Episode 3: Chaos Confusion
"I've looked everywhere, but I just can't seem to find it." Shadow told his new associates, Marinette, Adrien, Tikki, Plagg, Nino and Alya.
After they all finished revealing everything about who and what they were… well, most of it (ahem)… Shadow finally decided to do something that he would normally only resort to if it was absolutely necessary; he asked them for help. Suffice to say, they were all shocked to hear this. As for Master Fu, he went home (unseen, of course) not long after Shadow had asked this. Shadow told them that since he didn't know Paris all that well, it would be greatly beneficial to his mission if they were to assist him in his search for the chaos emerald.
Once they had recovered from hearing Shadow's request, they all finally agreed to help him. Shadow then, led them to the place where he tracked down the fifth emerald, which was where they currently were.
"Alright, let's go over all the places you've checked. Have you checked the rooftops?" Asked Marinette.
"Yes." Shadow responded.
"The alleyways?" Asked Adrien.
"Check."
"The catacombs." Asked Alya.
"Yes."
"Inside the build—?" Shadow interrupted Nino before he could finish speaking.
"Wait-what?!"
"Inside the buildings." Nino said, thinking that that was what Shadow was referring too.
"No, before that!"
"The catacombs?" Asked Marinette.
"… What catacombs?"
Almost half an hour later, Shadow was led to the entrance of something… ancient. Now, he and the others were currently wondering through dark tunnels filled with ancient French architecture… and bones. Lots and lots of bones. While Marinette and her friends were using the flashlight apps on their cellphones as a means of light, Shadow had used his chaos powers to heat up and ignite a torch on the wall that they had passed by, earlier.
"I never would've guessed that all of this was here." Admitted Shadow, holding his torch near the ground to see the skulls sitting in the water as they walked.
"These catacombs run underneath all of Paris." Said Marinette. "They're as old as the city itself."
SPLASH
"Yuck!" Exclaimed Nino after stepping in a puddle. "I don't always pay attention in history class, but if we did learn about the catacombs once, I'm kinda glad I didn't pay attention, 'cause I definitely do not want to know what I just stepped in."
"You know, Nino," Said Alya, sneaking up on her boyfriend. "Some people say that the catacombs are… HAUNTED!"
"AHHH!" Nino screamed, dropping his phone into a puddle, as Alya suddenly grabbed his shoulders.
"Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…!" Alya hysterically laughed.
"So not FUNNY!" Nino shouted at her before finally picking up his soaked phone.
"Oh, c'mon, Nino. You know I was just kidding."
Nino only crossed his arms and avoided eye contact. Alya responded to this by wrapping her arms around him.
"Hey, I'm really sorry, baby. I didn't mean to scare you."
Alya followed up on her statement by kissing Nino's cheek. He blushed at this and smiled. He was always quick to forgive her.
"Well, (ahem)…" Nino then spoke with bravery and confidence. "You know, I… wasn't really that scared. I mean, everyone knows there's no such thing as ghosts."
"Yes, there are." Said Shadow, who overheard their conversation while examining a shelf of bones.
"What?" Asked Nino.
"Ghosts, they're real. At least they are in my world."
Everyone was now staring at him.
"Ha-ha…" Marinette gave out a short fake laugh. "Good one, Shadow, but I think that's enough with the jokes, don't you?"
"And here I thought you had no sense of humor." Said Adrien.
"I'm not joking." Shadow turned to look at them when he said this. "I don't joke. I'm serious. In my world, ghosts are a real phenomenon."
Marinette eyes widened as she made eye contact, seeing Shadow's serious expression in the light of his torch. She was currently looking for even the slightest bit of evidence that he was joking. She found none.
"Y-you mean, the spirits of the… d-d-d-deceased are… real?" She shakily said, starting to get spooked by this as Shadow turned around and kept walking.
"Yep." Shadow said plainly as he moved to a different area of the tunnel.
Adrien noticed how Marinette was getting really frightened now, and proceeded to put his arm around her.
"Hey, bugaboo, there's no need to fear while I'm here."
Marinette giggled at her boyfriend's actions to comfort her.
"Thanks, Adrien." Marinette then held him and he did the same back.
"Any time, Love-bug."
"Can we all stay focused?" Said Shadow as he continued searching the catacombs.
"You know; you could at least apologize." Adrien said to Shadow.
