Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Today was like any ordinary day in Paris. The birds were chirping, the breeze was flowing, the chatter of people walking in the streets-

"Alya! Tikki! Help me out here!"

- the panicking that was going on at inside the room of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Girl, calm down," Alya said, adjusting her glasses. "It's just one new transfer student we're getting."

"I know, but I want to make them feel welcomed in our class!" Marinette said, as she looked at her whiteboard, which was covered in pictures of various baked goods she and her parents make at their bakery downstairs. "Not to mention that we're getting someone from America! So this might be the first time they've ever been to France! And we should let them have their first real taste of French food!"

Marinette pulled out a ruler, and dramatically pointed to a picture of a baguette. "Should I bring baguettes-" she moved the ruler to a picture of croissants, "- croissants, -" then tapped a picture of chouquettes, "- chouquettes, -" she pointed to a picture of galettes "- galettes, or-" finally landing on a picture of macarons, "- macarons?"

Alya and Tikki watched as Marinette paced back and forth, holding her chin in thought. "Baguettes are probably something they're familiar with, since they call it French bread over there... same with croissants... I don't think chouquettes are as common, though... but what if they want something fruity, like mini galettes or macarons? What do you think?"

"Well, I don't think anyone could say no to some mini galettes or macarons?" Alya said, shrugging.

"Plus I could always use one in case of emergencies," Tikki pointed out.

"I'll go with both! Thanks for the idea, you two," Marinette said, nodding her head in triumph.

Alya rolled her eyes at her best friend, chuckling as she said, "I just wanna know where he's from! I hope he's from New York City! That way, he can talk to us all about the United Heroez!"

"Alya," now it was Marinette's turn to roll her eyes. "We've already been to New York City and got to see them."

"You did, as Ladybug," the redhead pointed out. "I didn't get the chance to! Besides, we can bond over them. Plus, they might get the chance to see you and Chat Noir in action."

"Hopefully not, I don't think it'd be very good for them to have an akuma attack on their first day here," Tikki said. Marinette clapped her hands together, and smiled.

"Alright, they should be coming into class tomorrow! I'll ask maman and papa to help me prep the ingredients, and we should have some fresh galettes and macarons by tomorrow morning! I hope he's ready to be welcomed to our class!"

"[I am not ready for this,]" Ben said, as he flipped through the pages of the French dictionary he bought. It had been a couple days since his family moved into Paris, and here he was, trying to learn French in the kitchen. He switched to a 'French 101' book, reading up on how actually using French grammar worked. And while his sisters had taken to French very quickly, he hadn't. 

"Come on, Bennie, it's been months since dad and mom told us that she got promoted to work in Paris!" Allie teased, poking her brother's cheek.

"[I know, and stop showing off! You know learning languages is my weakness!]" he playfully retorted as he swatted her hand. "[I just... I just wanna make a good impression. And that's gonna be really hard for me to do when I can barely say bonjour.]"

"[You're not saying the ou quite right, and you pronounced the R with a weird roll,]" Cammie pointed out.

"[See!?]" Ben sighed, rubbing his forehead. "[At least Dannie's having the same issues...]"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dannie replied, causing Allie and Cammie to laugh while Ben groaned and smacked his head against the dictionary.

It was true that they had months to learn how to speak and read French, but still, the fact that they were moving from Houston to Paris was a shock. Especially when their parents clarified it was Paris, France that they were moving to, not Paris, Texas.They had to basically leave and sell a lot of their stuff to move across the Atlantic (Ben managed to split his collections with his friends, with a huge chunk staying with his uncle still in Houston), with only a few luggages of clothes and other small personal items they could pack. It was a good thing that the Gabriel brand helped his parents find a house and furnish it after a house-hunting trip they made a few months ago. Otherwise it'd been a bigger pain to buy new furniture on their own.

"[Are you kids ready for your first day of school tomorrow, kids?]" their mother asked, peeking her head into kitchen. In her arms was their infant sister, Eddie, who cooed as she stared blankly at Ben. 

"[As ready as I'll probably be...]" Ben muttered. "[... No, that's quitter talk. I'm gonna master French even if it takes all night!]"

Ben sighed as he took another look into the dictionary. "[But hopefully my first day won't be that diastrous... none of those magic terrorist attacks that I see online time to time...]"

In the vastness of space, two figures soared through the vacuum like bullets in the air. One was a human-like being covered in blinding white light, with a rainbow sheen rippling through it. All of its features were obscured by the light, with the only features that could be seen being its brilliant blue eyes visible and a blue gem on its chest. The being of light was chasing down a more monstrous being. It resembled a bipedal elephant, coated in a swirling miasma of black, red, and violet. The two figures collided with one another, the being of light throwing punches and kicks to the miasmic monster, who in turn swung its trunk into the being's face to push it away. Soon, the figures found themselves floating over a planet of seas and continents, stopping just short of entering the atmosphere. 

They floated in place for a while, at a standstill and anticipating the other's next move. In seconds, the rainbow sheen of the being of light's white light coalesced onto hands, creating orbs of shimmering rainbow light as it moved them over its head in an arc. Meanwhile, the monster formed an energy sphere of swirling red in its right hand, whereas in its left hand was a sphere of violet, and in front of its trunk was a sphere of black. At the zenith of their attacks, the being of light moved its arms down to create a cross with its forearms, releasing the rainbow light it gathered into a singular beam at the monster. Whereas the monstrous elephant slammed the energy spheres it made together to create a swirling vortex of red, violet, and black and throwing it with its trunk towards the being of light. Their energy attacks collided, creating an explosion that hit both of them, sending them plummeting towards the planet. Seven lights in the colors of the rainbow splintered off the being of light's body, while the miasma surrounding the monster split off of it, shrinking in size before almost vanishing from sight. 

"[Man, we really lucked out on our house being near to Collège Françoise Dupont thanks to Mr. Agreste!]" Allie said, as she and her fellow triplet siblings walked down the street the next day. She waved cheerfully to people they passed, who waved back in amusement.

"[Way better than taking the bus to school,]" Cammie nodded, as she gave a polite but curt wave as well.

"[And nice to stretch out our legs,]" Dannie agreed, a broad smile on her face. 

"[Yea, but did you two have to wear those shirts?]" Ben asked, shifting his eyes away from pedestrians as he focused squarely on the shirts his sisters were wearing. Both of them were wearing shirts with large flags across their chests, Allie's being the US flag and Cammie's the Texan flag, and they were wearing purple and green jackets respectively. Meanwhile, Dannie opted to wear a white t-shirt, a blue vest with red trimming and a white star on the right side of her chest, and a skirt that was similarly colored, being more subdued than her sisters but still conveying the same message. In contrast, he was just wearing his favorite white shirt with a seven-pointed rainbow star, his favorite cargo pants, and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. In other words, nothing too stand-out. He yawned as he rubbed his eyes. "[Your new classmates are gonna make fun of you guys.]"

"[I dunno, they might think it's endearing!]" Allie laughed. 

"[You really should've gone to bed instead of reading those books,]" Cammie noted, observing the bags underneath his eyes.

"[Hey, it took a lot of work to learn how to understand French in a night!]" Ben puffed out his chest. "[I'm certain I can at least carry a conversation!]"

"[Let's see about that.]" Before Ben could ask Allie what she meant, she waved at a man wearing a hat feeding a horde of pigeons surrounding him. "Excuse me!"

The man looked around, and pointed to himself. "Yes! Can we talk to you!?"

"[Allie what are you doing?]" Ben gritted his teeth, as the man blew a whistle and motioned the pigeons to move out of the way. 

"Yes, can I help you?" the man asked, looking at the three. 

"Yep! You see, we're new to Paris, and we're attending Collège Françoise Dupont," Allie explained. Ben shifted his eyes between her, the man, and finally Cammie and Dannie, who gave a shrug to him. "It's our first day today, and my sisters and I managed to learn how to speak French, but my brother here has been having a hard time with it. Can he try talking to you to see if he's gotten the hang of it?" 

"[What are you saying, Allie?]" Ben hissed. "[You're speaking too fast for me to catch up!]"

"Oh? Well, welcome to Paris!" the man said, taking a small bow while tipping his hat up. "I'm Monsieur Ramier, and I'm ready to listen!"

"[Hear that, Bennie? He's willing to listen to you speak French!]" Allie put her hands on her hips in triumph. "[Go on, try talking to him.]"

"[Allie!]" Ben scolded, as Monsieur Ramier stood there, smiling and waiting for him to speak. Sweat dripped from Ben's forehead as his mouth contorted into a tight trembling smile. He shook his head, clapped the temples of his head before coughing into his right hand. 

"H.... hillo. My.... my name is.... Ben Rainsworth," he recited, as he began to wag his right hand over his chest with his index finger pointing out in thought. "I... I new t-to Paris, an-and t-t-trying to find uuuuuuuuh.... Collège Françoise Dupont. P-Point m-m-me where it... it is?"

