Beneath Paris, in a secret subterranean lair, white butterflies covering the floor like a glowing carpet, a stoic woman by the name of Natalie, was witnessing the exchange between her boss, Gabriel Agreste, and small purple kwami that resembled a butterfly, named Nooroo, as the tiny creature was explaining the lore of the unique brooch in Gabriel's hand.

"Many centuries ago, magic jewels with extraordinary powers were created, these were the Miraculous," Nooroo, began.

"It's been depicted throughout history that there have been heroes that have used these jewels for the good of the human race," Natalie spoke up, as she opened up the tablet she held in her arms and showed Gabriel the numerous pictures of the alleged heroes.

"Yes, and two of these Miraculous are more powerful than the others, the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation, and the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction. According to legend, whoever controls both these jewels at the same time will achieve absolute power," Nooroo explained as Gabriel looked at a picture of a beautiful woman inside of the brooch in his hand.

"I want that absolute power to make things right, Nooroo," Gabriel said as he closed the brooch. "I must have those Miraculous."

Nooroo and Natalie looked at him nervously. Natalie was all for helping her boss, but it was times like these she worried about his mentality.

"Nobody knows where these Miraculous are," Nooroo protested while Gabriel smiled evilly at the kwami's claim.

"We found you though, my little Nooroo," Gabriel slyly remarked as he glanced over at Natalie, who had helped him find the Miraculous in the first place, before he looked back down at the brooch in his hand and closed it.

"Remind me of your powers again," He instructed, idly rubbing the top of the brooch

"The butterfly brooch allows you to give someone their own superpowers and to make that person your devoted follower," Nooroo said, while the man stopped rubbing the brooch, and covered it with the fingers that were previously rubbing the top of it.

"And when it comes to luring superheroes, what could be better than creating supervillains?" Gabriel mused as he looked away from the brooch and back at the nervous kwami and Natalie.

"But Master, the Miraculous are not meant to be used for evil purposes," Nooroo protested, trying to shove through the man's tunnel vision. Sadly, his reasoning fell on deaf ears.

"I must have this absolute power," Gabriel shouted in anger as he stomped his foot onto the ground like a child throwing a tantrum, causing the butterflies to start flying up from the floor and into the air around the kwami and humans.

"Your miraculous is in my control! I am your Master now! And you must obey me!" He said as he pointed at Nooroo threateningly as the little kwami shook in fear. Natalie could only back away a bit, her eyes slightly wide at his outburst at the kwami.

"Yes, Master," Nooroo said with sadness, hanging his head down in resignation, while Gabriel pinned the brooch onto his shirt.

"Nooroo... Dark Wings, Rise!" The man said as the butterflies swarmed around him, right before Nooroo got sucked into the brooch, transforming the man.

"From this day on I shall be known as Hawkmoth!" The newly made villian said as he faced the window while laughing like a maniac as the butterflies fluttered around the lair without a care in the world, while Natalie worriedly witnessed the start of his slow descent into madness.

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Later that morning, in the streets of Paris, an old man by the name of Master Fu, had just fallen to the ground in front of a young teenage boy. But he didn't help Master Fu from the ground, merely walking past him. The old master only sighs as he gets to his feet, and picks up his cane.

"Another failure," Master Fu groaned out as he started to walk away. But just when he was about to start the test over again, a green kwami that resembled a turtle, by the name of Wayzz, poked his head out of the man's pocket.

"Don't worry Master, I'm sure we will find someone soon!" Wayzz encouraged. It had been a little while since he had felt Nooroo's Miraculous being used for evil; after Master Fu had tried and failed to transform, he realized he needed to finally pass on the torch to a new generation. But that was easier said than done.

"I hope we do. The only reason Nooroo was even lost was because of me. I would like to make things right, but this is harder than I thought," Master Fu admitted as he walked on.

"Master, you must have patience. The young teens of this generation can be very noble. You just have to find them," Wayzz reminded the old man, much to Master Fu's tiredness as he saw another potential candidate, a teenage girl, coming towards them.

"Let us hope that this one will be more worthy," Master Fu whispered to Wayzz before the kwami hid back in his pocket. Once Master Fu was close enough, he 'slipped' and fell to the ground again, letting his cane fly out of his hands. He reaches out for it, playing the 'frail old man' part he had before, but just like the last time, the girl walked past him, more interested in her phone than him.