Shadow was about to tell him to stop worrying about these things and focus on finding the emerald, but then he noticed Marinette's face. She definitely did not look happy, which only succeeded in making Shadow feel bad about his actions.
"I'm sorry for frightening you, Marinette." He said. "Really, I am."
Marinette smiled at his apology.
"It's okay." She said. "I know you just want us to find that emerald as soon as possible."
Seeing Marinette smile almost made Shadow want to smile back.
"Great, now that's settled," Said Alya, "let's just put all of these ghost stories behind us."
"I was serious, though. Ghosts really do exist in my world."
Again, everyone went wide-eyed.
"Except they're not the 'spirits of the dead' as Marinette said. They're actually spirit-like entities that are known to cause mischief."
"Oh, so they're like Plagg?" Said Adrien.
"Hey!" Complained Plagg.
"Yes, right down to them not knowing when to shut-up." Said Shadow.
"Hey!" Plagg complained louder.
"In fact, I'm wondering if the ghosts in your world are any different from the ghosts in mine."
"If they're anything like Plagg, then we'll definitely be in trouble." Joked Adrien.
"Hey!" Plagg complained even louder.
Everyone laughed at this except for Plagg and Shadow. Adrien noticed this and approached him.
"Oh, c'mon, sourpuss." Said Adrien, hooking his right arm around Shadow's shoulders. "You gotta admit that was funny."
"Hmph." Shadow grunted as he threw Adrien's arm off of him with a shake of his shoulder and walked away. "Sorry, but laughter isn't my thing. Let's focus on finding that emerald."
Plagg flew up to Adrien's ear to whisper something.
"Wow, this guy really is a sourpuss."
Despite him whispering this, Shadow still managed to overhear Plagg statement and decided to turn around to say one more thing.
"You know, in my world, the only way to deal with annoying spirits who won't shut-up is to hit them… hard." Shadow eyed Plagg with an evil smirk on his face, forcing the feline-like kwami to cower behind Adrien's head. "Hmph, that's what I thou—"
Suddenly, Shadow stopped himself mid-sentence and turned around. Everyone behind watched with surprise mixed with a little worry as he suddenly hunched over, grunting and holding onto his chest. Then he started panting.
"Shadow, are you—?!" Shadow raised up his hand before Marinette could finish talking.
"Let's just keep moving." He said in one breath before panting some more.
And so, the seven of them continued to search the catacombs. Marinette decided to stay close by Shadow after his little hiccup a while ago. After a while, Alya and Nino decided to relax against a wall.
"Dude, how do we know we didn't already pass it?" Asked Nino.
Shadow responded to this by taking out his emerald and using his chaos sensing ability.
CRACK
"Gah!" Alya shrieked before realizing that she had only stepped on a skull. "Man, this place doesn't even need a chaos emerald. Everything down here's already in total chaos! Control is what this place definitely needs. Maybe even a little control."
Suddenly, a faint glow began to emanate from a skull that was leaning against Alya's ankle.
"It's very close. I can feel it." Said Shadow.
"Then we'll keep looking." Said Tikki. "It's got to be here somewhere."
"Man, I kinda wish these skeletons were haunted and would come to life. Maybe they'd tell us where to find it." Said Nino, whose ankle rubbed against the same skull.
"Strange. The power has increased sudde—" Shadow stopped himself before he could finish that sentence, realizing what Nino and Alya had just said. "Everyone, put your lights out, now!"
After hearing Shadow shout this, everyone proceeded to turn their phones off. As for Shadow, he simply put his emerald back into his pocket and snuffed the flame from his torch out. Now, the only source of light was an ominous green glow emanating from the eye holes of the skull sitting at Alya and Nino's feet.
"Uh-oh!" Exclaimed Alya.
"I think we just found it." Nino nervously said.
"Ally, Ninno, get back!" Shadow shouted to the two of them.
Alya and Nino quickly got away from the skull as the glow became brighter.
"And for the record, our names are Âl-yâ and Ní-nó!" Alya exclaimed.
"Don't care! I need to get that emerald!" Exclaimed Shadow.
Without another word, Shadow ran straight for the skull, dropping his torch in the process; however, just as Shadow was about to touch it, and boney arm grabbed the skull and snatched it away, scooping up the emerald as if the skull were a bowl.
"What?!"
