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17-noodlebird · 1 month ago

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World Seven = The Film Studio City Of L’amour de ma Vie

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Jewel: Spinel

Power: Love

Color: Pink

Theme: Hollywood Movies & Paris, France

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Objective:

Help the movie director complete their magnum opus that the whole world will enjoy, and help the actors discover their true inner selves along the way.

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Chapter VII: Elle Veut Qu’on Se Retrouve à Paris!

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The seventh episode/chapter pays homage to Hollywood movie-making, including the likes of movie directors M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Alfred Hitchcock, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino, with all the glitz and glam of film studios like Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, and even Sony Entertainment, the velvet red carpet of the movie premiere, movie theaters/cinemas, and celebrity actors as far as the eye can see. It also pays homage to the city of love that is Paris, France, even making a ton of jabs at Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.

The episode begins with a feminine-looking shadowy figure walking along the streets with flashing cameras and microphones being held by people who want an interview with the mysterious lady, wearing sunglasses, a scarf, and a beret to keep herself semi-anonymous. After dismissing the many questions given by the paparazzi, she arrives at her designated trailer at the area’s giant trailer park to grab an octagonal box with Chinese symbols all over it. The woman then turns on the trailer lights and reveals herself to have short, wavy black-brown hair, donning the typical director's outfit as well. She smiles wickedly at the box, as if to plan something devious with it. And indeed, the lady looks like she has something special planned for our main protagonists. She just can't reveal it quite yet…

The scene then transitions to the Magical Digital Van on the road yet again for another amazing adventure, having just recently left the lush pastures of The Farmlands not too long ago. Aside from the usual road trip hijinks driving Caine to the brink of insanity, much to the amusement of the dimensional diplomats from the other side of the screen, we see Ragatha and Jax sitting idly in the very backseat of the van, with the latter looking out the window longingly, as if contemplating something. Meanwhile, Ragatha is watching a movie on her communicator bracelet, specifically Ratatouille. She appears to be heavily invested in the movie, cheering on the tiny rat dude whenever he's onscreen. One has to wonder why she hasn't gotten motion sick already, considering all the other times she's tried to entertain herself with a good book throughout the road trip. Jax takes a quick glance at his seat buddy next to him. The memory of what happened back at The Farmlands still fresh in Jax's mind, he sighs sadly and goes back to looking out the van’s window while watching the scenery fly by.

From the other side of the screen, we see Gemma, the green-haired diplomat from the previous episode, looking forlorn, as if guilty about something. She can't even bring herself to check up on Jax, likely afraid of the consequences that transpired from that eventful adventure. That's when another diplomat by the name of Pamela, a magenta-haired woman wearing a pink bow on her head, offers to help her out this time. After a small conversation about Gemma's guilt about what happened to Jax, and Pamela’s words of comfort, the latter decides to call Jax via her communicator bracelet.

As Jax continues staring out the window, his own communicator bracelet sounds off for a phone call and he answers. Pamela checks up on Jax to see how he's holding up, vibrating a cheerful aura while doing so. Jax just says that he's a little drowsy from the events from the previous episode. Pamela has to let Jax know that Gemma feels guilty about what happened back in The Farmlands, which only dismays the bunny rabbit, since the last thing he wants right now is for anyone to feel bad for him over something he couldn't control. Pamela tells him not to feel bad about it since it wasn't his fault things got out of hand really quickly; turns out that Gemma really cares deeply about Jax and his well-being especially, something that he has trouble wrapping his head around because he himself doesn't believe that anyone would bother wasting their time giving a damn about him. Pamela is saddened by the mindset Jax has; clearly, the fuckhead’s got issues. After some brief brainstorming, Pamela offers that Jax should go talk to his seat buddy, and at first, Jax is scared of the repercussions that might occur from this, considering the previous two times he interacted her, but after some persuasion from Pamela and a back-and-forth teasing from the two, Jax caves in and scoots over Ragatha, still watching Ratatouille on the holographic screen of her communicator bracelet.

It's awkward at first. Jax asks what she's watching, and Ragatha answers, although she's slightly defensive about it. She explains it's about a rat in France who yearns to be a gourmet chef. The typical story of achieving your dreams in spite of your differences and what other people say about them. Jax finds it adorable, even if the movie isn't all that enticing to him, while Ragatha explains that movies have always given her some sort of comfort, a distraction from the pain of real life (and I guess the digital world as well, but I digress), like an escape to another world where all her biggest fantasies come true. In a way, Caine's adventures provided her with that escapism, always comparing them to the movies and TV shows she used to watch all the time as a little girl. Jax is a little concerned, wondering how all that time spent just simply watching TV all day has affected her mentally. It's nice seeing the two get along for this one little moment, even if Pamela is the only one to notice while everyone else is distracted with their own thing for the time being. You know what, let's count this as a small victory for now, shall we?

When they get to the scene with Linguini being puppeteered by Remy the rat by pulling his hair, Jax comments how Ragatha's hair is the same color as Linguini’s. Knowing the last time Jax commented on her hair, Ragatha retorts if he plans on trying to eat her hair, with it looking like licorice and all, and he playfully teases the notion. Some witty banter ensues between the two, which ends with Jax playing with Ragatha’s hair, in the same manner Remy was pulling Linguini's hair in the movie she was watching earlier. He's not even roughhousing either, nor is he pulling Ragatha's hair all that hard, and she's enjoying this just as much as Jax is. Regardless, this doesn't stop the antsy ringmaster from calling out Jax again and harshly telling him to quit it. Ragatha tells him it's fine; Jax isn't being mean at all this time and all they're doing was just playing around. Before Caine could get angrier, however, Pamela steps in and tells him that Ragatha is indeed telling the truth. In fact, Pamela was the one to encourage Jax to talk to Ragatha after seeing how despondent he was moments earlier. Gangle, for one, is actually kinda happy the two are actually playing around together instead of the usual centipede scare pranks he did back at the circus. Pomni asks what they were doing back there, and Ragatha gleefully answers they were watching a movie together, with Jax adding that Ragatha loves movies.

Ragatha loved watching movies and loved pretending she was always in them as an escape from reality, going as far as to say that Caine's adventures were always like being in her favorite childhood films and TV shows, where she got the lead role, or in the very least played an important part in the story. It was one of the ways she maintained the illusion of control in a situation where she felt trapped in her own unfavorable environment and not-so-great home life. Now, granted, Ragatha was never really a theater kid per se, but she often wondered what it’d be like to actually get to star in her very own movie, without actually having to play pretend all the time with the daily adventures she and her friends went to. Pomni is kinda sour over the “pretend” portion of the conversation, while Caine is stuck being both comforted and disturbed at the thought of Ragatha pretending that she's a self-insert OC in the adventures he created for his fellow humans (the internet has made him a changed man, let me tell you!!), all while everyone else just listens to the ragdoll’s semi-loredump with intrigue, feelings of wholesomeness, and small teaspoons of discomfort and concern.

Pamela informs everyone that Ragatha might just get her big break after all, since it turns out their very next destination of the road trip is none other than The Film Studio City Of L’amour de ma Vie, a glamorous Parisian filming city where all the famous actors, directors, writers, and crew members live! Outside the windows of the Magical Digital Van is a beautiful-looking cityscape that's a striking combination of Paris, France, and Hollywood, California, a giant Eiffel Tower-esque structure standing tall in front of the Hollywood Sign-esque peak that reads “Magie du Cinéma” in big bold letters. It looks gorgeous outside, the sun shining over the movie studio city during the golden hour, where portions of the sky are painted rosy pink. Palm trees decorate one of the streets of L’amour de ma Vie. Everyone is adoring the sights, with Ragatha showing the most excitement out of the eight Team Circus characters. They finally arrive in the movie-making city as Caine and Bubble try to figure out where to park and where they'll be staying in the meantime. Both Pomni and Jax are able to spot a hotel at the one of the Parisian streets, and with that, Caine parks the Magical Digital Van at the hotel’s parking lot, while everyone gets out and unpacks their things. It's a tall, luxurious, and extravagantly decorated building by the name of “Hôtel Spielberg”, donning a giant cursive “S” on the building, and towering over the studio city at 28 stories tall. The interior is equally beautiful and luxurious, but more homely and comforting than the high-energy and social bustle of Doki Doki Resorts back in The Ace Of Clubs. The whole way there, Ragatha is geeking out over the French-Hollywood theming, while everyone is carrying their own luggage up to the room they checked in to. They proceed up to an elevator seven stories up led by an NPC bellhop mannequin, with Ragatha being nostalgically reminded of the Hollywood Tower Hotel from The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror, not really taking into consideration how the horror movie aspect juxtaposing the the elevator ride may give her friends the heebie-jeebies, especially Caine. With the help of the bellhop, they arrive at their designated hotel room, which is labeled with the number “728”, or the seven hundred twenty-eighth room out of 2,800 rooms in the hotel.

Everyone is just about ready to settle in and relax, with the only person having enough energy to spare is, of course, Ragatha, who takes the time to admire the scenic landscapes of L’amour de ma Vie from afar via one of the glass windows of one of the hotel room’s bed areas. Meanwhile, Pamela gives some small insight about the history of The Film Studio Of L’amour de ma Vie. Apparently, L’amour de ma Vie is a city artificially forged by filmmakers to give actors and movie makers a place to live while the film studio of the same name would make all of those movies come to life. They chose the aesthetic of Paris, France because the filmmakers and directors are of French descent and wanted to make this place feel like home sweet home.

Ragatha and Jax both find this information very insightful, while everyone else is too tired to pay attention, with Kinger, Pomni, and Caine just crashing on the living room area couch in front of a television screen, where everyone is speaking French in it. Bubble, meanwhile, is tucking in Gangle and Zooble, who are both fast asleep from the long van ride from earlier. As Bubble arrives back to the others, he catches a glimpse of what's on the TV screen, and while it's entirely in French, he's able to decipher that a famous movie director is coming to L’amour de ma Vie tomorrow to find actors, writers, and filmmakers for their newest movie soon to launch production: Miraculous: Épreuves et Tribulations! It's a superhero-romance movie about two star-crossed lovers by day, and two magical superheroes by night.

Since Pamela said something about a big break, he comes to fetch both Ragatha and Jax to see if this may be to their liking. The TV continues to play the announcement with the teaser of the new Miraculous movie, featuring a lady wearing a red ladybug costume whipping around a yo-yo, and a young gentleman in a black cat costume donning a silver staff. As the admittedly short teaser for the movie ends with “Lancement de la Production Prochainement!”, and the announcement concludes, Ragatha gushes with excitement even further, and Jax is somewhat nervous, terrified, even, at the thought of being a big time actor. He hasn't even signed up for the gig yet, and already, he's suffering from a case of stage fright.

Pamela tries to reassure Jax that everything will be alright, since this is nothing like The Farmlands Of Granny Smith's Orchard from the previous episode. Understandably, he still hasn't gotten over the events that transpired, and he's very much afraid of what'll happen if he fucks up again, and right next to Ragatha, to boot! Bubble sees this as an excuse to pair Ragatha and Jax together as a couple, and Pamela has to defend herself, saying that's not the case at all! Everyone else has apparently tuned in to the announcement on the TV, with Pomni teasing the idea of Ragatha and Jax being an item (come get your dinner, Bunnydoll shippers!!), and Kinger congratulating the two about receiving the big opportunity… only for Caine to remind Kinger that they haven't even gone to meet the director yet. Turns out Kinger forgot to take his pills — again — so Caine has to tell him to go take his pills, to which he does. The beauty of babysitting six humans, ladies and gentlemen!

It's still unknown to them whether or not the film director will be coming to this hotel specifically, where Team Circus is staying at for the time being, so it's way too soon for anyone to tell what'll happen next. For now, however, they all decide to hit the hay and call it a night, bidding each other goodnight and prayers of good luck for the events that are yet to transpire. Ragatha goes to sleep with optimism on her conscience, while Jax just simply drifts off to sleep, allowing himself to briefly forget his worries and anxiety. Pamela vows to keep an eye on them until they wake up the next morning.

Jax wakes up at 3:54 AM to a bright light in the bedroom area he's sleeping in. And wouldn't you know it, it's none other than Ragatha sitting in front of the TV screen in front of her! The TV is playing the 1998 European French dub of The Little Mermaid, and despite not understanding a single lick of what the hell they're saying, Ragatha is heavily invested in it. Jax considers asking why she's watching movies so late into the night, but backs down and allows her to have fun with the movie. Not even a quick intrusive thought of sneaking a centipede onto Ragatha's back is enough to get Jax to say anything. He eventually joins in on the movie marathon, albeit quietly, and without Ragatha noticing.

The next morning arrives, and while Jax has fallen back asleep in his respective bed, Ragatha is still watching TV, wide awake and tuned in to whatever's playing on-screen. Hilariously, everyone else was woken up by the sounds of Ragatha talking to herself and the TV screen, rendering everyone drowsy in the process. Caine pulls out an air horn and sounds it off, startling everyone, including Pamela, a now wide awake Jax, and Ragatha, who finds her friends looking at her with tired contempt and slight disapproval. The ragdoll is sheepish after seeing just how her excessive talking has kept everyone from sleeping. “Having fun with the television, Ragatha?” Caine bitterly asks, akin to that of a disappointed dad. Ragatha apologizes for allowing herself to get carried away, while Zooble is quick to point the finger at Jax for not stopping her sooner, much to Pamela's disgruntlement, who thought they all agreed to go easy on Jax for a bit after the calamitous adventure back at The Farmlands. None of that matters now, since they all have a big day ahead of them, and so, they all get ready and situated, albeit very groggily and extremely resentful of Ragatha keeping them up all night, and head off downstairs to the main lobby of Hôtel Spielberg.

Just as they exit the elevator to the hotel’s lobby, the esteemed members of Team Circus are greeted by three new characters that they have never met before, and they're all up-and-coming actors who are ecstatic to meet the director in the dining hall for breakfast. They introduce themselves as Jasmin Aishite, Bruno Feuille, and Victoria Ramirez. Ragatha takes the time to introduce herself and the other Team Circus characters, and the three actors are all pleased to meet them. They then finally arrive at the dining hall, where two new figures are sitting in one of the booths of the area, a girl in a brunette ponytail named Sarah LeCœur and a short-haired woman with sunglasses and a beret named Astrucine Suite. Astrucine gleefully greets them and invites them all over to sit down and join them. Once again, Pamela joins the others from the other side of the screen for some idle chit-chat.

The booth is fairly big, enough to seat everyone for breakfast. Everyone takes turns telling a little bit about their lives, while Sarah orders breakfast and Astrucine watches with pride and joy. The members of Team Circus each individually relay a recap of the previous six episodes that happened to them over the delicate course of one year, five months, and twenty-seven days, while the three actors relay their own individual backstories to them: Jasmin is a Japanese-American woman who came from a wealthy family and is a prominent actress in the entertainment industry, having started her career as young as five years old. Bruno is an Italian singer-songwriter who just got started in the acting business with only three credits so far. Lastly, Victoria is an Argentinian-Russian model who wants to take a break from the fashion industry and get her big start on her dream career as a famous actress.

Breakfast arrives at the table a few minutes later, and it's a beautiful display of different types of crêpes and buttermilk pancakes. While everyone else is eating, Astrucine explains that she's been on a search around the world to find the best of the best for her magnum opus, which is the previously mentioned Miraculous movie from yesterday's announcement on the television screen, as Ragatha states to her. Astrucine, in turn, reveals that she actually set her eyes out on two specific people in particular, the two main heroes of the movie. And apparently, her search didn't take long at all when she spotted those two people in particular at Hôtel Spielberg: the red-haired ragdoll and the purple rabbit! Pamela and Team Circus are shocked, while the three actors cheer for the two in congratulatory praise, not knowing at all what Astrucine means by that. Turns out she knows who Jax and Ragatha are, as well as the other six members of Team Circus, as she's heard of all the great things they've done around the world, her interest being first piqued when they stopped the money laundering scheme at The Ace Of Clubs while she was watching her favorite game show from the comfort of her couch. She senses great potential in them, especially Ragatha, and the ragdoll is happy to accept the compliment.

All the while, Astrucine sings praises for each of the members of Team Circus and their best defining features: Pomni and her ability to bring levity to a stressful situation, Kinger's wisdom and guidance for his fellow friends and especially his penchant for all things nostalgia and entomology, Gangle's persistence and creativity, Zooble's pragmatism and stoicism, being the voice of reason for when the going gets tough and especially their brutal honesty, Bubble's vibrancy and optimism and especially his ability to care for others around him the same way a mother goose cares for her goslings (a reference to Gooseworx, Bubble's voice actress), and Caine's sturdy leadership through sheer willpower alone. Aside from a very bashful Caine, who has a hard time accepting the compliments from Astrucine, everyone else seems ecstatic and even flattered by them, much to Pamela's joy.

However, the ones who receive those compliments last are Ragatha and Jax, and especially Ragatha, in which Astrucine lists all of the great things the ragdoll has, from her beauty, her kindness, her joyous positivity, her motherly demeanor, her desire to protect her loved ones at all costs, her selflessness, her huge heart, and her huggable appearance. The influx of praise from Astrucine makes Ragatha on cloud nine, and she's basically eating it up like a feast. Jax is unnerved by how much the movie director is inflating Ragatha's ego, and sheepishly asks her if there were any of his good defining traits she noticed in him, and Astrucine quickly answers that he makes the friend group not boring. Jax is slightly sad about this, but chooses not to take it too personally, since he's still wondering just what exactly this is all about.

By the time everyone has finished their breakfast, Astrucine proposes to Team Circus and the three actors about their respective roles in the movie: Kinger and Bubble will be cinematographers, Gangle and Zooble will work on make-up and costumes, Pomni and Caine will work on writing the script, and of course, Ragatha and Jax will be the lead actors alongside Jasmin, Bruno, and Victoria! Astrucine even hands over five individual jewelry boxes in the shape of an octagon with Chinese symbols on it, but she tells them not to open it until they get to the movie set. Except for Jax, who simply accepts the gift with quiet grace and humility, Ragatha, Jasmin, Bruno, and Victoria are excitedly squealing over the generosity of Astrucine, with the ragdoll even jubilantly thanking her for the precious gift. Astrucine tells them that by the time production has concluded, they're gonna be rich and famous, and the whole world will love them. Ragatha is enthralled and even delighted, unconditionally saying yes to becoming a big lead actress, only for Caine to interject, expressing his concern for any potential risks this may impose, with Jax and Pamela both agreeing with him; Jax is expressing worry because of how uncanny Ragatha's reaction to Astrucine’s sweet-talk was to him, and Pamela because of the shock of how quickly she agreed to such a daunting proposition. Nevertheless, Astrucine manages to convince Caine and the others that there's no need to worry, and that everything will go swimmingly under the watchful guidance of her and her trusty right-hand woman Sarah LeCœur. And so after giving Caine a stack of papers, which is a contract for all the members of Team Circus and their involvement in the Miraculous movie, Astrucine gets him to sign the contract, thus making the acceptance of the proposition official, and there is no turning back for anyone. Pamela expresses caution for Team Circus, and bids them all good luck for what lies ahead before going quiet and watching them diligently from this point onwards for now.

After all is said and done, Sarah leads everyone out of the dining hall booth they were just sitting at, and heads outside of the hotel building to the movie set. They end up finding a large golf cart belonging to Astrucine Suite, and they all hop aboard it, with Sarah driving the cart to the movie set. Sarah is driving incredibly fast, which is understandable considering they got a schedule to uphold, and the whole way through, Sarah gives a rundown of the movie set, the movie in general, Astrucine's involvement in the movie, and most of all, how important all of this is to her. Ragatha, Jasmin, Bruno, and Victoria treat the brief tour like it's a fun ride due to the hasty driving of Sarah, while the rest of the members of Team Circus, especially Jax, are hanging on for dear life. Astrucine simply carries a serene expression while also holding on for dear life, unnerving Pamela in the process.

The golf cart finally stops at the trailer park where everyone will be staying while helping with the production of the film, almost tipping over from the harsh halt of the cart. Sarah and Astrucine guide everyone out of the cart, and with the exception of Jasmin, Bruno, Victoria, and Ragatha, they appear to be motion sick from the hecticness of the ride. While the director and the assistant lead the way, they are greeted by one of the other cinematographers Astrucine has in her arsenal of crewmembers by the name of Lewis Argyle, and he's gonna be helping Kinger and Bubble with the camera work and everything behind the scenes. The king chesspiece and the iridescent spheroid follow Lewis to the other cinematographers at the movie set, and they all bid them a temporary farewell and good luck, while everyone else gets situated with their new roles. Then, they are greeted by costume designer and make-up artist Briar Welles, and she leads Gangle and Zooble to their respective department with the other stylists and designers, while everyone bids them a temporary farewell good luck as well. Afterwards, they encounter screenwriter Dylan Crimson, and judging by his appearance, his personal hygiene is not up to par, much to the jester and ringmaster's quiet disgust. Nevertheless, Pomni and Caine are led by Dylan to the other writers, leaving only Jax and Ragatha with Jasmin, Bruno, and Victoria, who all in turn, meet up with their last helper of the crewmembers, the esteemed acting coach and talent manager Kristina Delbert. After saying see you later to Astrucine and Sarah for the day, Kristina leads the five actors to their respective trailers, where they'll be getting situated and comfortable with their new roles. The whole time, they have held onto their precious gifts from earlier this morning, and they take the time to gush over the excitement of what these octagonal jewelry boxes contain. Bruno shakes his box, and he notes that based on the sound of it, it has to be plastic. Jasmin shakes her box, and she notes that there's something metallic inside. While everyone excitedly clamors over the mystery jewelry inside the boxes, Ragatha asks Jax if he's okay, and he's quick to brush it off as stage jitters, not wanting Ragatha to worry about him or ruin anything like last time. Taking his word for it, Ragatha heads off into her own designated trailer, as does Jax, Bruno, Jasmin, and Victoria to their respective trailers.

Pamela uses her communicator bracelet to watch over the Team Circus members and make sure they don't get hurt, just like Gemma did in the previous episode. First up is Kinger and Bubble, who have both been assigned as the movie’s cinematographers under the tutelage of Lewis Argyle. Lewis shows them both a tour of the movie set, which is filled with other cinematographers operating cameras, lights, boom mics, and special effects technicians. Lewis even shows them the ropes of what it means to be a good cinematographer, and both Kinger and Bubble are enthralled. The movie set is equally stunning, with a setting that is a damn near accurate replica of Paris, France itself, with the special addition of a giant tower in the middle of the city setting. Enamored, Kinger asks what it is, and Lewis answers that it's supposed to be the headquarters for the superheroes of the movie. The tower is an enormous structure reminiscent of a Kwakwakaʼwakw totem pole consisting of nineteen animals, with the ladybug being at the very top. Lewis continues the tour of the set for Kinger and Bubble, and here we see a few more original additions made specifically for the movie, such as a sweets shop factory called Macaroon Patisserie, a boutique called Darling’s Designs, a high school called Dupain-Agreste Collège, a five-star hotel called Or de Luxe Suite, and lastly, a prodigious museum named Musée de L'arc-en-ciel. Kinger is excited for Ragatha and the rest of her friends to check this place out for themselves, and Bubble is especially excited to contribute to the creation of a highly ambitious movie. Suddenly, one of the anonymous cinematographers calls the three of them over for something cool they want to show them. As soon as they follow their lead, they encounter the unusual sight of Michael Bay about to do a Jackass-esque stunt involving a ramp, a shopping cart, and a whole lotta fireworks tied to the cart. This is treated as a small exercise for the two Team Circus members with the limited knowledge they have about being a good cinematographer. Lewis gives a clapperboard to Kinger, and a video camera to Bubble, with Lewis giving them a pop quiz about everything they were taught during that tour. Bubble gets to record the Michael Bay stunt, and it is just about as crazy as it sounds, yet still an awesome event taking place. Afterwards, Lewis declares Bubble an official cameraman, with Kinger being the clapper loader and Bubble's official assistant. They're gonna be assigned with filming the official teaser for the Miraculous movie now that the lead actors have officially been found. Both Kinger and Bubble are overjoyed with the prospect and are incredibly excited for what's to come.

Secondly, we have Gangle and Zooble who have both been assigned as the movie's make-up artist and costume designer respectively, under the tutelage of Briar Welles. Briar leads them both to the costume shop, where Zooble is given instructions and knowledge about designing different outfits for the actors’ characters. The place is filled with costume coordinators, seamstresses, other costume designers, and cutters. They're all incredibly chatty, and they appear to be gossiping about the new actors, the filming of the official movie teaser, and director Astrucine’s ulterior motives for some reason. Before Zooble could even question that last part, Briar pulls them in with the other costume designers and coordinators, and the atmosphere is reminiscent of a saccharine girl's slumber party, much to Zooble's hidden discomfort. Ultimately, Zooble is given a rundown of everything they've learned in that brief moment, and is challenged by Briar into a competition to see who can design the best costume for the actors, featuring the five characters of the Miraculous movie and the information presented in front of Zooble. Gangle is cheering on Zooble from the background, including the other costume designers beside her. Ultimately, Zooble comes out on top with what Briar believes is the perfect image and representation of each of the five characters; sweet, charming, graceful, energetic, and audacious. None of the actors know yet what their characters are supposed to be, something that Zooble points out, and Briar excuses this as a special surprise for later tonight, and winks at them. Soon after, Briar leads Gangle and Zooble into the backstage make-up station, along with the other make-up artists. Briar even gives Gangle some knowledge about applying different cosmetics to the actors, along with a practice run with another make-up artist. Gangle is shown to already be a natural with applying cosmetics on other people, seeing as it's something that she would regularly do from time to time. And it looks fabulous! After some friendly chatting between the three, Gangle applies make-up to Briar and Zooble, and they both look like the belle of the ball, almost like they're ready for a movie premiere. With Zooble's prowess in sewing and Gangle's expertise in cosmetics, Briar declares them both perfect additions for the movie, much to the jubilance of everyone in the room.

Thirdly, we head over to Caine and Pomni, who have both been assigned as the movie's screenwriters, under the tutelage of Dylan Crimson, and unlike the last two encounters previously mentioned, their time with Dylan is… not entirely to their liking to say the least. For one thing, Dylan looks and even smells like he hasn't showered in days. Dylan is also kind of a high-and-mighty prick who overestimates his writing prowess. Despite that, he does give a little insight about the life of a screenwriter, and all the famous screenplays made in the past few years… even though both Caine and Pomni are already well aware of the basics of being a good writer on account of them being adventure creators back at the circus!! Dylan leads them to his own personal trailer, where inside, is a modest living arrangement with a single laptop, and a large stack of papers that appears to be a script of some sorts on a coffee table. In front of that coffee table is a couch and a large television screen. Pomni does try to get Dylan to see eye to eye with her and Caine, and gives him a few writing tips of her own since this isn't her first rodeo, only for Dylan to get offended, feeling threatened by the prospect of someone being better than him, to which Pomni tries to reassure him that she's only trying to help, just as Astrucine promised she would. It did not take all that long at all for Dylan to reveal he's pretty much insecure about his own talent, since this is his entire career, and strangely enough, Caine can relate… but not too much; he still stinks, both literally and in terms of personality! While Caine tries to adjust himself to the trailer house and get comfortable, Pomni and Dylan try to get to know each other better, a strategy the jester uses in order to put him into a false sense of security and get him to listen for once. The Team Circus duo have yet to see the worst that Dylan has to offer, as it seems that he's just yet another difficult coworker who's otherwise harmless at the end of the day, a watered down Jax, if you will. After some brief bonding, jokes and banter very much included, the three of them decide to watch a B movie to dunk on it and for research purposes. They oughta savor that precious moment while they still can, because if the laptop and script on the coffee table are anything to go by, it's not gonna last long.