"Another swing, another miss," the Guardian sighed out as he rose to his feet once more.

"We must not give up, Master. We will find someone to give the Miraculous," Wayzz motivated as Master Fu pulled out a folded piece of paper and pencil from his pocket.

"We have already exhausted all our potential candidates. I'm not sure what to do now," Master Fu admitted, as he un folded the paper and crossed out two names from the four uncrossed names from the list. To say Wayzz and Master Fu had been busy after finding out Nooroo was active, was an understatement. Before today, they had already scouted and made a list of potential candidates for the two miraculous in Fu's pocket, in case the day they needed to choose new heroes came. But now, they were out of options... or so they thought.

"Not true. There are still two left," Wayzz brought up as he pointed to the last two names on the list, which were ironically written at the top.

"They are much too young to be involved with what could become a war. Why do you think we tested the older ones first?" Master Fu protested.

"I know Master, but considering that all the other candidates have failed, perhaps we should give them a chance," Wayzz suggested.

"They are still children. They deserve a normal life!" Master Fu rebutted.

"Then why did you write their names first? We don't have a choice," Wayzz pointed out, knowing that Master Fu needed to hear it. Fortunately it worked.

"You're right, Wayzz. I just wish it didn't have to come to this," Master Fu said as the kwami flew back into the old man's pocket, before he started walking towards his next destination.

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On a main road at 12 Rue Gotlib, in a bedroom on top of the Dupain-Cheng family bakery, an alarm clock has been blaring loudly for the past 15 minutes in an attempt to wake up a girl by the name of Marientte in her loft bed, as she blocked out the sound of the alarm with her blanket. She had been trying to catch up on some much-needed sleep, despite being on summer vacation the previous day. But in the end, her mom called to her from the living room, below the hatch that led to the room to wake her up.

"Marinette! Your alarm has been going off for 15 minutes. You're going to be late for your first day back at school," Marinette's mom calls out, as the young girl sticks out her hand from her blanket, grabs her phone, and turns off the alarm before sticking her tired head out from under the blanket.

"Got it, mom," Marinette groggily said before she got up from her bed and went downstairs to eat breakfast.

"Coming..." She groaned as she went down the stairs and into the kitchen. Once there, she kissed her mom's cheek and went to the table, where the ingredients for her breakfast sat waiting for her, while her mom went to the coffee machine.

"I bet you anything, Chloé will be in my class again," Marinette said while she grabbed a bowl and poured some milk into it before placing it on the table on the left.

"Four years in a row? Is that possible?" Marinette's mom; Sabine asked as she turned to face her daughter, while she grabbed the cereal box.

"Definitely. Lucky me," Marinette sarcastically remarked as she poured the cereal into her bowl as her mom stirred a ladle in a pot.

"Don't say that. It's the start of a new year. I'm sure everything will be fine," Sabine encouraged while Marrinette nodded, before she set the cereal box back down, but she jarred the fruit bowl, which sent an orange rolling into a plate of toast, which knocked the butter knife into the sugar bowl, and Marinette ended up toppling the milk carton when she tried to stop the sugar spilling. She lunged again to grab the milk before it all spilled, and the yogurt ended up on the floor.

Marinette groaned in mortification while Sabine grabbed one of the ever-present, and often used, towels to clean up, while Marinette set the cereal box upright and closed it with a small whine and a frown. But her mother strokes her cheek with the back of her curled finger, bringing a smile to her daughter's lips. Soon after Marinette finished eating, she raced up the stairs to her room to get changed for school.

Instead of wearing the same look as last year, Marinette decided to change it up a bit from last year. She chose to change her hairstyle from a bun, to low pigtails, and the color scheme of her outfit from blue to pink, feeling a little more cheerful for the new school year. Satisfied with her new look, Marinette grabs her phone, takes a picture of her reflection and sends it to a group chat that she, Toby and her brother had made a few years ago.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

Marifairy: (Image) How do I look?

It didn't take long for her brother and her honorary brother to reply while she was packing her bag for the school day.

Group Chat: Arcadia's Unlucky Trio

Toby Pie: Twin tails instead of your hair bun? Are you trying to be an anime protagonist?

Jimbo: It looks good, and pink is definitely your color, I didn't realize they made pink jeans too.

MariFary: They don't. I dyed them myself

Jim: Should have known. You look great either way!

Toby Pie: Jimbo is right, MariFairy. Good luck with the She-Devil today.