Shadow stopped and followed the arm. It led to a skeleton that was standing up. The only thing sitting on its vertebrae was a jawbone. With its arm, it placed the skull upon the jaw, causing the emerald to fall down; unfortunately, rather than falling completely out of the skeleton body, the emerald stayed inside of the ribcage as if it had gotten stuck on something in there. Shadow backed away, scowled at the skeleton, and got into a battle-ready stance.
"(gulp) Me and my big mouth." Said Nino.
"Relax, Nino," said Adrien as he got into a battle-ready stance, "'cause there's only one of him, and seven of us."
Suddenly, the other torches that hung on the catacomb walls quickly ignited, as if by some supernatural force, illuminating everything in the once dark tunnels. Now that the entirety of the tunnel was lit up, everyone alive could clearly see the large army of the undead standing behind the skeleton with the emerald in its chest.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." The skeleton somehow laughed despite it not having lungs.
Again, the heroes stood, wide-eyed.
"You had to say 'haunted'." Commented Shadow. "Adrien, Marinette, with me!"
"Right!" Exclaimed Marinette.
"You got it!" Exclaimed Adrien.
"Tikki, Spots On! Ha!"
Marinette held up the hair covering her left ear, revealing her black earrings turning red, and almost immediately, Tikki was absorbed into them, causing black spots to appear. Marinette ran her hands across her eyes causing sparkles followed by a red mask with five black spots to appear upon her face. Sparkles then began to cover her body, replacing her usual daily wear with her superhero suit, her magic yoyo appearing around her waist. She had transformed into the miraculous Ladybug.
"Plagg, Claws Out!"
Adrien held out his right fist, revealing his white ring turning black, and almost immediately, Plagg was absorbed into it, causing a green cat's paw print to appear. Adrien ran two fingers across his eyes causing black a black mask to appear. When he opened his eyes, it revealed that they had turned green and the pupils were thin like a cat's. He then ran both his hands through his hair, causing it to appear messy as well as causing black cat ears to sprout from his head. Green lightning then began to cover his body, replacing his usual daily wear with his superhero suit, his retractable bow-staff appearing behind him, on his belt. He had transformed into the cunning Chat Noir.
All at once, the skeletons charged at the teenagers.
"Time to break some bones!"
The heroes charged into the skeleton horde all at once. Ladybug and Chat Noir used their weapons to knock away the skeletons, reducing them to piles of bones. Shadow, on the other hand, used his close-combat skills to fend off the attackers, also leaving piles of bones behind him. Soon after they had each dispatched over a hundred skeletons, it had become blatantly clear that there was virtually no end to the skeleton horde.
"These guys just keep coming!" Exclaimed Chat Noir, using his bow-staff to swipe away at the skeletons attempting to attack him from behind.
"Almost every last inch of this place is littered with bones!" Exclaimed Ladybug, using her yoyo to knock back the skeletons that were surrounding her. "What are we gonna do?!"
"We have to find the one with the chaos emerald!" Exclaimed Shadow, using his speed and agility to aid him in dispatching every last skeleton in his path. "If we can get the emerald away from it, then that should put an end to all this!"
Alya, who overheard this, started to scan the horde of skeletons until her eyes fell on one with the glowing-green chest.
"Guys, I see it!" She shouted to her companions. "Over there!"
Alya pointed to something and they all followed her finger, which led to the skeleton whom they've been searching for. It was running through the crowd of skeletons, trying to get away from the heroes.
"Got it!" Exclaimed Shadow before charging through the skeleton horde to get to the skeleton with the emerald.
"Good eye, Alya!" Ladybug shouted to her best friend.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow exclaimed, teleporting right in front of the skeleton that almost appeared to be scared of him.
"That's as far as you go." He told it. "Make this easier on yourself and give me that emerald."
The skeleton backed away, its skull looking left and right. Alya and Nino could see everything from where they were standing.
"Heh, it's a good thing these guys have no brains, so they can't think of using the emerald to teleport away like Shadow did." Said Nino.
Shadow's eyes widened when he noticed that the skeleton seemed to understand. The skeleton then reached into his ribcage and grabbed the emerald.
"Chaos Control!" He heard it say.
"Whu—?! No-wait!" But Shadow was too late stop him.
VOIP
"Oh, no!" Said Ladybug.
"Well, things just got a whole lot harder." Said Chat Noir.
"Um… Guys?" Said Nino.
Turning around, it wasn't long until the reason for Nino's sudden nervousness became clear. Some of the skeletons were approaching them.