"Hm... that wasn't too bad," Monsieur Ramier said, after ruminating on it for a few seconds. "You pronounced the 'ou' in bonjour the wrong way, and you rolled the R. Also, you pronounced some silent letters. And you didn't quite get the accented letters in some of those words right and you missed saying a few... but you're learning, so I think you're doing a fine job of learning French!"

"[.... Cammie? Dannie?]" Ben asked, looking at the two of them. 

"[He said you pronounced the 'ou' in bonjour wrong and rolled the r, that you didn't stress the accented letters right, and you pronounced letters that're supposed to remain silent,]" Cammie clarified. "[But other than those issues, you did a decent job talking in French.]"

"[Basically you're improving a bit, but not quite yet,]" Dannie added. 

"[Oh... um,] thank you," Ben said, giving him a polite bow. 

"Your welcome!" Monsieur Ramier laughed. "By the way, Collège Françoise Dupont is just two or three blocks away to the left."

"Thank you for the help! Have a good day!" Allie waved him off. Monsieur Ramier smiled and waved goodbye to her as well, before turning around and walking back to feed the pigeons. "[What a nice man. Must really love pigeons, too.]"

"[I really wish you weren't so bold and friendly sometimes, Allie,]" Ben said, shaking his head. "[But, well, thanks for trying to help me.]"

She ruffled Ben's hair. "[Anything for my little bro!]" 

"[By half a minute!]" Ben retorted, as Cammie shook her head at the scene. 

The four siblings continued their walk, laughing and bantering about what they expect their new school to be like, and who their classmates will be. 

"[I wonder if we'll meet Adrien Agreste! I heard he goes to Collège Françoise Dupont too!]" Allie speculated, her hands behind her head. 

"[Agreste? Is he related to the owner of Gabriel?]" Ben asked.

"[Are you kidding, Ben? He's the face of the Gabriel brand, and the son of Gabriel Agreste himself,]" Allie gasped. "[We just walked by a billboard with him on it!]"

"[Well, I guess that explains why everywhere we go, there's a blond guy staring at me.]" Ben eyed another Gabriel brand poster with this 'Adrien' guy as they passed it by. "[Wouldn't really know him, I don't follow fashion like you two do.]"

"[Bennie, mom is working for the Agrestes, I don't know how you could miss something like that.]" Cammie raised an eyebrow up. "[She's been in video calls with him back in Houston about how the Texan distribution branch is doing before her promotion.]"

"[She talked to him in French, so I wouldn't have understood.]"

"[Never mind all that We're here,]" Dannie said, as they came to a stop. The building they saw was three stories high, and a small set of stairs was in front of the entrance.

"[It.. it looks so] amazing!" Allie said, her eyes sparkling in amazement. 

"[It looks like a church to me,]" Ben muttered, moving his head up and down to left and right as he scanned the collège.

"[We should get inside now, we're a little late,]" Cammie stated as she walked up the steps. "[We need to find our classrooms, see you later, Bennie. See you later, Dannie.]"

"[See ya guys,]" Ben answered, waving them off as they went their separate ways. He took a deep breath, and started walking to find his homeroom. "[Let's see... it should be at the literature classroom, I think...]"

As he walked down, looking around the courtyard and trying to determine which classroom was the literature classroom, a black-haired boy came out of the restrooms. He was wearing a bright red hoodie over a tie-dyed t-shirt and jeans with rips along his knees. The most notable thing about him was that he was wearing a pair of black leather fingerless gloves that revealed his black painted nails, and a black leather collar around his neck. He noticed Ben looking around, and taking a deep breath, approached him. 

"E-Excuse me? Do you need help?" the boy softly said. 

"[Yes, I mean] yes!" Ben answered. "F-From... Texas... tra-transferred here today... N-Need.... l-l-literature classroom."

"O-Oh!" the boy said. He pointed Ben to the right room. "[O-Over t-there?]"

"[Oh! Thank you!]" Ben said, sticking out his right hand. "Ben Rainsworth."

"Marc Anciel," the boy introduced himself, shaking his hand. "I-I gotta get back to class! Enjoy your first day!"

The boy ran off, leaving Ben behind. He stared at him leaving, before yelling back a "Thank you!" to him, too. Ben took a deep breath, and approached the door that Marc had pointed him to. He peeked through the window, and saw an adult woman with brown hair wearing a cerulean jacket, while there was an array of students sitting at tables, with leveled floors with two tables and benches each. One of the students he noticed had a few boxes in front of her for some reason. 

"[Wonder what that's about...]" he mumbled. Just then, the teacher at the front noticed him peering inside. She walked over to the door, and opened it.

"Oh! You must be Benjamin!" the woman greeted him with a smile. 

"A-And you... Miss [Bustier]?" Ben asked. She raised an eyebrow before chuckling a bit. 

"It's pronounced Bustier," she corrected, making Ben cheeks turn redder than a ladybug. "Not [Bustier]."

"[S-Sorry,]" he mumbled, as he looked down and away from her. 

"It's alright, I understand that you're still learning," Miss Bustier gently said as she walked him into the room. "Everyone, this is our new transfer student from America!"

Ben stiffened as his new classmates' attention was suddenly all on him, their stares penetrating his soul. 

"Oh! Hello!" a girl dressed in pink said. She was sitting next to a girl with long black hair and purple bangs dressed in black. "I'm Rose Lavillant!"

"Rose, let him introduce himself first," Miss Bustier chided. She looked at Ben, gently pushing his back. "Go on, introduce yourself."

"[O... okay.]" Ben took a deep breath, and let it out. "[Hi, I'm Benjamin Rainsworth, but you can call me Ben-]"

"Um, can't you speak in French?" a blond girl said, her brow furrowed and arms crossed. She had long hair tied into a ponytail and wore a white blouse and yellow jacket. "No one here understands you."

"[Oh no.]" Ben sweated, his eyes moving left to right as their stares still went through him. He didn't know what she exactly said, but he knew that it had to do with him speaking in English. "[R-Right, talk in French...] U-Uuum... Name Benjamin Rainsworth. C-Call me Ben. F-From Texas."

"Is that how you speak French?" the blond girl said, pointing her nose up in the air. "Why come here when you're clearly don't know how to speak properly?"

"Now Chloe," Miss Bustier gave her a disapproving nod. "Be nice to Ben. It's his first time in Paris."

The blond girl (whose name is Chloe apparently) gave a snooty 'hmph' and turned her face away from the front. 

"[At least that's one pair of eyes that's not looking at me now,]" Ben thought to himself. He began to wag his right hand over his chest with his index finger out as he continued, "F-From Texas. Y-You... see. S-Still l-learning French. Not u-used  to it. T-Thank you for... patience... I... try my... best learn."

"Now, since Ben is still learning how to speak French, I expect you all to be patient with him and help him learn," Miss Bustier explained, before walking to the door. "Now, I'll give you all a bit of free time so that all of you and Ben can learn a bit more about each other, alright? I need to talk to Principal Damocles for a bit, anyways."

As she left the room, most of Ben's new classmates got up and swarmed him. 

"I'm Kim! So you're from Texas?" an Asian boy with a gold quiff wearing a red short-sleeved hoodie asked. "Is it true that everyone there rides horses to collège!? Or as you in English, uh... school!?"

"I'm Alya! Are there any superheroes that operate there!?" a brown-skinned bespectacled girl with red hair that was dressed in plaid asked, a notepad in hand. "I run the Ladyblog, but I like learning about a bunch of superheroes!"

"I heard that there's a Paris in Texas, and they have their own Effiel Tower with a big cowboy hat on it! Is it true?" a boy, also wearing glasses, in a blue shirt, a red baseball cap, and a pair of headphones around his neck, asked. "Oh, by the way, I'm Nino."

"Alix here! Are you into American football!?" a short pinkhaired tomboyish girl shouted, hopping up and down to get his attention. "If you are, can you teach me how?"

"A-Ah, um, uuuuuh-" Ben stuttered, looking around at his classmates. He noticed a girl with ginger hair wearing glasses and an argyle vest who sat next to Chloe squinting at him. She gasped, and whispered something to Chloe. She whipped her head to look at Ben again, squinted her eyes as well, and she made an affronted gasp.

"How dare you!?" Chloe stood up from her desk and stomped over to confront him, parting the sea of classmates who rolled their eyes. "You're copying my Adrikins!"

"[What?]" Ben raised an eyebrow. 

"[Do I need to say it in English? You're copying my Adrikins!]" Chloe said, speaking in English, with a notable French accent. 

"[Wait, you can talk in English!?]" Ben asked, though he immediately got fixated on the last thing she said. "[Adrikins?]"