MariFairy: If you mean Chloé, then thank you. Here's to hoping that I don't have her in my class this year.

Jimbo: When has that been the case?

MariFairy: Never, but one can hope. Talk to you later. Bye ❤️

Toby Pie: Bye 😘

Jimbo: TTYL ✌️

With the texts from her favorite boys, Marinette happily went downstairs to the bakery on the ground floor of her apartment building. Once there, her dad Tom, gives her a box of yummy looking pistachio macaroons as he hums the French National anthem.

"Dad, these are so awesome!" Marinette gushed as she looked into the box.

"Glad you like 'em," Tom happily responded before he closed the lid of the box, while Marinette hops up and down in excitement.

"Thank you, dad, my class will love them. You're the best," Marientte said excitedly as she took the box into her hands while her dad affectionately tussled her hair.

"We're the best. Thanks to your amazing designs," Tom remarked as he lifted a drawing of Marinette's redesign of the bakery's logo. Smiling with pride, Marinette jumped up and hugged her dad tightly, only to drop the box of macarons. Tom, used to his daughter's clumsiness; quickly caught it with his foot, and then tossed it up in the air, before catching it again and handing it back to Marinette while her mom held out her backpack to her.

"Thanks," Marinette gratefully responded as she took her bag from Sabine with a kiss on her mom's cheek, and then went to her dad to kiss him on the cheek too.

"See you tonight," she yelled out as she ran out the door, box in hand as she managed to get her backpack onto her back, while she made her way towards her school, which was thankfully right next to her house, but in front of a crosswalk, meaning she had to wait for the light to change.

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Master Fu had reached the bakery, much faster than he thought, but was pleasantly surprised to see Marinette arriving at the crosswalk. So, using his 'Old Man' act, he decided to begin his test, and began slowly walking across the street. He was so in character, he didn't notice a car coming towards him, about to run him over. But thankfully, before he noticed, Marinette ran to the secret guardian and pulled him out of the way of the car, and onto the sidewalk, tripping on the curb in the process, making her drop the box of macaroons, spilling the contents onto the ground.

"Thank you, miss. Oh, what a disaster," Master Fu noticed as he looked at the spilled macaroons while Marinette tried to pick them up. As she was about to pick up another one, a man stepped on it, much to her disappointment, but she picked up the unharmed ones and put them back in the box.

'Ah, she remains cheerful in adversity, a good trait.' The guardian thought as Marinette stood up from the ground.

"Don't worry, I'm no stranger to disasters. Besides, there's still a few left," Marinette said as she held out the box to the secret guardian, letting him take one. He took a bite, soon smiling from the flavor.

"Delicious," Master Fu complemented while Marinette closed the top of the box with a smile before the bell rang in the distance.

"Oh no, I'm going to be late! Have a nice day sir" Marinette hastily replied as she bowed to him and then ran along the crosswalk towards the school. Once she was out of sight, Master Fu looked down at a small black box, with an intricate red symbol on the top, in his hand, and smiled to himself.

"Thank you very much, young lady," Master Fu whispered to himself before he walked to the door to Marinette's family bakery, holding his cane behind his back, and walked inside.

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Marinette raced through the front door to the school just before the janitor was about to close them and sprinted to her homeroom class with Miss Bustier. Marinette waved to her friend Nino as he grumpily walked down the stairs to the front row, drawing a smile from him as he sat down and took his headphones off of his ears and let them hang around his neck.

Looking around when she sat down in her regular seat, placing the box of macaroons in front of her, Marinette noticed a few more familiar faces, such as Mylene, Kim, Max, and Rose, from her previous year. But even with some familiar faces, Marinette still would have liked to say she was ready for a new school year.

She really did enjoy learning, but it wasn't the learning or teachers that put her off. It was one Chloé Bourgeois, her long-time bully. It was possible that they would finally be in different classes, but with her luck it was unlikely. So now she was hoping beyond all hope that a familiar blonde wouldn't be in her class this time.

Her dreams were dashed when a familiar well-manicured hand slammed onto her desk, surprising her to see who it belonged to.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," The blonde Chloé Bourgeois taunted, much to Marinette's dismay as she rolled her eyes and stared down at her desk. No such luck this year.

"Ugh. Here we go again," Marinette grumbled to herself, knowing the whole routine by heart at this point.

"That's my seat," Chloe said as she lifted her hand from the table and held it to her chest as she spoke.

