the person your devoted follower, their strength depending on how intense their emotions are.

---

Cutting to a book as it opens and stops at a page, we see a hand with a purple sleeve behind them and the palm up point toward four people on the next page with two fingers. Before long, four purple butterflies appear and fly away from the hand and to the four people who transform into great warriors surrounded by purple auras.

---

"And when it comes to luring superheroes, what could be better than creating supervillains?" the man says, his tone signifying a smile on his face. "And with negative emotions, they would be easily driven to obey me."

"Precisely what I was thinking." The figure known as M said, pleased by their helper coming up with the same idea. "But I must warn you. I recently sensed the power of the Nexus Hero Five in the city. They are no doubt here to help the guardian."

"Yes, I already know. I also know they are just merely children. They pose no threat to me."

"Do not underestimate them. While young, those five have proven to be quite powerful, especially against their foes. As such, creating a threat to force the Miraculous into being used will be more difficult than planned. Especially since one of them does have the means of defeating your villains. If your villains aren't able to handle them…"

"I assure you that those heroes won't be able to stop us." The man states. "I will make villains so powerful that not even Nexus Hero Five will have the power to stop them! With them, I will get you the Miraculous you desire!"

"You better. Before you begin, you shall need a name for yourself, one that will conceal your identity from the heroes. So, with the power I've given you, what shall I call you?" The man takes a moment to think before he speaks his answer.

"Call me… Hawk Moth."

"Very well, Hawk Moth. Get me the Miraculous and I will give you what you desire. Do not fail me." With that, M's eyes disappear before their body turns from black to white, revealing it to be a group of butterflies which scatter to fly around the room.

A moment after this, the man looks down at the photo before using one finger to caress it gently.

"Soon, my love. You will be by my side again." Just after he says this, the jewel glows and a small head pops out of it. The head is light purple with dark purple eyes and a slightly dark purple spiral mark on its forehead.

"Master, you aren't really going through with this, are you?" the head says to the man, a worried look on their face.

"I don't have much of a choice." The man says to the head. "M will not grant my wish unless I get him the Miraculous. In order to do that, I need a villain to lure out the heroes who will use them."

"This is not right!" the head tells him. "The Miraculous are never meant to be used for evil!"

"I do not care. I know what I must do, what I must be, to bring her back to me."

"Master, this is not the way. If you do this, there will be no going back. You'll lose everything."

"Silence!" the man says, stopping his expensive show on the floor and causing the butterflies on the floor to take flight. "This is my decision, not yours! Besides, you have no choice, my little Nooroo. Your Miraculous is in my control. I am your master and I shall use your power as I see fit."

"Master, please…" the head known as Nooroo pleads.

"Enough! I know what must be done." The man states as he closes the pendant and puts it back into his jacket before spreading his arms out. "Nooroo… Dark Wings rise!" With that, dark purple tendrils appear behind the jewel and wrap around Nooroo, the little being struggling a bit before they are forced back into the jewel which then becomes covered in a slimy coat of dark purple with a lighter purple light glowing within it.

After this happens, the butterflies flying around the man suddenly begin to emit a dark purple mist before they fly over and swarm around him, creating a cloud of dark purple. With the cloud, the crackling of electrical sparks can be heard as we see the silhouette of the man through flashes of light purple, showing his own form becoming altered within it. After a moment, a bright flash goes through, causing the butterflies to scatter around the room and the mist they were creating to disappear from them. As the mist slowly dissipates, the man begins to walk over to the window, now completely changed into a new form.

He wears a high dark purple dress shirt without a collar under a darker purple jacket with a black butterfly-shaped lapel, dress pants the same shade as the jacket, black gloves, and matching black dress shoes without laces. On his face is a silver gray cowl with a butterfly-shaped outline over the majority of his face and neck, leaving only his eyes and a small area around his mouth uncovered. The jewel he wears, which is now at the center of his chest, now has a black rim with matching sharp curves on it along with four dark purple metal strips protruding from it to make it resemble a butterfly's wings. On each slate there is a red spot at the center. In his hand is a black cane with a circular dark purple dome on top of it. After seeing his reflection, the man looks over the city of Paris with pale, light grayish cerulean eyes and an evil smile on his face.

Hawk Moth

Gender: Male

Miraculous: Butterfly Miraculous

Power: Transmission (Akumatization/Evilization)

"Prepare yourselves, Nexus Hero Five. For the Age of Hawk Moth!" With that declaration, metal sheets begin to cover the window, moving in a formation similar to the shutter of a camera. It isn't long until the sheets cover the window completely, plunging the room into complete darkness.

---

[Master Fu's Massage Parlor]

Within what looks like a tube, sleeping peacefully in a match box with stamps from different countries next to them, there is a small light green creature with green eyes with yellow sclera along with a green antenna on their head, a darker green turtle shell on their back, and a short pointed tail. They stay like this for a moment before waking up with a gasp, eyes widen in shock. This creature was known as Wayzz.

Wayzz

Title: Kwami of Protection

Pronoun: He/Him

Miraculous: Turtle Miraculous

From this, Wayzz instantly leaves the tube—revealing it to be the horn of a phonograph—and flies over to someone who is meditating in a lotus stance with their hands placed together in prayer form.

"Master! Master Fu!" Wayzz shouts as he rushes toward the individual, breaking their master's concentration and causing them to lean and fall out of their sitting position before they recollect themselves and sit up straight, the sound of bones slightly cracking being heard.

The one Wayzz called Master Fu was an elderly man who is short with chestnut brown eyes and medium gray hair along with a mustache, eyebrows, and a goatee of the same gray. He is dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt with a white hibiscus flower pattern, tan capri pants, dark brown shoes, and a bracelet composed of a black string and a green hexagon-shape charm resembling a turtle with six triangular engravings on it.

Wang Fu

Gender: Male

Age: 186

Occupation: Masseuse, Guardian of the Miraculous

"Master, forgive me for startling you," Wayzz says to the man, "but I sensed the Butterfly Miraculous."

"The Butterfly Brooch? Are you certain?" Master Fu says to Wayzz as his eyes widen in surprise at this news.

"Yes. I could feel its aura. It's very near, it's somewhere in Paris."

"How can this be? I thought the Butterfly Miraculous was lost forever."

"There's more, Master. What I sense from it is a negative aura. I fear it may have fallen into the hands of a dark power."

"Then it is clear what we must do." Master Fu says as he begins to walk over to the center of the room. "We have to find Nooroo and his Miraculous. Hopefully, our young friend Axel and the rest of Nexus Hero Five can help us find the Miraculous before it is too late. If it has gotten into the wrong hands, there's no telling what disasters would descend upon the world!"

"Help us? Master, you're not suggesting…"

"Oh, yes, I am."

"Here we go again." Wayzz could only sigh and roll his eyes for what Master Fu is about to do.

"Time to transform!" With his left fist raised, Master Fu strikes a few action poses and cries out "Wayzz—Argh!" Feeling a twinge of pain, the elderly man nearly collapses to the ground, thankfully managing to balance his fall by landing on the face of his meditation bed.

"Master, please be reasonable." Wayzz says as he flies over to Master Fu. "You are…"

"Still young!" Master Fu protests. "I'm only one hundred-eighty-six." With that grin he tries to pass off, Wayzz only arches an eyebrow while crossing his arms. Seeing what the little creature is trying to say, Master Fu sighs as he stands back up, accepting the fact that he cannot fulfill the task. "But you're right, Wayzz. I won't be able to do this alone and neither can Nexus Hero Five. While they have done well in protecting the world so far, there is no telling what this new wielder will unleash upon Paris. But there is a way I can still help them."

"Are planning to call the other inheritors?"

"No. There's no telling when the new wielder may strike and we cannot afford to wait for an inheritor to come. We also cannot rely solely on the Miracle Bonds. While they may have the power of the Miraculous, I'm afraid they would not be strong enough against the power of an actual Miraculous." With this, Master Fu approaches the old phonograph.

"Then are you planning to grant power to the others?"

"No. Axel's friends do not share the same experience in using the power of a Miraculous as he does, much less the ones we currently have. And their resonances are not to the ones that can be given." As Master Fu speaks, he presses on the eyes of the two dragons on the front of the photograph which begin to glow red. "If they were given Miraculous that are incompatible with them, they might do more harm than good, whether it is others or themselves." With a metal flap between the two dragons flipping downward, a series of buttons is revealed before Master Fu pushes three of them. "To help Axel and the others, I must give them new allies." With the record being scratched against the needle as part of the phonograph turns around, the top soon flips open to reveal a secret compartment. After two doors with Chinese-based designs slide open, a platform rises to reveal a familiar black box inside. "It's time for some new heroes."

---

Axel Frank: Okay, before we get to how this day starts, we're going to have to go back just a few hours. To the night before all this started.

It was the night before my first day of school. I had just done my patrol and went to have a good night sleep. It was good for the most part. But, while I was sleeping, my dream suddenly changed out of the blue and became the craziest one I've ever had.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie]

In a darkened room, we see Axel, sleeping peacefully in bed for only a moment before he squints a bit. From this, he begins to slightly stir and groan in his sleep, showing signs of something disturbing his sleep. As this happens, resting on a nightstand next to him, the pendant of his necklace begins to glow in violet.

---

[Axel's Dream]

As everything began to settle and I took everything in, I found myself standing in a black void. Walking around, I tried to look for anyone around, both to figure out where I was or how to get out of there.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing through the void. "Hello! Is anybody here?"

Without receiving an answer, I was beginning to feel creeped out until I stopped walking upon something violet flew past me. Watching it fly around me, I soon saw what it was once it landed on the top of my hand: a little light violet butterfly with a long tail at the end of each lower wing, dark purple eyes, and a small purple protrusion that spiraled on its forehead. While it was quite the odd-looking butterfly, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as it gave me some comfort.

"Hey, little guy." I greeted the little insect, gently petting it which it happily accepted. "Where did you come from?" I thought I would be able to enjoy my time with my new companion until I heard some fast fluttering from behind me.

I turned around but found nothing there. Before long, I heard the fluttering again and turned back to find nothing there. After looking around, I soon felt movement on my hand and looked down to see the little butterfly trembling as it looked around frantically.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked before I looked down to see dark purple mist moving in at my feet.

Hearing a lot of fluttering behind me, I turned around to see what looked like a large mass of black with glowing purple highlights towering over me. The butterfly then took off and tried to fly away, but a tendril came out of the mass and snatched it before pulling it into the mass. With fear coursing through me, I soon yelped and began to run as it tried to fall on me like a crashing wave. I ran. I ran and ran and ran, but no matter how fast I tried to run, the mass kept following behind me. It was long until the mass finally caught me, holding me by the waist. I tried to struggle my way out of there, but the mass was too strong. Feeling something creep over me, I looked down and saw what the mass was made of: butterflies, a giant swarm of black butterflies with purple highlights on their wings. Whimpering out in fear, I watched in horror as the black butterflies began to cover my body and I was swallowed up by the swarm.

Axel… Axel. Axel! Wake up! A familiar voice said as everything turned to black and this glowing purple outline that looked like butterfly wings with shape tails at the top of the lower wings appeared.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie]

Waking up with a yell, Axel quickly sits up and panics about, his actions causing a little red creature that is on his face to fly right off to the floor. The little creature quickly recovers to see the boy acting out in fear.

"Axel!" the creature says as they fly over to the boy who continues to panic.

"Get them off me, get them off me!" Axel says as he frantically brushes his arms, torso, and head. "Get them off me!"

"Axel, Axel! Calm down." Says the little creature, getting Axel to stop and look at them. "It's okay. There's nothing on you."

[Axel]

After hearing those words and breathing heavily, I looked around to see a blurry scene before I looked to my side table and quickly grabbed my blue-framed glasses, unfolding them before putting them on. With my vision clear, I saw I wasn't in the void, but in my bed with red blankets, in my room at the Dupain-Cheng residents which used to be their guest room until I moved in. Seeing the white walls, one of which had a poster of my favorite rocker Jagged Stone, along with the dresser with photos of me, my friends, and my family on top of it and the brown side table which had a red desk lamp, my necklace, my Nexus Ring, and a little box that had a little mattress and pillow inside which was being used as a bed for my little friend floating beside me, I say that she was right and that I was okay.

"Phew! That was intense." I said as I held my head in relief.

"Axel, what are we going to do with you?" said my little friend with an amused smile on her face.

The creature before me is my Saizuna An-xus, Ann as she prefers to be called. She has a bit of naïve and theatrical nature that happens to be brimming with passion, but is also sweet and kind. She also has her moments of being wise, especially when I need advice. To give you a better picture of her, she's completely red at four inches tall with a large head, a little snout, a mouth full of golden fangs, big green eyes, stubby arms and legs, tiny hands with three golden claws instead of fingers, a small pair of feet that resemble ones belonging to a t-rex with golden toe claws, a long tail, and a crest of luminescent red hair that resembles flames. Of course, this isn't her true form, just something she uses for convenience.

An-xus

Name Pronunciation: An-zus

Title: Saizuna of Unity

Pronoun: She/Her

I gave her an embarrassed chuckle from how I acted before we heard a knock and turned to the door.

"Axel, is everything okay in there?" said a voice from the other side, one belonging to a member of my host family.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Mrs. Cheng." I said to her. "Just had a bad dream."

"Okay." Mrs. Cheng said to me. "Well, hurry up and get dressed. You don't want to be late for school."

"Will do!" I told her before I then remembered what she said, becoming confused by it. "Late for school? What is she talking about?"

"That's why I was trying to wake you up!" An-xus said to me. "You slept through your alarm! Hurry up and get dressed or you're gonna be late for your first day of school!"

"What? I never sleep through my…" Before I could argue, I heard rock music and looked to find it coming from my phone in its gold and red phone case which was resting on my side table while plugged into its white charger.

Grabbing and unplugging it which causes the music to stop, I looked to see that it was my five o'clock alarm, but was shocked to find it ringing at six-fifty, meaning school would be starting in less than two hours.

"Oh, my Goddess! I overslept!" I said as I threw my blanket off, hopped out of bed, and rushed over to my dresser, quickly trying to get out of my blue plaid pajama pants and my red short-sleeved shirt.

[No one's view]

"That's what I tried to tell you." An-xus says with a slant look on her face before a red shirt lands on top of her, knocking her down to the bed. "Hey!" This was followed by a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and an open plaid, button-up red flannel shirt.

As An-xus tries to crawl out from under the clothes, Axel hops around on one foot while trying to put on a pair of blue jean pants. On his feet are two different socks with patches at the toes and heels: a white sock with violet patches on his right foot and a black one with red patches on his left. After a moment, An-xus gives a groan of annoyance before she floats up and off the bed, going through the clothes without leaving any damage. She is also transparent for a moment before she goes back to normal.

"An-xus says before she notices her friend zipping up and buttoning his pants before he then grabs a ring with a red band along with a red crystal resembling the head of tyrannosaurus rex with a flame-like crest on top and golden eyes and puts it on his middle finger.

After putting on the ring, he then opens the door and rushes out of the room. Becoming transparent again, An-xus goes and follows him.

[Axel]

After managing to make it to the bathroom and combing my hair, I quickly got my toothbrush wet and put some of my tangerine-scented morning toothpaste on it along with uncapping my deodorant and was about to use them both when An-xus spoke up.

"Uh, Axe?"

"What?" I said before I looked over and saw I had my deodorant toward my mouth and my toothbrush toward my armpit. "Oh!" Quickly switching the items in my hand, I then went on to brush my teeth and put my deodorant on, An-xus giggling a little with a hand to her mouth from me nearly making a mistake.

---

[No one's view]

While Axel is brushing his teeth, in the room just above, someone is asleep in bed under a blanket while a phone with a pink case rings with an alarm clock on it.

"Marinette! Your alarm has been going on for fifteen minutes!" Sabine yells out, causing the person in bed to reach out and grab the phone. "You're going to be late for your first day back at school!"

"Got it, Mom." Says the person in bed with a groggy voice and a tired look on their face.

The one in bed is a charming teenage girl with a fair skin tone, shoulder-length black hair with blue reflections, light pink lips, bright bluebell eyes, and light freckles on both sides and the bridge of her nose.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

---

[Axel]

After putting the cap back on my deodorant, I spit out the water I was swishing in my mouth into the sink and smiled at the mirror.

"Perfect." I said after I saw my healthy smile. With that, I then went back to my room and quickly got my shirt on, buttoning it up before getting my necklace on and putting my wallet, coin pouch, and phone in my pockets. "All right. Got dressed, got my teeth brushed, got my phone, got my wallet, got my coin pouch, got my Nexus Ring, got my Miracle Bond…" From there, I then realized what I had to do. "My binder. My backpack!" I quickly grabbed my black binder and my green military-like backpack, I then got to getting them all packed for school. After getting it all into my backpack, I then double-checked my inventory to make sure I had all that I needed for today. "Okay. Notebook? Check. Pencils? Check. Erasers? Check. Note cards? Check. Folders? Check. Agenda? Check. Snack for lunch? Check. All ready to go." Zipping up my backpack before putting it on and grabbing my binder, I then took it and started heading out to the dining kitchen to get myself some breakfast. Noticing my fellow teen not already there, I then called out to her. "Marinette, come on! We only have less than two hours left before school starts!"

"Coming!" Marinette said as I got to the kitchen counter.

After putting my binder on the counter behind the bowl of fruit, I quickly got to preparing myself a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Axel." Looking up as I poured some milk into my bowl of cereal, I was greet by a short woman with fair skin, short black hair with blue high-lights, a warm smile on her whitish-pink lips, and gray eyes who was dressed in a white Cheongsam with a red, black, and gold plant design, periwinkle pants, and black and white dress shoes along with a silver band on her ring finger. This was Marinette's mother Sabine Cheng.

Sabine Cheng

Gender: Female

Hometown: Paris, France

Occupation: Baker, Co-Owner of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie

"Good morning, Mrs. Cheng." I said to her before I then took my backpack off and set it down, sitting down at the counter and eating my breakfast as fast as I could to make sure I got out the door and got to class on time while An-xus watched me, rolling her eyes at me. This got me to stop eating. "What? I'm in a rush." With that, I then went back to eating.

I guess you're wondering why Sabine hadn't taken notice of An-xus, huh? Well, it's actually because she's invisible. It's an ability the Saizuna have. While they're like this, no one can see or hear them unless they're a chosen Hero like me. Being invisible basically makes them like ghosts.

[Marinette]

After putting on my second pigtail, I then headed downstairs for some breakfast. Easy to say, I wasn't really looking forward to school today.

"Axel, slow down!" I heard my mom say as I got down there and saw Axel eating cereal like a maniac. "You have time to eat and get to school. It's only across the street."

"Good morning." I said before I hugged and kissed my mom.

After I sat down at the counter across from him just when he was done eating, I saw Axel looking at me weird after he drank the milk out of his bowl, like there was something wrong.

"What?" I asked him.

"Seriously?" Axel said to me. "I'm already set to go and all you did was get your hair done instead of getting dressed?"

After looking at my own pajamas which were just a white t-shirt with pink polka-dots and black edges and some light pink sweatpants with a white string, I looked back at him and said "Well, I haven't eaten breakfast yet, have I?"

"I'm just saying that it wouldn't hurt for you to be more prepared." He said as he took his bowl over to the sink.

"No offense, Axel, but I'm not exactly much of a fan of school as much as you." I said to him before I then poured some milk into my bowl. "Especially with Chloé. I bet you anything she will be in my class again."

"Four years in a row?" My mom said with surprise before I then got some cereal in my bowl. "Is that possible?"

"Definitely." I said as I was holding the cereal box. "Lucky me."

"Oh, come on, Marinette." Axel said as he rinsed down his bowl before washing it. "Getting back to school isn't gonna be that bad."

"Axel is right. It's the start of a new year." My mom said to me as I then felt better after hearing what they said. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"And, if she bothers you, I'll help you with her." Axel said to me. "You're my friend and no one picks on my friends, especially Chloé."

"Thanks, Axel." I said to him before I put the cereal box back on the counter.

But, when I did, an orange rolled out of the bowl, down a slice of bread, went across the butter knife like a seesaw, and knocked over the milk. I looked away when the cereal box fell back and turned back to see the orange knock over a cup of yogurt and it landed on the floor. Yeah, that's me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Just a normal girl who is completely clumsy.

"He-he-he! Classic Marinette." Axel said with a chuckle after he got done washing his bowl and started walking to the other side of the counter. "Never a dull moment when you're with the safety haz—Aah!" After he fell back on the floor, I saw that he slipped on spilled milk on the floor. "I'm okay. Ow."

After my mom was able to cheer me up from that, Axel left to get a fresh sock to replace his milk-soaked one, and I got done with breakfast. I decided to go ahead and get ready for school. Get my teeth brushed, dressed, all that.

---

[Axel]

After getting a new sock, I then got my brown loafers on and waited for Marinette. It was a little while after that I saw the girl coming into the bakery, now changed out of those pink sweatpants and white, short-sleeve shirt and into her morning attire: a gray blazer with rolled-up sleeves with black trimming (which I found out was white with pink polka dots inside when I saw the rolled up sleeves of it), pink jeans which she had rolled up a little bit above her ankles, and pink ballet shoes with red soles. Under the blazer, she had a white t-shirt with black stitch that had this design of pink flowers with black leaves below the collar. On her was also a pink backpack and this light pink purse with a thin, black strap hung over her right shoulder and across. Just in case you can't tell how she looks, Marinette is half French (that coming from her father's side) and half Chinese (that coming from her mother's side) with a slender figure as to being a teenage girl of average height. She has medium-length black hair with blue reflection (which you can see with the two pigtails she has her hair tied in), bluebell-colored eyes, and light freckles on both sides and the bridge of her nose.

"Ready to go?" I asked her.

"Yep." Marinette said to me with a smile.

"Okay, let's go!" I said before Tom stopped us.

"Hold on! I got something for you and your class, Marinette." He said before he started humming the French National Anthem as he then grabbed a small but wide pastry box with this amazing gold logo printed on it and held it in front of Marinette, opening it up to reveal it to be filled with pistachio macarons.

"Dad, these are so awesome!" Marinette squealed, amazed by what her dad had done for her.

"Glad you like them." Tom grinned, closing the box before handing it to her. I then watched as he grabbed another box and opened it in front of me to reveal chocolate macarons inside. "And these are for you and your friends."

"Thanks, Mr. Dupain." I said to him after he closed the box and then handed it to me, appreciating his gift for me.

"Thank you, Dad!" Marinette said as her father handed her the box with the macarons, the girl taking the box with two hands and smiling gratefully at her father. "My class will love them! You're the best!"

"We're the best!" Tom rubbed his daughter's head and picked up a notepad which I saw had a sketch of the same logo that was printed on the box. "Thanks to your amazing designs."

The bluenette looked at the design for a few seconds before I then spoke up.

"Wait, Marinette made this logo?" I said, surprised by Marinette's talent.

"She sure did." Tom said to me. "Thanks to her, we had plenty of business."

I then watched as Marinette reached up and hugged her dad, accidentally dropping the macarons.

"Oops!" Tom chuckled as he caught the box with his foot before he picked it up and handed it to Marinette.

"Unbelievable. That girl made that amazing logo?" An-xus said as Marinette took the box and balanced it on her forearm.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." I said to my Saizuna as I looked at her. "Marinette might be a bit clumsy, but her creativity is nothing short from astounding." With this, I then spoke to Marinette, the girl turning to me. "Marinette, you have incredible talent. The design you made is amazing."

"Thanks." She said to me with a smile. "Now we better hurry so we're not late for class." With that, we both ran out of the bakery's doors. "See you tonight!"

We tried to cross the street, but had to stop when the "Don't Walk" signal came on where I had to grab Marinette from the back to help her regain her balance as a car went by.

"Thanks." Marinette said with a grateful smile.

"No problem." I said, returning the smile before losing it as I looked at the signal. "Just our luck. First day of school and we get stuck at the crosswalk. Really hope the light changes soon. We only got thirty minutes before class starts."

"Hey, isn't that Master Fu walking over there?" An-xus said as she sat on my shoulder.

I looked over to the other side of the street to see it was Master Fu as he was walking down the crosswalk with a cane in hand.

"It is!" I said, surprised to see the guardian here. "What's he doing here?"

"You know him?" Marinette asked me.

"Yeah, that's Master…" I said, An-xus smacking me in the head to remind me that I wasn't supposed to call Master Fu by his title. "I mean, Mister Fu. Yeah. He runs a massage parlor here in Paris. My family once visited it when… my father… pulled his back out! Yeah. He-he!" Yeah, that last part was a lie, but it was the only excuse I could think of. I couldn't tell Marinette that I visited him because he was safeguarding magical jewels. His identity as a Guardian of the Miraculous has to remain a secret.

"Oh, okay." Marinette said, seemingly accepting that lie.

"I just hope he gets over here soon." I said, worried for Master Fu, especially with how he was in the middle of the crosswalk. "That light hasn't changed yet."

"Threw his back out?" An-xus said with an amused smile on her face. "That's your excuse for meeting the guardian?"

"It was the best I could come up with." I whispered to her, making sure Marinette didn't hear me. "What was I supposed to say?"

"You know your dad is gonna be pretty mad when he finds out about the lie you made up about him." She said to me.

"He's not gonna find out." I retorted.

[Marinette]

While Axel was talking to himself, I watched Mister Fu as he was walking over to our side of the street. I was pretty much worried about him, especially with how fast he was walking. While he looked pretty calm about it, I knew he was in trouble if that light didn't change soon. Much like how Axel was while talking with himself, everybody on both sides of the street were just as distracted, not even noticing the old man on the crosswalk. My hopes that he would make it across before anything bad happened went out the window when this car turned onto the street, not looking like it was stopping.

[Axel]

Hearing the horn of a car, I looked over to see a red car driving over towards where Master Fu was. I yelped as I was worried about him getting hit and was about to go save him when Marinette rushed over, grabbed Master Fu by the wrist, and managed to get him to safety in time. Even as the car went by, both me and An-xus were surprised that Marinette risked her life to save the guardian.

"Bleh!" Marinette uttered after she let go of Master Fu and somehow tripped, dropping the macaron box.

She dropped to the ground and started to pick up the little treats as Master Fu leaned on his cane. Seeing this, I quickly put the macaron box Tom gave me into my backpack and put my binder down before going over to help Marinette pick up the macarons.

"Thank you, miss!" Master Fu said as I tried to help Marinette to retrieve all the macarons. "Oh, what a disaster."

"Oh, it's fine, Mister Fu." I said to him, just as the crosswalk light turned green and people started to walk, stepping on the macarons that were on the ground without even noticing them. I even saw Marinette flinch as a shoe stepped on a still good macaron.

[Fu]

While the two were distracted and as Wayzz appearing on my shoulder, I soon nodded to the kwami. With a nod back, Wayzz quickly left my shoulder and managed to get into one of the pockets on the side of Axel's backpack, ready to deliver my message to the young Frank when the time was right.

[Axel]

"That was impressive what you did there, Marinette." I said to the girl after Marinette looked over at the box and then looked at me. "That was pretty brave of you. Though I'm sorry I couldn't help save more of your dad's macarons from this disaster."

"Thanks." She said to me. "And don't worry. I'm no stranger to disasters. Besides, there are still a few left!" Smiling at her, we both stood up before she turned and offered a macaron to Master Fu.

"Delicious!" He said after he took one and took a bite of the macaron, smiling at Marinette before looking at me. "I see you have already made a wonderful friend here, Axel."

"Yeah, she is." I said to Master Fu while getting my binder. "Thank you, Mr. Fu. This is Marinette, a member of my host family here in Paris. Marinette, this is Wang Fu, an old friend of my family."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Marinette said to Master Fu, bowing to him.

"It's good to meet you as well, young lady." Master Fu said before we all heard a bell ring.

"Oh, no! That's the school bell! We're going to be late!" Marinette said to me with shock, making me gain a look of shock.

"Oh, geez! Sorry, Mister Fu. I'd like to stay and chat, but we have to get going!" I said to him before Marinette and I both took off running. "Have a nice day!"

---

Axel Frank: Okay, I really have to say that what Marinette did back there was amazing.

She actually risked her life to save someone who she barely knew. A compassionate heart like hers is pretty rare to find. If she got a bit more confident in herself, I bet she would make a great hero.

Though, as me and her were running off to school, I could help but wonder why Master Fu was just walking around. He hardly ever leaves the parlor without a reason. So why is the Guardian of the Miraculous walking around Paris?

---

[Fu]

As I watched Axel and his new friend run off, I couldn't help but have a little laugh that Axel made such a unique friend. Marinette truly has good in her heart. When others seem to ignore, she was able to take action and save a life from disaster. In truth, this was actually a test to see if anyone was worthy of wielding a Miraculous, one which that young lady had passed. One who saves a life can save the world. Holding out the case holding one of the two Miraculous I had, I knew I had found a worthy ally to assist Axel.

"Thank you very much, Marinette." I said while looking at the small case before I turned toward the bakery.

I was about to walk inside when suddenly, a small portal opened beside my hand and a white gloved hand came out and took the Miraculous from me. After the hand retreated back into the portal, a small note came out in its place, the portal closing as I grabbed it.

"'Dear Master Fu, do not worry. We are friends. We promise that Marinette will get what she has earned. We will do the same for the other wielder as soon as you find them. Just go and find the other worthy of the Miraculous. Signed C.K. and G.G.'." After reading the letter, I was surprised to find it stamped with the mark of the Order, a clear sign that this came from an ally. "Huh. That was unexpected."

Seeing this, I decided to move on and search for another ally to help Axel and his friends, hoping I am not too late to find them.

---

[Axel]

"Okay, Marinette," I said to the girl as we ran in through the front doors and stopped in the court of Collège Françoise Dupont (our school), where I then pulled out my agenda on my regular phone (I had my school schedule placed there in case I forget where I am supposed to go and, in this case where it's my first day, figure out where I am supposed to go, "you've been here longer than me, so I need you to tell me where to go."

"Okay, who do you have first?" Marinette asked me.

"I got… Miss Bustier!" I answered her as I saw who I got for my first period class.

"Miss Bustier?" Marinette was surprised by this and was silent for a short moment before she spoke again. "Follow me!"

With that, I followed her into a classroom that was split down the middle with large windows set across from the door, one side of the room having a large desk with a computer laying upon it and a large chalkboard behind it while the other side put up like stairs and having two rows of five desks that were made to hold two students at a time (five rows of two desks if you look at the rows from a horizontal view). As Marinette had her hands on her knees while she tried to catch her breath, I allowed my eyes to scan around the room. The class was most certainly a colorful batch and there was not one specific group of specific school stereotypes. With one desk, I saw a Goth girl was sitting next to a girl wearing pink and the two were chatting like lifelong friends. Didn't take me long to recognize them with one of them being Terra's housemate Rose Valliant and the other happening to be a girl that Adler flirted with once the last time we visited Paris. Another desk had a strong-looking jock-like boy sitting beside a boy who was much like me (someone my friend Terra would call a nerd). The jock commenting on something his companion had on his phone. I would be lying if I didn't expect some like that guy to be stuffed into a locker by a jock like the one next to him. I was just glad that I was in an environment that I was comfortable with. Seeing all this reminded me of school back home.

"Niño, why don't you have a seat in the front row this year?" the woman behind the desk said, looking to the back of the class.

Recognizing the name, I looked and saw Nino who looked up with surprise. The boy who was Nahuel's housemate had tan skin, wore a plain red cap, black-rimmed glasses, orange headphones, a blue short-sleeve t-shirt with an eye on the front, blue jeans, red and white high collar shoes with a white knight design on the tongues, and 5 different colored wristbands (lime green, pink, orange, blue, and yellow in that order down his arm) on his right wrist.

Nino Lahiffe

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Hometown: Paris, France

I watched as Nino groaned as he slid his headphones down so that they hung around his neck, grabbed his bag, and slid out of the back seat and lazily made his way down the stairs and into the very front seat. When he saw me, he actually brightened up with a smile and waved at me. Not wanting to be rude, I returned the smile and waved back.

