Chapter 32: Bunnyx vs Replay

(Quantic Universe Earth 139, June 3rd, 2015, third person POV...)

In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette is scrolling through secret dating pictures with Adrien on her phone, with Tikki by her side.

After stumbling upon a specific picture, Tikki asks her owner while pointing to the picture, "This one looks nice, don't you think, Marinette?"

The picture Tikki is talking about involves Marinette and Adrien at a five-star restaurant that looks vaguely like Auguste Gusteau's Restaurant from the film Ratatouille. Something that made Steel Butterfly want to puke a storm, so to speak. Signifying that despite his childhood love of superheroes, Steel Butterfly despises anything remotely related to Disney or Pixar. Including the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and cartoons since they were now owned by Disney ever since after The Incredible Hulk was released.

Marinette also knew from experience that if anyone – ANYONE – were to mention even the NAME of Disney or Pixar, Steel Butterfly would blow a murderous fuse. But he's not quite so murderous when it comes to his friends and family mentioning Disney or Pixar; it's his enemies and strangers that he's murderous around if he hears them mention even the name of Disney or Pixar.

But thankfully, this doesn't happen all the time and Steel Butterfly is smart enough to know better than that, so Marinette didn't have to worry about a thing on that subject.

Marinette replies, "They're all nice, Tikki. And even though I'm aware that even Adrien and I aren't perfect, that doesn't change the fact that we met each other like if we were star-crossed soulmates. I have to say, even if Steel Butterfly wasn't a part of my civilian life behind the scenes, he's quite the charmer and my personal good fortune charm."

Tikki asks, "And what about me?"

Marinette then replies before she states in wonder, "Steel Butterfly could never hope to replace you, and neither could Alya, for that matter, Tikki. After all, there's nothing wrong with having more than one good fortune charm or more than one best friend. Matter of fact, I wonder what Steel Butterfly has to say about me and Adrien being able to talk to each other without blushing or stuttering."

Tikki replies, "I'm pretty sure that he would probably say, (Imitates Steel Butterfly's voice) '"I ensured you guys would meet because it's not only destiny and fate, but it's also a fixed point in time, and therefore, nobody can interfere whatsoever. And I ensured that among the benefits of you two knowing each other's identities right from the very beginning includes being able to talk to each other without blushing or stuttering."' (Normal voice) But believe me, if you and Adrien didn't know each other's identities from the start like in the original timeline, the disasters Miguel told us about would've happened no matter what we tried to do to stop them."

Marinette remarks, "I'm pretty sure Steel Butterfly would be mad at you for trying to mimic his voice."

Both Marinette and Tikki laughed hard at that without hurting themselves.

Marinette then says, "But in all seriousness, Tikki, now that Adrien and I have known each other's identities for a year from the beginning, I stand a great chance of treating Adrien to many romantic dates, no matter where we go with the power of the Horse Miraculous as long as we have permission from Master Fu and my parents."

Tikki replies, "Yes, I agree, Marinette. Even though we benefit greatly from having your identities known to each other from the beginning, I still think we should have contingency plans in place for just in case we get compromised."

Marinette nods in response.

Marinette thinks about how to get Adrien on a movie date with her after today.

Then, Marinette's computer gets an untraceable superhero email from Miguel Lotter La La Sing Sing November Cackling Man 22957391 Hoof of Steel at gmail dot com.

Pursing her lips in curiosity, she clicks on it and she is shocked to see that Steel Butterfly is the one who emailed her.

Steel Butterfly's email reads, "URGENT. Sorry for not notifying you earlier, but your parents gave me permission to email you. But of course, since Hawk Moth can easily pounce upon us at any moment now that we have backdoors installed for our surveillance on him without him even knowing about it, I have no choice but to send you untraceable emails in the event I'm unable to meet you in person. The next Akumatization to avert if we can is Adam Weller, aka Replay, a supervillain with the ability to control time and people in real time with his wristwatch. The main cause of his Akumatization is his lacrosse team lost to Adrien's team in the lacrosse game about to take place at your school today, Adam's teammates made fun of him for being unable to defeat Adrien due to them being equally matched in lacrosse, and Adam feels like he wasn't being respected. And he feels like he should be the only one to be the most important and most revered lacrosse player in your school. Make sure you delete this email after memorizing Replay's Akumatization and reasoning behind his Akumatization. We don't need this information to be leaked to anyone other than our benefactors and our teammates under any circumstances. I don't even need to remind you of the consequences that could happen if people saw this email."

Marinette reads through the email at least three times to kick start her photographic memory before deleting the email.

Marinette then asks, "Tikki, will it be alright if Adrien and I see a movie after having to fight Replay for real?"

Tikki answers, "Sure. Just as long as it's something really wonderful, but not too full of swearing."

Marinette knew that Tikki had a somewhat intense hatred of swearing, but Marinette also knew that any argument between Tikki and Steel Butterfly about his potty mouth wouldn't end well for the kwami of creation. Especially since it's rumored that Steel Butterfly has the ability to erase kwamis from existence without any repercussions happening whatsoever.

Tikki then suggests, "All the same, Marinette, by the time the fight with Replay and the other events taking course over the next twenty-four hours are over, I strongly suggest that you take up Steel Butterfly's offer to train yourself against time-manipulating and time-traveling villains in case we encounter someone worse than Replay or an Akumatized Bunnyx."

Marinette nods, having realized thanks to Steel Butterfly's email that the fight with Replay is not gonna be easy at all. Especially since he can use his wristwatch to control time and manipulate people in real time as long as he can see them.

Suddenly, Marinette's mother Sabine knocks on the trapdoor to Marinette's bedroom and calls out, "Marinette? Sweetie?"