"But Chloe, this has always been my seat," Marinette argued as she averted her gaze from the desk and then back at Chloé. What happened next was Chloe, backed by her loyal sidekick, the redheaded Sabrina, attempting to verbally oust Marinette to move seats as our heroine hunched in on herself, up until the mention of an unfamiliar name distracted her.

"Uh... Who's Adrien?" Marinette asked, confused, which caused Chloé and Sabrina to start laughing. At least it got Chloe to back up a little.

"Can you believe she doesn't know who Adrien is?" Chloé asked rhetorically as she guffawed with Sabrina.

"What rock have you been living under?" She questioned Marinette after her laughing, all while Marinette's question was still not answered.

"He's only a famous model," Sabrina answered, which finally answered Marinette's previous question.

"And I'm his best friend. He adores me. Go on, move," Chloé demanded, continuing to bully Marinette into giving up her seat, but thankfully, luck was on her side that day.

"Hey! Who elected you Queen of Seats?" A new girl asked as she was standing behind Chloe with her arms crossed. When Chloé heard the new girl speak up, she turned around and focused her attention on her instead of Marinette.

"Oh look, Sabrina. We've got a little do-gooder in our class this year," Chloé said before getting up into her personal space.

"What're you gonna do super newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?" She asked tauntingly before the new girl got up in Chloe's face.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the other redhead nearly growled before heading over to Marinette and grabbing her arm.

"Come on," The new girl said, giving Marinette a few seconds to grab her stuff, before she dragged Marinette to sit with her, causing the girl to trip, drop her bag and let the macarons spill... again. It really wasn't her day. Marinette could only mutter apologies about the mess as she picked it up and sat next to the new girl.

"Alright, has everyone found a seat?" Miss Bustier asked after blatantly ignoring Chloé's verbal harassment of fellow students, as she faced the class behind her desk. Marinette got into her new seat and stared at the near completely empty box.

"Chillax girl, no biggie," The new girl comforted, bringing Marinette's attention from the box, and to her.

"I so wish I could handle Chloe the way you do," Marinette admitted as she faced her before looking back at the box.

"You mean the way Majestia does it," The new girl said as she lifted her phone to Marinette to show a picture of a comic book hero to her.

"She says 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing,' " She continued to say before she turned Marinette to look back at Chloé while the bully in question sat in Marinette's original seat.

"Well, that girl over there is evil," The new girl remarked as she pointed at Chloé, before turning Marinette away from looking at Chloé and into a huddle.

"And we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it," She said with a confident smile.

"Well that's easier said than done. She likes to make my life miserable," Marinette replied, bringing up how Chloé has tormented her for the past couple of years. But that didn't stop the new girl who was on a roll.

"That's cause you let her, girl! You just need more confidence," The new girl said, wanting to continue, but didn't know her name. Sensing this Marinette took the only survivor out of the box of macarons and split it in half and handed one to the new girl.

"Marinette," Marinette greeted, introducing herself to the new girl with a smile

"Alya," The new girl, now revealed as Alya, greeted back before she took the macaroon and ate it with her new friend as class started with Miss Bustier writing her name on the board with a piece of chalk.

"For those who don't yet know me, I'm Miss Bustier," The teacher introduced as she turned to face the class.

"I'll be your teacher this year," Miss Bustier explained while Chloé stared at the still empty desk in front of her as Miss Bustier started the class.

"Ugh, he should have been here by now," Chloé complained to herself, wondering where her friend was.

Meanwhile, outside of the school, a certain fashionable blond boy was racing to the school building. The boy's name was Adrien and he was so ready for school. He'd never been allowed to go before... Well he technically wasn't allowed this year either, but Chloe had helped him get set up to go to her school, and his usual fencing class met there so all he had to do was make it in the building before he got caught. Unfortunately, just as he was at the front steps, a fancy car disgorged his father's assistant, Nathalie, who chased after him.

"Adrien, please reconsider. You know what your father wants," Nathalie said. Adrien stopped, spun in alarm, and tried to stare her down.

"But this is what I want to do!" Adrien said as he turned to face her before turning away to continue his way up the stairs. He was so close and was about to go in when he heard a groan. Turning in the direction of the sound, Adrien saw Master Fu–not that he knew who he was–on the sidewalk reaching for his cane. Instead of running up the steps, he ran to the guardian and helped him up.