From there, I then looked back at the woman behind the desk, who I knew had to be the teacher in this class. She was tall with light skin and had orange hair pulled back in a high bun, teal eyes, and freckles. I could also see that she had glossed her lips with thin pink lipstick. She wore a light blue jacket with a teal collared shirt underneath and a white shirt under that one. She also wore a pair of white earrings, a small gold necklace, light pants, and white dress shoes (that last detail I found out later on).

Caline Bustier

Gender: Male

Occupation: Teacher at Collège Françoise Dupont

Hometown: Paris, France

Seeing as how Marinette led me though I was still curious if she led me the right way, I walked up to the teacher.

"Excuse me," I said as I got her attention, "are you Miss Bustier?"

"Yes, I am." She said to me with a kind smile. "I take it you're one of the new students joining my class today?"

"Yes, I'm Axel Frank. It's nice to meet you, ma'am." After kindly introducing myself to my teacher, I became a little confused by what she had just said. "Wait, 'one of the new students'?"

My answer to that question came quickly when I heard a familiar voice say "Noogie patrol!"

Before I could react, someone pulled me into a headlock and started giving me a noogie, all while saying that word like three times. Recognizing this behavior, I pushed away and laughed a little to see my tomboy jock friend Terra standing there with a grin on her face. In case you don't know what she looks like, Terra is a girl with long, untamed brown hair tied into a high ponytail, slightly tan skin, a petite figure and brown eyes. She wears a black leather vest jacket over a green tank top along with black running shorts and white tennis shoes. On her left hand is her green Nexus Ring which has a head resembling one belonging to a Chinese dragon.

"Terra, come on!" I said as I smoothed down my ruffled hair back down. "I just combed this hair down this morning."

"Geez, you're kind of sounding like Trich." Terra said to me, talking about my cousin.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt to be a little tidy." I said before I then checked my phone to look at the time. "Look at that, got a few minutes to spare. Hey, Marinette, how'd you know…" I tried to look at Marinette to thank her and to ask how she knew where it was so fast, but she was gone. I then started looking around for her. "Marinette? Where'd you go?"

"Uh, bud?" With Terra getting my attention, she then pointed to the right row. "Is that who you're looking for?"

When I looked, I was shocked to see Marinette taking a seat on the left side of the second desk up of that row, setting the macaron box in front of her. Seeing that, I was able to figure it out.

"Marinette!" I said as I got her attention. "You're in this class too?"

"Um…yeah. I guess we're classmates together." Marinette said with a nervous giggle, rubbing the back of her head.

It was only a moment before I heard Terra say "So, anything going on between you and little Ms. Pigtails over there?"

"I know what you're thinking, Terra, but that's not it." I said to Terra as I saw her giving me a sly smile, causing me to give her a look of exasperation. "Marinette is a member of my host family. Now quit teasing me."

"Oh, chillax, dude! I'm just messing with ya!" Terra laughed as she gave me a friendly punch in the arm which I rubbed for a moment.

"Oh, yeah? Say that to Marinette." I said before Terra looked and saw Marinette duck down behind the desk in embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry, girl! Just kidding around!" After he said that, Terra gave Marinette a nervous chuckle.

"It's okay." Marinette said as she got back in her seat and cleared her throat to regain her composition, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Honestly, Terra," said a voice as I saw something small and black appear beside Terra, "you really should really be more careful on what you say. Even a little joke can hold a greater impact on others."

The creature before Terra was another Saizuna, one was named An-chei or Chei as a few friends call him. As the Saizuna of Wisdom, he's often pretty serious and can be quite harsh at times, even keeping a stoic expression on his face. While he is pretty smart and helpful, he doesn't really have good social skills with most people. Like all Saizuna, he's four inches tall with stubby limbs and big eyes, but he's completely black along resembles a unicorn with sky blue eyes, four legs, golden hooves, a golden horn, a pink tail, and a matching streak of hair that resembles a mohawk that flows toward the back of his head. He also has black armor composed of a chest plate, shoulder guards, and pauldrons with golden edges and pink lineage.

An-chei

Name Pronunciation: An-chay

Title: Saizuna of Wisdom

Pronoun: He/Him

I know what you're thinking and he's not Terra's Saizuna. An-chei actually happens to be the Saizuna of Hitomi which is why both me and An-xus looked so surprised to see him here.

"Ease up, Chei." Said a voice as something small and green appeared beside An-chei. "She's still young. She'll learn."

The one that came up was the Saizuna of Terra, the one by the name of Yuu-long who is the Saizuna of Courage. The creature before Terra is her Saizuna Yuu-long, Yuu for short. While he's usually bold and fierce, he mostly acts laid back and okay with things, kinda like what one would call a "cool uncle". He was completely green and resembled a Chinese dragon, having sky blue eyes along a small snout, scales which resemble pieces of rock, golden spines, a mouth full of golden fangs, and matching whiskers, claws, horns, and a tailfin of the gold. His hands had three claws and his feet had three toes.

Yuu-long

Name Pronunciation: Yoo-long

Title: Saizuna of Courage

Pronoun: He/Him

"An-chei?" An-xus said to her fellow Saizuna in surprise. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Hitomi?"

"Actually, he is." Said a voice, coming from something small and yellow that joined the three. "Much like I am with Nahuel."

The one who joined was Nahuel's Saizuna: Hei-lot the Saizuna of Peace. She often has a rather calm expression with a warm smile and a relaxed look in her green eyes. She's yellow and resembles a jaguar with ear tips shaped like lightning bolts and a tail with its very tip sharing the same shape as the tips of her ears. She has small, five-digit paws for hands and feet with the ones for her hands being human-like.

Hei-lot

Name Pronunciation: Hey-lot

Title: Saizuna of Peace

Pronoun: She/Her

"Hei-lot?" An-xus said, surprised by this. "Wait, you said that you and Chei are still with your Heroes. Does that mean that…"

"Hey, Axel!" Hearing that voice, I turned toward the very back of the left row to see a familiar young priest waving to me from the seat closest to the window with a bright smile on his face, the volume of his voice getting the attention of the entire class. "Over here!"

Nahuel was a boy with short, neatly-combed black hair, a slightly tan complexion, and amber eyes. Along with a pair of black-framed glasses, he wore a yellow hoodie, saggy brown pants, and black loafers. This attire was something that me and the others along with my cousin Tricha helped him pick out when he moved to Concordia. On his left hand is his yellow Nexus ring with a head resembling one belonging to a jaguar, one resembling his Saizuna.

"Nahuel, please do not shout in my class." Miss Bustier said to him.

"Sorry, Miss Bustier!" Nahuel said with an apologetic smile.

"Since you are standing, can you please come to the front so that I may introduce you to the class?" she added.

"Oh, right! Of course." With that, Nahuel then headed over and joined me and Terra.

"Hitomi, come down here too so that I can introduce you to the class." Miss Bustier said.

"Yes, ma'am." Hearing that voice, I then turned to find the very girl sitting in the very back of the right row at the seat closest to the wall before she stood up and started walking down the stairs.

Hitomi is a girl with short black hair cut into a bob, a well-developed figure, fair skin, and light blue eyes. With a stoic expression that she always has, she wore a seifuku consisting of a black, buttoned-up blazer over a white shirt with sailor-style collar and pink bow at the front, a black knee-length skirt, white thigh-high socks, and black dress shoes. Many of the students often turned to her, mostly the boys who couldn't help but be attracted to her. Despite her expression and how she acts, people can't help but think how cute Hitomi was. One way I've come to describe her beauty as being how you would look at a kitten who had just woken up from a nap.

"Adler, would you come down here please?" Miss Bustier said as Hitomi joined the group. "Adler? Adler."

"Adler? Adler!" Hearing that voice, I looked to the deck behind where Marinette was sitting and saw a familiar blonde boy with his head down on the desk and using his arms to make it comfortable for him and concealing his face, a little blue creature hovering around him with worry. "Adler, wake up!"

That little creature happens to be Wan-ji, the Saizuna of Freedom. He often speaks with etiquette and has a flair for the dramatic. Whenever he talks, it's almost like he acts like he's in a Shakespearean play. Adler's Saizuna was blue and resembled an eagle with yellow eyes, a small golden beak, golden talons for feet, crystal-like wings for arms, and crystal-like crests on the sides of his head along with matching tail feathers.

Wan-ji

Name Pronunciation: Won-jee

Title: Saizuna of Freedom

Pronoun: He/Him

Both curious and concerned by this behavior, I decided to walk over to Adler and see what was wrong with him, An-xus following me as I did. Upon reaching the desk and deciding to sit beside him, I took my backpack off and put it on the floor beside the before putting my binder on my desk. Watching him as I did, I became more concerned to find him not reacting to any of my actions.

"Wan, is your Hero okay?" An-xus said with the same concern I had.

"Yes, he is only a bit tired." Wan-ji told us. "I am afraid he did not get his required sleep last night."

"Ad? Ad." I said as I poked him a bit. "Adler, wake up!" With a groan coming from him, Adler rose his head up and looked at me, revealing a navy blue sleep mask over his eyes. "Adler, seriously? I know you wear your sleep mask every time you sleep, but you can't bring it to…" I gasped and An-xus screamed in fright upon seeing the look on his face.

He didn't just look like he slept on the wrong side of the bed, he looked like I did when that sleep-stealing Narcibeast kept me awake for a week back in Concordia, especially with the definition of those bags I saw under his sky blue eyes. When I heard Marinette scream in fright, I knew she had seen Adler's currently horrifying facial appearance.

"Oh, hello, Axel." Adler said to me before he yawned. "When did you get here?"

"Adler, what happened?" I said to him, still shocked by this. "You look like the freaking undead!"

"Oh, it's nothing." Jay tiredly said to me. "I just haven't had my usual beauty sleep this past week."

"How could you not have much sleep for a whole week?" I asked, calming down a bit.

"Because of Ivan." After he gave me that answer, Adler then placed his head back on the desk, laying his chin upon it this time.

"Your housemate?" I said, confused by this. "What does he have to do with you not getting any sleep?"

"It is because he happens to be my roommate and he snores like a buffalo." Adler said to me as he sat up. "I barely got any sleep last night because of him!"

"Adler, I'm sorry." Said a voice, making me look to the desk behind us and find Ivan sitting right behind Adler while looking quite guilty. "I didn't know I had kept you up like that."

Ivan was a large and bulky guy with gray eyes and short black hair with one long tuft of it on his forehead being blonde. He wore a black t-shirt with white cross bones printed on the chest.

Ivan Bruel

Gender: Male

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

"I should've brought my earmuffs when I had the chance." Adler said as he put his sleep mask back on, preparing to go back to sleep.

"You can sleep later, Ad." I said as I caught his head before he could put it back down. "You're needed at the front of the class. Teacher's orders."

"Mmm, fine." Adler groaned as he lifted his sleep mask up and slowly got up to his feet.

"Don't sweat it, Ivan." I said to the big guy, reassuring him that things will be okay between him and Jay. "Once Ad here gets some sleep, I'm sure he'll forgive you. You're not yourself if you didn't get a good night's sleep, right?"

"Yeah, whatever." He said as he crossed his arms and looked away from me, speaking with a gruff tone. "I just don't want him whining about it."

Even though he didn't want to admit it, I had no doubt that he was grateful for me telling him that. The way he did kind of reminds me of a certain jock back in Concordia along with a certain tsundere Hero I know.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." I said to him with a warm smile before me and Adler left the desk and headed down stairs to the others, me holding onto my fellow Hero to make sure he didn't trip on the way down.

As you already guessed, Adler is a boy with short blonde hair and sky blue eyes. His hair is usually kept a bit tidier with his hair currently still being partially of bed head. With fair skin, he wore a black dress shirt with a blue t-shirt underneath along with gray dress pants and beige dress shoes. On his right hand was a blue Nexus Ring with a head resembling one belonging to an eagle similar to Wan-ji.

Just when the two of us joined the others, I heard a slam and turned around to see a girl standing beside Marinette's desk, her hand flat on the desk in front of the macaron box my housemate brought with her. The girl was of medium height, had light blue eyes, lips glossed with pale pink lipstick, and light blonde hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail. The lipstick wasn't the only makeup she had on as she also had light blue eyeshadow and light peach-colored blush. She wore a gold chain necklace with a gold sphere charm, white-rimmed sunglasses on her head, a yellow long-sleeved jacket with a white shirt that had black stripes around the waist underneath, white Capri jeans with a brown belt with diamond-shaped studs, and white dress shoes with black lining and soles. This girl was none other than Chloé Bourgeois, daughter of the mayor of Paris and probably the worst person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Chloé said to Marinette, speaking with that snarky tone of hers.

Chloé Bourgeois

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

"Ugh! Here we go again." Marinette groaned in exasperation.

"Oh, jeez!" I groaned, sharing the feeling.

"That's my seat." Chloé said to her.

"But, Chloé," Marinette said with a worried look on her face, "this has always been my seat."

"Not anymore." Said a voice as me and Marinette to her turned to see a girl suddenly appeared in the seat next to her, the girl giving Marinette a smug smile. "New school, new year, new seats."

The girl next to my housemate was a redhead with chin-length hair styled in a bobcut, sea green eyes, and wore light pink lipstick. Her attire consisted of a white hairband, glasses with a pale brown and grey rim, a purple and blue argyle vest with a white long-sleeve shirt underneath that had a gray bow tied to the collar, bright blue shorts with a brown belt, black leggings with a dark blue argyle pattern, bright blue socks, and white sneakers with black soles. This girl was Sabrina Raincomprix, Chloé's personal assistant who does whatever Chloé says.

Sabrina Raincomprix

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

"So why don't you just go and sit beside that new girl over there?" Chloé said as she motioned to a girl with reddish-brown hair and black-rimmed glasses sitting in the front desk of the left row, said girl turning to look at her.

Since the team and I met her at the airport when we arrived in Paris, I knew this girl by the name of Alya Césaire, a member of Hitomi's host family. She's a girl with a well-developed body like Hitomi, heart-shaped two-toned brown lips, grayish gold eyes, and a mole above her forehead at the right along with wavy hair that went past her shoulders and had a reddish-brown ombre with brilliant tangelo tips with her bangs having a split in the middle and thick locks that fell in front of the ear on either side while slightly curved down to where the nape of her neck was. She wore black horn-rimmed cat eye glasses with a white spot on each side along with a white tank top underneath a short-sleeved, buttoned-up plaid shirt with white, beige, orange, and purple stripes and pockets, light blue jeans, and white Adidas sneakers with a black zigzag design on the sides and tongue.

"Hitomi, take Ad and make sure he doesn't fall to the floor." I said as I handed the blonde over to Hitomi as I decided to intervene and have a little chat with Chloé.

"But…" Marinette said before I spoke up.

"Chloé Bourgeois." I said as I stood at the foot of the stairs, speaking in a calm manner as the girl's turned to me. "Class hasn't even started and you are already bothering someone." I then turned to Sabrina and spoke in a more casual tone. "Hey, Sabrina. How's the world?"

"Hi, Axel." Sabrina greeted me with a wave and a genuine smile.

"Sabrina, don't talk to him." Chloé harshly said to her.

"Sorry, Chloé." Sabrina said as she lost her smile.

"Seriously, Chloé? This is sad, even for you." I said in a calm manner, getting the blonde's attention. "Why exactly do you want that seat for? There are plenty of available seats to take."

"Listen and I'll tell you the reason." She said to me, what she said next surprised me. "If you must know, Adrien's arriving today." She then pointed to the seat that the redhead was sitting in. "And, since that is going to be his seat, this is going to be my seat." When she put emphasis on the word "my", she slammed her hand on the desk. "You get it now?"

"Wait, Adrien's coming here?" I asked as I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "To school? Like actually leaving the manor?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Chloé told me with a smug smile.

"And he told you this?"

"Uh, duh! Why wouldn't he?"

"Uh, who's Adrien?" Marinette said, sounding curious.

After a moment of silently staring at Marinette, Chloé and Sabrina started laughing before they spoke again.

"Can you believe she doesn't know who Adrien is?" Chloé said to her assistant before speaking to Marinette. "What rock have you been living under?"

"He's only a famous model." The redhead said.

"And I'm his best friend." Chloé said as she gained a smug. "He adores me." She then looked at Marinette. "Now, move."

"Hey, who elected you Queen of Seats?" Alya said as she walked up to Chloé who turned to her.

"Ooh, look, Sabrina." Chloé sarcastically said. "We got a little do-gooder in our class this year." She then changed to a stern mocking tone as she spoke to Alya. "What are you gonna do about it, Super-newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." The girl said with a threatening tone.

"Okay, settle down. Let's not let this take an ugly turn." I said as I got the girls' attention. "Anyway, Chloé, the reason I asked earlier is because Adrien didn't tell me he was coming today."

"Why does that matter?" Chloé said to me.

"Because you and I both know that I'm his best friend." I told her. "The only reason you got to hang out with him is because your fathers are friends."

"Adrien and I have known each other our whole lives!" she retorted with a glare.

"Yeah, I know. I've been friends with him for all thirteen years of his life!"

"You've only ever seen each other once in a whole year!"

"Yeah, but he actually enjoys my company, unlike you! He's lucky to have me because he isn't stuck with his only friend being a stuck-up, little brat!" With that, the two of us growled as we glared at each other, even flashing our teeth to show how angry we were with each other.

[Marinette]

As I watched Axel and Chloé glare and growl at each other, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Axel, someone who I've only known a week, was staring down Chloé, the meanest girl I know. I was kind of shocked by how Axel was acting. Before, he was so sweet and kind, didn't even look like he would harm a fly. But, seeing him angry like this… I was actually scared of him! The way he was glaring at Chloé and the way his teeth were showing as he was growling, he looked like a rabid wolf that was about to attack! I wasn't the only one who thought about it. Looking around, I saw everybody who had a clear sight of it was shocked by what Axel was doing. Even his friend Nahuel was looking scared from seeing this. But, even though I didn't know Axel for very long, I could tell there was a lot of tension between him and Chloé.

[Axel]

"Axel, I know how much Chloé annoys you, but now might not be the best time to argue with her on who's Adrien's true friend." An-xus said to me. "I believe you were trying to say something about Adrien coming to school." Hearing that reminder, I then took a deep breath and calmed down.

"We'll settle this debate later." I said to Chloé, getting her to stop both growling and glaring. "As I was saying, there's a reason why Adrien would only tell you he was coming here."

"What other reason would that be, hmm?" the girl asked, not believing there was any other reason for Adrien giving her such information.

"Because he didn't want me to find out what he's doing." I said before I facepalmed myself in exasperation. "Adrien, you bonehead!"

"Axel, what's wrong?" Marinette asked me in concern.

"Adrien isn't actually coming to school." I told my housemate. "He's sneaking over here!" This gets groans of exasperation from the Saizuna and two of my fellow Heroes (Terra and Nahuel).

"Sneaking?" Marinette said in confusion.

"Yeah, Adrien's father doesn't let him out of the house." I explained to her, removing my hand from. "He's been homeschooled all his life. Since he told Chloé here that he's coming over, it means he's trying to attend school without his father knowing. Have no doubt that Avery is helping him do it."

"Avery?"

"His sister. She's a model like him. She also happens to be a tech-wiz. She might've hacked into the school server and enlisted Adrien into attending classes here."

"She can do that?" Marinette was surprised by this.

"Yep, she's that smart. You think after the last time Adrien snuck out of the house…"

"He's done this before?" Alya asked me, surprised by this.

"Yeah, about a year ago, him and Avery snuck out of the house to pay me a visit in America." I told her. "They were lucky my father was there to convince theirs to let them stay for a while. This is why I'm worried. Adrien and Avery's father is strict with those two. They're not allowed to leave the manor without his permission."

"So you're saying they're going to get into trouble for this?"

"Yep. That's what makes me worried." Having said that, I then turned to Chloé. "Chloé, I think it would be best to forget reserving a seat for Adrien. You know as much as I do that his father is never going to let him here."

"Well, he didn't let his father stop him from visiting you." Chloé sourly said.

"That is a completely different situation." I told her. "I want Adrien to be here just as much as you, but unless we can change his father's mind, he won't be able to attend school. Besides, even if he managed to get here, we'd be dealing with Avery who practically acts like a secondary bodyguard to him and you know she won't let anyone sit next to her brother."

"Well, maybe she would if someone smart and handsome were to… convince her. I remember you always being able to get that girl to do anything you say." After saying that with a sweet tone and a smile, Chloé then fluttered her eyes at me.

"Chloé, for the last time, your flirting is not going to work on me. I told you, when I look at a person, I always look to see their inner worth, for who they are on the inside. For any girl I meet, I look toward their inner beauty as much as their outer beauty. And the way your inner beauty looks doesn't really compliment your outer beauty at all." After I plainly said that, Chloé lost her smile to glare at me. "Also I doubt anything I say to Avery would let her allow anyone near Adrien. The girl's almost as stubborn as her father."

"Hmph!" Chloé huffed before she started walking down the stairs. "Whatever! Adrien and I will take the new girl's desk!"

"Chloé, I said there's no point in trying to reserve a seat for Adrien. He's not coming."

[Marinette]

As Chloé groaned when she sat down at the front desk where the new girl was sitting, I was just shocked by what just happened: Chloé actually backed down to somebody. I was now both impressed and frightened that Axel was able to do that.

"Uh, Sabrina?" Axel said as we both looked at Sabrina who was still sitting beside me. "Aren't you going to go with her?"

"Oh, right." Sabrina said as she got out of her seat and quickly went over to the stairs. "Excuse me!" After getting past Axel, she then took the seat next to Chloé.

"Axel, would you mind coming back down here please?" Miss Bustier asked him.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Axel said before he then went back down to his friends.

Since Miss Bustier and Axel told me who they were, I knew who was who as they stood in a line. Well, most of them since one of them was asleep and being held up. To Axel's left was Nahuel with Terra right between them. To his left was Hitomi as she was holding up Adler. While I got how Adler wasn't smiling because he was asleep, I didn't get why Hitomi wasn't smiling. She didn't look like a bad person.

"Excuse me." I looked and saw the new girl standing right next to me, holding her bag as she looked at me with a friendly smile. "Hi, is it okay if I sit with you?"

"Not at all. Go on ahead." I said as I returned her smile.

"Great. Thanks." She said before she then sat down next to me.

"Alright, has everyone found their seats?" Miss Bustier said as we all turned to her, our teacher writing her name on the chalkboard. "For those of you who don't yet know me, I'm Miss Bustier. I'll be your teacher this year. I am happy to announce that we have new students joining us. Everyone, meet our new foreign exchange students from America. Say 'Konnichiwa' to Hitomi Kanamori." Just as Miss Bustier said her name, Hitomi handed Adler to Axel who was quick to catch their sleeping friend, the girl walking over to our teacher.

"May I borrow the chalk, Miss Bustier?" Hitomi asked as she held her hand out.

"Oh, of course." Miss Bustier said as she handed the chalk to her.

From this, we all watched as she went to the corner of the chalkboard before she started writing on it, writing downward. When she was done, she walked back over to Miss Bustier and returned the chalk.

"Thank you." She said before she then walked over to where she wrote on the board and stood next to what she wrote which I had to guess was Japanese, remembering Axel saying she was from Japan. "Greetings, fellow students. My name is Hitomi Kanamori." Hitomi said to us with a bow. "I'll be joining you today. It is a pleasure to meet you all." The whole class was confused by this.

金森 ひとみ

[Translation: Kanamori Hitomi]

"Why did she write on the board?" I asked.

"That's how she's introducing herself." The new girl said to me, "I read that some schools in Japan have this custom where new students write their name on the chalkboard. It's how they let themselves be recognized and show they're here. Hitomi's school back there happens to be one of them. Guess this is her way of getting comfortable."

"Oh, so what she wrote is her name?" I said as I looked at her writing. "She has some beautiful handwriting."

"I know, right?" she said to me. "That comes from years of writing classes."

"You seem to know a lot about her."

"Well, yeah. She is my roommate after all."

"Ohhh." After realizing that she was a part of Hitomi's host family, I then turned back to Miss Bustier as she spoke again.

"Thank you for the polite greeting, Hitomi." Miss Bustier said as the Japanese girl walked back to Axel and the others, taking Adler back from Axel. After clearing her throat, our teacher then continued with introductions. "Now, class, let's give a big 'Ola' to Nahuel Rayo."

"Ola, everyone!" Nahuel happily said before he bowed with his hands together. "It's so nice to meet you all! I hope we are all blessed with a wonderful school year!"

"Thank you, Nahuel." Miss Bustier said to him before she turned back to the class. "Next we have Terra Yong."

"What up, dudes?" Terra said to us with a big grin on her face. "Happy to be here with ya!"

"With her, we have Adler Zima." Miss Bustier said. After a moment of not hearing anyone saying anything. "Adler? Adler."

"Huh? What?" Adler said as he woke up after Hitomi shook him.

"Is there anything you would like to say to the class?" Miss Bustier asked him.

"Huh? Oh." Alder said as he turned to our class. "Hello, everyone. It is good to meet you all." With that, Adler then fell back to sleep with some snoring.

"Sorry, Miss Bustier." Axel said with an apologetic smile. "Adler hasn't had much sleep this past week, so he's pretty tired out."

"I understand." She said to him. "Well, sleep is important and it is only the first day. I will let him sleep in my class so that he'll have the energy for today."

"Thank you, Miss Bustier." Axel said to her as he pulled a sleep mask Adler had on down to his eyes. "And I'm sure Adler will be thankful too."

"You're quite welcome." Miss Bustier said before she continued where she left off. "And finally, please welcome Axel Frank."

"Hello, everyone. My name is Axel." Axel said to our teacher before he then turned to the class. "I think I can speak for my friends to say that we are all really glad to be here today. I hope we can all get along and maybe get to know each other better, possibly even become friends. I'm not sure what will happen, but I do know that it will be a wonderful experience. Thank you for having us and may we all have a great school year together."

From this, the whole class actually applauded for Axel saying such nice words. All except for Chloé who just rolled her eyes. Even I was touched by this. Hearing him say that actually made me feel that maybe school wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"That's kind of you to say, Axel. Thank you." Miss Bustier then motioned to us. "Now all of you, go ahead and take your seats so we can get started."

"Thank you, Miss Bustier." Axel said before he then got a hold of Adler and helped Hitomi carry him back to his seat with Terra and Nahuel going back to theirs.

"Thanks, Hitomi." Axel said after Adler was brought back to his seat, the girl then walking back to her seat.

After she does, Axel then sits down before unzipping his binder and taking out a few pencils and a notebook.

"Wow, Axel." I said to him. "That was a nice speech you gave there."

"Oh, that?" Axel said to me. "I was just speaking my truth."

"Still, it was really nice." I told him. "Thanks for standing up for me there."

"No problem." Axel said as he grinned, looking like his normal self with his arms crossed. "What are friends for?"

"You kidding? What you did back there was totally awesome!" the new girl said as she got Axel to look at her with surprise. "Glad to see I'm not the only hero here."

"Oh, that? That was nothing." Axel said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously with a little blush on his face. "It's sort of what I do."

"Yeah, well that's something I can't do." I said to them, not really feeling good about not being able to stand up for myself. "I so wish I could handle Chloé like you two can."

"You mean the way Majestia does it." The new girl said, showing a picture of a superhero comic book. "She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."

"Oh, please don't tell me you're one of those Majestia fans." Axel said to her, losing that blush and sounding less happy about it.

"Well, yeah. I'm one of her biggest fans." She said, making Axel groan.

"Geez! And I thought Chloé was the only thing that I don't enjoy as part of my experience here in Paris." Axel said as I saw that Jay did go back to sleep. "No offense, but I think you should try looking for a different hero to be your role model. While that does quite ring with truth, Majestia and the rest of the United Heroez aren't really the best example to live by in my opinion."

"Well, Majestia isn't the only hero I look up to." The girl swiped on her phone for a minute before showing a picture of Nexus Hero Five. "There's also Nexus Hero Red, who says that, no matter what, you should never be afraid to help those in need."

"Oh, a N.H.-Five fan." Weirdly enough, Axel actually perked up from this. "Didn't think I'd find one of you in Paris so soon."

"Yeah, as much as I am with Majestia, I've been a fan of Nexus Hero Five ever since they first appeared. Especially Red. He's, by far, one of the greatest heroes out there."

"I'm glad to see you come to see him in such a bright light." Axel then looked at me. "And you should take note of this, Marinette. You shouldn't be afraid to stand up for yourself. Chloé might be related to the mayor, but that doesn't give her the excuse to have such a cruel heart."

"He's right." The girl said to me before pointing to Chloé. "That girl over there is evil," she then motioned to me, herself, and Axel, "and we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it."

"That's easier said than done." I said to them, not really feeling like I could do anything to stop Chloé. "She likes to make my life miserable."

"That's because you let her." Axel said to me. "I've had plenty of guys nastier than her try to mess with my life and not once did I back down and let them get away with it. You can do the same, Marinette. You just need to be more confident."

Seeing them smile at me along with hearing those kind words, I couldn't help but smile too. I even took out two macarons from the box for me and the new girl.

"Here." I said as I gave her one of the macarons. "Consider it a thank you for helping me back there."

"Wow, thanks." She said as she took it, smiling grateful at me.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves." Axel said before introducing himself and Adler. "I'm Axel. The snoozer beside me is Adler."

"Marinette." I said, introducing myself.

"Alya." the brown-haired girl said before she spoke to Axel. "And I know who you two are."

Alya Césaire

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

"Right, because Miss Bustier introduced me and the others?" Axel put in.

"Yeah, plus Hitomi told me all about you and your other friends." Alya told us.

"Oh, Hitomi is staying with your family." Axel said, smiling at her. "Well, how's life living with her?"

"Pretty good actually." She told him, smiling confidently. "She may be a bit of a control freak, but it's nothing I can't handle. Besides, I got two trouble-making, little sisters. It's nice to have a little bit of help with them."

"I see."

"So is it true? You've known Chloé for years?"

"Yeah, though that's because we both hang out with Adrien."

"Yeah, you said you were friends with him." I said, remembering what Axel said earlier. "If you're friends with him, I guess he must be a nice guy."

"Yeah, he is." Axel told me. "Though he can be quite reckless at times."

"Such as sneaking out of the house without his dad knowing?" Alya asked him with an amused smile.

"Yep. It's things like that which make me think that Avery took all the brains those two were supposed to share. Other than that, he's a good guy."

"Chloé said that you only ever saw him once a year?" I asked. "What did she mean by that?"

"My family takes a trip over here to Paris once a year." He told me. "Due to the friendship between mine and Adrien's fathers, my parents always make sure to visit Adrien and his family. It's only when my family was around that Adrien was let out of the house. It's because of this that me and Adrien were able to forge our bond and become such great friends."

"Wow. I can't wait to meet him."

"Yeah, you'd like him, but you'll have to be patient with him. Due to his father practically isolating him from the world, Adrien doesn't have much experience meeting new people."

"Something you'll be hoping to help him with, right?" Alya asked him.

"Yeah. Also don't worry about Chloé. I've dealt with her long enough to know how to take her down a peg." Axel said before he smirked at Chloé. "You hear that, Bourgeois? Get used to not getting your way because that's how it's going to be with me around!"

"Would you keep it down?" Adler snapped at Axel, glaring at him. "I am trying to sleep!"

"Whoops! Sorry, Ad." Axel said, looking guilty before Adler went back to sleep.

[Axel]

After Adler went back to sleep, I heard some growling and looked to Chloé to see the blonde glaring at me. After she stopped glaring at me, I turned my nervous smile into a normal one as we both looked forward (Chloé no doubt with a look of annoyance and frustration) as Miss Bustier spoke to us.

"Ugh!" I heard Chloé groan out and turned to see her looking worryingly at the empty seat next to Nino. Thanks to my Nexus Ring enhancing my senses, I was able to hear what she said under her breath. "He should have been here by now."

