Chapter 27: Gamer Averted

(Author's notes: In this chapter, we'll see just how precisely Max Kante's Akumatization into The Gamer will be averted.

Also, there's gonna be a bonus scene in the chapter The Collector. It's a surprise though, and I've a feeling you readers are gonna love it. But here's a hint on what the bonus scene is about: it involves a journey to the center of the multiverse. It's up to you to determine what the entire surprise is based on that hint.

(Quantic Universe Earth 139, Paris, France, May 19th, 2015, Steel Butterfly's voiceover POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

May 19th, 2015.

First journal entry today.

Today's supposed to be the day of the Gamer incident.

I tell ya, Max Kante is in some way similar to the Transformers Generation 1 Computron. Specifically in the sense that they tend to make calculations, estimates and so forth a little too slowly while rambling all about the benefits and consequences of certain things in the ramblings.

Anyway, I have in mind the perfect candidate in my civilian ranks to receive the Horse Miraculous.

BUT, I ain't mentioning any names just in case any form of information aside from just my journal entries wind up in enemy hands in the far future, just in case our successors end up deadlocked in a no-holds barred fight against an army of villains just as or twice as worse than Hawk Moth I, Catalyst, Scarlet Moth, Mayura, Shadow Moth, Shadow Noir, Monarch, Scarlet Shadow, Dragon Moth, Tyranno Moth, Hawk Bug, Nightmare Chimera, Rooster Moth, Safari, Strikeback, Volpina, Chameleon, Hoaxer, any dragon-themed villains from other Miraculous Ladybug fanfictions, Hawk Moth II, Flairmidable, Argos, Cat Blanc, Ephemeral, Antibug, Queen Wasp, Miracle Queen, Queen Banana, the Penalteam, Clonika, Ignoblia, Techno-Pirate, Techlonizer, Miraclonizer, Cash, King Cash, YanLuoShi, Nightmare Ladybug, Nightmare Adrien, Optigami, Moolak, Timetagger, the Trash Krakken, Kuro Neko, Banana Boom-Boom, the Butterfly Sentimonster, the Feast Sentimonster, Guiltrip, Hack-San, the Robustus Sentimonster, Reflekdoll, Mega Leech, Lollipop Boy, Light Eye, and many other Miraculous Ladybug villains who showed up in several fanfictions from my Earth.

In any case, I wonder how Max's Akumatization will be averted now that Marinette knows how and when it's going to happen. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Oh wait, I just remembered, I already told Marinette how to best avert it just this morning.

Eh, anyway, I have in mind plans to deal with Lila Rossi when she becomes Volpina.

But rest assured, if she does try to retreat, I'll make sure that she doesn't escape.

At the same time, however, some of the non-chronological Akumatized supervillains who showed up in the aftermath of certain Akumatized villain defeats and averted Akumatizations give me the shivers.

True, they were handled by Lion Hunter, Rhinocharge, Corvo, Cat Knight, Blueclaw, myself, Purple Changer, Venus Avian, and so forth, but that doesn't change the fact that there's going to be more Akumatized villains in Scarlet Moth's army than either of us thought.

And if that does happen, we're going to be in for a much more intense Battle of the Scarlet Army than I thought.

But not to worry; I have a backup plan. I always do.

In case the Battle of the Scarlet Army becomes more intense in terms of the opposite side of the fight having vastly superior numbers, I'll simply use my powers to Tenshize more superheroes and bring to life replicas of various fictional superheroes outside of Miraculous Ladybug. In addition to bringing various timeline counterparts of the French Miraculous Superhero Team into our universe to further assist us.

Granted, there is some risk in that regard, especially including multiple iterations of Bunnyx finding out about my timeline. But I'll deal with that when the time comes.

But in any case, I gotta bounce just in case someone gets Akumatized in Max's place.

(Third person POV...)

In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette has just finished her lunch for the school day and is walking outside her parents' bakery to the school, having gotten a maximum of five minutes before she has to meet with Alya to research their terms papers.

At Francoise Dupont, Marinette and Tikki hear something coming from the library.