"Thank you, young man," Master Fu said, making Adrien smile. But when he turned around again the Gorilla and Nathalie were blocking his path. He dejectedly walked over.

"I just want to go to school like everybody else. What's so wrong with that? Please don't tell my father about all this," Adrien requested, trying to appeal to Nathalie's better nature.

Sadly, it didn't do much as Gorilla guided him back to the car. If it was up to him, Adrien would be allowed at school, but Nathalie was on a tighter leash from their boss and outranked him.

They drove back to the mansion and Adrien felt his hope slip away with every passing second, not even seeing that the old man he had helped just smiled to himself and walked away with no trouble at all while he held his cane on his shoulder.

(Time skip)

After their first class, Miss Bustier dismissed the students to either the library or P.E. at a neighborhood sports stadium, but just as they were packing to go, one boy passed a note across the aisle.

"KIM!" Ivan roared. Given that Ivan was by far the largest boy in the room, this drew everyone's attention. The target of his ire, an athletic boy by the name of Kim, backed away with a smirk as Ivan drew back a fist.

"Ivan, what's going on?" Miss Bustier said, turning the boy's attention from Kim and to her, as he tried to defend himself.

"It's Kim! I am gonna get..." Ivan said, right about to punch Kim before Miss Bustier stopped him.

"Ivan!" Miss Bustier called from her desk.

"Go to the principal's office," She said with a firm voice. In response, Ivan crumpled up the paper and reluctantly did as he was told, Kim laughing all the while. He saw red before he could hear Miss Bustier scolding Kim, while he hung his head in shame as walked to the principal's office.

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Meanwhile, in an evil lair hidden somewhere in Paris, a large round window opens up to let the light shine into the space, awakening hundreds of butterflies from their resting spots on the floor and making them fly around the lair as Hawkmoth stood in the very middle of the fluttering creatures.

"Such intense negative emotions already? I've barely been searching for an hour. But I suppose a collège would be a breeding ground. Go and bring forth my champion, little Akuma," The drama queen monologued as a darkened butterfly fluttered from his palm and out the window.

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Back at the school, the students that had P.E. left with Mr D'Argencourt, with the others going to the library, while Ivan had just gotten to the principal's office, and walked in. But unfortunately, Mr Damocles just made things more irritating for him, sending him back outside because he didn't knock on the door..

Ivan grit his teeth, seething outside the Principal's office as he squeezed the crumpled note in his fist, when all of a sudden, strength and confidence flowed through him.

"Stone Heart, I am Hawkmoth. Take this power to avenge the wrongs done to you," a voice echoed in his brain. It felt so... good. The words, "Yes, Hawkmoth," dripped from Ivan's lips before he realized it, and everything changed.

"KIM!" roared Stone Heart as the 2-meter boulder golem crashed through the door, through the office, and out onto the street in pursuit of its hated prey.

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Marinette was in the library talking with her new friend, Alya when the whole school shook, knocking them out of their seats. Everyone began aimlessly running and yelling in a panic and Alya dragged her to her feet.

"Come on!" Alya exclaimed as she dragged Marinette to the monitors in the library that showed security footage. There was a giant stone thing yelling outside the school standing on top of a cracked sidewalk that definitely wasn't like that when she came in.

"KIM!" The beast roars out before stomping down the street, while Principal Damocles was fearfully calling the police on his phone as he watched Stoneheart leave from his destroyed office window.

"Hello, is this the police? Get me the army!" The principal said as he cowered away from the retreating monster. Meanwhile, Marinette and Alya were still in the library, watching everything on the monitor.

"Wh- What's going on?! He had... Ivan's voice?" Marinette said fearfully, having never seen anything like this before. What the heck was going on?

"It's as if he's been transformed into a real-life supervillain!" Alya said excitedly before digging into her bag and pulling out her phone while Marinette just stared at her, confused.

"GPS? Check. Battery? Check. I am so out of here!" She said before she ran to the library door, confusing Marinette even more.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Marinette said, her voice shaking, barely enough to be noticed which Alya didn't as she turned around to address her.

"Where there's a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind! No way I'm missing this," Alya said before racing out of the library. Marinette watched Alya, who she thought was way too excited for the situation, run out the doors. She looked at the monitors once more just as the monster threw a car at the camera, ending the footage.

Just great! Her new friend was crazy! She already got into enough trouble from her adventures with Jim and Toby during the summer, why couldn't she ever get away from it?