---

Axel Frank: Okay, before we move on, I bet you're wondering how me and my friends are able to understand and speak French perfectly.

Well, I happen to know French. I'm part French Canadian on my mother's side. Speaking French is basically in my blood. It's because of that I was able to communicate with Adrien.

Though that's only part of the reason for both me and my friends in our current situation.

What really allows us to break through the language barrier is our Nexus Rings.

Even while not in full activation, the Nexus Rings grant Heroes like us some abilities. Along with enhanced senses and physical capabilities, they also give us omnilingualism, the ability to speak and understand any spoken language. How do you think we're able to understand each other?

Being a chosen Hero means having to go anywhere that needs a Hero. As such, it is required for a Hero to be able to speak with the people.

We're just lucky that we didn't have to go to many places very much and avoid looking suspicious of being able to speak so many different languages.

---

After hearing Chloé say that, I looked toward that seat and couldn't help but worry about Adrien. I know that he wants to be more out and about, but he shouldn't take such risks like that. I also wish that Avery would try harder in getting her brother to not be so reckless instead of caving in to help him like she tends to do. With this, I was now hoping that their father wouldn't be too hard on them for disobeying him.

---

[Outside of Collège Françoise Dupont]

[Avery]

Sometime after leaving the manor we called home, Adrien and I tried our best to avoid the two adults who were chasing us from a limousine.

Who am I, you may ask? Well, if you have read many fashion articles, you would be able to recognize me. With my long, brown hair tied into a French braided crown twist bun, pale yet light grayish cerulean eyes, my rather petite figure, and fair skin with a rosy tint on my cheeks, nose, and the tips of my ears, I am Avery Agreste, the only daughter of the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. My attire consists of my navy blue pantsuit with a white dress shirt underneath my "buttoned-up" blazer, and black ballet flats. On the right lapel of my blazer is the logo of Father's brand: a black butterfly within a circle.

Avery Agreste

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

The boy behind me, the one with fair skin and standing at an average height with brushed-back blonde hair swept to the right, emerald-green eyes, and the same rosy tiny as me along with an attire composed of a white unbuttoned, button-down jacket with an upturned collar, sleeves rolled up above his elbow, and a pocket at the right along with a black t-shirt with five horizontal stripes around the chest composed of five different colors with those collars being yellow, brown, bright green, navy blue, and purple from top to bottom, blue jeans with Father's logo on the sides, and orange sneakers with white laces? That is my twin brother Adrien who is actually the reason why I am avoiding those pursuing us.

Adrien Agreste

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

You see, Father—deeply caring for us—has had my brother and I spent most of our lives confined to our family manor. While I do not have any issue with this arrangement, Adrien had grown tired of living in such conditions, wanting to see the world which Father kept him away from. As much as detest having to disobey Father, I also hate to see my brother being unhappy with life. As such, I was willing to help him achieve what he desires. Using my skills with computers, I managed to access the database of Collège Françoise Dupont and enrolled my brother into it so that he may attend its classes and interact with children of our age. Though we had managed to leave the manor easily, Father soon caught on to us and sent his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur and our bodyguard Placide I.T. to retrieve us, those two being who were following us from the limousine while the two of us tried to reach the school. I enrolled myself for only a day to make sure that my brother was comfortable and that school was to his liking.

"Adrien, quick! This way!" I said to Adrien as we tried to get to the school as fast as we could, Nathalie and Placide having the limo parked in front of it as we finally reached the stairs.

Nathalie stood at an average adult height and looked about in her early thirties with pale skin with wrinkles under her bluebell eyes, and black hair pulled back into a bun with the hair on top with a piece of it handing over her face and a streak on the left side of her head which has dyed red. She also wore very pale blue eyeshadow. Her attire consists of glasses with black-and-red-striped frames, a black dress jacket with a red turtleneck sweater underneath, black pants, black medium-heel shoes, and a pair of round creamy-white earrings.

Nathalie Sancoeur

Gender: Female

Hometown: Paris, France

Occupation: Personal Assistant of Gabriel Agreste

Placide was a large tall man with black hair that had light gray sideburns on the sides of his head and dark blue eyes, but no eyebrows. He wore a dark grayish Persian blue dress suit with a pale, light grayish blue sweater underneath and dark sapphire blue dress shoes. Due to his facial features and how he doesn't normally talk, Adrien had decided to call him "The Gorilla", a rather fitting nickname in my opinion.

Placide I.T.

Gender: Male

Hometown: Paris, France

Occupation: Personal Bodyguard of Adrien and Avery Agreste

"Adrien, please reconsider!" Nathalie yelled at her charge. "You know what your father wants!"

"But this is what I want to do!" The boy countered as Nathalie and Gorilla walked up to us.

"Avery, please reason with him." Nathalie said to me. "You know we can't allow him to do this."

"I have already tried to get him to stop, but it was no use." I said to her. "There is no way to change his mind. If my brother wants to do this, then we should let him. He's too stubborn to be persuaded out of doing what he wants."

Hearing a groan, I turned to see an old man a far distance from us who had fallen and was struggling to get his cane. Apparently Adrien had seen this as well as I soon watched him run over and help the man to his feet, giving him his cane.

"See?" I told Nathalie as we watched Adrien help the old man.

"Thank you, young man." The old man said to him as he leaned on his cane.

After he did that, Adrien turned to us with a smile but lost it as he saw none of us return it with both Nathalie and Placide blocking the way to the school. Walking towards us, he then spoke to Nathalie.

"I just want to go to school like everybody else, what's so wrong with that? Please don't tell our father about this." He pleaded before we were escorted back to the limousine.

Before I entered the limousine, I took a moment to glare at the old man for taking away my brother's chance at happiness. With that old man giving some kind of knowing smile with both hands on his cane, I then entered the limousine, allowing Nathalie and Placide to take my brother and I back to the manor.

[Master Fu]

After the limo drove off, I couldn't help but be impressed by Axel's childhood friend who I was able to recognize thanks to both what Axel had told me and the many ads he is present in.

"Hmm. He had a chance to obtain something he desired, but sacrificed it to help someone in need." I said to myself before I then took out the box containing the other Miraculous I had yet to give. "Truly Axel has a wonderful friend. Hopefully the bond the two share can help them in their time of need."

With this, a familiar portal appeared and a hand came out and took the box from me, my mysterious allies taking the Miraculous and delivering it to Adrien. With that, I placed my cane over my shoulders and returned to my parlor, my task in finding allies for the Nexus Hero Five now complete.

---

[Axel]

As we were doing class, like Miss Bustier said, she let Adler sleep as she was teaching so he could get through the day. Terra tried to ask her if he could sleep through class too, but Miss Bustier told her "no" as she could see that the jock could stay awake and would consider waiting until after school to sleep in for the day. Though Terra was shocked by this, she complied with disappointment. The weird thing was that Miss Bustier did even show any annoyance or much authority in her voice. Actually, she actually spoke to Terra like how a kind mother would speak to her child. I didn't expect any teacher to be so nice to a new student or not even show much of a strong hand. It was also weird that Basar actually complied with it so quickly without giving a fight. Honestly, I was surprised to find a teacher with such a unique behavior. After what I experienced this morning, I had a feeling that my time here in Paris was gonna be an odd one. It was easy to say that my first class of the day was the best one I had and I had a feeling I was going to enjoy being a part of Miss Bustier's class. When it was getting close to the end of class, I managed to get everything ready for me to go to my next class just as the bell rang.

"Those of you who have P.E., Mr. D'Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium." Miss Bustier reminded me and my fellow classmates, some of my said classmates picking up their bags before they left. "The rest of you can head over to the library."

After I got up from my seat, I looked at Adler as he yawned and stretched before taking off his sleep mask.

"Had a good nap there?" I asked my fellow Hero before he took out a comb from his pale violet backpack and combed his hair to get rid of his bed head.

"Indeed. Now I am back to my glorious self again." Adler proudly said to me. "So, did I miss anything?"

"Nothing much. I managed to copy down some rules for you so you won't get in trouble." I said as I handed him a sheet with the written expectancies for students in Miss Bustier's class. "Do you have Mr. D'Argencourt next?"

"No. Why?" He said to me after he looked over the sheet.

"Well, that means you're coming with me to the library."

"You guys are going to the library?" Nahuel asked with that cheerful smile of his as she suddenly appeared between us.

"Aaah!" Adler and I yelped in shock, jumping backwards a bit.

"Nahuel!" I said to the Mexican, a little annoyed by this. "Don't sneak up on us like that."

"Oh, sorry." He said with a guilty smile.

"It's fine." I said to him as I recomposed myself before I then answered his question. "Anyway, we are going to the library, yes."

"Me too!" Nahuel said as he regained his cheerful attitude. "Looks like the three of us follow the same path."

"Well, you three have fun surrounded by books." Terra said as she and Hitomi came over to us. "Me and Tomi are off to the gym."

"You're going to the gym, Hitomi?" I asked the girl, surprised by this.

"Yes. I heard the school has a fencing class." Hitomi told me. "Something of which I would like to partake in."

"Oh, okay. Before you go, I got something for you." I said before I pulled out the box of macarons out of my backpack. "Mr. Dupain gave me some macarons to share with you guys."

"Ooh! Snacks!" Terra said before she then tried to grab the box from me. "Gimme!"

"Whoa, hey! Not so fast, you little glutton." I said to her. "These are for all of us and anyone in our class. I'll give you one, but you'll have to wait until after school before you can have any more if there are any left over."

"Hm! Fine." She said before I then handed her a macaron which she then took a bit out of. It only took a moment before she instantly devoured it. "Oh, this is so good!"

Curious, Hitomi took a macaron and tasted it before she happily ate it, causing her to make her rare moan of pleasure.

"Pretty good, right?" I said to the girls before I turned to the boys. "Here, guys. Try them." With that, Nahuel and Adler each took a macaron from the box and bit into them, instantly taking a liking to them.

"Oh, these are really good." Adler said, enjoying the flavor.

"Thank you, Mr. Dupain, for allowing my taste buds to be blessed with sweetness." Nahuel happily said as he enjoyed his macaron.

As the four were eating their macarons and enjoying them, I then looked behind and over to Ivan as he grabbed his bag.

"Here, Ivan." I said as I held up the box to the big guy. "Have a macaron."

"No thanks." Ivan said as he turned away from me. "Not really a fan of sweets."

Just when I was about to pull the box away, I watched as Ivan then took a macaron and ate it. Though I did have a little chuckle on how he was trying to act all tough when he didn't need to, I still tried my best to give him a friendly smile. Just when I was about to close the box, I looked over to Chloé as she sat at her seat with Sabrina out of hers and waiting for her. She held her head up while having her arms on the desk, no doubt depressed that Adrien hadn't shown up. Seeing this and looking at the macarons I had, I gave a sigh as I decided what to do, knowing I might regret my actions.

---

Axel Frank: Look, I know Chloé was mean before, but I do kind of have sympathy with how she feels.

Adrien is my best friend after all and I wouldn't mind hanging out with him more, especially now that I was living in Paris. Chloé and I may argue with each other, but I know when to show kindness when needed. Who knows? Maybe by showing her what kindness is, she might learn to do the same.

---

"Hey, Chloé!" I said to the blonde after taking a macaron out of the box, getting her attention. "Catch!" After tossing it to her, I then watched as she then caught the macaron, the girl looking at it for a moment before raising a brow at me. "Consider it as a way of brightening your day. Don't want you to be grumpy for my first day here."

"Hm! Whatever." She said as she lowered her brow before she then got up and walked away, grumpily eating the macaron I gave her while Sabrina followed her.

With this, I then watched as Alya, Marinette, and my fellow Heroes turned to look at me with surprise.

'What?" I asked them.

"Did you seriously just give Chloé a macaron?" Terra asked me.

"Yeah, don't you two hate each other?" Nahuel added.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to be mean to her when she's upset." I told them. "While you shouldn't be afraid to stand up to a bad person, you shouldn't forget how to know better."

"So even though Chloé was mean to you, you still try to be nice to her?" Marinette asked.

"Exactly." I told her with a smile. "After all, even the smallest action can hold a great impact."

"What? You think that she'll be nice to people just by sharing your macarons?" Alya said with an amused smile and a chuckle.

"Maybe, maybe not." I told Hitomi's housemate. "But at least she'll know I'm not a bad person. I mean, Sabrina knows that, so maybe Chloé will too. While I can't stand her, I will try to get along with her since Adrien somehow still sees her as a friend."

"Axe, sometimes I think you're just too nice to people." Terra said to me with a look of exasperation. "Well, we better get going. See ya dudes later!"

"Bye, girls! See you after class!" I said before me, Nahuel, and Adler then walked down the stairs with Marinette and Alya following behind.

After they left, the others and I then looked and saw Marinette and our new friend Alya walk in front of us with their bags.

"You girls going to the library?" I asked them as we reached the bottom of the stairs, both girls nodding in confirmation. "Well, then…"

"Kim!" Hearing Ivan's angry yell, we looked behind us and saw him holding up a fist at the tall, athletic boy I saw earlier with my fellow "nerd".

Now that I had a good look at him, I saw that he had olive skin, green eyes, and had black hair with some of it made into a sharp quiff, the tips of said quiff dyed blonde. He wore a red, short-sleeved hoodie jacket with some white outlines on it with a white design of downward-pointing pentagon outline outside of a smaller, filled-in pentagon with a red corner and a star, a pair of blue track sweatpants, and red, white, and black sports shoes.

Lê Chiến Kim

Gender: Male

Age: 13

Hometown: Paris, France

"Ivan, what is going on?" Madame Bustier questioned, getting Ivan's attention.

"It's Kim!" Ivan said to her, pointing an accusing finger at the guy (who I had to guess was Kim) before raising his fist again and glaring at the guy who was taken aback. "I'm so gonna get…"

"Ivan, go to the Principal's office!" Madame Bustier interrupted sternly.

Ivan crushed up the note and walked off angrily, some of our other classmates snickering silently at him. Nahuel, Adler, the girls, and I moved out of the way to let Ivan through as he walked off.

"Adler, what the heck was that all about?" I asked Ivan's roommate as we all looked at him.

"I'm afraid I don't know." Adler shrugged before he motioned to Kim. "I believe the answers lie with Kim. I've often seen Ivan spending time with him for the past week."

I looked at Kim for a moment and, seeing how it would make sense for him to know more about the event, I walked over to him.

[Marinette]

As Kim got up from his seat, I watched as Axel walked up those steps to stand in front of him, surprising him and stopping him from leaving.

"Kim, right?" Axel asked him. "Seeing how Ivan was angry at you and how you've recently spent time with him, mind telling me what exactly he was mad about?"

"I don't know. I didn't do nothing." Kim said to him.

"Really?" Axel said, raising an eyebrow at Kim. "The way he crumbled that paper didn't seem like nothing."

When Kim looked back at Axel, he was actually surprised. I was surprised too. The way he was looking at Kim didn't look like he was mad, but it felt just as intense. Even though it looked like he was still calm, the way it made me feel was just as much the same as when he was mad.

"Uh-oh. Axel's giving him the stare." Nahuel said with worry.

"The stare?" I asked Axel's friend, wondering what he meant.

"Yes. You see, Marinette," Adler said to me as he explain, "whenever Axel sees someone keeping a secret from him, he develops this sort of look upon him that gives off a silent feeling of intimidation, one of which anyone he uses it on have no other choice but to reveal what they have been hiding." As Adler continued, I watched as Kim started to get nervous while Axel kept looking at him with that raised eyebrow. We've barely seen anyone who ever had the stare used on them without ever breaking."

"Yeah." Nahuel put in as Kim started to sweat. "With that stare, Axel can practically make anybody spill the beans."

It was only like a few short minutes before Kim finally said "Alright, alright! I actually did do something to tick him off!"

"I thought so." Axel said, getting rid of that stare he had and making Kim calm down. "So what did you do?"

"Nothing." Kim said to him. "All I did was tell him the truth."

"Is that what was on that paper which you undoubtedly gave him?"

"Yeah."

"What did you say to him?"

"Can't really tell ya. Ivan'll really pummel me if I tell anyone about it."

"Okay. But, by the sounds of it, it seems as though you came a little harsh with that truth."

"So?"

"So, after Ivan gets out of the principal's office, I suggest you apologize to him."

"What? Why?"

"Because whatever you said obviously upset him. After what just happened, things aren't looking good for you."

"Oh, come on. He knows I was just messing with him." Kim then grabbed his bag and started walking off. "I bet he's already forgotten about this."

"Kim, if you don't tell Ivan you're sorry, it's gonna come back on ya!" Axel said to him.

"Whatever, new guy." Kim said to him as he left the classroom. "I'm sure it's fine."

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

With the sense of negativity, I felt the light fill the dark room of my lair as the window opened in that same dark room, the white butterflies scattering around the room as I prepared to use the power of my Miraculous.

"Negative emotions. This is perfect." Hawk Moth said, feeling the anger of the young boy. "Just what I need. Anger, sadness. Burn a hole into his heart, my horrible Akuma." Summoning one of the butterflies to my hand, I then covered it with my other hand, allowing my power to be infused with it and turning it from white to black with purple highlights around its wings. With its transformation complete, I then watched as my Akuma flew out in the city through the opening on my window, making its way through Paris to find the boy. "Fly away, my little Akuma. Go and evilize him!"

---

[No one's view]

As Ivan walks to the principal's office, he angrily clenches the crumbled piece of paper in his hands. He didn't do anything wrong and yet he is the one being punished. To him, this just isn't fair. Not fair at all. Ivan bursts into the Principal's office door, looking angry. Mr. Damocles notices this and goes back to his paperwork.

"Excuse me, young man. Hasn't anyone ever taught you to knock? Go on, out you go! Let's try it again." the principal says before Ivan closes the door in frustration.

Ivan is so lost in his angry thoughts that he becomes completely unaware of the dark butterfly that serves the masked villain approaching him.

"Go on, knock!" The principal says before the insect touches the surface of the paper in his hand, instantaneously dissolving into black particles that sink into the paper which turns into a ball of dark purple.

With infected paper, Ivan feels something overwhelm him, a strange yet incredible wave of power coursing through his veins as red butterfly wing-like markings appear around his eyes. Whatever the butterfly had done to the paper has made it into something that causes Ivan to be filled with a rush of rage. His heart yearns for revenge, for justice, for satisfaction. His instincts are taking over, clouding his mind, his heart, and soul.

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

Sensing the power of my Akuma, I knew it had succeeded in reaching the boy. Now it was time to make my new villain and lure out the Miraculous.

"Stoneheart, I am Hawk Moth." Hawk Moth said to the boy, using the telepathic link I share with those I evilize. "I will give you the power to seek revenge on those who have wronged you. In return, I will give you a task for you to fulfill when the time is right."

---

[No one's view]

"Okay, Hawk Moth." Ivan said with an evil smile.

From his palm, the crumpled paper begins to release dark colored ooze that extends from his hand and covers his body. His proportions start to change, the negative energy of the dark butterfly altering his appearance and his soul. His skin becomes hard as stone, his eyes glow a pure gold, his size increases, and his fists clenched tighter than before while he still holds onto the crumpled piece of paper, the only thing reminding him of his motivation.

---

Inside the office, Mr. Damocles is waiting patiently for the student to knock. "Well, come on in."

Instead of a teenage boy, a large, ugly, grey stone monster barges through the door, causing the principal to be knocked off his seat as it groans out "KI-I-I-IM!"

---

Inside the school library, Axel and his friends sit together, enjoying macarons and chatting with one another. With them, the three Saizuna of the boys listened to the teens, happy to see them getting along. However, as the five talk with one another, An-xus loses her smile as she notices the violet patch of Axel's pendant begin to glow.

[Axel]

"Axel?" An-xus said as she came over to me, looking concerned. "Your necklace… it's glowing."

"What?" My confusion to this was then focused on my necklace where, to my surprise, I found the pendant glowing violet. Knowing this glow was actually coming from my Miracle Bond, I held up the pendant in my hand. "What the…"

In all my life, I had never seen the Bond glow like this, not unless it was measuring someone's resonance with the power. It was almost like it was reacting to something. I didn't have much time to ponder about it before a loud rumble came through, causing everyone to run in a panic.

"Ahh!" Marinette yelped as she fell on the ground, grabbing my wrist and dragged me down and Adler (who I ended up grabbing out of instinct) with her.

As Nahuel came and helped Adler and I get to our feet, Alya ran over to Marinette and helped her up.

"You guys okay?" Nahuel asked us with concern.

"Yeah, we're fine." I said before I looked back at my Bond and saw it wasn't glowing anymore.

"Come on!" Alya exclaimed, taking Marinette by the arm before the two of them ran off.

Following them, the boys and I came to a screen with four different camera feeds displayed on it, the camera feeds being of what was happening outside of school.

"Did you see that?" A random kid asked.

There on the school sidewalk, in a small crater filled with cracks, there was this large, gray golem with glowing yellow eyes going around, destroying the school. The way it was looking around, he was looking for something. As to what it was looking for, I had no idea.

"Kim!" it roared before walking away into Paris.

---

[No one's view]

As Stoneheart walks away from the school, from the broken window of his office, Mr. Damocles watches the villain make his leave while waiting on the phone for someone to answer.

"Hello?" the principle says with a look of worry. "Is this the police? Get the army!"

---

[Axel]

Everyone was crowded around the surveillance camera, gasping at the humanoid rock monster, especially Adler who had a bigger reaction to this.

"Ad? You okay?" I said to my fellow Hero. "You look more shocked than the rest of us."

"That golem… it's got Ivan's voice!" Adler answered, a look of fear upon him.

"What's going on? Why does that thing have Ivan's voice?" Marinette asked, confused and surprised.

"I think that is Ivan!" I said, realizing the reason for this monster having our classmate's voice.

"¡Diosa Mio! What happened to him?" Nahuel exclaimed in disbelief. "It's as if he was transformed into a monster!"

"Or a real-life supervillain!" Alya squealed before she checked her phone. "GPS, check. Battery, check. I am so out of here." With that, Alya then sprinted to the exit doors.

"Hey, where are you going?" Marinette asked her in alarm.

"Where there is a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind!" Alya squealed. "I hear there have been sightings of Nexus Hero Five here in Paris. With Ivan rampaging through town, they're bound to show us to stop him! No way am I missing this!"

"She's really into superheroes, isn't she?" Marinette said, surprised by this.

"Yeah, no kidding." I said to her before I heard a voice whisper to me.

"Psst! Axel!" It said as I looked around for it. "Axel!"

"What?" I asked my Saizuna.

"That wasn't me." An-xus said.

"Axel! Over here!" Said the voice as we both turned around to the table me and my friends sat at. When we got back to the table, we looked around to see who was whispering to us. "Psst! Down here!"

Looking at my backpack, I quickly picked it and began searching it over until I reached the left side pocket and saw a little green head peek out from it.

"Wayzz?!" An-xus and I exclaimed, surprised to find the kwami in my bag. I was about to ask him what he was doing there until Marinette spoke to me.

"What did you say?" She asked me.

"Oh, uh…" I said to her as I turned to face her, holding my backpack behind my back to ensure Marinette didn't see the kwami while trying to come up with an excuse for saying his name. "I was just thinking that Alya has a long ways to go to get to that superhero vs. supervillain fight."

"Nice recovery." An-xus said to me after I gave my housemate a nervous chuckle.

"Shut up!" I whispered to the Saizuna before I remembered that I had to ensure Marinette didn't get caught in the crossfire. With this, I got my backpack back on, grabbed her bags, and walked over to her. "Speaking of the fight, Marinette, I think it would be best if you go home and stay there."

"What? Why?" Marinette asked as I gave her bags.

"Because, whatever's happened to Ivan, it's too dangerous for anybody to be at this school." I answered as we saw Ivan walk into the street before he grabbed a car and tossed it, breaking the camera there and causing Marinette to wince in fright before she looked back at me as I spoke again. "The point is that the school is gonna start evacuating soon. I mean, look! Everybody is already running out of the doors." After saying that, we then watched as our fellow students were screaming as they ran out the doors. "If you don't leave now, you are going to get lost in a hall flooded with our fellow students. Now hurry home. I'll meet you there soon."

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"Somebody has to get help for this, right?" I answered her. "That's what I'm going to do. Now hurry and get out of here before the school calls the evacuation."

Nodding in compliance, Marinette then ran off into the hallway and out of the school. After she was gone, I then spoke to An-xus.

"Ann, look around and make sure no one is in the library." I whispered to the Saizuna. "We need to make sure Wayzz isn't seen by anyone."

"You got it!" She said, flying to check every part of the library for anyone still present.

It was then that I turned around to see Adler trying to run out of the library. Rushing over to him, I managed to catch him by the jacket before he went out the door.

"Hold it, Zima!" I said to him, speaking at a normal volume. "Where are you running off to?"

"If you must know, I am going after Ivan." He told me. "I'm not sure what has happened to him, but I must save him. He may have disrupted my beauty sleep, but he is still my roommate and a member of my host family. As such, it is my duty to…"

"Okay, I get it. You're grateful to his family and respect him as a friend." I told Adler as I let go of him, my fellow Hero turning to me. "But we need to talk first."

"About what exactly?"

"That's what we'll find out once we're all together. Come on!" I said as we both ran off to find a place to talk, managing to see Nahuel doing a prayer as he was no doubt preparing to go after Ivan too. "Nahuel, get over here! Emergency group huddle!"

"Oh! Yes, sir!" Nahuel said as he then rushed over and joined me and Adler.

Luckily, we were able to find an empty area in the library for us to talk with a bookshelf wall on one side and a bookshelf on the other. It was then that Adler spoke up.

"Okay, Axel. What exactly do you want to talk about?"

"Hold on. We need to wait for Ann." I told him.

"Coast is clear." An-xus told me as she came back to my side, becoming visible as she floated beside me. "Not a single soul around."

"Oh, my!" Hei-lot said with surprise as she and Wan-ji made themselves visible. "Whatever Axel has to say must truly be important if you're revealing yourself like this, An-xus."

"Yeah, but it's not him who has to say something." An-xus said as I took off my backpack and held it in front of me, my Saizuna turning to it. "Come on out, Wayzz."

"Hello, my friends." Wayzz greeted the other Saizuna after he flew out of my bag's pocket. "It has been too long."

"Wayzz?!" Hei-lot and Wan-ji said in surprise.

"You two know him?" Adler asked, surprised by this.

"Of course they do!" Nahuel said with eyes full of awe. "Adler, this is Wayzz, the great Kwami of Protection! He's one of the oldest allies of the Saizuna!"

"Wait, he's a kwami?" Adler said in disbelief. "As in one of the spirits who gives people superpowers?"

"Yes, and he's not just any kwami." I told my friend. "Wayzz happens to be the kwami of the guardian." This caused both Adler and Nahuel to gasp in shock.

"Wayzz works alongside the Guardian of the Miraculous?" Nahuel asked.

"Yes, I do." Wayzz answered him. "I have been by Master Fu's side for quite some time."

"While I am glad to see you again, Wayzz," Wan-ji said to the kwami. "I am rather curious as to what you are doing in Sir Axel's bag."

"That's what I want to know." I said to the Saizuna before I spoke to the kwami, An-xus flying over to float beside me. "Wayzz, what are you doing out here, away from Master Fu? You know kwamis aren't supposed to leave the holders of their Miraculous, especially into public areas like this."

"I am here because Master Fu sent me here to warn you." Wayzz said to us, surprised by this.

"Warn us? Warn us of what?" Adler asked.

"Of the great evil that now threatens Paris." Wayzz explained. "I sensed the presence of a great power, one I have not seen in centuries. The Butterfly Miraculous has returned!"

"The Butterfly Miraculous?" Nahuel asked as we were all surprised to hear this. "The jewel bonded to Nooroo, the Kwami of Transmission?"

"Axel, isn't that…" Adler said to me.

"The Miraculous who's power created my Miracle Bond." I said to him, answering his question with a hand over the Bond in question. With this, I then turned back to Wayzz. "But how is this possible? I thought the Butterfly Miraculous was destroyed."

"Master Fu and I thought so too, but it seems we were wrong." Wayzz told me. "I can still sense Nooroo's power, here in Paris."

"But if you sensed his power, that means the Butterfly Miraculous is being used." I said, surprised once again by what he was saying.

"Which means someone found it and has become its new holder." An-xus put in, coming to the same conclusion.

"Yes, but I sense a negative aura with the Miraculous." Wayzz told us. "We fear the new holder may be using it for evil."

"A negative aura?" I said before I remembered what we just witnessed. "Ivan!"

"What?" Alder asked me, confused by this.

"What happened to Ivan, the new holder did that to him!" I answered.

"Wait, a Miraculous holder turned Ivan into that monster?" Adler said in disbelief.

"The power of the Butterfly allows the user to grant power to anyone they choose." I explained to him. "Once the power is accepted, that person becomes transformed into a powerful warrior who serves the user."

"But you used that power before and the Kamikos never turned anyone into something like that." Nahuel said to me, confused by this.

"Well, this isn't the work of a Kamiko." I told him. "What Ivan has become was caused by an Akuma."

"What's an Akuma?" Adler asked.

"The dark variant of a Kamiko." I said as I explained.

---

Axel Frank: (As a chibi version of his head appears in a little bubble in the top right corner) As you know, the Butterfly power allows the user to give special abilities to anyone they choose, using butterflies infused with the Miraculous' energy.

Adler Zima: (As a chibi version of his head appears in a little bubble in the top left corner with a nonchalant expression) Yes, and the butterflies become Kamikos which then give whoever they go to special power and transform them into great heroes who follow the command of whoever created the Kamikos.

Axel Frank: Yes, that's what Kamikos are.

But there's a reason why and what makes them different from Akumas.

Adler Zima: (Looks at Axel with a question mark beside him) Huh?

---

[No one's view]

Cutting to a scene of pure white, we see a man dressed in purple who then spreads their arms out with four purple butterflies flying away from him, each going to a different person below the man. After making contact, the four people then suddenly transform into great warriors surrounded by purple auras.

---

Axel Frank: The butterflies used to give powers have two different forms which are caused by the intentions of the user.

Adler Zima: Intentions?

Axel Frank: Yes, the reason why they are using the power.

That's an important factor in what the butterfly becomes.

---

Zooming in on the man, we then watch as two white butterflies appear beside him, one on each side. In that moment, the man holds up one hand in front of him with his palm up, the butterfly to his right flying down to it.

---

Axel Frank: If the power infused with the butterfly comes from someone with good intentions, such as seeking an ally or someone to protect others, it becomes a Kamiko.

Its name is the Japanese word for "prodigy" as it is meant to help others, much like a holder of a Miraculous.

---

After the butterfly lands in his hand, the man then places his other hand over it where it then begins to shine in violet light. After a moment, the light fades away and the man removes his top hand to reveal the butterfly underneath. The butterfly has now become violet with white patterns resembling eyes. After a moment, the butterfly then flies right out of the man's hand.

---

Axel Frank: After being created, the Kamiko will then search for one with a pure heart who will then be transformed into a warrior as well as an ally to help the user.

Adler Zima: (As an exclamation point appears beside him) Oh, so because you always use your power to help other people, you only make Kamikos?

Axel Frank: (With a smile) Exactly, and I always send them to those with good in their hearts, people who are willing to help others for the greater good.

(Loses his smile as he gains a look of despair) Unfortunately for us, that's not what the holder is doing.

---

Following the butterfly, we then watch as it flew towards another man who then holds out a hand for it to land on. After it does, there is a bright violet flash which fills the area for a moment before fading away. With the light, we now see a great samurai with a sword in hand who stands beside the man in purple, the warrior ready to fight.

---

Axel Frank: If the user of the power has only dark intentions, such as using it in selfishness or anger, the energy infused with the butterfly transforms it into an Akuma, its name meaning "demon".

---

After the samurai disappears, we watch the other butterfly fly into the man's hand, the man in purple repeating his actions from before. But, when he places his hand over the butterfly, dark particles begin to gather in between his hands. After a moment, the man removes his hand to reveal the butterfly who has become black and resembles the one which Ivan had come in contact with. Much like the other, it soon flies out of the man's hand after a moment.