Marinette and Tikki quietly share a look and Tikki hides in Marinette's purse as she heads into the library.

To Marinette's surprise, the kids are in the library playing Marinette's favorite video game, Ultimate Mecha Strike III.

But then, Marinette suddenly remembers what Steel Butterfly had told her last night during patrol: the school was participating in a video game tournament to see who the best one was at playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III, and Max worked so hard to participate that he'll easily get Akumatized if he doesn't get the first of two spots alongside the second best player. Especially if Marinette were to suddenly participate just to be with Adrien. That combined with her beating Max because of her own "supernatural" experience with the video game in question will easily be the catalyst to have Max Akumatized into The Gamer.

So, Marinette opted to sit back and let Adrien and Max have the competition since they've been working hard on getting their spots in the whole thing. After all, like Steel Butterfly had told her before that day, it's not worth it to get Max Akumatized into a video game supervillain with supernatural gaming skills, a giant upgradeable robot from the game, the ability to regenerate his robot, potential nigh-invulnerability, and reality bending simulators that can potentially put everyone in a giant video game with Gamer making all the rules.

Marinette heads into the library and asks Kim quietly, "(Softly) Let me guess: the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III video game tournament?"

Kim replies just as quietly, "(Softly) Yep. The tryouts are offering a partner to team up with Max in the tournament."

Marinette then inquires, "(Softly) And I'm guessing that Max is participating because of the fact that he's unbeatable at this game?"

Kim replies in a whisper, "(Softly) Yep. He's a total rock star, so to speak. He's got the highest APM over anyone else!"

Marinette then quizzes, "(Softly) What does APM stand for?"

Kim responds, "(Softly) Actions per minute. This tournament is his whole life and he's been grinding all year to level up, so to speak."

On the screen, Adrien's robot, NAD03, uses his special attack on Max's robot, MX-01. MX-01 is crushed, literally, and NAD03 takes the win.

Ms. Bustier announces, "Adrien is now in the lead."

Kim quizzes, "What just happened, Max?"

Max replies, "Adrien used his special move on my robot. (Turns to Adrien) Awesome job, Adrien. We're gonna make a killer combo in the tournament."

Adrien and Max exchange a high five and the rest of the class cheers for them.

Mr. Damocles then announces, "Well, I think we have our two champions lined up for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III tournament."

Alya then asks aloud, getting everyone's attention, "Marinette, why don't you beat Max for his spot?"

Everyone looks at Marinette and she answers, "And risk getting Max Akumatized just because its common knowledge among our social circles that Max hates losing? I don't think so."

Max replies before asking out of curiosity, "Marinette, I appreciate your concern, and I appreciate that you want me to maintain my position in the tournament, but what makes you think I would get Akumatized if I lost?"

Marinette counters, "Well, before we met several years ago, I also gained a lot of experience in playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III thanks to the fact that I played the game with my dad on game nights. Plus, I'm well aware that you have been grinding your tuchus off to get your spot in this tournament and its common knowledge that you hate losing in any video game. As for you getting Akumatized, once you become Hawk Moth's servant, it's nearly impossible to outsmart him no matter how smart you are because Hawk Moth can see and hear everything that his servants can see and hear. Besides, Hawk Moth is a skilled liar who's able to make his Akumatized villains believe what he says about anyone trying to get the villains to stop their goals and find better solutions. In addition to that, Hawk Moth can literally inflict pain on his champions for disobeying his orders, and outright remove his champion's powers if they disobey him too many times. And on top of that, we all have to learn to deal with losses without getting ticked enough to get Akumatized because until the Heroes of Paris defeat Hawk Moth and any of his allies and future successors permanently by throwing them in prison, we can't have angry outbursts without Hawk Moth trying to take advantage of our negative emotions to Akumatize any of us."

Adrien adds, "I hate to say this, guys, but Marinette's right."

Marinette then says, "But if you want, Max, we can play Ultimate Mecha Strike III at my place sometime. But please don't be a sore loser about it behind even my back. After all, if Steel Butterfly finds out his efforts to help us in preventing you from being Akumatized fails, he is not gonna be happy about it. Not a single bit."