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At the Agreste mansion, Adrien was moping even as he answered every question of Nathalie's history quiz, all the way down to noting that the actual first president was Rene Coty until De Gaulle got elected.

"Excellent, Adrien," Nathalie congratulated, only for her employer to sweep into the room.

"Give me a minute would you, Nathalie," The basket case of a fashion mogul said, bringing Adrien and Nathalie's attention to him as he stood on the other side of the room.

"Yes, sir," Nathalie said before she walked a few feet to the side, while Adrien waited for his father to speak. He was almost excited when the man asked for a minute, only to be horribly disappointed when he received a scolding.

"You are not going to school. I've already told you," Gabriel berated.

"But Father-" Adrien protested, rising from his seat, trying to defend himself.

"Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you. I will not have you outside in that dangerous world," the boy's 'loving father' insisted.

"It's not dangerous father! I'm always stuck in here by myself. Why can't I go out and make friends just like everybody else?" Adrien complained as he stood in front of his seat while he tried to stand up for himself.

"Because you are not like everyone else! You are my son," Gabriel finished as Adrien backed off, allowing his father to see in Adrien's eyes that he had given up protesting.

"Continue," The 'father of the year' instructed before he left the room, while Adrien stared at the ground in anguish, as Nathalie waited until her boss left the room to speak.

"We can leave it there for today if-" Nathalie began.

That was all Adrien needed to run to his room and flop down face-first onto his bed.

A little after, he heard and felt the Earth-shaking, but not in a consistent wave like an earthquake. It seemed more like... giant footsteps? He ran outside to see what was happening where he found many police cars and officers in front of his house facing off against... What was that?! Some sort of monster?

Maybe the outside really was dangerous... but if things like this happened often he would have studied it with current events or at least come across it in his hours of web surfing. Meanwhile, the stone golem was still walking towards the blockade, where the police captain and some officers were ready to attack.

"Ready?" The captain said as Stoneheart got closer and closer until he was in firing range.

"Fire!" The captain said, right before they shot tasers at the golem, but that only caused it to grow. The officers were forced to run and the thing threw one of their vans after them. Adrien immediately went back to his room and turned on the news where the mayor was giving a speech.

"I'm asking all Parisians to stay at home until the situation is under control," Mayor Bourgeois announced, and Adrien felt the stirrings of unease at how serious Chloe's dad seemed when the man had acted like a doting pushover at all their prior meetings.

The channel switched to a news anchor, Nadja Chamdack, declaring that Paris indeed had a supervillain now, and then to a police officer with his arm in a cast attempting to give an inspiring speech.

Adrien looked away to hide a chuckle at the man's floundering, and his eyes fell on a small, intricately carved octagonal box that hadn't been there before.

"Huh? What's this doing here?" The boy asked himself.

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Across the city, Marinette turned away from the same news program to find an identical box in her room as well. She picked up the box and she opened it to find a pair of earrings and- bright light! She threw the box away from her in surprise and looked away from the light, but as she slightly opened her eyes to look at it, she stared at it in shock as a small red creature appeared before her. But when the tiny creature opened its bright blue eyes, Marinette jumped out of her chair in fear and towards the other end of her desk.

"Ah! Help! It's a giant bug! A- a mouse! A bug-mouse!" Marinette shouts in fear as she constantly switches from holding onto a support beam that held up her loft bed, and holding onto the desk behind her as the creature floats in the air in front of her.

"Everything's ok. Don't be scared," The creature replied, in an attempt to calm the nervous wreck of a girl. But that proved to be the wrong choice as Marinette put her hands behind her and reached for things to throw and keep them away from her.

"AHH!! BUG-MOUSE TALKS!" The girl cries out as she keeps throwing things at the creature, who only evades the stuff thrown at her.

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Adrien had opened his own strange box to find a ring before a green flash of light nearly blinded him. But as the light dies down, Adrien could only stare in surprise as a small floating black cat was revealed, sleeping and curled up on itself. After a second, the cat yawned and drooped in the air out of tiredness while Adrien looked at it in amazement.

"No way. You're like the genie in the lamp," Adrien said as he went to poke the creature, but it stopped him before he could.

"I met him once. So he grants wishes. Big deal. I'm way more personable. Plagg. Nice to meet you," The so-called Plagg answered, right before he began to take in the room and move around it.