"I think we need some help!" Said Alya.
Nino got into a battle ready stance while Alya grabbed one of the lit torches from the wall. The two of them stood back-to-back as the skeletons surrounded them.
"Alya, Nino, hang on!" Exclaimed Chat.
"You ready for this?" Asked Alya.
"Nope." Answered Nino.
A skeleton then lunged at Nino. In an effort defend himself, he threw a punch, strengthened by a desperate desire to stay alive. The punch made contact and knocked the skull clean of the skeleton's body, leaving the rest of the bones to fall apart from one another.
"Huh, that was pretty easy." Nino said, astounded until another skeleton tried to grab him, causing Nino to hit it as hard as he could and make it too fall apart.
A skeleton then came for Alya and she responded by hitting it with her torch, breaking the skull as well as some of the bones, leaving scorch marks on whatever bones were left.
"Few, that all you got?!" She taunted the skeletons.
The skeletons responded by charging at the two of them. Alya was now starting to regret her decision to taunt the undead army that outnumbered them hundreds to one. Nino grabbed a femur from one of the bone piles and they both desperately started swinging their weapons back and forth, taking out skeleton after skeleton. Unfortunately, as previously noted, they were terribly outnumbered hundreds to one.
"There's too many!" Shouted Alya.
"Nino, Alya, duck!" Shouted Chat Noir, riding his bow-staff to their location.
They followed his instructions and ducked their heads as he landed between the two of them. He then proceeded to swing his bow-staff around himself, over his friends' heads, and take out the skeletons that surrounded them as they came charging.
"Alright, they're gone." They heard Chat say after two minutes of spinning.
Alya and Nino arose to their feet to see the piles among piles of bones scattered around them.
"Help!" They heard Ladybug scream.
They turned and saw her on the ground with a whole bunch of skeletons on top of her, keeping her down, and more just kept coming. She tried with all of her might to force them off of her, but with so many of them, she couldn't muster up the strength. Suddenly, she felt her body warm up. She looked around and saw that her vision was suddenly looking through some kind of clear green light.
"Chaos Control!"
VOIP
There was a flash of bright green and Ladybug suddenly found herself looking at the pile of skeletons that were once on top of her.
"You okay?" She turned her head and looked up to see that Shadow was kneeling down, holding his hand out in front of her.
"Yeah, I am." She said, taking his hand so that he could help her stand. "Thanks."
"Hm…" Shadow nodded with a confident grin before he suddenly remembered something, "don't thank me yet. We still need to find out where that skeleton teleported off too."
Suddenly, as if trying to answer his question, everyone soon noticed that all of the bones, even the ones from whole skeletons, seemed to be moving in the same direction.
"I'm no detective, but I'm thinking he's that-a-way." Said Chat, pointing in the direction that the bones were moving.
"And just what makes you think it's a boy?" Alya asked with a smirk.
"Come on!" Shadow ordered, and so they all took off after the bones.
As they moved, they soon found that the water seemed to be sinking into rather large cracks in the cave floor. Ladybug stopped so that she could examine them.
"These look… new." Said Ladybug as she examined the cracks.
"Ladybug!" Ladybug heard Shadow's voice from around a corner and followed her friends.
After rounding the corner, they all soon found themselves inside a large, wide-open cave, looking directly at a large hole in the cave floor. All of the bones were falling into the hole, toward a faint green glow, and no one liked the looks of it. Nino was the first to say anything as they all stared at the chasm.
"You guys feel like something really bad is about to hap—?"
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!" A loud roar erupted as a giant arm made out of various bones arose out of the chasm.
Their screams of terror, minus Shadow, who just angrily growled, filled the catacombs as the rest of the skeleton giant slowly arose from the pit. It used its great arms to grip whatever parts of the floor weren't destroyed. As they all stopped screaming, the skeleton giant decided to take a look around before his eye sockets soon fell upon the heroes.
"You just had to say 'chaos control' and 'come to life', didn't you?" Shadow asked sarcastically.
The skele-giant glared at them, then lifted its right hand, forming a fist, balancing on the other, and then brought it down upon the heroes.
"Chaos Barrier!" Shadow shouted, throwing his hands up to summon a green force field around them.
The fist made contact with the barrier, shaking it a little, frightening most of those inside. The impact caused some bones to fall from the appendage.
"What is that thing?!" Alya asked while shouting.
"Man, this guy makes Stoneheart look puny!" Chat Noir, half-joked despite the given situation.
