Chapter Text
They'd been exploring.
As they always did.
The dry soil crunched beneath their feet as they ventured forth to their favorite hangout spot, a collection of large boulders that was really fun to climb on.
“What time do we have to be back home?” Oliver asked.
“Uhhh, hang on, I don’t remember, me check—” Arya started, reaching into her pocket for her phone. “Okay! The oldies said they probably wouldn’t be back until late—something about a contractor working on a habitat renovation royally screwing up, and they have to find a new one, but they want to see on the Ring doorbell that we’re back before 6, and they’ve uploaded money onto the family DoorDash account for us to order something, and they said, and I quote, 'Holy dooly, don’t let Oliver or Layla near the stove’.”
“You forget about a pot of noodles ONE TIME—” Layla started, throwing her hands up.
“You two let the pot boil dry and almost set the house on fire,” Kara reminded them, shaking her head. "Who were you two trying to be? Thomas Raggi!?!"
“-It was an accident!” Oliver huffed, crossing his arms as the group continued to walk to their favorite spot came into view.
A set of rocks good for climbing that also had some tall enough to provide shade.
Layla ran ahead and clambered onto a set of medium-sized rocks sticking out of the ground in a cluster she liked to hop around on (ya girl had parkour skills), while Mara began the climb up the biggest one (a pretty big, 11-foot-tall boulder with a flat top) she liked to sit on top of and draw sketches of the horizon or whatever wildlife was hanging around.
Which she was about to do
That was until, from her position, Mara heard a hiss and spun around just in time to see an Eastern Brown Snake in that classic S formation, head raised, fangs bared, and looking about as pleasant as cat piss.
Eastern Brown Snakes were nasty little fuckers responsible for a good chunk of most of the total snake bites in Australia.
And it would absolutely kill you within less than half an hour of a bite if untreated.
Mara scattered back just in time for the snake to strike, landing mere inches away from her. After getting a mouthful of air, the snake slithered away.
Good news, she didn't get bitten...
Bad news: the quick scurry backwards that probably saved her life made her step backwards, slip, lose her balance, and then fall off the rock.
That was 11 feet tall.
With nothing to cushion her fall.
Shit!
Mara yelped, causing the others to turn in her direction just in time to see her collide painfully with the ground with a sickening crunch.
“ARGH!”
“Mara!” Oliver was the first one to screech and scramble over to her.
“Ow!” She coughed before groaning in pain. "Owieeeee!"
"Mate, are you okay?" Arya asked, scrambling towards Mara.
"I-I'm fine," Mara coughed; a blaring, hot, and absolutely seething pain in her chest strangled her every time she breathed. "I—I can walk it off. What in the bloody hell did I fall on???"
"Uh, a rock?" Arya rolled her eyes.
"No," Mara coughed, her face still contorted into a grimace. "I definitely fell on something. Ow..."
"It was probably just a stone or something," Kara suggested.
"No, Mars Bars is right!" Oliver spoke up, creeping away from where the group was clustered. "Look, the edge of something poking up in the dirt!"
Mara craned her head and looked at the spot of dirt she'd fallen on.
The corner of something was poking out from the dry, dusty soil.
It looked like a wooden box, with some type of tile on the lid.
Now all of the kids were looking over the spot, looking at the tiny corner of a box poking out.
From the color and the finish of the box, they'd hazard a guess at it being polished Jarrah wood.
Even as Mara was breathing heavily, curiosity was about to get to them, so they all got down and started digging.
Should Mara have been digging? Probably not.
Especially with the way her chest was throbbing now.
But the adrenaline soothed the pain (for the moment...), so she kept digging.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, after all, but satisfaction brought it back.
And Mara was the first one to pry something out from the dirt.
She managed to pull out not the box, but an old bag that looked like it was made out of tanned animal skin.
Wombat, maybe?
She hesitantly opened the bag and saw three books stuffed into it.
She pulled one of the books out and opened it.
Mara, however, couldn't read what was in the books; it looked like some language or set of runes that had been lost to time.
She put the book back into the bag and finally managed to wedge the box free from the dirt.
The dark, sleek, polished wood seemed untouched by either dirt or weather, and not a speck of dirt was lodged in between the tiles that made up a beautiful piece of artwork.