And last but most certainly not the least, we have our esteemed soon-to-be actress Ragatha idly exploring the contents of the trailer, eagerly waiting for all her dreams to come true. There's even a complimentary gift basket filled with all sorts of goodies and a loving note from Astrucine Suite, which Ragatha reads over and over again in pure bliss. Though after a while, curiosity begins to get the better of her as she keeps wondering what exactly is in her jewelry box. The ragdoll takes a long good look at the gift that's been sitting on her bed, but before she can actually open it and see what's inside, she's called over by Kristina Delbert, the acting quintet’s acting coach and talent manager. She even tells Ragatha to bring her jewelry box with her. She obeys, and meets up with Jax, Bruno, Jasmin, and Victoria, all of whom are also holding their respective jewelry boxes. Kristina declares that Astrucine and a bunch of others want to meet them up at the movie set for a debriefing of who their characters are. The five of them follow Kristina and they're all chatting along the way. Jax isn't participating in the excited clamor, though; he's merely just wondering what's going on so that he can get it over with. They arrive at the location that Astrucine and Kristina want them to meet at, and, alongside Sarah LeCœur, they meet the stunt trainer and martial arts actor Thomas Zhou, who's gonna be showing them the ropes of their roles in the movie as well as their superhero identities. The location in question is the previously seen totem pole tower consisting of nineteen animals. The ladybug is placed at the very top. Thomas gives the five actors a tour of the tower, which is the headquarters for the superheroes of the movie. Jax wonders if the totem tower has anything to do with the ladybug hero and the cat hero from the announcement teaser he and Ragatha saw on TV from yesterday evening. Astrucine, Sarah, Kristine, and Thomas soon depart from the quintet and leave them to explore the place. And in a brief moment, the five of them get to hang out with each other, and mess around with the stuff present in the tower, which features a living room with a large sofa, a coffee table, and giant flat screen TV. After some time, five individual lined paths glow where they are. They each follow the individual paths, and the quintet split up. Ragatha follows the red path, Jax the silver path, Bruno the green path, Jasmin the orange path, and Victoria the yellow path. All the paths lead to entirely different areas of the tower.

We see Ragatha follow the red path five floors upstairs to a random door with a glowing red ladybug icon. On that particular door is a holographic sign giving her these instructions that say this:

“Ouvrez la boîte. Votre destin vous attend.” Translation: “Open the box. Your destiny awaits.”

Ragatha, who had been holding the jewelry box in her hands the whole time, opens the box and finds a beautiful pair of red cabochon earrings, each earring having five black dots. Suddenly, a ball of sparkling light emerges from the earrings, swirls around Ragatha, and then transforms into a tiny creature with ladybug wings, a silver choker with a red gem encrusted on it, and having a weary but welcoming expression. The tiny creature introduces herself as Tikki, the kwami of Creation. Already, Ragatha is ecstatic to be in the presence of someone adorable, much to the exasperation of Tikki, who for some reason does NOT want to be here. Still though, Tikki is an ever patient fellow who explains to her what a kwami is, the Miraculous and their powers, and what the power of Creation does. Upon hearing the word “Miraculous”, the ragdoll mentions that she and her friends are gonna be starring in a movie of that same name… which causes vexed despair within the kwami. Wanting to get this over with, Tikki tells Ragatha that in order to transform into her ladybug-themed superhero identity, she must say the transformation phrase “spots on”, and the rest will sort itself out.

Ragatha eagerly complies, expressing excitement for what's to come. As soon as she puts on the earrings and says “Tikki, spots on!”, Ragatha transforms into a ladybug-themed superheroine, and she looks exceptionally fabulous! While she's admiring her brand new getup, the ragdoll superheroine gets a call from the yo-yo attached to her waist, and when she opens it, it's Tikki, who's been turned into a digital assistant. She’ll be the one to guide Ragatha on her learning journey from here on out. The holographic sign disappears and the door opens, revealing a dojo room of some sorts. Ragatha enters the dojo room, and is confronted by an animalistic four-legged beast with no eyes, sharp teeth, and a bushy tail. At first, Ragatha gets absolutely pummeled by the beast, being momentarily defeated in the process, but is encouraged and motivated by Tikki to fight, despite her not knowing how to. Turns out when she's in her superhero form, the agility, flexibility, and strength is embedded into her like an instinct, and to Ragatha's own surprise, she is an excellent and graceful fighter. She's able to briefly incapacitate the beast, but it's only a matter of time before it regains consciousness and strikes again. That's when Tikki instructs Ragatha to use her special ability: “Lucky Charm”. The instructions are simple. She must wind the string on the yo-yo, shout out “Lucky Charm!”, toss the yo-yo straight up into the air while holding the string, and a magical object will appear in front of her. Ragatha carefully follows the instructions Tikki relays to her, and just like that, a swarm of magical ladybugs surround the yo-yo midair, and create a red ragdoll in Ragatha's image with black dots all over it.

At first, Ragatha is confused, and even a little offended, by the Lucky Charm object’s appearance, until Tikki tells her to use her creativity and wit to her advantage. Before Ragatha could even ask the kwami what she means by that, the beast wakes up, and causes mayhem to the dojo every which way. Ragatha has to fight it off with her newfound superhero fighting skills, until she realizes something. Ragatha is holding the Lucky Charm doll in her hands, and for some reason, the beast is chasing after her. She connects the dots, and comes to the conclusion that the beast isn't trying to hurt anyone, it just wants to play. So using that knowledge, she decides to go along with it, and play with the giant puppy-like being. It works, and after some time the beast is tamed and tires itself out. It falls asleep in the middle of the now destroyed dojo, with Ragatha celebrating a job well done… only to discover that the dojo is a mess. That's when Tikki tells Ragatha that she can always fix the dojo back to the way it was by tossing the Lucky Charm up in the air and shout “Miraculous Ladybug!”, or whatever superhero name they can call themselves, and the rest will work its magic. Ragatha doesn't like the name “Ladybug”, however, seeing that it's way too simple of a name to go by. When Tikki asks what she would like to be called, Ragatha takes a look at the Lucky Charm doll, and declares the name “Dollybug”. Tikki likes that name a lot. And so, Ragatha shouts “Miraculous Dollybug!”, tosses the Lucky Charm object into the air, where the object dissolves into a horde of flying ladybugs that proceed to fix all the damage created earlier.

Now that everything has been taken care of, Ragatha, or rather Dollybug, wonders what to do now, and Tikki tells her that she can detransform now if she likes; there isn't anymore to do. When the ragdoll superheroine asks how, Tikki tells her the detransformation phrase “spots off”. And so, when Ragatha says “Tikki, spots off”, she turns back into her ragdoll self, and Tikki reappears from her digital assistant form. The kwami offers a fist pound to celebrate the victory, and Ragatha happily accepts; pound it! Tikki is grateful to finally have a real friend after so long, and Ragatha had so much fun being a superhero for a little bit.

Just then, Kristina, Sarah, Thomas, and movie director Astrucine Suite appear and congratulate Ragatha for a job well done, with Astrucine saying that she knew she made the right choice when she chose the ragdoll woman to be the next Ladybug hero. Ragatha is overcome with joy, profusely crying out “thank you” to Astrucine for the opportunity. Tikki becomes uneasy around Astrucine, but she does her best to hide her disdain in front of everybody. The director leads Ragatha out the dojo exit, alongside Sarah, Kristina, and Thomas, and she meets up with Jax, Bruno, Jasmin, and Victoria, who all congratulate her for passing the test, just like they did. We see Jax wearing a black ring on his right hand, Jasmin wearing a foxtail necklace, Bruno wearing a turtle shell bracelet, and Victoria wearing a bee hair comb. They're all celebrating Ragatha, and the ragdoll is just eating up the praises like a feast, boosting her ego just a smidge. Sarah informs them all that it’s time to film the official teaser for the new Miraculous movie and they joyously follow her to the movie studio, chatting about their time in the totem pole tower, and what happened afterwards. Pamela is smiling with contentment, happy for Ragatha and Jax and hopeful that things will turn around for the better for our main heroes from Team Circus.

Three days of filming the official movie teaser later, and the audience sees that teaser for themselves, and while it's dubbed entirely in French, we get to see the two new heroes starring Ragatha as the new ladybug superheroine and Jax as the new black cat hero in action, along with the reveal of the new movie title “Miraculous: Les Épreuves et les Tribulations de Poupéenelle et Violet Noir!” The teaser ends with this announcement: “Maintenant en Production!”

The other Team Circus members, Pamela, and the other dimensional diplomats congratulate the two for landing the role, and Ragatha is giddily basking in the congratulatory clamoring, alongside Jax. Everyone is clamoring joyously over how much of a good job they each did in their new respective roles of the movie. Both the jackrabbit and ragdoll get the chance to explain what their movie characters are gonna be: Ragatha is gonna play the role of Ruby Darling, a beautiful woman who lives with her parents and their family business, a boutique by the name of Darling’s Designs, an aspiring chef who wants to be a baker with her own patisserie. Jax is gonna play the role of Elijah Macaroon, Ruby’s love interest, who comes from a wealthy upbringing at a huge sweets shop business called Macaroon Patisserie, a charming and adventurous gentleman who wants more out of life than his rich sheltered life. Jasmin will be playing the role of Kimiko Yamada, Ruby's best friend who is eloquent and creative, and has dreams of becoming a famous author. Bruno will be playing the role of Nathan Bernardo, Elijah's best friend, who comes from a huge-numbered family with lots of siblings, and always has everyone's back when times get tough. And lastly, Victoria plays the role of Misty Médaille, Ruby's rival and childhood bully who is the daughter of the mayor and is clingy towards her crush Elijah. Pomni asks who the little creatures on Ragatha and Jax’s shoulders are, and Ragatha explains that they're kwamis. The red kwami with ladybug wings and black dots is named Tikki, and she's wearing a silver choker with a red gem encrusted on it. Tikki, who was napping on Ragatha's shoulder just a few seconds earlier, looks exhausted, but she has enough energy to greet them all cordially before falling back asleep. The black kwami with cat ears and a fluffy cat's tail is named Plagg, and he, just like Tikki, is also wearing a silver choker, but with a black gem encrusted on it instead. Plagg is laying down on Jax’s shoulder, very deep in thought, as if contemplating his life choices and everything that has ever happened to him beforehand.

Ragatha explains that Ruby's superhero identity, Dollybug, has the power of Creation with the special ability of “Lucky Charm”, while Jax explains that Elijah's superhero identity, Purple Noir, has the power of Destruction with the special ability of “Cataclysm”. Both of them transform in front of the Team Circus characters as their respective hero identities as proof of this. One half of Team Circus (Kinger, Pomni, and Gangle) is fascinated by the new looks Ragatha and Jax have donned themselves with and their superpowers, while the other half (Caine, Bubble, and Zooble), is confused by the questionable naming of the superhero names, including Jax’s choice of Purple Noir, which Caine is especially outraged at because of how blatantly silly this is. When Ragatha and Jax detransform back into their regular selves, the chatting continues with the characters proudly showcasing their new roles in the movie, with expressions of excitement for what's to come. And according to Astrucine herself, with the teaser having already been released to the public, actual filming is set to start next week, so everyone had better get prepared for their moment to shine! Afterwards, everyone heads off to their respective areas of the film studio, eagerly anticipating getting to be a part of something big. And just like that, all eight members of Team Circus receive a notification for their seventh objective on their communicator bracelets, with Ragatha showing the most optimism and confidence she's had in a really long time, and Jax hoping that he doesn't screw up again like last time.

Speaking of Jax, he's in his own respective trailer admiring the new ring he's wearing, trying his best to distract himself from the plaguing intrusive thoughts on his mind with some doodling on a digital art app from his communicator bracelet. Plagg is just sort of watching him with cat-like admiration, even asking him what he's drawing. Jax isn't just drawing something, he's animating. It's a secret hobby of his that no one else knows of, in spite of the fact that Gangle herself is also an artist. He's animating what appears to be a silly little flipnote cartoon. Plagg loves it, but thinks it could use a bit more shaping. The black cat kwami gets the brilliant idea to shout random things into the microphone and Jax can animate whatever Plagg says. A mini-montage ensues from this, and shortly afterwards, the two celebrate the fruits of their labor with a good laugh and a fist pound; pound it!

We then cut to Dylan Crimson’s personal trailer house, where Caine and Pomni are staying during the movie's production. Pomni had already woken the ringmaster up in the middle of the night, so that the two could investigate the contents of the Miraculous movie script. Caine is incredibly groggy and annoyed at being summoned at such an hour, while a determined Pomni opens up Dylan's laptop for lighting, as well as turning on her communicator bracelet’s flashlight for good measure. All the while, Caine simply goes back to sleep on the couch in front of the large television screen. Pomni then opens the script, which is covered in what appears to be Dylan's sweat and smells like moldy diapers, and reads through the whole damn thing…

…The script is absolute doggie doo-doo.

4 hours and 45 minutes of Pomni subjecting herself to such a torture has left the jester a changed woman; so much so, that she wakes Caine up so that he could see this unholy abomination of a script for himself. Caine is less cranky due to getting more sleep during those painful four hours and three quarters, but he's still intrigued nonetheless, despite the drowsiness. The script consists of five acts instead of the standard three, and while the first two acts were phenomenal with an okay third act, the third act’s ending nosedives into the ground, with the fourth and fifth acts being the worst of the worst. Ruby Darling is turned into a Mary Sue who's actively stalking her crush, Elijah, and ultimately Purple Noir is pushed to the sidelines in favor of Dollybug stealing all the spotlight for herself, Purple Noir becoming a punching bag for Dollybug, Misty Médaille being replaced by her half-sister after being turned into an irredeemable monster despite having an abusive mother who turned her into the monster she is today, Misty’s parents getting absolutely no comeuppance all while Misty suffers retributive torture in the fifth act, and the movie villain getting an unearned redemption arc at the very end of the movie in spite of being an abuser and terrorist. Additional horrible things in the script include Ruby Darling being given a retcon for her stalker tendencies, citing trauma from a bully being the excuse for such reprehensible behavior; not reason, excuse!! Apparently, Ruby's bad behavior could be excused by trauma, but not Misty's, because God forbid Ruby Darling do anything wrong in everyone's eyes, especially Astrucine Suite!!! And also, Misty is made to look like a cartoonish monster in that scene, made worse with the character assassination of Misty in the third act when she was well on her way to redeeming herself in the second act. Essentially, ladies and gentlemen, the script is literally just the first five seasons of the actual Miraculous Ladybug show that most of us know and love to hate, and only the audience is able to catch the reference.

As Pomni is relaying almost every damning flaw Dylan's script is, Caine is reacting to all of it with sheer disappointment and disgust. They both should have known that Dylan was a talentless hack who only landed such a big role by chance rather than because he was actually good. But hey, at least he's not actively malicious. However, both Caine and Pomni are conflicted as to whether or not simple incompetency is worse than active malice. They don't have time to think about that now, because it's now sunrise, and they are both intent on asking Astrucine Suite to give them both permission to edit and redo the script so that they can give everyone the movie that everyone deserves!

Meanwhile, Ragatha exits out of her trailer feeling rejuvenated and preparing herself for the new role of Ruby Darling, after taking a look at her character reference sheet, trying to get in character and all that jazz, and Tikki, her kwami, is idly watching, with a semi-serene expression that also conveys tiredness if one looks closely enough. Just then, Both Ragatha and Tikki hear a knock on the door, and Ragatha goes to see who it is. Upon opening the door, she meets Jasmin, who's not only wearing her brand new foxtail necklace from three days ago, but also has another kwami by her side: a tiny fox-like entity named Trixx. Like Tikki and Plagg, Trixx is wearing a silver choker on them, but with an orange gem embedded on it. Tikki is overjoyed with reuniting with Trixx, especially since they both appear to look like they went through hell to get here. While the two kwamis catch up with each other on the latest events, Jasmin leads Ragatha out of her trailer to introduce her to the other cast members of the movie.

As they're walking through the film set, they arrive at one of the buildings, the esteemed boutique “Darling's Designs”, where in front of Jasmin and Ragatha is a brand new character never-before-seen named Carlita Caberita. Carlita is gonna be playing Ruby's mother, Roselyn Darling, a caring, compassionate, and overworked tailor who is widowed and wishes nothing but the best possible life for her daughter. Carlita welcomes Ragatha with a big warm hug, and the two hit it off pretty well. Carlita compliments her red yarn hair, and Ragatha thanks her, giggling giddily over the flattery. Carlita shows Ragatha and Jasmin around the boutique, where all sorts of fashion designs are being sold, from designer jackets, hats, shoes, and scarves, to T-shirts, pants, purses, and belts. Ragatha is taken aback by the sheer beauty of the clothes, especially since they're all being designed by the costume department from a few blocks away. As Carlita continues to guide the two girls around the place, they all form a genuine bond with each other, and soon, after giving some small details about their lives during their bonding time, the tour ends with them all trying on different clothes, solidifying the friendship that's sure to last throughout the whole movie production.

Back at the trailer park, we see Jax and Plagg slowly develop their own friendship with each other, and Jax's fears are thankfully eased with some helpful wisdom from the black cat kwami, most of which is mainly just cheese metaphors. Like last time, he keeps the details about his life vague enough to keep the suspension of disbelief alive, and Plagg is very sympathetic about it, reminiscing about all the times he's ever screwed up because of his recklessness and sheer power alone. Jax then hears a knock on his trailer door and opens it to see that it's Bruno wearing his brand new turtle shell bracelet, along with yet another kwami by Bruno's side taking on the appearance of a sea turtle with flippers and a turtle shell. Just like the other kwamis, he is wearing a silver choker with a green gem on it. The kwami’s name is Wayzz. Unfortunately, in contrast to the heartfelt reunion Tikki and Trixx had with each other, the reunion between Plagg and Wayzz is strained and bitter, with Plagg looking guilty and remorseful for something, and Wayzz being jaded and hurt, almost scornful. Jax and Bruno decide to go exploring around the film studio, and the boys start chatting away as they take a lively little stroll to the film set. Bruno and Jax are talking a little bit about their individual lives as well as their movie roles and the important parts Jax's friends are gonna be playing.

Just then they are met up by the other actors of the movie, Kendall Ferguson, Colleen Barrett, and Robert Jayne. The three of them are having a lunch break together near one of the other buildings of the film set, the Macaroon Patisserie. Kendall invites the two boys over for a seat, and they both oblige. The conversation is lively and happy, with each of the actors discussing their individual movie roles, and each of them reacting in congratulatory excitement and anticipation. So as Bruno and Jax explain their roles to the three actors, the three actors explain their roles to the boys: Kendall is gonna be Daniel Macaroon, widowed father and owner of the Macaroon Patisserie, who has grown distant and cold with his son out of grief, Robert will be Ryan Médaille, the mayor of Paris and the father of Misty Médaille, the girl that Ruby Darling is rivals with, and Collette is playing the role of Ryan's henpecking wife Marigold Médaille, who's a fashion critic who is reportedly distant from her family and is the source of Misty's nasty behavior. The mention of the Médaille family reminds Jax about Ragatha and Victoria, and so far, Victoria hasn't met Robert and Collette, as Jax mentions. Ryan offers to meet up with Victoria herself, with the help of Collette, while Kendall decides to help Jax get comfortable with his new acting role, with Bruno being his moral support in the background. It's a sweet bonding moment between Jax and Kendall as they play around with the patisserie and bake cookies together, along with Bruno by their side. Jax is more hopeful than ever about what's to come next week.

Meanwhile, we have Robert and Collette, who go to meet up with Ragatha and Victoria, the latter of whom had wandered into the boutique on her own while exploring the movie set that morning, at the Darling's Designs boutique, where they, along with Carlita and Jasmin, have been playing dress up in the dressing rooms, and Robert explains what his and Collette’s movie roles are, piquing Victoria’s interest. Collette takes the time to compliment Ragatha's fashion sense, and once again, the ragdoll woman is eating up the praise, which does concern Carlita, Jasmin, and Victoria a bit, because of how over the top the reciprocation of flattery it is, almost like a child of sorts. Damn girl, have you never been complimented in your entire life!? Regardless, Ragatha and Victoria follow Collette and Robert while Jasmin and Carlita stay behind and continue to play around with the boutique.

Upon going to the next location in the film set, the luxury hotel, the Or de Luxe Suite, the four of them meet up with Kristina and Sarah, who have actually been expecting them there, since Victoria still needs to get settled into her role as Misty Médaille. At the suite, we see Victoria get settled into her new role, with Kristina debriefing on the basics along with Collette and Robert, with Ragatha idly watching in awe and inspiration. After a while of Victoria playing around with her new alpha bitch role and the actors exploring and playing around in the hotel for a bit, Victoria and Ragatha make a promise to each other that they'll always be friends even if their respective characters aren't. The events that are yet to come will test that friendship all throughout the episode…

We cut back to Caine and Pomni carrying the trash script with them to Astrucine Suite’s trailer, and Pomni demanding that the both of them see her at once. Fortunately for them, it doesn't take long at all for Astrucine to respond, and she's very reciprocative to their concerns… almost too reciprocative. The ringmaster and the jester enter the trailer with caution. Astrucine asks the two about their presence, and Caine answers that they're here to talk about the contents of the script, which is quite possibly the worst thing they've ever read. Astrucine takes notes of their concerns, and fully listens to the complaints Pomni relays out in regards to the movie script. The film director is very understanding of their concerns, and in return, tells them that she does indeed need help with some “finishing touches” to the screenplay, citing that Dylan's efforts aren't enough to capture what she really envisioned her movie turning out, which is a huge understatement considering just how bad the script actually is. After the three re-review the script one more time, Astrucine finally understands what Pomni and Caine mean by “the absolute worst thing they've ever read”. She vows to do something about it by allowing both Team Circus members to rework the script from the ground up and have a little chat with Dylan, putting her full faith and trust in the two completing the new and improved script for the movie. Pomni, for one, is elated that things went a lot better than she expected, and Caine notes with skepticism how it was way too easy. She replies to him that she's just glad they got the hard part out of the way, filled with confidence that their new screenplay will turn out better than Dylan's dogshit script from prior.

All the while, Pamela is watching everything play out with a warm smile on her face, seeing just how everyone is enjoying their new movie roles, including Gangle and Zooble making new friends with the costume and makeup department at the dressing rooms, and Bubble and Kinger playing around at the movie set with their brand new camera equipment and clapperboard. Just then, we see Dylan be summoned to Astrucine's trailer, presumably to have that talk that she mentioned earlier when Caine and Pomni went to visit her mere moments ago, and after a while of anxious silence, we see Dylan run out of the trailer bawling his eyes out. Turns out Dylan was fired! Oh boy. Pamela watches carefully, while the other dimensional diplomats make some witty commentary about the pitiful situation Dylan is in right now. It lasts for a good couple of minutes until a seemingly random black butterfly starts fluttering over towards the sobbing Dylan, and it lands Dylan's iPod in his left pocket on his pants, causing the butterfly to disappear and turn the iPod black, piquing everyone's interest. Things are spicing up now! We see Dylan begin to wear a holographic butterfly-shaped mask, along with a disembodied female voice claiming to go by the name of “Mariposa”, who says she'll help show Caine and Pomni just who the real professionals are, so long as he does her a little favor: bring over both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to her. Mariposa gives Dylan the name of “Screenshot”. Dylan agrees to Mariposa’s whims, and transforms into a supervillain themed around writing and phones, holding a giant pencil like a staff. Ladies and gentlemen, what you all just witnessed was an Akumatization, and Dylan was the one akumatized!!

As if on cue with the shocked reactions from Pamela and the other dimensional diplomats, Ragatha's new earrings and Jax's new ring sound an alarm, and the both of them are wondering what it could be. From the separate locations both the ragdoll and the jackrabbit are at respectively, Ryan tells Ragatha and Kendall tells Jax that they need to go see Thomas Zhou at the totem pole, and they both hurry to get there. Once they arrive at the totem pole, they both question each other if they were summoned for the same thing, with their question answered by Thomas, who tells them both that this situation is an emergency.

Upon arriving inside the totem pole tower, Thomas debriefs Ragatha and Jax about the situation at hand; someone has been akumatized and is wreaking havoc on the movie set. The worst part about all of this is that they're targeting Caine and Pomni specifically! Both Team Circus members are horrified and worried about the safety of their friends, and Ragatha asks what they should do. Thomas informs them that they must transform into their superhero identities and save the day as actual partners! Ragatha immediately accepts the mission with full confidence and austerity, while Jax is slightly hesitant, fearing any repercussions that might come from this. Thomas reassures Jax that he'll do just fine, just like at the dojo from three days ago. It's with this that, with full determination and spirit, Ragatha transforms into Dollybug and Jax transforms into Purple Noir, ready to take the akumatized villain head-on!

Their first mission goes as well as you'd expect. At first, Dollybug and Purple Noir are squabbling over who gets to do what while Screenshot continues to cause mayhem all over the film studio lot. It's only until they both see Gangle and Zooble about to be in perpetual danger at the costume department that the two end up working together to save the two friends and the others from Screenshot’s rampage. Screenshot, upon seeing Dollybug and Purple Noir, begins attacking them with his signature moves and powers, and Dollybug is able to shield them off by using her yo-yo and spinning it around and around, just like in the actual Miraculous Ladybug TV show. Purple Noir gets Gangle, Zooble, and the other stylists to safety while Dollybug fights off Screenshot herself. Zooble is confused by everything, while Gangle is absolutely terrified. Apparently, the two Team Circus members were not informed that their costumes were actually legit superhero identities and not just special technology. Purple Noir has to calmly explain the situation to everyone, including his two friends from Team Circus, and while Gangle is able to calm down and even understand the situation with full acceptance, Zooble is even more puzzled and outraged, trying to make sense of it all in the chaos until we see Screenshot and Dollybug still fighting each other from outside the costume department building and it's there everyone takes a look at the action with awe, wonder, and inspiration. Gangle is excited and even rooting for Dollybug’s victory! Purple Noir, on the other hand, takes a mental note at the fight scene, and more importantly, Dollybug herself…

Oh, Dollybug… What a gal. Courageous, graceful, resourceful, clever, optimistic, resilient, never gives up no matter how tough the going gets, and… gorgeous… That crimson outfit and black polka dots matching her equally red locks made of yarn, the way the half-skirt flows on that bodysuit… Purple Noir, or Jax underneath that mask, has officially fallen head over heels in love with her. (Oh, Bunnydoll shippers!!!! Come get your dinner!!!!)