"Ooooh, swanky," Plagg said as he flew around the room, as Adrien watched while the creature's first instinct was to bite one of the heads of the metal foosball players.

"NO! Don't do that!" Adrien said as he tried to catch the little gremlin. But before he could, Plagg flew to the next thing that caught his eye, which was one of Adrien's game joysticks.

"Hey, come back here," Adrien said as Plagg flew to the game console.

"Oh, it's so shiny. Can you eat this?" The tiny nuisance said before he tried to eat the joystick, only to find that he couldn't. "No, you can't. OH, What about this?" Plagg said before he flew away from the game console, just before Adrien could catch him as he looked at the little cat creature in annoyance. He had his work cut out for him.

Soon enough, Adrien was trying to keep Plagg from eating everything in his room, filtering from one end of the room to the other like a mad man. But after having enough, Adrien skittered up his rock climbing wall to get the drop on the little creature. He was able to get a hold of him and land safely on the couch with the kwami in his clenched hands.

"I still don't know what you're doing here," Adrien said to Plagg before the kwami turned to face him with narrowed eyes.

"Look, I'm a kwami. I grant powers. Yours is the power of destruction, got it?" Plagg tiredly replied, to which Adrien shakes his head 'no'

"Uh-uh," The model responded, considering he very much did not get it. But Plagg didn't seem to care.

"Good, now you got anything to eat? I'm starving," The kwami asked as Adrien got up from the couch while still holding Plagg captive.

"My dad's pranking me, right? Wait, he couldn't be. He has no sense of humor," Adrien said to himself, trying to make sense of what the heck was happening before Plagg managed to free himself from his hold and float in front of Adrien.

"Your father must never know that I exist. Or anyone for that matter," Plagg said in a serious tone, much to Adrien's surprise considering that the kwami seemed to not care about much except eating.

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Back at Marinette's house, after she finished throwing stuff at the red creature, and trapped it in a glass cup, she asked what the creature was. The creature responded by saying it was a kwami by the name of Tikki, and had explained why she was there in Marinette's house. To say she was not believing anything that was happening right now, was a vast understatement.

"Mom! Dad!" Marinette shouts out as she starts to open the trapdoor, much to Tikki's fear.

"No, no, no!" Tikki said worriedly before she phased through the glass to get in front of the girl to stop her.

"I'm your friend, Marinette. You must trust me. You're the only one who can stop Stoneheart!" The adorable kwami replied, much to Marinette's shock as she stares at the kwami. But she closed the door, and looked back at Tikki.

"This must be some mistake. The only superpower I could have is super awkwardness..." Marinette replied, trying to make Tikki see reason; at least her reasoning; that she wasn't cut out for the job before the answer suddenly came to her.

"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. You should go see her-" She said, trying to get Tikki to change her mind, but it didn't work as Tikki flew right up to Marinette's face, much to her shock.

"Marinette! You're the chosen one!" Tikki protested, trying to get Marinette to see that she was the one for the job.

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Back in Adrien's room, he had just gotten a similar explanation from Plagg, while the kwami entertained himself by playing with a roll of toilet paper.

"But I'm stuck here! I'm not even allowed to go to school. What good is a superhero that's imprisoned in his own house?" Adrien said, right before Plagg passed by him as he balanced on the roll of toilet paper as he used his legs to make it roll forward.

"No good. That's why it's all going to change soon. If you're willing to change, that is," Plagg said as Adrien looked down at the ring in his palm.

"Yeah," Adrien resolved softly, "I want to change things."

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Marinette rolled the earrings in her fingers as she considered Tikki's words, while she stood in front of her mirror.

"I put these on, transform, and go use my, uh... my Lucky charm power to break objects where the thingy is hiding?" she repeated.

"Yup! Though it's not a thingy, you need to capture the akuma," Tikki corrected.

"And I can't tell anyone about this?" Marinette asked, double checking what Tikki had said earlier.

"Yes, it is important that nobody knows who you are behind the mask," Tikki answered, but it did little to settle Marientte's nerves.

"Don't be nervous. Trust yourself, and say, 'Spots on!'" Tikki comforted, before saying the transformation phrase.

"Spots on?" Marinette asked, confused, not knowing that she had activated her transformation. The earrings flashed pink and Tikki was sucked into them with a smile.

"Whoa! WHAT IS HAPPENING!!" Marinette said as was enveloped in a pink light and felt her clothing change. She was not ready for this!