The box itself was intricately carved and was painted with strange, symbolic patterns that looked reminiscent of those museum exhibits of Aboriginal art.
Beautiful splashes of different hues and shades of red, blue, yellow, green, and orange came together to create beautiful patterns that depicted a landscape.
Had the sun not been so bright, they would've noticed a dim glow of the paints and the carved patterns.
As Kara, Layla, Oliver, and Arya stared at the box in Mara's lap, the poor girl finally managed to catch her breath.
Huh, it was awfully hard to pull in a good breath.
Ouch, it kind of hurt....
No, it really hurt!
Ow, she couldn't breathe in all the way—
"Argh!"
"Mara?"
Turns out, Mara had fallen in such a way that she had managed to fracture two of her ribs, but the real issue was the third rib.
Which she broke.
In two places.
Which, apparently, left a small chunk of bone just floating around in her chest cavity.
"We'll need to operate to essentially weld it back into place," the poor doctor in the ER had explained. "She's lucky that the other fractures are just that—fractures. If they were full-on breaks, mate would've developed what we call flail chest."
"And that is...?"
"The chest cavity wall becoming unstable and moving around as the ribs are unable to support it."
It was a week before she managed to leave the hospital, and most of it was spent trying to find a pain regimen that worked before any of the doctors were willing to let her go.
"If the pain meds aren't effective, it'll hurt to breathe in all the way, and if you don't breathe in all the way for an extended amount of time, then you absolutely will develop pneumonia as a complication."
When Mara was finally let out of the hospital, she'd been ordered to bed rest with some harsh words from her mother: "If you so much as think about getting out of your bed, I swear I'll put you back into the hospital," and a few bottles of pain meds.
But never mind, she just had to figure out what mystery was behind that box!
She'd made sure Lyle had stashed it under her bed along with the books.
"Kara," Mara said the second she had flopped back on her bed. "Get it."
Kara reached under the bed and pulled it out before setting it down on Mara's bed and going to her own room.
Mara sat up and propped herself up on some pillows before she pulled a book out of the bag and opened it up again.
But this time, instead of strange runes that her brain couldn't comprehend, it was a language she could read!
Huh?
The Australian Miracle Box of the Outback
The Miraculi contained within this Miracle Box are unusually powerful for a smaller box and must be treasured, protected, and guarded in every way possible.
What was a Miraculi?
Each Miraculous is unique in its own right, and the power within must be maintained by the Council of Protectors and their Holders.
Okay, Mara had to see what was up with this box! She was going to figure out what a "Miraculous" was.
So she opened the box.
Inside, the box contained intricate altars, each carved with different patterns and themes, with a small little box on top of each.
The lids of those boxes were made of shells and sea glass, and she reached for the one with a eucalyptus leaf pattern on it.
She took a breath in and twisted off the lid.
A bright ball of light appeared as soon as the lid had come off, glowing and fizzing, burning so bright that Mara dropped the box in favor of shielding her eyes.
"Oh...?" A sleepy and oh-so-tiny voice yawned. "Where am I?"
Mara opened her eyes, blinking away the dark spots dancing in her vision, and in front of her was a tiny, magical-looking koala that looked like it was small enough to fit in her pocket.
Mara blinked rapidly before rubbing her eyes.
It did not go away.
"I'm Kowali," the thing squeaked. "I'm the Kwami of the Koala Miraculous of Dreams—"
Ohhhhh, those pain meds are definitely still in my system...
"KAAAAAARAAAAAA, DO ANY OF MY MEDS MAKE ME HALLUCINATE????" Mara shouted, maintaining eye contact with it.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT???" Kara shouted back through the wall.
"ASK MUM OR DAD, THEN!"
"THEY WENT OUT TO GET DINNER!"
"THEN ASK ARYA!"
"UGH, FINE, BASTARD!"
The thing (Kowali apparently?) then gasped before starting to fly around her room madly.
"Oh heavens! Oh, great serpent! You must be the one to have found our Miracle Box! You're the new Grand Protector! Thank you, thank you!" Kowali squealed, still flying around wildly. "I'm free! Free free free free free free!!! We're free!"
