Sandbox / En Passant

Since Tropers/En_Passant is an invalid pagename, he is using this page as a place to put his stuff. Plus, there's already a page for a different The Power of Seven fanfiction (click at your own expense).

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Tales of Misfortune and Fame

Becoming the Guardian is not a responsibility Ladybug asked for, but it is one she has no choice but to accept. Marinette will need all of the support she can get, from finding balance in her close yet stressed relationships with Chat Noir and her friends to learning all she can about the kwamis under her charge. For Hawk Moth is also stepping up his game, terrorizing Paris in increasingly creative and sometimes unusual ways in search of a means of securing his final victory.

To add to the pressure, there are still those who need her help in turn. Chat is becoming dangerously torn by his life as Adrien interfering with the duties he has as a hero, and Marinette realizes she is in a solitary position to help a certain rich girl with the conflict that has shaken both of them to their cores. Will Ladybug find a solution like she always has before, or will everything finally crumble around her?

Archive of Our Own summary.

Tales of Misfortune and Fame is a Pseudo-Canonical Fic of Miraculous Ladybug that picks up after the events of Miracle Queen. It revisits, explains, and sometimes expands on many pieces of Canon Fodder and explores a different way the series could have gone after Season 3. It is notably also Original Flavour, where each chapter is equivalent to an episode and every one contains (and is named after) an akuma that is fought "on-screen", up to and including the Lucky Charm, De-evilize, and other sequences.

Each chapter is also accompanied by a "Meet the Miraculouses" short, which contains lore about one of the kwamis, a summary of how their miraculous is used, and some related advice they give Marinette about her current troubles. The author has noted these to be optional, with references to any such advice also recapping it. So far, they have focused on kwamis that were used in Season 4, as the first few chapters were published before the season's airing; however, neither existing chapters nor new ones made afterward conformed to what was revealed to be canon, making them Fanon Discontinuity.

Tales of Misfortune And Fame contains examples of:

• A Birthday, Not a Break: Technically an anniversary, but "Pride of Darkness" centers entirely around the ceremony of Ladybug and Chat Noir's first year as superheroes. Hawk Moth and Mayura crash the event with a grand scheme; after all, to them, it's nothing worth celebrating, since it also means one year of failures for them and they're trying to accomplish a very personal goal.
• Arc Welding: In internal monologue in "Pride of Darkness", Gabriel loosely welds the first three seasons into two arcs: An initial operation of throwing whatever out there to overwhelm, then after nearly giving up and getting renewed motivation during Queen Wasp, a stronger attempt to work smarter rather than harder about making akumas.
• Arc Words: "It may take time, but you have to trust that you'll find the right answers."
• Cold Snap: Paris is hit by one of these in "Snow Wonder"; Marinette and Adrien quickly (and correctly) suspect it to be caused by an akuma rather than naturally occurring. The Big Storm Episode aspect is subverted, as with the Ice Power-Up, Ladybug and Chat Noir (or rather, Lady-Ice and Ice Chat) aren't themselves worried about Braving the Blizzard. Braving the akuma in the blizzard, on the other hand...
• Bird-Poop Gag: Marinette narrowly avoids this fate in "Jubilenie". This being Miraculous, she instantly assumes it's a Mr. Pigeon attack and reacts accordingly until Luka calms her down.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Raoul convinces Ladybug to let him try talking down his akumatized sister in "Mannequette", only to turn on her and agree with Mannequette's actions as just punishment for Chloé.
• Breaking Old Trends: Every episode after the first does this, at least at the time they were written:
  • "Tiger Prawn" sees Ladybug and Chat Noir use each other's weapons, with Chat Noir engaging in Car Fu as a direct form of attack before anger-induced Ladybug and Shadybug would do the same in [[Psycomedian Miraculous Ladybug S04E05 "Psycomedian" Psychomedian]] and the Paris Special.
  • "Landover" takes place in the large Bois de Vincennes outside of the Paris metropolis, and it also has Chat Noir miss the fight well before that would happen in one in Ephemeral.
  • "Jubilenie" features only a sentimonster and not an akuma (even Sentibubbler later in canon was a copy of an akuma before Kuro Neko did it properly).
  • "Snow Wonder" is a Mystery Episode where the akuma already exists at the start of the episode and most of it is spent figuring out what's going on. It's similar to Oblivio, but it's not an Amnesia Episode and it's interspersed with dramatic tension rather than romantic.
  • "Mannequette" is fairly regular but features a civilian tricking Ladybug rather than helping her.
  • "Pride of Darkness" does not pull its punches as a Wham Episode: Gabriel and Nathalie swap miraculouses to become Garuda and Mora respectively, they seemingly amokize Ladybug and Chat Noir directly, Chat Noir Cataclysms an animate being with the intent to kill (and succeeds), and both sides nearly succeed in taking each other's miraculouses with their own hands.
  • "Burnmaster" introduces the Fire Power-Up. Marinette also talks directly with Adrien about her behavior around him.
• Call-Back: "Snow Wonder" in general is one to Stormy Weather. The akumas both have weather-related powers, Chat Noir uses his night vision (bringing the ability far earlier than the Paris Special in canon), and the victim of the episode is Mireille, directly in relation to her winning the contest that Aurore was akumatized over losing.
• Chekhov's Gag: In "Landover", Alya is flabbergasted by "pure, innocent Marinette Dupain-Cheng" making a Sexual Euphemism. Five episodes later in "Burnmaster", Marinette mentions the incident to Adrien (and hangs a lampshade about it not being appropriate for the show's audience), and his reply causes her to be flabbergasted at "pure, sheltered Adrien Agreste" making such a response. She even calls it cosmic karma.
• Continuity Creep: Invoked, as the episodes are intentionally a continuous storyline and frequently tie in and follow up events from the show, especially outstanding or confusing ones, as plot points. Ladybug points out the Cerebus Syndrome in "Burnmaster".
  Ladybug: "...but sometimes I miss the early days when superheroing felt more like it was about the action and thrill of outwitting my opponents, and not... all this."
• Enemy Without: Pride of Darkness's power is to create these in the form of pure-black Shadows. Later in the episode, this is revealed to be a ruse; they're simply Evil Knockoffs, but he can still sense the desires that an Enemy Without would be made out of. Duusu explains in his Meet the Miraculouses episode afterward that the only way to have a true example would be to amokize someone directly, which would, of course, give them control of the sentimonster due to holding the amok.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Chloé's status as a Viper is a subject of much contemplation by Marinette throughout the fic, most prominently in "Mannequette".
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In "Burnmaster", Roger Raincomprix caps off some advice to Sabrina by saying that more support is always good and that he wouldn't know what to do if he had to dismiss anyone working under him. The scene cuts to Mayor Bourgeois giving a notice to Fire Captain Hessenpy that he has to do exactly that.
• Gathering Steam: Jubilenie is an amok formed out of happiness whose power brainwashes people into being happy, so it
• Hurricane of Puns: Chat unleashes one to aid in getting the attention of Jubilenie's mesmerized crowd and enjoys every second of it. He doesn't care that they were too mesmerized to hear him.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: This is humorously revealed to be the Raincomprix family history, siding with whoever was in power in France at any given point in time.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Well, Our Enemy, as Ladybug painfully explains that she can't date Chat Noir as long as Hawk Moth is active due to what happened in Chat Blanc. As they are still close partners, this causes great stress for both of them throughout the story.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Several characters have, as figures of speech, pointed out the conventions of the show, even as the fic continues to follow them.
• Logic Bomb: Ladybug makes a non-serious attempt at one in "Mathemagician", hoping it may cause the eponymous akuma to disappear.
• Mess on a Plate: The daube Marinette is served in "Jubilenie" - the chapter notes mention that this is a Bilingual Bonus, as daube is both a type of stew and a French slang word meaning crap.
• Mid-Season Twist: "Pride of Darkness" lands on Episode 7 and seems to mark a change in Hawk Moth's tactics, if "Burnmaster" is any indication.
• Not a Game: Gabriel (using the Peacock Miraculous as Garuda) makes this declaration in "Pride of Darkness".
  Garuda: "You have been fooled to believe that Hawk Moth is some passive, crooked villain whose akuma lackeys Ladybug, Chat Noir, and their allies foil like a cartoon show. You are led to think that they are infallible forces of good who cannot falter, and I am here with my own ally to show the error in your judgment."
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ladybug and Chat Noir each notice this about the other: the former in "Jubilenie" due to Chat making Deadpan Snarker comments, and the latter in "Snow Wonder" as Ladybug makes a misplay. They use these to further their understanding of each other.
• Oblivious Mockery: A side character in "Landover" mocks the main friend group in his head for making a joke about akumas, betting that they don't even know any akuma victims.
• Power Pincers: Tiger Prawn has these, though neither one is actually used for pinching. Instead, one fires Hand Blasts and the other launches Megaton Punches, based on the incredible power of real-life pistol and mantis shrimps, respectively.
• Took a Level in Badass: One of the AO3 tags is "Competency Upgrades", so this is present on all sides, but particular mention goes to Chat Noir, who has thus far shed his Butt-Monkey status and become an important part of most of the fights. He nearly soloes Tiger Prawn, provides vital coverage for Ladybug against Jubilenie, takes the initiative against the Shadows in "Pride of Darkness" (albeit against Ladybug's wishes), and does most of the legwork in the fight against Burnmaster while Ladybug cooks up a solution.
  • Hawk Moth reveals in "Pride of Darkness" that he's been attempting to do this ever since nearly giving up during Queen's Battle, and soon after publicly vows to take another one. Ladybug and Chat Noir take this threat seriously.

Tropes related to the Meet the Miraculouses shorts:

• Adventurer Archaeologist: Roaar loosely implies that the Trope Codifier himself was based on a wielder of her miraculous, which has a whip instead of a bolas.
• Power Fist: The altered tool of the Ox Miraculous is a big gauntlet, which also channels the miraculous's superpower, Labor.
• Psychic Link: The changed power of the Dog, named Howl, creates one of these between everyone holding the wielder's tool when activated.
• Shovel Strike: The Pig's new tool is a shovel.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Duusu states this about the kwami, noting that even their forms manifested by the Miraculouses are distilled representations.

