Miracle Box - an MLB rewrite

Gamer Training

"Marinette! Marinette! Marinette wake up!" Someone jostled Marinette awake. Marinette could barely even open her eyes. She was back home, rather than having stayed the night at Chloe's. She couldn't even remember the car ride home. Last night had been such a rollercoaster. "Marinette!!" It was Tikki, barely the size of Marinette's palm yet strong enough to shake Marinette around and throw her out of bed.

"Tikki... is there an emergency?"

"No, but you're going to be late for school! I could hardly get you to wake up! It was like you were dead!" Tikki said with impatience.

"I was dreaming..."

"Yeah yeah whatever, now get ready to go to school before you get in trouble with your parents!"

"It was Nooroo..." Marinette said. Tikki, who had been flying around with a huffy attitude, stopped dead in her tracks.

"S-say what now?" Tikki was barely able to move.

"Nooroo... and I were sharing a dream-" And suddenly, Tikki was directly in front of Marinette, eye to eye, not even an inch apart.

"WHAT DID HE SAY, WHO IS HAWKMOTH, WHERE IS NOOROO, IS DUSUU OK, DID HE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT-"

"Woah Tikki, calm down!" Marinette flinched away, "No, he didn't say anything. He can't, Hawkmoth won't let him."

"This can't be true," Tikki's face turned red with anger, "WHY WOULD HE SHARE A DREAM WITH YOU IF NOT TO GIVE INFORMATION!"

"Hey, I'm not lying!" Marinette exclaimed. She looked at her clock and indeed, she was going to be late for school if she didn't move quickly. "I'll tell you about it on the way to school, just hold on."

And so she did. She went into the best detail she could manage, despite all of Tikki's frustrations. But both were latched onto Nooroo's final statement to Marinette, which was "Hawkmoth's child now knows of the existence of kwamis."

"I mean, why would he say that unless it meant something to you?" Tikki murmured as Marinette walked up the steps of her school that November morning.

"Well... hmm..." Marinette furrowed her brows. "Well, I have patrol with Chat Noir later tonight, maybe he and I can figure it out?"

"Oh that idiot couldn't solve a baby's puzzle."

"Huh?!"

"Unless he's not like Plagg. The only times I've interacted with Chat Noir, I've found him to be rather strange." Tikki said with a pouted lip.

"Oh whatever, now hide in my purse before someone sees you."

***

"Looks like everyone is here today!" Mrs. Bustier chimed. "Now, before I leave you to your own catchup work, I have an announcement. It's a bit sudden, but the school is hosting a gaming tournament this year! Each class gets two candidates to compete in the overall tournament against the other classes here in the school, and the class who wins the tournament gets to compete in a finale against the other schools of Paris! Now, not to drag your hopes down, but our school has never won the tournament against the city, but we've gotten close! And I believe with how smart you all are, we really have a chance of winning this year!"

There were some murmurs exchanged about the classroom.

"Now, anyone who wants to sign up for being a class candidate, we will be meeting in the library during PE to decide who can compete."

Again, more murmurs. Marinette looked to the empty seat next to her where Adrien was supposed to be. He was absent. Probably because his dad died. She wondered how many people knew.