Kowali then came to a dead stop in front of Mara's face.
"Ah, yes! I can see it now; your aura portrays the soul of a destined protector! Your soul is fluid, compatible with all of us! A blank slate for whichever Miraculous you need!" It jabbered on.
How high am I right now? Mara asked herself. This isn't real, right? It's not dinkum...
"Who what now?" Mara blinked.
"Oh!" Kowali squeaked excitedly, shifting upwards slightly. "You must not have heard me!"
The Kwami then flew close enough to the fact that it could've been hugging Mara's nose.
"My name is Kowali, I'm the Kwami that inhabits the Koala Miraculous of Dreams," It spoke in the most eerie, monotonous voice it could manage for a voice so... squeaky, and then she instantly sprang up and began soaring in circles over Mara's head, still talking slowly, although now it was significantly more cheery and upbeat. "I am in charge of dreams, sleep, and everything that falls under sleep's purview. 'Sundown' is the primary power you can utilize when transformed with me, yet using my Miraculous could provide several potential powers! Sundown subsequently enables the user to enchant a space or a person to instantly put them to sleep! Additionally, if you cast it in a certain region, everybody who enters that area falls asleep as long as you're still transformed!"
As this "Kwami" thing was still flying around, excitedly chirping on about random things, Mara was too tired and out of it to understand when Arya burst through the door.
"MARA, WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU ASKING IF YOUR MEDS ARE MAKING YOU HALLUCINATE? ARE YOU OKAY-OH MY GOD WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?!"
"YOU CAN SEE IT TOO!?!" Mara exclaimed.
"YES!" Arya yelled. "WHAT'S THAT???"
Mara shrugged.
"Hurry, Mara!" Oliver said impatiently.
"I'm trying, Oliver!" Mara was rather... perturbed.
They were sitting in their treehouse, all five of the Leafchair siblings currently in-house gathering around an electric Bunsen burner with a small cauldron on it, a bubbling liquid inside that seemed to fluctuate colors and sheens, with one of the "Miracle Books" in her lap.
It was only three weeks later; Mara was still supposed to be on very light physical activity, but she was beginning to be able to go longer and longer between taking her pain meds, and the deep throbbing pain had begun to settle into just an annoyingly achey wince whenever she breathed.
Although it was annoying, she still had to take her heavy-duty pain meds before doing anything more strenuous than a light walk, but the pain was bearable if she kept herself on the couch.
The bracelet was still on her wrist, with Kowali lazily floating above the group while munching on the leaves of a small eucalyptus branch she had in her paws.
Currently, Mara was trying to brew a potion from one of the books that seemed to focus more heavily on spells.
"But I want a piece of magical jewelry!" Oliver whined.
"Be patient, young Joey," Kowali hummed as she munched on her food. "It is important for the Grand Protector to be able to see your auras first, so she can give you a compatible Miraculous. For if you receive one that is not, it would create disharmony in the soul and result in deterioration in the person."
"Oliver," Kara spoke up. "Calm down. What's a little waiting when you get magical powers out of it?"
"Thank you, Kara," Mara mentioned as she closed the book. According to the books, I must determine compatibility before giving out a Miraculous; to do so, I must see your 'aura,' which is apparently a visible physical manifestation of your soul. Since I'm not a 'Born Protector,' meaning I was not born into this 'Council,' I was not born with the ability to see auras, so I gotta take this potion first. After taking this potion, I should be able to see which Miraculous and subsequent ones you would get along with by observing your aura."
"I still kinda wonder how something like this managed to get buried in the GAFA," Layla pondered aloud. "Granted, it wasn't that far into the bush, but still. How did a bunch of magical jewels wind up abandoned and buried?"
"I hate to say it, but they probably died out," Mara said, her brow furrowing as she carefully tended to the potion bubbling away. "I mean, according to the book, there's some type of magical mechanism called 'Karmic Succession.' There's a whole bunch of stuff outlining how the Miracle Box is passed down from Grand Protector to Grand Protector."
Mara paused, focusing on carefully stirring the pot in patterns that were depicted in the book.