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The Power of Seven

When Eggman conquers the world using the seemingly unstoppable Phantom Ruby, the heroes find that they will need even more help than their own formidable powers. Their best hope lies in a new recruit who has come across seven prototype weapons seemingly designed by Eggman himself.

The Power of Seven is a novelization/rewrite of Sonic Forces with two main changes. The first is the removal of Classic Sonic, with his stages being taken over by existing characters and given different context. The second is the existence of multiple Avatar characters rather than the one, each with their own personality and wielding one of the different Wispons from the game.

The Power of Seven contains examples of:

• Adaptational Context Change: Knuckles' narmy "None of this is good, Vector. That's why it's called war," line is given some real meaning here. What he proposed to lead to Vector's outcry is leaving the Death Egg's entire prisoner population behind if it's the only way they can rescue Sonic. Silver holds some resentment towards Knuckles over it later.
• Alpha and Beta Wolves: The Alpha has named herself as one, despite working alone.
• Big Ham: Boar the Grizzly.
• Continuity Nod: Absolutely loaded with these, big and small, so much so that it gets its own page. Of particular note is the use of the Sonic Unleashed continents over the singular supercontinent of Forces' world map, and that Eggman's recycled robot army has been expanded to include designs from most other games in the franchise.
• Ascended Extra: Gemerl, who takes up Chaos' spot in Eggman's four generals under Infinite. Like the others, this Gemerl is an illusory clone, and the real one shows up as an ally later, still protecting Cream and Vanilla as refugees.
  • Chaos' role is still made more important to the story despite this, retaining its role in the "Stress Test" comic which is adapted into the prologue. There, it uses the Chaos Emeralds and fights against Burning Blaze to explain the absence of both of them from the story.
  • All of the non-Sonic characters are given time in the limelight by having their own stage, though right now, the story is only half-completed.
• Brick Joke: Silver throws a spherical statue at Infinite during their fight, which is deflected off into the jungle. When Silver returns during Casino Forest, he encounters an identical, singed statue lying on the ground, which he finds familiar but otherwise doesn't put together the connection.
• The City: The City area, as in the game. It's explained early on that the name came from being the only city on South Island, and the name stuck even after making contact with humankind.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: It should be of little surprise that the fic makes real the torture Sonic suffered on the Death Egg. It takes a few days for him to recover, with Vector's "shaking like a leaf" comment being redirected to him. Even throughout the story afterward, being reminded of the experience or of Infinite's victory/Shadow's defection gets him worked up.
• Didn't Think This Through: What starts the Ghost Town stage is Ledge deciding to show off his rebuilt Burst Wispon to Tails by rushing at some Egg Pawns. The Wispon fails on him and causes Eggman's robots to go on alert.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Consistent with Shadow the Hedgehog, the first thing Shadow notes upon meeting the Avatars is that someone on the heroes' side finally has the sense to carry a firearm, though he thinks they look like toys.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: While natural for a novelization, the story notably retains the game's stages, with each chapter being the completion of one stage or boss fight. Additionally, the introduction of Avatars matches the order and points in where the Wispons they use are unlocked in the game proper.
  • Rings also appear in Arsenal Pyramid and function just as they do in the games. Later in the stage, Arc falls face-first into lasers and showcases the Cat Avatar's ability to retain a Ring after getting hit.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Shadow drops this quote when explaining why he disappeared without a trace for six months while his copy, which everyone thought was the real him, worked for Infinite.
• Le Parkour: Arc prefers the urban jungle of Empire City over the actual jungle of Aqua Road.
• Lightning Lash: The Lightning Wispon already fit, but now it has a physical chain built into it that serves as Arc's version of the Avatar's grappling hook.
• Mythology Gag: Each of the Avatar stages incorporate the lyrics from the stage's music into the plot somehow.
  • Two of the soldiers in Boar's squad in Park Avenue are a pink cat and a teal bird; both of these are Avatar designs used in promotional renders.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Since Infinite only properly introduces himself before his first boss fight, for the entirety of the war and story before that point, everyone has come to know him as the Red Mask.
  • The mysterious new wolf character has only referred to herself as the Alpha.
• Reimagining the Artifact: The Wisps, who were sort of just there in Forces as fuel for the Wispons, which were themselves not explained. In The Power of Seven, the origin and use of the Wispons is a major plot arc, being seemingly the only weakness of Infinite and the focus of the first Avatar Ledge and the new secondary antagonist, the Alpha.
  • The remaining Classic Sonic elements, many of which which were themselves reimagined, were repurposed.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Ledge has a habit of doing this.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Ledge, who somehow keeps his suit tidy despite, y'know, living in a war-torn city and going to battle with a flamethrower. Going to the North Base only annoys him at having to use said flamethrower to iron out the creases afterward.
• The Stinger: Amy's trip in Far Outlands results in re-uniting with Cream, her family, and Big the Cat. And Big the Cat's Chaos Emerald that he found, twisting the plot further as the Emeralds were completely absent from Forces.