"It's using the emerald's power and the bones in the catacombs to make itself bigger and stronger." Shadow explained. "We need to get that emerald now!"
Shadow could see the emerald's green glow emanate through the seams of the bones. The light appeared to be glowing brightest on the left side of the giant ribcage.
"It's his heart!" He shouted pointing to the giant ribs on the left side of the giant sternum.
The skele-giant attacked again. The sounds bones filled the caves.
"Technically, skeletons don't have hearts." Chat commented, making Shadow growl in annoyance.
"Well this one does!" Exclaimed Ladybug. "And right now, we need to get to it!"
"I've got just the thing for that!
Cataclysm!"
Chat Noir raised his right hand up as dark energy built up in his palm. He closed his hand, allowing the destructive, magical energy to be absorbed into it.
"Just drop the bubble and—"
"And what?! You jump in without thinking?!" Questioned Alya. "You'll get smacked around before you even get close!"
"Alya's right." Agreed Ladybug before the monster struck the barrier again. "We need a strategy before we can do anything!"
"Well then, start thinking one up! I can't keep this barrier up forever!" Said Shadow.
Ladybug looked around as she tried to think of a plan. She immediately noticed that the giant skeleton needed to rest on both arms after every attack. That was when she came up with an idea.
"I've got it! We wait for him to attack, then we go for his arm over there!" Ladybug pointed at the skeleton's lefthand that it was currently standing on so that it could attack again. "Shadow, you use your chaos powers to keep his free hand away. Chat, you climb up the arm and go for his chest."
"That could work." Shadow agreed.
"Nice thinkin' bug-a-boo." Chat Noir complemented before going in for a kiss.
"Save it for after we get the emerald." Ladybug said as she pressed her finger into his lips.
The skeleton attacked again, and Shadow was starting to show signs of strain.
"Alright, but what'll we do?" Asked Nino.
"We stay out of the way." Alya answered.
"Actually, Alya, I think you two should take Shadow's backpack."
"What?!" Shadow loudly questioned Ladybug's suggestion.
"We can't risk that thing getting its boney hands on the other emeralds! Trust me when I say 'they can do this'."
With how tired Shadow was feeling from having to keep up his force-field, he didn't even need to see Maria's face in Marinette's.
"As soon as he pushes off his hand to attack again, I'll drop the barrier." Said Shadow. "You two, get ready to run down the hall and wait for us."
They all agreed to the plan and got ready to put it into action. After the monster attacked one more time, they all waited and watched the skeleton hand as it fell onto the stone floor. They waited until they saw the skeleton push up on its hand.
"Now!" Ladybug shouted.
Shadow dropped the barrier allowing everyone inside to start running. Alya and Nino ran off down the hallway while the heroes ran around the chasm, heading straight for the other hand. Shadow saw the giant hand come down upon them, so he retaliated.
"Chaos Spear!" He shouted, waving his hand and firing a volley of yellow spears of magic at the hand.
The spears exploded upon contact, causing the entire hand to fall apart, leaving nothing but a bumpy, boney stump.
"Looks like he's shorthanded!" Chat Noir joked as the heroes soon made it to the hand and they proceeded to climb up it.
Since the skele-giant was short a hand, it began to slowly fall into the pit while it's only hand tightly gripped the stone floor to keep from falling all of the way. The heroes drew closer and closer to the chest.
"Yes!" Exclaimed Chat Noir.
"Chat Noir, go! We'll cover you!" Shadow exclaimed from behind.
"Alright then, bonehead!" Chat Noir jumped straight for the monster's chest, his hand ready to reduce it to nothingness. "Take this!"
The attack made contact with the skeleton's third hand.
"Huh?!" Chat Noir questioned as he jumped off.
Upon landing, Chat Noir could clearly see a third hand coming from underneath the hand that Shadow had previously dealt with. It was covering the skeleton's chest before succumbing to Chat Noir's Cataclysm. Unfortunately, it only managed to reach a quarter past the wrist, turning every last bone to dust. They then felt the skele-giant's body shake. Looking over its shoulder, they could see its previously destroyed right hand back to its regular state and used it to grip the stone floor and straightening itself.
"Where did those come from?!" Ladybug asked loudly.