Max nods and approaches Marinette.

To everyone's surprise, Max actually hugged Marinette.

Even Ms. Bustier and Mr. Damocles were surprised at how much emotion Max was showing.

Soon, the library closes and the students get ready for the tournament that very afternoon later on while researching the term paper.

All the while, Steel Butterfly and Blueclaw were handling the new Akumatized villain of the day: Deeta Corcoran, also known as Dangerous Monarch, a supervillain with the ability to turn butterflies into big robotic butterfly-shaped attack drones and attack robots. In addition to the ability to make any nearby butterflies multiply into large numbers for Hawk Moth's Akumas.

Surprisingly, Steel Butterfly's own ability to control and manipulate butterflies overpowered Dangerous Monarch's own butterfly-related powers. Especially Steel Butterfly's new ability to Tenshize more than one person into multiple superheroes via the fact that he used Sublimation to grant himself the ability to Tenshize more than one superhero at a time with and without becoming Crimson Butterfly.

Steel Butterfly sends his two Tenshies to find the two nearest sets of positive emotions.

Steel Butterfly managed to Tenshize Ermelinda Tackett into Incredible Trident and Ermina Boudreaux into Scarlet Horse, the twosome having the same powers as Max Kante/Pegasus, Aquaman, Ocean Master and King Neptune.

After about three minutes, Dangerous Monarch was forced to retreat, but then, she was paralyzed by a scratch from the bluebird's claws.

Steel Butterfly destroyed the Akumatized object, a butterfly hairpin, and used his Miraculous Butterfly cure to fix the damages and return everything to normal.

Soon, the video game tournament went splendidly, with Francoise Dupont High School as the winner, with Adrien and Max representing their school.

In Marinette's bedroom, Miguel says to his two protégés, "The next Akumatization to prepare for is Alix's idiotic older brother, Jalil Kubdel, also known as The Pharaoh, a supervillain replica of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, or popularly known as King Tut. As The Pharaoh, he has the powers of every Egyptian god, including the ability to fly, the ability to create time bubbles that cause people to move and talk in slow motion if they run into one of them, and the ability to turn people into obedient mummies. As for the reasoning behind Jalil's Akumatization, he wants to perform an ancient Egyptian magic ritual to revive King Tut's stepmother, Queen Nefertiti, from the dead, but he chose to disregard the fact that his father could lose his job if the scroll needed for the ritual is touched, and Jalil hates it when people refuse to believe him or when people refuse to let him test out his theories regardless of the potential consequences. And unfortunately, Jalil's obsession with ancient Egyptian magic scrolls is gonna make him liable to be sentenced harshly by Christ to be tossed into the Lake of Fire at the end of days. In a nutshell, Jalil's fantasies and desire to prove his theories correct regardless of the consequences, especially in Hawk Moth's grasp, are all gonna be his end. On top of that, even this ritual requires an equal value exchange."

Leppey, Marinette, Adrien, Tikki, and Plagg looked shocked and horrified.

Plagg then questions, "And what is the only other reason why Jalil wants to test out his theory?"

Miguel answers, "To find a way to revive his and Alix's currently deceased mother."

Leppey, Marinette, Tikki, Adrien, and Plagg all gasped in horror.

Miguel snickers a bit as he adds, "And of a hilarious particular note, whenever someone enters the time bubbles by accident, their voices on the outside of the bubbles sound like men talking in deep voices at a slow enough pace that is not technically slow motion."

Miguel emphasizes this by showing Marinette and Adrien a hologram of Ladybug accidentally entering a time bubble.

Hologram Ladybug says, "Whoa! Oh, no! I ran right into one of those time bubbles! (Outside the time bubble) I've got to get out of this!"

Miguel, Leppey, Plagg, Adrien and Tikki burst into laughter.

Marinette just looks annoyed at how everyone was laughing at her in the hologram talking in slow motion.