Marinette telepathically tells Tikki to hide since Alya most likely came before replying, "Come in!"

Sabine appears in the trapdoor before asking, "Are you ready for Adrien's game, honey?"

Marinette nods in response.

Alya then pops up and states, "Great! Now, come on, Marinette."

Tikki discreetly flies into Marinette's purse without Alya noticing, thankful that she doesn't have to worry about Sabine being in the loop about Marinette's Ladybug identity.

(Francoise Dupont, overlooking the school from skyline and ground views and from every inch and angle and corner as Steel Butterfly voices over while writing in his journal on the roof of the school without anyone noticing despite him being visible...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

June 3rd, 2015.

First journal entry today.

1:04 p.m.

Today's the day when our so-called non-canon adventures begin.

Technically, I find the Miraculous Adventures comic book issues 1-4 to be chronological to the show itself seeing as they explored events that took place after The Collector and before Prime Queen while simultaneously introducing the members of the United Heroez to be introduced to the viewers in the New York Special in the next year. But I hated the way that some heroes like Uncanny Valley and Doorman were introduced. Uncanny Valley was initially introduced as a normal superhuman, only to be reintroduced in the New York Special as a sentient robot.

I also literally hated the way Doorman was introduced at the end of issue 2: as a brother with a slightly different outfit compared to what the true Doorman looked like. I'm only saying this because I don't intend to do or say anything racist. Not only is it hurtful and wrong, but also I was raised to be accepting and respectful to other cultures and people from different regions of the world. Well, that and I got a reputation to uphold.

And I also hated the way Barbara Keynes/Knightowl was introduced in the Miraculous Adventures comics. I mean, for crying out loud, she had long hair compared to her cartoon counterpart, who had the same short hair as Ladybug's English voice actress on my Earth and Barbara looked like a digital version of the voice actress in question, but a little sterner and a tad scary. Not mentioning any names. And as Knightowl, her outfit was a little different compared to her on-screen counterpart, particularly the mechanical eyes on her mask. They were supposed to be neon green.

But of course, I also liked the way that people like Marinette/Ladybug, Adrien/Cat Noir, the Akuma Class, Majestia, Sparrow, Victory, Master Fu, and Wayzz were designed in terms of their physical appearances. And of course, I also liked the fact that my two favorite heroes had adventures in New York City for perhaps the very first time.

And I also loved the fact that there were some trace elements of romance in the comics, but because the comic books had been discontinued after issue 8, we never got to see anything further in terms of the overall story or even the interactions of the characters. Specifically in terms of Ladybug, Cat Noir, and the United Heroez. Along with the fact that no more information was revealed on Replay's unakumatized surname, Silurus' true identity, the Trash Krakken's real name, and what the mysterious black substance is and where it comes from. Let alone it's remaining side effects. But nevertheless, the comics provided a more in-depth explanation and background of how my two favorite heroes actually know the United Heroez and vice versa. Besides, the New York Special that was released on my Earth in September of 2020 didn't really provide any form of background on how the United Heroez and the Hero Duo of Paris know each other and often rely on each other whenever one of their country's native supervillains invades the other hero's nation looking for a fight with the opposite heroes as the first step towards dominating the world. One notable example being Majestia's evil twin sister, Ignoblia, attacking Paris first. And that specifically takes place in the continuation fanfiction Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath on Archive Of Our Own.

Yeah, Ignoblia was indeed the 8th Deadly Sin, but thanks to the powers of Ladybug's Lucky Charm, Kitsune's Mirage, Mellona's Venom, and Vipercat's Cataclysm and Second Chance, Ignoblia's rampage was stopped before it could get past the first stages.

And of course, that falls under the TV Trope Superman Stays Out Of Gotham, which signifies that most superheroes only enter each other's cities or countries if their native villains leave to the other hero's hometowns to start up trouble.

And that happens to be the main reason why the United Heroez in that story were largely unaware of all the details that happened in regards to how Hawk Moth was really defeated, how Cat Noir was stripped of everything, how Lila got away with millions of euros from the Agreste family fortune, and how Nathalie was finally defeated.

But anyway, the events in the Miraculous Adventures comic books taking place between The Collector and Prime Queen happen to be so secretive in the world of comic books that Thomas Astruc and his team of writers and producers never bothered to show said events in the original cartoon. But like I said, Thomas Astruc believes that the events in the Miraculous Adventures comic books are non-canon to the show. And sadly, the Miraculous Ladybug Wiki website on my Earth seems to agree because if you do a search for the Miraculous Adventures comic books online on my Earth, there'll be a bar on the wiki page that says, "Non-Canon Information."

And it's kind of sad, when you think about it.

It doesn't really make me feel better about how no more Miraculous Adventures issues after issue 8 were made. And we were all so close to discovering the true identity, the true powers and properties, and the side effects of the mysterious black substance responsible for creating the Trash Krakken.

And it certainly doesn't satisfy me to know that even after 2023 came, it still took a seriously long time for issues 6 and 8 to be released in the United States for sale.

But in any case, that aforementioned collection of non-chronological events beginning in the first issue of Miraculous Adventures starts with the Akumatization of Adam Weller, also known as Replay, a supervillain lacrosse player who can control time with his wristwatch and manipulate people and objects in real time with the same wristwatch. His cause of Akumatization and reasoning behind it is he lost to Adrien in a lacrosse game, he got made fun of by his teammates, he assaulted Adrien with his lacrosse stick resulting in a five minute penalty, and Adam wants to beat Adrien in a rematch of the lacrosse game that the school is hosting just because Adrien's team had won the lacrosse game starting to take place at this very moment, since it's most likely gonna start in a few minutes. And also because, like I just said, Adam's teammates made fun of him for losing to someone like Adrien despite being a skilled lacrosse player himself. To top it off, Adam wants to be respected by his peers and to be recognized as the most skillful lacrosse player in Francoise Dupont High School.