"A Grand Protector is apparently someone like myself," she continued, keeping her eye on the pot as she stirred. "They can either be born or Destined. Either way, apparently, fate draws us at some point towards the Miraculi. It means our souls are... perfectly balanced or something? The wording is... terrible. I think it means that my soul is compatible with the Miraculi as a whole, but I bear no specific pull or match towards a specific Miraculous, which, in practice, apparently allows me to be able to wield any of them without any adverse side effects occurring. I dunno, I think the best way to explain it is my soul is kind of a universal key for the Miraculi..."
Mara then looked over her shoulder, where, at the other side of the room, was Arya grinding away some mother-of-pearl in a mortar and pestle.
"Hey, Arya, you got that pearl ground up yet?" She asked.
"Not yet, it's still too coarse," Arya responded with a grumble. "This is taking too much bloody effort, ugh."
"Hey, at least you'll get powers out of it," Mara told her before turning her attention back to the bubbling potion. "Anyways! There are Tri-Souls and Dual-Souls, but anyway, Fluid Souls are meant to become Grand Protectors at some point in their life stage. But back to Karmic Succession, if for some reason there isn't a Fluid Soul to become a Grand Protector, then the Council would pull together a bunch of Miraculi Holders to guard the box and Kwami. If every single Born Protector and Destined Protector in the Council dies out, then the Miracle Box would enter a state of inactivity and stasis until fate draws it back out into the hands of a Destined Grand Protector. Which is me. We all know what happened to the population of most Aboriginal tribes when the Brits started bloody fucking shit up because Colonial Britain was a bunch of dipsticks-"
"GOT IT!" Arya hollered, jumping up and bringing the mortar full of finally crushed mother-of-pearl ground up into a fine dust. "Is this good!?!"
"Ace," Mara grinned. "Pour it in while I stir."
The potion had been bubbling away, the substance settling into a thick, off colored cream like sludge.
When the crushed-up pearl was introduced, the potion started to glow, fizz, and have small eruptions of light blasting forth from its surface as it turned pure white and then foamed up before the light dimmed and bubbled away to only a thin, rainbow-colored broth that constantly shifted color.
It was ready.
With no hesitation, Mara picked up the cauldron and downed the contents.
It was sweet, but the texture was viscous and sticky, clinging to her mouth and throat.
"Whoa, Mars Bars," Arya's voice asked her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Mara coughed before clearing her throat as Kara handed her a bottle of Coca-Cola.
She drank it, the carbonated sweetness eventually washing away the last of the liquid.
"Alright," Mara said as she looked up and turned to Kara. "Thank you—"
Mara's words were cut off as she looked up at the air above Kara's head.
Instead of, well, air, there was a swirling mess of colors and lights, a border of swirling of white, black, and grey peacefully swirling around and mingling with the other colors.
"Uh, mate, are you okay?" Kara asked her carefully.
Mara stared for a minute longer before reaching over to the Miracle Box, which was sitting nearby, and handed her two boxes; one with the pattern of carvings depicting a sleeping Wombat in a burrow, and the other depicted a Magpie with a stick in its mouth, propping up a cloud.
"These," Mara swallowed. "These."
And thus, the Miraculi were distributed.
...
Kara had a Dual-Soul, being suited for both the Miraculous of the Magpie and the Wombat Miraculous.
So she got both, and such the Miraculi of Ingenuity and Adaptation both went to Kara.
Arya was unique, though, because she possessed a Tri-Soul that was compatible with the Miraculi of the Platypus, Echnida, and Emu—the Miraculi of Espionage and Secrets, Trickery, and Combat, respectively.
In hindsight, the combo did complement Arya's personality and interests.
Arya had this incredible talent of bullshitting projects and schoolwork on the fly whenever her ADHD kicked her ass and she'd forgotten about an assignment. On the days when she wasn't talkative, she was quiet as all hell and very observant.
Most days, she was loud, mostly talkative, and known for playing small tricks and playfully roasting her friends. Unless you ticked her off, at which point, really annoying yet ultimately harmless events would befall them.
Combat... well, Arya had a hyperfixation on World War 2 once upon a time that led her to gaining and maintaining a ranked position on some battle simulator game that she still plays, so that wasn't a surprise to any of the siblings.