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Back with Adrien, the boy had just slipped the ring onto his finger, excited to become a superhero.

"Claws out, that's how you transform," Plagg said after he popped his head out of the now-empty toilet paper roll and turned to face him.

"Got it. Plagg claws out!" Adrien excitedly said, much to Plagg's worry, as he was brought out of his playing by his words.

"No! Wait! I haven't finished explaining-" Plagg tried to say as he was sucked into the ring, and Adrien transformed into his new alter ego. After he transformed, he looked in the mirror to see his new look. He was in a full bodysuit made of what might have been black leather or might have been solid magic. His hair was wilder, and black cat's ear poked out from a subtle headband. Add in the bell around his neck and the belt that doubled as a tail, and... well, at least he had zippered pockets for carrying things.

Weirdest of all were his eyes, though. They'd turned green with slit pupils, and while he had gloves on over his hands, the gloves had claws.

"Too cool!" Adrien rejoiced as he examined himself.

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Marinette turned around and looked in the mirror, seeing herself in the superhero persona. Her outfit was an indestructible red full bodysuit with a high black collar and black spots scattered around it, with a yo-yo wrapped around her waist and resting on her left hip. Her hair was still in the pigtails she had before, but were now tied with red ribbons, while her bluebell eyes popped with her red and black domino mask hiding her identity from the world. While she thought the outfit looked great on her, Marinette was now starting to have second thoughts about her choice.

"How do I get this thing off? Tikki? If you can hear me, I want my normal clothes back. I'm not going anywhere," Marinette said as she walked to the middle of her room, looking for the kwami. But her search was interrupted when the news caught her attention.

"Stoneheart is heading to the Montparnasse tower. The monster seems to be unstoppable," Nadja announced, as the screen showed a live feed of Stoneheart making his way to the Montparnasse tower, while Marinette could see Alya riding up behind the villain on her bike.

"Alya?" Marinette said in shock. Her new friend was going after the supervillain. Suddenly, her phone started to ring from her desk. She quickly picked it up and her eyes widened at what she saw on the screen.

"It's noon already?" Marinette realized as she looked at the clock on her phone. Marinette could only sigh in resentment. The timing could not be more inconvenient. Sure she loved it when her brother called, but this was not the time. No one could know, that's what Tikki said. But she and Jim had promised to call no matter what, and they always told each other everything, so... she had no choice but to answer. No sooner than she did, her brother's face appears on the screen.

"Hey, Jim. How's it going?" Marinette said nervously, when Jim's face turned from happy, to confused in a matter of seconds.

"Who the heck are you? Where's Marinette!?" Jim said, worried that someone else was in his little sister's room, and talking to him. Then Toby; who was Jim and Marinette's best friend/honorary brother, and staying over at Jim's house to work on a class project; came over and looked at the screen in shock.

"Who are you? Some kind of superhero?" Toby asked, taking in Marinette's new look.

"Guys, it's me, Marinette," The girl in spots said, trying to get them to see that it was her. And if by some miracle, her words allowed them to see that it really was Marinette in front of them.

"Mari? Is that really you?" Jim asked, finally seeing that it was his little sister.

"Yes, it's me," Marinette said, glad that they now knew. But that didn't stop Toby's questioning.

"You look like a superhero!! Is that a commission, or a personal project? Either way, can you make me something like that?" Toby said excitedly, thinking it was another one of Marinette's creations.

"Hate to break it to you Toby, but it's not something I made. It's a long story, but a supervillain has shown up in Paris, and I'm now in charge of taking it down," Marinette said nervously, while both Jim and Toby's mouths dropped to the ground like anvils, much to her nervousness. But before she could continue her mom called up to her from the living room.

"Marinette, did you get home ok?" Sabine said from the other side of the trapdoor, much to Marinette's panic.

"Yeah, mom! Just super!" she whispered to herself before looking back at her phone to Jim and Toby.

"Look, I got to go. I'll tell you what happens later tonight, I promise. But do not tell anyone about this, ok?" Marinette said before she went to hang up which got Jim and Toby out of their shock.

"Wait, Mari..." Jim began to say before she hung up, putting the phone on her desk and going up to the balcony just as Sabine opened the trapdoor that led to her daughter's room.

"Marinette? Are you in here? Tom, we'd better call the school," Sabine said when she couldn't find Marinette in the room.