After she's able to briefly knock out Screenshot as she summons her Lucky Charm, and this time, it takes on the form of a spiral notebook that's completely red with black polka dots. After a while of briefly figuring out what to do with the Lucky Charm, Dollybug is almost apprehended by Screenshot himself before she suggests a more pacifist way of figuring things out. While the two continue to fight for a while longer, Dollybug extends her olive branch to Screenshot and tries to soothe him, getting him to falter and allow him to become vulnerable. Screenshot relents and admits that he knows he's unqualified but he was hired on the spot thinking the fame and fortune will get him to be liked more since nobody likes him at all, and writing has always been his passion, even if he knew he sucked at it, and always has. Purple Noir is enamored and bewitched by Dollybug's display of compassion and understanding as Screenshot continues to vents his sadness and rage to the ladybug superheroine. His cockiness was a mask to make himself more elite than he actually was since he was always surrounded by cocky and arrogant people in the film studio, Astrucine especially. Ultimately, he gave in to peer pressure and lost himself in the mask just to make himself more like the others. Dollybug sympathizes greatly with Screenshot, and Purple Noir empathizes with the akumatized villain, clutching his heart as the feeling of loneliness sets back in. That's when Dollybug offers a solution: instead of writing the things that'll make others happy, he should try writing things that'll make him happy instead. Screenshot likes that idea. So after a while of the two bonding and everyone watching with shock and interest, Screenshot is able to conjure up a story idea of his own and while it's definitely not Hollywood-worthy, Dollybug likes it enough to read it. Surprisingly, it's… a lot better than the shit script for the Miraculous movie. Turns out that Screenshot was essentially forced into creating shoddy screenplays for Astrucine Suite because she never really appreciated true art the same way he did. After Dollybug's words of encouragement and kindness, Screenshot rejects the akuma, and transforms back into Dylan Crimson. Everyone that witnessed this applauds, and Purple Noir gives a warm smile on his face. Just then, Tikki, in the form of a digital assistant, calls Dollybug from her yo-yo, saying that she's shocked and extremely impressed; no Ladybug miraculous holder has ever talked down to an akumatized villain like that before, and it was only ever a rare occurrence from the previous holder, but even then, she was never this compassionate and empathetic like Dollybug is. Dollybug thanks Tikki for the compliment with a huge smile on her face. Tikki then teaches Dollybug how to purify an akuma, but not before following the akuma that had been flying off into the distance somewhere. Dollybug opens the yo-yo, swings it around, and calls out “Time to de-evilize!!” as she catches the akuma with the yo-yo. When she opens the yo-yo back up, the akuma is now a harmless white butterfly, and it flies off back into the distance.

Dollybug catches up to the others, back at the costume department, and everyone is cheering for the ragdoll superheroine, who is practically swimming in joy from the praises and chanting of her name. Purple Noir pays no mind to this, however, as he's stuck in a lovestruck trance by the beauty Dollybug is displaying. After assessing the damage done to the place, Dollybug shouts “Miraculous Dollybug!” as she tosses the Lucky Charm into the air, and a swarm of magical ladybugs fixes the damage caused. Purple Noir is snapped out of his trance when Dollybug offers a fist bump to him and he halfheartedly reciprocates from swooning over the superheroine; pound it! Purple Noir unfortunately didn't really get to do anything action-y other than protect a bunch of people from getting hurt, so the first bump was kinda unearned. This is foreshadowing for what's to come, as there will be more instances of Dollybug, and in turn Ragatha, hogging the spotlight all to herself, while leaving everyone else in her friend group, including Jax, in the dust.

Meanwhile, Dylan regains consciousness and asks what happened, apparently having absolutely no memory of his akumatization. That's when Dollybug repeats her sentiments of doing what makes you happy instead of doing what makes others happy. With that, Dylan sets off with his newfound enlightenment and a sense of optimism being restored. He thanks Dollybug one last time, and then walks off into the distance in the film studio lot, the bright and beautiful sun shining over his head, with newfound joy and comfort embedded into his very being, and we never see him again in this episode. And good for him, too! He deserves to be happy! The cheering continues for Dollybug, and Purple Noir admires her from the shadows…

We cut back to a now de-transformed Jax, still blissfully staring off into space, swinging his feet back and forth on the desk chair he's sitting on, and with hearts floating and popping over his bunny head. Plagg, on the other hand, is trying to get Jax to snap out of it, fearing the repercussions of last time. And he does, but all Jax can think about it even say in this situation is about how wonderful Dollybug is. Of course, given the fact that the two already know each other's identities (they're gonna be playing as their superhero counterparts in the movie, remember?), this isn't really an issue. Still though, Plagg has bad memories from the last time one of his Miraculous holders fell head over heels in love with another Ladybug Miraculous wielder. Jax isn't worried, saying that the two will figure something out. Besides, he sees the events that transpired previously as nothing more than a test to see if he and Ragatha got what it takes, and they both passed with flying colors. However, the cat kwami notes to the jackrabbit that he didn't even get to show off his special ability, and no one even acknowledged he was there; surely he must be a little ticked off that he didn't get to share a bit of the glory considering the two are supposed to work together as partners. But Jax doesn't care; so long as he keeps doing what he needs to do, stay in line, and not cause a ruckus, things will be okay. Jax is choosing to lay low, not wanting to relive the disaster that happened at The Farmlands Of Granny Smith's Orchard. And with the newfound infatuation he has with his co-star, he's gonna try and be the best possible version he can be, for her and her only! Plagg is dreading the idea of Jax potentially forcing himself to change drastically just to impress a woman he only started developing feelings for, but unfortunately, due to undisclosed circumstances, he can't stop Jax, and it might be related to that choker he's wearing on his neck, as though it's preventing him from doing anything that might be considered “out of line” by his potential oppressors…

Meanwhile, back at the trailer house that used to belong to Dylan, we have Caine and Pomni struggle to come up with the new and improved script for the Miraculous movie, with the two arguing over what details of the plot to change and what to keep. The argument even devolved into a heated debate over how AI-generated content is a bad thing, with Pomni briefly forgetting about how her using Caine, an AI, could be a bad thing since she's the one with all the creativity that humans have and not Caine, much to the ringmaster's frustration and fury. The bickering is halted when Astrucine bursts open the door to the trailer to announce something special. The duo follow behind her, sensing the urgency in the film director’s tone of voice. Outside of the trailer park and in the studio lot are their Team Circus friends, sans Jax and Ragatha, and they're all relieved to see them okay… much to the confusion and worry of both Caine and Pomni. The worry only increases when Astrucine’s assistant, Sarah LeCœur, explains to them that there was an akuma attack and Pomni and Caine were the prime targets! Akuma attack!? EXCUSE ME!?!?

But luckily for them, they managed to completely miss the attack with the help of Dollybug and Purple Noir, the new superheroes of L’amour de ma Vie! Sarah shows them the footage that was captured by one of the costume stylists via their phone, showing that Gangle and Zooble were also in perpetual danger. Before the jester and the ringmaster could get angry and protective from this, the footage then shows that Purple Noir was protecting the innocent civilians while Dollybug fought off and even talked down to the villain in question, thus saving the day! Gangle and Zooble are more gravitated towards Dollybug than Purple Noir, who essentially did the heavy lifting, which just feeds the confusion of the screenwriting duo from Team Circus even more. Sarah clarifies that after Dylan was fired by Astrucine Suite, he was akumatized into “Screenshot” with full intent on getting revenge on Caine and Pomni, only for Dollybug and Purple Noir to stop him before he could reach them. Pomni understands the situation with full acceptance, while Caine is simply exasperated; not only do they have a movie to make, but now there's also the threat of supervillains wreaking havoc in the studio! Perfect! Just perfect!

Astrucine offers to help the screenwriters with a proposition: they can write the script as the filming goes on, as in they'll figure everything out while the production continues. With the newfound threat of akumatized villains being placed on L'amour de ma Vie, they can use this as inspiration for what happens next in the movie, as well as using the basic concepts the both of them had in mind for the movie. Everything will go along on a whim! While Caine is more hesitant, he only agrees because Pomni agrees without hesitation, and if she's happy, then he's happy too. Everyone resumes their excited clamors over the beginning of filming next week, and Astrucine and Sarah join in on the sentiment, with Pamela watching with a warm and serene expression on her face. Though when she comes back to check on Ragatha, that smile fades, as if she knows something that no one else knows yet.

When we cut to Ragatha in her trailer, she's joyously rambling to Tikki about how awesome she was as Dollybug, and the kwami just nods and agrees; the ragdoll lady fails to mention how Purple Noir did great as a superhero too, choosing to ignore him altogether in favor of the cool action-y things Dollybug did, in spite of Tikki’s insistence of the importance of her partnership with Purple Noir. Ragatha only brushes this off, saying that maybe he'll get a chance to shine too when film production starts, and then immediately continues to ramble on and on about Dollybug being the greatest thing ever since Betty White, much to Tikki's chagrin.

We then cut to a meeting room in Astrucine's office, featuring Lewis, Briar, Kristina, Thomas, Sarah, and a jittery Michael Bay, who looks like he really needs to lay off the Starbucks coffee for a while. Astrucine announces the change of plans to her admittedly small team in light of the recent akuma attack that transpired moments ago, and it's a mix of disappointment, anxiousness, and partially curiosity. And with the departure of Dylan Crimson, the movie's writing is now left to Caine and Pomni, who will be writing the script as the production goes along. Also in light of the akuma attack, Jax and Ragatha, their most precious lead actors of the movie, will be assigned personal assistants to protect them from any more akuma attacks as the movie goes along. Sarah LeCœur, Astrucine's own assistant, will be assigned to Jax, and a new character, Rihanna Roman, famous popstar and songwriter for the movie, will be assigned to Ragatha. They'll be the ones to watch over them diligently, and keep them safe from harm. Kristina goes to inform the other supporting actors about this newfound revelation, while Lewis and Briar go to their respective departments to inform them about the new information. Thomas heads back to his quarters in the trailer park, while Michael Bay, who was sitting there only halfway listening to the conversation while shaking like a hyperactive chihuahua, is dismissed by Astrucine, and he runs off like a raccoon with a case of the zoomies, probably off to set more explosives off at his own leisure again. As soon as the coast is clear, Astrucine pulls out the same octagonal box from the beginning of the episode, and opens it, mischievously smiling at what's inside it. She says to herself at that very moment, “They still don't know what's coming to them… do they?”

It's finally one week later, and after some practice from Team Circus in their respective film departments, the filming of the movie's very first scene is about to transpire, and everyone is getting ready. Zooble already has the costumes out for the actors, including Jax and Ragatha, with Gangle and the other make-up artists applying the perfect touch-ups to them. All the while, Gangle is complimenting Ragatha's beauty as she applies make-up to the ragdoll actress, and the latter blushes over the flattery. Sarah and Rihanna have a small exchange expressing their concerns over how well this is gonna go, since everyone is working under Astrucine’s whims, and what she says and does is final. Rihanna tries to reassure Sarah that the director knows best and that she knows what she's doing, plus with the help of Team Circus, surely nothing will go wrong. Sarah crosses her fingers that Rihanna is right.

The first scene of the movie takes place at the Darling's Designs boutique where the main character, Ruby Darling, is getting ready for her first day of school. This is where she'll meet Master Kai Xiang, who is played by Thomas Zhou himself. Then, the scene will transition to the Macaroon Patisserie, where the second protagonist, Elijah Macaroon, will encounter Ruby Darling on the street as he's walking to Dupain-Agreste Collège, the school that Ruby and Elijah will be going to. Afterwards, Ruby will have a confrontation with her childhood rival Misty Médaille, who is saved by her new friend Kimiko Yamada, who shows her the ropes of this place so that Ruby can get familiar with her new surroundings. The scene will end there. It's pretty simple all things considered, with Bubble being one of several cameramen on set, Kinger holding the clapperboard, Astrucine sitting on the prestigious director's chair with a megaphone in her hand, Pomni and Caine watching everything play out and ready to give out criticism when it's needed, and lastly, the actors are in their respective positions, with Lewis Argyle being the boom operator and Michael Bay being the special effects technician. Pamela is intrigued and, along with the other diplomats in the living room, watches everything with anticipation and hope. And then, the moment they've all been waiting for. Astrucine picks up her megaphone, and announces it's time to start filming. Kinger sounds off his clapperboard. Lumières... Caméra... Action.

The scene suddenly becomes widescreen with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, akin to an actual movie from the cinemas. It's a rainy day in Paris, France, and our lead female protagonist, Ruby Darling, is peacefully asleep in her bed. Her mother, Roselyn Darling, calls out her daughter's name, saying that she needs to wake up and get ready, or else she'll be late for her first day of school. Ruby groggily wakes up as if to answer her mom’s demands, looks at the alarm clock, and realizes that she's overslept and that she's gonna be late in a few minutes, jolting her completely awake. Ruby frantically looks for the perfect outfit to wear for her first day, and all the while, she's tripping and bumping into places, knocking stuff over in the process. As soon as she finally picks the perfect outfit to wear, she hurriedly puts it on, causing her to fall down the stairs, being lucky enough not to injure herself too badly from this. Roselyn fetches her daughter from the bottom of the stairs and helps her up. Normally, Roselyn would make her breakfast, but since Ruby's almost late for school, she offers her some money instead so that she can get breakfast at the patisserie on the way to school. Ruby swiftly grabs the money and thanks her mom, who tells her that she loves her and she runs off out of the boutique. Roselyn looks at the portrait of her deceased husband on the wall, wondering what she's gonna be able to do with that girl now that he's gone.

The scene then cuts to the Macaroon Patisserie where we meet the male lead protagonist, Elijah Macaroon, helping his dad, Daniel Macaroon, open up shop for breakfast hour, and Daniel tries to keep his spirits up for his son, who is feeling a bit downtrodden today as today is his mom's birthday, and the occasion makes him sad since she's deceased. Elijah is a bit uncomfortable by Daniel's display of toxic positivity, but he doesn't say anything about it because it's his first day at school, and he doesn't want to hurt his dad's feelings. As much as Daniel would like him to stay a little longer to help run the shop for a bit, Elijah can't, since he's gonna be late for school, so the two bid each other farewell, and Elijah leaves the patisserie. Meanwhile, Daniel looks at the family photo of him, his son, and his deceased wife, sadly pondering to himself if there was ever a way to bring her back.

Ruby is seen running off in the busy Parisian streets, bumping into people as she tries to navigate her way there to Dupain-Agreste Collège, all while trying to hold on to the money her mom gave her when she spots an old Asian man walking slowly in the middle of the road. He's about to be hit by an oncoming truck, so she darts straight for him and pushes him out of the way, saving his life in the process. The old man is astonished that Ruby had gone out of her way to save her life. As Ruby is trying to pick up the money she dropped in the process, the old man helps her up as he thanks her for saving him. Unfortunately, she can't exactly return the favor as she's still gonna be late for school, so she hurriedly runs off to the patisserie for breakfast. Unbeknownst to Ruby, the old man had just put a jewelry box into her jacket’s pocket, and she doesn't find out about it until much later…

Ruby manages to make it to the patisserie, and in a rush, she uses the money to buy a croissant, and is unable to exchange any formalities to the owner of the patisserie, Daniel Macaroon, who doesn't even get a chance to say hello or goodbye to her. She runs out of the patisserie with a croissant in her mouth and speeds her way to Dupain-Agreste Collège, where she manages to barely make it to the building before accidentally bumping into Elijah in front of his best friend, Nathan Bernardo. When the two recover from their fall, they end up coming into direct eye contact with each other and for a good while, they stare into each other's eyes, as though they just saw the most beautiful thing in the world. It all gets interrupted when the movie's mean girl, Misty Médaille, shows up and grabs Elijah up from the ground. This snaps Ruby back into reality, when she realizes who that girl is, and she's annoyed. Misty is likewise irritated to be in the presence of Ruby. Apparently, Nathan and Elijah were not in the know about Misty and Ruby's long-standing rivalry with each other that they shared since they were kids, and they ended up watching the scene awkwardly. Misty is fiercely protective of Elijah, whom the two have known each other since childhood, and Ruby rebuttals that she doesn't even know the guy. The heated bickering continues until another character shows up to stop the verbal fight, and that girl is none other than Kimiko Yamada.

Kimiko breaks the fight up by helping the boys up from the ground and tells them that they should be heading off to class now, which they do. As for Misty, she tells her to watch her attitude and to back off before she doesn't something she regrets. Misty complies, letting out a haughty huff along the way out. Kimiko introduces herself to Ruby, since she sees that Ruby is new here to the school. She's class president of Dupain-Agreste Collège, and she's here to ensure peace and stability all across the school. The girls get to know each other better as they traverse down the school's hallway, signaling the start of a beautiful friendship. Some words of encouragement are shared by Kimiko, thus building up the confidence Ruby needs to get through the day. The girls go their separate ways as Ruby enters the classroom and the scene ends there.

The screen turns back into a fullscreen format as the director calls out “Cut!” and all things considered, everything went smoothly! Everyone celebrates the perfect shot of the scene, and everyone congratulates the actors for a job well done, including Astrucine Suite. However, most of the praise starts to go solely towards Ragatha, leaving the other actors out in the process. Later at the trailer park, Ragatha is rambling on and on about how much of a good job she did as Ruby Darling, while her new assistant, Rihanna Roman, is idly listening to it. The other characters from Team Circus try to join in on the conversation and share about their own roles in the movie, including how Caine and Pomni came up with the first scene of the movie, only for Ragatha to turn the conversation back to her. Jax doesn't bother to say anything this time around, despite Gangle looking at him as though she and her friends are in desperate need of some sort of intervention. Sounds like they're gonna be in for one long film production…

Another week passes by, and a brand new scene for the movie is shown, as indicated when the widescreen format comes back. This time, it's a montage of Ruby Darling participating in her new classes, and for the most part, she's acting as your typical girl-failure that's expected from klutzy characters like her, including music class, chemistry, gymnastics, and art class. Afterwards, Ruby heads out of the classroom for the day and encounters Misty Médaille yet again, and this time, she appears to be out for blood. Ruby isn't afraid of Misty, since she's dealt with her bullshit plenty of times before, but before Ruby could even get the chance to make a haughty comeback, Elijah steps in to break up the fight. Elijah is persuading Misty to be nicer to the new girl, only for the Médaille girl to justify herself saying she only wants what's best for her pookie Elijah, but he's not having any of it. Elijah then apologizes to Ruby by saying that Misty can get a little possessive at times, which the redheaded girl says that Misty has always been a terrible person; she sees everything as a personal attack if she doesn't get her way. Elijah tries to give Misty the benefit of the doubt since he's childhood friends with her, but Ruby doesn't believe this to be the case. Elijah offers to walk Ruby home, leaving Misty behind in the process. As the couple do so, they talk a little bit about their lives and the things they have in common, and the two form a genuine connection with each other. It's pretty sweet, and before Ruby even realizes it, she's fallen in love with Elijah, but tries to brush it off by telling herself that he's just a friend. (now I wonder where that notion could have possibly come from…? Hmmm…) The couple go their separate ways once Ruby returns home, and she looks at Elijah fondly as he walks off into the distance.

Back in the fullscreen format we have Jax hanging out with Sarah LeCœur, Bruno Feuille, and Kendall Ferguson at the patisserie, and it's generally a nice bonding moment between them as Sarah gets more insight as to what the actors are usually up to since Sarah is often busy tending to Astrucine's needs instead of getting the chance to actually freely explore on her own. Jax is a little confused as surely Astrucine would have given at least a little freedom; he sees her as more than just an assistant. Sadly, Sarah proclaims that as Astrucine's assistant, she can't really go anywhere or do anything without Astrucine's permission, leaving her perpetually trapped. She does dream of what it would be like if she got to explore her own passions. Bruno asks Jax why he would see Sarah as more than just an assistant when they barely know her. The jackrabbit mentions Bubble, who he says is not just Caine's assistant, but also his partner; his equal. That, and the fact that Caine and Bubble have been in a romantic relationship with each other for quite some time now. Kendall is happy for the both of them, as he finds it very sweet. This encourages Sarah to share her aspirations of becoming a movie director of her own someday. She had been inspired by the many movie directors found in L’amour de ma Vie, and decided to get into the industry as soon as she found an opportunity to do so. She decided to get a head start by taking up an apprenticeship job under the tutelage of another aspiring film director Astrucine Suite. Despite how slow things have gotten since then, she's hopeful that someday she'll get her big break when Astrucine allows her to. While Bruno and Kendall are endeared by Sarah's hopes and dreams, Jax is beginning to connect the dots and considers that maybe Astrucine is holding her back from her true potential, keeping her as her personal slave rather than a legitimate assistant and apprentice. Despite Jax’s concerns, Sarah chooses to remain optimistic in spite of the undesirable circumstances. He takes her word for it, but chooses to remain cautious about the matter.

Meanwhile, we have Caine and Pomni discussing the currently-made script with Astrucine herself, and the little edits being made with the movie director's help. So far things are going well, and nothing too drastic has changed all that much, though they do have concerns for one of the characters: Misty Médaille. She's supposed to be seen as possessive and controlling according to Astrucine Suite, but by the looks of things she's just overprotective and has yet to showcase any of her nasty habits, not to mention that Ruby Darling isn't exactly the nicest towards Misty, a stark contrast to the typical bully characters seen in a lot of fictional media. They hope that maybe Misty has the possibility of becoming nicer if she doesn't plan on being too nasty towards the characters. Astrucine takes these concerns into consideration, but reminds the jester and the ringmaster about how Misty was only just introduced and that she had yet to show her true colors as they had previously mentioned. It's gonna be an arduous challenge for the both of them to navigate, they can tell you that much.

Ragatha is busy pampering herself in the dressing room with Jasmin and Victoria, and the girls take turns complimenting each other, and Ragatha is the most ecstatic to be receiving them. Rihanna, Kristina, Zooble, and Gangle are also present, trying to keep the girls in line for rehearsals. While Jasmin and Victoria express joy over how well things are going, Ragatha is just kinda bragging about how she and her friends were already famous before she got her sweet acting career. Jasmin offers Ragatha a sleepover in her trailer, but Ragatha declines, saying she's gotta practice for her new acting career. The girls are very understanding.

Kristina and Rihanna go out on a nightly stroll in the studio lot, where they discuss the recent events happening in L’amour de ma Vie, including Astrucine's rather eccentric decisions, especially in regards to the script, not to mention the special treatment Ragatha appears to be getting. Rihanna tries to brush it off as the ragdoll simply being excited, while Kristina retorts that Ragatha called it her career when she hasn't even been in the industry before. She's afraid of Ragatha flying too close to the sun, but Rihanna is still brushing off those concerns. Kristina is upset that Rihanna is just another yes-man in Astrucine's schemes, just like Dylan Crimson and Sarah LeCœur. The heated back and forth continues when another black butterfly appears and lands on the purse Kristina is holding, possessing it and getting her akumatized in the process. Once again, Mariposa offers a deal for Kristina, now known as “Espinoza”, a rose-themed akumatized villainess, to get back at Rihanna for not listening to her concerns in exchange for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. And once again, Ragatha and Jax are summoned back by Thomas Zhou to the totem pole tower, debriefed on the akuma attack, and they transform into the superhero duo of Dollybug and Purple Noir!

Round two goes very differently. They're spending a lot of time trying to apprehend Espinoza and getting Rihanna to safety, and keeping the innocent crew members out of the crossfire. Dollybug is a bit more cocky this time, and Jax is starting to get the hang of cat puns, but nonetheless, they appear to be working together just fine… until Purple Noir remembers Plagg’s complaints over him not being able to use his special ability, and decides to wait for the perfect opportunity to do so when Espinoza has lowered her guard. Dollybug uses her Lucky Charm, which is an empty flower vase. She attempts to figure out the meaning behind her Lucky Charm. However, as she does so, Purple Noir grabs the purse Espinoza has and with his special ability, Cataclysm, he destroys the purse, freeing the akuma. This makes Dollybug's job a little easier as now she only gets to purify the akuma with her yo-yo. Espinoza transforms back into Kristina Delbert, and with the “Miraculous Dollybug” healing wave, the damage made by Espinoza is repaired. Now one would expect that after the first time Dollybug and Purple Noir saved the day, Purple Noir would get the credit this time around the same way Dollybug did, right? After all, it's only fair that both heroes got to share the glory, right? Right!?

…Sadly no. It's Dollybug who ends up stealing the credit instead, despite not being able to use her Lucky Charm the way it was intended to be. And she doesn't care. Because she's being praised to hell and back by everyone around her. Kristina is a bit outraged, but decides to hold back on it, and go about her duties as normal. And Purple Noir… is strangely okay with this?? What the heck is happening!?!?

Bruno Feuille catches sight of this as does Sarah LeCœur, and Bruno calls bullshit on this. Bruno decides to take matters into his own hands and go to Astrucine to see what the big idea is. Sarah follows behind him. Bruno barges into Astrucine's office and he wants to know what's going on. Astrucine thinks Bruno is making a big deal out of nothing, until he says that Dollybug is getting more credit than Purple Noir, despite the latter being the one to save the day this time around. To him, this just shows that Dollybug's slow and steady could compliment Purple Noir’s fast and easy. Purple Noir’s action-based tactics could be useful for Dollybug's more thinking-based tactics. Astrucine rebuttals that as the leader of the duo, Dollybug has to be the one to save the day; she's the one with the Lucky Charm and Miracle Wave and Purple Noir just destroys stuff when asked to. Bruno is puzzled and outraged by the explanation, but reluctantly calms down when she explains that if he has any complaints about the screenplay, he should go talk to the screenwriters about such matters, not her. And he does so.

Bruno goes to Caine and Pomni’s trailer and he doesn't look too happy. He's demanding to know what's going on with Purple Noir and Dollybug; for all he knows, they're supposed to be equals, according to the information he's been given by the movie director, and yet, that's not what's happening here. The screenwriting duo from Team Circus are baffled, furious even, over this accusation; Astrucine hasn't told them anything about this, they're only acting on her whim and writing the script as they go. Plus, they have yet to see the superhero duo in action for themselves. Bruno repeats himself: Dollybug and Purple Noir are supposed to be equals. They could just ask Astrucine to make them equals in the movie if not in the actual battles in L’amour de ma Vie. Bruno is really trying to be as rational as possible here, and the added confusion from everyone is not helping matters. It takes a while for them to all calm down once they agree to go to Astrucine for further clarification. In the movie director’s office, they all have a meeting where they discuss not just Dollybug and Purple Noir's roles in the movie, but also what they're doing outside of it. Astrucine has the idea that while yes, Dollybug and Purple Noir are equals, Dollybug is the leader because she's the one always saving the day with her specific powers. Astrucine is still bothered by how Bruno, of all people, is so worked up over it since he knew him for only two weeks and three days.