Oliver and Layla were significantly easier to figure out.
Oliver received the Sugar Glider Miraculous, the Miraculous of Purity and Rejuvenation. Overall, it seemed to be a Miraculous that embodied health, rebirth, and, weirdly enough, love was one of Candy's domains.
Honestly, some of the wording seemed to be more wordplay and riddles than anything, so when it was talking about a Kwami's (and by extension, the Miraculous they inhabited) domain and powers, and was hard to figure out.
Mara could use any Miraculous she wanted, but preferred to stick to the Koala Miraculous, although she also wore the Jellyfish Miraculous.
Why?
Well, the Miraculous itself was a hand chain, with a bracelet portion that went around the wrist made of silver, with matching rings that connected back to the bracelet with a string of pearls each.
In short, it was just a really pretty piece of jewelry.
...That also happened to be the Miraculous of Magic.
3 Weeks Later
They should've known.
They should've bloody known.
They'd seen the Spiderman movies!
"With great power comes great responsibility,"
The group had been vaguely aware that there were two Miraculi from their Miracle Box they didn't have: the Kwami spoke of two missing brethren of theirs, Bendi and Finn, and the books spoke about two Miraculi they didn't seem to have.
The Lizard and the Shark.
The Miracle Books explained a mechanism that, in the case that Karmic Succession took over the box (and the Miraculi), would go into stasis, with the Kwami being inside being confined to the dormant box for as long as this state lasted.
If a Miraculous was outside the box when it entered this state, the Kwami would merge with the Miraculous and go comatose, putting the Miraculous into a dormant state too and rendering the Miraculous a normal piece of jewelry.
At least, until Fate brought the box back out and into the arms of a Grand Protector.
Which was when the Miraculous would effectively wake back up and regain its power.
They thought they'd have to go looking for them.
They didn't expect this!
Mara's feet were pounding against the ground as she ran down the street in leaps and strides.
She (as well as the others, in their respective Miraculi) had transformed the second they heard the first crash.
Arya used the Platypus Miraculous and had transformed into a dark teal body suit with an orange train that went to her knees, and a matching fedora hat with a comically large brim, hanging onto two handlebars sticking out from the inside of the hat, and helicopter blades from the top that she was using to fly.
Oliver was gliding beside her, his Miraculous having gifted him with a cream colored wing glider suit with black stripes, goggles, and a matching eared cap.
He also had a tail attached to the belt of his suit that helped him steer when he flew.
Kara had transformed with both of her Miraculi, resulting in a grey suit with a white bushy tail, a feathered piece in her hair, clawed gloves, and wings which were enabling her to fly.
Layla was transformed into a black and gold suit with a webbed pattern. She seemed to have gained Spider-Man-like web shooters hooked around her wrists, which allowed her to swing from building to building.
Best case scenario, they thought it was a gas main explosion or perhaps a loud car crash.
Worst case, maybe a truck bomb exploding.
They weren't expecting this!
What was "this" you might ask?
Being chased by a giant shadow lizard monster.
"HOW DO WE STOP THIS THING???" Layla shouted from where she was running alongside Mara.
"CRIKEY, I'M TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT!" Mara shouted back as the monster behind them screamed and then crashed into a building.
"We need to figure out how to stop it!" Arya shouted from above. "Or at least slow it down while we try to figure out how to take care of it!"
"I'm gonna put it to sleep!" Mara announced, turning around and skidding to a stop. "While it's asleep, I'm gonna go to go home, grab one of the Miracle Books, and figure out how to stop it! I want you guys to evacuate in those fifteen minutes!"
Mara swallowed as the monster approached.
"Okay!?!" She yelled.
"Got it!"
"Yup,"
"Sounds ace to me,"
"Okay!"
The monster screamed and roared as it got closer and—
"SUNDOWN!" Mara cried, slamming the bottom of her eucalyptus wood staff that had appeared when she transformed as hard as she could to the ground, causing a sphere of magic to expand before exploding and sinking into the ground with all the colors of a sunset.
The monster fell asleep with a yawn, its great lumbering body collapsing into concrete and asphalt.
With a quick nod to the others, Mara took off again and raced home.