Bah! Anyone who makes fun of someone else, especially in the middle of a school sport, makes them liable to getting Akumatized.

Besides, both Adam and Adrien are excellent lacrosse players, and yet Adrien's experience and intuition of different kinds of lacrosse tactics allowed him to win fair and square. But for those like Adam's teammates, sometimes fairness isn't even in their vocabulary.

Just like Max Kante in the episode The Gamer, before becoming Akumatized for the first time and experiencing being Hawk Moth's puppet for his own sinister gains, Adam is such a big fat sore loser, especially in this current moment in time that Paris is frequently terrorized by a magic-abusing supervillain terrorist with a Butterfly Miraculous of his own.

I f****** hate sore losers, and I hate having to comfort them gently. But under the circumstances, I don't really get a say in even this matter, do I? After all, I am the leader of the French Miraculous Superhero Team in this timeline, and therefore I have to do some of the things that I hate about Miraculous Ladybug, including comforting specific Akumatized villains after deakumatizing them and finding out that some of them were Akumatized just because they were acting like sore losers and like spoiled children.

In any case, in just twenty-four hours is when Marinette, Adrien, my team and I have to not only deakumatize Silurus, but we will also have to work with the United Heroez to return the Trash Krakken back to normal.

I can't imagine a more dangerous natural and unnatural supervillain.

The Trash Krakken has the ability to dig into the Earth, to the point of being able to create a literally ginormous crack within the streets of New York City. In addition to that, like actual quicksand, the Trash Krakken can absorb anyone and anything it touches, including solid life forms, and the Trash Krakken can absorb anyone and anything by simply using its tentacles as melee weapons. And sadly, the Trash Krakken is one hundred percent invulnerable to a wide variety of physical attacks, whether from sources of energy, from weapons or even bare hands at full superhuman strength.

I hated the fact that the same black substance that turned the unnamed man – whom the Miraculous Ladybug Wiki of my Earth calls Kenya's father without actually giving him an actual name – into the Trash Krakken is still unknown in terms of where it came from and whether or not the United Heroez scientists have gotten any results of where it comes from and it's full properties in terms of its powers and effects.

Yeah, even after issue 8 was released sometime in the late 2020s to the early to middle 2030s, the mysterious black substance was never revealed in full extensive details whatsoever.

And of course, Miraculous Adventures issues 5 and 7 are not exactly the type of comic book issues to continue our adventures after returning the Trash Krakken back to normal and after we return to Paris to continue the fight and the war against Hawk Moth on the frontlines. Besides, issue 5 literally takes four different Miraculous Ladybug webisodes and puts them together in one single comic book issue/comic book episode while issue 7 was kind of like a puzzle book or something like that. And at the same time, Miraculous Adventures issues 6 and 8 weren't exactly full of any plot information on Miraculous Ladybug Wiki that details anything further from the aftermath of returning the Trash Krakken back to normal and the Heroes of Paris returning to the battlefront. At least, not until the late 2020s to the early 2030s

And even if there was any source of plot information in issues 6 and 8, all the way to the year 2022 on my Earth before Miraculous Ladybug finally ended in 2040, the plot information is still labeled on Miraculous Ladybug Wiki as, and I quote, "Plot coming soon!" And I think that's because of the fact that nobody was satisfied with what issues 6 and 8 had, or maybe it's because the people who are supposed to be running the wiki page have continuously forgotten to write any source of plot information from those comic book issues all the way to the day when Miraculous Ladybug experienced its final episode on the day I was taken to this universe. And that day on my Earth is nothing short of December the thirtieth, 2040. Just 48 hours shy of New Year's Day of 2041.

Hmph! If there's one thing I hate more than anything else on any Earth, its incompetence! Especially when it comes to putting plot information of something like a Miraculous Ladybug comic book onto the wiki page of the franchise thanks to the people who are supposed to be running the wiki page.

And I have a distinct feeling that if my life here in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir were to somehow be portrayed as an alternate universe compared to the canon timeline or portrayed as a fanfiction story written by an unknown author on my Earth, one could say that today is the twenty-eighth chapter and that the next twenty-four hours soon to come are the next three chapters to take place before the Prime Queen incident and episode happens.

I can't say for certain yet, but I think I'm developing the ability to become aware of and breach the fourth wall like Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell, Denny Crane from Boston Legal, Deadpool from Marvel Comics, Spider-Man from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, Clayface from the animated 2004 cartoon The Batman, Danny Phantom from the cartoon of the same name, Animal Man from DC Comics, Bat-Mite from DC Comics, Black Hand from DC Comics, Eternity Girl from DC Comics, The Joker himself himself from DC Comics – which I find to be highly unlikely, Cosmic Armor Superman from DC Comics, Harley Quinn from DC Comics – I also find that highly unlikely, Lobo from DC Comics – also unlikely ,Mr. Mxyzptlk from DC Comics, Phantom Stranger from DC Comics, Mr. Nobody from Doom Patrol, Gwenpool from Marvel Comics, Howard The Duck from Marvel Comics, She-Hulk from Marvel Comics, Loki from Marvel Comics, Blonde Phantom from Marvel Comics, Rick Jones/A-Bomb from Marvel Comics, Venom from The Spectacular Spider-Man, Static from Static Shock, Control Freak from Teen Titans, Miles Morales from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, the Doctors from Doctor Who, the Grinch from the 2000 film iteration of Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas, the Cat in the Hat from the 2003 film of the same name, Kevin McCallister from Home Alone, and The Mask from the 1994 film of the same name, among others.