That's when Bruno expresses how uncomfortable Ragatha's slight arrogance is, as he finds her faux humility creepy, almost as though she thinks this is all pretend to her. Hearing the word “pretend” startles Caine and Pomni, which Astrucine notices. Pomni ends up clarifying that Ragatha loves playing pretend, like a child playing with her toys. While it is a nice save, this implies that Ragatha sees her surroundings like a toy box to her, with the people around her being her dolls and toys, which just serves to complicate matters more, since Bruno, and in turn, the other actors, Jax, and the other Team Circus members, is now dealing with what is essentially an immature woman who is choosing not to grow up. What makes this even worse is that it's partially true. Astrucine is stoic about this, even going out of her way to say that a few compliments about her looks and talents aren't hurting anyone. Before Bruno could get angrier, he suddenly remembers what Sarah LeCœur said about wanting to be a movie director earlier that day, so he suggests that she go and oversee the movie's production as the co-director alongside the screenwriters.

To his relief, Astrucine agrees to this notion. The third scene is about to be filmed in a week, so the three of them head on back to their stations, while Astrucine makes a phone call to Sarah LeCœur. She tells her that she has a new assignment to carry out.

The third scene of the Miraculous movie plays as follows. Misty Médaille, being forced to walk by herself, is subjected to an assortment of bad luck, including bumping into multiple people on the way back to her home, the Or de Luxe Suite, being splashed with water by multiple vehicles driving over puddles, and lastly, one of her shoes’ heels breaking, causing her to lose her balance. And the whole way there, she's whining and crying about it like it's a big deal. Suddenly, a black butterfly flies overhead Misty and lands on her broken shoe, and possesses it. A butterfly mask appears over Misty's face, and the same disembodied voice from earlier by the name of Mariposa calls out to Misty, saying that she can help her in her time in need, as long as she does her one simple favor; bring over the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to her. Misty then transforms into the supervillainess by the name of Miss Fortune. From there, she begins to spread bad luck to all over the town with her newfound superpowers. Meanwhile, Ruby Darling is checking her pockets to realize she was given a jewelry box, which she proceeds to open out of curiosity. Along with a pair of earrings emerges the magical kwami by the name of Tikki. It's an uncanny recreation of what happened three weeks ago when Ruby's actress, Ragatha, first met Tikki. The same old introduction, Ruby's character-typical confusion and fear, Tikki's spiel about the Miraculous, how she was destined to be a superhero, and that the world is in grave danger with the rise of a brand new villain amongst the townsfolk. You've seen it with Ragatha. It won't be repeated here. Ruby is at first hesitant to take on the new role, but with encouragement from Tikki, she accepts, and transforms into Dollybug. Confused? Well, so am I, but I'm the one writing this, so I dunno what to tell you.

Dollybug gets the hang of her new powers, including her yo-yo, and she encounters the villainess Miss Fortune, who is trashing the entire town with her tantrums. While Dollybug tries to fight her on her own, she isn't successful, despite her best efforts. But before she could get defeated by Miss Fortune, she is saved by the other new hero of the movie, Purple Noir. One would expect Dollybug to be grateful for the help, she is instead outraged, believing that she could handle this on her own. Purple Noir was apparently called forth for the same reason Dollybug was, as he explains to her. It's the usual schtick of the two heroes not getting along with each other all while facing off Miss Fortune, Purple Noir’s cat puns, and Dollybug showing off her powers. Then comes the Lucky Charm, which takes the form of a dehydration gun. She is left wondering what to do with it, when Miss Fortune strikes, and Dollybug uses the dehydration gun to counterattack Miss Fortune’s bad luck beams. The fight between Dollybug and Purple Noir vs Miss Fortune lasts for a good two to four minutes with the heroes getting equal opportunities to shine, up until they're able to tire her out and Purple Noir uses his Cataclysm to destroy the broken shoe, releasing the dark butterfly, and then Dollybug purifies the butterfly with her yo-yo. She uses her “Miraculous Dollybug” wave to repair the damage created during the fight. While Purple Noir takes the time to compliment Dollybug's prowess, the ladybug superheroine gets defensive, saying she doesn't need the pity of a man to cheer her up. This causes confusion towards the black cat superhero, and soon a petty argument ensues, which is stopped by the old man that Ruby Darling/Dollybug has saved earlier. He introduces himself as Master Kai Xiang to the duo, and he's the guardian of the Miraculous. He recruited these two as a last resort for the peril this city is about to face now that one of the Miraculous is in the hands of a truly evil person, whose motives are unknown even to him. The two follow Master Xiang to his place, which is a giant totem pole tower consisting of nineteen animals. In order from top to bottom are the ladybug, the cat, the fox, the turtle, the bee, the butterfly, the peacock, the snake, the horse, the monkey, the mouse, the dragon, the rabbit, the tiger, the pig, the dog, the goat, the rooster, and the ox. The tower also acts as his dojo, and here, he shows them around the place as well as giving them all a debriefing of their new superhero roles, and that they're not gonna be the only heroes to be recruited for the daunting tasks. Dollybug and Purple Noir are going to recruit sixteen more heroes for the cause, and all the while, the two must work together in harmony so that the city of Paris won't fall under the clutches of the new mistress of evil, Mariposa. They agree to the daunting task after some slight hesitation from the duo and encouragement from Master Xiang. Something tells them that their lives are about to be turned upside down, and that their lives are about to get a lot more complicated than they thought. End scene.

Test screening for the first portion of the movie occurs from all the characters, including all of the L'amour de ma Vie residents, Team Circus, and Astrucine Suite, and it's a success! Pamela, who is still diligently watching over our protagonists, is now confident that this may work out after all! Yes, there were bumps in the road, but plenty of movie productions have bumps in the road, so this should be nothing!... Right? Everyone congratulates each other, and Astrucine is basking in the results, seeing their smiles of celebration as a distraction for her real plans. Although, from the look on Caine and Pomni’s faces, things are going too well for them and the other Team Circus members, and they feel unsure and nervous about it. Not helping matters is that Ragatha's grin now appears to be forced, as though she's bothered by something. And even worse is that Victoria Ramirez, the actress playing Misty Médaille in the movie, is hiding how traumatized she was over the akuma attack.

Later on in the evening, we see Jax heading back to the trailer park with Sarah LeCœur, while the two are striking up a conversation over what happened earlier when she was appointed co-director, when he hears cries coming from a good distance away from him. He goes over to the source of the sobs, and it's poor Victoria, head buried in her arms on her vanity desk, and a complete emotional wreck. Sarah asks what's wrong, and Victoria tells them both everything. She didn't know that the akuma attacks were real; she thought it was just special effects! She felt like an evil ghost possessed her and she remembered nothing from it, other than how painful the aftermath was. She didn't even know about the two other akuma attacks from earlier in the movie’s production! Jax is horrified, and Sarah is angry. You'd think that Astrucine, the movie director, would have warned any of the actors about the fact that the akumas weren't fake. After some thinking, however, Sarah and Jax decide to take Victoria with them to Bruno and Kendall to cheer her up.

Kendall is a good dad figure towards Victoria, and Sarah, Jax and Bruno hang out in the patisserie, a place that's now been designated at their official hangout place whenever the actors are off-duty. After Jax tells Bruno what happened, he's shocked. Apparently, he just assumed the akuma attacks were practice runs for the heroes’ actual actions in the movie! This causes a bit of a dilemma, since only Ragatha and Jax were aware that this isn't just some fancy technology that Astrucine managed to pick up. That's when Bruno gets the brilliant idea to have a little getaway get-together with Jax and Victoria, just them three. Jax wonders where they would even go, and that's when he whips out his turtle shell bracelet, summoning Wayzz, and he leads the two other actors out the patisserie. Seeing where this is going, Jax summons Plagg with his ring, and Victoria puts on her hair comb, introducing us to the bee kwami, Pollen. Pollen wears a silver choker with a yellow gem on it. Bruno calls out “Wayzz, shell on!”, transforming into the turtle-themed superhero Mister Tortoise, and Victoria shouts “Pollen, buzz on!”, transforming into the bee-themed superheroine Princess Hornet. Jax then transforms into Purple Noir with the words “Plagg, claws out!”, and like that, the super trio head off into the night for a fun outing!

Meanwhile, we have Jasmin and Ragatha in the latter's trailer, and we see the former trying to cheer up the ragdoll lady with some words of reaffirmation, only for Ragatha to get pissy saying that she's the star of the show; Astrucine said so herself! Astrucine had told her from the very beginning that she was special, that she was the main character! Sure, Jax may be her partner, but as the main lead, and the one with the special ladybug powers, she deserves the credit more than him! Jasmin manages to calm her down saying that she's just as special as everyone else; she may be the main lead, but everyone has a part to play in this, and they're all just as important as her. Ragatha wants to take her mind off things right now, so she suggests a night out, just them two, as their superhero identities. Jasmin likes the sound of that, and the girls transform into their respective identities; Ragatha turns into the ladybug-themed hero Dollybug by calling out “Tikki, spots on!”, while Jasmin turns into the fox-themed superheroine Kitsune by shouting “Trixx, let's pounce!”

A montage of the two separate groups ensue with Mister Tortoise, Purple Noir, and Princess Hornet getting into some nighttime shenanigans all throughout the film studio city, with Dollybug and Kitsune being more calm and casual about it. The juxtaposition between the two groups can be seen during the montage, with Purple Noir bringing out the liveliness to the group and Dollybug enjoying the simple things in life, both of briefly forgetting their troubles in the moment. The montage concludes when the superheroes all meet up on the same roof of a large building, and the initial confusion turns into a momentary verbal altercation that is stopped by Mister Tortoise who clears everything up by explaining everything to Kitsune and Dollybug, and the tension drifts away from there. Kitsune fully understands as Dollybug had the same idea he had, while Dollybug puts on a huge smile on her face… and yes, it's a known fact that Ragatha's smiles are mostly fake, this one seems more ominous than just a charade, as Purple Noir notices.

A little while later, as the sun begins to rise, Dollybug asks if she can be alone with Purple Noir for a while, and the three heroes accept this request and head back to their trailers. The two decide to strike up a heart-to-heart, and at first it goes well, with them talking about some personal issues of theirs, including the movie director Astrucine Suite. It's revealed that Astrucine has been giving Ragatha special treatment during the movie production while no one is looking; not even Pamela knows what's happening behind the scenes! Purple Noir sighs sadly, as he should have expected something like this, after what Bruno had told him. The conversation continues sweetly, but now Purple Noir looks nervous, as though he's been backed into a corner… That's when he discovers is literally being backed into a corner by Dollybug, who warns him not to get in the way of Astrucine's vision, before pushing him off the roof, and sending him plummeting to the ground. Good thing he was transformed, otherwise the fall would have actually hurt him! …Worse still, is that Purple Noir is still infatuated with Dollybug, who is now heading back to her own trailer in the studio.

Meanwhile, Astrucine is talking on the phone with somebody, possibly a manager at L’amour de ma Vie, but we never learn who it is. She says to the unknown manager that everything is falling into place; no one suspects that her sweetness is just a façade to get everyone into a false sense of security, with her blatant favoritism towards Ragatha and her quite frankly delusional fantasies, her diplomatic charisma during moments where her mask was about to be exposed, and the fact that she's using the actual Miraculous jewelry to not only make a movie, but for another more nefarious plan in mind. She replays some of the security footage to herself, revealing the secret meetups between Ragatha and Astrucine, and if it weren't for the fact that the director was already a shady woman, it would've looked like the two were spending time together like a mother-daughter bond. In Astrucine's hand is a beautiful purple locket brooch with pale lilac wings on it in the shape of butterfly wings. She bears a devious look on her face as the scene cuts to her back on the director's chair, with a warm expression on her, and holding a megaphone, as she yells out “Action!” with vibrancy and excitement in her voice.

The cinematographers on set, including Kinger and Bubble, set the scene as another montage plays, while the Miraculous theme song plays. It switches back and forth between the many akuma attacks, Dollybug and Purple Noir saving the day, the actual movie playing out in-between, including the new heroes, and especially Princess Hornet, who becomes a fan favorite in L'amour de ma Vie overnight, all the actors and crew members, including Team Circus, hanging out in celebration, Jax and Plagg hanging out in the trailer, Ragatha getting compliments from the make-up artists, costume designers, and especially Astrucine, Sarah LeCœur, Pomni, and Caine writing the script together, an unexpected romance between Briar Welles and Lewis Argyle, Kristina Delbert checking up on everyone both onset and off, Rihanna Roman being buddy-buddy with Ragatha, and Pamela and the dimensional diplomats cheering the characters on and providing commentary. It ends with the announcement of the completion of the movie, as showcased when Astrucine Suite holds a film reel in her hand, her magnum opus! Everyone jubilates and congrats each other, after four years of development and production. Astrucine declares that she will be hosting the wrap-up party two weeks before the premiere. Everyone shows excitement and triumph, including the dimensional diplomats from the other side! Pamela congratulates Ragatha and Jax, and wishes everyone else good luck on the premiere.

The next evening is the wrap-up party, and everyone is having a good time, including the five actors. For the first time, Jax feels like he actually did something right for once, and he's able to just be in the moment. When Ragatha walks by to Sarah LeCœur and Astrucine Suite, the purple rabbit blushes and turns away. Immediately, Bruno can tell that he has a crush on her, and Jax tries to deny it, saying she's just a friend (I'm not subtle at all with the Miraculous references, by the way; sorry about that), saying that she fell for Dollybug first. Victoria has to remind him that they already know each other's identities; they're one in the same! Plus it's been four years; a lot can change in that timeframe. After some persuasion from Bruno and hesitation from Jax, the latter is forced to go over and have a chat with her.

Ragatha is entertained by Jax's nervousness, finding it hilarious how he's stumbling his words. Jax is endeared by Ragatha's laughter, in spite of the fact that the ragdoll lady is actually laughing at him instead of with him, but he pays no mind to this. Once Jax is able to find the right words, the two are able to hit it off, relaying the events of the movie production, the road trip, and the Circus as a whole. It's a stark contrast to who they both used to be, moreso for Jax than anything. Though he has to ask… why did she push him off the roof all the way back? And Ragatha easily answers that she needed to prove a point; besides, Jax used to pull the same bullshit on her all the time. The point being? Astrucine’s words are final; if she says that Ragatha is a special shining star, then she'll be the best special shining star she can be; to hell with anyone who gets in the way of greatness! Jax is not paying attention to how that might be problematic in the long run, since he's just glad he can get a conversation with someone who semi-cares about him. Eventually the conversation becomes one-sided, as it becomes a brag fest from Ragatha as she rambles on and on about her own feelings and thoughts, and Jax just patiently listens, unable to contribute to the conversation in any shape or form himself. It's all gonna go downhill from here…

Two weeks pass, and it's finally the day of the premiere of “Miraculous: Les Épreuves et les Tribulations de Poupéenelle et Violet Noir!”, and everyone is dressed up all nice and fancy for the red carpet! And of course, the star of the show and the most beautiful of them all is none other than Ragatha, who is extremely photogenic and striking up poses for the press; even more than the other actors! And while it's not noticeable in the heat of the moment, Ragatha dismissing the presence of her other friends in Team Circus is a little off-putting to say the least. Jax doesn't even seem to care that Ragatha is dismissing him at the red carpet, despite the fact everyone involved worked just as hard as she did. He does try to break the ice by trying to engage in an actual conversation with her, and it goes halfway well, with the rabbit congratulating the ragdoll on being able to fulfill her fantasies, since that's kinda what she wanted in the first place, and Ragatha making brief responses… until she suggests a date at the premiere, to thank him for being such a great costar. He stutters, being caught off guard by the offer, but he nonetheless accepts, just as everyone walks into the cinema, where the movie premiere is going to play.

Everyone goes into the theater into their reserved spots, where the movie is about to start momentarily. Murmurs of anticipation fill the theater, while Jax and Ragatha settle in their own seats, with Ragatha nuzzling on the jackrabbit as comfortably as possible. After a while of the two being content in each other's company, the movie begins to play. Some scenes from the movie play while time passes through multiple dissolves, and each of the cast and crew react with very different reactions all throughout: shock and amazement, fear and terror, excitement and triumph, infatuation and investment, sadness and rage, and confusion and laughter. The movie ends with the new group of superheroes ready to take on another battle, and the credits roll. It was a success! Hooray!!

…Then after the credits conclude and the movie logos appear, comes the announcement from the film director Astrucine Suite herself that the movie is getting a sequel! Roars of applause from the crew members, supporting actors, and premiere participants from L’amour de ma Vie fill the theater, with the only member of Team Circus being even remotely excited for it is Ragatha. Jax is the only one hiding his disdain because he still doesn't want to make waves, so he bears with it and grins. But at least he gets to spend more time with Ragatha, so that's a plus.

While everyone else in Team Circus expresses confusion and slight outrage over having to repeat the process again, Jax remains quiet throughout, and leaves back to his trailer to think about some things. When Plagg reappears, he checks up on Jax, and the two have a calm exchange with each other. Jax ends up revealing everything that happened in The Farmlands, and a little bit before that. He's not proud of who he was in the past, and he wants to leave that behind. He wanted L’amour de ma Vie to be his second chance, but once again, he feels like he's going nowhere with it. Plagg then reassures Jax that who he is now is far more important than who he was in the past. Ragatha enters inside the trailer to spend some time with him, as a means to show him no hard feelings towards the purple rabbit. Whatever skepticism Jax has at the moment is gradually erased when the ragdoll pulls out some DVD’s of her favorite Disney movies and plays them on the TV in the trailer. It's almost as if simpler times have returned in that very special moment. And Jax will do everything he can to cherish it for a long time.

It's 6 months later, and Sarah LeCœur, Pomni, and Caine have officially wrapped Act 1 up for the screenplay of the new Miraculous sequel movie, with the intent of turning the script in Astrucine’s office for greenlighting. While the jester and ringmaster lament over how long this movie production has been taking, Sarah is more upbeat about it, saying that movies take a really long time to produce. Even when they arrive at Astrucine's office for review, get the approval from the movie director herself, and head back to their trailer to continue their jobs, the spirits of Team Circus duo don't seem to be lifted.

Things at the costume department are a little better for Gangle and Zooble, with Briar being head over heels in love with Lewis Argyle, and her gushing about how her first date with him was the best day of her life. All of this happens while the make-up artists get the actors ready for their next scene, and while Briar tries to get a word in, it's Ragatha who, once again, steals the spotlight with the swooning and sighs from everyone else. Gangle tells Ragatha that she looks beautiful, and the ragdoll actress confidently replies “I know!” to her. Afterwards, the actors leave the dressing room to prepare for filming, and everyone bids them good luck. For a while, the costume designers and make-up artists are lounging about, and Zooble busies themself to making more costume designs. Gangle doodles in her sketchbook and when Briar comes across it, she compliments the drawings. The two briefly talk for a little while about everything going on so far, before Briar leaves to take a phone call.

Gangle heads off to where Zooble is and sees that they're hard at work making the next batch of costumes for the actors' characters. In a peculiar twist of fate for the amalgamous being, with the sequel on the way, Zooble had to take up leadership in the costume department meaning they're now ten times busier than normal, and they're praying that this is actually normal and not something else going on with Astrucine. Just then, a mournful screech could be heard from outside the costume department building, and it turns out Astrucine had forced Briar to break up with Lewis, as their relationship was seen as unprofessional. As Briar falls to their knees in heartbreak, one of the seamstresses spots a dark butterfly, and it lands on Briar’s left earring, where, thanks to the influence of Mariposa, she turns into the akumatized villainess, “Crève-Cœur”. And of course, with that, the usual schtick of the superheroes in action and with the cameras rolling occurs, featuring the heroes Dollybug, Purple Noir, Kitsune, Mister Tortoise, and Princess Hornet in action, defending the studio from peril and strutting their stuff. Gangle watches the action from afar, cheering the heroes on to herself, as each of the heroes get their own time to shine, including Purple Noir, with whom Dollybug seems to resent for some reason.

After some time, Dollybug saves the day with her Lucky Charm, all's well that ends well, and while the superhero quintet celebrate their victory, once again, most of the praise goes to Dollybug, with Purple Noir receiving absolutely none of it, much to the confusion of the other heroes, Sarah LeCœur, Caine, and Pomni. Gangle also finds it strange, but brushes it off and goes back to her quarters. Filming resumes as normal. Meanwhile, at a studio meeting with Astrucine Suite, the crewmembers of L’amour de ma Vie, Team Circus, and the other actors, Astrucine informs that Briar Welles has resigned from her position and will be replaced by the costume department duo Gangle and Zooble, shocking everyone in the room. While the L’amour de ma Vie cast and crew congratulate the two for the promotion, Zooble and Gangle are terrified; they're barely experts on the costumes and make-up respectively! With the exception of Ragatha, for reasons that are becoming increasingly obvious, even the other Team Circus members are nervous, Jax especially.

The actor quintet have themselves a lunch break at the patisserie, while Sarah, Kristina, and Rihanna guard them from the paparazzi, and they each discuss what's been happening at L'amour de ma Vie; the akumatizations that are apparently actually affecting people, the new sequel, the favoritism despite equal opportunities, the script, and other potential changes made by Astrucine behind everyone's back. Ragatha doesn't see a problem in this, since she firmly believes that Astrucine knows what's best. Bruno is baffled, Victoria is concerned for Ragatha, while Jasmin takes Ragatha's side without question. Bruno and Victoria are shocked, and Jasmin’s reasons are that she wants to support her new best friend, as does Ragatha’s assistant Rihanna. Bruno frustratedly mentions how he tried to stand up to Astrucine once in regards to the script, but faltered when she almost immediately came up with a compromise, preventing him from expressing his actual concerns to the movie director. Made even worse is when Jasmin expresses how she believes that Victoria’s character, Misty Médaille, doesn't deserve a Miraculous, and Ragatha agrees, but for different reasons. While Jasmin thinks Misty is beyond redemption, Ragatha just thinks that Misty's hogging all the glory for herself, clearly jealous that her superhero counterpart, Princess Hornet, is the fan favorite amongst the populace of L’amour de ma Vie for being a morally gray anti-hero on the path to redemption. When Victoria sees that Jax is being unusually quiet, she gets him to speak up a little, to try and get his own thoughts and opinions heard about what's happening in the film studio. He's scared at first, and tries to dodge the question, but after Bruno's encouragement and Victoria’s interrogation, he relents, saying that maybe everyone should get an equal opportunity to shine in the spotlight… although he says it more doubtfully than usual. In actuality, he has no opinion on the matter, and just wants the movie to get done and over with, no matter how long it takes. An argument breaks out shortly thereafter; not helping matters is when Ragatha starts bragging about her original friends, Gangle and Zooble, being the new leaders of the costume and make-up department, and Jax just silently leaves. Eventually Ragatha leaves too, albeit more angrily and not understanding a single thing that just happened.

Ragatha goes to Astrucine's office later that night, and demands another script change… Yup. Without Caine and Pomni’s knowledge, Ragatha had been consulting with Astrucine Suite about the script, both the original movie and the sequel, and was demanding changes to the scripts, in order to make her the star of the show instead of everyone else sharing the fame and fortune with her. And Astrucine just lets her. Astrucine patiently listens to Ragatha's lamentation over the movie, and the director begins giving sweet nothings to the ragdoll woman, blissfully agreeing to everything she's saying. Soon, Ragatha talks the movie director into getting rid of Misty's redemption, just so that Dollybug gets to have all the attention to herself. Astrucine even admits that she doesn't like what Caine and Pomni are doing to her movie, sharing the same belief that Misty is nothing more than a lost cause. Once they agree to a settlement, Ragatha leaves, and when she's out of Astrucine's earshot, she makes another phone call, saying she's got a very important job for someone, while holding a pin in her hand in the shape of peacock plumes.

The next morning arrives, and the studio of L’amour de ma Vie is hit yet again with another akumatization attack, the victims being Colleen Barrett and Robert Jayne, with Colleen being turned into the villainess ��Mother Dearest” and Robert into the villain “Father Darling”. It's very early in the morning, so by that point, everyone had been asleep during that time, and were all woken up by the chaos. Kitsune and Mister Tortoise have already sprung into action posthaste, while Ragatha and Jax get alerted to the commotion and head to the totem pole tower for further information by Thomas Zhou. All the while, Jax is wondering where Princess Hornet is.

Speaking of which, Victoria Ramirez is frantically looking for the hair comb that allows her to transform into her superhero alter ego in her trailer, not knowing what happened to it. She put in on her vanity desk, like she always does, and suddenly it just vanished. As she continues searching in every nook and cranny, a cobalt blue feather floats in the distance, and lands on her silver bracelet, frightening Victoria even more. Another mysterious voice introduces herself as “Juno”, and offers to help her find her missing hair comb, in exchange for the Miraculous of the cat and ladybug. She isn't given a choice to resist, as a giant murder hornet appears right behind her to cause more mayhem to the studio.

Thomas Zhou introduces the new threat to the two actors-turned-superheroes, including the giant hornet that is apparently known as a sentimonster, created by the holder of the Peacock Miraculous, apparently a lackey to Mariposa who goes by the name Juno, via a blue feather known as an amok. While Ragatha ecstatically accepts the mission without even considering anything else, Jax is more… cautious? Nervous? His mind seems to be somewhere else, and Ragatha has to snap him out of it. Before Thomas could even ask if the purple bunny is alright, Ragatha dismisses his concerns as “the jitters”, not even giving Jax the option to speak his mind. They transform into Dollybug and Purple Noir shortly thereafter.

The superhero quartet do their best to fight off Mother Dearest and Father Darling from their rampage as well as take care of the hornet sentimonster, and Dollybug is quick to criticize Mister Tortoise and Purple Noir whenever they're not picking up the pace or not following her orders. Kitsune only gets light criticism, and Mister Tortoise immediately notices the double standards. He's also wondering where Princess Hornet is, to which Purple Noir earnestly answers that he doesn't know. Their answers are immediately known when they find Victoria trying to run away from the giant hornet, and Mister Tortoise swoops in to rescue her, by using his special power known as “Shell-ter” to protect her from incoming rubble. Purple Noir asks why she isn't transformed, and Victoria panics, crying out that she had been looking for the hair comb before the mysterious voice named Juno attacked. Before either Mister Tortoise and Purple Noir could process this information, a new superhero shows up out of nowhere, having the same bee motif as Princess Hornet, and activating her special attack “Venom” onto the sentimonster, paralysing it into place. That lady is wearing the same hair comb that Victoria lost. Purple Noir and Mister Tortoise are horrified, while Kitsune and Dollybug look like they have been expecting her arrival. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, once Dollybug apprehends the akumatized duo, purifies the akuma and amok, and uses her “Lucky Charm” to fix everything, the new heroine gets to share the same praise and attention as Dollybug, when no one else was able to. Purple Noir is confused, and Mister Tortoise is outraged. Dollybug introduces the new hero as Yellowjacket, who greets the other heroes cordially. Purple Noir reciprocates gracefully, but with hints of suspicion, with Mister Tortoise just rolling her eyes at her, also suspicious of her motives. Mister Tortoise mentions to Purple Noir how this is the first time Dollybug is sharing the credit with someone else, making him believe that she's playing favorites. Victoria is just grateful to be saved, as are Colleen and Robert, but she questions Yellowjacket as to why she has her hair comb in the first place. That's when Yellowjacket removes the hair comb from her head and detransforms, introducing herself as Zoe Sanders, the new actress for the movie's sequel. She says she'll act as Victoria’s mentor and guide for the next few scenes of the movie. Victoria almost immediately takes Zoe's word for it, and Kitsune and Dollybug proudly showcase their new member of the acting team to everyone else, with Kitsune offering a tour around the studio, which Zoe politely declines. Zoe hands the hair comb back to Victoria and apologizes for the trouble, before leaving back to her own quarters.