---

Axel Frank: Unlike Kamikos, Akumas are vile creatures who are attracted to negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, and fear.

The stronger those kinds of emotions one has, the more likely an Akuma will come to them.

---

Following the black butterfly, we watch as it approaches another man, this one slouched over with his hands clenched into fists which he then clenches tighter as his anger grows.

---

Adler Zima: In other words, like how Kamikos turn people into superheroes, Akumas turn people in supervillains?

Axel Frank: Correct.

The transformation Akumas causes is a process we've come to know as "Evilization", corruption through the power of the Butterfly.

---

Once the butterfly lands on the man, much like Ivan, he is soon covered in dark colored ooze. Growing in size, the man becomes a terrifying monster with a glowing mouth and eyes of purple.

---

[Axel]

"So that's what happened to Ivan?" Adler asked with worry.

"Yes. He's been evilized by the new holder." I told him with a serious expression. "Seeing how upset Ivan was for whatever Kim said to him, the holder must've been able to sense his anger and sent an Akuma to him. Now he serves the holder."

"But to do an Evilization like that requires a lot of practice which means the holder must've had the Butterfly Miraculous for a while." An-xus said before putting up a good question which was on my mind. "Why are they only just using it now?"

"For that, we do not know." Wayzz answered. "But what we do know is that we must find the holder and stop them before they can create any more havoc."

"You're right, Wayzz. We can't let this new holder keep using the Butterfly Miraculous like this." I said, understanding how dangerous the holder was, especially with what they were doing. "With Nooroo under their control, there's no telling what might happen. But first, we have to stop Ivan before he hurts somebody!" I then gained a smile before I pointed out one positive of our situation. "It's a good thing I happen to be the inheritor of the Butterfly Bond."

"Right." Wan-ji said as he understood what I was saying. "Because you also wield the power of the Butterfly, you can be able to de-evilize him."

"Exactly." I said before I then went over to the table and, seeing my binder was still there, saw I had to do one little thing to avoid any suspicion from anyone. "But first, we're gonna have to send some things over to the Dupain-Cheng household." I then placed my bag on the table with my binder. "Don't want to repeat the last time we left our bags at school."

"Good idea." Adler said to me as he and Nahuel placed their bags with mine. "If anyone like Alya found them here, we could end up being interrogated."

"Okay, here goes." I said before I held a hand up toward our bags. "Go, Emergency Nexus Warp!"

Emergency Nexus Warp

With that, a sphere of red energy formed around the bags and began to glow, the light slowing growing brighter. After a good moment, the orb disappeared in a flash, taking our bags with it.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie]

[No one's view]

In Axel's room, a red light appears above his bed. After a moment, in a bright flash, the three Heroes' bags appear and long on the bed with a light thud.

---

[Collège Françoise Dupont]

[Axel]

"There. And with no one none the wiser." I said, glad the Emergency Nexus Warp worked.

---

Axel Frank: Okay, before we go on, I bet you're wondering what just happened, huh?

I had used an Emergency Nexus Warp to send me and guys' bags to my room for safe keeping.

It's a special power we Heroes have.

By focusing Bond Energy on one thing, we can be able to teleport them to a different location.

---

[No one's view]

Cutting to a white scene, we watch as a chibi version of Axel does the same actions as his normal counterpart with a box, the orb from before forming around the box and glowing before disappearing. The scene then cuts to show the box reappearing somewhere else.

---

Axel Frank: It can be used on items, people, even ourselves.

The team and I often use it to get together in case of an emergency, hence the name.

---

[No one's view]

With the scene being cut into three, we then watch as Chibi Axel does this to his backpack and a Chibi version of Marinette before crossing his arms before his body begins to glow bright red, all three disappearing in an instant.

---

Axel Frank: Of course, the destination has to either be someplace we've been to before or has a person we formed a bond with present there.

It's kind of like having a respawn point or a checkpoint in a video game.

Other than that, it's a pretty useful power to have, especially for situations like this.

---

[No one's view]

The scene cuts again with it splitting into two, showing two different diagrams. The top diagram shows Chibi Axel sending something from his school to Dupain-Cheng residents and the bottom one shows Axel sending something to Marinette.

---

[Axel]

"Good. Now let's go save Ivan!" Adler said before him, me, Nahuel, and the Saizuna rushed towards the door.

"Wait!" Wayzz said as he got in front of the door, stopping us before we went through those doors. "That is not the only reason I am here. With the appearance of this new holder, Master Fu has decided to give you some assistance."

"Assistance?" I asked, confused by this. "Wayzz, not to be rude, but time hasn't really been kind enough to Master Fu enough for you two to join the fight with us."

"Yeah, the man can barely transform without breaking his back." An-xus said to the kwami.

"That is why he decided to assist you in another way." Wayzz said to us.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Even with all your powers combined, none of you will be able to defeat the new holder or the minions created by them." Wayzz explained. "Which is why, for the first time in such a long, long time, Master Fu has decided to give you allies to help you combat the power of this evil Miraculous."

"Allies?" I said before I then realized what he meant, my eyes widening with shock. "Wait, you mean… he's giving the Miraculous to new holders?" With that, the kwami nodded in confirmation, this causing Nahuel to squeal in excitement.

"This is amazing!" Nahuel said, excitement shining in his eyes. "The Miraculous haven't been used since the fall of the Order! To think that we will be fighting alongside the first holders in over a century!"

"But I thought the Order of the Guardians fell a long time ago, that there was no one else left that could train anyone to use the Miraculous." I said to the kwami. "Are you saying that Master Fu has managed to find people with that kind of knowledge to help us?"

After I asked that, Wayzz gained a nervous expression upon him. "Well… not exactly."

"What do you mean?" An-xus asked. "They know how to use Miraculous, right?"

"Actually, no." Wayzz told her. "You see, because there is no one left with experienced training as well as the fact that he isn't capable of teaching anyone, Master Fu decided to give the Miraculous to those he believes are worthy to use them."

"Worthy?" I said, confused for a moment before I became shocked when I realized what he meant. "Oh, no. Please don't tell me he just picked some random people with no experience of the duty whatsoever to be holders."

"I would be lying if I did say such a thing."

"Yeah, you probably should've." An-xus told the kwami as I groaned in frustration.

"It's fine, it's fine." I said as I recollected myself. "I guess a few amateur holders wouldn't be much of an issue. As long as Master Fu isn't planning on giving any of them the Ladybug Miraculous or the Cat Miraculous. That would be a disaster. Though, being a guardian, he wouldn't do anything that stupid."

"Um, about that…" Wayzz said to me with a look of worry.

---

[No one's view]

Outside Collège Françoise Dupont, everything is silent and still for a good moment until…

"He WHAT?!" Axel's voice booms out into an echo, scaring a few pigeons that were roosting on the roof.

---

[Wayzz]

"I can't believe this!" Axel said as he paced around in anger, furious that Master Fu was giving away the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. "Not only is he giving Miraculous to people who don't know how to wield one of them, but he's giving them both the Miraculous of the Ladybug and the Cat?!"

"Wayzz, again. You really should've just lied." An-xus said to me with a look of exasperation.

"Axel, please calm down." I told him.

"Calm down? Calm down?!" Axel snapped at me. "Wayzz, those Miraculous are the strongest of them all! They aren't even meant to be used unless it's a world-threatening crisis!"

"But doesn't this count as one?" Wan-ji asked which even I knew was the wrong question to give him.

"Not the kind where we need to call in Tikki and Plagg!" Axel told him. "Out of all the kwamis, they've been out in the world the least! Tikki might be able to control herself, but Plagg is incredibly reckless! He might end up destroying Paris before his holder can save it!"

"Not to worry." I said to him, hoping to put the Hero at ease. "We had told Tikki and Plagg of our situation, so Plagg won't go back to his usual antics. At least, that's what I hope."

"Still, it's too dangerous to leave their Miraculous with anyone, especially now when we're dealing with an evilized victim!" Axel said to me. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Axel, please. I know it might seem rash, but we do not have time to train any new heroes and Master Fu believes that these Miraculous are needed. We need to act quickly in order to stop this new holder and rescue Nooroo which means we need all the help we can get."

"You want to help? Go and stop Master Fu from giving away those Miraculous!" With that, I watched as Axel walked over to the door. "Tell him to wait until after we dealt with the Akuma to give away a Miraculous and make sure it's not the Ladybug or the Cat!"

"But, Axel…"

"Just do it, Wayzz!" With that, he then pushed the door open and left the library.

"Axel, wait!" Quickly phased through the door with his friends following me, I tried to tell him that I couldn't change Master Fu's mind. "Please, listen! I'm afraid—Aah!" Dodging a fireball sent by Axel, I watched as it exploded on the floor behind me before I turned back to see the Hero glaring at me.

Looking at the anger burning in his eyes while the Saizuna joined me, I could tell Axel did not want to hear another word from me, only wanting me to stop Master Fu from his task. With one snort, Axel then spoke to his friends.

"Ad, Nahuel, come on! We got a job to do!" With that, I wanted as the boys then rushed over and walked with Axel as he stormed off, causing me to sigh as I accepted he wasn't going to listen to me anymore.

"Wan, Lot, give us a moment, will ya?" An-xus said to them, her fellow Saizuna leaving before she spoke to me with a comforting smile. "Don't take it too hard. Axel isn't trying to be disrespectful. He's just trying to make sure people are safe. I kinda agree that giving Tikki and Plagg holders isn't the best idea right now, especially with how Plagg is. Better do as he says and tell Master Fu to hold up on giving away Miraculous until after our big fight. Axel has read up on just about everything Miraculous. After the battle, I'm sure he'd be happy to train whoever your holder sees as worthy."

"Yes. Master Fu would be glad to have him train the holders." I said to her as I was prepared to tell Axel on what Master Fu was doing. "But I'm afraid preparing them for the task before hand is no longer an option. Master Fu has…" Before I could tell her, a red sphere of energy formed around her.

"Sorry, Wayzz! Looks like Axel's warping me." She told me as the sphere began to glow, a light that was slowly growing brighter. "Just tell Master Fu to hold up on giving the Miraculous until after we save the day."

"But, Ann, I can't! That's what I am trying to tell you! He…"

"Wayzz, please! Axel sees holders with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, he's just going to be angrier at you. Just stop Master Fu before it's too late!"

"An-xus!" With that, An-xus vanished in a flash, leaving me alone in the hall. I then sighed once again as I failed to tell her what Master Fu had done. "It is already too late."

Seeing as there was no way to inform the Heroes, I then decided to return to Master Fu's parlor where I have no doubt he is waiting for me, the guardian having already found holders who were worthy and given the two Miraculous.

---

[Axel]

With An-xus appearing above my hand, I only gave her a nonchalant expression as she smiled at me. The guys and I were in the school courtyard which had been completely void of people thanks to Ivan getting school canceled.

"Hey, Axel." An-xus casually said to me. "Sorry it took me so long. Had to talk with Wayzz for a bit."

"Did you manage to get to stop Master Fu from giving away the Miraculous?" I asked her.

"I think so." She told me. "I told him why you were so upset and I'm sure he finally understood. Seeing how he isn't out here with us right now, I bet he's gone back to Master Fu to tell him."

"Good." I said with a sigh of relief and a smile. "Though I am going to need to have a talk with him after this." With that, I then spoke to my fellow Heroes. "You guys ready?"

"Ready when you are." Adler said as he and Nahuel smiled at me with determination.

"Let's do this." I said before we all got into a horizontal line with me at the center, Adler at my right, and Nahuel to my left. We were ready to transform with our Saizuna floating across from us in the same line. "It's Hero time!" I then held up the hand with my Nexus Ring, my ring glowing after I said the special phrase. "Flame Bond, Nexus Change!"

"Frost Bond, Nexus Change!" Adler called out as he did the same action, his ring glowing as well.

"Storm Bond, Nexus Change!" Nahuel said, repeating our actions with his ring being to glow.

With this, the Saizuna began to glow in colored light with An-xus glowing in red, Wan-ji in blue, and yellow with Hei-lot. After a brief moment, the three changed into streams of energy which each flowed towards and entered the Nexus Ring of their respective Hero. After doing so, the hand which my friends and I had our Nexus Ring on began to glow in our respective colors for a moment before giving off a bright flash that faded in almost an instant. After the light was gone, each of us now wore a golden gauntlet on the hand we held up, this gauntlet known only as a Bond Gauntlet. The Bond Gauntlet looks like a demi-gauntlet only with covering for the fingers with the Nexus Ring now made a part of gauntlet. On the back of the hand is a special slot shaped to fit a coin which serves a special function which you will find out later. With the transformation done, forming in a clockwise formation, a ring of energy appeared above where the Nexus Ring was at with each the respective color of me and my fellow Heroes. After forming, a symbol resembling an animal appeared within the ring, followed by a voice coming from each Nexus Ring.

"Red Tyranno!" said the voice as the head of a tyrannosaurus rex with flames on the top of its head appeared in the red ring.

"Blue Eagle!" said the voice as the head of an eagle with crystal-like crests on the sides of its head appeared in the blue ring.

"Yellow Jaguar!" said the voice as the head of a jaguar with the tips of its ears resembling bolts of lightning appeared in the yellow ring.

---

[No one's view]

Now standing in a black void and with a serious expression, Adler clutches his now gloved hand into a fist before pulling it back and throws a punch toward the sky, the ring on his fist shooting off on a beam of blue energy. After going two yards above him, the ring stops like it has hit a ceiling and absorbs the beam before instantly growing to where the light it gave shined down on Axel like a spotlight, the symbol it had disappearing and the ring filling with red. Before long, the blue head of an eagle with yellow eyes along with a golden beak and crystal-like crests on the sides of its head came out with freezing winds trailing behind it. After reaching Adler as he puts his fist down at his side, the head flies around the boy, surrounding him in a torrent of the winds.

From within the freezing mist, Adler's clothing begins to change with slight flashes of blue as a big ring of golden energy appears on his chest. A glove appears on his left hand, his shoes turn into boots, and the rest of his clothes turn into a jumpsuit. After a moment, the head stops circling Adler and flies upward, the torrent dissipating to reveal Adler still standing. He is now dressed in a blue and black jumpsuit that appears to be made of spandex along with blue boots with golden cuffs and blue boot covers with golden lining, a black belt with a golden buckle bearing a blue symbol shaped like the eagle symbol from before, and a golden, armored vest with a big golden ring set over his chest with two ridges flowing over each of the pauldrons to the top of the ring. He also wears a black glove with a white palm on his left hand. Within the black area of the ring, appearing as if being traced on, comes a golden symbol resembling a five with four vertical lines set around it: one long line set over the start of its hook, a small one set between its first corner and the end of its hook, and one small one each at the curves of its hook. After this symbol appears, the eagle head comes down and places itself over Alder's head, transforming into a helmet resembling it that was golden on top with glowing, crystal-like, blue crystalline crests flowing toward the back on the sides, an open slot shaped like the open beak of a bird that reveals his eyes, and a pair of yellow lenses set at the side above the visor to resemble eyes. After the helmet is formed, ice forms within the slot before breaking apart to reveal a blue visor in its place.

"Nexus Hero Blue!" Adler says as he leans forward with his arms spread behind his back and the symbol from before appears behind him.

---

The scene changes to Nahuel in the void with the same expression as Adler as he clutches his now gloved hand into a fist before pulling it back and throws a punch toward the sky, the ring on his fist shooting off on a beam of yellow energy. After going two yards above him, the ring stops like it has hit a ceiling and absorbs the beam before instantly growing to where the light it gave shined down on Nahuel like a spotlight, the symbol it had disappearing and the ring filling with yellow. Before long, the head of a yellow jaguar with green eyes and ears with tips shaped like lightning bolts came out with a trail of electricity behind it. After reaching Nahuel as he puts his fist down at his side, the head flies around the boy, surrounding him in a torrent of electricity.

From within the streams of electricity, Nahuel's clothing began to change with slight flashes of red as a big ring of golden energy appeared on his chest. A glove appeared on his right hand, his shoes turned into boots, and the rest of his clothes turned into a jumpsuit. After a moment, the head stops circling Nahuel and flies upward, the torrent dissipating to reveal Nahuel still standing. He is now dressed in an attire similar to Adler's, only in yellow instead of blue and the jaguar symbol from before on his belt. After the golden symbol appears within the ring on his chest, the jaguar head flew down and places itself over Nahuel's head, becoming a helmet that was similar to Adler's, but with feline ears that had had yellow crystalline lightning bolts on the tips on top of it, a slot shaped like a fanged mouth over where his eyes were at, and green lenses. After the helmet is formed, yellow electricity fills the slot for a slight moment before giving off a flash, a yellow visor being in the energy's place after the light quickly fades away.

"Nexus Hero Yellow!" Nahuel says as he takes a martial arts stance with open palms in front of him and the symbol from before appears behind him.

---

Cutting to him in the same void and sharing the same expression as his friends, Axel clutches his now gloved hand into a fist before pulling it back and throws a punch toward the sky, the ring on his fist shooting off on a beam of red energy. After going two yards above him, the ring stops like it has hit a ceiling and absorbs the beam before instantly growing to where the light it gives off shines down on Axel like a spotlight, the symbol it has disappearing and the ring filling with red. Before long, the head of a tyrannosaurus rex with green eyes and a red crest that resembles flames on top of its head comes out with flames trailing behind it. After reaching Axel as he puts his fist down at his side, the head flies around the boy, surrounding him in a torrent of flame.

From within the flames, Axel's clothing begins to change with slight flashes of red as a big ring of golden energy appears on his chest. A glove appears on his left hand, his shoes turn into boots, and the rest of his clothes turn into a jumpsuit. After a moment, the head stops circling Axel and flies upward, the torrent dissipating to reveal Axel still standing. He is now dressed in an attire similar to Adler's with the symbol from before on his belt. After the golden symbol appears within the ring on his chest, the dinosaur head flies down and places itself over Axel's head, becoming a helmet that is golden on top along with a glowing, flame-like, red crystalline crest flowing backwards on top of it and green lenses. In a burst of flames, a red visor forms in the space shaped like a fanged mouth.

"Nexus Hero Red!" Axel says as he takes a martial arts stance with his right fist forward and the symbol appears behind him.

---

[Axel]

With our transformation complete, we all stood there for a brief moment which almost felt long with how amazing it felt to have our Hero power flowing through every part of us. Though we wish we could have more time to enjoy having this feeling, we remembered that we still had a job to do, especially when An-xus spoke to me thanks to the special communication system in my suit. Yeah, even after a chosen Hero transforms, they are still able to communicate with their Saizuna through the suit. You can think of it as the Saizuna becoming the special AI for the suit.

"Ready to call the girls in?" An-xus said, her face appearing in the corner of my visor.

"Yeah, let's do it." I said to her as I stepped forward, prepared to give out the call. "Initiate Call of the Alpha!"

Taking a deep breath through my nose and closing, I crossed my arms with my hands clenched into fists. I held this for a moment as I felt the red aura of my power form around me.

[No one's view]

As Nexus Hero Red stands with a blazing red aura around him, starting from the feet, a transparent figure appears. When they are fully formed, the figure is revealed to be a red tyrannosaurus rex with green eyes and golden claws on its hands and feet along with a red crest that resembles flames on top of its head.

[Axel]

Feeling the power surge through me, I then shot my eyes open before spreading my arms to the side and cried out to the sky.

"RAAAAHHHHH!" I yelled out, the transparent t-rex behind me roaring with me with my voice that went through the city as a wave of red energy went over it like a pulse.

Call of the Alpha

---

Axel Frank: The Call of the Alpha, a special technique exclusive only to the Hero chosen by An-xus.

Whenever a threat is about, by using their Bond Energy, the Hero of Unity can call out to either allies or their fellow Heroes.

It's sort of like an emergency call for help.

With it, I can be able to call the rest of Nexus Hero Five to action whenever we are needed.

---

[No one's view]

As Nexus Hero Red and the dinosaur continue to roar, a wave of red energy flows over Paris, starting from where they were standing. As this happens, his fellow Heroes watch proudly while their Nexus Rings both slightly glow and vibrate.

---

Axel Frank: When other Heroes receive it, the energy used in the technique causes their Nexus Rings to resonate, a sign that they were being called upon.

---

[Parc des Princes]

Within a stadium, Terra and Hitomi are seen preparing for class when the wave of energy goes over them, followed by a roar that only they notice. From this, they both look at the rings on their hands and see they were both slightly vibrating and glowing with Terra's ring glowing green and Hitomi's glowing pink. Though surprised, the two soon look at each other and nod with serious expressions.

"Mr. D'Argencourt?" Hitomi says with a raised hand.

---

[Terra]

After Hitomi and me told our teach that we had to use the can, we both rushed right over and stood at the stalls, our Saizuna appearing after we did.

"Of all the days for us to be called upon, it had to be during our first day of class." Tomi grumbled to herself.

"Oh, ease up, Tomi." I told her. "It's just gym class."

"If you two are done, may we please prepare for the task at hand?" Chei said to us.

"Yeah, let's roll!" Yuu put in.

"Right there with ya, Yuu!" I said to my Saizuna before talking to my friend. "Let's get our Hero on, Tomi!"

"Hm!" Tomi nodded before we both held up our hands with our Nexus Rings.

"Stone Bond, Nexus Change!" I said, my ring glowing green.

"Armor Bond, Nexus Change!" Tomi said, her ring shining pink before our Saizuna went into our rings.

[No one's view]

With the Saizuna turning into colored energy that went into the rings of their respective Heroes, the same events for the three male members of the team occurred.

"Green Dragon!" said the voice as the head of a Chinese dragon with a stone-like pattern on top of its head appeared in the green ring.

"Black Unicorn!" said the voice as the head of a unicorn appeared in the pink ring.

---

[No one's view]

Now standing in a black void and with a serious expression, Terra clutches her now gloved hand into a fist before pulling it back and throws a punch toward the sky, the ring on her fist shooting off on a beam of green energy. After going two yards above her, the ring stops like it has hit a ceiling and absorbs the beam before instantly growing to where the light it gives off shines down on Terra like a spotlight, the symbol it has disappearing and the ring filling with green. Before long, the green head of a great Chinese dragon with sky blue eyes and scales which resemble pieces of rock along with golden whiskers, claws, and horns comes out with green dust and small pieces of stone trailing behind it. After reaching Terra as she puts her fist down at her side, the head flies around the girl, surrounding her in a tornado of dust.

From within the dust, Terra's clothing begins to change with slight flashes of green as a big ring of golden energy appears on her chest. A glove appears on her right hand, her shoes turn into boots, and the rest of her clothes turn into a jumpsuit. After a moment, the head stops circling Terra and flies upward, the tornado dissipating to reveal Terra still standing. She is now dressed similarly to her male friends, only with hers being green and black, the dragon symbol on her belt, and the gauntlet on her left hand. After the golden symbol appears within the ring on his chest, the dragon head comes down and places itself over Terra's head, transforming into a helmet resembling it that is golden on top with crystalline scales on top which resembles cracks in stone, an open slot shaped like a fanged mouth that reveals her eyes, and sky blue lenses. After the helmet is formed, pieces of stone come in and fit within the slot like a puzzle. After a moment, cracks of green light form on the stones before the stones burst apart in a green flash. After the flash is gone, in the stones' place in the helmet's slot, is a green visor.

"Nexus Hero Green!" Terra says with her facing her body sideways while having her knees spread and bent along with her hands open to resemble claws with one stretched out in front of her and the other beside her head, the symbol from before appearing behind her.

---

The scene changes to Hitomi in the void with the same expression as Terra as she clutches her now gloved hand into a fist before pulling it back and throws a punch toward the sky, the ring on her fist shooting off on a beam of pink energy. After going two yards above her, the ring stops like it has hit a ceiling and absorbs the beam before instantly growing to where the light it gives off shines down on Hitomi like a spotlight, the symbol it has disappearing and the ring filling with pink. Before long, the head of a black unicorn with sky blue eyes, a pink mane, and a golden horn that seems to be covered in armor with golden edges and pink lineage comes out with its mane giving off a trail of pink energy behind it. After reaching Hitomi as she puts her fist down at her side, the head flies around the girl, surrounding her in a torrent of pink energy.

From within the streams of energy, Hitomi's clothing begins to change with slight flashes of pink as a big ring of golden energy appears on her chest, causing her to appear as a sort of silhouette within the energy. A glove appears on her left hand, her shoes turn into boots, and the rest of her clothes turn into a jumpsuit. After a moment, the head stops circling Hitomi and flies upward, the torrent dissipating to reveal Hitomi still standing. Though wearing an attire similar to the others, hers bares the most difference amongst them. It is mostly black with pink lineage, pink boots, and a pencil skirt underneath black faulds armor with pink edges. Her belt bore the symbol from before, only black outlined in pink. After the golden symbol appears within the ring on her chest, the unicorn head flies down and places itself over Hitomi's head, becoming a helmet that is similar to the other four, but in black with a golden horn, a slot where her eyes were at, and sky blue lenses. After the helmet is formed, pink energy fills the slot before transforming into a pink visor in a slight flash.

"Nexus Hero Black!" Hitomi says with one arm across her chest to where her right hand is beside her head and her elbow in her other hand, the symbol from before appearing behind her.

---

[Terra]

"Man, feels great to be back in my Hero suit!" I said, happy to be Green again with a fist clenched in front of my face.

"Let us be off then." Tomi said as she put out the hand with her Bond Gauntlet out in front of her with the hand flat.

"Yeah! Let's head over to the boys and see what's up!" I said before I put my hand over hers.

"Emergency Nexus Warp!" we both said before we got teleported out of the bathroom.

[No one's view]

After saying that phrase, the two Heroes begin to glow in their respective colors before shooting into beams of pink and green, leaving no damage in the stadium as they fly away through Paris.

---

[Collège Françoise Dupont]

[Axel]

After giving out the call, the guys and I waited for our last two members to appear, not having to wait long as we saw two beams of pink and green come in and land in front of me. After they did, with dissipating sparkles around them, there stood Terra and Hitomi as Nexus Hero Green and Nexus Hero Black.

"Thanks for coming, girls." I said to my friends.

"This has better be important, Axel." Hitomi said as Adler and Nahuel joined us, no doubt mad at me for calling her during class.

"What's up, Red?" Hitomi asked me. "Got a Narcibeast on the loose again?"

"No, worse." I said to them. "We got an evilized victim on the loose."

"Evilized what?" Terra asked, confused.

"It's a long story." I told her. "To make it short, a person who's been evilized is someone who has been affected by a Miraculous used for evil."

"Miraculous?" Hitomi asked with concern. "Does this mean one of the Miraculous has been stolen?"

"No, it's actually a lost Miraculous." I told her. "Someone's found the Butterfly Miraculous."

"Butterfly?" Terra said, surprised by this. "Isn't that your power?"

"Yeah. But whoever's using the Miraculous is using it for evil." I told her.

"And they've already done an evil deed by transforming into a rampaging golem." Adler said to them.

"We have to de-evilize Ivan before he hurts someone!" I said.

"Then let's go get him!" Terra said.

"Okay, Adler. Gonna need your help with this." I said to the boy in blue. "Since you have a bond with Ivan, you should be able to warp over to him."

"Do you think I have a good bond with him?" Adler said, sounding doubtful about his friendship with his housemate. "He doesn't seem to act like it."

"I'm sure you already have a good bond." I told him. "He might not show it, but I do think he considers you a friend."

"Okay, if you say so." Adler said before he then put his gauntlet hand out and the rest of us each put ours over his. He took a moment to focus before he then shouted out. "Go, Emergency Nexus Warp!"

[No one's view]

After Nexus Hero Blue says that, he and the rest of Nexus Hero Five begin to glow before they all shoot into the sky in beams of their respective colors, going in the same direction that Stoneheart went.

---

[Agreste Mansion]

[Avery]

After returning to the mansion, both Adrien and I then began our lessons with Nathalie, our father's assistant giving us a quiz to test our knowledge. While I was more than willing to continue with being homeschooled, Adrien was less than enthusiastic as he has grown tired of being isolated from the world. This is evident by the bored expression my brother had.

"Who was the first president of the fifth French Republic?" Nathalie asked, looking at her notes.

"Everyone thinks it was De Gaulle, but it was actually Rene Couti before the first elections." I answered, speaking clearly and punctually.

"Correct yet again." Nathalie said to me. "Avery, perhaps you should let Adrien answer one of the questions?"

"Nathalie, while I may seem as though I may be intruding in his education, I am afraid my brother is not enjoying himself at the moment." I told her.

"Nathalie, give me a minute with Adrien and Avery, would you?" asked a voice my brother and I were very familiar with as we looked to the very owner as he entered.

The one before us across from the table is the father of both me and my twin: the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. He was a very tall, middle-aged man with a fair but rosy-tinted skin tone that my brother and I shared and a pointed chin along with pale, light grayish cerulean colored eyes, and combed-back hair which used to brown like my own but had grayed over time. His attire consisted of black-framed silver glasses, a white high collar dress shirt underneath a medium gray-striped vest with red buttons and a cream-colored dress jacket without any buttons, and a red and white-striped ascot tie. Along with this, he wore red dress pants and a pair of white dress shoes with black soles and red shoelaces. One other thing that he had was a silver band ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

Gabriel Agreste

Gender: Male

Hometown: Paris, France

Occupation: Fashion Designer, Owner of Gabriel

"Yes, sir." Nathalie obeyed, walking away to stand in the corner of the room.

"Adrien, Avery you are not going to school." Father said to us, shocking the both of us with disbelief for Nathalie had not kept her promise of telling him what we had done. "I've already told you." After seeing Nathalie look to the floor with shame, I watched as Adrien spoke out to Father.

"But, Father…"

"Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you." Father interrupted him. "I will not have you outside in that dangerous world."

"It's not dangerous, Father. I'm always stuck in here." Adrien protested. "Why can't I go on and make friends just like everybody else?"

"Because you are not like everyone else, you are my son!" Father then turned to his assistant. "Continue." Just when he was about to leave, I quickly went over and spoke to Father.

"Father, wait!" I said as I stood before him, my father stopping to listen to me. "I understand you are trying to protect Adrien and I and I do not mind being taught from the comforts of home, but Adrien does not want to spend his whole life in one place. Keeping him trapped within this mansion is only going to make him miserable. Mother would have…"

"Your mother is not here, Avery." Father said as he turned to face me, a grim look on his face. "I may have lost her, but I will not lose you. Now, for disobeying me and for misuse of your computer, you will spend the rest of the day here and think about what you have done as punishment. Do you understand?"

"But, Father, I…" I tried to defend myself but Father was not willing to hear it.

"Do you understand?"

With that stern tone he used, I remained silent for a moment and thought about arguing before accepting with a sigh of defeat.

"Yes, Father." I reluctantly told him.

"Good." Father said to me before he spoke to Nathalie. "Nathalie, please continue."

After Father left the room and as Nathalie took a look at her notes, Adrien soon took his leave toward his room, no doubt so he could sulk in despair at being denied his freedom.

"Adrien!" I called out to him, my brother running away upstairs.

"We can leave it there for today if you want." Nathalie said to me.

"That is much appreciated. Thank you, Nathalie." I said before I then went on to Adrien's room to see if I could cheer him up.

Upon entering, I found Adrien's bag lying on the floor with its contents spilled all over and my brother groaning in despair on his bed with his face in a pillow.

"Ugh." He groaned, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Walking over, I then sat beside him on his bed and placed a comforting hand on his back, feeling sorry for my brother for Father not allowing him to make his own decisions.