Shadow took a closer look at the monster's chest and saw that it was glowing even brighter than before. He then looked at the monster's shoulders and saw a fourth and fifth hand sprout up from it, followed by a sixth hand sprouting out from underneath the left hand. Shadow looked around and saw bones flying in the air, going into the destroyed parts of the giant skeleton. In an instant, the destroyed giant limbs were repaired by the bones flying into them.
"This isn't working!" Exclaimed Shadow. "It keeps using the bones in the catacombs to fix itself faster than we can tear it apart!"
The monster then set its sights on the heroes, of which, they all took notice.
"Uh-oh!" Said Chat Noir.
"Everyone, stay close!" Shadow then grabbed them by their waists. "Chaos Control!"
VOIP
Shadow managed to teleport them out of harm's way just in time, for at that moment, the arm on the giant skeleton's right shoulder and the one underneath its left arm slammed down right where they once stood. When it finally saw them standing on the stone floor, it then moved all of its boney arms onto the stone floor and began to walk around on its arms in a circle. The heroes started running, Shadow needing to keep his pace slow to stay beside the other heroes and to not end up running right into one of the monster's giant, boney arms.
"Shouldn't he be out of power by now or something?!" Chat Noir asked while running. "I thought you said that power ups were temporary?!"
BEEP-BEEP
"Like other things." Chat commented as he saw the first green pad on his ring disappear.
"They normally are," Shadow tried to explain, "but this thing isn't like Baker! Instead of the chaos emerald giving it a power up, it seems to be literally running on it!"
"What does that mean?!" Asked Ladybug.
"It means the emerald is powering it like a battery. If it were using the emerald's power to make itself indestructible, then it would only be temporary!""
"But why's it so big now?!" Asked Chat.
"Wait!" Said Ladybug. "Remember when Nino gave it the idea to teleport away from Shadow?! And remember how it came to life in the first place?!"
"What are you getting at?!" Asked Shadow.
"It probably made a wish on the emerald, too!"
"So you think it asked the emerald to make it bigger?! I suppose that might be a possibility. But it seems to only be able to use chaos to build itself up and keep itself active! Did you notice how easily the smaller skeletons fell apart?! Even this thing is physically weak, but we still can't get through if it keeps building itself up!"
BEEP-BEEP
The sound of Chat Noir's miraculous running out of power caught their attention.
"That's not good!" Said Chat Noir.
"And neither is that!" Said Ladybug.
Everyone stopped when they saw the skele-giant moving in the opposite direction. Shadow retaliated by throwing more small chaos spears at it. The attack made the entire hand fall apart, but only for a moment, during which, the monster proceeded to rebuild itself. The heroes responded to this by running in the opposite direction.
"We can't keep this up all day!" Shadow commented.
"With all this running around, I'm definitely gonna need a 'catnap' after this!" Joked Chat Noir.
"If we could just get to its chest and keep it open!" Said Ladybug before she noticed something. "LOOK OUT!"
Ladybug was able to throw the boys down and out of the way as the skele-giant swung its hand over their heads when they weren't looking and tried to grab at them from behind. The male heroes were out of the way, but Ladybug wasn't quick enough.
"Chat! Shadow!" She called out to them as the skeleton's hand grabbed her and pulled her away.
"Ladybug!" Chat called out to his beloved as she was being taken away from him.
"Try to hold on, Marinette! We'll get to you!" Shadow called, not even caring that he used her real name.
"Incoming, 10 o'clock!" Warned Chat.
Shadow turned to his left and attacked the hand before it could grab him too, making it back away momentarily to rebuild itself. Shadow turn around and saw another hand behind Chat Noir.
"Chat Noir, watch your six!" Warned Shadow.
Chat Noir did a back flip and landed on the skeleton hand. He then stabbed the back of the hand with his staff and made to fall apart and back up just after he jumped back off.
BEEP-BEEP
"You've only got two minutes left! You should get out of here and recharge Plagg!" Shadow warned as he continued to fend off the giant skeleton hands.
"And leave you to have all the fun?! No, thank you!" Chat half-joked as he too continued to fight. "Besides, I don't trust leaving you and Bone-bag, here, alone with My Lady!"
"Well then, we'll have to end it now! If we fail to take this thing down, it'll just keep growing until it breaks through the surface! And there's no telling what kind of destruction that monster could unleash on Paris once it's grown big enough!"
"Okay, so how do we stop it?!"
"Well, whatever you boys decide on, might I suggest you figure it out quickly?!" Called Ladybug from the monster's grasp.