Just before everyone else can get back to their own quarters, Astrucine Suite appears and congratulates the heroes on another job well done… except for Mister Tortoise and Purple Noir, to which she ends up berating Purple Noir for being a fuck-up, and Dollybug agrees with her. Kitsune also makes snide remarks about Mister Tortoise, much to the chagrin of both boys. Astrucine tells them that she expects them to do better for the actual film, before asking Victoria to come with her to her office for a brief discussion. Purple Noir then mutters to himself how the movie industry is so horrible.

Astrucine and Victoria are in the movie director's office, and the former is discussing how Zoe Sanders will be replacing her in the next movie after the sequel, which is yet to be announced. Victoria is shocked, and a little upset, but not for herself; she's more worried about what everyone else is gonna say. Astrucine brushes these concerns off, saying that the movie industry doesn't care about the feelings of everyone else. She'll still be in the movies, just not as Princess Hornet. Zoe will be playing the role of Misty Médaille’s long lost half-sister April Carter-Médaille, who is said to be nicer than Misty, and really nothing else. When Victoria asks about Ragatha, with whom she made a promise to four years ago to never let their movie roles get in the way of their budding friendship, Astrucine just says that they'll figure something out eventually. Later that evening, Victoria is pensive as she comes to terms with what's happening.

Victoria then gathers the L’amour de ma Vie film crew, the actors, Team Circus, and Pamela outside the trailer park for a special announcement, that being her replacement from the superhero role for the third movie, and everyone reacts with shock and dismay. Ragatha and Jasmin only feign sorrow for Victoria. As she continues her announcement, she reveals that the second act of the movie will involve the new threat of the Peacock Miraculous holder while the third act centers around Princess Hornet’s betrayal. Just a little heads up for all those unprepared.

It's because of this that Pomni and Caine are now beginning to question their writing abilities, as showcased when we cut to their respective trailer house. They're so gaslit by the deliberate and blatant miscommunication between them, Sarah, and Astrucine, that they don't even realize that there's something fishy about Astrucine as a whole. They're now wondering if the initial script from Dylan Crimson was a ploy for something else. Unfortunately, they have no other choice but to keep going, since they recognize the difference between a bad writer and a malicious villain on the loose… for all they know, Mariposa and Astrucine Suite could be two different people!

Meanwhile, in Jax's trailer, he's making a love card for Ragatha, or multiple love cards, as seen with the heaping pile of haphazardly created cutout hearts, and Plagg wonders if this is such a good idea. Jax reassures Plagg that it's fine; it's just a movie. Sometimes, people get carried away with the movie biz; who can fault them for getting carried away? After all, he knows what it's like to get carried away with things; what's the worst that could possibly happen? He finishes his love card, the perfect one, he says, and skips on over to Ragatha's trailer. In her trailer, Ragatha is reading a bunch of fan letters she got over the course of almost 5 years, and she's giggling and kicking her feet in pure bliss. Tikki is baffled by the amount of fan letters she's gotten since her first stint as Dollybug, and even warns her about the dangers of letting fame get to her head. Before Ragatha can continue, she hears a knock on the door, and upon opening it finds Jax holding a heart-shaped card. The purple rabbit says to her that this gift was way overdue, as he hands the card over to the ragdoll. She reads it, and it reads, “Thanks for caring.” She's a little touched by the gesture, and happily asks if they wanna hang out, and Jax accepts.

Ragatha shares some of her favorite fan letters she's gotten from being a superhero and up-and-coming actress, including a little girl that looks up to her as Dollybug, inspiring her to be her own superhero in her neighborhood. Jax wonders why the other heroes don't have any fan letters of their own, considering that Dollybug isn't the only hero in the movie. He rummages through a pile of fan letters and manages to find a couple of them centering around Mister Tortoise and Purple Noir. He reads one of them to himself and finds it endearing and wholesome, and even a little sad at the end. It's a letter to Purple Noir from a little boy, and it's about how he likes cats and wishes he saw Purple Noir in the movies more. The boy that wrote the fan letter also relates to Elijah Macaroon since his mom died a couple of years ago, and all he wants is for his dad to be happy again. Jax’s eyes widen in sadness, feeling sympathy for the poor little boy who wrote the letter, only to be brought back to his senses when he listens to an excerpt of another fan letter for Dollybug, the typical girlboss stuff she gets praised for. Deciding that's enough for now, Jax suggests they watch a movie together on TV. It's one of Ragatha's favorite movies too; Disney’s Aladdin. He silently hopes the movie night will get her mind off the Dollybug nonsense that everyone's grown collectively tired of. As the movie plays, during the scene where Aladdin says he can't wish the Genie free, Jax silently ponders to himself, and thinks back to the Smith family from The Farmlands, especially the twins Barnaby and Barbara. Even though they were NPCs they were just as alive and sentient as he was, and it makes him realize… he doesn't want to be like this forever. Not anymore. He has to do something… But what?

The next morning we see Purple Noir patrolling the streets of L’amour de ma Vie, specifically the further regions of the area away from the actual studio. We see him doing basic things like getting a cat down from the tree, helping people cross streets, stopping a petty thief from getting away with stealing a woman's purse, and he even fixes a bicycle for a kid on his way to school. Upon doing all this, he comes to discover that it actually feels really good to be nice, even if no one's there to witness it. After feeling like he's accomplished something, he returns back to the film set in a happier mood, and promises to himself to make it a daily habit.

Just as Purple Noir gets back to the studio and detransforms back into Jax, he's met with the sight of Ragatha and Zoe Sanders, the two of them chastising him for being late for the film shooting. He apologizes and just shrugs it off, meeting up with Sarah LeCœur, Bruno, and Victoria. They ask why he was late, but he dismisses them. Another montage plays, and it's not as jovial as the filming of the first movie, as this time, it's a sequence of filming outtakes, Ragatha and Zoe getting upset at the actors flubbing their lines and scenes, more akumatizations, the superheroes saving the day, with Dollybug receiving the most attention, Jax and Ragatha spending more quality time at night, Victoria’s emotional downward spiral behind the scenes, Caine and Pomni losing their sleep and sanity over writing the screenplay, Astrucine Suite and Ragatha’s meetings, Gangle and Zooble being overworked on the make-up and costumes, and Kinger and Bubble watching everything go downhill, all while the song “Le Festin” by Camille plays. Fortunately, it's not all doom and gloom since there's the additional feature of Purple Noir’s escapades being the unsung hero of L’amour de ma Vie off-camera.

By the time the montage ends, it's two years later, and Caine and Pomni are just about to finish wrapping up Act 3 of the sequel, when they begin to realize that they've been so distracted by their work that upon rereading everything they've written down that they lost sight of the original vision they had for the movie. After a brief conversation about the matter, they end up going to speak to Astrucine to see if they can still salvage what's left of their vision. The scene transitions to Jax and Sarah LeCœur in the patisserie, where he's watching the first Miraculous movie on his communicator bracelet, noticing the stark differences between him and his character, Elijah Macaroon. Elijah is woefully submissive to Ruby Darling, who is presented as being unable to do anything wrong by the narrative, a stark contrast to Ragatha, who, as of late, has started becoming more and more bossy and pretentious. Poor Misty Médaille had the sad backstory of having a neglectful father and an abusive mother, and was angry all the time because she was never loved by her family, and believed her superhero status could give her a second chance at life after being so cruel for so many years, and he's begun to feel all of that is being thrown away just because Ruby Darling is Astrucine’s writer's pet. They had depth in the first movie, and now it's not there. Sarah and Jax discuss the differences between the sequel and the first movie, and she blames Astrucine for it. Jax doesn't give a rat’s ass about the movie’s storytelling or the production process; he just wants friends. They both pray that nothing else bad happens during the filming, especially given how it was not-so-subtly revealed that the Miraculous movie is gonna be a trilogy. During their dialogue, Caine and Pomni are forced to accept yet another compromise from Astrucine Suite and walk out of the office defeatedly.

Five more months pass and production has officially finished. Ragatha, Zoe, Jasmin, and Rihanna are the only ones excessively celebrant about the movie and are eager to conclude the trilogy soon after the movie premieres. Jax, Bruno, Victoria, and Sarah are all grouped together trying to enjoy the wrap-up party, with little success. Everyone else from Team Circus is equally downtrodden, with encouragement from Pamela only providing temporary comfort for them. It's only when the blah mood lifts into something more energetic when she tells everyone about Jax’s secret acts of heroism as Purple Noir. Reactions vary from confusion, to outrage, and only two people showing genuine happiness over it. Ragatha decides to head over to Jax for a quick talk.

To say she isn't happy with the stints would be an understatement. Ragatha demands to know why Jax is stepping out of line during filming, and he tells her that he's been going around town trying to do what Dollybug couldn't do during her spare time: actually helping people. She accuses him of selfishness as a result of his unpleasant track record years prior, and he fails to understand why that would be a bad thing. She tells him that the others think he's only doing this just to make himself feel better about not being in the spotlight like Ragatha is, which isn't entirely true. Yes, what Jax is doing is primarily selfish, but Ragatha is far a far worse sport about it, as Victoria points out. Victoria gets slapped in the face by Ragatha as a result, much to everyone's horror, and the indifference of everyone in Team Circus except for Gangle and Bubble, who are also just as horrified. Ragatha scolds Victoria for stepping out of line, saying that it's bad enough that Jax is behaving against Astrucine’s wishes, but to have Victoria be thrown into the mix means that she's no better than Misty Médaille herself. Zoe applauds Ragatha's bravery, as does Jasmin and Rihanna, taking her side and choosing to believe she did nothing wrong. Jax tries to help Victoria up, but is also slapped in the face by Ragatha for his supposed defiance. She makes a vow to keep him in check from now on, both as Ragatha and as Dollybug. Astrucine watches it all go down, victorious that everything is going according to her plan.

A week passes and it's premiere time. As the actors walk the red carpet, Ragatha gleefully indulges in interviewing the paparazzi and signing autographs for fans. Jax and Bruno have a minor heart-to-heart with each other about their newfound circumstances and wish each other good luck, as they'll have to repeat the filmmaking process one more time after this. When a random paparazzi NPC asks Ragatha if she and Jax are dating by any chance, just like Ruby and Elijah, she boasts how she would never in a million years even dream of kissing his yellow teeth. Jax's heart is broken as a result. Jasmin and Zoe heartily laugh in agreement, going as far as to say that he might just be the ugliest-looking bastard L’amour de ma Vie has ever seen. Jax goes back to his stoic mood from earlier, being unsurprised that Ragatha would even come to this conclusion.

Later in the cinema theater, we see scenes of the sequel movie play out, including Princess Hornet’s betrayal, where Purple Noir attempts to reach out in kindness, only for her to turn it away, believing that only she is entitled to the Bee Miraculous and no one else. Dollybug scolds Purple Noir for being a bad judge of character: Misty had revealed her identity, thus threatening her and her family's safety. She only cares about the praise and attention she receives, and isn't interested in being a good superhero. Jax cringes at the corny dialogue, but no one else seems to care except for Bruno and Victoria. There is a special aura of irony found in Dollybug’s words in that Ragatha has been nothing but an attention seeking nuisance lately… and once again, Jax believes he's being backed into a corner that's not as easy to escape from.

Four days later, we see Purple Noir back out on the town area helping a little girl find her lost puppy, and the little girl happily reunited with her puppy when he eventually finds it. His heart swells when she says he's her hero, and he strolls the streets back to the studio lot feeling on cloud nine, until he encounters his friends at the trailer park. Ragatha is the most displeased out of all of them, as is Caine. After detransforming, Jax attempts to lie his way out by saying he was just taking a stroll, which is only partially true, but no one is believing him. Even when Jax finally admits his daily escapades as Purple Noir, the sour mood doesn't soften. Pomni's more light on Jax, wanting to see the good in him, while her partner-in-crime Caine refuses to be fooled by it. It's only when Gangle and Bubble congratulate Jax on turning over a new leaf does an argument break out amongst Team Circus as the skeptical members, Ragatha and Caine especially, don't want to believe that there isn't any motive underneath that good exterior. The ringmaster asks Jax for the reason why he's all of a sudden changed, and the latter answers he just felt good doing it. Caine and Ragatha see this motive as selfish, and therefore unacceptable behavior, as while Caine believes that you shouldn't do good deeds just because it makes you feel better about yourself, but rather you should do good deeds because they are the right thing to do, Ragatha is just secretly jealous of Jax and doesn't want Purple Noir hoarding the glory away from Dollybug, but she doesn't say anything. After the ringmaster asks the rabbit to promise to never go out on those secret escapades as Purple Noir again and Jax accepts with a heavy heart, Team Circus departs and gets ready for filming. Pamela asks Jax what happened, and he curtly dismisses her, not wanting to talk about it.

According to co-directors Sarah LeCœur and Astrucine Suite, the first act is gonna center around April Carter, Misty Médaille’s older half-sister, and how she's better than Misty in every way, and is the rightful holder of the Bee Miraculous, which to the actors sounds a lot like Mary Sue behavior, but they have no other choice but to comply. Ragatha and Jasmin are the most excited out of all of them, while everyone else is just tired and ready to get this over with. As Thomas Zhou watches over everything, he can sense a gloomy vibe from everyone except Rihanna, Jasmin, Zoe, and Ragatha. He talks to Astrucine about it, and says he's not a fan of the new status quo put in place, especially since the sequel didn't do as good as the first movie. Astrucine dismisses Thomas's concerns, saying that all that matters to her right now is Ragatha's happiness. Thomas prefers the old friend group better, feeling a little sad that they've drifted away these past several years. That's when Astrucine points out the flaws of Jax and especially Elijah Macaroon, saying that Elijah will never be anything more than just a prop; a trophy for Ruby Darling to parade around like a show dog, and everyone else is a “yes-man”. Ruby is a queen amongst commoners; Dollybug is their goddess and everyone worships her. Thomas is disturbed by this revelation, and questions the director about how this might turn Ragatha into a dangerous person.

Three more months later, and things are extremely gloomy, as indicated by a rainy day in the studio. Many akumatizations and amokizations have occurred during this period, and Dollybug is all L’amour de ma Vie talks about anymore, and not even Jax’s obligatory hangouts with Ragatha do anything to lift his spirits, his heart already broken from the sequel’s movie premiere. Now, Purple Noir is subjected to getting hit by Dollybug for the slightest inconvenience during their hero gigs, as well as Victoria spiralling further into depression and anxiety the more Zoe and Ragatha sideline and abuse her. Robert, Carlita, and Colleen’s efforts to be there for Victoria are no longer enough to soothe her darkening mindset. Bruno, Kendall, Sarah, and Thomas are also having trouble helping Jax through this horrifically troubled film production, while Lewis is revealed to not be treating the other cinematographers well, especially Kinger and Bubble, with the only saving grace being Michael Bay’s presence. Gangle and Zooble are having a hard time trying to meet costume and makeup deadlines and the other costume designers and make-up artists fighting amongst themselves due to rising tensions, and Caine and Pomni are essentially forced to cater to Astrucine's demands and has completely succumbed to the grind, no different than back in the circus. This depressing display of events is all viewed by a very concerned Pamela, just as the song, “One” by Harry Nilsson, plays in the background. Jax is getting ready for filming of the next scene, a part of Act 2, which centers around Misty Médaille’s permanent defeat during the school council’s presidential elections. Pamela calls Jax and checks up on him, making sure he's okay and not entirely drained from the gruelling experience. He meets up with the others, and they try to lift each other's spirits up by wishing each other good luck on set. Jax can't help but notice something is dangerously wrong with Victoria, as her eyes look devoid of any light left in them. He will regret not checking up on her more often later in the day…

The scene of the third movie plays out like this: It's the usual president campaign, where Jasmin retires, Ruby and Misty fight over who's the better president, and of course, the story bends itself backwards to retcon everything that made Misty such a great character, making her out into a despicable monster, while Ruby is made out to be the victim of Misty's horrible behavior, while April advocates for Ruby and disowns her abusive family, including her younger half-sister. Elijah Macaroon realizes that Misty is a lost cause, and abandons her too. Soon, as the campaign continues, Misty, with nothing left to lose, accepts the akumatization and amokization, becomes “Le Révolutionnaire”, with the sentimonster “Misère” alongside her, Dollybug, Purple Noir, Mister Tortoise, Kitsune, and Yellowjacket fight her, Purple Noir is a fuck up and Dollybug physically abusing him is played for laughs, Dollybug is the sole person to save the day, and afterwards, Misty is now hated by all of France, is dragged away by her heartless mother to be shipped off to boarding school to never be seen again by society, and it's treated as the best thing ever rather than a tragedy. Ruby wins the presidential election by default, they celebrate with a party, and lastly, Misty attempts one last time to get back at her rival, only for Ruby to clap back with the worst imaginable insult: Misty has no power over Ruby, she has no people to back her up, and most importantly, she has no love in her ugly little heart. She is dead to her and the entire country, and it will never get better. It's too late to change and that she's just gonna have to live with the consequences of her actions and suffer from them for the rest of her worthless, insignificant, little life. Misty cries, completely isolated and lonely, and that's it.

Astrucine gleefully concludes filming the scene and tells everyone “I think that was a well-deserved punishment for such an useless specimen like Misty, don't you?” The only people who agree are, of course, Rihanna, Jasmin, Zoe, and Ragatha. Everyone else finds it messed up. Victoria is left utterly broken by the ordeal, and no longer responds to any gestures of concern from her co-stars. She then remembers the promise she made to Ragatha that no matter what happens, they'd still be friends, and it looks like there's still hope. Sadly, it's dashed away when Victoria tries to talk to Ragatha about the promise, and the ragdoll coldly dismisses her, telling her straight to her face that all she was to her and Astrucine, her only real friend, was a means to an end; she never mattered in the slightest. Victoria leaves, wide-eyed, and looking like she just witnessed a crime scene. Despite Bruno's efforts to talk to her, she completely ignores her surroundings as she hears back to her trailer. We never see her alive again from that point forward.

The next morning, we see Colleen Barrett going to Victoria’s trailer to bring her a breakfast sandwich when she stumbles upon a horrifying tragedy, leading her to scream and cry out her name. Victoria had hung herself last night. The news of Victoria’s death by suicide wasn't even the worst part; far from it. Instead, her death was celebrated by the anti-Misty fan groups, in a secret party hosted by Zoe Sanders herself. It's actually quite disgusting how anyone in L’amour de ma Vie would actively cheer when an actor takes their own life because of their movie role; they don't even know or care about the behind-the scenes mistreatment. No one outside of the Ramirez family even mourns Victoria other than Jax, who's taking a walk around the studio lot to clear his head, when he comes across Kristina Delbert, who's also just as hung up about Victoria's death as Jax is. They greet each other after having never talked to each other for a very long time, and the two share a conversation as they both stroll around the studio lot. They talk about the Miraculous movies, the studio being in peril from time to time, and the superheroes saving the day, and Jax even talks about how draining being an actor actually is; he never even wanted the gig in the first place. He only agreed to it because his friend, or someone he genuinely sees as a friend, loved movies and wanted to know what it was like to actually be in one. He still sees her as his friend despite the mistreatment onset and during superhero missions, and even loves her for how nice she can be when she isn't caught up in the fame and fortune. Kristina is a little crestfallen by this information, knowing what happened between Lewis Argyle and Briar Welles. No one has ever seen Briar again after her akumatization.

Later on as they continue walking, they come across a celebration from one of the studio lot’s buildings, so they investigate. They discover to their horror that Zoe is hosting the aforementioned anti-Misty party with all the Misty Médaille haters in L’amour de ma Vie in celebration of Victoria Ramirez’s passing. Jax immediately leaves the scene and goes back to his trailer, trying not to cry from the pain and rage. Kristina, on the other hand, yells at Zoe for the disrespect of a deceased person, to which Zoe shoots back by revealing that Astrucine ordered the party to take place, which makes matters extremely worse since it basically means she never even saw her own cast and crew members as human beings, and only sees them as tools in her grand schemes and trophies of her progress. You may think this is the worst it gets, but no; it doesn't. This isn't the end yet. The absolute worst is still yet to come, and Pamela, who's still watching over Team Circus vigilantly, is now frightened for them.

Later that evening, Kristina marches over to Astrucine Suite’s office to give the movie director a piece of her mind when she's swooped in and kidnapped by Mariposa and Juno, in the flesh. Unfortunately, because all of this is happening at night, Thomas Zhou is not awake to summon the heroes over for another mission. Unbeknownst to everyone, in spite of Caine ordering Jax to never do heroics outside of missions again, he's out here at night, as Purple Noir, exploring the city to clear his mind. As he parkours on the rooftops of the buildings, he spots Mister Tortoise doing the same thing, and goes over to him to say hi. Turns out Bruno was also doing secret hero work in Jax’s absence after word got around of his good deeds, being inspired to actually try and make the world a better place instead of focusing on the attention and clout. They have a bit of a chat over recent events, including Victoria’s death, and Zoe’s disrespectful reaction to it. Suddenly, they hear screams for help in the distance, and they both see it as a chance to prove to Dollybug that they aren't side characters to her. They find the source of the screams at a crumbling abandoned apartment building, and to Purple Noir’s horror, not only is Kristina held captive, but so are Caine and Pomni, and both turtle and cat superheroes finally know the faces of Butterfly Miraculous and the Peacock Miraculous supervillains: Mariposa and Juno. A brief tussle happens after Mariposa gives out a short monologue, asking for Purple Noir to hand over his Miraculous, and Mister Tortoise tries to rescue Kristina, Caine, and Pomni while Purple Noir handles Mariposa and Juno. It goes utterly awry when Purple Noir attempts to use his “Cataclysm” to stop Mariposa from hurting his friends, and it hits a decrepit stovetop, causing it to explode and set the building ablaze as it begins to collapse, putting Kristina, Caine, and Pomni in serious danger.

As if things couldn't get worse, Kitsune, Yellowjacket, and Dollybug show up to rescue the three hostages as Mister Tortoise and Purple Noir are also put in danger by the collapsing building, allowing Mariposa and Juno to get away. Once again, Dollybug saves the day, but this time, there is no celebration, as the sight of a very traumatized Pomni in the arms of a shocked Caine is enough to make Dollybug furious, since Purple Noir essentially just put their own friends in perpetual danger with his actions. As the building continues to burn and crumble, Purple Noir fearfully explains that he and Mister Tortoise were just trying to save their friends. He's heartbroken to see that Pomni is frightened for her dear life from the whole ordeal and makes flimsy apologies out of guilt and terror. Dollybug brutally chastises Purple Noir for not staying out of it, and he tearfully pleads to her for a second chance, to which she responds by smacking him in the face and knocking him to the ground, horrifying Mister Tortoise further. She even goes as far as to call him a jinx and a burden on the team while he's on the ground, trembling in sadness and fear.

Purple Noir briefly misnames Dollybug as Ragatha as he frightenedly begs for her to stop while she's pummeling him further trying to get him to shut up. Yellowjacket stops Dollybug from potentially killing Purple Noir and tells her to leave; it's not worth it. She does so, but not before using her “Lucky Charm” to repair the damage. The building is no longer burning, but it's still collapsed, and now it's raining outside. Mister Tortoise, upon seeing Purple Noir badly beaten, offers to help him, but he remarks that he can do it himself, and that he doesn't need anyone's pity right now. He staggers back to his trailer in the rainstorm, tired, woozy, and softly crying. When passerbys spot him, they point and laugh at his pathetic state, making him cry even harder. The moment he reaches the trailer park, he detransforms back into Jax, and heads inside to his designated trailer to go to sleep. He's exhausted and humiliated, and some shut-eye would feel great right about now.

He wakes up in the studio’s clinic the next morning, his head, arms, torso, and legs all bandaged up, and laying in a hospital bed. He's scared out of his mind and upon seeing Sarah LeCœur and Kendall Ferguson next to him, he demands to know where he is and what's happening. Kendall explains to Jax that he passed out in his sleep from his injuries. Injuries that were supposed to kill him, but through some random miracle, didn't. Jax just cries in response. Sarah looks guilty about something, but we don't know what it is yet, so she leaves without a word. Kendall offers to stay with him however.

It stays quiet for a while until Ragatha offers to visit. A selfish part of Jax hopes she'll offer him words of encouragement and comfort, as seen when his face briefly lights up, but that's not what happens. She asks Kendall to leave so that they can have a private discussion together, and so he complies. Jax silently begs for Kendall to stay, but he leaves anyway. Ragatha coldly remarks to Jax that he should have stayed in line so that something like this wouldn't happen. He says to her that he never even wanted the movie role in the first place; he was only doing so because he wanted to make her happy, to which she responds by saying that she already was happy until Astrucine Suite made the decision to make Jax a co-star. He accuses her of only thinking about taking the spotlight from her out of jealousy, and Ragatha claps back by saying that Jax always has to ruin a good thing for someone else just by existing. Hurt by this comment, he frustratedly reveals how he tried to stay in line as much as he could, but everything kept getting in the way, and the only support system he had were Bruno and Victoria, one of whom is dead now. Ragatha is appalled, knowing damn well that Jax is a hypocrite for the way he used to treat NPC characters back in the day, especially those deemed unimportant. Jax says that she's not safe from this argument either since she's treated Victoria and the other L’amour de ma Vie crew members like shit, when she used to be so nice before, to which Ragatha says she's only pretending to be nice to the NPCs so that she doesn't ruin the suspension of disbelief for herself and her real friends. Jax reveals that the other NPCs, the Smith family, were the closest thing to an actual family that he had, when his real family from the human world had treated him like the dirt at the bottom of their shoes during his childhood. Ragatha is disgusted at the notion that Team Circus was not a good enough family for him that feels the need to surround himself with a bunch of fakes just to feel like he belongs, and Jax claps back that he had an actual purpose in life when he was with the Smith family back in The Farmlands. He felt like he could get a fresh start in a place where no one knew just who he used to be, where he could finally have a home he can come back to. And while he couldn't have that, he figured maybe he could try that again by becoming an actor and superhero, and Ragatha's uppity demeanor and pushing people away for the fame and fortune kept getting in the way of that; even if they were just NPCs, he stopped caring about whether or not they were fake, because they actually cared.