There is a reason as to why we have come to live this way. Sometime during the past year, Mother had disappeared. Ever since she disappeared, Father had kept us in the mansion, not allowing us to leave without his permission. The only times that Adrien had been allowed outside the mansion were when it involved spending time with his friend from America who's father happened to be a dear friend to ours. While he says the world is riddled with danger, I believe he is confining us out of grief and fear, not wanting to lose either me or my brother. While understanding his reasons for this, I have tried to convince Father to let Adrien have his own freedom instead of keeping him imprisoned for I knew Adrien did not want to spend the rest of his life within those very walls. I also knew that Mother would have wanted us both to be free to choose how to live our lives if she were still here with us. But still my father refuses to do so and simply tells me to do as he wishes, the mere mention of Mother only provoking his anguish. Through times like this, I tried to make Adrien happy, trying to find a way to bring that great smile of his back. But my efforts could only do so much for having the feeling of imprisonment would prevent him from having any joy.

At this very moment, I was about to say something to him when suddenly…

THUMP!

Hearing that loud noise came from outside along with sirens, Adrien and I headed out onto his balcony and looked out to see something large and made of stone moving towards the gate.

[No one's view]

Outside the gate of the Agreste Mansion, the police force of Paris continue to stand their ground with their blockade set in Stoneheart's path.

"Ready?" One of the police officers says, the others taking aim at the stone human with their weapons. "Fire!"

With that, they fire their weapons and the stone being stubbles back, but he begins to glow in this odd light as he is hunched over and somehow grows larger.

"KI-I-I-I-IM!" Stoneheart roars as he stands up straight, the light fading away and the stone being now as large as the wall surrounding the mansion.

Upon seeing this, the officers all then run as Stoneheart walks over to their police cars, picking up a van and tossing it at the officer who called the attack. Though the officer had managed to move fast enough to avoid the car landing and rolling over him, he ends up tripping and the van ends up landing on his left arm as it stops rolling. After screaming in pain and seeing Stoneheart walking in his direction, he tries to pull his arm free as it was pinned under the car. As Stoneheart is walking, five familiar beams of light appear and landed right between the two, the force of the impact causing Stoneheart to skid backwards a bit with one arm up to shield himself and the officer to turn his head and close his eyes as he braves the winds blowing against him. After the winds dissipate, both the villain and the officer look to where the beams landed and see a big dust cloud with five silhouettes standing within it.

"Halt right there, villain!" said a voice as the dust clears with the five silhouettes are revealed to be none other than the Nexus Hero Five, ready to battle Stoneheart who growls at them. The one speaking is their leader Nexus Hero Red. "Your evil-doing ends here! Heroes, call it out!"

---

Axel Frank: Okay, before we go through with this, what you're about to see is Nexus Hero Five's team callout.

It's a thing chosen Heroes do before going to deal with any villain causing trouble. Kind of like a calling card of ours to let the people know who we are and that they are safe.

I know this might seem like a waste of time, but it actually isn't since it comes with a perk.

No one knows why, but when we Heroes do a callout, we unleash an aura that temporarily paralyzes our foes long enough for us to do a complete callout. It's almost like it freezes them in their place.

Anyway, here's how our callout goes.

---

[Axel]

"Bonds of Unity, strong as a raging fire!" I said as I pumped a fist up in front of me before extending my arm to the side, using my gauntlet hand to do so. "Nexus Hero Red!" With me taking a martial arts stance with my right fist forward, an explosion of red smoke appeared behind me.

"Bonds of Peace, fast as lightning!" Nahuel said as he held up one hand and had one over his chest before bringing the one he had up back down before spreading it over to the side while using the other that was at his chest to make a fist in front of his shoulder. "Nexus Hero Yellow!" Much like with me, after he took a martial arts stance with open palms in front of him, an explosion of smoke appeared behind him with his being yellow.

"Bonds of Freedom, cool as ice!" Adler said as he stood sideways with his arms crossed before he lifted one hand to do a two-finger salute. "Nexus Hero Blue!" with him uncrossing his arms as he leaned forward with his arms spread behind his back, an explosion of blue smoke appeared behind him.

"Bonds of Courage, solid as the Earth!" Terra said as she stood up with two fists held up at her shoulders before she brought them together in front of her. "Nexus Hero Green!" An explosion of green smoke followed as she had her body facing sideways while having her knees spread and bent along with her hands open to resemble claws with one stretched out in front of her and the other beside her head.

"Bonds of Wisdom, sharp as steel!" Hitomi said as she spread her arms out and hands flat with her right hand angled upward and the other angled downward, her knees bent as she had her back facing forward. She quickly changed this stance to stand straight forward with her arms crossed into an X. "Nexus Hero Black!" with one arm across her chest to where her right hand was beside her head and her elbow in her other hand, an explosion of black smoke appeared behind her.

"Forging the future with unbreakable bonds!" The five of us said in unison as we did high-fives with each other starting with me as I did a high-five with Adler who then high-fived Terra who then did the same with Nahuel who high-fived with Hitomi who then ended it with a high-five with me. "Warriors of the light, ready to fight!" After holding up our gauntlet hands in a fist in front of our chests, we all then gathered together and did different poses with me at the center in a martial arts stance. To my right, Adler stood with one hand on his hip and the other held up with his index finger up along with one knee bent up with Hitomi between us as she stood with her back facing me along one hand on her hip and the other hand across her chest, over her left shoulder. To my left, Nahuel stood in a martial arts stance with his back facing the front and his hands opened up flat with Terra between him and me as she stood with her back facing me and one arm across her chest like she was giving a salute. "Nexus Hero Five!" From saying our team name, a great explosion of red, yellow, green, blue, and black clouds appeared behind us, each colored cloud appearing in the same position as the matching Hero of the same color.

---

Axel Frank: Okay, Yeah, this is what we do.

Of course, these explosions didn't actually happen when we did this.

This is just something theatrical from my imagination as this is how we always felt whenever we did our callout.

---

"Uh, excuse me?" Hearing a voice, we all turned to find a police officer lying in the street behind us with his arm stuck under a police car, an officer I recognized anywhere.

"Officer Raincompix?" I said, surprised to find Sabrina's father there.

"Would one of you get my car off my arm?" He said to us as he tried to pull his arm free to no avail.

"Oh, yes, sir." I said to him as we all broke our poses and turned around to face him before I spoke to Terra and Nahuel. "Green, Yellow, you mind helping him?"

"On it, Red!" Terra said as her and Nahuel went over to Officer Raincompix, the girl grabbing his car from the grill. "Okay, here we go!" With a grunt, Terra effortlessly picked up the car like it weighed nothing at all.

"Are you okay, señor?" Nahuel said as he helped the officer to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Officer Raincompix said before he flinched and clutched the arm that was pinned under his car with a groan of pain.

[Nahuel]

"Looks like his car did a number on his arm." Hei-lot said as she appeared at the side of my visor while I looked at the officer's arm. "Luckily, he won't need any serious surgery and will be able to recover."

[Axel]

"He's got a bit of a broken arm, but he'll be fine." Nahuel told me.

"Good." I said before I spoke to Officer Raincompix. "Sir, you go and take cover. We'll take care of the villain."

"Alright." The officer said as he then ran off to join the rest of his squad.

"Hey, buddy!" Terra said, no doubt calling out to Ivan. "Think you dropped something! Rah!" Just as effortlessly as she picked it up, Terra threw the car right at Ivan, knocking him down with a thud. "Yeah!"

"Green, careful!" Adler snapped as he rushed over to her. "That's my roommate you're attacking!"

"Calm down, Blue." Terra said to him. "He's made of rock. Doubt I hurt him that much."

"Uh, amigos?" Nahuel said with concern before he pointed to where Ivan was. "Something is happening to Ivan."

Looking over, we were all surprised to see Ivan glowing in yellow light for a moment before it disappeared with a great flash.

"KI-I-I-I-IM!" Ivan roared before he then grabbed the police car and used it to help himself up to his feet, the evilized boy now big enough to pick it up in one hand by the front.

"Whoa!" Terra said as Ivan tossed the car at us, the girl rushing over and managing to catch the car with the force causing her to skid back over to us. "Phew! That was close."

"Thanks, Green." I said to her as she then tossed the car aside.

"Am I crazy or did Ivan just suddenly grow bigger after being hit with that car?" Adler said, putting out a good point.

"Wasn't he smaller than this back at the school?" Nahuel asked.

"You're right." I said to him as I remembered how big Ivan was when he was first evilized. "Ivan wasn't this big when he left the school. In fact, before getting hit by that car, he was twice that size."

"Well, you know what they say. The bigger they are…" Terra said before she rushed Ivan and slammed him into a wall with a single punch, the evilized victim soon sliding down to the ground. "The harder they fall!"

"Green!" Adler shouted at her in anger.

"What? He's fine!" Terra said as Ivan got back on his feet. "See?" After motioning to him, Terra then turned to Ivan as he soon began to glow in that yellow light from before. "Huh?"

"KI-I-I-I-IM!" Ivan roared as he stood up straight, the light fading away and the boy now four times his original size after being evilized.

"What the…?" Was all Terra said as Ivan then tried to slam her into the street with a single punch.

"Green!" Nahuel said as he rushed over and got her back over to us with a trail of electricity behind him, our fellow Hero using his lightning powers to increase his speed.

"Thanks, Yellow." Terra said as we watched Ivan pull his fist off the street after punching it, turning to us.

"Oh, dear." Adler said, worried we now had to deal with a giant foe.

"Red, did you see that?" Hitomi said to me, no doubt analyzing the situation. "Ivan grew in size just after Green attacked him."

"Yeah, you're right." I said to her before I began thinking, assessing what we experienced to figure out what Ivan's abilities were. "Wait a minute…"

When the boys and I first saw him when he got evilized, Ivan was only was only three times his normal size. When we caught up to him, he was actually twice that size. And he became bigger after Terra attacked him. Then I realized what caused the first increase of his size: the police using firearms on him! With that, I then figured out what his power was.

"He grows with every attack." I said to myself, now filled with dread with figuring out what Ivan was capable of. "Damage Empowerment."

"Damage what?" Terra asked in confusion.

"It's a superpower. I read about it online after James found it being used in one of his comic books." I said before I explained. "Remember what I said? The Butterfly Miraculous allows the user to give people powers of their own. The new holder must've given Ivan the power of Damage Empowerment!"

"Okay, so what does that power do?" Terra said to me.

"Exactly what's been going on!" I said as I then explained. "Damage Empowerment allows the user to grow stronger when receiving damage. Any attack Ivan receives will only make him grow bigger and stronger than before. The police must've attacked him earlier which is why he was twice as big the last time we saw him."

"How are we supposed to stop him if we can't hit him?" Terra asked me.

"We don't have to hurt him, we just need to get the Akuma. That's the source of his power." I told her before I turned to Adler. "Blue, you have a better bond with Ivan. Try reasoning with him to give us his Akuma."

"I'll try." Adler said before he then went over to Ivan. "Ivan? Ivan!" Upon hearing his name, Ivan stopped to look down at my fellow Hero. "That is your name, correct? Your roommate sent me!"

"Adler?" Ivan said to him.

"Yes, he's worried about you." Adler told him. "I know you don't want to do this. We know how to stop this. Just let us help you."

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

Thanks to the link I had with Stoneheart, I was able to see and hear everything my villain was experiencing, especially his encounter with the Nexus Hero Five.

"Just as I predicted." I said to myself, smiling that everything was going to plan. "The Nexus Hero Five have come to save the day. Now to show them what my villain can really do. Once they are defeated, it won't be long until the ones with the power I need come to help them."

---

[Outside the Agreste Mansion]

[Axel]

Just when we thought he would listen to Adler, for some reason, Ivan lifted his head to look forward for a moment. It was then that I felt a chill go up my spine. Looking to my belt, I saw a violet light shining from the eyes of the t-rex symbol, undoubtedly my Miracle Bond reacting. Seeing as we were dealing with an evilized victim caused by the Butterfly Miraculous, I now had a bad feeling as I looked back at Ivan.

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

"Stoneheart, these Heroes only seek to protect those who wronged you." I said to my villain via the telepathic link, giving him his orders. "Show them your power and let no one stop you from having vengeance!"

---

[Outside the Agreste Mansion]

[Axel]

"Yes, master." I heard Ivan say before he looked down at Adler with a glare. "There's no Ivan anymore, only Stoneheart! Now get out of my way!" With that, Ivan—or Stoneheart as he prefers—used a backhand and smacked Adler back over to us.

"Thank you, Red." Adler said as I caught him and helped him to his feet.

"Well, that didn't work." Terra bluntly said. "Now he's angrier than before!"

"It's the holder." I said to my team. "It looks like they have a strong hold on Ivan's mind. They're disrupting the bond between him and Adler."

"What do we do now?" Nahuel asked me.

"We'll have to do this the hard way." I said as Stoneheart charged at us. "Try and find the Akuma! And whatever you do, don't hit him! If he gets any bigger, we won't be able to stop him!"

With that, we all went off to search for Stoneheart's Akuma, trying our best to avoid any of his blows without hitting him in the process.

[Adrien's room]

[Avery]

Hearing the commotion going on outside, Adrien and I quickly went to the couch with my brother climbing over from the back and grabbing the remote, turning it on and setting it to the news channel so we could see what was happening. Upon doing so, we are shown Mayor Bourgeois speaking to reporters while at a press conference.

"I'm asking all Parisians to stay home until the situation is under control." Mayor Bourgeois said to all the reporters near him, the TV program then switching to our local news reporter as she spoke.

"As incredible as it seems, it's been confirmed that Paris is indeed being attacked by a supervillain. The Nexus Hero Five are fighting this villain, but it seems as though whoever they are has them overwhelmed. Even the police have been struggling to keep the situation under control." The program switched to a red headed police officer with a cast on his right arm.

"Be confident, the strong arm of the law will come crashing down on the…" He hit the arm with his cast to mimic the crashing down part. "I mean, the other arm." The two of us looked at each in disbelief at what was happening to the city, our moment of silence soon breaking upon hearing a voice.

"It's pretty bad, huh? From what I was told, every business was closed down because of this." Looking behind us, we both yelped in surprise to find someone standing there. "Hey, what's up?"

The stranger was a boy with fair skin who appeared to be our age judging by his height and was dressed in some kind of black body suit with green arrows on the hands, chest, and feet, a hood that covered everything on his head but his mouth, and these green distinctive, pointed, triangle-shaped sunglasses. This boy greeting us with a grin only served to confuse both me and my brother.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After seeing the news report on my computer, I was really worried. There was a real supervillain loose in Paris and the biggest heroes in the world weren't able to handle him? This had to be the worst day ever. What made matters worse was that Axel still didn't come back yet. He said he would meet me home soon and all I found was his backpack and binder along with some other stuff. Sitting with the back of my seat in front of me, I was hoping that he was okay.

"I hate first days back at school!" I said with worry, watching the story on my computer.

"Well, it's not every day that a supervillain attack happens on your first day back." Said a voice before I looked to the right and saw someone standing there. "Hello!"

"Aaaah!" I screamed, falling out of my chair and knocking it over.

"Whoa!" she—at least she sounded like a she—said as she came over to me. "Are you okay?"

Getting a good look at her, I saw that she was wearing a white bodysuit with pink gloves that went up to her elbows, pink boots that went up to her knees, black shorts, and a white hood that was pink on the inside. She also wore a mask that seemed attached to her bodysuit and covered her head with pink lenses outlined by cyan lines over where her eyes were at.

"Aaah!" I said as I scooted away from her. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Calm down. It's okay. I'm a friend." She told me. "My name is Ghost Girl and I'm actually here for you, Marinette."

Ghost Girl

Gender: Female

Powers: Intangibility, Levitation

"How do you know my name?"

"Well, we actually know each other. Not right now when I'm Ghost Girl, but later since this is the first time you've seen me like this. Give me a minute to explain all this."

Though still a bit freaked out and confused, I decided to let her talk, hoping what she said would actually make this less crazy than it already is.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

After seeing the news report and finding our new visitor, Avery was quick to go and question him since neither of us have ever seen or met him before.

"Who are you? How did you get into our home?" Avery sternly asked him, getting up in his face.

"I'll tell you if you give me some space." The guy said to my sister before he gave her a chuckle. "See you're still as harsh as ever, Avery. Least now I know you mellow out with age."

"How'd you know her name was Avery?" I asked.

"Same way I know yours, Adrien." He told me. "We've actually met before."

"I have no memory of meeting anyone with your appearance." Avery told him.

"Yeah, not after I became a supe." He said. "We met before I became Chrono Kid."

"Chrono Kid?" I asked.

"Yep, that's my name!" He said with a grin as he posed with finger guns. "Superhero from the future!"

Chrono Kid

Gender: Male

Powers: Time-Travel

"The future?" Avery said with confusion. "You mean you traveled through time?"

"Yeah, that's the power R.A. gave me." Chrono Kid told us.

"R.A.?" My sis asked.

"Yeah, another superhero in the future. He's able to give powers to anybody and help them become superheroes. He'll make his debut sometime later on."

"So cool!" I said, amazed by this. "You're really from the future?"

"Yep!" He told me.

"If you're from the future and know the two of us as you say, what exactly did we do today?"

"Besides you hacking into a school computer to enlist both you and your bro into the first day of classes and sneaking him out of the house where you both were caught by your bodyguard and your dad's assistant who dragged you both back here, nothing much." Chrono Kid answered, surprising my sister who stood there in silence.

"Wow! You really are from the future!" I said to him. "How is it? Is it as cool as in the movies? With flying cars and robots and all kinds of cool science stuff?"

"Whoa! Ease up, dude! Forget this is the point where most of what you get is from TV." He told me. "Anyway, I'm not from the distant future. I'm from nine years later."

"Nine years?" Avery said. "Then, if I'm judging by your age, you must be a child in our current time. Around six or seven?"

"Yep, that's right!" Chrono Kid smiled.

"But the only child we know of who is of that age is…" Avery's eyes widened up as she looked at Chrono Kid in disbelief. "Wait, James Frank?"

"Yep! It's me!" Chrono Kid said, me getting just as surprised as my sis to find the superhero with us is Axel's little brother. "Told ya I'd be a superhero one day!"

"I knew I recognized that smile." I said as I smiled at him. "Well, welcome back to Paris, James."

"Thanks. It's good to be back." James told us. "But keep this between us, okay? My bro can't know I'm Chrono Kid. You know how he is."

"Our lips are sealed." I told him, speaking for both myself and my sis.

"But why are you here?" Avery said to him. "I doubt that you came here for a visit, especially considering it would be a risk to use your powers in such a way."

"Chill, Ave. I actually got a reason to be here." He told us. "In fact, R.A.'s the one who sent me here."

"Wait, are you here to help Nexus Hero Five with the supervillain?" I asked him.

"Unfortunately, no." he told me. "As much as I would like to help out, this isn't the time for me to actually do anything. Same goes for my partner."

"Partner? You mean, there's someone else with you?"

"Yeah, a fellow hero from the future. You'll meet her later. Anyway, R.A. sent us to get two people who are meant to help Nexus Hero Five right now. She's probably alright with the other ally, explaining everything to her."

"But if she is with one of the two allies, then who is the other?"

"The guy standing right next to you." James answered my sis, surprising both of us again.

"Me?" I said to him. "My dad's pranking me, right? Wait, he couldn't be. He has no sense of humor!"

"It's no joke, Adrien. Also, your dad can't know about this. Besides your sis, no one else can either. Anyway," James said as he dug into a pocket on his suit, "today is your lucky day."

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After hearing Ghost Girl explain everything to me, my hopes with this day being less crazy went out the window as what she said made it crazier than before.

"So let me get this straight." I said to her, recalling everything she said to me. "You're a superhero from nine years in the future?"

"Yep." Ghost Girl said.

"And you know me because you're a little kid that I met before today?"

"That's right."

"And the reason you're here is because you were sent to find me because I'm one of two people who can help a team of superheroes fight a supervillain?"

"That's about it. I know it's crazy, but it's true."

"Oh, okay." After I said that, I then turned to my trapdoor. "Mom! Dad!"

"No, don't!" Floating off the ground, Ghost Girl went through me before putting her hand over my mouth. "Don't call your parents! They aren't supposed to know me until a lot later."

"But what you just told me is just plain crazy!" I told her. "I'm no superhero!"

"Not yet, you're not." She said before she dug behind her and took something out. "But that's about to change, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

[No one's view]

At their respective locations, after seeing the fancy, black Chinese box in the hands of the superhero present with them, the two teenagers both spoke as they gave looks of surprise.

"What's this?" Marinette and Adrien both asked, taking the boxes from the heroes.

"The very thing you need to help Nexus Hero Five." Chrono Kid and Ghost Girl both answered.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng…" Ghost Girl said as she continued.

"Adrien Agreste…" Chrono Kid said before the two spoke in unison again.

"What you now hold is a Miraculous, one of many magic jewels which grant the user special powers to both protect themselves and others."

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

"The one inside that little box is the Miraculous of the Ladybug." Ghost Girl said to me as I looked at the box. "It will grant you the power of Creation and help your allies in any situation."

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

"The one you have is the Miraculous of the Black Cat which grants whoever wields it the power of Destruction." James told me. "Take this and it will change your life."

"Change my life, huh?" I said as I looked at the box in my hands.

[No one's view]

At the exact same time, with their curiosity piqued, both Adrien and Marinette opened their respective boxes, which contained some kind of jewelry inside. Upon opening the boxes, colored lights shone, the one with Adrien being green and the other with Marinette being red. Seeing lights appear from the boxes surprised them along with Avery while the heroes with them simply watched the events unfold.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After that weird light popped out, I dropped the box and covered my eyes to make sure I didn't go blind. When the light disappeared, I looked and saw this little creature floating in front of my face. It was really small, had a head bigger than its body, two antennae, and was all red except for that black spot on its forehead. When it looked right at me, I jumped right out of my chair.

"Ahh!" I yelped, backing away from her desk and grabbed onto the pole in my room. "It's a giant bug! A mouse! A bug-mouse!"

"Everything's okay. Don't be scared." The creature said as it tried to get closer, looking at me with those big, blue eyes.

Tikki

Title: Kwami of Creation

Pronoun: She/Her

"Ahh! The bug-mouse talks!" I yelled, throwing things to keep it away.

[No one's view]

As Marinette is throwing things at the red creature, Ghost Girl watches with a nonchalant expression on her face and a sigh.

"Guess I should've seen this one coming." The hero says to herself.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

After I opened the box and that light faded away, I still couldn't believe what he was seeing as I saw this weird-looking, black cat thing yawn before slouching forward, floating in front of me with its eyes closed.

Plagg

Title: Kwami of Destruction

Pronoun: He/Him

"No way!" I said, putting down the box and trying to see if I could touch the little guy. This was actually pretty cool. "It's like the genie in the lamp!"

"I met him once. So he grants wishes, big deal!" He said to me, opening his green eyes. "I'm way more personable! Plagg, nice to meet you. Ooh, swanky!" The little guy, or I guess Plagg, flew over to the foosball table and started to try and eat it. "Oomph!"

"No! Don't touch that!" I tried to grab Plagg, but he flew away. "Hey, come back here!"

"Ooh, it's so shiny! Can you eat this?" Plagg chomped on the red controller. "No, you can't. Ooh, what about this?"

[Avery]

As Adrien continued to chase the black creature, I then spoke to James to see if he knew what my brother had unleashed.

"James, what exactly is that flying around?" I asked him.

"That's Plagg." The young Frank told me. "Adrien's kwami."

"Kwami?" I said, curious what he meant.

"Yeah, Kwamis are ancient spirits that come with the Miraculous. It's a whole package deal." James explained as Adrien continued to pursue the creature. "They're what make them magic. Each Miraculous is connected to a kwami."

"That little thing is supposed to help my brother defeat a supervillain?"

"Don't let his appearance fool ya. Plagg is not called the 'Kwami of Destruction' for nothing."

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After a while of throwing things at the creature, I was surprised by Ghost Girl grabbing my wrist.

"Marinette, stop throwing stuff." She told me as she then let go. "You're not in danger."

"Your friend is right." The creature said to me as I tried to find something to catch it in, the little thing trying to get closer. "Listen, I know everything may seem a bit strange to you…" Right before it got too close, I grabbed a cup and used it to catch the creature keeping it to the floor. Though it was trapped, it didn't really seem to mind it much. "Okay, if this makes you feel safer."

"What are you?" I asked it.

"I think introductions are in order." Ghost Girl said as he walked over and kneeled down to us, talking to the creature. "Hello there. My name is Ghost Girl." She then motioned to me. "This here is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She's your new holder." Turning to me, she then motioned to the creature. "Marinette, meet Tikki the Kwami of Creation. From here on out, she'll be your kwami."

"It's nice to meet you both." It happily said to us.

"My…what?" I asked.

"Your kwami." Ghost Girl told me. "She's sort of a spirit and is the one who'll give you your superpowers. Every Miraculous has one."

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Avery]

As Plagg tried to eat the remote to the TV, I watched as Adrien used the climbing wall he had to get above the kwami before jumping down and landing on the couch with Plagg in both his hands.

"Got ya!" Adrien said before he then got up and looked over to James. "Is he always like this?"

"Yeah, sorry." James told my brother. "Out of all the kwamis, Plagg is the most reckless. Plus, at this point, he hasn't been out and about in almost two hundred years." He then spoke to the kwami. "Hey, Plagg. Good to see you."

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"No, not yet at least." The young Frank told him. "But you'll meet me later."

"Don't know what you mean, but eh." The kwami said. "You guys got anything to eat? I'm starving!"

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

"I promise she isn't going to hurt you." Ghost Girl told me. "Just hear us out, okay?"

Thinking about it, I saw that this was all totally crazy, but I didn't see what else to do other than try and see if I was in trouble or not.

"Oh, alright." I said before I got ready to remove the glass, looking at Tikki as I did. "Okay, Tikki, I'm all ears."

"Great!" Tikki said before she phased through the glass like some kind of little ghost.

"Aaah!" I yelled as the little thing flew up to my height, shocked by this. "How… how did you do that?"

"She's a spirit, remember? She can phase through walls and stuff like that." Ghost Girl told me.

"And you're saying she can make me a superhero?"

"That's right." Tikki said to me. "And right now, I need your help, Marinette!"

"She's right." Ghost Girl added. "You're the only one who can use Tikki's power to defeat that villain Stoneheart!"

---

[Master Fu's Massage Parlor]

[Wayzz]

After returning to Master Fu, I told him of what had happened with my task to inform the Nexus Hero Five and their reaction to his decision. Least to say, he was not happy with the results of it.

"Oh, that boy." Master Fu groaned as he looked to the Miracle Box which now only had the Miraculous of the Fox and Bee in its main compartment. "Let us hope his kind heart will allow him to forgive me and accept his new allies."

"Do you think they'll be up to it, Master?" I asked him as he then looked at me.

"I only got it wrong once. It will never happen again. At least I hope not." With that, he then closed the Miracle Box and placed it back within the phonograph, concealing it once again.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

"Me? Fight a supervillain?" I said to Tikki, shocked by this as I couldn't do a job like that. "No, no, no! This must be a mistake! The only superpower I could possibly have is super-awkwardness." From there, I then knew who would be perfect for this. "I know! Alya would know! That's my friend. Well, at least I think she would. She loves superheroes! She'd totally be up for the job! Or maybe Axel! I don't know where he is, but I bet he can help! You should totally go see them!"

"That's not how it works, Marinette." Ghost Girl said before she gave me the box Tikki came out of, which had these black earrings in it. "The Guardian of the Miraculous only gives these jewels to people who can use them for good. As I remember, just earlier today, you actually saved an old man's life. Like my boss says 'One who saves a life can save the world'. Tikki wouldn't be here if the guardian didn't see some great potential in you."

"She's right, Marinette. You're the chosen one!" Tikki reasoned with me. "You need to help the Heroes!"

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

"But I'm stuck here! I'm not even allowed to go to school!" I told Plagg after he told me that I needed to help Nexus Hero Five save Paris. "What's good is a superhero that's imprisoned in his own house?"

"No good!" Plagg said while balancing and moving around on a roll of toilet paper. "That's why it's all going to change soon!" With that, I then looked at the silver ring in the box and thought about it. "If you're willing to change, that is."

James told me that this ring would change my life. Could that actually be possible?

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After accepting to help out, Tikki and Ghost Girl told me what I needed to do.

"You know, you really are quite lucky to have a Miraculous, Marinette." Ghost Girl said as I took the earrings out of the box. "Anyone would do anything to get a chance at being a real life superhero."

"I guess. It's just that it's happening so fast." I said to her before talking to Tikki, putting on the earrings. "So all I have to do is break the object where the whatchama-call-it is hiding?"

"It's called an akuma which you must ensure that the Hero of Unity captures." Tikki explains.

"The Hero of what?"

"She means Nexus Hero Red." Ghost Girl told me. "He's got the same power that was used to make Stoneheart, so he's the only one who can catch Akumas."

"Oh, okay." I said, accepting this. "What's that charm thing again?"

"Your Lucky Charm." Tikki said to me. "It's your secret superpower!"

"With that, you can be able to create anything that can help you in finding and catching the akuma." Ghost Girl said before I slumped with all the stress being put on my shoulders.

"This is all going too fast!" I said to them. "I-I don't think I'll be able to pull this off!"

"Calm down, Marinette. It'll be fine." Ghost Girl said to me.

"Trust yourself, Marinette." Tikki reassures her. "Just say, 'Tikki, spots on'!"

"Tikki, spots on?"

[No one's view]

After Marinette says that, the Miraculous activates and Tikki is immediately sucked into the left side's earrings. After the kwami enters the Miraculous, both earrings instantly change from black to red with five black spots that appear on them.

"Whoa! What's happening?!" she cries out as she is then consumed by a bright light, one Ghost Girl has to shield her eyes from.

[Marinette]

Suddenly, after what happened to Tikki, I felt a sudden wave of power overwhelm her body, my hair flew upwards as if by an invisible wind, all this just scaring me even more. Pink colored sparkles surrounded me and, before long, all I could see was pink. It all happened so fast that my room faded from sight as my body began to change. My muscles tensed, becoming firmer and she could feel myself turn into someone stronger, more confident, and courageous. I felt like I could lift someone with ease over my shoulder if I wanted to. These new feelings scared me as much. After I could see my room again, I looked at Ghost Girl as she looked at me like this was something she was used to.

"Ghost Girl," I said to her, not really getting over the terrifying experience, "what just happened?"

After I saw that, she then motioned to the mirror beside her and said "Take a look for yourself."

With that, I then looked at the mirror and was just shocked by what I saw. It looked like me. I still had blue eyes and my face looked the same. But the rest of me changed. My eyelashes looked like I was wearing mascara, not enough to where I look cheap though. My hair was no longer black, but blue. I still have my hair straps, but turned into these long, red ribbons that made it look like I had antennae. But that's not what really got me. What really shocked me was what I was wearing. On my face was this red mask with black spots that surrounded my eyes and covered my cheekbones. Not only that, but all my clothes were gone and were replaced by this full-body jumpsuit that had the same pattern as the mask. My jumpsuit was also red with black spots all over, minus a pact of black around the high collar of my neck, hands, and feet which were now in high heels. From my fingers to my elbow, the suit was black, so were my ankles. Wrapped around my hip was a rounded thing the same design as the rest of this costume. I looked like a ladybug themed superhero. The earrings I had put on were still on my ears, but now looked like my entire new wardrobe, black spots and all.

[No one's view]

Though her mask covers her face, Ghost Girl smiles as she sees Marinette had become a whole new person. This girl in front of her looked beautiful and confident, which was not Marinette at all. Though, just when she thought Marinette would accept it…

"AAAAAHHH!" Marinette screams as she panics with a blush on her face. "What the heck is this?! Mom and Dad don't even let me wear mini-skirts! I can't go looking like this!"

"Marinette, calm down!" Ghost Girl says to Marinette, who is trying to take off the costume she has only to fail to do so but still refusing to give up.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

After deciding to go on and help Nexus Hero Five, I put the silver ring on, putting on my left hand's middle finger.

"Okay, Plagg, how does this work?" I asked as Plagg poked his head out of the toilet paper roll.

"Say my name and then 'Claws out'!" Plagg said to me. "That's how you transform."

"Got it." I said before I then decided to see what this transformation could do. "Plagg, claws out!"

[Avery]

After Adrien had said that, the ring turned from silver and back to black. Seeing Adrien's eagerness like this surprised me.