Both the parents were at work today, so she didn't have to worry about being quiet as she busted in through an open window and dive-bombed towards where she'd hidden the books and the box.
Before grabbing the Jellyfish Miraculous and merging it with the Koala, she knew that after using Sundown, she had fifteen minutes before the Koala Miraculous "timed out" and would need another Miraculous to rely on.
The mechanism behind the main manifestation of the Lizard's power is enchanting the object the User or Holder wishes to change.
Mara frantically flipped through pages to find what she was looking for as she moved through the city.
-at which point the object becomes an avatar of the Lizard Miraculous.
She kept reading, dodging pedestrians and cars as she cut through streets and parkoured across rooftops.
To draw the power of the Lizard back out prematurely and to break the charm in the case of the User utilizing it over an extended period of time and the power being misused, the place where the Charm of the Lizard rests must be hit with a magical force from another Miraculous, like the abilities from the Jellyfish or Kangaroo, ordered out by the Crocodile, or even purified by the Sugar Glider.
The power of the Sugar Glider will also be able to heal and fix damage caused by an altercation involving misuse of the Lizard (or any of the other Miraculi) or fix damage that is collateral in nature.
Bingo!
Mara managed to get back just in time for the Koala Miraculous to time out, and she could feel poor Kowali materializing back inside the box as a flash of light left her transformed into just the Jellyfish Miraculous.
However, this also meant that the Sundown she had cast on the monster timed out and wore off.
It woke back up with a screech and began to rampage again.
Layla pulled her out of the way and into an alley where the others were hiding.
"We've gotta figure out where the charm is!" Mara gasped out before the others could respond, opening the book up to the page she'd left off on. "It says the power is tied to a little charm slash manifestation of magic, the User of the Lizard, at which point it can enchant an object, and it sinks into the surface and becomes an 'avatar'! We need to find this point of entry and stimulate it with magic to get it out, and then Oliver can purify it and slash or fix the damage!"
"...Would Revelation work?" Arya asked. "To find out where that is?"
"Now would be a good time to find out," Mara told her. "Go ahead."
"Revelation!" Arya called out, pulling off her hat (the handlebars and helicopter blades had dematerialized long ago) and watched images spin to life inside the brim.
"Hey! It's showing me something glowing on the underside!" Arya announced.
"It must be on its stomach!" Kara chirped.
"I think I have a plan,"
...
"Hey, you wanker!" Layla called out, egging the monster into a chase. "Bet you don't have a Buckley's chance of catching me!"
"...Are we sure this thing can even understand speech?" Oliver whispered to Kara, who was hiding behind some bushes just down the street.
"I dunno," She shrugged, watching as Layla turned around and started moving towards them as the monster went after her. "But get ready!"
Just as Layla ran past their hiding place, Kara called out "Birdcall!" and swarms of magpies flew out of nowhere and swarmed the monster, causing it to scream and shake.
"Web spin!" Layla cried as she skidded to a halt, thick, silken strands blasting from the ground and walls before being pulled, tugged, and spun by Layla's hands into a tangle of webs that looked messy but got the job done-tripping up the monster.
Arya and Kara had been watching from above like spectators in a video game match, while Arya was hanging onto her hat-copter, Kara was hanging onto her legs, and as soon as she saw Layla trip up the monster, she relinquished her hold on her sister's legs and dropped to the ground.
The weapon that the Jellyfish Miraculous bestowed upon her was a bright, electric blue whip with a pearlescent sheen and a mother-of-pearl handle.
With a flick of her hand, it snapped through the air, splicing it with a loud thunderous "Craaaaaaaack!", and when the tip lashed out at the asphalt road, she let out her own cry of "Kraken!"
It was perhaps one of the more impressive moves of the Miraculi (not they they'd really had the chance to explore and use them all yet) as magic circles opened up from the ground, from the wall, and from the air as a horde of tentacles came through each one, cracking and lashing at the air, magic crackling and zipping across the surface.
With a motion upwards of an open palm into the air, they all started to move, pouncing on a still struggling shadow monster, seizing it and hurling it into the air before slamming it down to the ground, the magic and force of the slam causing the gigantic monster to writh around before passing out.
