"Are you all right?" Luka asks, concernedly.

Gwen's face flushed in embarrassment as she couldn't believe that she willingly and publicly showed her vulnerability to some stranger.

Not just a stranger...but an attractive stranger at that. She pants as she tried to level her breathing after what happened.

She refused to say a word and just nodded, staring at the ground. Luka nodded and flashed his hand for her. She hesitated but shakily grabbed it and stood up.

Gwen stood awkwardly and looked anywhere but the boy. He seems at least a few years older than her.

"Would you like to have ice cream?"

Gwen stopped as she turned to finally look into his eyes. Luka only smiled at her and pointed to where the bridge is located. She wasn't sure if she should trust him, after all, her senses left her while she was vulnerable.

Luka chuckled. "You don't have to if you don't want to. Just wanted to offer a hand, perhaps some company? I was heading to get ice cream anyway."

She flushed again and nodded. Luka nodded contently and took a hand out for her. He knew that she was feeling embarrassed after her attack. He was walking by his sister's school when he saw a blonde girl stumbling in her steps and running out of school.

He was going to mind his business when he saw her trembling and her breathing picking up. His body moved as an instinct to help her. He called out to her but it seemed she wasn't hearing him and he knew it was dangerous to be near her.

He didn't want to hurt her. He crouched in front of her and grabbed her hands. Except she slapped them away, making him wince at her strength, and called out to her by placing a hand on her back.

Luka was glad she came back. She was strong, that's for sure. He smiled softly as Gwen held his hand as he guided them to the ice cream truck. The girl wasn't paying attention to her surroundings but he ordered two ice creams and handed one to her.

Gwen blinked, now noticing the dessert in front of her, and just accepted the marble ice cream. Luka guided them both to the middle of the bridge and just stared out the river.

The same river Gwen arrived in the first place.

Gwen blinked back her tears and glared at the water. Just staring at it, makes her want to burn everything. It just makes her remember everything she went through, what she failed to do, what she failed to save.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Gwen stopped and turned to the boy who was almost done with the ice cream. She looked back to the river and took a bite from her dessert.

"I guess..." she murmured.

Luka chuckled, making her turn to him. "What?"

"I have never seen anyone bite their ice cream before. Are you a monster, or something?" he chuckled.

Gwen chuckled through her nose, "You can say that..." her small smile turned back to a frown, and just blankly stared out the water. Luka tilted his head in confusion and also directed his view to the water.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he cautiously asked. He knew that being a stranger to the girl, it was not of his business to know. But it wouldn't hurt to show that they will listen...to hear their troubles.

Gwen sighs, leaning over the bridge and finishing her ice cream. "It's nothing I can't handle."

She winced as she almost snapped at the boy but he was unaffected as he expected her reaction. She glanced at the boy and showed no malice in his expression or pity or anything, for which she was thankful for.

"Thanks for helping me," she spoke up after a few minutes.

Luka smiled at her and nodded.

She awkwardly scratched her nape and turned to the boy, getting his attention. "And thanks for the ice cream. What do you want?"

Luka blinked in confusion and turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Gwen huffed. "You wouldn't be helping someone unless you want something in return."

Gwen glared at the side. She may be a stranger to this universe, but she definitely knew people's behavior in their eyes. She encounters them every day back at home. This place isn't any different.

She glared back up at him but the boy didn't show anything. He sighed and reached for her hand but she flinched back and stood in her defense.

"Maybe I do want something in return," he spoke.

Her eyes slit dangerously at him and glared at him. She frowned as he smiled at her.

"I want to be your friend."

Gwen blinked.

Friend?

"What kind of shit was that?!" she snapped. Luka laughed softly. "I don't have many friends other than my sister and her friend. You seem cool, I choose you."

Gwen deadpanned. "I'm not a pokemon."

Luka shrugged. "A tiny pokemon."

Gwen sweatdropped and turned away. "I don't need your pity and be my friend. I'm fine by myself." She stopped as she realized what he was doing. He was trying to make her feel better, get her mind off her attack.