"[Are you also stupid in English? I'm talking about Adrien Agreste!]" Chloe pointed to a blond boy sitting at the front. Ben immediately recognized him from all of the posters and ads he saw on the way to school. Indeed, he was wearing an ensemble similar to his, only in the opposite direction. Where Ben was wearing a white shirt, Adrien was wearing a black shirt. Where Ben was wearing a black button-up shirt with its long sleeves rolled up, Adrien wore a white one instead. And where Ben wore large green cargo pants, Adrien wore blue jeans. The only differences between them was Ben's messy black hair, gray eyes, and the rainbow-colored seven-point star on his shirt, and Adrien's model-esque "messy" blond hair, green eyes, and the three stripes on his shirt, one yellow, one green, and one purple. 

"Huh, he does look like you, bro. Almost like a mirror," Nino noted.

"[Adrien Agreste is in this class?]" Ben raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin in thought. "[Allie and Cammie are gonna flip out...]"

Ben parted his classmates and walked towards Adrien, much to Chloe's shock. "H-Hillo... I-I Ben Rainsworth... M-M-Mom work f-for your d-dad f-for m-marketing in Texas."

"[Oh! Yea, father did say something about having a meeting with a new marketing head,]" Adrien said, also with a notable French accent. 

"[You too?]" 

"[Father had me learn since English is the language of business,]" Adrien explained. "[Also, I have a British cousin that I see time to time.]"

"[Oh thank god, I don't have to keep embarrassing myself with my French. Can you teach me if you have the free time?]" 

"[I'll see what I can do.]"

"What are they saying?" Rose asked her seatmate. The girl whispered something into her ear, and Rose nodded in understanding. "That makes sense! You think you or Luka can try teaching him, too?"

The girl shrugged, though Ben thought he could hear a soft "maybe" (at least he thinks that's what it was, it was still in French). 

"Oh! Oh, excuse me!" the girl with the boxes in front of her said as she picked them up and walked over to him. Now that Ben was in the classroom, he had a better look at her. She was wearing a dark gray blazer with rolled-up sleeves, a white t-shirt with a pink flower just underneath her collar on the right side, and pink rolled-up jeans. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng! My family has a bakery, and when Miss Bustier told us about you coming soon, I made some mini galettes and macarons to welcome you to Paris!"

"[... What?]" Ben asked, scratching the back of his head. "S-Sorry... Can... s-speak slower, uh, [Marinette, right]?"

"O-Oh! Right! I'm so sorry!" Marinette said, looking around. "[U-uh... bakery?]"

"[She's Marinette Dupain-Cheng,]" Adrien explained. "[Her family runs a bakery, and she made galettes and macarons to welcome you here after Miss Bustier told us about you.]"

"[Okay, I know what a macaron is, but what's a mini galette?]" 

"[They're a type of cake with different types of fillings, fruit and savory. Usually they're a big cake, but Marinette made them small. Like a fruit tart. Ever had one of those?]"

"[Oh! I like fruit tarts!]" Ben said, as he took the boxes. He set them down, and lifted the lids to see the galettes and macarons. "[Oh! There's pineapple and cherry galettes! Those are some of my favorite fruits! Thanks!]"

He closed the boxes shut, picked them up, and started to walk up the stairs. "[I'll share these with my sisters la-]"

Ben misjudged where the next step was, smacking his foot against it. He tripped and fell, right on top of the boxes of baked goods, crushing them. People gasped, as he lifted himself up and saw the damage he had done, with some of the mini galettes' fillings oozing out, and he muttered a soft "[Dammit.]"

"A-Are you okay?" Marinette asked, as she, Alya, Nino, and Adrien rushed towards him to help him up. Meanwhile, Chloe was laughing at his misfortune, the air in her lungs was leaving quicker than it was entering.

"[I'm so, so sorry!]" Ben said, picking the crushed boxes up. Luckily for him, he noticed that none of the mini galettes' fillings got smeared on his shirt. "[You went out of your way to make these, and I ruined them!]"

"He said he's sorry about ruining your baked goods, Marinette," Adrien explained, as the other three looked to him for an explanation. 

"He faceplanted the ground but he's worried about ruining the mini galettes and macarons?" Nino said, lifting the brim to scratch his head a bit. 

"Well well, looks like we got another klutz in the class!" Chloe snorted, as her seatmate stifled a laugh with her fingers. "Looks like you won't be alone anymore, Dupain-Cheng!"

"[Man, I really hope that Allie, Cammie, and Dannie are having a better time...]" 

"Hi everyone!" Allie greeted, giving a very animated wave with her right hand. "I'm Allison Rainsworth, but call me Allie!"

"And I'm Camila Rainsworth," Cammie followed, giving a small but still enthiastic wave with her left hand. "But you can call me Cammie."

"We're so happy and excited to be here!"

"We've been studying French the moment we found out that we were moving here."

"So we really hope that we can get along with all of you!" 

Their new classmates clapped as they finished introducing themselves.

"I like them," a girl wearing a purple dress said. "They're such a riot."

"Yea, and their French is almost perfect," a boy wearing a green hoodie added.

"So, we've got twins, huh?" a jockish boy wearing a red jacket said. He was smiling, though the look of his eyes was showing his true thoughts. "Interesting..."

"Jules, come on," the boy with the green hoodie said. As he was joined by some other classmates in chiding Jules, no one saw Allie giving a sly look to Cammie, who returned it.

"Actually, we're triplets!" Allie clarified, catching everyone's attention again. 

"Triplets!?" the students shouted, their eyes wide with surprise. Jules' smile, meanwhile, got even wider. 

"Triplets, huh?"

"Yep! Our middle sibling, Bennie!" Allie nodded. 

"They're in a different class from us, but we can introduce you to them after collège," Cammie added. 

"Yes, please," Jules said. The other students wondered what they were doing, but decided not to question it.

"My name is Daniela Rainsworth, but you all can call me Dannie for short," Dannie introduced herself, standing straight as she looked at all of her classmates. "I'm from Houston, Texas, I have older triplet siblings attending Collège Françoise Dupont as well. We all moved from Houston to Paris because our mom got promoted to work at the Paris headquarters for Gabriel after leading the Texan marketing team for years. I hope that I can get to know you all better."

Her new classmates clapped, as Ms. Mendeleiev looked at her and judged. "Hm, how long did you take to learn how to speak in French?"

"The moment my mother told us that we were moving here," Dannie explained. "That was about... 4 months ago."

"Impressive," Ms. Mendeleiev complimented, nodding in approval. "So I take it that you'll work hard to learn here?"

"Absolutely," Dannie replied, giving the science teacher a genuinely excited grin. "It's always a pleasure to learn more for me!"

"Good, good." Ms. Mendeleiev pointed her to the back. "You may sit next to Marc and Zoe at the back. I'll give you six minutes to get to know each other before we start class."

"Alright, Ms. Mendeleiev." 

Dannie followed her direction, walking to the back and taking a seat next to Marc, a boy with a red hoodie, and Zoe, a girl with a blue beanie and pink dyed bangs on the left side of her face. As she sat down, Marc looked at her, holding his chin in thought. 

".... Can I help you?" Dannie said, her left eyebrow raised. 

"Oh! Uh, sorry... I was wondering. Is Ben your brother?" Marc asked. Dannie's right eyebrow raised, joining her left.

"You met my brother?"

"I was coming out of the restroom when I saw him looking around for the literature classroom."

"Oh, that's typical..." Dannie chuckled. "Yea, he's been having the hardest time with learning French, so he probably couldn't read the signs. Meanwhile, our sisters and I had managed to take it better."

"Sisters?"

"Yea, Allie and Cammie. They're triplets with Bennie," Dannie explained, making Marc and Zoe's eyes wide with surprise. 

"Wow, I can't imagine having triplets for siblings," Zoe commented. 

"It's not all that cracked up to be, yea," Dannie joked, shaking her head. "But we all love each other, regardless."

Zoe stuck her hand out to shake. "I'm Zoe Lee, I'm also from America. New York City, though."

"Really? That's interesting," Dannie said, taking her hand and shaking it. "Dannie Rainsworth."

She looked at Marc, and stuck her hand out for him as well. 

"M-Marc Anciel," he introduced himself, taking it. "Hope to get to know you better."

"Same here," Dannie finished, smiling.

"[Aaaaaaagh...]" Ben groaned, as he walked out of class. They finished for the day, and through it all, he went through the wringer. It was tough enough trying to speak French, it was even worse trying to speak French and learn school subjects at the same time. Not to mention the embarrassing first impression he made on everyone. He ran his right hand over his face in exhaustion. 

"[Cheer up, I think you did pretty well, all things considered,]" Adrien said, trying to comfort him. 

"[I guess...]" Ben mumbled. "[Man, this year is going to be so hard.]"

"Do you want to hang out somewhere, so we can get to know each other better?" Alya offered, with Adrien translating for her. "We could go to Marinette's bakery."