Yeah, I definitely think I'm developing the ability to breach the fourth wall one day at a time.

But then again, I probably did already have the ability to break the 4th wall when I started experimenting with my powers, including my Sublimation superpower from the Rooster Miraculous.

But in any case, aside from what I hated about the mysterious black substance responsible for the creation of the Trash Krakken, I also literally hated the fact that in the original timeline, Ladybug and Cat Noir were pressed for time to explain to the American heroes that their powers were limited to one use per transformation because they were underage Miraculous users without someone like me to upgrade the amount of times they can use their powers before having to recharge their kwamis and without gaining enough knowledge from Master Fu about how to use the Rooster Miraculous' main superpower to bestow upon themselves the ability to use their powers an unlimited number of times without recharging their kwamis or transforming back to normal.

And I also hated the fact that Adrien and Marinette had no food to feed their kwamis to recharge their powers upon arrival in New York and detransforming to feed Tikki and Plagg. And even though they found alternatives, it still wasn't good enough to satisfy them the way that chocolate chip cookies and Camembert cheese would in the original timeline, especially since chocolate chip cookies are Tikki's favorite snack and Camembert cheese is Plagg's favorite kind of cheese.

But thankfully, my recent communiqué with Knightowl and the others assured them that thanks to my powers, Ladybug, Cat Noir and Bunnyx are now able to use their powers an unlimited number of times despite being underage Miraculous users.

In particular, Uncanny Valley seemed to be interested in how the Miraculouses in my team's possession and in the possession of the currently deceased Order of the Guardians actually work.

Knightowl, of course, had to be re-educated on how the Miraculouses and the users of said Miraculouses work, both underage users and adult users.

I literally had to re-educate Knightowl about how the Miraculouses work in the hands of adult owners and underage owners when Knightowl called me four days ago.

I thought Knightowl was supposed to be smarter than this. Maybe she forgot. But that's irrelevant for the time being.

And on another particular note, Majestia seemed adamant against having three children using three of the most powerful Miraculous jewels in existence. Yeah, Majestia and the other members of the United Heroez might have standards about how young or how old new and experienced superheroes should be fighting crimes of different types and magnitudes, but Master Fu and I put our feet down, with him stating that he's the Guardian of the Miraculouses and that even though his comrades exist no longer, he's the one who decides if we're unworthy of our Miraculouses or not.

And of course, I think that Majestia is now scared of what's left of the Order of the Guardians no matter how many of us there is left.

At the same time, there's also the Akumatization of Silurus on the same day that Doorman comes to escort us to New York through a magic door portal.

I also hated the fact that in the original timeline, Ladybug wasn't even given a chance to recharge her powers or retrieve her clothes and her phone from her tent/from the water of the beach she was at before being taken to New York City by Dean Gate, aka Doorman.

BUT, thanks to the fact that Chloe and Lynnette are reformed and thanks to the fact that the United Heroez know about our team's sources of power and how those power sources work and how we work here in Paris, and thanks to the fact that Marinette was warned beforehand about the approximate time Doorman will arrive to pick us up and take us to the Big Apple, let's just say it's gonna be much easier for Ladybug to retrieve her clothes from her tent and recharge her powers if needed.

But at the same time, I also hated the fact that Adrien was also in his swimming trunks when he detransformed in New York to recharge Plagg. Seriously! And Plagg had complained about a granola bar that he didn't like? What a big baby! You have to make do with what you have, especially because of Doorman and the stupid identity rule in the original timeline's comic book world somewhat interconnected with the identity rule in the original show.

All the same, even if Silurus is gonna ruin everything and even if The Trash Krakken is gonna ruin everything, I hope Marinette and Adrien enjoy their somewhat short day at the beach.

If I'm being honest, I think that the members of my team should get to enjoy a somewhat short day at the beach no matter the hindrances.

Ahh, young people going to spend a day at the beach.

Makes me think about my childhood in my dimension.

Going to the beach was sort of fun, but it also wasn't fun if you take into account crabs, seagulls stealing your food when your back is turned, sand that's too hot for naked feet to walk on, swimming in salt water, preventing salt water from going into your nose or your eyes if you don't have a nose plug or swimming goggles, preventing sunburn, sharks swimming in certain beaches such as the beaches in Florida and sharks swimming in the water of Orchard Beach in New York City starting in 2021, and of course, some people like my paternal grandmother, God rest her soul, burn easily in the sun because of certain skin conditions that come with having fair skin and having different types of Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome.

I don't really go to the beach anymore because even though some beaches don't have sharks in the water, there's no stinkin' way I'm gonna take my chances, only to end up with a bite taken out of me by a Great White Shark. I mean, does one even need to bring up the Jaws horror film franchise, Shark Tale, Finding Nemo, or even Deep Blue Sea? Very scary, by the way. Don't recommend watching any of them if you're scared of water and/or sharks in general.

And of course, there's also the fact that Master Fu, Wayzz, Tikki, Plagg, Fluff, Leppey and I have to teach Marinette, Adrien and Alix all about the history of the kwamis and the Miraculouses in the Chinese Zodiac and Native American Miracle Boxes, along with teaching them about their kwamis' powers and the power-up potions associated with the Miraculouses in question.

I have a feeling that's gonna be a lot of information for them, and the reason why Master Fu and the others insisted on educating Marinette, Adrien and Alix is because, to my great surprise, Master Fu wants to train me, Marinette, Adrien and Alix to become Co-Guardians of the Miracle Box!

I just couldn't believe it, and yet I know that Master Fu doesn't lie about such a thing as serious as this.