"You're...you're stupid if you want to be my friend," she grumbled.

He shrugged, "I'm stupid anyway."

🕸🕷🕸

Gwen's eye twitched as she woke up the next day for school. Except her alarm didn't wake her up. In fact, it was her new friend.

She sighed, went to her bathroom, and begin to shower. She ignored the sight of her scars again and just did her routine.

After the weirdest conversation with the boy, she ditched school and headed home. Adrien called her a few hours later to see where she was and she made up an excuse that she wasn't feeling well and she will see him the next day.

She also received a text from Max to go to the library. After a healthy breakfast of coffee, she ran to work.

Gwen was relieved to see Tom and Sabine in good shape. Better than the previous nights before. They even thanked Ghost-Spider for saving them and saving their business. She hasn't seen Marinette yet but just hoped the girl was all right.

After a few hours of her, she headed to school and walked up to the library. Gwen blinked as she saw her class playing video games. Adrien was playing against Max as the others cheered them on.

Not a moment later, Marinette walked through the doors next to her.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked.

Alya shushes her and kept recording. Rose moved to her and Marinette and smiled. "Try-outs for the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament! This school sends the two students with the biggest scores!"

"Actually, the tryouts offer a partner to team up with Max in the Tournament," Kim leaned on Marinette's shoulder.

"Why Max?" Marinette asked.

" 'Cause he's unbeatable! He's a total rocksord! He's got the highest APM over anyone!" Kim enthusiastically boasted for his friend.

"APM?" Gwen lifted a brow.

"Actions per minute? This tournament is his whole life! He's been grinding all year to level up."

Gwen smirked, turning to her friends playing the game. "That's cool."

Adrien beat Max in the game leaving Max slightly saddened but then turned to him and smiled at him. "Awesome job. We're gonna make a killer combo."

Adrien grins and high-fives him as the rest of the class cheers for them.

"So let me get this straight. If someone manages to beat Max's score, they'll team up with Adrien at the tournament?" Marinette asked.

"No one can beat Max. Or rather Max and Adrien. It's a slam dunk. They're our school's dream team!" Kim grinned.

Gwen's eyes wandered as Alya grabbed Marinette and walked further into the library. She sighed as she now realized what Marinette was planning. She would cheer Marinette on to be with Adrien, but this game is so much more for Max, she just hopes nothing goes wrong for that.

Adrien and Max stood up from their seats and turned to the class. Adrien grinned seeing Gwen in the crowd. She rolled her eyes as she can see the cat's ears and the wagging tail on him.

"Well, I think we have our two champions lined up for the Paris tournament," Mr. Damocles announced.

"Wait!" They all turned to see Marinette raising her hand. "Uh, is it too late...to try out?"

"Well, the library is closing up in five minutes, but..."

Marinette huffs and stomps to one of the chairs and raised her hand to Adrien. He looked to Max who gave no indication of letting her borrow his control and gave his joypad to her.

"Is she serious? There's no way!" Kim shook his head.

"Unless the particular player has a particular motivation," Alya started filming.

Adrien walked in step next to Gwen and swung an arm over her shoulders. She rolled her eyes, now used to his touches.

"Will she win?" Adrien asked.

Gwen shrugged. "Who knows? Probably."

She wasn't stupid. Tom would sometimes invite her over and make her play the game. For someone who knows her technology, she beats him every time. But playing against Marinette...she had to buy them two more joypads for breaking it as she randomly pressed the buttons and lost every time.

Adrien turned to her, "By the way, is everything okay? You seemed down yesterday."

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking. I only had a headache and was sent home."

He nodded to the players and was impressed to see Marinette easily beating Max in his own game. Everyone's eyes widened as the combos she does and finished the game instantly.

"And now, a quarter super plus heavy kick, and Flying Hyper Storm! Triple hit combo, Marinette style! Booyah!" Marinette grinned and danced around as she won.