"Yea, that sounds like a great idea! You can see a real French bakery!" Marinette offered. "Not to mention we can make up for the mini galettes and macarons getting ruined."

"[By me,]" Ben muttered, after Adrien told him what Marinette had said. "[Sounds good, though. But I'll need to ask my sisters if they want to join-]"

Ben was interrupted by Allie's and Cammie's laughter as they walked into the courtyard. They were walking with a jock between them, whose arms were dangerously close to moving up and over their shoulders.

"[... Oh god,]" he grimaced. He was all too familiar with the plan they had in their heads. 

"You're so funny, Jules!" Allie 'complimented'. "One of the funniest guys I've ever met!"

"Yep, Bennie's gonna love meeting you!" Cammie added, giggling with her left hand over her mouth.

"I know, I'm amazing," Jules boasted, as his classmates rolled their eyes at the sight. "Now, where's the other triplet?"

"Oh, they're close by." Allie looked around, and saw Ben at the other side, staring directly into his eyes. She waved her hand in the air. "Yoohoo, Bennie!"

"[... Hold on, I'll be right back,]" Ben said, pinching his eyebrows to the confusion of the other four. He started walking over, taking a deep breath as he started to wag his right hand with his index pointing out over his chest to calm himself down. 

"Where is she? I can't wait to meet her," Jules said. 

"'She'?" Allie said, feigning ignorance as she placed a finger on her lip in thought. 

"What?" 

"We never said that our middle sibling was a she," Cammie pointed out. 

"What do you mean-"

"[Hi,]" Ben said, his face devoid of emotion. "[I'm Bennie, the middle triplet.]"

"O-oh. OH!" Jules sweated, as Allie's and Cammie's classmates caught on to their ruse, and began laughing. 

"Package deal," Ben said, pointing to himself and then his sisters. "Take or leave."

"I-I see," Jules began backing away, as the laughter only continued to grow. "I... Sorry, I gotta go somewhere!" 

Allie and Cammie finally joined in their classmates' laughter as Jules ran off, his face extremely red. Ben could only stare at his sisters, his eyes lifeless. 

"[Do you two really need to do this everytime when people find out we're triplets to test them to see if they're partner material?]" Ben asked, as Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino walked over to join them, snickering as well. "[It's hard to keep a neutral face, you know.]"

"[Sure, but sometimes you gotta teach a guy a lesson-]" she began to say, when she noticed Adrien standing nearby. "Adrien Agreste!?"

"[Oh my goodness!] So it was true that he attends Collège Françoise Dupont!" Cammie said, covering her mouth with her hand in surprise. 

"[Huh? Oh yea, he's in my class,]" Ben stated. "[Please don't go nuts-]"

"Cammie and I have been wanting to meet you for a long time now!" Allie explained. "We-We always wanted to meet you!"

"R-Really?" Adrien's smile began to become strained, which Cammie noticed.

"O-Oh, not to fangirl over you or anything," she explained. "We just wanted to get to know you better, since our mom works for your dad."

"Y-Yea, sorry about that," Allie said, realizing that she crossed a line. "I'm just a bit overenthusiastic, you see."

"Oh, uh, it's no problem," Adrien said, waving off his surprise of Allie's energy. "I was actually going to see if my father would let me tutor Ben in French so he can learn quicker. [Since I can speak English, too.]"

"Really? That's so nice of you!" Allie said, elbowing Ben in the elbow. "[You hear that, Ben? You got a new friend, perhaps even more?...]"

"[Yea yea, I heard,]" Ben said, rolling his eyes. He gave Adrien another look, and muttered under his breath so softly that no one could hear it, "[Not my type, really.]"

"Oh, there's Dannie," Cammie said, pointing to their little sister. She raised her arm up in the air and called out, "We're over here, Dannie!"

"There they are," Dannie said, walking over to them, followed by two people. One of them was Marc ("[So I guess she's his classmate, then,]" Ben thought to himself). who whispered something to her and walked off to meet with a redhaired boy that Ben recognized from his class ("[That's Nathaniel, if I remember correctly.]"). The other was a girl who was chatting cheerfully with Dannie. When Ben's eyes focused on her, his eyebrows raised and his breath hitched when he saw what was perhaps the cutest girl he's ever seen. She had shoulder length blonde hair, with the left side of her bangs dyed a nice hot pink, her eyes a vivid blue. She wore a black faux leather jacket over a white t-shirt with a pink, cyan, and yellow honeycomb flower on the front, and a pair of nice yellow jeans. On top of her hat was a blue beanie, which really completed the look for him. 

"Zoe, these are my triplet older siblings," Dannie introduced, as she started pointing to them. "That's Allie, that's Cammie, and that's-"

"H-H-Hi!" Ben suddenly shouted, stiffening up as everyone jumped back in surprise. "I'm Ben, Dannie's older brother! I like your hair! It's j-just as pretty as you!"

The courtyard went silent, before erupting into laughter. Ben gritted his teeth as his cheeks became so red that one could swear that his teeth would fracture and explode out of his cheeks. Allie and Cammie looked to him with concern, while Dannie just sighed and pinched her brow before muttering, "[Come on, Ben, really?...]"

"O-Oh," Zoe said, surprised by his words. "[Thanks for the compliment, and I'm sure you're nice, but... sorry, but you're not my type.]"

"[Oh, you... you speak English too?]" Ben said, trying to salvage the situation. 

"[Yea. I'm from New York City, though,]" Zoe explained, as she began to rub the left side of her bangs between her fingers. "[B-But really! I do appreciate what you said!]"

"[Right, right... I'm sorry,]" Ben said, his eyes falling down to his feet the more he spoke. "[I... I need to go somewhere for a second, talk to you all later.]"

Ben turned around on his heel, and made a break for it towards the front door. 

"Wow, he just met Zoe, and already gave a confession," Alya chuckled a bit, looking at Marinette from the side of her eye. "Can't imagine being that bold."

"Alya, I don't think that's appropriate right now," Marinette hissed, watching Ben close the front doors. 

"[Bennie! Where're you going!?]" Allie shouted, her hands cupped near her mouth to try and break through the laughter. She looked to her little sisters, and motioned them to follow. "[Come on, you two, we gotta follow him!]"

"[I am so, so sorry about that!]" Dannie apologized to Zoe, not paying attention to Allie at all. "[I should've known that Bennie would've done something like that! He always trips up when he sees people he likes! But I didn't think he'd do that!]"

"[I-It's no big deal, really!]" Zoe held her hands up to try and assuage her. "[I was just surprised, that's all. But I thought you said that he had trouble speaking French.]"

"[He does,]" Cammie interjected. "[That was the first time I heard him say a coherent sentence in French, though.]"

"[It's almost unbelievable that his first proper French sentence was to compliment a girl...]" Dannie grumbled. 

"[What're you two doing!? Come on! He might get lost without us!]" Allie cried, motioning them to follow her again. Once their classmates saw that she was getting genuinely distressed, the laughter died down, and they began whispering to themselves.

"[Don't worry too much,]" Dannie waved her off. "[He'll be fine, just let him blow some steam off. He's smart enough to stay nearby.]"

"[We'll give him three minutes before we go find him. He probably needs the space,]" Cammie assured Allie, patting her on the back. "[Besides, what can happen in three minutes?]"

All of a sudden, a wicked laugh filled the air, making the hairs on their necks stand on end.

"[Agh, first I had trouble with French, then I crashed and burned my introduction, then I crushed the food that Marinette gave me, and now my first coherent sentence in French was because I tried flirting with a girl I just met!?]" Ben paced around at the front doors, going up and down the stairs while berating himself. "[I'm such an idiot! What is wrong with me!?]"

He plopped himself down on the first step of the stairs, burying his face into his hands. "[Can this day get any worse!?]"

All of a sudden, a wicked laugh came from the school's courtyard, followed by a loud crash and the sound of stone following onto the ground. Ben flinched, as he turned his attention to the building. Cautiously, he went back up the stairs and opened the front door, peeking inside. There, he saw students scrambling for safety as that jock from before that was trying to make a pass at Allie and Cammie. But now, he was dresssed in one of the most gaudiest outfits Ben has ever seen. He was wearing dark red spandex with a symbol of a heart being twisted by a wrench, while he wore metal gauntlets, boots, and pauldrons. Around his waist was his red jacket, tied at the sleeves. His head was exposed, but you couldn't tell by how his skin was now a pale red, while his hair was a mess of black, red, and pink. His face was now in a permanent scowl as he grinded and gnashed his teeth. But what was most pressing was the gigantic metal wrench in his hands that the size of a refrigerator. 

"You've wrenched my heart of my dream of having triplet girlfriends, so now I, Heartwrench, will be wrenching your bodies!" the akumatized villain cried out. "Prepare to be twisted, Allie, Cammie!"

"[Oh come on! Are you kidding me!?]" Ben hissed, as he stood behind the doors. He looked around, trying to find his sisters, but they had disappeared in the chaos. For the best, considering that Heartwrench was definitely targeting them (and most likely him). "[When will those superheroes get here...]"