I can't imagine such a greater honor than that, but it has two known disadvantages. The first is this: if we do become Co-Guardians and if we were to renounce possession of the Miracle Box for any reason at all, especially because we had been compromised, we'd have to lose our memories of everything related to the Miraculouses and our superhero identities, only to end up remembering the last thing we remembered before being introduced to the lore of the Miraculouses in general, including Marinette only being able to remember her first day at school last year when Hawk Moth made his debut in one likely scenario. And the second reason... every one of our allies would try to do whatever it takes to ensure we regain our memories without any memory related to the Miraculouses or to our former superhero identities.

And in particular, I would end up forgetting about my foreknowledge and I would end up forgetting that the method Master Fu used to bring me here is a one-way journey and that I can't go back, amnesiac or not.

I told Master Fu about some of the mistakes he made, and yet his old age hasn't done him well.

Then again, Master Fu knows what he's doing in this timeline, so at least I know that besides his portrayal in certain fanfiction stories from my Earth, the elderly Guardian is somewhat trustworthy.

But as for the amnesia that comes with the Guardian passing the torch rule, I suddenly remembered that that's where the power of the Rooster Miraculous comes in. One of our teammates can easily use the Rooster Miraculous' superpower of Sublimation to bestow upon themselves the ability to restore erased memories. Just like in that Rooster Miraculous tomfoolery fanfiction story from Archive Of Our Own on my Earth.

I find the Rooster Miraculous' power to be quite useful. And if worded properly, the user of the Rooster Miraculous can easily bestow the user the ability to grant themselves and other Miraculous users the ability to use their Miraculous powers an unlimited number of times without recharges or detransforming. Among other things.

But fully restoring a former Guardian's memories is a bit of a gamble because if a compromised Guardian's memories are restored and the former Guardian gets captured again, that can prove to be a bit of a big problem.

But not to worry, readers. I always come up with the best contingency plans and I'm sure that I can come up with a good enough contingency plan for a situation as dire as what I just described.

And I didn't want to admit this to any of my teammates yet, but in Paris in particular, I live in a gigantic mansion on one of the edges of Paris. And for someone like me able to live for trillions of years, assume many identities without losing my true identity of Miguel Guevara, and work many different jobs in the countries where Miraculous Ladybug would go to in terms of the Miraculous World Special episodes having the story plots taking place anywhere other than Paris, it's easy to save lots of money while taking the opportunity to donate large sums to charities like Make A Wish, providing for the homeless, and while double checking to make sure that I don't turn greedy for whatever I could potentially buy with my money.

This is especially because of the fact that I have absolute immortality, the ability to live for millions of years without aging, without dying, and without forgetting anything among other benefits.

Then there's this: I intend to use my own Sublimation superpower to give me the ability to find out more about the mysterious black substance that turned the unknown man into the Trash Krakken.

Next to that, I intend to make sure that when the New York Special episode happens, we'll be able to politely get the positive and/or negative results about the diagnosis of the mysterious black substance and make sure that nobody gets affected by it ever again. I personally can guarantee it. I vow in the Name of the Lord that we'll all find out what the substance is and what it does. No matter if the Miraculous: Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir comic books are canon and chronological to the original show or not, and no matter if the comic books become discontinued after issue 8 or not.

Anyhoo, as the lacrosse game is about to start in about three to five, maybe ten minutes, I worry about how we'll be able to defeat Replay without being manipulated in time, even with my foreknowledge of Replay's tactics.

But I know that in case I am either incapacitated or dead, Ladybug will be able to bring me back.

I have complete faith in my first protégé and my favorite ladybug-themed superhero.

In any case, I got in contact with Master Fu about the aftermath of Replay's Akumatization, and Master Fu agreed that we would respectively teach each other about everything we knew from our respective Guardian training, and we would use our teachings to educate Marinette, Adrien and Alix everything about being Guardians of the Miraculouses.

At the same time, I'm also a tad worried about how we're gonna be able to defeat the Trash Krakken in this timeline.

I mean, I already know how it originally happened, but how it will happen in this timeline is what worries me.

Eh, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, so to speak.

Anyway, I have to say that now that I think about it, the future is bearing down on us like an express train.

And why do I say that, you ask?

Well, because I'm worried that even with Bunnyx on our side, we would end up having to come up with new foreknowledge-based tactics to defeat Monarch in the future just in case my plans for Heroes' Day fail.

But not to worry; among my other powers are the Rabbit Burrow superpower and the Rooster Sublimation superpower.

I can easily use those to defeat Gabriel in any of his alternate identities.

But I'd also have to make sure that I first use Sublimation to give myself the ability to bestow upon myself and upon others different kinds of superpowers with very little limits except for the limit of remaking the universe itself, the limit of finding out other superhumans' identities, and the limit of replicating the powers of any Miraculous jewel in existence.

Must remember to do that in advance before we reach season 3, season 4, season 5, season 6, season 7, season 8, season 9, season 10, season 11, and season 12, no matter if Hawk Moth is in La Santé Prison after Heroes' Day or if it takes about four years to put him behind bars for his crimes.

But now, I must be off to prepare for when Adam Weller becomes Replay.

(Third person POV...)

The lacrosse game is underway, and many students are cheering on either Adrien or Adam, as they're respectively lacrosse veterans for their school.

Alya suggests to Marinette, "You know, when they win, you should totally offer to treat Adrien to some victory ice cream."

Marinette replies, "I got ice cream at home. I came prepared."

Eventually, Adrien's team wins the lacrosse game.

The students cheering on Adrien called out in unison, "Yay!" or "Hooray!" or "Hoo-rah!"

Two of Adam's teammates remark, "Nice going, Adam!" and "You're supposed to stop him from scoring for his team, loser!"

Adam sneers as he comes up to Adrien and whacks him in the chest with his lacrosse stick.