"Wait, I haven't finished explaining-g-g-g…" Plagg tried to speak, but was unable to finish his sentence as he was sucked into the ring.

After he did, the ring soon gained a green paw print and Adrien was consumed in a bright green light that my fellow Yo-kai and I had to shield our eyes from to prevent being blinded.

[Adrien]

From the ring, I could feel my whole body changing and a newfound power flowing through him. There were no words to describe what it was that was happening to me, but, easy to say, I never felt more alive.

My entire body was covered with this green energy, changing my ordinary clothes into a full body black cat suit, hugging my upper arms, perfectly showcasing more muscle than I had before, and a yellow cat-bell around his neck. I felt physically stronger. Feeling the top on my head, I got these new cat ears and kept my normal ones, but these new ears felt just as real. My hands were gloved with black gloves with long sharp fingernails to resemble claws and they felt every bit as real as his new ears. Last but not least, a silver stick appeared around my waist, followed by a long belt that resembled a cat's tail, which also felt real and moved according to my mood.

After the transformation was done, I then decided to use my laptop to see what I looked like. Got to say, with this suit, this was awesome! My hair was all messy, but I was okay with it. Normally, I would keep it all neat and tidy, being a supermodel and all that. But this time, I was gonna roll with it. Over his eyes, a black mask appeared, covering most of his face, including the tip surface of his nose and his cheekbones, while leaving his mouth and forehead bare. His hair became messier, which he loved. Under normal circumstances, he always had to keep his hair perfect to maintain that supermodel image. But not this time. Normally, a cat suit was worn for female heroes or villainesses, but in this case he made the whole male black cat superhero work.

"Too cool!" I said after getting a good look at myself.

[Avery]

"Adrien, you fool! What were you thinking?" I said to Adrien as I grabbed him by his new suit and shook him out of anger for his rash actions. "If you had just been patient, we would know how to use your powers and turn you back!"

"I'm sorry, sis!" he said to me as I kept shaking him. "I just wanted to see how cool it looked!"

"Cool it, Avery! Adrien didn't mean to stop his kwami from explaining more about his powers." James said as I stopped shaking Adrien and, after he recovered, we both looked at her. "Now, if you would give me your attention, I'll tell you about how to activate the Cat Miraculous powers."

"Then why did you not tell us sooner?" I asked him as I let go of Adrien, crossing my arms as I was still furious with my brother.

"Okay, so how do I use them?" Adrien asked the young Frank.

"Simple. Just say 'Cataclysm' and you will be able to destroy anything you touch." He answered.

"Okay, got it." He said before he began running to the balcony. "Now time to save Paris!"

"Hold it right there, you incompetent feline!" I said to my brother as I grabbed the tail of his costume and pulled him back, making him sit on the floor. "To ensure that you do not make a mistake and destroy Paris with that power, I will be escorting you to battle."

"What?" he said as he got up, scowling at me. "Come on, Ave! I can take care of myself. I don't need you following me around while I'm being a superhero."

"I do not care." I said to him, returning the look in his eyes. "You're my brother and I need to ensure your safety. Meaning I am coming with you whether you like it or not."

"Hey, I said I can take care of myself and I will! So butt out, sis!"

"Oh, you little…"

Though it was undignified for me to do so, I growled at Adrien as my brother growled at me, the two of us glaring at each other. We were like this for a moment before James spoke up.

"Okay, knock it off, you two." She said to us before she spoke to Adrien. "Adrien, while I do know that you can care for yourself, I also know that you can't do this alone. While you're gonna have a partner in this, you're going to need someone to help you with strategy, something Avery can help you with." Though I gained a smile as my brother gained a look of disbelief, it soon faded away from what the future hero said to me. "And Avery, while I know you are looking out for Adrien, you can't go with him into battle. You don't have the power to help Adrien or Nexus Hero Five, only he does." With that, I was shocked by this but glared at my brother as he looked at me smugly. We both lost those expressions as we looked to James as he spoke to us again, digging into his pocket. "Luckily, I got the solution for it." With that, he then took out two black earpieces. "Before I left, a friend of mine gave me these to give to you."

"Earpieces?" I said, surprised by this as we both took an earpiece.

"So you two can communicate." He told us before speaking to my brother. "With these, Avery can be able to guide you through the situations you'll be dealing with."

"Hmm…" I said as I thought about it. "I suppose this could work. I could hack into the city's CCTV cameras and act as surveillance, helping you pinpoint the villain you're dealing with."

"Works for me!" Adrien said as he put on his earpiece before I put on mine. "Kinda knew we'd be a brawns and brains duo."

"Okay, then I'll be off. Gotta pick up my partner." James said before he held up a hand behind him, a white and green as well as flat portal big enough for him to go through. "But, before I go, let me remind you that you will be allies today, not enemies. If you want to succeed in helping Nexus Hero Five, you need to work together as a team. Not only just a team, but as the brother and sister I know you are. Now promise me that you will work together and not let your pride tear you apart."

"Fine." My brother and I said with a sigh of defeat.

"Good. Now good luck! Paris is counting on ya!" James said before he then walked into the portal which closed behind him.

"Well, you heard him!" Adrien said before he then ran off to the balcony. "Time to be a hero!"

"Adrien, wait! We still need…" I said, my brother not listening to me as he jumped off the railing and landed on top of the wall before jumping away into Paris. "A plan. Ugh!" After giving a slight groan, I decided to do my part and rushed over to the computer in my room, logging into it before using it to hack into the city's security system. "Okay, now let us see if I can find our new supervillain."

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

"How does this thing even come off?" I asked myself as I couldn't remove the costume. "Tikki, if you can hear me, I want my normal clothes back! I'm not going anywhere…"

"Marinette, keep it down!" Ghost Girl said to me as she covered my mouth. "Your parents will hear you!"

"Ghost Girl, there is no way I can do this!" I said to her after she took her hand off my mouth. "Alya would be way better at this and… there is no way I can go out like this!"

"You don't have much of a choice here, Marinette. Tikki didn't say how to turn you back." Ghost Girl said to me. "You're just going to have to work with it."

"But…" Before I could argue, this flat, glowing green oval appeared behind Ghost Girl.

"Oh, looks like my ride's here! Gotta go!" She told me before she floated over to it. "Remember what Tikki said, trust yourself! Good luck, Marinette! See ya next time!"

"Hey, wait! I told you I…" Before I could tell her I couldn't do this, she went through the oval and it disappeared. With that, I could help but groan with worry. "Ohhh! What did I get myself into?" I didn't have much time to think before I looked to my computer and saw a news report showing Stoneheart heading into an alley.

"Stoneheart is heading towards the Montparnasse tower with the Nexus Hero Five following behind. The monster seems to be unstoppable!"

When I looked behind him, I saw Alya following Stoneheart on a bike.

"Alya?" I gasped.

"Marinette, did you get home okay?" I heard my mom say from downstairs, no doubt coming up to check up on me.

"Uhh… Yeah, Mom! Just super!" Seeing I didn't have much of a choice, I ran up the stairs to the balcony to save my new friend before she got hurt.

[No one's view]

"Marinette, you in here?" Sabine said as she opened the trapdoor and peeked into her daughter's room.

[Marinette}

"Tom, we better call the school." My mom said as I got to the balcony, carefully closing the door.

"Okay, I have special powers." I said to myself before I took off the yo-yo on my hip. "And, apparently, this amazing super yo-yo thingy?"

I tossed it over forward, the yo-yo going a lot farther than I thought it would as it then hooked onto this gargoyle statue a few blocks away. When I tried to pull it back, the yo-yo somehow pulled back its string and dragged me along with it. All I could do was scream as I was pulled over to it.

---

[Elsewhere in Paris]

[Adrien]

After getting away from the mansion, I decided to see what I could do now I was a superhero and was getting pretty good at it. Turns out the suit made me as agile as a cat, letting me jump from building to building with ease without losing my balance. Pretty handy, especially when I have to keep up with Nexus Hero Five. I also had this baton that I could extend as far as I wanted, just like the Monkey King Axel told me about once.

"I'm starting to get the hang of this." I said, walking on my baton I had extended on the roofs of two buildings like a tightrope walker.

"Adrien, would you please stop messing around?" my sis said to me over the earpiece. "There's a villain on the loose or have you forgotten the reason you were given those powers?"

"Relax, sis." I told her, putting a finger on the earpiece. "I'm just practicing. Gotta make sure I'm ready for the fight, right?"

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

"Well, while you're out there 'practicing', Stoneheart continues his rampage through Paris!" I told my brother as I tracked the villain through the security feed around the city on my computer, my finger on the earpiece I had. "He managed to escape the Nexus Hero Five. I've managed to calculate his path and it seems he's heading towards the Parc des Princes."

---

[In the streets of Paris]

[Axel]

After Stoneheart managed to escape us, the team and I rushed through the streets to try and catch up to the villain with me sending Nahuel out to find where Stoneheart was heading so we could intercept him.

"Okay, am I the only one who thinks it's weird that Stoneheart just left right when he had us beat?" Terra asked as we ran through the streets.

"I believe that Stoneheart only fought us because he believed we were interfering in his true goal." Hitomi put in. "Once we were defeated, he simply continued towards his true goal."

"Yes, it looked like Stoneheart was looking for something back at the school." Adler added, just as curious about this.

"Or someone." I said as I then realized what Stoneheart was doing, especially with hearing call out one name in anger. "Kim!"

"What?" Adler said to me in confusion.

"Blue, don't you remember?" I said to him. "Kim said some stuff that made Ivan mad before he got evilized."

"I see now." Adler said as he realized what I was saying. "Since it was his anger that turned him into Stoneheart, he is going after the one who made him angry in the first place!"

"Exactly. I told Kim this was going to go back on him." I said before I spoke to the team. "Hope Yellow finds Kim so we can get to him before Stoneheart does."

"Wait, you said the dude Stoneheart's after is named Kim, right?" Terra asked me. "Big jock, red hoodie, cowlick that looks like a paintbrush?"

"Yeah, that's him." I told her. "How'd you know?"

"Because me and Black just saw him in gym class!" Terra said before her and Hitomi then ran up to take the lead. "Follow us! He's over at the stadium!"

[Nahuel]

After finding out that Stoneheart was heading to the Parc des Princes, I ran as fast as I could back to the others to tell them, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as I tracked down their signals.

"How are we looking, Hei?" I asked my Saizuna as I continued traveling by the rooftops.

"We made perfect timing." She said as she appeared at the side of my visor. "Readings say that Axel and the others are just down the alley ahead."

"Magnifico! Thank you, Hei!" I said to her before she disappeared. "Okay, one more jump!" With that, I then jumped while using my lightning powers down into the alley super-fast.

Before I even entered the alley, I was soon met by this guy dressed in black as he was tightrope-walking on this thin, silver pole.

"AAAHHHH!" I screamed as I couldn't stop myself as I headed toward the guy.

"Huh? AAAHHHHH!" Was all the guy said as he turned to look at me before I crashed into him.

[No one's view]

As Nexus Hero Yellow and Adrien fall into the alley, his baton suddenly shortens to now length before falling into the alley.

[Axel]

After running for a moment, we all stopped running as we heard screaming and looked up to see something black and yellow heading toward us.

"What the—Oof!" I said before the yellow and black crashed into me, knocking me to the ground.

[Adler]

"Red!" Terra said as she and Hitomi went over to him.

I would have joined if I did not hear something metal clink in the direction we were heading. Rushing over there, I found and picked up what looked like a silver baton with a glowing green paw print near its upper end.

"Um, Sir Adler?" Wan-ji said as he appeared at the corner of my visor. "While I'm curious as to what this item is, perhaps you should ensure that Axel is not seriously injured?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." I said to him before I turned and joined the ladies in inspecting the conditions of our leader.

[Axel]

Managing to recover from the crash, I opened my eyes in time to hear a voice call out to me.

"Red, are you alright?" Adler asked me.

"I'm fine, Blue." I said before I heard a groan and looked over to my left to see two people lying on top of me, the top one on the pile being Nahuel. "Yellow?"

"Hola, Red." Nahuel greeted me, sounding a bit woozy. "I found where Stoneheart's going."

"Oh, what happened?" Hearing that voice, we both looked to my right, toward the one lying between us in the pile and I was surprised by seeing who it was.

Though he had cat ears on top of his head, green sclera, irises of a darker green, and had his blonde hair slightly longer and untamed, I recognized this guy as my childhood friend.

"Adrien Agreste?" I said, still surprised by this.

"Oh, hey, Red!" Adrien greeted me, casually with a smile. "Long time no see!"

"What are you… why are you…" Before I could ask a complete question, hearing a different scream, we all turned our heads to look up and became shocked as we saw something red coming down at us. "Oh, no." Before we could even move, the red blur crashed right into us, adding more weight to the pile.

[No one's view]

As the dust cloud caused by the impact begins to dissipate, Nexus Hero Red groans as he is left in a daze with another person added to the top of the pile, that person being none other than Marinette as she lays flat to where she is face to face with Adrien. Nexus Hero Red is soon brought out of his daze as Marinette's yo-yo falls down and hits him straight in the forehead.

"Ow!" He says in pain.

"Hey, there!" Adrien greets the girl with a smile. "Nice of you to drop in."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Marinette says to him. "I didn't mean to do it on purpose."

"If you're really sorry, can you please get off me?" Nexus Hero Red said with a pained voice.

"Mr. Red!" Marinette says with a look of shock as she quickly jumps off the pile and stands there in a panic while Nexus Hero Green and Nexus Hero Black help Nexus Hero Yellow and Adrien to their feet. "I am so sorry!"

"It's fine." Nexus Hero Red tells her as Nexus Hero Yellow helps him to his feet. "Luckily, my Nexus Armor protected me from receiving too much damage."

"I believe this is yours." Nexus Hero Blue says as he hands Adrien his baton.

"Thanks, Blue." Adrien says to him.

[Axel]

After recovering, I looked to who had just joined us in the alley and flinched in shock upon seeing one familiar girl. Her hair may have changed color, but there was no mistaking it: this was actually my housemate Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"What?" I said in disbelief with—not only seeing my childhood friend—but a member of my host family standing there with me. "Uh…uh…"

"Uh, Axe?" An-xus said with shock as she appeared at the side of my visor before she showed me a close-up at one of Marinette's ears. "Look."

"That earring…" I said as I recognized the earring my housemate was wearing, said jewelry being red with black spots. With that image disappearing, I then turned to Adrien and saw his cat-themed attire, now beginning to dread what it meant. "Cat boy… show me your hands." With that, Adrien then held up his hands beside his head with his left hand holding a silver baton, causing me to groan in exasperation. "In front of you." With that, he then brought his hands forward and I gasped as I saw a black ring with a green paw print on his right hand. "The Cat Miraculous!" Seeing this, I was now horrified as I saw that Adrien and Marinette were now holders of Miraculous of the Ladybug and the Cat. "You got to be kidding me."

"Hey, is something wrong?" Adrien asked me.

"Hold on a moment." I told him before speaking to my fellow Heroes. "Guys, group huddle!" With that, Adler along with Nahuel, Terra, and Hitomi came over to me and we huddled to discuss what was happening.

[No one's view]

As the Nexus Hero Five whisper among themselves, Adrien and Marinette look at each other, wondering what the five are talking about.

[Axel]

"Axel, what is Adrien and your housemate doing here?" Adler asked me.

"Yeah, and why are they dressed like that?" Terra added.

"Because Master Fu sent them." I told them. "They're the holders of the Ladybug Miraculous and the Cat Miraculous!"

"Those two?" Adler asked in surprise.

"Afraid so." I said before I explained. "Earlier today, Marinette saved Master Fu from being run over. That must've been a test, his way of finding a holder. I bet you he also put Adrien through a test too. That's why he wasn't at school today. The test made him lose his chance."

"You don't sound happy about it." Nahuel said to me.

"Because I know those two." I told him. "Marinette and Adrien aren't ready to use Miraculous, especially those ones!"

"Of all the people in the world, the guardian chose those two to be Miraculous holders?" Hitomi complained.

"What do we do?" Adler asked me.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with them." I told my team before we broke the huddle and we turned to face Marinette and Adrien, the two holders looking at me as I spoke to them. "Well, this is unexpected. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse, you two show up."

"Wait, you know who we are?" Marinette asked me, surprised by this.

"Yeah, I do." I told them. "The Miraculous' magic which makes you unrecognizable to anyone when active doesn't work on me or the rest of Nexus Hero Five. Which is why I know it's bad that you're here." I then face-palmed myself in exasperation. "Dear Goddess, why?" Removing my hand, I then spoke out to the heavens in frustration. "Am I being punished right now?"

"Chill, Red." Adrien said to me. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" I said as I walked over to him with a glare. "Have you met yourself? The Cat Miraculous—which holds the power of Destruction itself—has been given to you, the most reckless guy I know!"

[Adrien]

"He is not wrong, Adrien." Avery said to me through the comms. "Giving you the power to destroy anything may not be the best idea."

"Shut up, sis." I said to her.

[Axel]

"And your partner who wields the Ladybug Miraculous and the power of Creation is the clumsiest girl in Paris!" I said as I then motioned to Marinette as she brought her yo-yo back to her hand, nearly dropping it before grabbing it in both hands.

"He's not wrong about that." Marinette said with an embarrassed smile. "I'm actually clumsy, madly clumsy."

"Which is why I'm telling you both to go home." I said before I walked back over to my team. "We'll deal with you later. Right now, we have a city to save."

"Come on, Red." Adrien said to me. "We're superheroes too. Plus, I've seen you guys work with other superheroes before. What's different about this?"

"The other heroes we worked with in the past are experienced in dealing with things like this." I said as I turned to face him. "I know for a fact that you and Spots here only got your Miraculous today, Cat Boy. For crying out loud, the girl barely knows how to use her yo-yo!"

"Spots?" Marinette asked in confusion.

"Cat Boy?" Adrien put in, just as confused.

"Well, I have to call you guys something." I told them. "While I know who you are under those masks, I can't call you by your real names, especially in public. It's a rule in this situation. While I do know one name I can call Spots by, that's something she'll have to earn before I can call her that."

"Hey, I got a name!" Adrien retorted.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, it's, uhhhhhh…" Adrien said as he thought for a moment before he smiled. "Cat Noir! Yeah! You can call me Cat Noir!"

Cat Noir

Gender: Male

Miraculous: Cat Miraculous

Power: Destruction (Cataclysm)

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

"Cat Noir?" I said to myself, surprised my brother chose that as a name to be called by.

---

[Streets of Paris]

[Axel]

"Wow, real original." I said to Adrien. "How long did it take for you to come up with that? Five seconds?"

"What? I'd say it's the purr-fect name for me." Adrien said to me. "After all, I am the cat's meow."

"Oh! Don't do cat puns, please." I groaned as I cringed at his cheesy jokes. "That's the last thing Paris needs." Recomposing myself, I then spoke to Marinette. "What about you? Got a name for yourself too?"

"Me? Oh, no." Marinette nervously said to me. "I'm fine with whatever you want to call me."

After she gave me a nervous laugh, we all gasped upon hearing a loud rumble and turned to see a building fall, no doubt from Stoneheart's rampage.

"Green, Black," I said to the female members of my team, "how far is the stadium you were telling me about?"

"Not too far." Terra told me. "It's only just a few short blocks from here."

"Which means Stoneheart's closing in on his target." I said with a serious look.

"Target?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, we talked to a buddy of old Rock Head and he told us he was mad as some guy named Kim." Terra told her. "He's going after him right now for some payback."

"Yeah, and it's not going to end well for Kim once Stoneheart finds him." I added.

"Then let's get him!" Adrien said as he elongated the baton he had and used it to pole-vault on top of a nearby building.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Marinette called out, getting Adrien to turn to her.

"To save Paris! That's what we're here to do, right?" Cat Noir grinned before he jumped away.

"Cat Noir, this isn't your fight!" I told him as he disappeared into the city, causing me to groan. "Ugh! For once, can that guy just listen?" With this, I then spoke to Marinette. "Spots, do yourself a favor and go home. Holder or not, you can't help us. Like I said, I'll deal with you later." With that, I then spoke to my team. "Come on, let's go and make sure that cat doesn't hurt himself. Black, Green, you lead the way!"

"Got it, Red!" Terra and Hitomi nodded to me.

"Nexus Hero Five, move out!" I said to my team.

[Terra]

"Yuu, activate Rock Tunneler!" I said to my Saizuna, holding up a fist.

"You got it, Terra!" Yuu told me as he showed up at the side of my visor.

[Axel]

After Terra said that before her gauntlet was covered in a green aura followed by a big drill made of green energy that formed right in front of her fist. After this happened, she then jumped into the air before punching downward, the drill spinning as a green aura surrounded her as she headed toward the street.

Rock Tunneler

From meeting the ground, the drill managed to drill through the street, leaving a big hole in it. Not long after, a dirt trench appeared and stretched out towards the direction Cat Noir was going, this being Terra using her fast-travel Hero technique.

[Hitomi]

"An-chei, I request my Meta-Construct!" I said to my Saizuna.

"Yes, ma'am." An-chei said to me as his head appeared in the corner of my visor.

[Axel]

After she said that, a small sphere of black and gold metal with pink highlights formed in her open gauntlet hand before she clutched. With tossing it forward, we all then watched as it gave off a pink flash upon hitting the ground, the sphere transforming into something else through a reconfiguration process.

"Meta-Construct…" Hitomi said as the sphere finished its transformation. "Sonic Unicorn!"

With the light fading away, we all looked at what the sphere had become: a black and black Honda NM4 Vultus motorcycle with a front resembling a unicorn's head with a golden horn and sky blue eyes, flat black wheels with golden rims, and pink highlights around its body.

Meta-Construct: Sonic Unicorn

With this, Hitomi then jumped with a flip right onto the seat of the motorcycle before grabbing onto the handles. After revving it a bit, she then rode off, following the same path Terra took with a trail of pink light flowing behind her.

[Nahuel]

"Hei, activate Lightning Hustle!" I said to my Saizuna.

"Already done, Nahuel." She told me as she appeared at the side of my visor.

[Axel]

After Nahuel said that, he began to surge with electricity for a moment before jumping over to the top of the building Cat Noir went to while surrounded in electricity.

Lightning Hustle

After reaching the roof, he then jumped over to another building and continued jumping from roof to roof as he followed behind Hitomi, doing so as a big bolt of yellow lightning.

[Adler]

"Wan-ji, activate Frost Wings!"

"Right away, sir Adler." Wan-ji said to me as he appeared in the corner of my visor.

[Axel]

After Adler said this, I then watched as ice began to form on his back, taking the shape of large bird wings which glistened like diamonds. After this happens, he then jumps into the air and begins to fly, the wings flapping just like a bird's as they carry him through the sky.

Frost Wings

As he then flew off in the same direction as the rest of our team, I then went on to do the same and activate my own fast-travel technique.

"Ann, activate Flare Dash!" I said to my Saizuna.

"You got it, Axe!" An-xus said as she appeared in my visor.

Getting into running position, bursts of fire shoot out from under my boots, lifting me slightly off the ground. As I began to run with the fire bursts increasing my speed, I was soon surrounded by an aura of flame as I rushed through the streets, looking like a fireball as I managed to catch up to my friends as we all traveled to the stadium.

Flare Dash

[Marinette]

Seeing Nexus Hero Five leave, I bit my lip and looked down at my yo-yo, feeling nervous as I tried to figure out what to do. I know Red told me to go home and I wanted to, but it was not like I could the way I was. Plus, I actually knew who they were talking about. Kim might be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve to get beat up. I then remembered what Tikki said to me and sighed as I decided what to do.

"What did I get myself into?" I said as I got ready to use my yo-yo. "Trust yourself, trust yourself!" After latching it onto a chimney, I ended up flinging myself over the roof it was at as I tried to follow Cat Noir and Nexus Hero Five. "Ahh!"

---

[Parc des Princes]

[No one's view]

With gym class over and his classmates beginning to leave, Kim picks up his backpack and starts to head out the doors, but soon turns around upon hearing his name and looking up to the rim of the stadium.

"KI-I-I-IM!" Stoneheart screams, causing the remaining people except Kim—who is stopped in his tracks to hear Ivan's voice coming from the villain—to run out of the gym. "SO, WHO'S THE WUSS NOW?" As he makes his way from the top of the building to the floor of it, Stoneheart runs towards Kim who is already running himself.

[Adrien]

When I got to the stadium, I found Stoneheart going after somebody who I guess was that Kim guy Nexus Hero Five were talking about. When I saw the guy trip and the big bully try to grab him, I decided to do something about it, using my baton to get myself down there.

"Hey!" I yelled as I got in between the two and the kid made a run for it. "It's not very nice to pick on people who are smaller than you."

"Guess that's more to yourself." Stoneheart shot back, getting ready to hit me with his stone arm.

[No one's view]

Unknown to anyone, as Cat Noir is dodging Stoneheart's attacks, one of the edges of the all-seater stands give off an ominous purple glow as a strange purple ooze leaks out of them.

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

"Everything is going according to plan." I said with a smile upon my face of seeing my plan coming to fruition. "The Ladybug and Cat Miraculous have been activated. Here come the holders to save the day and now my supervillain will destroy them along with the Nexus Hero Five!" Making a fist in satisfaction, I then went on to give my villain the one command I've been waiting to say. "Stoneheart, it is time for that favor we agreed upon. The one you are fighting wields the Cat Miraculous, the ring he is wearing. Obtain it and I will allow you to keep your powers." With that, I then continued to watch the fight through the eyes of my villain, looking forward towards the window.

---

[Parc des Princes]

[Adrien]

"Adrien, I do hope there's more to your plan than just dodging his attacks." Avery said to me over the comms.

"Don't worry! I got him!" I told her as I went on to strike, jumping on and off Stoneheart's fist after he slammed it to try and crush me with it before I smacked him in the back with my staff. "Yeah!" I soon lost my smile as Stoneheart started glowing for a bit before he turned around with a stomp, now as big as a giant.

"Was that part of your plan?" Avery sarcastically asked me.

"Where are you, partner?" I called out, looking around for the girl in red before I then started dodging Stoneheart again.

[Marinette]

After I got there, I saw Cat Noir fighting Stoneheart and it looked like he wasn't having any luck in finding a way to beat him.

"Oh, I can't." I said to myself, putting my hands over my eyes to hide my tears. "I won't be able to do it."

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

As I continued to monitor my brother as he fought Stoneheart, my worry for Adrien's safety, I managed to catch a glimpse of someone over at one of the entrances. Managing to zoom in on them, I was both surprised and confused to find a girl with glasses down on one knee while holding up her phone sideways and with the camera facing the battle in front of her, wondering what she was doing before I then went on to inform my brother about this.

"Adrien, use caution!" I said to myself, surprised my brother chose that as a name to be called by. "Some girl is over by an entrance to the field! I repeat, a civilian is down there with you!"

---

[Parc des Princes]

[Adrien]

As I charged to try and whack him with my staff again, Stoneheart picked up one of the soccer goals and threw it at me. I managed to dodge it, but it bounced off the ground and was about to land on a girl that was over at one of the entrances to the field.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

"Aah!" I yelped as the soccer goal came down towards the girl.

---

[Parc des Princes]

[Adrien]

Seeing the girl was about to get crushed as she held her arms up, I was about to throw my baton to catch it. But, before I even made a move, something made of fire went right past me and went over to the girl. After the fire disappeared, I smiled as I saw a pair of hands catch the goal, those hands belonging to none other than Red.

[Marinette]

Peeking through my fingers, I sighed with relief as I saw Red holding up the goal, saving Alya from getting crushed.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

"Phew!" I sighed as I slumped in my chair, relieved to see Nexus Hero Red save the girl who lowered her arms to find the hero in front of her and stared at him in awe.

---

[Parc des Princes]

[Axel]

After holding onto the soccer goal for a moment, I then tossed it away to the side, the goal landing on the field with a large thud.

"Phew! That was close." I sighed in relief before I then turned to Alya. "You okay, miss?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." She told me, trying her best not to completely geek out on me like a fangirl. "Thanks, Red. Can I call you 'Red'?"

"Yeah, it's okay." I said to her, smiling under my helmet.

"Yeah! Nice save, Red!" Adrien said to me, making me lose my smile as I turned to him. It wasn't long until Stoneheart managed to grab him.

"Cat Noir!" I said as I rushed over to Stoneheart.

After I got in front of Stoneheart who towered over me like a giant, I heard some revving and turned around to see Hitomi show up on her Sonic Unicorn from the entrance opposite to where Alya was at. Going over and parking at Stoneheart's left, I watched as the Sonic Unicorn disappeared in pink light and Hitomi stood there, ready to fight the villain.

Hearing rumbling, we all looked to Stoneheart's right as Terra popped out of the ground and took a fighting stance, both the green aura and drill disappearing from her hand.

Coming in from above, both Nahuel and Adler come in to stand right behind Stoneheart with Nahuel appearing in a strike of lightning to the villain's right and Adler landing to his left. Now with the five of us surrounding him, my team and I were ready to fight Stoneheart.

[No one's view]

As Nexus Hero Five stands ready to fight, Alya watches it all with her eyes shining in awe as she records it on her phone.

"This is so cool!" she says to herself. "Not only do I get footage of Nexus Hero Five in action, but a whole new superhero too!"

[Axel]

"Put the cat down, Stoneheart!" I said to the villain. "This is between you and us!"

"Why don't you come over here and make me?" Stoneheart gloated.

"As you wish, stone breath!" Terra said as she was about to charge at him.

"Green, don't!" I said, stopping her. "If you attack him, Stoneheart will only get stronger! Also we can't risk hurting Cat Noir!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Terra asked me.

"Just give me a minute!" I said as I tried to think of a solution, becoming stressed with our situation. "Think, Red. Think!"

I tried my very best to come up with a plan, but none of them seemed to be right with what we had to deal with. Adrien was now being held hostage by Stoneheart, a villain with rock-hard skin and the ability to grow bigger and stronger with any physical blow he receives. Even if we attack, he either might just absorb the attack to grow or use Adrien as a shield. No matter what we would try, it would only make things worse. I was starting to think there was no way for us to beat him.

[No one's view]

Seeing Nexus Hero Red as he tries to come up with a plan, Alya becomes deeply worried that the superheroes she admires will actually lose this time. Her worry disappears when she notices someone standing at the rim of the stadium. Using her phone, she zooms in to find Marinette standing there, the masked girl looking down in worry.

[Axel]

"What are you waiting for, Super Red Bug?" Alya called out as we all turned to her. "The world is watching you!"

"Red Bug?" I said before I turned to where she was looking and was surprised to find Marinette standing there. "Spots?"

[Marinette]

After looking at Alya for a second, I then looked to find Red looking up at me, wondering what I was going to do. Clutching my yo-yo, it was then that I finally decided what to do. Not sure if I was the right person for the job, but I was gonna try. The Nexus Hero Five needed help and I was going to give that help. I just need to trust myself and have confidence.

[Axel]

Instead of going home like I said, to my surprise, Marinette gained a look of determination before she ran and jumped off the rim before sending her yo-yo at Stoneheart. As she went through between his legs and skid across the ground over to me, her yo-yo wrapped around Stoneheart's legs, confusing him.

"Animal cruelty? How shameful!" She said as she glared at Stoneheart before pulling on her yo-yo, the stringing tightening around Stoneheart's legs and forcing them together.

With his legs forced together like that, Stoneheart lost his balance and fell backwards, losing his grip on Cat Noir who rolls around on the field.

[No one's view]

"Yes!" Alya said, glad to see the new superheroine spring into action.

[Axel]

"I thought I told you to go home, Spots." I said to Marinette with a scowl as she pulled her yo-yo back to her hand.

"And I'm glad I didn't." She told me with a smile. "And you should too. Without me, Cat Noir would still be a hostage."

"Like I told that cat, this isn't your fight." I said to her.