Just as Ben finished that thought, he saw a girl wearing ladybug-colored spandex and mask swing in by a yoyo, while a boy dressed in black leather, a long belt that emulated a cat's tail, cat ears, black, and cat ears on his head and a bell around his neck polevaulted in. 

"There'll be no heartwrenching tonight, Heartwrench!" the girl (obviously Ladybug) shouted, as she spun her yoyo around. 

"Yea, so why not do the easy thing and give up? Otherwise, things will get cat-astrophic for mew!" the boy (definitely Chat Noir) joked, tapping his staff on his right shoulder while his left hand rested on his hip. 

"You won't get in my way, Ladybug and Chat Noir! Once I get your Miraculouses, Shadowmoth will reward me by getting me the triplet girlfriends I so deserve!" Heartwrench declared. 

"Um, ew," Ladybug recoiled.

"Yea, that's... certainly a clawful idea," Chat Noir grimaced. 

"SILENCE! I WILL GET MY REWARD!" 

Heartwrench leaped into the air, his giant wrench over his head. He swung down, Ladybug and Chat Noir leaping out of the way and dodging his attack. The wrench broke the roof, debris tumbling down onto the ground. He went after Ladybug, his wrench pointing at her as he prepared to try and twist her. Chat Noir intercepted, and smacked the massive spanner away with his staff. 

"Not so fast, let make this about me and mew!" the hero said. The two of them began to attack each other with their weapons, though Heartwrench had to deal with dodging Ladybug's yoyo. The fight moved down into the courtyard, as the akumatized villain grabbed some debris from the destruction he was causing with his wrench, and flung it at them. Each time they dodged, the debris collided with the school, breaking it more and more. 

"[How can I help?]" Ben muttered, as Ladybug tossed her yoyo in the air yelling "Lucky Charm!", and a blanket landed in her hands. Ben noticed a few pieces of small debris had been flung back towards him after Heartwrench would wind up and throw the big ones with his wrench. But there was a pretty sizeable one that was near his feet. He picked it up, and with the strongest he could muster, threw the rock at the back of Heartwrench's head. It was a direct hit, knocking the akumatized villain forward a bit as he yelped in surprise. 

"What was that-" Heartwrench demanded, turning around to see where the rock came from, only for Ladybug to throw onto him and tie him up with her yoyo. Chat Noir, taking this chance, yelled "Cataclysm!", and let black energy flow around his right hand. He slammed his fist into the ground, causing it to fracture, making Heartwrench lose his footing and tumble onto his back. The two took this chance to pounce on him, ripping the jacket off from his waist. They held it between themselves, and with a mighty tug, ripped it in half, releasing a black butterfly from it. Before it could fly away, Ladybug caught it with her yoyo, spinning it around for a bit before opening it, releasing the now-white butterfly. Heartwrench changed back into Jules who rubbed his head and groaned as he stood up. 

"Bye bye, butterfly," she said, as it flew away. Ladybug turned her attention to something else, however. She pulled the blanket off the confused Jules, and threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

With that shout, the blanket exploded into a swarm of magic ladybugs that flew everywhere. All that they touched was instantly repaired, restoring the school's building and courtyard as if nothing had happened. She and Chat Noir stood in triumph, and held their fists out together. "Pound it-"

The two stopped, and noticed something in the sky was falling down. Ben looked up, wondering what he saw, and wished he hadn't. From the sky, what appeared to be an absolutely gigantic bipedal elephant fused with a gorilla. Its arms were muscular and covered in reddish brown hair, only stopping at its four fingered hands, revealing its blackish blue leathery skin underneath. It was a similar situation with its torso, being completely covered in fur with the only patch of bare skin being its muscles. But for its head, it had a white skull-like helmet (or was it actually its head?), connecting to its massive tusks. Its trunk was bare of any hair, and was almost longer than its body. 

"What is that!?" Chat Noir shouted, as the bipedal elephant crashed into the city, just mere kilometers away. It stood up from the crater it made, throwing its trunk into the air trumpeting, before swinging it down onto the buildings nearby. "That can't be a Sentimonster!"

"I don't know, but we can't let it attack the city!" Ladybug stated. "We need to go recharge! When you're finish feeding Plagg, we'll meet up and stop that thing!" 

Chat Noir nodded, and the two superheroes left just as quickly as they came. Ben could only stare at the bipedal elephant, shocked at what was happening.

"[This can't be good...]" he muttered, as he saw the students that were hiding inside the classrooms and restrooms get out and rush through the front door, Jules included. He jumped out of the way, landing in the bushes as the school was almost instantly emptied of panicking students. 

"[Allie, Cammie? Dannie!?]" he said, looking around to see if his sisters were in the crowd of students that had just left. Ben could only run his hands through his hair, frustrated at this turn of events.

"[What is even happening anymore!?]" he growled. He took another look at the bipedal elephant monster. "[Is this one of those Sentimonsters I hear about attacking sometimes!?]"

"What in the world is that!?" Shadowmoth shouted. Moments ago, it was just another day in his life, having his plans foiled by those nuisances Ladybug and Chat Noir (he picked that Jules boy when he sensed a stronger well of emotions nearby, but he was too late as he just finished akumatizing him; he certainly regrets promising that boy the chance to have triplet girlfriends, how uncouth), when his Nathalie Sancoeur barged into the room, with her tablet in hand. Before he could even demand to know why she did so, she thrusted the tablet into his face, showing him a breaking news broadcast of a giant and strange monster of an elephant rampaging in France. It was certainly not one of his Sentimonsters, and from the way it landed, it seemed like it came from the sky outright. 

"What shall we do, sir?" Nathalie asked, adjusting her glasses. Though she seemed composed, her hand was trembling as she adjusted them. "Do you need to make a Sentimonster? This... this thing may destroy not only what we've been working for, but genuinely the rest of Paris."

"... We'll do nothing for the moment," Shadowmoth stated, to Nathalie's surprise. "We'll only observe for now. If it ever comes close to our estate, that's when we'll strike back with a Sentimonster."

He turned towards the window where he releases his butterflies and feathers. Though he was confident that Ladybug and Chat Noir will win the day (they always do, somehow), he couldn't help but tap his fingers on top of his cane, taking deep breaths to keep himself composed.

"This is Nadja Chamack, reporting for TVi!" a woman said, as she rode in the helicopter observing the giant monster. "A giant monster has fallen from the sky, and is rampaging through Paris! Ladybug and Chat Noir are currently engaged in battle with it!" 

Calling what Ladybug and Chat Noir were doing a "battle" was an overstatement, truthfully. The bipedal elephant was taller than several skyscapers in the city, and they were so small that they might as well be bugs to the beast (moreso in Ladybug's case). They swung and leaped around, striking the monster wherever they could. But it barely flinched from the hits. 

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted, letting the black energy flow into his right hand. With another leap into the air, he slammed his fist into the bipedal elephant's leg. To his shock, instead of spreading quickly, the Cataclysm-powered punch only caused a network of black cracks underneath it fur. Though it did cause the beast noticeable distress and pain, as it stomped and crushed a building that Chat Noir had landed on. Thankfully, there was no one inside that could get hurt. Because of the regular attacks from Shadowmoth, evacuations had been swift and quick. The only reason why there'd be victims from those attacks was if they were in the immediate vicinity and didn't manage to escape in time. But that doesn't mean that they could just sit around twiddling their thumbs. "This meow-tain of a monster is tough! What is it made out of!?" 

"Doesn't matter!" Ladybug yelled back, spinning her yoyo around before tossing it into the air. "Lucky Charm!" 

A pen fell down and into her hands. "A pen!? What am I supposed to do with this!? I got used to getting creative with these things, but how will a pen stop that thing!?"

She threw the pen at the monster, only to see it bounce off and get crushed into dust by its giant foot. Before she scream in frustration, a beam of light struck the ground behind the bipedal elephant. Ladybug and Chat Noir only had moments to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded. Once the light died down, a silver giant stood in its place. On its chest was blue gems in the shape of a four-segmented arc over one singular large blue gem. Black bracer-like bands were wrapped around its forearms and shins. Its neck was black as well, with a part of it dipping down into a triangle that stopped short of reach its chest's gems, and above its crystalline blue eyes was a black band with a gap at the front to reveal the thin blue gem on its forehead, with a similar black band around its waist. 

The giant stood tall, crossing its arms over its chest as it stared down at the bipedal elephant. At least until it looked down.

"PAAH!" the giant shouted, moving to cover itself as if it were indecent. The elephant took this chance to slam its trunk into the giant, knocking it into a nearby hotel, destroying it. The giant took a look at it, and despite its unmoving silver face, it seemed to grimace.