"Wha?! I can't believe it! She...She beat him?" Kim gapped at her.

"Beat him? She pulverized him!" Alya grinned.

"The king's been knocked off his throne!" Rose cheered.

Gwen couldn't help but feel sorry for Max as he sadly looked down at his joypad. He stood up, silencing everyone. "I accept this defeat. I relinquish my position at the tournament. Congratulations, Marinette. And Adrien," He walked away.

"Max, wait!" Adrien and Gwen called him but Max walked to the doors.

"Oh, Max..." Kim frowned.

"Look. I'm fine, I lost fair and square. But if you don't mind, I'd like a little solitude," Max walked out.

Gwen frowned as she sees her friend walk out of school. She goes to follow him but Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. She sighed as she turned to her friends.

"So Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste will represent Francoise Dupont High School at the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament. Good luck to both of you," Damocles announced.

"Well, I guess I'll be coming over to practice. With my new partner. See you later," Adrien smiled at Marinette and walked out with Gwen.

🕸🕷🕸

After a goodbye from Adrien, Gwen decided to go on patrol. She swung through the city and just took deep breaths as she swung along.

Knowing how excited Marinette would be by having her crush in her home she chuckled as she imagined Marinette having to clean her room.

Her senses spiked behind her and dodged a green beam, landing on the ground in her stance.

Her eyes widened as a mechanical monster was in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at it, seeing its familiarity with it, and kept dodging. She gasped as the green beam struck a few people, making them disappear into green balls and float to the machine.

She gritted her teeth as she chased it around the city and moved the people away from being struck.

"Thank you, Ghost-Spider," one of the citizens pants as they ran away.

Gwen ran at full speed and webbed the pyramid-shaped machine and pulled back. It stopped by her strength. But it didn't stop as it zapped a limousine, getting more XP.

"No..." she murmured.

The machine turned larger and walked through the city. She growled as she ran and moved the crowd away from it. She dodged a few times as it was getting to her.

"You can't stop me, Ghost-Spider! I'm unstoppable! Hahahaha!" The akumatized victim cackled.

Ghost's eyes widened as she now realized who it was. It was her friend, Max.

She growled and webbed its legs together. She pulled, making it drop to the ground. Webbing the machine to the floor, she ran and jumped to the window.

Ghost pulled a fist back and punched the window, alerting Max.

"Leave him alone, Hawkmoth!" she growled and tackled Max in the machine.

"Never!" Gamer attempted to get her but she webbed him to his seat and punched everything from the machine, but it seemed that the akuma was not on the machine at all.

She huffed and turned to Gamer, only to see how weird his glasses were. About the snatch them away, he kicked her out of his machine. She grunts as she landed on the pavement.

Ghost glares as Gamer moved in the park's direction and chased after him. Her eyes widened as he attempted to strike Marinette, but she pushed both Marinette and Adrien to the ground.

"Get out of here!" she ordered and jumped to the machine and punched it back.

Gamer saw as Marinette was running away and chased after her. Ghost's eyes widened and ran after them. Thankfully, Marinette kept running and dodged the green beams. Unfortunately, she fell to the ground and waited.

She felt arms envelop her and shielding her from the approximate danger.

"Game over!" Gamer grinned but later frowned as Chat threw his staff at the machine.

"Not yet! Here comes a new challenger!" Chat grinned.

Using his distraction to her advantage, Ghost grabbed Marinette and carried her to safety. She swung away to the Grand Paris Hotel and lowered her to the ground.

"I heard Miss Video Game Champion really took down the final boss," Ghost tried to make talk.

"Well, it doesn't give him extra points to go transforming everyone," Marinette pants as Chat joined them.

Ghost nodded to him and they both walked back to the villain but Marinette's voice stopped them.

"Hey, wait! I left my friend Adrien at the park! He might be in danger, we have to go back!"

Ghost's eyes widened and turned to the park's location in worry for her best friend.