Adrien calls out angrily, "Hey! What the hell's wrong with you?!"

The referee blows the whistle and calls out, "Foul! Five minute penalty!"

Adam snarls at the referee.

Adam then proceeds to leave.

Suddenly, Steel Butterfly teleports to the game in a flurry of butterflies and crows, much to the shock of pretty much everybody here.

Steel Butterfly points to the two lacrosse players making fun of Adam and snarls demonically, "You two! You should know better than to call a teammate a loser! You should know better than to make fun of a teammate in general, especially since Paris is still being frequently terrorized by Hawk Moth. And besides, if Adam gets Akumatized, any kind of bloodshed he makes will happen either way. You two had better think twice before making fun of a lacrosse teammate who seems to be losing steam against someone of Adrien's caliber. After all, how would you like it if someone was making fun of you, only for either of you or both of you to get Akumatized? Huh?!"

The two lacrosse players look down in shame for a moment before looking back at Steel Butterfly again.

Steel Butterfly finishes saying, "This is your only warning. If I hear from the grapevine that you making fun of a teammate or a friend caused him or her to be Akumatized for any reason at all ever again, especially with what we've seen just now, I'll be coming for your heads! I'm serious! (He deploys his Wolverine claws) Do I make myself clear?!"

The two lacrosse players gulp in fear before nodding frantically.

Even Marinette looked shocked that Steel Butterfly was indirectly and directly making a death threat to two lacrosse players who don't know any better than to make fun of a teammate in this point in time.

But Marinette remembers that Steel Butterfly doesn't care, because even though he doesn't see the world in black and white, he still believes that teenagers indirectly responsible for someone getting Akumatized deserve to be punished, no matter how old they are and no matter how severe the punishments should be.

In a specific part of the outside of the school, Adam snarls, "I try my hardest, and yet nobody, not even my team, respects me for any of it! It's not fair at all!"

In Hawk Moth's lair, the window opens as Hawk Moth remarks, "So much rage in one single boy. I can almost taste that rage!"

Hawk Moth transforms a butterfly into an Akuma.

The Akuma flies away as Hawk Moth states, "Fly away, my devious Akuma, and feed into that boy's rage!"

The Akuma flies towards Adam and before it can infect his wristwatch, Steel Butterfly immediately catches it and purifies it.

Steel Butterfly mentally notes Adam's shocked expression as he says sternly, "I'm gonna say this only once, young man. While I don't approve of your teammates making fun of you, I also don't approve of you assaulting your lacrosse opponent. You better shape up because at the end of the day, it's just a game, and not every game results in one team's success. How do you think the various sports teams of the world felt when they lost?"

Adam doesn't say a thing in response, having been taught about that particular lesson from his dad two years ago.

Steel Butterfly continues, "And furthermore, assaulting Adrien Agreste in a fit of anger only provokes retaliation in the form of lawsuits, suspension, expulsion and a stint in juvenile detention. Next time, think of the consequences of your actions before undertaking them. Is that understood?"

Adam replies, "Yes, Steel Butterfly."

Satisfied, Steel Butterfly flies off, unaware that Adam was still not listening, and thus, this attracted another Akuma.

The new Akuma infects his wristwatch, establishing a telepathic link between him and Hawk Moth.

Hawk Moth states from his lair, "Replay. I am Hawk Moth. I'm offering you the chance to be the star player of the school's lacrosse game, for a little something in return, of course. Teach your teammates how valuable you really are!"

Adam/Replay replies darkly, "Yes, Hawk Moth."

Adam is transformed by the Akuma into Replay.

Someone from the lacrosse teams comes up and says, "Hey, you! You had better apologize to Adrien before I'm forced to call your parents!"

Replay gets up and the bystander shakes in fear before running away.

But Replay presses the rewind button on his wristwatch that's like a wrist-mounted remote control, making the lacrosse player go backwards in time as he runs away back to the lacrosse game.

The lacrosse player finds himself back in the courtyard and as he returns to normal time, he asks bewilderedly, "Huh? What on Earth happened? What was I just doing?"

Marinette spies Replay, and sneaks off to hide in order to become Ladybug.

As Adrien goes to score another shot, Alya remarks while filming, "Go, Adrien!"

As Adrien scores the shot, Replay remarks mockingly, "I don't think so!"

Replay stands in front of the lacrosse ball and presses the rewind button, causing the ball to fly in reverse at Adrien's head.

But Adrien manages to dodge out of the way in time.

The lacrosse ball lands in front of three other lacrosse players, causing them to scream and run away as Adrien readies his lacrosse stick for a fight.

Landing in front of Replay, Steel Butterfly deploys two Dragon Miraculous Swords in his likeness and growls at Replay, making him smirk widely.

Steel Butterfly remarks angrily, "I shoulda known you wouldn't listen to me, you pathetic sore loser!"

Replay growls and aims his wristwatch at Steel Butterfly, only to get blinded by the butterfly hero tossing a flash bang grenade at the time-controlling villain.

Then, Steel Butterfly tries some Mirakung-Fu sword moves on Replay, but the time villain recovers in time to dodge all of Steel Butterfly's attacks, no matter if he's using his Absolute Speed power or not.

This shocked Steel Butterfly the most, as only an experienced time manipulator like Bunnyx would be able to make herself move fast enough to overcome Steel Butterfly's speed.

From a hiding spot, Marinette remarks, "Time to transform! Tikki, Spots On!"

Marinette transforms into Ladybug.

Replay prepares to fight Steel Butterfly, but the butterfly hero gives him the 1000 Fists Combo from the Superman Returns video game.

After recovering, Replay pauses Steel Butterfly and throws him aside.

Then, Replay prepares to fight Adrien, but Bunnyx, Ivan and Kim come up to aid them.