"Actually it is." She retorted as she lost her smile, her boldness surprising. "Look, I'm not sure if I can do this, but it's clear that Nexus Hero Five need me and Cat Noir. If we're ever gonna stop Stoneheart, we need to work together." After a moment, I was about to argue when An-xus appeared in my visor.

"Don't even try it, Axe." My Saizuna said as she gave me a glare. "We both know she's right. Just let her and Adrien help."

"Ugh! Fine." I said in defeat. "Okay, just this once, you two can help. But after this, you're going straight home. Got it?"

"Got it." She told me with a smile.

"Okay." I said before I called out to my team. "Nexus Hero Five, regroup!"

As Stoneheart began to pick himself up, my team, Marinette, and I rushed over to Cat Noir as he stopped rolling at the soccer goal I saved Alya from.

"Sorry it took so long, Cat Noir." Marinette said as we went over to him, the girl helping him up.

"It's cool, Wonderbug." Adrien said as he brushed off the dirt on his suit before he put his fingers together and stretched them. "Now let's kick his rocky behind!"

"Hold it, Cat!" I said to Adrien, stopping him by grabbing and pulling him by the tail. "You can't rush off like that. We need a plan first."

"Yeah, especially with that power of his." Terra put in.

"Power?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, Stoneheart has the ability to grow bigger and stronger with any physical attack dealt to him." I explained as Stoneheart began walking over to us. "When we first saw him, he was a lot smaller than he is now."

"If that's the case, then let's try something different." Marinette suggested.

"Like what?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She said as she tried to think.

"I know. Let's use our powers!" Adrien said before he thrust an open hand up. "Cataclysm!" With that, an orb of dark power formed into his hand before he grabbed it and brought it back down, causing his hand to be cover in black particles.

Cataclysm

"Seriously? You're using your Cataclysm?" I said to him, not really seeing any use of his power in this situation.

"Yep!" He proudly said with a smirk before he spoke to Marinette as he reopened his hand. "Cool, huh? Apparently, I destroy whatever I touch."

"I don't need a superpower to destroy everything." She complained, crossing her arms. With a grin on his face, I watched as Adrien reach over to the soccer goal.

"No, don't!" I warned, but was too late as dark energy left his hand and went to the post.

The energy surged around it for a moment, causing it to rust. When the energy disappears, the goal completely falls apart.

"Cool!" He exclaimed, looking at his hand before turning back to the stone villain. "It's just you and me now!" He then charged at Stoneheart. "Time to rumble, soon to be rubble!"

"Cat Noir, wait!" My warning fell on deaf ears as Cat Noir jumped to the bottom of Stoneheart's feet, lightly touching it.

He waited for a second for him to crumble, but nothing happened. He tried once more by placing his on the villain's foot with nothing happening. We all watched as Stoneheart then kicked him back over to us.

"Hey, Red!" Adrien said to me as he got himself back to his feet. "What happened?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you. You guys can only use your power in one shot." I said before I heard beeping and grabbed his hand to find one of the paws of his ring's paw print. "And now you'll only got five minutes left of being Cat Noir."

"What? What are you talking about?" He asked me.

"That's the other thing." I explained. "Once you use your power, you'll transform back to your civilian form within five minutes. Didn't your kwami explain anything to you?"

Adrien grinned cheekily as he put his hands behind his head. "I guess I was a little excited about my new life."

"Well, now at least we don't have to worry about you hurting him." I said to him. "If you used your power on Stoneheart, you would've killed him. He's a victim, not a monster, cat-for-brains!"

"Oh, whoops!" Cat said with a guilty smile.

"It's all up to you now, Spots." I said to Marinette. "To use your power, just throw your yo-yo into the air and say 'Lucky Charm'."

"Got it!" Marinette said as she then crossed her arms before she threw her yo-yo in the air. "Lucky Charm!"

Lucky Charm

With that, her powers activated, her yo-yo giving off a pink light and what appeared to be ladybugs that gathered together and formed a ball above her. With a flash, the light and ladybug swarm disappeared, replaced by a ladybug-printed suit that fell into Marinette's hands.

"What the…" Cat Noir trailed off, his eyes widened at the suit.

"That's her Lucky Charm." I explained as we looked at the suit. "It's supposed to be an object that can help the user succeed in a task they set out to do."

"How is a suit supposed to help us?" Adler asked.

"Not sure, but let's not fret on the suit." I said before getting us back to the task at hand. "We need to get Stoneheart's akuma. It's the source of his power."

"Well, he's made entirely out of stone." Cat Noir pointed a finger up.

"No, the akuma isn't his form, it's the akumatized object." I told him as I explained how the akuma works. "When an akuma evilizes someone, it hides in an item they have on them, a symbol for whatever negative emotions they were feeling. Once it's broken, the akuma will be released."

"Like the Russian dolls." Marinette said, understanding what I was saying.

"Exactly." I confirmed with her. "Once we release the akuma, Stoneheart will got back to his old self. He's got to be that object keeping it somewhere on him."

"His right hand!" Marinette said, eyes opened up in realization. "It's still closed! When you fighting with him, he never opened it!"

"You're right!" I said as I remembered Stoneheart only opening his left hand. "That's where the akuma is! But how do we get him to open his hand?"

[Marinette]

After he asked that, I then looked at the suit my powers gave me before I looked around to figure out how to use it. There, being highlighted in a ladybug pattern, I saw Stoneheart's fist, Alya (who was recording this whole thing), a water tap, and a hose the tap was attached to at my feet. Seeing all that, I smiled as I was able to figure out what the suit was for.

[Axel]

"I do!" Marinette said before she took a hose that was in the ground and hooked it up to the suit. "With this." With that done, she then wrapped her yo-yo around Cat Noir's legs. "Don't resist. Trust me!" Spinning him around and around, she finally let go and sent Cat Noir at Stoneheart.

"This girl's crazy!" Cat yelled in terror as Stoneheart caught him, Marinette's actions both shocking and confusing me.

"Uh, Spots? What exactly is your… Wait!" I said before I saw her running at the villain.

"Catch me if you can!" Marinette taunted, jumping over Stoneheart's head with the suit and the hose.

From this, Stoneheart then opened his closed hand and used it grab Marinette, a dark purple object falling out and landing in the field.

"The akuma!" I said before I then used my Flare Dash to rush over and grab the akumatized object—which was some kind of cubic, stone ball with the akumatized shade of dark purple—before going back to the others. "Got it!"

[Marinette]

After seeing Red with what Stoneheart's object, I then went on with the last part of my plan.

"And now… Alya, the tap!" I yelled out, getting Alya's attention.

Alya then ran over to the tap and turned it on, allowing the water to flow through it and into the suit. With the water shooting out of the suit's sleeves and legs, Stoneheart let go of me before I then ran over to Nexus Hero Five.

[Axel]

After seeing Marinette escape Stoneheart, I then went on to release the akuma, crushing the ball to pieces.

"Come out of there, you little pest!" I said as the pieces land on the ground, followed by a little black butterfly flying out of them.

Looking to Stoneheart, I watched as was covered by this black mist and started shrinking, causing Cat Noir to fall to the ground. When the mist disappeared, Stoneheart was back to being Ivan.

"What's going on? What am I doing here?" Ivan asked as he looked around, no doubt experiencing some short-term memory loss from being evilized.

---

[Agreste Mansion, Avery's room]

[Avery]

Watching as the girl Red called Spots rushed over to Nexus Hero Five, I couldn't help but be impressed by the plan she managed to execute.

"Huh. This Spots girl is more impressive than I thought." I said before I then spoke to Adrien. "Are you alright, Adrien?" I became confused as I got no response from him. "Adrien?"

"Awesome." Adrien said before I then zoomed in on him to find him staring at that girl in awe. "This girl is awesome. She's crazy awesome!"

I groaned in exasperation as my brother fawned over the girl who he barely knows, placing my palm upon my face.

---

[Parc des Princes]

[Axel]

"Nice work getting Stoneheart to open his hand." I said to Marinette. "Not bad, Ladybug."

"Ladybug?" She asked as she raised a brow at me.

"Yeah, that's what we Heroes call the holders of the Ladybug Miraculous." I told her. "You've earned and I'd say it's pretty fitting."

"Thanks." She said with a grateful smile.

"Now to deal with that akuma." I said as I turned to the sky, only to find the akuma not up there. "Where's the akuma?"

"Over there!" Adler said as we looked to where he was pointing, finding the akuma flying over towards the stands.

"Where's it going?" Marinette asked me.

"I don't know." I told her. "The akuma doesn't usually stick around, not unless it found another victim to evilize." I then looked around. "As far as I can see, there's no one acting negative around here."

"Uh, guys?" Nahuel said as he pointed toward the akuma. "On the ground."

Looking towards the ground, I became shocked as I saw a dark purple substance that I haven't seen for the past year.

"Ooze?" I said before I looked to see the akuma was flying towards the Ooze. After getting with about five feet of it, a strand of the Ooze stretched and grabbed the akuma, pulling it into itself like a frog catching a fly. "Uh-oh."

"That's not good, right?" Adler said with worry.

"No, this is bad." I said before the Ooze began to bubble and grow, become a big blob of purple slime.

After a moment, the Ooze blob then began to spin around until it turned into a little tornado. As Cat Noir then joined us, we all watched as the tornado moved over to where it was now it front of us at the opposite soccer goal. After a moment, we watched as the tornado then changed shape, becoming humanoid. After its transformation was complete, we then watched as it changed color, revealing itself to be something that looked like Stoneheart at the size he started with when Ivan was evilized. Though it looked different than the original Stoneheart with its knuckle being violet and pulsing veins of the same color on its chest. The biggest difference was its face as it now had only big one eye instead of two glowing ones, this eye being red with white sclera and having dark purple eyelids with lightning bolt-shaped antenna on the upper lid. Glaring at us, the creature roared at us with a distorted voice and a mouth filled with strands of purple slime.

"Really bad!" I said as we all looked in shocked at a new Stoneheart looking at us.

After running for a moment, the Stoneheart creature jumped up before coming down with fists raised up high.

"Look out!" I said before we all then dodged the attack, splitting into two groups while the creature's attack made a big crater in the field.

"Did that akuma thing turn into a Narcibeast?" Adler asked me in disbelief.

"That's no Narcibeast." I told him. "That's an Oozoid, an akumatized one."

"What's an Oozoid?" Marinette asked me.

"A creature made of entirely of Dark Ooze, a substance that feeds of negative emotions." I explained to her. "It's only instinct is to cause chaos and destruction wherever it goes."

"Why does it look like Stoneheart?"

"Because that's the imprint the akuma got from Ivan."

"Imprint?" Adler asked me.

"Yeah. When a Kamiko or Akuma transforms someone, they create an imprint based on the transformation." I explained as the Oozoid then looked at Adrien and Nahuel before charging at them, the two jumping to dodge it as crashed into the wall. "Unless the power used to create it is removed, it will keep that imprint and anything that takes it will end up transforming into a replica of that form it made. This is an example of it."

"It's not acting like any Oozoid I've seen." Adler said, pointing out how the Oozoid randomly charging at our teammates like a crazed bull.

"Probably because there's no one to control it. When Oozoids are around, there is either a Narcibeast or a Bond Breaker leading them. Without them, it's left with only its basic instincts. No different than a wild animal."

"How do we stop it?"

I then gained a smirk as I turned to him. "Blue, it's an Oozoid. We deal with it like we've done with the others."

"You mean fight it?" Adler was surprised by this. "But won't that thing just get bigger like Stoneheart did?"

"GET OFF!" Hearing Terra's yell, we then looked as she then punched the Oozoid away, the creature landing a few yards away.

As it got up to its feet, instead of glowing and growing, the Stoneheart Oozoid only shook its head and roared at her.

"That answer your question?" I smugly said to Adler. "It's only the emotions Ivan was feeling that made the Oozoid's form, not the power. As such, it can't use the power the Akuma has."

"Oh. Well, that works well for us, doesn't it?" Adler said, no doubt sharing the same smile I had.

"Indeed, it does." I said before we both stand up straight, getting ready to fight the Oozoid. "Ready, Blue?"

"Ready!" With that, we both then tapped our belt buckles with our gauntlet hand, causing a section of them to slide forward before something small shots out of them.

When we caught them with our other hands, what one would see has we held them up with two fingers and a thumb is a golden coin with that has the insignia of Nexus Hero Five on one side and the image of a weapon outline in the respective color of the Hero holding the coin on the other. For me, outlined in red, my coin had a katana that had a guard resembling a t-rex head with a blade with flames designs on the sides coming out of its mouth and a grip resembling the dinosaur's tail. For Adler, his was a crossbow that appeared to be combined with a rifle while resembling an eagle with the wings making up the prod and the head being the stirrup.

Hero Arsenal Medal

---

Axel Frank: Okay, allow me to explain.

This coins are special Hero Arsenal Medals, special items we Heroes use to summon special tools we have.

This is why our Bond Gauntlets have these slots. When we place one of the Medals into it, our Gauntlets will instantly materialize them for us to use in any situation, such as our battles.

Most of them are ones we share, such as our Honor Blades and our Union Blasters.

But the ones we have are for our Nexus Weapons, the five great weapons of the Heroes which hold the most power, one for each Hero of the team.

---

"Hero Arsenal!" Adler and I both said before he and I placed our respective Medals into the slot on our gauntlets. "Summoning Nexus Weapon!"

Upon being inserted into the slot, the Medals began to glow in our respective colors before we held our gauntlet hands up into the air.

From my hand, flames began to form and grow to take the shape of a katana. After the sword of fire is fully formed, the flames dissipate and reveal the sword that was depicted on my Medal underneath. The sword was a katana of pure red with a golden blade which had red flames styled along the sides, the blade being about twenty-seven inches and its grip being about eleven inches. The guard resembled my Nexus Ring with the green eyes and the glowing, red crystalline crest that resembled flames. Grabbing the grip by both hands, I then did a swung the sword downward slash before holding it up.

"Blazing Tyranno Sword!" I said as I held my sword in front of me.

Blazing Tyranno Sword

From Adler's hand, ice formed and took on the form of a crossbow. After the crossbow formed, the ice cracked before breaking apart in a flash, revealing the very weapon that was on his Medal. It was a pure blue crossbow with the head having yellow eyes and yellow beak and glowing crystal-like wings of the same blue. The stock of the weapon was styled to resemble an eagles tail feathers. Much like I said, it appeared to be combined with a rifle with a muzzle over stirrup. With this, Adler then made his gauntlet hand into a fist before the crossbow placed itself onto the back of it

"Ice Eagle Crossbow!" Adler said as he held up his crossbow beside his head.

Ice Eagle Crossbow

"Winter Arrows!" Adler said as he took aim at the Oozoid before the crossbow began shooting arrows made of blue light.

Winter Arrows

Upon hitting by the arrows, the Oozoid soon found itself covered from the neck down it ice, roaring as it struggled to get itself out. With this, I then rushed over, pulling my sword back to slash at the monster as the blade ignited into flames.

"Flare Slash!" I said as I then slashed at the Oozoid, creating a burning mark on the ice which exploded after a brief moment.

Flare Slash

From this, the ice broke apart and disappeared as the Oozoid is sent crashing into the ground, actually giving out a grunt of pain from the impact.

"Guys, it's okay! It's just an Oozoid!" I called to the rest of my team as the Oozoid began to pick itself up. "It might look like Stoneheart, but it doesn't have his powers!"

"Which means we can stop holding back!" Terra said as she then hit her belt buckle, summoning her Medal which had the image of a great spear outlined in green. "Summoning Nexus Weapon!" With catching the Medal, she then instantly placed it into her gauntlet's slot, the Medal soon giving off a green light.

With holding her hand up into the air, green stones began to build up and formed into a spear. After completing its shape, the stones began to crack before breaking apart in a green flash, revealing her Nexus Weapon underneath. Her weapon was a green and gold short spear with the top of it resembling the head of Chinese dragon similar to her Nexus Ring with sky blue eyes. The golden blade itself which had its cutting edge at the tip of the front down toward the back of it resembled to that of a guandao and a golden wheel at the bottom corner of the front located under the dragon's chin. On the wheel, the blade, and the grip of the spear is green crack-like lineage. With her weapon formed, she then grabbed the spear by the grip before bringing it down to her.

"Mountain Dragon Spear!" Terra said as she held her spear in front of her, blade pointed at the Oozoid.

Mountain Dragon Spear

With a yell, she charged right at the Oozoid, causing it to turn her as she attacked it, pushing it back with a slash from her spear. As she charged again, the Oozoid managed to dodge her before it then threw a punch at her, an attack the Hero of Courage was able to avoid. From this, the two then began exchanging and dodging blows from each other with Terra's attacks being the only ones making contact. This last for a good moment before she then gave one good upward slash that sent the Oozoid away. After managing to pick itself off the ground, the Oozoid roared before it then began to charge at Terra.

"Mountain Dragon Spear: Mighty Axe Mode!" She said as she put one hand out in front of her before bringing her spear down on it, the bottom of the weapon hitting the palm of it.

From this, the eyes of the dragon gave a slight flash before the wheel turned and took off the blade, placing it under the dragon's chin with the back now facing forward.

Mountain Dragon Spear: Mighty Axe Mode

"Quake Strike!" With that, Terra then slammed the blade on the ground, causing a crack with green crystal spike protruding from it that spread over to the Oozoid.

Only after barely closing the distance between it and its opponent did the Oozoid stop and looked to follow the crack as it went under the monster before a large crystal spike shot out and sent the Oozoid into the sky above the stadium.

[Nahuel]

"I'm getting in on this!" I said before I then hit my belt buckle and got out the Medal for my Nexus Weapon. "Summoning Nexus Weapon!" After that, the Medal started glowing yellow before I held up my open hand.

With that, electricity gathered in the air and took the shape of a block bigger than my hands together. After they took those shapes, I then punched two fist into them where they gave off a flash and turned into a yellow and silver cube before splitting off into big paw-shaped gauntlets with four, little glowing yellow claws at the front. With them above me, I thrust my hands into the insert holes at the back, gripping the handles in them before bringing them back to me.

"Storm Jaguar Claws!" I said as he held one arm at my side and the other out in front of me, the glows claws extending out to about eight inches and showing off their lightning-bolt shape.

Storm Jaguar Claws

[Axel]

With seeing a blur of yellow electricity go by, I looked over to see Nahuel running over to the crystal with a trail of electricity following behind him and his Storm Jaguar Claws on. Jumping up to the top of crystal, he then up and flew past the Oozoid before turning around with his arms spread and electricity surging through the blades of his claws as he came back down.

"Thunder Strike!" Nahuel said as he then did a double side slash with his claws, sending six crossing waves of yellow energy surging with electricity that pushed the Oozoid down to ground with great force.

Upon hitting the ground, there was a great explosion which left quite a crater in the stadium. After the smoke cleared, despite the impact and the explosion, the Oozoid still managed to pick itself up and stand up with a roar.

"Well, if you all are going to use your weapons, I think I shall do the same." Hearing her voice, I turned to Hitomi as she walked over to stand at the edge of the crater before she then repeated the same actions of her fellow Heroes, her Medal having the image of a black lance that resembles a unicorn's head outlined in pink. "Summoning Nexus Weapon!" Inserting her Medal into the slot before it begins to shine pink, she then raising her up to the sky as her weapon began to appear.

With outlines of pink making out the shape of a lance with the base shaped like a unicorn head making the base and its horn making out the point with a spiral design on it. In a flash, the outlines turn into the very weapon they shaped, turning to black metal with sky blue eyes on the head which had a golden chanfron. The horn which was as big as the head was also black crystal shaped like a spiral cone with a golden tip. With placing her gauntlet hand inside the unicorn head and grabbing the lance's grip, Hitomi then brought the lance down to her.

"Obsidian Unicorn Lance!" Hitomi said as she turned her body sideways, pointing her lance toward the Oozoid.

Obsidian Unicorn Lance

From this, she then brought her lance up to across her chest before she then charged toward the Oozoid with battle cry, the Oozoid giving out a roar before it then charges at her in response. As the two clashed, Hitomi was able to block and avoid the Oozoid's attacks and even managed to land both smacks and jabs on it, her jousting technique having movements similar to ballet. It was only after a good moment of this that she got in front of the Oozoid and pulled back her lance with the crystal portion of the point gaining a pink glow.

"Spiral Thrust!" She said as she thrusted her lance forward, the point spinning like a drill with a spiraling aura of pink surrounding it.

Spiral Thrust

With behind hit by the lance, the Oozoid was sent flying to the wall behind it, spinning in the same rotation as the energy that pushed it from its stomach as it crashed into the seats.

[No one's view]

As evil creature crashes into the seats, creating a big cloud of dust, Alya watches with a smile as she records the battle before her.

"Wow!" the girl said with eyes full of awe. "New superheroes and an epic fight with a supervillain? This has got to be the best day of my life!"

[Axel]

Even after crashing into the row of seats there, after the dust settled, we saw the Oozoid get back on its feet while looking a little dazed.

"Wow!" Terra said as me and her along with Adler and Nahuel went over to Hitomi. "Even after taking a beating, that Oozoid is still going. They usually got splat from that."

"Perhaps the Evilization makes Oozoids like this one more durable." Hitomi put in.

"If that's the case, then maybe we need something stronger." I said before I held up my sword it front of me. "Let's bring them together!"

"Right! Let us use our Enforcer Weapon!" Hitomi said as she then held up her lance and put it over my sword's blade.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Terra said as she then held her spear over the lance of her fellow Hero. Nahuel did the same by putting his claws over her spear which was followed by Adler who took off his crossbow and held it by the tail feathers over Nahuel's claws.

"Weapons combine!" we said together before our weapons began to glow in rainbow-colored light.

Letting go of them, we watched as our weapons floated into the air while my fellow Heroes went to stand by my side with Nahuel to my left side with Adler between us and Hitomi to my right with Terra between us. With us now standing in line, we watched as the weapons of my fellow Heroes began to transform as they combined with my sword. Hitomi's lance divided into two, the limbs of Adler's crossbow then bent halfway to form an arc as the trigger folded forward, the blade of Terra's spear then returned to its original position, and the blades of Nahuel's claws retracting before the claws come together at the palms, linking together. From this, the claws attached to the bottom of my sword's grip before the bow then attached itself to the back of my sword's blade before the spear attached itself to Alder's weapon with the spear's cutting edge facing the opposite direction of the katana's. With that, the lance came over and attached itself to the sides of my sword, aligning its point along the flames on the blade and the limbs of the crossbow. With the sword floating down to me, I then took it by the grip before holding it above my head.

"Enforcer Weapon: Great Bond Sword!" my team and I said in unison, ready to use our ultimate weapon.

Enforcer Weapon: Great Bond Sword

---

Axel Frank: The Great Bond Sword, Nexus Hero Five's Enforcer Weapon.

Much like how the members of Nexus Hero Five work together, our Nexus Weapons are able to combine their powers.

By combining our weapons, we are able to create a weapon of great power, strengthened by the bonds we share with one another.

---

"Hero Arsenal!" Adler and I both said before he and I placed our respective Medals into the slot on our gauntlets. "Summoning Nexus Weapon!"

As the Oozoid managed to recover, it only had time to turn to us as we prepared to execute our final strike against it. From this, my team then got behind me before both Adler and Terra put a single hand on my shoulder. This was followed by Hitomi and Nahuel who did the same with the one in front of them. After doing this, auras of our respective colors formed around us as our Bond Energy flowed into the Great Bond Sword. From this, forming from the bottom of it, our Enforcer Weapon's blade was surrounding in an aura of rainbow-colored light.

[No one's view]

As the Great Bond Sword shines with great light, Cat Noir and Marinette along with Ivan and Alya watch in awe as the team of Heroes prepared to finish the battle.

[Axel]

"Dynamic… Nexus… SLASH!" my team and I said in unison as I brought down the Great Bond Sword in a downward slash, sending five energy waves of red, yellow, green, blue, and pink at the Oozoid. The Oozoid could only spread its arms out to the side and grunt in pain as it took every last wave as they left a cut of rainbow-colored light right down the middle of it.

[No one's view]

As volts of multicolored electricity surge around the Oozoid as it continues to groan in pain, the Nexus Hero Five turn around to pose as the four members at the sides take their hands off each other. With Nexus Hero Red standing with the Great Bond Sword over his shoulders and an open hand out in front of him, his fellow Heroes do the same poses they did for the end of their callout.

"Battle's over! Heroes win!" Nexus Hero Red exclaims before the Oozoid falls forward as it collapses from the pain.

After it falls completely flat on the ground, the Oozoid turns into a great explosion which seems to add more effect in making the Heroes look quite amazing. As some of backlash of the explosion brushed against them in a slight wind that only pushed against their hair, both holders of the Miraculous and Ivan looked upon this with jaws dropped in shock while Alya looks at this with her jaw dropped in awe.

[Axel]

After the Oozoid's explosion of defeat subsided and the Great Bond Sword as well as my Medal disappeared from my hand in a flash of light, I gave a sigh of relief as the battle was finally over. Same thing happened to the others Medals as we didn't have enough Bond Energy to keep them.

"Well, that took longer than I thought it would." I said before Adler spoke up.

"Yeah, speaking of which, shouldn't have Cat Noir and Spots changed back by now?"

"Blue has put up a good point." Hitomi put in as we looked and saw that Marinette and Adrien hadn't turned back to their civilian forms. "You only said that they had five minutes and I had already calculated our battle with Stoneheart and the Oozoid going past that amount of time."

"Probably, because of my Bond with those two, my Bond Energy was able to temporarily halt the timer of their de-transformation." I said to them. "I always read that this would happened with Heroes and Miraculous holders when they work together with how their powers resonate with each other." With hearing a beep, I then held up my gauntlet hand before the slot on my Bond Gauntlet projected a holographic ring of red that was slowly disappearing in counterclockwise motion, this ring acting as a timer. "Though now I believe that the timer will start again now that we used up our Bond Energy reserves."

"Red!" Marinette called out as she and Adrien came over to us.

"Spots! Cat!" Terra said to the two, no doubt smiling proudly under her helmet. "What'd ya think? Enjoyed the show?"

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Cat Noir said with a smile before his expression became more nervous as he then looked around. "More than I can say for the stadium."

Taking a look around ourselves, the team and I became shocked as we saw that we had done more damage to the place than Stoneheart and the Oozoid with the sports field a mess and a portion of the seating around it turned into a pile of scorched rubble.

"Oh, right. Guess we went a little too far." I awkwardly said before regaining my composition and turning back to the two. "Luckily, we can fix that."

"Really? How?" Marinette asked before I then spoke to Nahuel.

"Yellow, mind getting the suit Ladybug made with her powers?" I asked him.

"No problem!" He told me before he dashed off in a stream of lightning before coming back over to us with the suit in hand. "Here you go!"

"Gracias." I said to him in Spanish before speaking to Marinette in French, giving the Lucky Charm to her. "This is how we can fix it."

"The Lucky Charm?" She said as she then took the suit in her hands.

"It's more than just a tool to help you." I explained to her. "With being created by the power of the Ladybug, you can use it repair any damage done by Stoneheart. Especially what came after his defeat."

"Really?" She was surprised by this.

"Yes." I then told her what to do with it. "Just toss the Lucky Charm into the air and say 'Miraculous Ladybug'. It'll do the rest."

"Okay." Marinette then grabbed the suit with one hand as she prepared to throw it. "Miraculous Ladybug!" With her tossing the suit into the air, we all watched as it exploded into light and swarms of ladybugs began flying around the area.

After the swarms went over the stands and the field, Adrien and Marinette along with the rest of my team exclaimed in awe as the stadium was restored to its original state, like nothing had ever happened to it. We then watched as the swarms then spread out towards Paris.

[No one's view]

All throughout Paris, the citizens of the city watch in awe as the swarms of ladybugs go over everything that Stoneheart had damaged in his rampage, their magic restoring them. The window of Principal Damocles' office is pieced back together and the cracks in the sidewalk disappear. Even Officer Raincompix becomes surprised to find his arm without a cast and completely healed after the ladybug swarm around him for a moment. After the swarm was done, the ladybugs disappear as Paris is fully repaired.

[Axel]

"Amazing!" Marinette said, amazed by this.

This warm moment was short-lived when An-xus spoke up.

"Uh, Axel?" my Saizuna said to me with a nonchalant expression on her face. "The Akuma?" I flinched as I then realized the Akuma was still on the loose.

"Oh, right!" I said before I then turned around to where the Oozoid was and saw the Akuma flying away from the stands. "Forgot about the Akuma."

"Seriously? That thing's still flapping?" Terra spoke us as I looked to see her and the others looking toward the Akuma.

"It's made out of energy, Green. Of course it survived." I said as I then got serious, preparing to finish the job. "Better catch it before it gets away." With that, I then tapped my belt, causing another coin to pop out, a silver one with both sides having a violet image resembling butterfly wings. This was my Miracle Bond, the Butterfly Bond. "Miracle Bond! Butterfly Power!"

Butterfly Bond

"Miraculous Armament, engage!" With that, I then placed the Miracle Bond into the slot, the Bond giving off a violet light.

From this, I then held my gauntlet hand up to the sky before a swarm of violet butterfly appeared from my palm and gathered together above me. In a similar fashion to the creation of the Lucky Charm, in a flash of violet light, the swarm transform into an item which I then grabbed as it fell down.

---

Axel Frank: Okay, allow me to explain.

Like I said before, the Miracle Bonds hold some of the power of the Miraculous.

When used by an inheritor, the Bond transforms them into a warrior with the power of the Miraculous it came from.

But when used by a chosen Hero, such as myself, it creates a special tool imbued with the power the Bond has.

As such, by using the Butterfly Bond, I could receive a special tool with the Butterfly Power. One of which would allow me to catch the Akuma.

---

Bringing it in front of me, I became surprised to find what the swarm had become. My Miraculous Armament was a white cane—like the kind people use for walking—about roughly half my height with a violet glass dome covered in silver lines within a cylinder on top.

"Really? That's it?" Adler said, sounding disappointed as we all looked at this in confusion. "That is what is supposed to stop the Akuma? A walking stick?"

"Hmm…" Examining the cane, I soon discovered a small button a foot below the cylinder.

Pressing it with my thumb, I was soon surprised as the dome started glowing before it split apart into four even sections like a blooming flower, the dome soon rotating slowly toward a rapid pace.

"A walking stick with a capture mode." I said as I realized what the cane actually was. "I think I'll call it the Akuma Catcher!"

Akuma Catcher

"Now, to catch that Akuma!" I said before I then ran off towards the Akuma.

[Marinette]

"Oh, right. The Akuma!" I said as I got my yo-yo ready before running off to help Red with Akuma. "Got to make sure it doesn't get away!"

[Adler]

"Ladybug, wait!" I said to Marinette as she then swung off. "You can't…" I sighed as I was too late to warn her and was now hoping Axel could be able to capture the Akuma before she did anything.

[Axel]

"Okay, got one shot." I said to myself after getting underneath the Akuma, getting myself ready to catch it as I reeled back the Akuma Catcher while aiming upwards. "Okay, steady. Steady."

Watching it fly above me, I mentally recorded the flight pattern of the Akuma, timing my actions just right to catch it. Just a few seconds and the Akuma would be right in my sights.

[Marinette]

Once I got myself about a few feet away from Red as he just stood there, I looked up as the Akuma kept flying up and was about to get away. Seeing that, I then decided to stop it before it got far. Watching the Akuma go, I got ready to throw my yo-yo and knock it down.

[Axel]

"Almost." I said to myself before the Akuma started flying toward where I wanted it. "There! My first Akuma." As it was about to come within range, I then took action. "Now, time to de-evilize!"

[No one's view]

With that, Nexus Hero Red thrusts his staff forward, launching the dome which is revealed to be a glass ball toward the Akuma with said ball attached to a cord of violet light connected to the cylinder of the cane. At the same time, Marinette then throws her yo-yo right at the two flying evils. Closing in on the Akuma, the yo-yo and the ball collided with each other, preventing either from reaching their target and causing all the heroes to gasp in shock.