Composing himself, Miguel says, "But seriously, that's not how people are supposed to talk in slow motion. This is how it's done: (imitates Optimus Prime talking in slow motion) Auuuuuuuttttttttttttoooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbooooooooooooooottttttttttttsssssssssssss, mmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ppppppppppppppooooooooooooooooossssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnssssssssssssss."

Everyone was surprised at how well Miguel impersonated his favorite Transformers character actually talking in slow motion.

But of course, Marinette said, "If you guys ever make fun of me talking in slow motion like that again, we'll just see how well you can move in slow motion when I get Miguel's remote."

Miguel laughed maniacally in response, "AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My remote is programmed to obey anyone legitimately sharing my DNA, including clones. Kind of like Judge Dredd's Lawgiver, if someone is not sharing my DNA and they try to use my remote, they get electrocuted. And the DNA scanners can also tell who's trying to use my DNA scans by usage of anything that copies someone's DNA. So don't even bother."

Steel Butterfly left and Adrien went home his now traditional way.

Marinette knew she had to prepare for the Akumatization of The Pharaoh, but she also wanted to make sure that Alya didn't get her hands on Marinette's history textbook.

Steel Butterfly had managed to tell Marinette about that little detail via telepathy.

Marinette prayed that she would be able to place the textbook into her yoyo. Because even Steel Butterfly is aware that it's the wrong time and place for Alya and the rest of Ms. Bustier's class to know the truth of Marinette's many successes, including her success in showing up for school on time and getting her schoolwork and her homework done on time as meticulously as possible.

(Steel Butterfly's voice-over POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal in the park...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

May 19th, 2015.

Second journal entry today.

My plans to prevent Max Kante from becoming Akumatized into The Gamer worked flawlessly.

Marinette was smart enough to recognize what needed to be said in order to let Max know she won't be participating in the competition under any circumstances.

In any case, the next Akumatization to prepare for is Bunnyx's idiotic older brother, Jalil Kubdel aka The Pharaoh, a King Tut-inspired Akumatized villain with the same powers of the Egyptian mythological gods that people like me always know don't exist.

I hate Jalil to an extreme.

And here's why: he literally speaks proudly of the Egyptian gods when it comes to their dead chants and spells, he is obsessed with Egyptian scrolls and magic, and he even carries around an amulet that could easily get him demonically possessed, for crying out loud!

Ugh. He's such a disgusting abomination of the human race that God Himself invented.

But in any case, I'm a tad giddy and a tad worried because we have forty-eight hours and counting down before Lila Rossi makes her debut.

And I'm not looking forward to it at all despite the fact that me warning Alya and the Ladyblog about Lila can easily disprove her lies by the time she sets foot in Francoise Dupont.

I tell ya, the classmates of Ladybug and Cat Noir had absolutely no brain cells, except for the likes of Chloe Bourgeois, and that was way before the Penalteam episode when she decides to join forces with the fox-themed villain at the end of the episode.

And wouldn't you know it, but several months earlier, I actually ran into her on her way from the airport – incognito, of course.

And when I discreetly scanned her mind, I could see that she does lie to hide the emotional pain from her mother being overly busy with her new job at the embassy.

And thankfully, I also found out Lila's really ticklish as well.

This'll prove to be useful when I tickle torture her the first chance I get.

But what I scanned next in her mind revealed to me something I remember learning about in the Revelation episode of season 5 in the future of this Earth: Lila turned out to have multiple different families and different assumed identities. Because of this and her need to lie about almost everything, that combined with her uncanny ability to save her own hide when someone is about to expose her and her uncanny patience for when rumors die down, she has up to 3 mothers who she manages to ensure that they stay away from one another. She does this by using lies which prevents them from ever meeting or learning the truth about her and her actual familial ties.

And secondly, aside from Mrs. Rossi (Lila's real mother, first name unknown), she has an unknown mother who thinks she is in Africa helping endangered animals and also a deaf-mute mother who communicates through sign language and who was led to believe that Lila's claims about her being an actress who was required to travel multiple times.

Oh, how naïve and stupid they all seem to be.