Bunnyx remarks, "You fight with him, you fight with all of us!"

Bunnyx readies her parasol as Ivan adds, "That's right!"

Replay looks shocked and dismayed, even as his lacrosse teammates run away in fear.

Replay sneers in reply, "Let's fast forward to the part where I win!"

Suddenly, Bunnyx thrusts her right hand in front of Replay, freezing him, much to the shock of everyone in the school.

Bunnyx then says to Replay in the hopes that Hawk Moth is listening, "You might have the ability to give specific kinds of powers to your ridiculous villains, Hawk b****, but I am the Guardian of time and space! No one except for me and Steel Butterfly is allowed to have the ability to manipulate time or to travel through time!"

Having unfrozen himself thanks to his own time powers, Steel Butterfly comes up to the frozen Replay and slices his wristwatch to pieces as carefully as possible.

Ladybug catches the Akuma and purifies it while Replay is turned back into Adam Weller, who unfreezes and asks, "Huh? What happened?"

Ladybug, Cat Noir, Bunnyx, and Steel Butterfly fist-bump.

In his lair, Hawk Moth snarls, "This isn't over yet, Time Guardian! This isn't over yet, Steel Butterfly! One day, I will destroy your Miraculouses to prevent anyone from stopping me! One day, I will have Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses! Their powers will be mine!"

In the courtyard, everyone cheers and Kim comes over to Bunnyx and says, "Thanks, Bunnyx."

Bunnyx pecks Kim on the cheek in response, much to Steel Butterfly's hidden shock.

Later, the lacrosse game continues and Adrien scores the final shot.

The referee blows his whistle and calls out, "That's game!"

Nino calls out, "Way to go, dude!"

Chloe adds, "Awesome as always, Adrien!"

Adam comes up to Adrien and asks, "Hey, sorry about everything. Good game?"

Adrien replies while shaking Adam's hand, "Good game."

Later, at the cinema, Marinette and Adrien are watching the French dub of the original Superman movie.

Surprisingly, Marinette has really started to get into the geeky world of superheroes. Not just because some of them like Superman are cool, but because there are also several superhero lessons and pieces of advice to learn from superhero fiction. Not just to educate people on how to solve problems on their own, but also to provide an answer to any dilemma that the members of the French Miraculous Superhero Team might encounter in the foreseeable future, in the near future, and in the far future.

Particularly if the French government and the governments of the world were to force the United Heroez and the French Miraculous Superhero Team to sign agreements similarly different to the Sokovia Accords under threat of forced retirement and imprisonment with no trials or parole. Something that Steel Butterfly found highly unlikely to happen, as the disasters of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War never happened in the Quantic Multiverse of Quantic Universes or on Miguel's Earth.

After the credits finished rolling, Gabriel called Adrien.

Adrien picks up, "Hello? Dad, what's up? You're giving me ice cream as dessert for tonight's dinner? What kind? Chocolate chip? Thanks... Of course Marinette's with me. Why do you ask? ...You want her to attend the next photoshoot to keep me company? Okay, I think we can work out the details. Where and when does this next photoshoot take place? ...On your personal yacht at The Isle of Swans aka The Swan Island tomorrow afternoon? Okay, I'll do my hardest to be up early. I'll even set up three different alarms to double that time... You think it's a bad idea? Okay, if you say so... Yeah, I love you too, Dad. Bye."

Adrien went home and enjoyed his dinner, where Gabriel actually decided to attend for the first time since the Simon Says incident last year.

Adrien also enjoyed the chocolate chip ice cream Gabriel taught himself how to secretly make in the aftermath of the incident with The Collector.

Of course, when Steel Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir went on patrol that night, Cat Noir got the chance to burn off all the calories from his dinner earlier.

(Steel Butterfly's voiceover POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal in the kitchen of his residence...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

June 3rd, 2015.

Second journal entry tonight.

Replay was easy to deakumatize thanks to Bunnyx being able to freeze our target in time, rendering him helpless.

I think that from here on out, as long as we have Bunnyx on our side, Hawk Moth will think twice about Akumatizing someone into a time traveling/time manipulating supervillain.

However, I don't think that'll extend to not Akumatizing Bunnyx into an evil version of herself. Perhaps under the name of Tesseract, or some other name to describe an Akumatized Bunnyx whose only goal would be to rewrite any form of alternate timeline she thinks doesn't belong in the Quantic Multiverse.

But not to worry; I've kept this all on a tight lip so I can be prepared for the time when we have to fight an Akumatized Future Bunnyx.

Not even Master Fu has to know about this, because this is something I can't trust him to know about. The moment I tell him, he'll likely tell everyone else.

Yeah, despite the fact that this timeline iteration of Master Fu is a much better improvement over all different versions of him in either the original show or in fanfiction stories that feature him making even worse choices without caring about the consequences, I still somewhat don't trust Master Fu.

Anyway, the next Akumatization to deal with is the unnamed fisherman, also known as Silurus.

Yeah, he's quite literally the first villain in the Miraculous: Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir comic books to not have an official name, leading to some people on my Earth to make lots of speculations that won't ever be proven true since the Miraculous Adventures comic books were all discontinued after issue 8 in either 2018, 2019, 2020, or perhaps 2030. I don't know the exact date because, on the chapter guide for the comic books on Miraculous Ladybug Wiki on my Earth, there's no official information on when the comics were released physically for a decent, affordable price in the United States, or when they stopped being sold.

But in any case, I gotta remember to ask the fisherman for his name when he's deakumatized.

Hopefully, the young lad will be able to answer my question.

"Young lad?" Man, I'm starting to talk like a wise, sagely old man.