That's when Ragatha finally lets out her emotions to Jax: she doesn't actually fucking care who she has to silence to get her way. She doesn't care if Astrucine is a shitty movie director, she doesn't care if she's hurting the people she loves and cares about because all that matters to her is that she's the main character, she's the star of the show; she's a girl living in a magical world filled with magical beings she befriends along the way and everyone else is just her sidekick, just like how Purple Noir is just a sidekick to Dollybug. And Jax sharing the spotlight with her ruined those chances, so she decided to make everyone's lives a living hell just to remind Jax that this is who he'll always be; he was born to ruin lives, so she went out of her way to change the script over and over just so she could ruin his in return; a little payback if you will. Jax is stricken with horror. He never wanted any of this; Caine and Pomni are probably going through absolute hell to try to revise the screenplay that Ragatha ruined for them, and he's being blamed for it. Ragatha then tells Jax that she was also the one to make the two sequels a reality via Astrucine Suite, not liking the first movie’s screenplay that essentially took away her own little revenge plot against the lagomorph. Jax asks fearfully if all of this was just so she could have revenge… for what!? And she bluntly answers all the centipedes left in her room, all the players he's ever bullied, and all the adventures he ruined with his carelessness. He wonders how any of that is fair since it's not just him that's being affected, it's his friends from L’amour de ma Vie and Team Circus as well. Ragatha harshly repeats that he's extremely good at ruining lives, so much so that he doesn't even have to do anything; just his mere presence is enough to make someone within a 10-mile radius miserable. If anyone else did anything bad like Jax does, then that's only because he made them. And if someone else went out of their way to hurt Jax, he must have asked for it, to which he always does, just like how he asked to be in the clinic right now. She concludes by saying Victoria would still be alive right now if he hadn't been friends with her, and she leaves in frustration. Ragatha ignores Jax’s depressed sobbing from the clinic.

Ragatha is wandering the studio lot to who knows where; she doesn't care where she goes, she needs to be away from everyone and everything. She even rudely ignores any and all attempts to reciprocate the raving fans in the city, including autograph signings and interviews. She stumbles upon the giant Eiffel Tower-esque structure in the middle of L’amour de ma Vie from the beginning of the episode and rests upon one of the huge legs of the tower. She stares at the giant Hollywood Sign-esque peak that says “Magie du Cinéma” as she cools off from her initial anger. As she does so she reminisces about all the good times she used to have with her friends, all the times where she attempted to be inclusive towards Jax when no one else would, and looks back on how she acted in L’amour de ma Vie as opposed to how she used to act in the circus with her friends, and especially during the first initial places in the road trip. It even includes the time from before the dimensional diplomats found the Digital Circus game, where Jax saved Ragatha from almost abstracting because of him at one point, even if it cost him his friendships with everyone else. All of this happens while Gracie Abrams’s “I Love You, I'm Sorry” plays in French, it's played out like a flashback montage. Remorse finally sets in for Ragatha and she cries herself to sleep.

By the time Ragatha wakes up, it's sunset, and she has a lot to think about in terms of her behavior. She comes to discover that becoming an actress was a horrible idea that should never have happened, so she decides to do the next right thing: return her earrings to Astrucine Suite and permanently retire from her acting career, for the greater good of her remaining friends. She gets up from her spot, takes off her earrings, and marches towards Astrucine's office.

Meanwhile, Caine and Pomni are meeting up with Sarah LeCœur in their own trailer to get updated on Jax's condition. While Pomni is a lot more sympathetic, albeit a bit condescending considering her own personal feelings towards Jax, Caine is actually somewhat indifferent about it, saying that if Ragatha couldn't show the rabbit what for, then who would? Sarah is a bit perturbed by Caine's statement, but does not push it further. But before the conversation can continue anymore, Astrucine Suite comes on over to the trio with Ragatha next to her. The ragdoll looks sullen and forlorn, probably because of her regret and remorse for her behavior and actions. She invites them all over to her office. Pamela appears on video chat to keep them company while everything gets situated.

It's yet another meeting at Astrucine's office, and this time, this includes the presence of Bruno, Jasmin, Zoe, Kendall, Kristina, Carlita, Robert, Colleen, Thomas, Rihanna, and Michael Bay. Caine and Pomni also spot the presence of Kinger, Bubble, Gangle, and Zooble, all of whom are just as confused and frightened as them. Astrucine then makes an announcement that she's been meaning to share since Team Circus’s arrival to L’amour de ma Vie. That's when she pulls out the peacock-shaped pin from her pocket and gives it to Sarah. Sarah has a sad look on her face when she puts the pin on. From thin air, the tiny peacock Kwami with a silver choker and an indigo gem on it appears, completely numb and tired. With tears in her eyes, Sarah calls out, “Duusu… spread my feathers…” and she transforms into… no. No! No, this can't be happening, no!! It's… Juno.

Astrucine then reveals everything: The whole movie franchise was just a scam so she could try and enact her evil scheme. And the notoriety of Team Circus would be her key targets to do just that! She even crafted the fake script she wrote using Dylan Crimson, who, along with Briar Welles, was a sentimonster created to test the heroes to see if they had potential or not! However, a certain ragdoll got in the way of that plan because of her desire to be in a real movie instead of playing pretend like a child and her dollies, so she temporarily played with Ragatha’s feelings in order to soothe her and distract her from interfering more, but it didn't work, so she had to resort to desperate measures in order to keep her plan from faltering. She treated Ragatha like a princess, but also had to remain practical in order to not let her frustrations consume her, something she knew Caine could relate to, especially with how often the script kept changing, and the bratty ragdoll would not shut up about it, so she caved in while maintaining her façade. It was supposed to be easy, but she failed to take into consideration just how time-consuming this process actually was, not to mention how there wasn't even supposed to be a franchise, so she decided to just say “screw it!” and decided enough was enough! And Ragatha's resignation made it a lot better for her, because now… with the ladybug earrings in her possession, she can enact the rest of her plan and grab the cat ring too while Jax is hospitalized! With this screech of frustration, Astrucine pulls out the butterfly brooch, puts it on, and a butterfly Kwami appears, wearing a silver collar with a purple gem on it. It's there that she cries out, “Nooroo! Dark wings rise!!” and she transforms into… Mariposa. While Pamela, Bruno, Ragatha, Caine, Pomni, Kinger, Bubble, Gangle, and Zooble are all horrified by the reveal, everyone else just looks at each other awkwardly and with hints of guilt and shame. The only two who are completely unfazed are Jasmin and Zoe. Meanwhile, Michael Bay is not even paying attention to the high stakes in front of him, much to Kinger’s frustration. As if things haven't already been terrible enough, Juno raises her hand and snaps her fingers, leaving behind indigo smoke clouds and feathers in their place, leaving behind Team Circus, Jasmin, Bruno, Zoe, and Michael Bay. …Yup. Those actors and crew members were sentimonsters all along! Now that Astrucine Suite, or rather Mariposa, has the earrings, she's off to find Jax and retrieve the ring as well! Juno follows behind her partner-in-crime, as they both leave a giant hole in the ceiling above them.

Pomni is rather impressed by the long haul, so she slow-claps in astonishment while Caine just bangs his head on a nearby desk. Ragatha laments how this is all her fault, but Zooble angrily cuts the bullshit before it can even begin, telling Ragatha straight to her face that she doesn't deserve to wallow in self-pity, as there are bigger fish to fry at the moment. Bruno takes Zooble's side, adding that if it weren't for not just Astrucine's plans and Ragatha's entitlement and belief that she's the main character for every situation she comes across, no one would be in this mess right now. Ragatha doesn't deny any of this, nor does she try to defend herself. She just accepts her fate with shame embedded in her. Jasmin and Zoe plan to transform into Kitsune and Yellowjacket respectively, saying to Ragatha very plainly that they were never really her friends; they just wanted the clout and praise from having social connections with an international savior and her “legion of misfits”, as Zoe puts it, putting an even bigger blow to Ragatha, and admittedly everyone else too. If her lesson wasn't learned from Mariposa’s reveal alone, then this most certainly did it. Ragatha refuses to cry about it, knowing damn well that this isn't about her, and she lets the two go off on their own to stop Mariposa and Juno themselves. Michael Bay then suggests that they shouldn't have to stand around either, as he finds the octagonal box with Chinese symbols on it on top of Astrucine's desk. Upon opening it, there's other pieces of jewelry inside it, and that included the ones used for the movie production. Bruno goes ahead and transforms into Mister Tortoise while everyone grabs a different Miraculous inside the box: Pomni gets a pearl anklet, Zooble grabs a golden clawed thumb ring, Gangle grabs a silver coin pendant, Kinger grabs a purple-and-black panjas bracelet, Bubble grabs a scarlet pearl choker that he uses as a headpiece instead, Michael Bay grabs an ouroboros wristband, Caine grabs a pair of goat horn-shaped hair clips that he puts on his top hat, and Ragatha grabs a pair of sunglasses, albeit a bit begrudgingly. They all transform into their respective superhero identities: Pomni becomes the Pig Miraculous hero “Strawberrina” (Caine becomes incredulous over the awful name choice), Zooble becomes the Rooster Miraculous hero “Kentucky Fry”, Gangle becomes the Mouse Miraculous hero “Minimouse”, Kinger becomes the Tiger Miraculous hero “Tiger King”, Bubble becomes the Dragon Miraculous hero “Mushu”, Michael Bay becomes the Snake Miraculous hero “Anaconda”, Caine becomes the Goat Miraculous hero “Ibex Incroyable”, and Ragatha becomes the Horse Miraculous hero “Equestria”.

Meanwhile, Mariposa and Juno capture Jax from the clinic, and take him to the top of the Eiffel Tower-esque structure in L’amour de ma Vie. He was already crying himself to sleep when it happened, so his drowsiness prevents him from processing everything until he's already up at the tower. When he does come to, however, he's met with the gazes of Mariposa and Juno, and he's automatically scared. He attempts to transform into Purple Noir, but his prior injuries are so severe that he instead doubles over and pukes before falling to the floor, just as Mariposa is about to give the poor bunny rabbit a villain monologue revealing everything that happened. She relays the same info presented to Team Circus and the few humans of L’amour de ma Vie moments earlier, and Jax can only kneel there and cry as he's left reliving The Farmlands all over again, repeating over and over “not again” as Mariposa and Juno detransform in front of him to reveal themselves to be the movie director Astrucine Suite and Sarah LeCœur respectively. The betrayal from Sarah breaks Jax’s heart as he's left crying even harder now, and Sarah's equally tearful apologies do nothing to soothe him. Astrucine proposes a deal to Jax; hand over the Cat Miraculous, and his friends shall be spared. Jax does not even hesitate. He promises to hand over his ring, on the condition that one of them puts him out of his misery first. Astrucine calls Jax a coward for not being man enough to face his emotions, while Sarah is shocked and terrified by the prospect. She's begging him not to do it! Before Jax can remove his ring, Kitsune and Yellowjacket appear to the rescue, and as soon as Astrucine and Sarah transform back into Mariposa and Juno respectively, an all-out hero-villain fight ensues. It lasts for around two minutes before Yellowjacket apprehends Juno with her “Venom” ability, paralysing her right where she stands. Mariposa mocks the two heroes saying that she already has the ladybug earrings; once she grabs the cat ring, there's nothing they'll do to stop her from making her grand wish. You see, what no one was informed of was that when you combine the powers of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, you get to make a wish that'll change reality forever. However, it comes at a cost: in order to maintain balance in the world, you have to trade something in return. And she plans to trade in the lives of Team Circus to do just that! Before we even learn what Mariposa’s wish is, the other heroes pop on by to save the day, thanks to the “Voyage” portals created by Equestria. As per usual, Pamela and the rest of the dimensional diplomats cheer the heroes on from the other side.

Another grand superhero-supervillain fight ensues, but this time, Mariposa and Juno are outnumbered. The abilities used by the heroes are Minimouse’s “Multitude”, in which she splits into five people and shrinks, overpowering Mariposa for a little bit, Kentucky Fry’s “Sublimation”, in which they use their fountain pen to grant super strength and fall damage immunity to themself so that they can (very reluctantly) grab Jax from the tower and bring him to safety on ground level, Mushu’s “Lightning Dragon”, in which he becomes a ball of lightning to stun Mariposa and Juno and get them both to fall off the tower, Tiger King uses his “Clout” to punt the two villainess into the town area with a single powerful punch, and Ibex Incroyable uses “Genesis” to create a lead pipe out of thin air using his giant paintbrush. The fight continues in the town area as Anaconda and Kentucky Fry carry Jax over to the town area for safekeeping. Kentucky Fry leaves Jax and Anaconda to join the fight, and Jax, in a state of dizziness, can only look at the scene in awe. Strawberrina uses her “Gift” ability to try and get Mariposa to see the error of her ways by making her confront her greatest desire… only for that desire to be just as evil as she is. Mariposa, better known as Astrucine Suite, has plans for world domination using the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Cat. This horrifying reveal is enough to distract Strawberrina from noticing a surprise attack coming from Mariposa and Juno, and she's knocked out on one of the buildings’ walls. As a result, Equestria battles Mariposa one-on-one to get the earrings back, while everyone else confronts Juno. Even if she's outnumbered, Juno is exceptionally clever and strong, and she's able to withstand and maneuver most of the physical attacks, including a brief stint of Ibex Incroyable using the lead pipe to hit her in the knees. It takes a few minutes, but they all emerge victorious when Tiger King and Ibex Incroyable knock Juno out with a double knuckle sandwich of some sorts, sending her careening to the ground below them, and Equestria retrieves the earrings from Mariposa and puts them on. Everyone celebrates. She even goes over to Anaconda and Jax to watch over him for a bit.

It's not over yet, though. Sensing that she has lost, Mariposa resorts to one last trick up her sleeve by akumatizing herself, becoming the mega-villainess “Améthyste”, and a brewing thunderstorm occurs in its wake. The storm soon starts destroying everything in its path, creating chaos and mayhem all over L’amour de ma Vie, and the heroes are forced to retreat, taking with them the injured Jax and the semi-comatose Strawberrina. They head for the movie studio lot and into one of the exterior sets, the totem pole tower. It takes a few hours, but eventually, Jax does fully awaken to find that he's surrounded by his friends from Team Circus (sans Caine for some inexplicable reason), Bruno, Jasmin, Zoe, and Michael Bay. He's immediately terrified for his life upon seeing Ragatha, and as expected, her apologies do not sway him. Fortunately, he's comforted by Bruno, who as it turns out, was quite literally the only person who was even remotely there for Jax when no one else would advocate for him. Because that's what real friends do. Jax sadly remembers Sarah's identity as Juno, the Peacock Miraculous supervillainess, and his despair returns once more. Thankfully, the brief moment of despair dissipates when the two start sharing stories about each other, including how nice the Smith family are from The Farmlands from Jax's perspective, and even stories about Bruno's large family and the wild antics they come up with.

During all of that, Ragatha puts the sunglasses back into the jewelry box, and transforms into Dollybug without anyone looking… or at least she thought no one was looking until Jax and Bruno spot her about to head outside one the windows, and the latter immediately assumes she's out there trying to snag the spotlight again. An argument breaks out in which Ragatha tries to tell them she needs to do the right thing once and for all; she caused this mess and she alone has to fix it. And that's when Jax does something unimaginable. He hugs Ragatha. He tells her she doesn't have to do this alone. They're gonna go after Améthyste together, like actual partners, and this time, it won't be like in the movies. It doesn't have to be pretend anymore. It'll be just like how it was always meant to be. And whatever happens going forward, they'll always have each other. The decision is made. After Jax becomes Purple Noir again, the duo head out into the town to defeat Améthyste for good. No more sidelining. No more spotlights. It's just them two against their ultimate foe.

Dollybug and Purple Noir have to dodge all sorts of things around the town, including lava lakes, falling building debris, flying vehicles, and the occasional distressed denizens in need of being saved. Eventually they reach the source of the chaos storm: a giant dark butterfly with Améthyste being the power supply right in the middle. Améthyste, now completely insane and drunk with power, confronts the duo, questioning why all of a sudden they're working together when they couldn't even do just that during the movie shoots. Dollybug says to her that more often than not, celebrityhood will get in someone's head if it goes unchecked. She remembers the promise she made to Victoria a few years ago, but unfortunately, she broke that promise because all she cared about was herself… and now she's gone. Améthyste just laughs in Dollybug's face, affirming her words and trying to break her further, saying that her selfishness and immaturity is gonna result in the end of the world as she knows it. Purple Noir steps up by saying that everyone has made their fair share of mistakes (well, that's one way of putting it!), but what matters is that they fix those mistakes if they genuinely want to become better people, and that starts by saying you're sorry. Améthyste, however, isn't sorry in the slightest. She really does want to take over the world because she's just that power-hungry and evil. Still though, it was a good try on Purple Noir’s part to reach out.

And so, the final battle ensues, featuring four minutes of nonstop action all over the town as Dollybug and Purple Noir take on Améthyste, including her arsenal of “Lucky Charms” and his surprise “Cataclysm” attacks. Unfortunately, it looks like they've already lost when Améthyste overpowers both of them when Mister Tortoise comes in to save the hero duo with his “Shell-ter”, shielding them from Améthyste’s final blow. Behind Mister Tortoise are, of course, Kitsune, Yellowjacket, Ibex Incroyable, Strawberrina, Minimouse, Kentucky Fry, Mushu, Tiger King, and Anaconda, who's holding a video camera for some reason. The real final battle can finally begin, and from the other side of the screen, the digital diplomats cheer them on like it's a football game.

Four more minutes pass, and once again, they show Améthyste what for with their abilities, and for the third time, it's close, as in an attempt to defend his friends from an oncoming attack, Mister Tortoise is catastrophically wounded by one of Améthyste’s barbed tails piercing Mister Tortoise’s stomach, rendering him out of commission for the fight. Dollybug and Purple Noir lead the rest of the battle as they face the mega-villainess head on personally while everyone is dodging attacks and protecting civilians. …Anaconda, meanwhile, does nothing but watch everything go down as he has a video camera with him. Eventually, after a brief fake out where it looks like Améthyste is gonna win after holding Dollybug over a lava lake below them, Purple Noir sneaks up from behind them and uses his “Cataclysm” to destroy the headpiece Améthyste is wearing, freeing the akuma from its grasp. Améthyste is forcefully reverted back to Mariposa as she plummets from the sky, saving herself from falling into the lava lake by grabbing a piece of the building. Just as she attempts to climb back up and face the heroes in a frenzied insult session towards the heroes, pointing out their individual flaws and whatnot, Ibex Incroyable shuts her up by whacking her with a lead pipe he created with his “Genesis” and sends her falling down to the lava lake below. It's a rather gruesome defeat, but one that was necessary nevertheless.

Purple Noir and Strawberrina retrieve Mister Tortoise from his resting spot and take him to Dollybug. He is in critical condition, and is drifting in and out of consciousness in her arms. Taking one last look of the destruction Améthyste caused, Dollybug uses her “Lucky Charm” healing wave and manages to fix most of the damage created. The only things that could not be saved are Astrucine Suite, as the only thing left of her is the Butterfly Miraculous, and the grave wound on Mister Tortoise. As Dollybug tearfully apologizes to him, Purple Noir runs off to find Juno, praying that she's still physically okay. He does eventually find her, still knocked out from the double knuckle sandwich from earlier. He grabs her and takes her back with the others, just as police forces begin to head over to the scene of what just transpired.

The sun has risen, and Bruno and Sarah are in the studio’s clinic recovering from their injuries. Everyone else is talking amongst themselves, and Jax keeps vigil on both of the bedridden individuals. Bruno is happy that the threat is finally over, while Sarah looks away in perpetual shame and absolute guilt. She can't bear to face everyone. Jax decides to talk to Sarah, and that's when she makes a really heartfelt apology. She wanted to be a famous movie director more than anything that she was willing to lose a part of herself to do so. She says she should never have agreed to be Astrucine's assistant, knowing damn well she was just using her in the end. While Jax can't bring himself to completely forgive Sarah for what she's done, he does accept her apology. Their friendship is rekindled from there. Michael Bay then interrupts the heartfelt moment by reminding everyone about the third Miraculous movie in the trilogy, and how it never got finished. Ragatha is a little upset that they'll be disappointing the fans, but Michael Bay tells them they don't have to be disappointed, because he managed to capture some footage from the final battle that happened last night all on his camera. It's impressive, to say the least. But now the tricky part is filling in the gaps for the missing scenes before and after. That's when everyone bands together and brainstorms different ideas, with the help of Caine and Pomni’s screenplay skills. It's a lively little scene in the clinic, one that would hopefully pay off after so much hardship and struggles occuring in L’amour de ma Vie.

Four months later, everyone manages to haphazardly paste together the rest of the movie using existing footage and the newly created ones from before Astrucine's plans were revealed. The wrap up party is a lot less extravagant than the previous two, but everyone is having a lot more fun. There's even a brief debacle with Caine being able to speak French, but it's in the Quebec dialect as opposed to the standard European one the denizens of L’amour de ma Vie speak, much to Jasmin’s amusement. Ragatha nervously heads over to Jax to apologize for everything, repeating how she was so awful to everyone just because of her stupid revenge fantasy. Jax also apologizes to Ragatha for everything, albeit in a more strained tone of voice due to his fear of vulnerability. They both promise to each other to better themselves for the foreseeable future with a pinky promise, a bittersweet parallel to the promise Ragatha made to Victoria 8 years earlier. And to top this cute moment off, they officialize their relationship with each other, albeit in secret since they don't know yet where this'll lead them, since they still have a road trip to complete. Pamela congratulates the two on Jax's communicator bracelet, happy and relieved that the worst has finally passed.

Two weeks later, the movie premiere arrives, and it's not as flashy as the previous two, but it still has its fans attending. Zoe is understandably receiving a crap ton of hate for replacing Victoria by the fans at the premiere, and she accepts this with defeated grace as she moseys on the red carpet. Sarah greets the actors at the cinema, where the refreshments are being sold inside. All the members of Team Circus are also inside, including Michael Bay, who looks like he needs to cut back on the sugary snacks in his arms. Everyone gets bags of popcorn and drinks for themselves at the lobby, including their respective snacks of choice: Michael Bay got himself sour gummies, Zooble has Takis™, Pomni has Joyride™, Kinger has pretzels, Gangle has red licorice, Bubble has Doritos™, Sarah has Reese's™, Jax has salted peanuts, Caine has potato chips (albeit begrudgingly), and Ragatha has a chocolate bar. Just before they're about to head inside the theater where the movie is playing, Ragatha sees a rosy pink glow inside her popcorn bag, and after rummaging through it a little, she finds the next jewel for their road trip, causing everyone's communicator bracelets to receive this pop-up notification:

~JEWEL OBTAINED!~

6 out of 26

Only 20 remain

The jewel is a gorgeous-looking pink Spinel, whose rosy shade is reminiscent of that of the equally gorgeous carnation flower. Ragatha admires the jewel as she heads inside the theater as it begins glowing and emitting floating hearts when she spots Caine and Bubble having a lighthearted argument from afar. Jax notices the jewel in Ragatha's hand, and they give each other a sad smile, knowing that after the movie, it'll be time for them to leave for their next road trip destination. The glowing and emitting of floating pink hearts intensify from the Spinel when Jax and Ragatha hold hands as the movie begins.

…The movie ends up being absolute dogcrap as just three hours later, everyone leaves the movie confused, disappointed, and even outraged by how poorly put together it was. The good news is that Miraculous won't be becoming a cash cow anytime soon, as Pomni points out to everyone when they leave the theater disgruntled and embarrassed. Ragatha soon tells Bruno, Sarah, Jasmin, Zoe, and Michael Bay that they have to leave now when she shows them their next jewel for the road trip. They understand completely, and they all bid the members of Team Circus a loving farewell with hugs and kisses. Michael Bay even says that it was actually fun being with them and that they gave his career life and energy when no one else would. Pamela even thanks Michael Bay for the help, which he reciprocates with fond affection. The eight members of Team Circus wave farewell to their new L’amour de ma Vie friends as they all go back to Hôtel Spielberg to rest up for tomorrow.

The very next morning, everyone packs their things up for the Magical Digital Van and everyone notices Ragatha and Jax being a bit closer to each other than normal. Pomni bets $15 to Caine that they're in a relationship, much to the latter's annoyance. Pamela checks up on everyone and they all happily reply that they're doing well. Gangle happily recounts how she's now an expert in putting on make-up and Zooble exclaims that they can make a mean prom dress now. Everyone else relays how they enjoyed experiencing what it was like behind the scenes of a good movie before everything got ruined by Astrucine's evil plans. The only thing they're not a fan of is Ragatha letting the fame and fortune get to her head, as they're still not over what she said to Jax back at the movie studio’s clinic. Caine still refuses to look Jax in the eye despite everything that's happened, and the tension continues to be awkward when Jax tries to make some small talk to the ringmaster before he immediately shuts it down by reminding him they still need to pack, implying that Jax's path to redemption is not yet complete.

Eventually, everyone is packed up, they've eaten their breakfast, and everyone is sitting down in their respective seats of the Magical Digital Van, with Jax and Ragatha watching The Land Before Time on her communicator bracelet, leaning closer to each other as they enjoy the movie. Gangle is extremely happy for them and tells Zooble about it, who remains skeptical about it due to their personal feelings towards Jax. The episode ends with everyone engaging in lively banter, Caine trying to concentrate on his driving while simultaneously getting humorously fed up with everyone's antics, Ragatha and Jax finally having each other, and Pamela being proud of herself for finally setting right what went wrong as they all continue to embark on yet another grand adventure on their amazing digital road trip.

~~~~

Current Status:

6 Jewels have been collected

20 remain

📹📽️🎞️🎬🍿🥐💞🐞🐈‍⬛

~~~~

• OG Cast

Lizzie Freeman as Pomni

Amanda Hufford as Ragatha

Michael Kovach as Jax

Sean Chiplock as Kinger

Marissa Lenti as Gangle

Ashley Nichols as Zooble

Gooseworx as Bubble

Alex Rochon as Caine

~~~~

• Audience Surrogate Cast/Diplomats

Hynden Walch as Valerie

Amy Winfrey as Garcia

Mandy Moore as Lulu

Nevaeh Hamilton (me) as Bethany

~~~~

• Background Diplomats

Andrea Libman as Winona

Cristina Vee as Patricia

E.G. Daily as Rionna

Stephanie Sheh as Olivia

Debi Derryberry as Yolanda

Cree Summer as Gemma

Ashleigh Ball as Cécelia

Erica Luttrell as Belle

Ashly Burch as Imera

Kimberly Brooks as Bailey

~~~~

• Main Guiding Diplomat

Susan Egan as Pamela

~~~~

• Episode’s Antagonists

Rebecca Sugar as Astrucine Suite

Selah Victor as Sarah LeCœur

Bryce Papenbrook as Lewis Argyle

Shoba Narayan as Briar Welles

George Gendi as Dylan Crimson

Erin Fitzgerald as Kristina Delbert

Lou Jean as Rihanna Roman

~~~~

• Secondary Characters Introduced

Bryson from Haminations as Bruno Feuille

“Jaiden Animations” Dittfach as Jasmin Aishite

Keith Silverstein as Kendall Ferguson

Jennifer Hale as Victoria Ramirez

Paul St. Peter as Thomas Zhou

Cristina Vee as Zoe Sanders

Sabrina Weisz as Colleen Barrett

Angie Cepeda as Carlita Caberita

Joe Ochman as Robert Jayne

Michael Bay as Himself

~~~~

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadrt au #the amazing digital road trip #tadc road trip #tadc au #tadc caine #tadc bubble #tadc jax #tadc pomni #tadc ragatha #tadc kinger #tadc gangle #tadc zooble #tadrt ep 7

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mwexodusofficial · 5 months ago

Text

Chapter XXII: Duty

(Music: "Snowman", by Sia)

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"What the hell are they putting on? It's the 31st of December. Fools."