And in my first journal entry on the day of Mr. Pigeon's first Akumatization... I was right. Lila's family – or families – are in great danger of being targeted by Lila if she ever gets exposed, if she tries to Akumatize herself, and/or if she manages to steal the original Butterfly Miraculous in the future.

But that's unimportant for now. For the time being, all that matters is defeating The Pharaoh before he can test out his sinful theories all for the sake of reviving his mother.

All the same, I gotta be ready for when we have to confront The Pharaoh.

But now, I have already planned several mean pranks to pull on Lila.

First, I'll tickle her feet while she's still sleeping as gently as possible so as to avoid waking her up.

Secondly, the moment she tries to wash her hands after breakfast, she'll unexpectedly fall for the old rubber band around the water sprayer gag.

Thirdly, the moment she exits the girls' bathroom, she's gonna see an assortment of posters with her face on them, and they will be plastered with the words, "LIAR!," "ARROGANT B****!," "HELLSPAWN!," "VIXEN-THEMED SPOILED BRAT!," "SAUSAGE HAIR!," "GIRL WITH OUTLANDISH LIES!," "PINOCCHIO!," "TOXIC SCUMBAG!," "BOTHERSOME PEST!," "LIAR LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE, HANGING FROM A TELEPHONE WIRE!," "BIG LIAR WITH NO REMORSE, EMPATHY OR DIGNITY!" "THE LIAR WHO ALWAYS CARRIES BIG GRUDGES!" "BIG W**** WHO THREATENS PEOPLE INTO STAYING SILENT ABOUT HER LIES!," and so forth.

Then, I'm gonna give Lila a caramel apple to munch on during lunchtime, but what she doesn't know is that its actually a caramel onion!

Hahahahahaha!

Anyway, the last item on my bucket list for Lila Rossi's first encounter with us, I intend to give her a noogie and make her practice the classic "Why are you hitting yourself?"

Anyway, that's my bucket list of things to do to Lila when she shows up, and I have hundreds of more bucket lists, but I don't think they're assorted in any correct order.

Thankfully, I know how to get through all of them.

And anyway, I found out that it's not just ATM robberies happening during Akuma attacks; there's also kidnappings and attempted murders as well.

I had my teammates – my actual ones – take care of these crimes while I focused on the main problem of Hawk Moth himself.

I wish I had known about this, but I can't concentrate. I'm really tired. No sleep since this Wednesday.

This is literally the second time in a row I went for a couple of days without any sleep. Although admittedly, I don't get tired when I'm in my Steel Butterfly form. But just because I'm able to suppress my exhaustion as long as I'm transformed with my own Butterfly Miraculous doesn't mean I have an ultimate stamina upgrade that would further emphasize a god mode.

I went home, walking past the trash cans featuring newspapers about my teammates' heroic deeds.

So, until we meet again. Bye for now, readers of this journal entry.

The End.

(Author's notes: In the next chapter, The Pharaoh will have to contend with Steel Butterfly's version of Archangel representing the one true God and purely to show Hawk Moth and The Pharaoh that when it comes to transforming people into variants of real life and comic book characters, two can play that game. But in the battle to come, who will win, the Akumatized version of the real life King Tut, or the Tenshized version of Michael the Archangel merged with the Archangel from Marvel Comics? We'll find out.

Also, there'll be a bonus scene in preparation for the twenty-fifth chapter, which is the Volpina chapter. Do you know what the bonus scene entails? Here it is. Steel Butterfly telling Alya Cesaire the truth about Lila Rossi with physical evidence while taking into consideration Alya's reaction to finding out about Lila becoming Hawk Moth in the future and how far she's willing to go to make the lives of Marinette and Ladybug a living hell. Of course, since this is MY story, let's just say Alya is gonna do whatever she can to make sure that Lila doesn't garner any attention or sympathy, even if it means writing on the school blog that Steel Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir told her all about Lila's lies and her crimes, and to take everything she says with a large dump truck shovelful of salt.

But anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed my stories of Miraculous Ladybug overall. I know I'm enjoying this one in particular, most specifically because of Steel Butterfly's journal entries.