A spot on its stomach glowed before a small lizard made of dark purple light popped out, plopping into the webs made by Layla.
Kara looked up before waving at a nearby rooftop where Oliver was perched, causing him to glide down.
"Do it!" Arya, Kara, Mara, and Layla urged him loudly.
Oliver hesitated for a split second before stomping his foot to the ground.
"Sweetness Overload!" He shouted, causing a geysar of this sugary sweet, sappy, pink-looking slime to gush out of the ground and form a tidal wave that barreled over the monster before encapsulating it like a cocoon.
"Purify!" Oliver's voice echoed off the buildings surrounding the group of siblings.
The giant blob of pink sugar magic glowed brightly before melting down to the ground, the monster dissolving away with it.
And the lizard?
A bright white ball of light where it once was bounced around, leaving a trail of light in its wake, landed on a small branch, where it faded away to reveal a small gecko, which promptly scurried away.
"...Why do I get the feeling this is going to become a regular occurrence?" Layla sighed.
"Some cunt definitely has gotten ahold of the Lizard Miraculous and is using it for... something," Mara scrunched her nose up before turning to Oliver. "Alright, time for the last step."
"What do you-" Oliver started before pausing and realizing what she meant. "Oh. Yeah. Rejuvenation!"
On cue, the slime spread out, quickly and methodically sweeping over every surface in the vicinity, racing across streets, buildings, signs, trees, benches, and whatever else that had been damaged in pursuit of the Giant Lizard Monster.
"What do you think a good superhero name would be?" Layla pondered aloud. "Spidergirl?"
"Mate, that seems like an excellent way to get sued by Marvel," Arya pointed out. "Which means getting sued by Disney. Do you want to get sued by Disney, ya dill?"
"Fair point," Layla relented before thinking."Hey, what about uhhhh.... Arachni-Kid?"
"Ooooo, I like that!" Kara remarked. "I think mine would be Feathers."
"I would pick Puggle, but that would be too cute," Arya hummed. "Maybe Plattypi?"
"Ooooooo, what about Platty-spy!" Oliver giggled. "Or, like, you could pick something from either the Echnida or Emu."
"...I think I'll stick to Plattypi," Arya said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, since we're all picking hero names now, since I rather like the Koala Miraculous," Mara started. "I think I'm going to go with the the name of one of the Koalas from a zoo the oldies have worked on, Kyara."
"-Oh!" Oliver clapped."What about Sweetie? Or Sweets?"
"Sounds good."
"Alright then let's get home before the oldies give us an ear bashing-" Arya sighed.
"Wait, we're going to tell them about the whole superhero thing-?" Oliver started.
"HELL NO!"
Turns out, it doesn't really take very long to figure out which Miraculi-fueled supervillain (Did I say Supervillain? I mean super idiot) when you have more Miraculi than said super villain.
...Especially when one of the Miraculi in question was the Miraculous of Espionage and Secrets.
Double especially when it was a bunch of kids in the middle of the infamously hot Aussie summers who had nothing better (or productive) to do then sit inside in the sweet sweet aircon than to stare at their conspiracy board about the case and toss out theories to each other.
It only took 3 months.
The absolute dill of a bloke was a man by the name of Tyrone Beaches.
Even his name made him sound like the absolute wanker he was.
See, Tyrone was a rich fellow (barf) who was trying to make a go for it in politics (double barf) and figured a good way to do it would be to give himself some sort of sway involving his construction and general contracting company.
So, naturally, the absolute bogan who definitely was a stubbie short of a six-pack decided the best way to do that was via his new found magical jewelry he initially picked up for one of his girlfriends, instead of the firebombs the coppers were apparently already investigating him for.
In the end, he ended up going down for murder (his earlier firebombings had claimed a few victims who were convienetly also business rivals), an attempted murder charge against seemingly everyone and their mother on count of the whole "giant shadow lizard monsters" thing, and some nasty crimes involving minors because when the cops took his phone apparently one of his girlfriends was underage.
But all in all, the siblings let their life fall into a routine of steady, albeit minor crime fighting.
Nothing involving-
"-Guess what kiddos, we're moving to Paris!"
"WHAT-!?!"