The Magna Victoria descended well into the night, and its attendees grew more plastered as time went on- it became obvious once the music playing serene mixtures of classical and future melodies was hijacked by some random saboteur and Christmas music was played. The terrible duty of sobriety was passed from diplomats and nobility onto their unfortunate entourages, watching them enjoy this occasion with withering eyes. It was at this point that many individuals started growing a little 'goofy'- put simply.

The first major shenanigans were a hundreds-person-long conga line that passed through the hallways, joined by random passersby, some occasionally dipping out to enjoy other amusements. The second was a competitive drinking contest that started with a challenge between a foreign warlord and a Canari Martial Commander, ending in a synchronized macarena. People with unfathomable amounts of power and wealth were, simultaneously and most of the time, the same people who knew best how to throw the craziest, memory-making parties- especially when funding was not a concern.

The third shenanigan was Hawkes anticipating several high-end business magnates and nobility, both domestic and foreign, who would drink themselves into the confidence necessary to try and attempt persuasion on Captain Hawkes.

"Lord Hawkesshhh, how grandiose you look this evening! I can't believe they finally found those antique recordings!"

And here was the first one. Hawkes, who'd been previously sipping casually on a goblet of wine and admiring Curly and Anya from afar, groaned softly as a young-faced pale-skinned noblewoman with curly auburn-red hair, hailing from the Montaug District -indicated by the District lapel pinned to the rightmost breast section of her toned yet powerfully-appearing dress wear-, danced up with supreme confidence to him; clearly as blitzed as he was in the moment.

"Why thank you, Aristocrat #7819. Wuh the fuck are you talking about?"

The noblewoman hee-hawed with unhinged insobriety, leaving Hawkes unsure in his intoxicated state to determine accurately if she was genuinely laughing or playing the part to curry his favor. But for some reason... he didn't mind it. It was the first time he could remember being... relaxed.

FuCck it, He thought lazily and with an audible hiccup. I live in a whole world that loves me. I deserve a little R&R.

He cracked a smirk as he saw this dazzling young woman laughing so raucously, starting to focus on the little details in her appearance. Her button nose and freckles paired amazingly with cerulean eyes, a triangular-shaped face, and thin lips with a healthy pink hue accentuating good health.

"You're quick on your toes, aren't ya?" She remarked in a heavily Scottish accent, her laughter slowly dying down for her to take a long swig from a considerable mug of ale. "The Canari Neo-Antiquarian Society was set to retrieve a large digital archive of Christmas songs in anticipation of the upcoming date for the holiday. They missed the date by a few days because the crew got into an argument about the best Christmas singer for the 2000s, 1950s, and 2100s era, and ended up killing almost everyone on board. The pilot had to drive home doing both the navigation and steering, which apparently he said was 'resume-proofing'."

"That's... that's, uh, a lot to take in. I don't think I legibly heard half of that, and it's not because I'm torched. Did... they all return to life successfully?"

"Yep. Yep-yep-yep."

"Okay. That's... wow. And that... just happened? Like a few days ago?"

"Today."

"Oh, f- what the fuck happened to everyone while I was gone?? One year and everyone's turned into a fuckin' lunatic!"

The noblewoman's curly hair bobbed up and down as she giggled plentifully at the animated personality of Hawkes when his guard was dropped- treasuring every nanosecond of this interaction and secretly recording the whole thing on video and audio receptors hidden within her hair. "Divine intervention really did a number on everyone's sanity."

"Did they pick a winner for the Christmas singer thing?"

"Yeah. Mariah Carey."

"Who?"

"She's probably coming up on the speakers soon."

Hawkes snickered, finding another conversation with a random attendee that happened to be enjoyable.

"You seem like a rather animated noblewoman, compared to the many I've met. Who are you?"

The redhead nodded briefly, jutting a confident hand to shake with Hawkes. Acknowledging her greeting, he returned the handshake in kind.

"Lady Meridia Lennox, Baroness and Protector of Montaug District, Lord Hawkes."

"Well, there goes my introduction," Hawkes jested, prompting another giggle from Meridia, who seemed to grow rapidly more starry-eyed as the conversation went on.

Hold on a fuckin second, Hawkes thought morbidly. This looks terrible. I need to steer away from this, for both our sakes.

"So," He started. "What brilliant market strategy do you have to pitch to me?"

"Whuh?" The redhead muttered, having seemingly delved into her head for a second with wide-eyed intensity. "O-Oh, I wasn't here to pitch anything to you, Captain... I, actually I-"

Hawkes was now inevitably intrigued, seeing the frenetic and palpable chaotic energy emanating from her pores and the quivering look in her eyes indicative of immense trauma. "Is there something you're looking to... share?"

Meridia nodded frantically, an unsettling grin surfacing across her face and disappearing in waves. "I-I should probably whisper this..."

"Uh, okay..." He muttered, kneeling on one leg, leaning in, and allowing her to spill whatever secret she had cooked up; trying to remain inconspicuous as others were traveling around.

"So... so you probably-"

"Cover the periphery of your mouth with your hand, so others can't try and read your lips."

"O-Oh, right." She muttered, cupping her hands around her mouth and making Hawkes feel more illicit every second more. Negotiations had become far more difficult ever since his transfiguration, but he found it to be a small inconvenience at worst.

"You aren't gonna proffer me for sex, right?" Hawkes asked, and not ironically, either; he'd been solicited by hundreds of attendees in subtle and not-so-subtle ways all night thus far. It was growing tiresome to him and it wasn't something he had experienced at such an elevated rate before the Era of Divinity. He groaned in disgust. People directly witness the work of God on a CCTV camera, and they think to indulge in their base desires even more?!

"What? N-No... unless you're asking me to-"

"Forget I asked, just- say your piece."

"S-So, I kind of did something a little, uh... illegal."

"Tell me about it."

"H-heh, right... so... I really wanted to, uh, get a title promotion because, well, I can't obtain a lot of the permits and networking opportunities necessary to get my District revitalized, you know, as a low-brow Baroness, so, uh... I, uh... I-I paid a lot of money to some Trial Keepers, and they, uh, um, they let me undergo a Combat Trial without all the, uh, previous things you have to do..."

Hawkes was a little speechless for a few moments; what he'd heard needed a lot of unpacking mentally. A Combat Trial was only undergone by the Atriarchs and recognized heroes of Canaris; primarily because they were fights where the foe was horrifically superior in some form. Rhinos, packs of Wolves, cougars, leopards, lions, apes, elephants, hippos... and most usually, the contestant or Atriarchs were given pitiable weaponry or armor with a few advantages, such as exoskeleton suits for increased mobility, ranged weapons against packs of predators, etcetera.

Hawkes had cemented his "Icon of Canaris" title after taking on a Combat Trial against an offspring of the Terror; a Gaiter, known for the stumbling gait it carried in its movement as a result of genetic defects and mutations; caused as a result of the rapid production and spawning of these half-baked atrocities. But for a regular person, even with physical enhancements or augmentations, to try and take on a Combat Trial without years of death-defying experience, was akin to a horrible, gruesome suicide.

"W..." Hawkes started. "Y... Did... Are... Did you... survive?"

Meridia nodded, seeming to grow pale and sweating uncontrollably as she vividly revisited the memory in real-time.

"Y-Yep. Yep! I killed it."

"Wh- Well, fucking- with a gun, or a lance, I presume?!"

"N-No, I just kind of w-winged it with a Ka-Bar knife-"

"ARE YOU A-... Are you a fucking dumbfuck? Are you actually fucking- YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

Hawkes was enraged that this stupid bitch had the gall to reel him in emotionally and then smack him in the face with the iconic glove of stupidity. "Tell me you're augmented."

"..."

Hawkes stared for a good twenty seconds at this enigma standing in front of her.

"You're lying."

"N-No, but i-it did hurt."

Hawkes fell morbidly silent as she gruesomely recounted the event as if it happened only a day ago.

"I-I walked into the, uh, arena, and, uh they, uh, opened the door to the grizzly's cage-"

"You fought a g-r-i-z-z-l-y b-e-a-r?"

"Y-Yes, you know, I, I wanted to s-show off to the, uh, Atriarchs, and you so, uh, yeah, but, uh, it hurt alot. I-I lost my eye, and he, uh, took some swipes and, uh, ripped my torso, and uh, my face, and bone, so, I-I, and I, uh, think he took my arm off, and, uh, legs-"

Captain Hawkes quickly took off his beret and gently placed it against Meridia's mouth as she vomited into it violently, quickly and quietly leading her to an isolated area.

What the fuck? Hawkes wondered miserably. I have to fix this whole fucking planet's mental states, as well? What the fuck?

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(Music: "The Sigh of the Land", by Thomas Gould)

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WHAT IS THAT GINGER BITCH DOING, EXISTING NEXT TO HIM?!

Lilia, utterly fuming with plumes of rage shooting off in her brain like engine cylinders in a twin-turbocharged V16 motor. From a distance, she was silently watching some ditzy redheaded bimbo try and cozy their way up against Hawkes, and could hardly stand the urge to walk over and stick a knife through her gut.

But that wasn't her objective for today. She was tasked with keeping an eye on a number of individuals, both Canari and foreign emissaries, who would be potential threats or issues going into the future. Although there were hundreds more like Lilia, scanning from the shadows to report any unusual behavior or activity they detected; she was the only one who had the privilege of speaking directly with Hawkes about any action needing to be taken.

That seemed to work against her, however, as she was gritting her teeth watching Hawkes escort the nauseous Meridia into a separate room. Don't even attempt seduction, wench. I know everything that goes on. Born in 2261, on 1776 Epilon Way, located in Litton Ward, Montaug District, Ilto Province. And yet despite her status as low nobility, she was still given an invitation to this prestigious event, meant especially for the Captain. You cheeky whore!

Lilia was of the mindset that those with greater ranks demonstrated far greater loyalty, a unique trait of Canari culture stemming from its hundred-year martial history. With all the information she had at her disposal, both on and off-world, she had tracked the statistical patterns of precisely-refined material data to which she studied at great length on so many topics it gave her an immediate headache to try and recall them all at once. When it came to loyalty of nobility, regardless of planet, there was a measure of inexperience, naivete, and unpredictability when it came to low nobility; especially in Canaris' culture, where time and conflict weeded out the good stock from the rot and muck. On numbers alone, she had more than enough reason to distrust the motivations of this fat-bosomed airhead.

Minutes passed, and Lilia grew bored staring at the door Hawkes had last entered, painstakingly focusing her eyes on other displays. She was immune to the hundreds of entertainment pieces laid out by the walls of the grand multi-story complexes that composed the several wings of the Epocha Villae. If anything, she had become intrigued with Hawkes' fixation on the four rescued 'survivors' from the Tulpar and decided she'd spend a little time observing them to see if there was any appeal about them.

She navigated through the crowds of attendees, completely unknowable with the white fox mask she donned for the occasion; since the event was multi-themed, most things went since everyone was thoroughly checked and disarmed at the entrances, and undercover spies were lurking all throughout the metroplex, eyes ever-watchful of the attendees present.

There's Curly and Anya, she thought, her eyes honing in on the couple mingling with a renowned author and his wife. Anya was sipping from a fine glass of wine, her oak-brown irises simultaneously revealing a constant trauma deep within, and a vastly-growing sense of importance and ego. Being a people-reader all her life, Lilia could dissect people to a certain extent based on mere sight alone. With Anya, she had the entire situation laid out, from the video records, to her interactions post-revival- everything Lilia was using right now to break down why Anya had suddenly suffered a severe personality change.

Immediately after revival, Anya was mostly catatonic, responded most often to Curly, lived in a visible sense of constant terror and existential breakdown; practically a messy wreck of a human being. Two months into the voyage back to Canaris, and time adjusted her mental state to the grittiness of reality, she reverted to her original personality as described by Curly in the Divinity Chamber, along with the mental assessments available from the Tulpar. Once they had arrived in Canaris, Anya spent much of her time roaming the streets with Curly, admiring the architecture and infrastructure of the planet; Lilia assumed that to be a juxtaposition from the dreary circumstances she died so terrible within. It would explain why she was drawn to the glittering landscape; if Lilia didn't know any better, it seemed like Anya was dissociating from reality and believing this predicament to be some form of an afterlife. But that wasn't a solid analysis, not after this recent transition Lilia was watching unfold right now. She brought one finger up to move a strand of hair behind her ear, holding the receiver micro-button placed on the inner layer of her ear.

"Garos, C/A, eaves."

"Mhm."

Lilia released the receiver and focused her eyes on Anya and Curly, waiting for the spy's transmitter to send over the conversation on record as he got within range. Here it was...

"-So I said, "Ouch. You wound me, Anya. If that's your professional opinion do you think they'll still let me fly?" Haha!"

The sound of raucous laughter blared into Lilia's ear, and she turned the volume down in annoyance for a moment before reverting it to the original state.

"Curly, you're a charismatic guy! You know, after hearing about that whole story from the news? Man, I can't believe they aren't building a statue of you right now-!"

"Don't let Hawkes hear that," Lilia muttered amusingly to herself; a well-developed habit in her isolated years of espionage and surveillance to preserve her sanity.

"I would agree, Curly. You are an icon of a leader, and the way you handled that scoundrel-"

Lilia's eyebrows furrowed in concern as she saw Curly, from a distance, seem to leer back as the words reached his ears.

"O-Oh, my apologies, sir, I didn't mean to offend you-"

"N-No, it's fine! It's nothing. Just, you know... I'm just glad everyone that matters is safe and sound, and got to see their families again. That's all that matters..."

Lilia was frustrated she could only see the backs of Curly and Anya, but she could discern the faces of the author and his wife, who seemed in complete marvel at the sight of Curly and Anya; for good reason, too. The legend of the Stranded Tulpar had become a galaxy-rallying event whose story stuck out because of the emotional headline that a particularly influential and anti-corporate journalist had put out after eight months had passed and hope for their survival was lost.

'Last Manned Crew of Pony Express, Stranded and Presumed Dead, Abandoned Transporting Mouthwash."

The headline alone sparked outrage on a scale never seen before in human history. Tens of billions of people from every inhabited planet donated funds, resources, and materials to the effort of locating and rescuing the Tulpar crew. It was this monumental effort that allowed for such a thorough investigation of the deepspace region where the Tulpar's signals last emitted from; and it wasn't long before they were found.

To stand here, before what was the equivalent of a genocide survivor, most undoubtedly felt unique and ethereal, especially because it was made well aware that these four had only come back through resurrection- further cementing a spiritual belief which rampaged unhindered through the galaxy once their discovery and rescue was announced.

"Well don't worry a bit, Curly, Anya. My wife and I helped pitch in to the Intragalactic Civil Liability & Action Association, because we're fed up with these corporatist devils treating god-honest good souls like you two in such a horrible way. I mean, last manned c-r-e-w? That was the worst atrocity I'd ever heard since the Bastian Trespass!"

Curly nodded his head, his expression indiscernible to Lilia.

"Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Lakermeyer. And thank you for the offer of a book deal; I'll consider it if the royalties are good."

The group laughed collectively at the joke.

"You're on a roll, Curly! And- oh, my apologies, Anya, I didn't mean to exclude you from the conversation."

Anya bowed her head, raising it gracefully in a manner Lilia was unsettled by. Where had this poise suddenly emerged from?

"I take no issue, Samuel. I was just thinking of our future plans here. There's so many opportunities for growth and alternative financial revenues!"

"Where did this confidence come from?!" Lilia muttered in complete shock.

"I see, I see. Are you two planning on settling here? And if so, do you feel as if the urban life calls to you, or the farmland and luxury districts on the higher layers?"

Anya responded as if the line were rehearsed.

"I've spoken with the realtors in the Rolftaine District, they have some wonderful beachside property, and in the Gallos District there's some farmland I'm hoping to acquire to grow some formidable cash crops. I'd also like to start a medical practice eventually, once I acquire my licensing and complete my residency."

Lilia's jaw would have dropped to the floor if it was humanly possible. She was absolutely confident Hawkes would tear his own head off if he knew how much development he was missing out on.

"Well, that's quite a plan! And all the more power to you!"

The wife suddenly spoke up, introducing a more brutal topic as if prying for firsthand accounts.

"I was infinitely curious, how the Tulpar co-captain -since they won't name him for some reason yet- how he managed to acquire the auto-pilot override keys- if that's correct from the reports. It confounded me how such a crash was so easily attainable-"

Anya suddenly wrapped her arm around Curly's right arm, and Lilia, even without seeing Anya's expression, sensed a severe defensiveness about her demeanor.

"Captain Curly had delegated the responsibility onto the co-captain, who abused his position to break into the Captain's quarters and steal the override key. He wanted everyone to die, including himself, selfishly. Curly tried to turn the ship at the last second. He's the only hero to come out of this."

The author and his wife were stunned by Anya's forward and aggressive assertiveness, nodding their heads and bowing in apology.

"I apologize for my wife and I, sir and ma'am. We don't mean to pry any further-"

"Of course, no harm done. I hope you don't mind if Curly and I attend to a meal."

"A-Absolutely! We'll stop bothering you two. Enjoy your night, and God bless you!"

The author and his wife walked away, whispering and muttering to each other about the encounter and looking back with marvel and awe still lingering in their gazes. Curly and Anya moved to the banquet, followed closely by Lilia's spy. Now that their faces could be seen, Lilia noted Curly's expression was fixed into one of unassailable guilt and humiliation. Anya's was animated with intensity, conviction, and a mound of unresolved anger.

"Curly, please don't wear that look. We've talked about this so many times, and I will talk to you about it as many times as needs to be talked about."

"...I know..."

"Don't say 'you know', Curly. Please, stop feeling guilty. You know who is to blame. You don't have to focus on the past so much. Look where we are! I mean, look at the food, our outfits, our caretaker, and the real prospects we now have! Heck, our family's here! It's everything we ever w-a-n-t-e-d-! Just STOP talking and thinking about it."

Despite Anya's passionate declarations of pure euphoria, Curly could only muster a genuine happiness for Anya's enjoyment- as he was clearly denying himself any form of pleasure the longer he walked around the Villae. Anya noticed the lack of change in Curly's own enjoyment and expressed serious frustration, first pouting and then outright emitting sounds from her mouth to signal her disapproval. She walked over to a banquet table, grabbed a slice of chocolate cake and started offering it aggressively to Curly, who obliged and took bites from the spoon-fed portions.

"This is better than that crappy cardboard cake we made you. Hawkes told me it was made by ten-thousand chefs from the most renowned restaurants in Canaris! Tell me what ten-thousand chef cake tastes like."

Curly seemed to mutter for a bit as he chewed the contents in his mouth and swallowed, sighing in feigned approval, and grinning with hollow eyes.

"Tastes like if you were a cake."

Anya giggled, slapping him in the arm.

"It almost sounds like you like me!"

"You might be onto something..."

The two of them continued to chortle in good, trauma-veiled fun, and Lilia felt satisfied to conclude her investigation of these two, independent of whatever obsessive feeling Hawkes had for these four.

Not that she could judge him.

Curly was still in deep guilt; that was undeniable and hadn't changed since his Reformation. Anya, however, had undergone an insane arc that seemed to slip under everyone's radar. Lilia knew her records, she knew all of theirs- Anya was born on a poor industrial world, generally unmotivated, bullied by the other children for her submissive personality, which led to loss of self-esteem. Grew up frustrated with herself and being tied to the planet, and began studying medicine after her grandfather suffered a serious illness. Took her planet's medical exam eight times, failed every time. First job off-world was with the Tulpar at the age of 26 in hopes of getting the funds to continue taking the exams.

So a poor, mistreated, traumatized young woman who'd spent eight months in dread of dying in the middle of nowhere for no good reason, terrified for months on end by the lurking predator that was ever-present onboard the Tulpar- was now thrust into a world of absolute decadency, several varieties of easy income streams, a fantastic living situation with all of her family and relatives relocated to their consent, with her crush-turned-lover fully reformed and by her side, and was kept permanently and perpetually safe and valued by a war-born veteran who virtually owned the planet.

Yeah, Lilia didn't see how there were many sane ways to cope with that kind of abrupt change, no matter how much Hawkes tried to cushion the transitions. Anya going from a meek, nervous, shy young woman to a confident, assertive, cunning, and devoted lover was not what Lilia expected in the slightest, but simply had to accept that it was a fact of reality- for now.

Hawkes was going to lose his shit, undoubtedly. Now it was time for Lilia to see to Swansea and Daisuke-

"Hey, Lily."

"H-HAWKES!"

Lilia lost her composure as Hawkes appeared beside her, without his cap on, revealing his military buzzcut for his jet-black hair. He rubbed his chin in discomfort, thinking of how to frame his words.

"Sorry, was I interrupting your duties?" Hawkes asked.

"Nope." Lilia replied simply.

"Oh, alright. Well, that Meridia woman is a piece of work. Poor bastard did a Combat Trial illegally just to try and get a title raise to start requesting financial grants."

"Why would she do that?"

Hawkes seemed to shroud in guilt as the question was asked, and immediately Lilia wanted to cut her tongue out for causing such an expression to emerge on his face.

"Er... well, it seems that some of the edicts I lobbied for a, uh, few years ago had... placed restrictions on nobility ranks, since apparently embezzlement and overspending were becoming a big issue. And, uh, apparently she needed the money because her district was suffering from a localized plague and she didn't have the adequate hospital services to take care of everyone."

Lilia could see the guilt riding across him the further he got into his explanation, and immediately went to assuage his concerns.

"That is certainly not your fault by any measure. You can't be expected to see and do everything right."

"Yes, but, I could have reviewed those fucking bills more thoroughly! Fuck! FUCK! This whole place..."

His gaze turned to ashen rage, drifting across the faces of those attending; and those that met his gaze immediately shriveled and hurried away without hesitation.

"This place has been left to fester and rot without my direction. These warriors have descended into complacency, lechery, needless decadence. I have much to do while I'm here."

You are so fuckin' hot, Lilia thought, unrealizing she was panting heavily and laser-focused on his lips. I don't want to heap Anya's unsettling transition onto you right now. You need to unwind.

"Well, I'm tired of everyone else getting to have fun, let's you and I go and enjoy yourselves for a bit."

"W-Wha-!" Lilia spluttered. "B-But I can't... I can't be seen with you in public! I'm your Chief Espionage-"

"Maaaaaan," Hawkes groaned. "I just don't care anymore. I'll get another super spy, there's millions of them out there on Canaris alone." His eyes suddenly glanced toward Lilia, wondering if he should recite the cheesy line in his head.

"B-But-" He stumbled. FUCK! He thought furiously. Get it right, you mongoloid!

"But... there's only one of you, Lily." He said as romantically as he could, shooting finger guns at her as if that would lessen the embarrassing line. Oh yeah, that was the highest echelon of cringe imaginable.

That didn't matter a single iota of an ounce of a bit to Lilia. I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU-

"I l-..." She choked, unable to get the words out of her mouth. She felt it was still too soon to declare love, especially in a public setting like this. She knew both Hawkes and her were more accustomed to private intimacy, more than anything else. "W...What would you like to do first?'

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(Music: "Brand New Key", by Melanie)

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Hawkes and Lilia roamed the Villae together, admiring the various new amusements that took their attention, enjoying their drinks a little more easily due to the home-field advantage instinct they felt from being in the epicenter of their homeworld. Emile, who was passing by in conversation with Yusei having intense conversations about body proportions and geographic-based slurs, suddenly noticed Hawkes' towering demeanor and paled in the face, with the dog Hercules immediately curling around Emile and baring his teeth while growling in a low tone.

"C-Captain H-"

"HAWKES!" Yusei said giddily. Hawkes delivered a half-second expression of pure disgust as Yusei entered his view, then craned an analytical gaze down to Emile, simply eyeing the dog with cold curiosity before returning his steely look to Emile.

"Argonaut. I heard you were de-enlisting to join the Canaris Rescue Dispatch."

"W-Well, yes, C-Captain, I-I-"

Hawkes raised an eyebrow, wondering why this former subordinate was shriveling with terror; though it was of no surprise to Lilia. Traitor in the making, she thought loathsomely, recalling Emile's government records and history on Olima; as well as the conversations had with friends about Captain Hawkes, after the skirmish against the Hannou Armada.

"Let's find a banquet table," Lilia enticed Hawkes as she led him away. No need to waste this precious time on a misandrist and a 1-bit rebel, she apathetically concluded.

"What was that about?" Hawkes muttered, looking back as Emile, a growling Hercules, and Yusei walked away, Emile occasionally darting glances of fear back before catching up with the diplomat. "I gotta double-check the Argonaut registry, because I swore I only approved fanatic loyalists- they're the only type of soldiers reliably worth a damn in war."

"Don't fret about that, Hawkes," Lilia insisted, knowing that Hawkes was quite oblivious to the morbid effect his death-making had on normal human beings; and that there were also support staff onboard the Argonaut who didn't share the same mindset Hawkes was describing. "I-"

"Captain Hawkes!"

Lilia grit her teeth in frustration as a small group of business magnates approached Hawkes, bearing gifts in hand as a clear gesture of 'let's-talk-business'. Hawkes snarled, straight-up, at them like a honey badger, initially frightening them into retreating a few steps backward- but their persistence won out, and they continued forth, raising trembling smiles as they shakily presented their gifts.

"Lord Hawkes-" The foremost businessman stated. "We'll keep it brief. We have a great portfolio of necessary goods and services, but we're looking for a land grant in the Calginius Province to restructure our production lines-"

"Oh my fuck, must you assail me with business jargon while I court my lady?!"

Lilia blushed from head to heels as Hawkes made the brazen declaration, feeling as if she was going to faint from the blood rushing to her head.

"-'bUt wE hAvE gReAt vErTicAls'!!" Hawkes continued to rant incessantly. "Well, I have a great vertical as well- An UPPERCUT to your JAW!"

Lilia was engrossed in the humorous interaction between Hawkes and the shivering entrepreneurs, and let her guard down- just long enough for the Matriarch to appear behind and to her right. Inches away.