But I guess that was a result of the fact that I'm old in thirty-two thousand, one hundred and eight years ahead of my previous age which I honestly remember off the top of my head being fifty-two years old. And even though I was getting older before I came to this world, I was still young enough to do all the things humans need to do to stay healthy, even as an old fart.

Anyway, I have to say, when I told my kwami Leppey about what was shown in the original four issues of Miraculous: Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir, he thought I was exaggerating. Until I showed him the actual comic books which were among the many things I had with me from my dimension thanks to the fact that I bestowed upon myself the ability to store all the things from my past life in a pocket dimension similar to the Transformers Animated iteration of the Combaticon Swindle having a transwarp energy-based pocket dimension in his chestplate compartment.

And of course, when I showed Leppey the original comic book iterations of Uncanny Valley and Doorman, he wasn't pleased with the designs at all, seeing as Leppey can see and hear everything I see and hear when I become Steel Butterfly. In addition to the fact that we can communicate telepathically whenever I'm Steel Butterfly.

In any case, I intend to do something I always wanted to do to the girls in Ms. Bustier's class when I was growing up watching Miraculous Ladybug: having clones of me tickle the girls for a maximum of five minutes only so that they can catch their breath and not bust their guts or experience nose bleeds from laughing so much or laughing so hard.

Of course, such a list of the girls in Ms. Bustier's class excludes Marinette since I happen to already know she's ticklish and she hates being tickled.

Now, like I've said a couple of times before, I normally don't approve of tickling anybody. But whenever I do tickle girls I know, excluding my own relatives, I mainly do it to amuse myself or to prove a point or to teach that particular girl some manners.

In any manner, I happen to have in mind plans for Heroes' Day to make everybody in my ranks and the rest of Paris think that I can only make more than one Tenshi as Crimson Butterfly.

Besides, if Hawk Moth ever found out I can make more than one Tenshi regardless of whether or not I'm Crimson Butterfly, he could potentially Akumatize Nathalie into a supervillain who can give him the ability to bestow powers upon himself instead of Akumatizing Nathalie into Catalyst to make him become Scarlet Moth.

Hawk Moth being temporarily powered up into Scarlet Moth is something that must happen in chronological order. Otherwise, the Battle of the Scarlet Army will be slightly more disastrous if the multiple Akumatized villains in his army try to accomplish their secondary goals revolving around the causes of them being Akumatized in the first place.

And no, I'm not kidding; I saw it in a vision of the future thanks to me using the Rabbit Burrow through the true power of my Butterfly Miraculous.

Anyhow, I wonder how well the Order of the Guardians will adjust to life in the modern era thanks to the fact that the Feast Sentimonster rendered that nearly impossible until my two primary teammates set free everything and everyone that the Sentimonster devoured in 1844 back in the original timeline.

Maybe they will adjust well, but I have a feeling that the Chinese government would probably launch an assault on the temple like in a select few Miraculous Ladybug fanfictions on my Earth.

It could or couldn't happen in this timeline, but I'd rather not take my chances.

Granted, the Order's methods and practices of recruiting new Guardians, recruiting new Miraculous heroes, and the way they treated the kwamis just because of most of their mistakes – including Plagg in particular – are morally questionable, but that doesn't change the fact that they're needed to safeguard the Miraculouses.

But at any rate, I intend to help the Order of the Guardians reformat most of their practices to adjust to the modern era, no matter what Grandmaster Su-Han has to say about that.

And on top of that, I intend to teach the Order of the Guardians all about Akumakung-Fu so that way, they can be prepared to neutralize rogue and/or powerful Akumatized supervillains just in case the original Butterfly Miraculous gets stolen again and just in case the new Hawk Moth responsible for stealing the Miraculous in question to replace Gabriel Agreste isn't Lila Rossi, Nathalie Sancoeur, Felix Graham de Vanily Fathom, Chloe Bourgeois, Emilie Agreste, or Amelie Graham de Vanily.

And in all seriousness, I intend to turn things around for the Perfect Precepts that the Order of the Guardians follow to the bitter end, including the fact that Guardians need to wield a Miraculous jewel in order to benefit from a kwami's assistance, including the fact that chosen Miraculous wielders as children and teenagers can be trained better than adult Miraculous users, and including the fact that kwamis must live even outside the Miracle Box so as to keep themselves in tune with human history and all different kinds of things about the invention of the modern era.

But now, I gotta get some sleep, because we're going to have a hectic day ahead of us tomorrow. And I gotta be at the beach early enough to rendezvous with the others.

(The next morning...)

Inside of Adrien's bedroom in the Agreste Mansion, Adrien is sleeping in his bed as he dreams about the fight with Replay and about kissing Ladybug while she was hanging upside down on a rooftop by her yoyo, Spider-Man style.

Then he starts to dream about winning a tickle fight with Marinette and Chloe, and Adrien starts dreaming about teaming up with Bunnyx to take down an army of twenty armed robbers while Steel Butterfly upgrades their Miraculous armors to become one hundred percent invulnerable to anything except for Miraculous weapons and anti-magic. Adrien then starts dreaming about his mother being revived by Steel Butterfly and Master Fu, only to kick his father hard in the nuts for his actions before Adrien's alarm clock in the real world rings.

Adrien bolts upright in his bed before looking at the alarm clock, showing that it was time to get up.

Adrien remarks, "Well, at least we'll be prepared for the fight with Silurus and the meeting with the United Heroez."

Meanwhile, on the shore of The Isle of Swans/The Swan Island, a thoroughly sun-shielded Miguel Guevara remarks, "Indeed we will be, Adrien. Indeed we will be."

A thoroughly sun-shielded Ryoka Mensah comes up and kisses Miguel on the cheek, causing him to smile down at her.