"Daddy's hotel!" Chloe shrieked, as she, Zoe, and Chloe's father watched the battle with the giant monster unfold on Zoe's laptop. They were inside the limo, driven by the butler who was making a mad drive away from it. "My room! All of my clothes! All of my makeup!"

Chloe fell to the side of her seat, fainting from the horrorific sight. "Chloe dear!" her father cried, unbuckling himself to tend to her. 

Meanwhile, Zoe was focused on the battle, watching as the silver giant picked itself back up, and grabbed the elephant's trunk to pull it towards itself and deliver a powerful punch to its face. "[Just... Just what is that thing?]"

"[Of all things to happen today, a giant monster battle wasn't on that list.]" 

Ben watched from the distance as the silver giant and elephant monster duked it out. The giant was clearly making an effort to try and stop the elephant's destruction and avoid moving into buildings, but for all the good that it did, the elephant would not care and just kept on slamming it back and back. It was dangerously getting close to the school, even. 

"[Hope that giant can-]"

The elephant roared as a ball of energy formed in front of its trunk, and it threw it nearby, rocking the ground so much that the restored school began to fracture and break again. 

"[That monster can make energy bombs!?]" Ben cried out, as the elephant made more and more. The giant in turn created an energy barrier, but for each one that it blocked, another would fly by, shaking the ground. With each quake, more and more of the school fell apart. Ben whipped out his cellphone, and started scrolling through his contact list. "[I gotta make sure that my sisters are alright-]"

All of a sudden, he heard a yell inside the courtyard. Ben opened the front door, and saw Marc had tripped on the ground, with Nathaniel trying to help him up. The floors above them were cracking dangerous. If one more attack shook the school, it would definitely break-

The elephant monster trumpeted as it used its trunk to knock the silver giant down, leading near the school. The resultant quake shook everything once more, and the building couldn't take it anymore. The floors and stone above Marc and Nathaniel began to fall. The two realized what was happening and braced themselves, Nathaniel covering Marc with his own body.

In a mad sprint, Ben rushed towards the two. He had no time, yet it all slowed down the same. Ben used all of the force he could to knock the two out of the way of the falling debris. In turn, he fell onto the ground onto his stomach, unable to even react to the falling debris above him as the two boys he saved screamed in shock. But for a moment, he looked to the side, the walls of the classroom nearby having fallen already, revealing the silver giant's head. And he could swear that it was looking at him directly in the eyes.

"Gah!?"

Ben's eyes snapped open, and he looked around. He was standing now, but instead of a wrecked school, he found himself in a void of black, with crystalline lights floating around blinking, cycling through the colors of the rainbow with each blink. He looked below, and noticed that he wasn't standing on any ground, but he felt one beneath him anyways. "Oh god, am I dead?"

"Not quite," a young male voice said.

Ben twisted his body around, looking for the source of the voice. Some of the crystalline lights gathered together, until it formed the silver giant that was just battling the elephant monster. Though right now he was closer to his size, or at least, the size of an adult. 

"You!" Ben shouted, pointing at the not-quite-so-giant being. "What's going on!? Who are you!? What are you!? And what's that monster you're fighting!? Just what-"

"Okay, calm down," the being said (revealing it to be the owner of that voice, though it didn't really quite match his appearance in Ben's opinion), raising its hands to try and placate the teenager. "My name is Ultraman Prism. I'm a part of the Space Garrison, a force started by the natives of M78."

"U-Ultraman? Space Garrison? M78?" Ben listed, trying to keep track of what this Ultraman Prism was saying. 

"Yes, but not every member of the Space Garrison isn't from M78. I myself came from a different place altogether," Prism said, crossing his arms. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I was chasing down that giant alien, Goloxodon in order to kill it. It was the host to something malevolent that needs to be destroyed."

"Alright, so that's why you're fighting it now?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. The thing possessing Goloxodon disappeared when we knocked each other out down from the atmosphere. Their counterattack also caused me to lose most of my powers," Prism grumbled, rubbing his forehead with his palm in frustration. "As you can imagine, that's one of the reasons why I'm not doing too well in this fight."

"So I guess that answers some of my questions," Ben rubbed his chin in thought. "But that doesn't answer why I'm here."

"Well... that's because you died," Prism said, his hand moving to the back of his head sheepishly. "I pulled you into my mental space to save you. Don't worry about time, five minutes in here is about 30 seconds out there."

"I WHAT!?"

"That debris that fell on top of you crushed, well, everything at once," Prism explained, twiddling his thumbs together in thought. "But I saw why it happened"

"... Right, right. That makes... sense," Ben admitted. He took a deep breath, and sighed. "So are you trying to send me off to, well, whatever afterlife exists?"

"No."

Ben looked at Prism, his brow furrowed in confusion. The giant had crossed his arms, and said, "You're not going to the afterlife, because I've chose you to be my host."

"Wait wait wait, host? I thought you were fighting something that possesses others!" Ben pointed at Prism accusingly. "So you do the same thing!?"

"I understand the apprehension, but what I do and what that thing does are two very different relationships," Prism explained. "With me, it's a symbolic relationship. The host that I'm with provides me a place to hide and recuperate after fights, and my host gets to use some of my powers as their own. That thing, however, is parasitic. It doesn't care what it does to its host, as long as it has one. When it leaves the host, they retain whatever aggression and fury that thing left them, which is why Goloxodon is still rampaging despite its disappearance."

"Okay, you keep calling it 'that thing'. Don't you have a name or something for it?"

"I don't. No one knows what exactly this thing is, just that it's been hopping around planet to planet, grabbing one host after the other. All we know is that once it finds a host, it'll try and level everything around it until there's nothing left. We think that might be why the hosts it leaves still rampages long after its gone. Its essence even attracts other aliens, like an insect to a flytrap."

Prism sighed, but he stood tall, and looked at Ben. "This is why I need your help. I doubt that thing truly disappeared, and there will be more giant aliens that will come. Perhaps even ones that are human-sized. But I can't stay out forever. We run on a timer," Prism pointed to the gems on his chest, "which tells us how much time we have left until we need to retreat to restore energy. And without a host, I'll vanish for good."

"I think I understand now," Ben replied, nodding his head in thought as he wagged his right hand over his chest with his index finger pointing out. "But how can I be your host? I died."

"That's where you're wrong." Prism walked up to him, and pointed to Ben's heart. "The reason why I brought you here was to save you. I saw you save those two boys at the cost of your own life. We Ultras, many of us have the ability to save a person from certain death, but that's only if you choose to become my host."

"And us Ultras, we pick those whose hearts are always in the right place."

Ben stopped breathing for a moment. Him? His heart in the right place? But all day, it felt like he didn't belong. His heart belongs to Texas, not France. Not like his sisters-

He paused on that thought. His sisters. His family. The people he wanted to know. If he can't save them on his own, can he save them with someone else?

"... If I become your host, will you be able to help me protect everything here? Even the people I love?"

"If I couldn't, I would exile myself from the Space Garrison this very minute," Prism chuckled, holding his hand out to shake Ben's. "After all, that's what I live to do."

Ben stared at Prism's hand for what felt like eons, before grabbing it and giving it the strongest shake he can make. Prism stared at him, seeming like he was almost smiling at Ben's action. His form began to dissipate, and the light that gathered to make it flowed into Ben's right hand. When it finished, a pen-like device was in his grasp.

"What is this?"

"That is the Prismal Spark, the tool you use to transform into me. All you need to do is raise your hand into the air, and shout out 'Shine, Prism!'"

Ben shook his head in understand, and with a deep breath, thrusted his hand into the air, and shouted with all his might, "SHINE, PRISM!!!"

As the silver giant laid on the ground, the elephant trumpeted its trunk into the air, feeling victorious over its opponent. As it prepared to stomp on the silver giant's chest, its crystalline blue eyes shone, and it grabbed its foot, stopping it right in its track. 

"PAAAAAH!!!" The silver giant shouted as it pushed the monster's foot away with a punch. The elephant screeched in pain as skin and muscle flaked off from where Chat Noir struck it with his Cataclysm. The giant noticed, and kept striking it in the leg until it kicked it away from it.

The giant leaped onto its feet, reinvigorated somehow, and tackled the elephant away from the buildings. With a mighty hand, it chopped the back of the elephant monster's neck, making it cry out. The monster's trunk twisted to pull the silver giant off it, but that only allowed it to grab the long nose, and pull it over his shoulder in a toss. The monster kicked the silver giant away, standing back up defiantly. With another trumpet of its trunk, energy began to form at the tip of its trunk. 

The silver giant responded in kind. Silver energy formed over its hands, as it raised them over its head to form a glowing arc. At the zenith of their charges, the elephant tossed the energy ball towards the silver giant, while the silver giant moved its arms down quickly and hold them in a cross position, its right forearm perpendicular to and in front of its left forearm. 