[Marinette]

"No!" Red said as the Akuma flew away, escaping from us as I caught my yo-yo.

After the glass ball put itself together and back on his cane, I watched as Red looked shocked to the sky for a minute before looking at me. Right there, I was terrified as he walked over to me.

"What the heck was that?" He yelled at me, sounding really angry. "You ruined my shot!"

"I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered, trying to apologize to him. "I was just trying to help you catch the Akuma!"

"Catch the Akuma? Catch the Akuma?!" He said to me, still angry with me. "You're not supposed to touch that thing! That Akuma was created with dark power, it would've corrupted you the instant your yo-yo touched it! Only I can catch Akumas! Now thanks to you, it got away!" With hearing a beep, Red then brought up his gauntlet before it showed what looked like half a red ring above it which was slowly disappearing. "And now we can't go after it because we all need to recharge our powers. By the time we can transform again, that Akuma will probably be back to whoever sent it!"

"Hey, easy up. It was an accident." Cat said as he and the others came over, trying to defend me as he put his hand down and the ring went away. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? Not that bad?!" He shouted, now sounding completely furious. "You have no idea what that thing's capable of! An evil Akuma on the loose is one of the worst things to ever happen!"

"Settle down, Red!" Blue said as he walked up to Red.

"Oh, don't talk like that to me, Blue!" Red snapped at his teammate before pointing a finger at him. "You and the others knew that I was the only who could catch that Akuma, yet none of you didn't even try to stop that girl from interfering!"

"Red, please. Don't be mad at him." I said to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This was my fault, not his."

"And that is why I don't work with rookies. Ugh!" Red groaned out as he shrugged off my hand, turning back to us for a minute before he took out that coin he had, causing his cane to disappear. With that gone, he then turned back to us with his head down and arms crossed in front of him. "Green, Yellow, Black, Blue, get behind me." The four stood there for a moment before Red snapped at them. "Now!" Just like that, the rest of Nexus Hero Five ran off and stood beside him. "Now listen here, you two. I don't care if the guardian chose you to be the holders of those Miraculous, you are too inexperienced to be anything like this. So here's what you're going to do." He then lifted his head, no doubt glaring at me and Cat Noir. "You're gonna go home and stay there and out of the way until I can find any sort of time to train you. If I see either of you getting in the way before you master those powers, I will not hesitate to take your Miraculous away!" That actually made me gasp in shock.

"What?! You can't do that!" Cat Noir said to him, no doubt not being able to believe he said that.

"I can and I will!" He said to us. "Unless you know what you are doing, neither of you are allowed to be involved with Nexus Hero Five ever again! Understand?!" With that, we both stayed silent as Red then seemed to become less angry and turned away from us. "Emergency Nexus Warp." With that, he then disappeared in a beam of red light that flew off into the city.

"Wow. Never seen Red snap like that in a long time." Blue said as I then turned my head to the group. After hearing all that, I was now starting to think I really wasn't cut out to be a hero.

[Terra]

Turning around, me and the guys looked to see Marinette looking down at the ground in shame. What Axe said to her was pretty harsh and might've really hurt her. Looking at each other, we all nodded before all then walked over to her.

"Hey, you okay?" I said to her, getting her to look up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She told me. "I really messed up."

"Hey, don't let Mr. Hothead get you down, Miss, um… Bug Lady." Adrien said as he came over with a smile. "You were incredible. You did it!"

"We both did it, partner." She said to him before losing that smile she had for a bit. "Though it doesn't seem Red sees it that way."

"Don't take what Red said so personally." Ad told her. "He does not mean to be so rude or harsh, he's just stressed."

"Si, he is an inheritor after all." Nahuel put in.

"Inheritor?" Marinette asked us, wondering what we meant.

"You saw the coin Red used to create that special tool of his, correct?" Tomi told her. "That is called a Miracle Bond, a special item made with the power of a Miraculous."

"Miraculous? You mean, like mine and Cat Noir?" She said to her.

"Yes. You see, Red is part of a lineage which has passed down the Miracle Bond for generations with his being of the Butterfly, the Miraculous which was used to cause all this. On top of trying to protect the good people of this city, he is also seeking to obtain the Butterfly Miraculous to prevent any further misuse of it, especially since this is the first time it has been used in almost two centuries."

"Yeah." I said to Marinette. "Red's just making sure everything goes right so we can get that Miraculous back, so don't let anything he says get to you. Especially after you did a good job helping us."

"Yeah, don't worry about that blow hard." Adrien said to her, not once losing that smile. "We defeated Stoneheart and saved the day. I'd say we did a pretty good job."

With that, Marinette smiled at him, no doubt to see someone saw her as a hero like the rest of us.

"Pound it!" The two of them said as they fistbumped, causing me and the others—except for Tomi obviously—to smile as we saw this as the start of a beautiful friendship.

[Marinette]

After doing that fistbump, we both heard some beeping and I saw that Cat Noir's ring had one part of that paw print, no doubt showing he only had one minute left of those five minutes before he transformed back.

"You should get going." I said to him. "Our identities must remain secret."

"Farewell, m'lady." Cat Noir said as he then ran off, leaving the stadium. "Let's do this again soon, okay?"

"Not too soon, I hope!" I said, smiling at him.

"Hey, what's this?" Blue said as we all turned to him as he picked something off the ground, that something being a piece of paper crumpled up into a ball which he then flattened it back out and saw what was on it. "'You don't even have the guts to tell Mylene you love her, wuss!'? Aah! The nerve! No wonder Ivan was so angry!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"Earlier, we came across Ivan's roommate." Blue told me. "He told us that, before all of this, someone named Kim had upset him which is how he was evilized. We all wondered what Kim had done to make Ivan so upset. Now we know." We all then looked over to Ivan. "Kim was teasing Ivan for not being able to confess to the girl he loves. There is nothing more personal than to be insulted for your own insecurities, especially when it involves how you feel about others."

"I feel sorry for him." I said.

"So do I." Blue said before he then walked over to Ivan, the sad guy looking up as the Hero talked to him. "Excuse, my good man. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but what happened?" Ivan said to him, looking confused. "How did I get here?"

"You were evilized into a villain that went on a rampage through Paris." Blue told him before he held up Kim's note. "When we de-evilized you, we found this lying on the ground. I guess you were holding onto this earlier?"

"Yeah. Kim wrote it." Ivan explained as I went over to him. "He's always making fun of me."

"You know, you shouldn't get so bent out of shape about that." I said to him with a kind smile as I walked over. "There's no shame in telling someone you love them, Ivan."

"Hey, how do you know my name, Miss?" Ivan asked me.

"Uh, um…" I tried to come up with an excuse for that before Blue spoke up.

"I told her." He said, making the excuse for me. "My friends and I had a little run-in with your roommate and he told us what happened."

"Adler?" Ivan said, surprised by this.

"Yes. He's very worried about you." Blue told him. "Seeing how concerned he was, perhaps you should talk to him about your own problems. It would be better to have someone to help you than to face them alone."

"Yeah, right." Ivan shrugged this off. "He'd probably just make fun of me if I told him, just like Kim."

"Or he will try his best to help you." Blue said as he got down on one knee. "I know it's hard to find people you can trust, but you're going to be able to find a true friend if you keep closing yourself off from everyone like that. There are good people in the world, Ivan. People who can help you through your struggles. You just need to give them a chance." He then put a reassuring hand on Ivan's shoulder. "You'll never know unless you try."

"Uncanny, amazing, spectacular!" Alya said as we all looked to see her kneeled down with her phone in her hands, Blue taking his hand off of Ivan to stand up as my friend put her focus on me. "Are you going to be protecting Paris with Nexus Hero Five from now on? How did you get your powers? Did you get stung by a radioactive Ladybug? Oh, I've got a ton of questions to ask you, uh, Miss, uh…"

"Hey, Spots!" Green said to me. "Aren't you going to at least tell her who you are? You still got some time left before you go and it is your big debut after all."

"Spots? Is that your name?" Alya asked me.

"Well, no. It's, uhh…" I said as I tried to come up with a name for myself. It was right there that I remembered what Red called when we were fighting Stoneheart. "Ladybug! Call me Ladybug."

Ladybug

Gender: Female

Miraculous: Ladybug Miraculous

Power: Creation (Lucky Charm)

With giving out my superhero name, I yo-yoed my way out of the gym so I could transform without anyone seeing.

[No one's view]

As the heroine left the stadium, Alya makes sure to keep the camera on Ladybug before she turninh it to Nexus Hero Green as she speaks.

"You heard it right, folks!" Nexus Hero Green says with a fist pumped in front of her. "Paris now has two new heroes to keep you safe and their names are Ladybug and Cat Noir!"

"Yellow, Blue, Green," Nexus Hero Black says as she gets her teammates' attention, "if you don't want to expose yourselves to all of Paris, I suggest we take our leave immediately."

"Right!" Nexus Hero Green said before her and her teammates put the hands bearing their gauntlets over their chests.

"Emergency Nexus Warp!" They say in unison before they fly off into the air in light beams of their respective colors which scatter across Paris.

"Ladybug." Alya says, smiling with amazement at what she both witnessed and recorded on her phone. "Super awesome!"

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

After managing to get back home and into my room, I turned back from Ladybug to good old Marinette without having to worry about anyone seeing me. After that, I used my computer to find a news report about what happened today, the video that they were showing no doubt was taken by Alya.

"So thanks to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the identities of their newest heroes!" The news reporter said, pointing to some pictures on my computer.

"I did it, Tikki!" I gushed while Tikki flew out of my purse.

"You see? You were up to it!" Tikki said, snuggling my cheek and causing me to smile.

"Marinette!" Mom called out from downstairs. "Dinner time!"

Heading down the trapdoor's stairs to get to the base of the house, I went down the bigger staircase that led into the living room and the dining room. After jogging to my seat in front of my mom as she was setting the table, I looked over to the TV to see her and Dad had the news on with the same report I was looking at. I guess they wanted to know who saved the city. Looking around, I lost my smile as I noticed someone missing with his plate still sitting there.

"Axel isn't back yet?" I asked my parents.

"No." Dad told me with a look of concern. "We've checked his room, but we only found his bags. It looks like he left as soon as he got here."

Just when I was starting to get worried about him, we heard a door open followed by one voice we knew.

"I'm back!" Axel said as he closed the door and came over, looking pretty upset.

"Hey, Axel!" Dad said to him with a friendly smile. "We've been wondering where you ran off to."

"Yeah, I left my stuff here and went to Nexus Hero Five to tell them what was going on. They took me to a shelter after I told them about Stoneheart." My housemate said as he walked over to the table and stood in front of his plate. "They told me not to leave until they gave the okay."

"Was it bad there?" Mom asked him, noticing the upset look he had.

"No. But I did have some company that didn't really make being there any better." When he said that, Axel glared at me for some reason, surprising me. It was just then that he grabbed his food and silverware before walking out of the room. "I'm going to eat in my room."

After he left, I was just as confused as my parents. Axel seemed just fine back at the school. What exactly had him so grouchy? And why did he just look at me like that?

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Avery]

After he returned and changed back from Cat Noir and into my reckless brother, Adrien and I then had our chef prepare some delicacies for Plagg so that he could restore his strength. As the kwami examined the food set out for him, my brother and I watched a news report about his alter-ego fighting alongside the Nexus Hero Five and his partner.

"I am pleased to announce that we will organize a huge celebration in honor of the newest addition as our city's new protectors: Ladybug and Cat Noir." Mayor Bourgeois proclaimed to the Paris news station, who was currently interviewing him.

"Ladybug." Adrien said, a blissful smile on his face. "Her name is Ladybug."

"Are you seriously developing affection for that clumsy fool of girl?" I scoffed in disbelief. "Unbelievable. You don't even know her."

"Whoa! That's kind of a harsh thing to say." Adrien said to me.

"Well, it is true." I told him as I crossed my arms. "Not only had she allowed the Akuma to escape, but she also put you in harm's way on purpose."

"Hey, she also saved me." He retorted.

"Yes, both after standing by the sidelines when she was ordered to leave as well as sending you into Stoneheart's clutches."

"Whatever, but you and I both know we couldn't have saved Paris without her."

"Ew! Oh, what is this?" The tiny kwami asked with disgust as he floated over to us, holding up a sorbet.

"That is called a sorbet." I answered the kwami as he glared at me. "What? Is it not to your liking?"

"Of course not!" He said, tossing the desert on the ground. "I can't eat any of this!"

"Seriously? Our personal chef made all of this!" Adrien said to the kwami, not much appreciating the disrespect he was giving the maid as much as I did.

"My brother is correct. A great effort was made in creating a delicious meal for you!" I angrily said to the kwami. "It is very disrespectful to refuse what we have to offer, considering that we are the ones who decide that you continue to live here!"

"Hey, no need to get excited, kid!" Plagg said, not even caring for how I approached him. "If you guys expect me to get my energy back after the transformation, I need to eat something more…delicate."

"Delicate?" I said to him. "And what exactly do you consider delicate?" With that, the kwami flew over to me and whispered into my ear, what he said causing me to widen my eyes in shock.

---

[No one's view]

Elsewhere in Paris, the Akuma flies to the top of the Eiffel Tower and rests on a pole. After it does so and rapidly flaps its wings, several more Akumas emerge and fly in all different directions, creating massive swarms of black.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Axel's Room]

[Axel]

After what happened today, my team and I went back to our host families to ease their worry so they didn't go out looking for us. We were lucky I had enough time to give both Nahuel and Adler their bags before they went home and we all de-transformed. As soon as An-xus had her strength back from eating one of the Choco-bars I packed for both her and myself, I was going to go back out there to find and catch the Akuma. Returning to the Dupain-Cheng residents, I took the food Sabine made for me and went back to my room, not wanting to be fuming in front of everyone as I ate, especially in front of Marinette who was part of the reason I was mad. Getting into my room, I gave An-xus a Choco-bar and took out my phone and managed to pull up the news report about me, the team, Cat Noir, and Marinette who decided to be called Ladybug.

"It seems as though our city doesn't have five heroes to rely on anymore." The news reporter said, talking about Ladybug and Cat Noir. "With their return, it seems as though the Nexus Hero Five will have Ladybug and Cat Noir helping them protect Paris."

"How are you doing over there, Ann?" I asked my Saizuna as I ate the food on my plate.

"Better now." An-xus as she floated over to me with the candy wrapper crumpled up into a ball before she then tossed it up and smacked into my garbage can with her tail, the girl looking crossed with me. "Better than you are right now."

"I'll be better once we catch that Akuma." I told her as I kept eating. "As soon as I'm done eating, we're going back out there to find it."

"Since we have time, then maybe you and I can have a little talk." She told me as she crossed her arms. "You know, about what you said to your new teammates?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Like heck! You were way too harsh with your friends back there."

"Hey, I'm doing them a favor. Letting them help is just going to get them in trouble."

"Axel, you saw what they did. We couldn't have beaten Stoneheart without them."

"What happened was pure luck. I doubt that they'll be able to do that again."

"Not unless you give them a chance and help them through it."

"I can't deal with them right now. Evil is afoot and the world needs Nexus Hero Five more than ever. Master Fu made a mistake."

"And what if he didn't? What if Marinette and Adrien are the right people to help you?"

"Maybe, but not with those Miraculous."

"And what's wrong with the Miraculous they got?"

"Because they won't be able to handle them!" Taking a moment to recompose myself, I then spoke my reasons for not letting Adrien and Marinette back into the field. "I know those two well enough that those powers won't do them any good. Adrien's got a good heart and is always there to help others, but he's so careless that he might wreck Paris before he has a chance to save it and waste his time using the Cat Miraculous on the wrong things."

"And Marinette?"

"Do I even have to point it out? She's clumsy! She barely has any confidence in herself, doesn't handle pressure too well, and the fact all this was placed on her so fast is no doubt scaring the heck out of her!"

An-xus then gave a little giggle before she spoke with a smile. "That sounds familiar. Weren't you just the same when you became Red?"

"Only because I didn't feel like I deserved to be a Hero, especially yours."

"And don't you think this might be the same with Marinette?"

"Maybe…" Seeing I had finished my plate, I then started getting up from my bed, "but I doubt I can help her." I then walked to the other side of the room.

"Oh, come on, Axe!"

"Ann, we don't have time for this!"

"We don't have any time or you're not willing to give any for her?"

I then turned to face her. "Marinette is not a Ladybug!"

"Yes, she is!"

---

Axel Frank: Okay, before we continue, what you're about to see didn't actually happen.

Much like with the team callout, this is something from my imagination.

When it comes to certain topics, I envision it like this to simplify how it goes.

I'm sort of a theatrical guy, so I hope you understand.

---

As she continued to support her claim, An-xus began to sing with a warm smile.

An-xus: She is Ladybug!

Even though I turned away, she still pressed on as she got in front of me.

She can do this.

As she continued, she grabbed my hand and held it as she floated in front of me.

And when things get tough,

Together, we'll fight through it.

It was that I began to sing my counter.

Axel Frank: But this is a mistake.

"Nope!" She told me.

I said it before.

"Yeah, I know."

If we need Ladybug…

"We do!"

It can't be her.

"Come on, Axe. You can't deny it."

"Ann, I told you. She's too clumsy and can barely handle herself."

An-xus: But she's got,

Hu-mil-i-ty.

The same I saw,

With the He-e-ero in you.

Now be re-e-eal with me,

I know you know it's true.

"Here we go." I rolled my eyes as everything went to black and a star-filled sky appeared above us, my Saizuna continuing with her claim.

I gave you a job,

You're good at it.

I watch you do it,

For a whole year.

With a heart full,

Great courage!

And love that can,

Drive out all fear!

It was there that I tried to counter this.

Axel Frank: What about her?

Can she answer the call?

An-xus: Let's just see,

Of what she's capable.

Axel Frank: She can't try to,

Save the world today.

An-xus: Just trust me,

When I say…

She is Ladybug!

Axel Frank: She's obviously not!

An-xus: You know that's not true.

Axel Frank: She honestly isn't strong enough.

An-xus: And when things get tough…

Axel Frank: She'll just get hurt.

An-xus: I know she can be a hero,

Just like you.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because that's what happened with you." She told me before she began to rap, the stars forming lines between them that showed the different moments in life: how much I would worry just about everything, the first Oozoid fight I had as Nexus Hero Red, the day me and the team came together, and me in my fight against Sunder Kaiser where I threw a punch covered in fire right at his face.

You were no different,

The day we met.

Even as a Nexus Hero,

You were one to fret.

But in Earth's darkest hour,

Of its darkest night,

You took up the name Red,

To stand up and fight!

Through every battle,

You made a new friend,

Protecting everyone,

Until the world's end!

It was amazing to see,

As you unlocked each ability!

I then looked at one constellation depicting Marinette as Ladybug and Adrien as Cat Noir as they both stood beside me and Nexus Hero Five, all of us ready to fight.

An-xus: So help Marinette find her groove,

And you'll see she can be,

A super coccinellidae!

"A what-cinellidea?"

I'm telling you,

That just like you,

She can become,

Someone brand new!

After the room went back to normal, I then tried to argue again.

Axel Frank: Please, leave her alone.

She's better off home.

She isn't someone,

Who can join the stead.

She can't be,

The person we need.

"I remember hearing that kind of excuse." An-xus said to me. "From one boy who had the same doubt about himself. Someone who got a role which he didn't think he could do. Despite that, he had people who believed in him and helped him through it." With this, I then looked towards the mirror I had.

Walking over to it, I soon saw myself from a year ago as I remembered how I was when I became Nexus Hero Red. Though I tried my best to keep calm and focused, I still managed to worry about things going wrong and even made excuses to avoid my problems. Heck, I even cried when things got tough for me to lead the team. The only reason I got so far was because I had friends who helped me along the way along with people who supported me, who believed in me. It was with this that I realized that Marinette was no different than me back then. Even though she was scared, she was able to brave through the dangers and helped those who needed it the most. All she was doing was trying to help and I ended up scolding her for one little mistake.

Axel Frank: She's like me,

I know this.

When things get tough,

We both make excuses.

She is Ladybu-u-u-ug.

An-xus: Glad I don't have to kick your butt,

And that you're starting to listen.

Axel Frank: She can do thi-i-i-is.

An-xus: I promise that you won't,

Regret your decision.

Axel Frank: When things get tough…

An-xus: Things are tough for everyone,

But she'll learn to fight through!

Axel Frank: She won't make excuse-e-e-es!

An-xus: Just like you,

She'll know what to do!

Axel Frank: She is Ladybu-u-u-ug!

An-xus: Now you know what I do!

She is Ladybug!

Taking a moment to think about what to say next, I then spoke to An-xus.

"I feel terrible." I said to her with a look of shame. "Marinette had done a good job as Ladybug and I practically scolded her for it."

"I know you didn't mean it." She told me with a warm smile. "You were just trying to protect her. But you can still make things right."

"I doubt she'll want to hear an apology from me after what I said to her."

"Maybe not an apology from Nexus Hero Red, but maybe words of encouragement from Axel Frank."

After thinking about what she said, I then saw she was right. While Marinette was crossed with Nexus Hero Red, she would like to hear some kind words from Axel Frank, ones of which may give her the confidence boost she needs to keep going.

"You're right." I said to her with a smile. "Red might not be able to make amends right now, but that doesn't mean I still can't help her. Some support from her friend might be just what will help her build her confidence."

"That's the spirit! Now go over there and give her the support she needs."

"I will. Hopefully I can do it in time. That news report might've made her a little better, but Marinette might still be doubting herself. If she still has that feeling, she's really gonna doubt herself if she finds out that…"

"Oh, my!" Sabine exclaimed, making us go out to see what was the matter.

Getting out there, we joined Marinette (with An-xus going into her spirit form to ensure she wasn't seen) in seeing an emergency news report, one that filled me with dread.

---

[No one's view]

At the same time, Axel's fellow Heroes are at the homes of their host families as they see the same report, them along with those of their host families becoming horrified as they see what is happening.

"Just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of our two new superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into stone monsters. It's simply unbelievable!" The news reporter shows a map of Paris in the background with pictures of several people being attacked by Akumas and turning into stone monsters that look like Stoneheart behind her, the monsters freezing where they stand after transforming.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Axel's Room]

[Axel]

As Tom held Sabine as she was horrified by this, I knew that my worst fears had been realized: we were too late. The Akuma that escaped multiplied and was now infecting all of Paris! Hearing Marinette gasp, I looked as I watched the girl headed up to her room. With that, I was now dreading that I was now too late to make amends to my friend as Axel. Seeing that, I followed her, only stopping at the trapdoor after she closed it.

"That is not a good sign." An-xus said, worried about Marinette.

"No, it is not." I said, feeling just as worried.

It was then that my phone rang. When I took it out, I found that Hitomi was calling me. Knowing what this was about, I answered.

"You saw the news too, huh?" I said to Hitomi.

"We all did." She said before Nahuel spoke up.

"Axel, what's happening?" Nahuel asked me, freaking out about this.

"Exactly what I was worried about Marinette seeing." I said as I then turned back to the trapdoor. "She must be in a panic right now."

---

[Agreste Mansion, Adrien's room]

[Adrien]

"Well, this is just…fantastic." Avery said, not really enjoying what we got as much as me with Plagg gobbling that old cheese we had the chef get for him. "When he said he wanted something delicate, I did not think he meant the opposite."

"Camembert cheese. Great." I said, not really liking the idea of having to carry that nasty stuff around me all the time. "All he eats is Camembert, which means I'm gonna smell like stinky old cheese."

Our attention was dragged away as we looked at the TV and watched what was currently going on in the news, becoming shocked by what we were seeing.

"These victims transformed into stone beings are still like statues. The police are perplexed as to what will happen to them. Will they come back to life or be frozen in time forever?" Nadja asked as she continued to talk about another topic, the images of that villain Stoneheart being shown.

"Plagg? What's going on?" Adrien asked the kwami, standing up. "I thought we defeated him."

"Yeah, but…" Plagg told him.

---

[No one's view]

"You didn't capture the Akuma." Tikki and Plagg say at the same time to their wielders.

---

[Dupain-Cheng Residents/Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's Room]

[Marinette]

"What's capturing the Akuma got to do with the other stone beings?" I asked, putting one hand on my hip.

"An Akuma can multiply!" Tikki said as she explained, flying up to the computer screen as she pointed to a stone being. "That's why it must be captured."

"It can do that?" I was shocked by this.

---

[Axel]

"How can one bug do that?" Terra said to me, shocked by what I told her and the others. "That never happened with your Kamikos."

"The same reason why Akumas differ from Kamikos." Nooroo said as he explained. "Kamikos are easier to control and will only multiply if the one that made them wants it. Akumas are made with dark power and are unstable. One will multiply on its own if it is not captured or contained, spreading much like how negative emotions can spread to others. That is exactly what is happening! Because the Akuma got away, it has multiplied and now swarms of its duplicates are spreading throughout Paris, turning innocent people into replicas of Stoneheart."

---

[Adrien]

"Okay, so why are they just standing around for?" I asked Plagg.

"Oh, they won't be standing still for long!" Plagg answered. "They'll be up and about if we don't catch the Akuma that caused this!"

"What do you mean?" Avery asked.

"Those things aren't evilized victims." Plagg said. "They're akumatized victims!"

---

[Axel]

"Evilized victims are beings who have an item infected by an Akuma." I said as I explained about those stone beings. "Akumatized victims are those infected by Akumas directly."

"Well, can't you return them to normal?" Hitomi said to me. "I mean, they were made by Akumas and you said you have the power to deal with them."

"Yeah, but this is different." I told her and the others. "Yes, I can capture Akumas because they were made with the Butterfly Miraculous power, but only if the Akuma is separated from whoever is infected! Because these Akumas infected their victims and not some objects they have, I can't capture or remove them! My Miracle Bond isn't strong enough to control Kamikos or Akumas that were created by someone else. Only the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous has the power to remove akumas from akumatized victims."

"Then how do we undo the akumatization?" Hitomi asked.

"Without the Butterfly Miraculous, the only way to undo the akumatization is by capturing the original akuma." I answered her. "The duplicates are linked to the akuma they came from, so catching it will be like catching them all. Those people won't turn back until I capture and cleanse the dark power from it."

"So let's just go and find whoever has the Akuma thingy and catch it!" Terra said with determination.

"It's not that simple, Terra." I explained to him. "The original Akuma does not infect someone else because of its imprint. That's why that Oozoid turned into Stoneheart. When it goes out to evilize, the original Akuma will only go to the first and only person it evilized."

"Ivan." My fellow Heroes said in realization of what I was talking about.

---

[Marinette]

"If Ivan's emotions become negative again, then the Akuma will turn him back into Stoneheart!" Tikki said to me. "Once he does, he'll control all the stone beings and bring them to life to serve as his army!"

"So that means…this is all my fault?" I then put my hands to my head as I talked to the kwami. "I knew it! See, Tikki? I'm not cut out to be a superhero! I'm only gonna keep messing up."

"Keep calm. It was your first time." The kwami reassured her. "You're going to go back and help Nexus Hero Five capture Stoneheart's Akuma and do it successfully!"

"I can't! I told you, I'm clumsy! I create disasters all the time! I'll only make things worse for me, for you, and for everyone. Cat Noir and Nexus Hero Five will be better off without me." Marinette exclaimed, keeping her head down. "I'm quitting."

---

[Axel]

"There's also another problem, one that involves Marinette as the solution." I said to my team. "In order to fix this, we need both Cat Noir and Ladybug. Which means, if Marinette doesn't help us as Ladybug, the plan won't work."

---

[Adrien]

"So you're saying that, even if we have Red to capture the akuma, we still need that so-called heroine helping us?" Avery said in disbelief as Plagg ate his cheese.

"Yep. You won't be able to fix anything without her." Plagg said.

"So neither me or Nexus Hero Five can do anything without Ladybug?" I asked my kwami.

"Red might be the only one who can capture Akumas, but Ladybug is the only one that can repair damage caused by supervillains!" Plagg told me.

---

[Marinette]

I walked over to my vanity and looked at myself in the mirror, only seeing the scared, clumsy girl who can never be a superhero.

"If Cat Noir and Nexus Hero Five can't fix this without Ladybug, then… just find another Ladybug." I turned to Tikki, who flew over to me. "I told you, I'm not cut out to be Ladybug!" The kwami looked in horror as I took off the earrings. "I'm sorry, Tikki."

"No, don't…" That's all Tikki said after I got both earrings off with a sigh.

"Tikki?" I looked around the room and didn't see her anywhere. Sighing again, I got the little jewelry box, plopped the earrings inside, and then put that box inside of my dressing drawer. "I'm really sorry, Tikki." With that done, I then fell down to the ground, disappointed in myself for not being the hero Paris needed.

[No one's view]

Unknown to Marinette, An-xus is floating at her door with a sad look on her face. She floats there for a moment before going to the floor below, phasing right through the trapdoor.

---

[Axel]

"Ann?" I said as An-xus floated over to me, worried about Marinette. "Tell me. Did she…"

"She did." My Saizuna said with a depressed look.

Hearing that, I was horrified from learning what Marinette had done. She actually quit being Ladybug because she doubted herself and I played a role in making her lose faith in herself. With that, I saw there was nothing I could do to fix the mistake I made.

"Marinette… Oh, no!" I said with shock, realizing the gravity of the terrible mistake I have made. "What have I done?"

---

[Hawk Moth's Lair]

[Hawk Moth]

"A minor setback, but my Akuma has yet to fail me." I said as I looked toward the window. "The heroes failed to capture it. In doing so, they have unwittingly sealed their fate. Ivan has a sensitive heart. It won't be long before anger and sadness strike again." The Akuma then flew in through the window as I held up my cane, coming to the glass dome of it. "And he and the stone beings will come alive!" The Akuma then entered the dome where it await to be unleashed again. "And once they do, then we'll see how long you will remain hidden, Ladybug and Cat Noir. You along with the Nexus Hero Five. Once I have your Miraculous, you will be powerless against me! Everyone will be powerless against me! I will have absolute power!" I cackled as the window closed for me to prepare for Stoneheart's return.

---

Axel Frank: Next time, on Nexus Hero Five!

Well, this is a fine mess we got ourselves in.

An-xus: You can say that again.

Stoneheart is back! This time, they got a whole army of akumatized people helping them!

Axel Frank: And thanks to my blunder from the last battle with him, Marinette's having doubts if she can really be a hero, even thinking that someone else might be more cut out for this!

An-xus: Man, that girl's got no idea how wrong she is! Right, Axel?

Axel Frank: You got that right, Ann.

With evil on the run once again and with the heroes of Paris facing the biggest threat to the city, will Marinette find the confidence and become Ladybug again?

An-xus: I hope so!

We could really use her help!

---

Author's Note: Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long. I've been a little tied up with some stuff. I hoped you like the chapter and the story. I also hope you like that singing bit I placed in there. There will only be a few times when you will hear some singing, mostly for theatrical effect. Also, what do you think of Chrono Kid and Ghost Girl? Pretty cool, right? I thought that both Marinette and Adrien would need just a little bit of help figuring out what was going on when they first got their Miraculous. Who is Ghost Girl, you may ask? Well, that's for you to find out later. Anyway, M is voiced by Fred Tatasciore, Adler Zima is voiced by Mach Dent (better known as Mike Dent), Nahuel Rayo is voiced by David Chen, Terra Yong is voiced by Morgan Lauré Garrett, Hitomi Kanamori is voiced by Risa Mei, An-xus is voiced by Erika Henningsen, Wan-ji is voiced by Brittney Karbowski, Hei-lot is voiced by Danielle Judovits, Yuu-long is voiced by Amanda Celine Miller, An-chei is voiced by Laura Stahl, Chrono-Kid is voiced by Benjamin Joseph Schwartz or Ben Schwartz for short, Ghost Girl is voiced by Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham or Kat Graham, Avery Agreste is voiced by Jill Harris, and the voice heard at the beginning of Nexus Hero Five's transformation is Roger Craig Smith.

That's all I got for now. Don't forget to leave a comment to tell me how you think of it. See ya in the next chapter!