"Uh...don't worry. Adrien's not in danger. He'll be fine. You'll be safe here. Just stay put. Don't worry, Chat noir and Ghost-Spider will take care of everything. Arch, leap, and do a barrel roll!" Chat grinned and used his staff to go after Gamer as Ghost saluted and jumped away.

🕸🕷🕸

Chat ran to a crowd and alerted them. "Get away from here! As far as you can! Hurry!" He turned to Gamer and called out to him. "Hey, tin can! Over here!"

Gamer smirked. "My calculations indicate that your system's about to crash!"

Ghost webbed its legs and swung around, trapping the legs together. It once again fell to the ground as Ghost glared down at it.

"He's a life-size robot, from Ultimate Mecha Strike!" Chat ran up to her.

"He's nearly at level 3. 4 is the biggest level!" Ladybug jumped in, joining them.

Chat's eyes brightened by seeing her and smiled. "Wait, you know that game?"

"Duh! Of course!"

"See? You and me! It was meant to be," he smirked at her.

Ghost sweatdropped at them and turned back to Max. Gamer turned to see a bus and zapped it, gaining more XP.

"Shit," she murmured as Gamer got into the next level.

"Uh, I think our problem just got a whole lot bigger," Chat gulped.

"Level 3. Hahahaha!" Gamer cackled. "Those miraculouses are mine!" He went to zap them but they ran away and dodged his beams.

They jumped to a roof and kept running. "We have to get him out of here before he destroys all of Paris!" Ladybug exclaimed.

Ghost looks around and stops to see a billboard and smirks. "The stadium!"

Ladybug and Chat turned to her and to the billboard and grinned, heading towards the stadium.

🕸🕷🕸

They arrived at the stadium and looked around and saw no one at the stadium, thankfully.

Ghost immediately started setting web traps around for Gamer. Her senses spiked as a second later a large thump shook the ground. She turned to see Gamer in front of them and started attacking them.

Ghost and the others dodged them. "Attack your cataclysm power! It might be enough to shock him!" Ladybug exclaimed to Chat.

"My pleasure. Two can play this game," Chat grinned and used his cataclysm and destroyed the robot, causing Gamer to fall.

"Smackdown, Chatnoir!" Ladybug grinned at him and giving him a high-five.

"Chatnoir style! Booyah!" Chat grinned.

"Get his glasses!" Ghost exclaimed, already running towards Gamer.

Except Ladybug and Chatnoir were entranced to the red bubble that appeared in front of them.

Ghost cursed as Gamer cackled again, standing up. "You've forgotten the rules. I saved my last level!" With that he touched his glasses, respawning his robot once again.

"Aww, not that old spawn point glitch again," Chat whined.

"It was his glasses," Ghost stated, turning to the others. "Do you guys have an idea?"

Ladybug touched the red sphere as her personal version of the robot appeared in front of them. "Ha! We've leveled up too!" Ladybug smirked.

Chatnoir's ring started beeping, alerting the three heroes. "Okay, but I only got a few minutes left."

The three jump inside the machine, only to see two seats. Ghost deadpanned as she saw the two heroes already in their seats and she crossed her arms and cleared her throat.

"Where am I going to sit?" she tapped her foot impatiently.

Chat grinned, scooting over and patting the seat next to him. Ghost inwardly groaned and flopped to the seat, grumbling under her breath as Chat laughed nervously.

"We man it, you shoot?" Chat asked over his shoulder to Ladybug.

"Why do you get to man it?" Ladybug asked.

"Now is not the time to be arguing for the joypad, children," Ghost deadpanned.

Ladybug and Chat huffed and tried controlling the robot, unsuccessfully doing so. Using that chance, Gamer smashed its fist against it, having everyone fall around the spot.

"Okay, you man it and we'll fire," Chat groaned underneath Ghost. "You're heavy," he groaned. "You're weak," she bit back.

They all exclaimed in shock as Gamer continuously started punching their robot. They all switched seats and Ladybug threw its fist towards Gamer's head. Ghost's hands touched the control panel, having the whole system change drastically. The once black polka-dots became graffiti style pink spider webs.