"Prismatic Wave!" the silver giant shouted, though no one could understand it. The energy it had gathered was released from its right forearm, firing as a beam that cut through the elephant monster's energy ball, the beam absorbing whatever energy the ball left behind. It struck the monster in the chest, causing it to screech in pain before the beam finished. When it was over, the monster exploded in a fiery blaze, leaving behind a large cloud of smoke and dust. Once it confirmed that the monster was dead, the silver giant looked up to the sky, and leaped upwards, flying away from the scene.

"Man, that was... surprisingly easy," Ben sighed, rubbing his forehead. "With that out of the way, can you explain the deal with your lost powers?"

"Of course, it's very key that you know about them," Prism agreed. "The race of Ultras I belong to are able to resonate ourselves with seven other people after coming to a mutual understanding. These create special crystal lights that allow us to transform, as well as use powers similar to theirs."

"Okay, that doesn't sound too hard," Ben said. "Finding seven crystal lights in Paris? Shouldn't be a problem."

"That's... not quite it."

"What do you mean?"

"Since those seven crystal lights split off from me, they had to have been drawn into people whose wavelengths matches them. And because of that, they went dormant."

"Meaning...?"

"We won't be able to tell who has them, since it'll take some time for the lights to start shining again. And even then, we'll still need to resonate with them."

"Oh that is significantly harder. I thought I was gonna be able to find these powers since they'd stand out! How am I going to be able to tell who has them!? Paris is huge!"

"Do... Do you understand anything that just happened, my lady?" Chat Noir asked, as the two Parisian superheroes watch the giant vanish into the sky. "Be-claws right now, I'm feline very, very confused."

"I'm just as confused as you are, Kitty. Just as confused..." Ladybug muttered. She shook her head, and remembered about her timer, realizing that there was just about a minute left for her and Chat Noir. "Let's recharge as quickly as possible, and go out and survey the damage. I'll go to check the area around Collège Françoise Dupont, you go check Le Grand Paris. Then I'll use Miraculous Ladybug to fix everything. Understand?"

"Loud and clear, my lady!" Chat Noir answered, giving her a captain's salute. As the two leaped away to recharge their kwamis, neither of them noticed two colored crystal lights floating down towards them. A red light touched Ladybug's back, faintly shimmering before disappearing into her. Whereas an indigo light landed on the tip of Chat Noir's tail-like belt, faintly shimmering before disappearing into him. 

"I can't believe we got to witness a giant monster fight!" Alya said, as she finished filming with her phone from a safe distance away. Not like it was hard to see, the giants were very visible from where they were standing. 

"I can't believe that you didn't want to get close this time," Nino said, still in disbelief that his girlfriend would miss that chance.

"Yea, only if they were like, a quarter of the size," Alya rolled her eyes. "I might take big risks, but those giants were way bigger than any one I'd take."

"Good to know, maybe the giant will keep you from going in," Nino laughed.

The two started to walk away, snarking at one another as they talked about how out of this world this new Ladyblog article was going to be. They didn't notice the two colored crystalline lights that floated down towards them. An orange light landed on Alya's bag strap, making a faint ripple down as it disappeared into her, while a blue light landed on the top of Nino's hat, glistening for but a second before it disappeared into him. 

"Agh, what is taking that red loser Ladybug so long!?" Chloe stomped around in the parking lot. They had stopped there to catch their breath after making sure they had gotten as far away from the titanic terrors. "I wanna go back to my room!" 

"N-Now, Chloe," Andre said, adjusting his collar as he sweated. "Those giants' battle destroyed many buildings aside from my hotel. Not to mention that you and Zoe told me about that akuma attack at your collège, so she might be running on fumes now-"

"Who cares!? If she really was a hero like she calls herself, she should be able to fix everything immediately!" Chloe screeched. "I don't want to wait!" 

As Chloe threw a tantrum and her stepfather tried to calm her down, Zoe kept looking at the footage that the TVi helicopter had caught in the fight. She rewound and rewatched the moment the silver giant had fallen onto its back before it spontaneously recovered. His head was next to Collège Françoise Dupont, but for some reason, she felt like it was looking at something happening within their school.

"What is he looking at...?" Zoe thought to herself. While she kept on watching and rewatching, a yellow crystal light floated down. It gently landed on the top of her beanie, shimmering for but a second as it disappeared into her.

"What a concerning tune the city's in..." Luka muttered, as he strummed a slow melancholic song on his guitar. Unusually for him, the corners of his mouth pointed down into a frown. And it wasn't hard to see why. After the battle between those strange giants, all of Paris was on edge. Even he was shocked at the turn of events. The way that these giants appeared from the sky, it told him that they weren't Sentimonsters at all. Not at that size, there was no way they could've been made centuries ago without anyone ever seeing them.

He wondered if Ladybug could be able to fix this, when he noticed a green crystal light floating down towards him. He moved a bit to the right, and then to the left, trying to avoid the light. But each time, the light changed course towards him. Finally, he held his hand out, letting the green light rest in it. It made a faint, almost unnoticeable shimmer when it touched his skin, before entering it and disappearing into him.

"Hm... this beat. It's different from anything I've ever heard before," he muttered. But all the same, he realized that the green light meant no harm. Instead, it seemed to tell him that it needed shelter for but a time. And that there will be a time where it'll need to leave. For what, he didn't know, but he had a feeling it might be related to the silver giant that tried to protect Paris from the elephant monster.

"Alright, little light, I'll keep you safe for now. Trust me," Luka smiled, as he returned to play on his guitar, though this time, there was more hope in the notes of his guitar.

"Do you think that silver giant is on our side?" Rose asked, as she and Juleka came out of their hiding place. They had managed to get quite far from the chaos of Heartwrench's attack, only for the giants to come and fight, forcing them to escape even further. They've never seen anything like it. Sure, there've been giant Sentimonsters before, but them? They were on a scale that Shadowmoth wished he could use. 

"M-Maybe..." Juleka mumbled, still shaking from all the destruction and chaos around them. "What... what do you is going to-?"

Juleka stopped speaking for some reason, causing Rose to turn towards her. "What's the matt-"

Rose got her answer, as a violet crystalline light gently fell down, stopping just in front of Juleka's face. It floated and glistened in front of her, with an almost alien ethereal shine to it. 

"What is that? It's so pretty," Rose said. She raised her right hand to poke it, only for the violet light to move out of the way and her finger bopped Juleka's nose. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay..." Juleka waved off, her focus still on the light. "I... I think it only wants me to touch it..."

Juleka cupped her hands together, letting the violet light fall into them. There was a faint shimmer washing over her hands, before the violet light sunk into her and disappeared. When it did, Juleka got the vague sense from it that told her that it needed someone to protect it until it recovered, and when the right time came. She held her hands to her chest, and muttered, "I understand, I'll... I'll keep you safe for as long as I can..."

"Come on, Nathaniel! We've got to get him out from there!" Marc shouted, as the two began pulling off the debris as fast as they could. "M-Maybe Ladybug can save him!" 

"I'm trying, Marc!" Nathaniel grunted, knocking aside a particularly large chunk of concrete. As the two continued their rescue attempt, an orb of light flashed before their eyes. When it disappeared, there stood Ben, with a strange pen in his hands.

"Gaaaah!" Ben shivered, hunching over a little as his body twitching slightly. "Oh, that is gonna take a lot of getting used to!" 

"Ben!?" Marc shouted. "H-H-How!?" 

"Marc? Nathaniel!? Oh thank god you two are alive!" Ben said, with a deep sigh of relief as he pocketed his pen into his black shirt's inner pocket. "I was worried that you-"

Ben stopped talking when he saw the pile of debris in front of him. ".... Is that where I-?"

The two stunned boys nodded. 

"I see..." Ben took a look at the pile, shivered at the sight and at the thought of what had or could've happened. "You... You wanna help me dig through it to find my body?"

"Hold on, what are you talking about!?" Nathaniel cried out. "How did you get out from under there!? What happened to you!?"

"Okay, long story short, the moment that all fell on top of me, the silver giant- his name is Ultraman Prism, by the way- saved me by taking me into its mind, and now I'm his host or something? Sorta died, too, but that's not an issue anymore," Ben rubbed the back of his head. The two boys jaws were agape, their stares at Ben blank. "I'll explain more later, but we should keep this a secret. Now come on, let's... let's make sure that there's not a second, er, first, body underneath this?"

The two boys took a look at one another, and sighed, since this was about as good an answer that they're going to get for the moment. Soon, the three of them were pulling and dragging the debris away to see what was underneath.

"Oh thank god, there's nothing there." Ben wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "Not even a pool of blood-"

"Is anyone here!? Anyone alright!?" a girl's voice cried out. The three boys looked up to the air, and saw Ladybug swinging down from the air.

"Oh thank godness, Ladybug!" Nathaniel said, as the three boys ran up to meet her. Ben paused in his tracks though when he saw her close up. While he had seen her earlier, there was something that prevented him from remembering her face perfectly, even when she wasn't that far away from him. Now? He could definitely see her face, and knew who it was. "Marinette?" he muttered.