"So you're his esteemed lover, then." The voice hissed with bitter malice and envious, jealous, wrathful outrage. "I fucking hate you so much I could tear myself apart from skin to bone. But I can't hurt you. You lucky cunt. The only person in this whole world I cannot touch. Lucky, lucky, lucky. You will give him everything he deserves and more. And the very moment you falter- I will take him all for myself."

Before Lilia could even open her mouth to respond, the Matriarch disappeared from sight, as if dashed through a portal. Lilia realized she was sweating profusely and had failed to breathe the entire time the Matriarch was talking. For all her wisdom and calculations, she had entirely forgotten about the Matriarch and the sheer power she held over this planet.

"Yeah, and FUCK OFF!" Hawkes shouted scathingly at the retreating and apologizing businessmen. He huffed and groaned tiredly as he walked back up to Lilia. "The next shitheel to break up our together time is gonna- hey, are you okay?"

Lilia had tried to re-compose herself after the veiled threat, but had failed to do so.

"H-Hawkes, can I be honest with you?'

"Always."

"I-I don't think I'll be safe on this planet anymore."

"W...What the fuck are you talking about, pardon my Frog?"

Lilia chuckled at the abrasive joke from Hawkes, trying to convey her panic without revealing enough to cause catastrophic issues on such a monumental and important night.

"I-I just think I should remain on the Argonaut until the month-"

"Lilia, tell me what's wrong."

Lilia, quivering in rapidly-increasing fear and dread, settled her gaze on Hawkes to comfort herself from the approaching reality that she had basically just pissed off the rulers of the most powerful nation in this quadrant of the galaxy.

"I-I... I pissed off someone very powerful who had eyes on you-"

"Non-issue, I'll kill them. Who?"

Lilia shook her head rapidly, realizing she was digging herself into a deeper hole everytime she revealed information.

"H-Hawkes, I-I-" She began to sob, utterly terrified that she would be potentially steering the course of history and jeopardizing Hawkes and Canaris entirely with her next words. "I-I-!"

"Lilia, take a breathe and look at me, okay?"

Lilia raised her darting, frantic, tear-stricken eyes to Hawkes'; seeing reassurance, affection, unwavering confidence.

"There is nothing you could tell me that would make me dislike you. Nothing. I would obliterate stars if they stood between you and me. Got it?"

Lilia nodded, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

"It's... the M...Matriarch..."

Hawkes froze for a second, and for that singular second Lilia felt as if the world had collapsed in on her-

Then he smiled, huffing through his nose once.

"You're crying and stressing your beautiful face over that?" He chuckled dryly, his eyes beginning to glaze over as a rapid plan formed in his head. "Give me a minute, and just calm yourself, okay? Here, take my wine and down that whole glass, alright? It better be empty when I get back, hih!"

Hawkes stood up, throwing one last glance of affection and assurance at Lilia before walking over to the Atriarchs and engaging in a short conversation. Lilia saw the Matriarch's face brighten, then pale, then turn skeptical, then brighten again. Utterly confounded, Lilia watched as Hawkes walked back to Lilia and gently raised her from the steps she was sitting on to recompose herself. He turned his back to the Atriarchs before promptly rattling off a set of orders.

"Lilia, follow my instructions."

"Okay."

"When I turn my side to face the Atriarchs, my and your lips will be read by the Matriarch attentively. I will say, 'You should consider it, I want my first time to be unforgettable', then you will pretend to hesitate for a long few moments, then respond with, 'I need to give it some thought, this is too sudden right now.' Did you get that?"

Beyond bewildered, Lilia simply nodded in compliance. Hawkes nodded in acknowledgment and turned his side to the Atriarchs.

"You should consider it, I want my first time to be... unforgettable."

Lilia was stuck in a near-catatonic state for a moment, and almost recited her lines too quickly, before reigning herself back in and tempering herself to wait those few moments before responding.

"I...I, uh... I need to... give it some... some ti- thought. This is, just, too sudden..."

Hawkes nodded in feigned understanding. "Alright, I get it, let's go check out what Daisuke and Swansea are up to, and maybe pelt the former with iceballs if he starts getting insufferable."

Lilia laughed genuinely, trying not to even drift her eyes near the Atriarchs at the present moment as they walked towards the hallway heading to the other wings. As they got out of view of the Atriarchs, Lilia shot a look of pure confusion at Hawkes, who snickered at his own brilliant mindplay.

"W-What the fuck just happened?!"

"I told the Matriarch I knew what she did, then said if she ever did it again or put a finger on you I'd kill them and everyone on Canaris then myself. Then I said I'd ask you if you'd consider polygamy in the future, and she seemed content with that conclusion."

Lilia's brain was so fried from this turn of events-

"PATRONS OF CANARIS! THE PEACE-MAKER OF OLIMA, PRESIDENT WEISS, REQUESTS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ATRIARCHS!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Music: "Red Dress", by Adrián Berenguer)

-------------------------------------------------------------

The entire room full of attendees swiveled their undivided attention to the olive-skinned declarant that had proudly announced the entrance of a white-marble outfitted light-skinned young woman with white-flowing hair, an intense and piercing gaze, and a billowing cape that fluttered in front of the dozens of entourage members courting her side. They entered into the room from the far right end opposite to where the Atriarchs were lounging, and President Weiss walked in with austerity and an air of righteous indignance. She stood several meters away from the Atriarchs and began a conversation loudly and prominently.

"Good evening, Matriarch Ileiya and Patriarch Casirius! I have come bearing a declaration from the United Sovereignties of the Western Quadrant! Our alliance first formed as a matter of necessity during the Era of Terror, when the likes of the Danze Autarchy and the Krai Dynasty wreaked havoc across the galaxy with impunity! That time is past, and now it is time to repay historical wrongs and give voice to the wronged!"

A thin, olive-skinned female diplomat shuffled up beside President Weiss and bowed her head humbly. "Here before you," President Weiss announced boldly. "Is a diplomat from Hannou!"

As soon as the word 'Hannou' was uttered from her mouth, the chamber nearly broke out into a revolt, with several of the Canari attendees smashing their glasses against the floor and shouting in outrage and fury at Weiss and the Hannou diplomat, who barely moved as they raged at the obvious display of insubordination. President Weiss continued over the boisterous noise, trying to get the rest of her message across.

"CANARIS HAS HISTORICALLY EXPLOITED HANNOU FOR THEIR FERTILE LANDS, STRATEGIC LOCATION AND TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THEIR CIVIL WAR THROUGH THE ARMS TRADE AND THE LENDING OF MERCENARY GROUPS TO BOTH FACTIONS! THESE ATROCITIES MUST BE AMELIORATED AND ADDRESSED BY CANARIS-"

-"Silence."-

The Canari in the room immediately fell silent, as did all those who were in the presence of the Patriarch as he spoke; even President Weiss, who had intended to carry out the speech to its end, knew to quiet herself or risk death; she raged silently after realizing she'd lost the precious minute she had to make her declaration to the limited press permitted at the Epocha Villae- this political stunt was intended to grab the press and maximize the amount of people who'd see her message of unification against despots. The Patriarch stood up from his elevated seating, walking down the steps gently as the Matriarch glared at President Weiss with calculations running through her head.

"You come to my planet, pay no deference for the boundless generosity we provide, then spit on our floor by bringing a representative of our mortal enemy and deliver vapid declarations about 'historical wrongs'."

The Patriarch, having come upon the kneeling President, simply glowers with the deepest levels of contempt a human could express outwardly.

"After this event tonight, I shall travel to your world, walk into the epicenter of your planet's governance, and piss on your desk so the droplets may spatter across your features. I will watch you clean your face and your desk with that diseased tongue of yours. Then we may discuss your farcical goals in the name of moral grandstanding, Club President."

President Weiss turned cherry-red in the face, regretting having pulled this political stunt even as exclusive journalists scribbled down the historic event as it was unfolding. She feared she should have introduced the Hannou diplomat at the end of her speech, when the shock factor was just beginning to wear off, but it was far too late now. The Patriarch continued to loathingly stare her down, eyes narrowing in malicious forethought.

"Perhaps I should relieve myself on your eyes now and save myself the cost of travel."

The chamber burst out into raucous laughter, sparing those who were strongly aligned with Olima and the likes of the USWQ, who simply shook their heads in disgust or kept silent for a variety of other reasons. The Patriarch spent a few more dragged-out seconds humiliating President Weiss in silence, before returning to his seat.

"You can stand now, and begone from my sight. If that charcoal-shoveling third-world hick is still here by sunrise, I'll flay her alive at the edge of the atmosphere. Enjoy your stay, President Weiss of Olima."

President Weiss stood up with a strained face of feigned indifference, bowing her head in obligated respect before turning on her heel and beckoning her entourage to follow. Hawkes utterly basked jubilantly in the engagement; if neither of the Atriarchs had stepped forward to handle this disrespectful clown, he would have caved her head through the floor for demonstrating such blatant insolence to the Atriarchs, uncaring for what wars it started. It was a wonder the Atriarchs didn't execute her themselves- and it was even more shocking that the President performed such a suicidal stunt; if anything, Hawkes had to commend her for the sheer courage to stand up in the face of death for what she believed in.

"C-Can we go now??" Lilia muttered, already traumatized from the earlier interaction with the Matriarch and now bombarded by this tense interaction. Hawkes nodded, following her speedily into another area of the Villae that was less dramatic and high-stakes.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Daisuke found himself stumbling into the restroom, groaning as his bladder was filled to the brim with the waste contents from alcohol. He staggered towards the stall, as drunk as his bladder was full, eventually managing to find stability on the dividers to his left and right as he worked to unzip his pants and relieve himself.

"Haaaahhh...." Daisuke sighed in the unique relief that could only occur from expelling the rejected contents from a body.

Beep! Beep!

"Ah-! What the hell?!"

Quickly finishing up and zipping his pants, Daisuke quickly pressed on a notification playing on his wrist holopad; a gift given to him from Hawkes as a way of keeping in contact with the Captain and the other crewmates. Daisuke was more than a bit shocked to see the Patriarch's face pop up on his screen, beaming with pride and an underlying agenda.

"Hey, hey, Daisuke, my favorite ditz!"

"Favorite what?"

"Hmm, exactly! So, this is a bit sudden, but I just received some atrocious news, and, uh, I'm not gonna lie? Hawkes is gonna jump on that shit immediately, and we really can't have him dying at all ever, which means I'm gonna need you to take on a gift I wasn't quite ready to give to you yet- it's gonna look a bit familiar since Swansea already kinda maybe potentially received the same thing."

Daisuke scratched his head, trying to break down the Patriarch's words and understand what he was conveying.

"It'll be in your room as soon as you walk out, along with a little gun that you can just call the 'Plasma Cutter', I mean, if you want, that is! Call it that, please. So, anyways, there's a mission I have for you that's gonna involve you and Swansea."

Daisuke locked in, hearing that there was potentially a great purpose for him; this was a personal sore area, especially after returning from death, as his biggest fear had been purposelessness; eight months trapped on a stranded, failing wreck, and he'd just graduated college- it was a no-brainer that he would take a massive amount of mental trauma from that kind of event. He had thought the entire time; every second, minute, hour, day, week, month. Is this how the start of my life ends? I die transporting... useless mouthwash?

Such a horrific existential epiphany carried with him to his violent end; and restarted as soon as he came back to life. He'd done his absolute best trying to put on a good face for Swansea, who'd practically lost his mind after seeing Daisuke rise from the dead. He'd felt it more natural when he was optimistic and naive and swaggering his way through the new navigations of a second life. But that feeling of existential terror always stuck with him, and was only magnified a hundredfold after returning to life.

So if there was a purpose to be had; something he could commit himself to for a greater good- he was in his most vulnerable state to fall prey to such a prospect.

"W-What do you need done, sir- I mean, My Liege?"

"Just call me Sirius. I'll be brief-"

-------------------------------------------------------------

Hawkes and Lilia had linked up with Curly and Anya, and the four of them began searching for Swansea so they could pull a small prank on him that was concocted in brief discussion. Once he was located, Anya snuck up around behind him with a pie taken from a table in her right hand, while Curly walked up and greeted him.

"Hey, Swansea. Enjoying the party?"

Swansea huffed, eyeing Curly up and down and starting to sense deception afoot.

"What are you-"

Tap, tap.

Instinctively, Swansea turned around to confront the individual tapping their shoulder-

SPLCH!

Anya broke down laughing and holding her sides as the pie landed squarely in Swansea's face and he stood statue-still, as if trying to comprehend why this was happening right now; it didn't help his psyche that Curly was cackling not-so-silently behind him. Hawkes snickered and grinned as he watched the wholesome event; his mood ruined as he noticed someone moving diagonally behind him.

"Does it please the Icon to dress those broken souls like dolls for a pageant?"

"You will die."

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Music: "Nine Seconds", by Marcelo Zarvos)

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Hawkes had uttered the threat subconsciously before his mind fully comprehended the aimed insult, immediately swiveling on one foot and clenching his massive hand around the jaw of the walking detritus that would throw away their life so carelessly- and finding it to be the Hannou diplomat, huffing in panic and trying to pull Hawkes' fingers off of her jaw. He immediately released her, much to her scathing outrage.

"I have something to show you."

"Fuck no!"

"I assure you not a finger will be laid on you while you come and see this curiosity."

"I said no!"

Hawkes grabbed the Hannou's arm, dragging her roughly towards a remote area, and with several attendees from the entourage of President Weiss watching his interactions with wariness; the death of a Hannou diplomat, for them, would be perfect to incite outrage in their allies and prospective future allies and thus mobilize more people towards their cause. It was cruel, but President Weiss and her allies considered there to be necessary sacrifices as it always remained throughout history. To their benefit, nobody at the Villae, domestic or foreign, gave a shit about what happened to a diplomat from Hannou other than the Hannou.

As soon as they were away from the noise, Hawkes shoved the diplomat against the wall and hissed a scathing and horrible threat at her.

"If you refuse one more time. I will drag you into an isolated room, dismember you right on the spot, and send a piece of your misshapen, twitching chunks of flesh to your 67-year-old mother Denila, your five-year-old son Brenner, your alcoholic father Nahdo, and to every fucking planet that feels the need to endorse you and your waste-filled, overgrown asteroid of genocidal neanderthals. You little bitch-cunt."

The diplomat was left speechless and in a state of suddenly perpetual, death-peering terror once she realized how she'd gotten set up by President Weiss.

He won't be pulling anything at the Magna Victoria. His loyalty to the Atriarchs will keep him on a leash. An event where ambassadors from hundreds of nations will be mingling? Of course not.

They lied. And as the Hannou diplomat, Tanya Claunecky, was rapidly coming to this epiphany, she began to sob and simultaneously cackle in preparation of a violent death. Hawkes noticed this sudden breakdown in psyche and backed away, taking a long moment to chuckle and bask in the misery of this ignorant indigent. Hawkes was a very stark 'guilty beyond a reasonable doubt' law-abider when it came to the Canaris Justice System; as it was incredibly well thought-out and refined on a strong foundation of redemption and rehabilitation.

But with thirty years on his belt, he could say without a single doubt in his mind, that he had not met a single Hannou individual -not one- who wasn't senselessly filled with that iconic generational hatred against Canaris. It was not as if Hawkes faulted that hatred; his own nation was indeed responsible for atrocities equivalent to what the Hannou was doing in the current era, and carried that same blind hatred against the Hannou. It simply boiled down to one crucial conclusion in Hawkes' brain.

If it's them or us, kill them first.

"I have a point to make, that you can send home to the family."

Hawkes grabbed the diplomat by the arm, dragging her flailing body out of the Villae and towards a transport pod, shoving her in and navigating it towards the Argonaut. Once boarded, he continued to drag her screaming figure through remote hallways, coming upon the interrogation chamber where two officers stood on standby.

"HEEELPPP MEEEE!! AAAAAHHH!!!! HE'S GONNA KILL MEEEEEE!!!!" Tanya screamed in desperation. The guards eyed her for a moment, then glanced back up at Hawkes, before using their IDs to open the door. Hawkes nodded and simply dragged her in, dropping her on the ground and watching as she crawled away from him in terrific horror.

"D-DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME!"

"I'm not gonna kill you. Tonight. Take a look around."

Quivering but curious, she eyed her surroundings and immediately felt another spiked layer of dread claw into her skin and mind as she noticed the blood-dried room she had found herself helplessly locked into-

"O-Oh, oh my god, oh my god, oh no, no no-"

Her vision spiked with adrenaline and piling hysteria. She immediately screamed in terror and abject horror as the blood-spattered, gore-filled room came into full comprehension, followed immediately by a mass of huddled Hannou in the corner, fully healed yet traumatized beyond reason and clutching to one another with wild, frenzied eyes in perpetual horror.

"Wh... Wh..."

Hawkes squatted next to Tanya, pressing the side of his face against hers and staring holes through the grouped Hannou.

"Is this what is felt like? Is this what it felt like, as a young Canari woman, to see her comrades, her family, her countrymen and women under the capture of Hannou buccaneers? I can feel the cold sweat come on, the shivering, the frost underneath your skin as your blood rushes to your vital organs. You're positively terrified. So that's what my Canari felt like, still feel like I bet, right as we're speaking."

WHOOSH!

Breaking the glass-tense atmosphere like a bull, he shoved Tanya's screaming face to the ground, then palmed her skull and forced her to gaze viscerally at her traumatized cohorts, before hissing the most bone-chilling tales of woven terror directly into her mind.

"All of you, barring your naive offspring, are scum of the earth. You were born scum, you chose to live like scum, and soon you will die scum. Ally with whomever the holy fuck you want, it won't make a bit of difference in the grand scheme. I would bet every part of my ship that not a single one of those planets, not one, would seriously consider war against us to protect the third-world, resource-worthless, pirate-infested, Ad & Thamud-esque hell pits you spawned from. They wouldn't come to their allies' aid in times of war in the past, plenty of times I've seen it happen; wanna bet? No, I just saw you shake your head, 'no'. Do you want to bet, that I could not outmatch you in lived experiences? No? Stop fucking shaking your head or I'll TWIST IT OFF! Do you think your faultless 'allies' would lay down their lives for these quasi-moral holier-than-thou proclamations? It is empty. Words. You will go home tonight, and all you will see is this room, the looks on the faces of your compatriots. And you will know, that is the fate of your entire planet. Your children will be taken and inducted into Canaris culture, never to suffer the same ignoble fate as their predecessors. And nobody is going to do a single. Damned. Thing to help you. Enjoy your night."

With utter loathing in his voice, he pulled her out of the chamber, opening the door, walking all the way back to the transport pod, throwing her in, navigating it back to the Villae, opening it up, throwing her out, dragging her to the original spot and lightly releasing her arm as she stumbled to the ground, sobbing helplessly and near-catatonically. Hawkes had made his point, simply walking past her as if she did not exist and blending back in with the rest of the gala.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Music: "Undertow", by Moonlight Echoes)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Those in the room suddenly turned their heads as the Matriarch tapped her glass, gathering the attention of all those present whether by sound or mere imposition.

"Good late evening, friend and foe."

The chamber chuckled lightly at the prodding joke.

"It is nearing the end of the Magna Victoria; as I have it now, it is approximately 3:09 AM Central Standard Time, and we mustn't turn this into an all-night celebration. As such, we will conclude the night and give thanks to God, with a speech from the venerable Admiral Hawkes as we enjoy our last drinks!"

The crowd broke out into a raucous cheer as Hawkes smiled awkwardly, standing next to Lilia and Erikad. Tentatively, he left their sides quickly before all the attention turned to him and proceeded to the terraced steps leading up to the Atriarchs' Villae thrones. The applause was deafening; hundreds of attendees filled with a wild, lifelong passion for the planet-defining hero who'd overcome the impossible and garnered both the respect and love of his people.

He came upon the steps and turned around, standing in front of but not above the Atriarchs as a sign of respect and tradition. He gazed around the room, seeing just how many horrible deeds were compiled into one chamber. I'm... supposed to give thanks to God... in front of all these villains? Me, the worst villain?

Only half an hour ago, he had traumatized the ever-living hell out of a Hannou diplomat, threatened an Olima diplomat, and almost snapped the neck of a mob boss offering Daisuke his holopad identifier for 'any future favors'. He didn't feel particularly holy at the moment to deliver an emotional and loving speech about virtue and victory.

"Thank you for gathering here, uh, today." Hawkes began, unsure of how he could make this speech without committing blasphemy by blatantly lying; he had absolutely nothing positive to say about most people in this room- and those he did would be targeted and envied by others in this massive crowd of well-connected individuals. "It was, uh... a hard journey for sure. Finding the damn freighter was tough enough, but getting back here felt like a Herculean ordeal."

The crowd burst into laughter, entranced by the natural charisma of Hawkes, even when he himself had absolutely no confidence in his speech and was basically just winging it.

"I'm thankful to all of you, for, well, taking care of my home while I was away. I don't often get a lot of time nowadays to see you all, from the big birds to the little chicks. And I want more time to do that, I..."

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Music: "Te Quise Amar", by Jurrivh)

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His eyes drifted across Curly, Anya, Swansea, Daisuke and Lilia, all standing together and gazing proudly at him; their eyes free of the tainted greed, lust, gluttony, pride and envy surrounding the faces of those beside them. Hawkes felt a swell of happiness as he instinctively felt the next words flow out of his mouth.

"And above everything else... I'm thankful to God for giving me what I could never accomplish before His gift to us; the gift of getting a second chance at life- a real second chance, when everything else in the universe has given up on us. I thank God that I was able to save those four beautiful souls, I'm thankful to my crew for perserving all these months for this selfless cause. I'm thankful to the Atriarchs for their benevolent extension of help to assist in finding and rescuing the Tulpar crew. I'm thankful to all of you who donated money, resources, time, energy, blood-sweat-tears to this daunting ordeal. And I'm thankfuly that we are all standing here today, only having accomplished this because we banded together, as humans, to demonstrate what makes us sentient, intelligent, and made in the image of God- our empathy for our fellow living beings, no matter the time, place, or setting."

The crowd burst out into tears, cheers and wild applause, swayed heavily by the genuine tone and authentic demeanor of Admiral Hawkes as he spoke elegantly. The Atriarchs, standing behind him, were digging their nails into their palms and gritting their teeth to resist the urge to overpower him and drag him into their chambers for obscene bawdiness.

Hawkes bowed humbly once, before exiting stage right and avoiding the Tulpar crew so as avoid bringing attention to them as much as possible. He did not want fanatics at their door every day sending love letters, fan mail and questionable contents and freaking them out from wanting to enjoy their life here. He'd probably track down the offenders and brutalize them straight to prison.

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Hawkes thought, realizing he was socially exhausted and wanted to recharge with his family for a bit. He decided to radio in Lilia to meet up with his family at their Helixad, so they could head back to their temporary home in the palace and rest for the night.

Hawkes sighed, troubled by the night's business but content with how it turned out ultimately-

"ADMIRAL! ADMIRAL!!!"

Hawkes was momentarily bewildered as one of the servants came up to him waving frantically to get his attention.

"What?? What is it?"

"A-Admiral, sir! You need to come back to the Villae immediately! There's an emergency!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Music: "Prelude", by Marcelo Zarvos)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Swathes of nobles poured back into the Villae, chittering and muttering in fear to one another as news came over their holopads with flashing alerts and rapidly unfolding coverage of the report. Hawkes rushed back into the palace, radioing in Lilia.

"Lily, get them onto the transport pods and onto the Argonaut!"

"Wh- you don't want them heading back to the palace??"

"From the headlines I'm getting on my holopad, I trust myself to protect them on my ship more than any of these people right now!"

He rushed into the primary chamber where the Atriarchs were seated in a more serious, somber tone, the Matriarch combing through dozens of news reports on an enlarged holo-display while the Patriarch was issuing orders to nearby Canarii and fleets in orbit over his radio.

While Hawkes waited for the panic to die down, Hawkes pulled up one of the news reports on his holopad and read through it. "Good God..."

"Our electromagnetic long-range receivers have alerted the GAPC of two distinct biological masses moving at a steady pace; as you can see from the, uh, graphic pulled up here, the first one, the eastmost one I'm pointing at, is moving down along the Scutum-Centaurus Arm at FTL speeds, and has a predicted trajectory which places it on a path of collision with the Inferis Robotics Research Station in the Northern Quadrant... The, uh, second biological mass is far larger, around four times the size of the first, and, uh... my God... uh, it seems to be moving on a steady axis past the Outer Arm, through the Perseus Arm, and is currently passing through the Sagittarius Arm, on a trajectory for collision with Canaris Sector. The, uh, Galactic Commission of Xenos Research & Development has concluded these are remnant swarms of the Lunapredator Magnus that wreaked havoc on Nova Terra in June of 2121, and has advised residents of these sectors to evacuate or 'fight with your all', I'm being told."

"Fuck... FUCK!" Hawkes muttered, trying to deliberate what the next best action would be. Would it be better to leave his family on Canaris under the protection of this Fortress World and its hundreds of billions of trained warriors? They would be fighting a swarm four times the size of the one that would be going after the Inferis Station. If he brought them with him, along with a considerable fleet of Canaris warships to annihilate the swarm, he could rescue the Inferis Station, get back in time and assist Canaris in the onslaught against the bigger swarm.

Alright, that's the game plan.

Wasting no further time, he went up to the Atriarchs and communicated his plan to them. The both of them nodded after some deliberation.

"I believe that is the best course of action," The Matriarch resolved. "The Inferis Station possesses a prototype machine that was designed specifically to target and eliminate Gaiters. The technology for it was so advanced that it was lost during the Terror's reign, but if you can get onboard, we can give you a master override key our programmers designed for a contingency scenario like this."

Hawkes nodded with a grim expression, reverting to a state of complete, cold and calculating focus- both his homeworld and his family were on the line, and nothing would distract him from executing this mission to its fitting end. "I understand. How many warships and auxiliary support vessels can you lend me?"

"Without detracting significantly from our own defenses against the swarm, I can offer you two Ares-class Dreadnoughts, six Lugh-class Battle Cruisers, twenty Heavy Cruisers, fourteen Destroyers, and eighty-seven Fast-Attack Ships."

Hawkes nodded once more.

"That should be good enough."

The Atriarchs bowed their heads in deep respect and longing.

"I am truly furious we did not have more time to spend together," The Matriarch remarked despondently. "Please, avoid harm and defeat your foe decisively, and when you return we shall give you six months of reprieve from duty."

"I don't know if I want that much time off, but I'm all for rest after this bullshit comes to an end."

With that, he bowed one last time in respect and departed for the transport pod, placing the pieces of his plan together mentally as he did so. In the distance, a shivering and fury-driven Tanya had eavesdropped on the conversation and grinned maliciously; a terrible plan concocting in her head.

"Just you wait, you monstrous devil-bastard. Your righteous ego will be your undoing. Hannou will rise up and crush you into dust."

#mouthwashing #oc #curly mouthwashing #daisuke mouthwashing #original character #anya mouthwashing #swansea mouthwashing #writing #nurse anya #scifi #cosmic #stars #outer space #celestial #read more

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