"Sick," Ghost smirked.

They stood up and stood in a stance for Gamer's robot. "Round two, Gamer," Ladybug smirked. "Forcefield, Ghost!"

Ghost smirked, "On it." She created a shield as Gamer shot out missiles towards them out of its shoulders.

Chat smirked too, grabbing their robot's tail and using it as a sword. "Cat Saber!"

"Gamer-Drill!" Gamer activated a drill on its arm and charging to their forcefield, making them slid back. They fell back as the forcefield was destroyed.

"This Gamer's way powerful. He just took out our forcefield!" Chat exclaimed.

"We're gonna have to manage without it," Ghost murmured and connected her bracer to the robot, hacking through it.

Chat's eyes widened at all the variety of weapons and cheat codes that can be used. She used her hologram and dragged the codes towards Ladybug as the weapons were showing in front of them.

"I didn't know you were a nerd," Chat joked.

"I'm a genius," she corrected. Ghost activated her Saw and threw it towards Gamer, making his dodge their attacks.

They three continued throwing attacks to Gamer, but he kept anticipating them easily, making everyone easily frustrated at that.

"We've gotta get inside his cockpit!" Ladybug exclaimed.

"Go for it," Chat stated.

Ladybug was about to leave when she turned towards Ghost-Spider and her mind thrifted off to the nights before. Ghost was serious in rescuing people and worked harder than anyone to do so.

She looked down at her yo-yo and summoned her Lucky Charm, confusing the others. A spray can dropped to her hand and threw it to Ghost. Ghost's sense's spiked and grabbed the item and turned to Ladybug in confusion.

"Stop Gamer, Ghost-Spider. I know you can," Ladybug stated.

Ghost's eyes widened at her words. Does that mean...Ladybug trusts her? She looked down at the can in her hands and chuckled as the blue-haired boy's voice popped in her mind.

Gwen sweatdropped and turned away. "I don't need your pity and be my friend. I'm fine by myself." She stopped as she realized what he was doing. He was trying to make her feel better, get her mind off her attack.

"You're...you're stupid if you want to be my friend," she grumbled.

He shrugged, "I'm stupid anyway."

Ghost nodded and jumped out of the machine and spotted Gamer, not that far from them. Looking down at the can, she smirked. She stood in her stance and took a large leap to Gamer. The jump caused the robot to stumble in its step.

Jumping to Gamer's robot head, she spray painted the window and jumped to the top. Gamer growled and opened the window, giving Ghost the chance to finally grab his glasses and releasing the akuma.

Ladybug grinned from her robot and jumped out too, running towards the akuma. She threw her yo-yo out, capturing it successfully and bringing everything back to normal.

Gamer turned back to Max.

Ladybug and Chat pounded their fists in victory and turned to Ghost. Ghost blinked at them and smirked afterwards, joining them.

🕸🕷🕸

Gwen arrived to the competition late and blinked in confusion as she saw that Marinette gave her joypad back to Max. She smiled softly as Max accepted it and apologized too.

She chuckled as Nino was getting impatient and wanting to see the game.

"I don't know how to thank you," Max murmured.

"By winning the tournament...with her," Adrien patted Marinette's shoulders.

Gwen laughed as Marinette was confused and walked to them and pushing Max and Marinette to the tournament. "Face it, Marinette. Adrien sucks, win it for us."

"B-But!" Marinette tried.

"No buts! Go!"

Marinette stopped and turned to her and smiled confidently, walking with Max for the Tournament.

"I don't suck," Adrien pouted next to her.

"Sure you're not. You're amazing," she shook her head, walking back to the class.

"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"

"Was it?" she smirked.

Adrien rolled his eyes and caught up to her, laughing out loud later on with teasing her with many topics. They both cheered on as Marinette and Max took home the trophy.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Next Episode: Reflekta ♥

Published: April 17, 2022

Word Count: 3783