"Are you three okay?" Marin- Ladybug asked, as she checked them. "No injuries, no scratches, anything?"

"W-We're all fine," Marc said. "Some of the building fell down, but Ben here managed to push us out of the way before it could. But where's Chat Noir?"

"He's off checking other areas affected by those giants' fight. But let me check up on you all," Ladybug said, going up to check on Ben. "I believe we haven't met. I know a lot of the students here in Collège Françoise Dupont, but I haven't seen you before."

"Y-Yea, I'm new here, I just moved in from Texas today. It was my first day of collège, even," Ben said, his eyes moving down to the ground. "Some first day it's been though. First I mess up introducing myself, then I crushed a classmate's food that she gifted me as a welcoming present, embarrassed myself in front of everyone by calling a girl cute with my first understandable line of French, and witnessed an akuma attack. I thought I've seen everything, and then the giants came."

"I'm so sorry that your first day in Paris has been bad, I-" Ladybug stopped, and looked him in the eye. "Your... Your French is pretty good for someone new to Paris. Your accent's even correct."

"Huh? It is?" Ben asked. He looked to Marc and Nathaniel, who seemed to also just now notice that Ben was speaking coherently. "I-I mean, yea, I was a bit nervous trying to talk to everyone today, so I guess I wasn't in the right mindset! The shock of everything today must've knocked that anxiety away!"

Ben laughed, trying to cover up how he just knew how to speak perfect French. Which he still didn't know, how did he-

"It's my doing," Prism said in his head, startling Ben a bit. "I'm telepathic, so it was no issue learning how to speak French and transplant that knowledge into your mind. I figured this would make talking to others much easier for you."

"Yea, but it's going to be pretty suspicious that I'm suddenly a French-speaking master!" Ben thought back. "There's no way anyone will believe that!"

"That makes sense," Ladybug said, buying Ben's excuse. "If I was anxious about speaking another language, I would probably forget about it after going what you've been through today."

"Y-Yea..." Ben looked around at the damage that Prism's and Goloxodon's fight had caused. "Do... Do you think you can fix all of this?"

"Yep! This should be a piece of cake!" Ladybug stated. She began spinning her yoyo around, gathering speed until she threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" 

The yoyo fell down from the air, clunking Ben on the head. "Ow!" 

"What the-?" Ladybug stared at her fallen yoyo, dumbstruck that nothing had happened. She picked it back up, and began spinning it again once more. "H-Hold on! I got it this time! Miraculous Ladybug!" 

The yoyo flew up into the air, and once again, it fell back down, onto the ground with a clatter. "Um, let me try it again! Miraculous Ladybug!"

Clatter.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Clatter.

"Mira! CULOUS! LADY! BUG!" 

Clatter.

"I-I don't understand! I was in that fight, I saw all of the damage, and that monster's gone! I should be able to fix this!" Ladybug panicked. Her chest heaved in and out, her breath hitching and heaving as she kept on trying. "Miraculous Ladybug! Miraculous Ladybug! Miraculous Ladybug!"

More and more, she grew exhausted, but she didn't dare stop trying. And yet, none of them worked.

"Ladybug-" Ben started to say, as each throw of the yoyo only returned to the ground.

"Mir... Miraculous... Ladybug..." the superheroine fell to her knees at the same time the yoyo did. Tears began to drip from her eyes, as Ben went down to comfort her, though unsure as to how. "I... I can't... I can't fix this..."

"What is happening?" Shadowmoth asked himself, as he paced around. There were so many negative emotions, so many prime targets to akumatized, so many chances to create Sentimonsters. But it was too many for him to find the perfect one. Not to mention his own concerns about what the giants were. "The giants' fight is over, so Ladybug should be able to fix everything now with Miraculous Ladybug. So what's stopping her from using it now?"

"I could answer that for you," a deep, bellowing voice said. Shadowmoth spun around, startled by this newcomer. Someone who shouldn't even be able to get inside without the proper access.

"What in the- Who's there!?" Shadowmoth demanded, twirling his cane around so that he could use it to strike the intruder. "I demand you show yourself! I am Shadowmoth! The holder of the Butterfly Miraculous! However you got in here, you have made a poewrful enemy!" 

"Calm down, calm down," the voice said, Miasmic energy began to flow out of the shadows of the room, of red, violet, and black. It swirled around and around Shadowmoth, who's still ready to attack the intruder. "I could tell you the same thing. If you're so ready to fight me, you have made a truly powerful enemy, Gabriel Agreste."

Shadowmoth froze, his bravado vanishing at the mere mention of his real name. "H-How did you-"

"I simply moved throughout your house, Gabriel. Saw everything pertaining to you," the energy spoke, as it coalesced in front of him. "I know your name, your business, your son, and where your wife is."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Shadowmoth screamed, his fear disappearing to make room for his rage. "If you so lay a finger on her head, I'll-"

"Easy, easy. I'm not here to make enemies," the energy started to form something vaguely humanoid, "I'm here to make friends."

"Friends?"

"Allies, comrades, compadres, nakama, whatever you want to call it, really," the energy stated. "All I want is for you to help me, so that I can help you."

"... And what's in it for me?" Shadowmoth said, lowering his cane. 

"Power beyond belief, stronger akumas, stronger Sentimonsters, I can help with it all," the energy strode around the room, its arms behind its back. "After all, you saw what my work did with that monster, Goloxodon."

"That was your doing?"

"Indeed. I had been possessing Goloxodon for a while now, but that giant chased me, trying to erase me from existence," it explained. "Earlier today, we fought once more above your planet, and in the explosion caused by our attacks colliding, I had to abandon Goloxodon in order to survive. Even so, whatever scraps of power I left in Goloxodon was kept it on a rampage. I've lost a great deal of power due to prematurely leaving it, but the same goes for the giant."

"I see.. And what is this giant called?"

"They call themselves the Ultras," the energy said, as some of the miasma formed a stool for it to sit on. Even with the lack of any facial features, Shadowmoth could tell that it was sneering at the mere mention of the name. "They fancy themselves as protectors of the universe, nay, the multiverse. They even organized themselves into a military force called the Space Garrison. But they're nothing more than egotists who believe that they should decide the fate and safety of others."

"And this Ultra, he's a member of this, Space Garrison?" Shadowmoth asked, tapping his finger on the top of his cane.

"Indeed, though he is but a mere fledgling, recently assigned to finish me off," the energy scoffed. "I will admit that out of all the beings I've fought against, he is the most persistent and strongest among them."

"Hmph, I don't see why they should concern me," Shadowmoth turned around and away from the humanoid energy. "The offer is tempting, but I'm already doing fine on my own. I don't need the help of some alien force for my goals."

"Not even if I can help you save your wife?"

The masked man froze mid-step, as he slowly turned to face the humanoid energy, and in the smallest of whispers, said "... What did you say?" 

"I can help you save your wife," the energy repeated. It let some of its energy spread out, letting it form into shapes vaguely resembling Gabriel and the pod that kept his wife alive. "You see, I think that your efforts to try and fix it all with the Miraculouses, while sound, isn't the only way to do it." Over Gabriel and pod, the Ladybug earrings and Black Cat ring formed. "All you do with them will risk ripping the fabric of the multiverse apart."

"A risk that I'm willing to take!" he barked back. "I don't need you to stop-"

"And I'm not going to," the energy shook its head. It continued to reshape parts of itself. A figure that resembled itself joined Gabriel and the pod, bringing along an array of strange, unfamiliar alien technology with it. "But I can use whatever alien technology to do it, with far more ease."

"If you can, then why don't you-"

"It's because of that Ultra. Not only had his attack weakened me severely, it made me unable to use any of my powers to bring it over here," the energy explained. "Right now, I can only provide more power to your akumas and amoks. But by helping you, I'll be able to recover and regain what I had lost."

"So, are you in, or are you out?" the energy snapped and made all of the figures disappear, standing up and sticking out a hand to shake with Shadowmoth's. 

"... And you promise that you will save her? Save Émilie?"

"That, and so, so much more."

Shadowmoth stared at its hand, before grasping it. Surprisingly, despite it lacking any sort of physical matter, he could tell that the energy had a strong grip. "So... what is your name?"

"My name?" the energy chuckled, as it released it grip on Shadowmoth's hand. Red, violet, and black miasma began to swirl around the two as the energy turned his back on him. "I have many names, yet none at all. I'm well-known throughout the multiverse, yet a mystery all the same. I can be everything, yet nothing at once. As for a name for you to use-"

The figure turned around, surprising Shadowmoth, for now eyes were opening on its featureless face, revealing it to have violet eyes with red pupils. A strange crack appeared along the bottom, resembling that of a cracked and jagged smile. "You may call me Umhadross."