While he fought, Shadow used his quick thinking brain and super speed to scan the room. He saw the way the hands were moving. They were perfect for homing spin-dashes. If done correctly, Shadow should be able to make it to the chest. However, for as long as he had been here, Shadow had not even once attempted to use his spin-dash attack. Since humans couldn't curl up into balls the same way that hedgehogs could, he wasn't sure he even could. Deciding it best not to dwell on it for too long, Shadow just decided to get to it.
"Hold on, Ladybug!" Shadow called before breaking into a run. "Here I come!"
Shadow jumped up and dashed forward, grabbing his legs and pulling them against his torso, pressing his head into his knees. He started to spin in midair… only to lose control and end up falling into the pit.
"Shadow!" Ladybug and Chat Noir exclaimed in unison.
Shadow uncurled as soon as he realized that he was out of control.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow quickly teleported back to the stone floor; unfortunately, he forgot to reposition himself in freefall before doing so, and ended up landing on his face. "Oof-augh!"
"Shadow, are you okay?!" A concerned Ladybug called to her ally.
Shadow quickly got back up just in time to counter an attack from one of the hands.
"I'm fine!" He responded as he fought, rubbing the minor soreness out of his nose.
"What were you trying to do?!" Chat Noir asked him.
"I was… never mind it! Just keep fighting!"
Shadow hadn't even thought of the possibility that his new size and stature would make it too difficult to preform so much as a midair dash, let alone a homing spin-dash. Shadow needed to think up a plan and soon. He glanced over to Ladybug. He considered having her use her Lucky Charm but she had no way of reaching her yoyo passed those big, boney fingers. He looked over at Chat Noir. He had the right idea with his Cataclysm, but it didn't have enough power.
"Wait, 'power'. That's it!" Shadow thought. "But would it even work?"
BEEP-BEEP
"Darn! Last minute! We have no time!"
Shadow then ran straight for and then into Chat Noir.
"Chaos Control!"
VOIP
Via chaos control, Shadow teleported to behind the skele-giant so that he could tell him his plan. It wasn't until they felt the ground shake beneath them, along with the dust clouds and large cracks being made in the floor, that Chat Noir and Shadow finally took a good look at the monster. It was at that moment that they finally realized how big the monster was becoming.
"Chat Noir, if we don't finish this fight soon, we'll lose for sure! I'm gonna need you to use your Cataclysm to keep that thing off me while I go for Ladybug! With her help, we can make an opening for you to get to the chest."
"Are you kidding me?! Even if I did still have enough power in my miraculous, I can barely make a dent in that thing before it rebuilds itself!"
"Give me your hand!"
Chat Noir's eyes widened before shifting into a look on confusion as he raised his left hand up for Shadow to see it.
"Ugh, not that one! Your ring!" Shadow said before grabbing a hold of Chat's right hand so that he could see his black cat ring.
Just as he suspected, there was only one pad left. Shadow then held onto Chat's arm with his armpit, while removed one of his inhibitor rings.
"What are you doing?!"
Shadow's hand suddenly flared up with green energy. He then placed his hand on Chat Noir's ring.
"Buying us both some time. Chaos Surge!"
Shadow focused as much chaos energy as he could into the boy's magic ring, causing the pads to fill back up again.
"WHOA!"
Chat Noir suddenly felt a huge surge of power coursing through him. As Shadow released him, allowing Chat to step back, both of Chat's hands were suddenly filled with destructive magical energy, only it wasn't just in the form of black bubbles, his hands also released black bolts of magic with faint green auras.
"Wow! Double Cataclysms?!" He exclaimed.
Shadow stepped back panting.
"To be honest, I didn't think that would actually work."
"Guys! Incoming! Watch out!" They both heard Ladybug call out.
They turned around and saw that the skele-giant had finally noticed them. Using the back of one of its giant hands, it attempted to swat them off into the pit.
"Chat Noir! Touch it!" Shadow ordered.
Chat Noir ran straight for the hand and scratched at it with his claws. He saw that he seemed to be moving through the giant skeleton hand as all of the bones around him instantly started to change color due do them rotting away into dust. As soon as Chat Noir emerged from the other side, he turned around and could clearly see the magic reaching farther than last time. The destructive magic traveled up the arm, all of the way to the shoulder. For half a moment, to Shadow, it almost appeared as though the monster's shoulder came off before the magic got there.
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!" The skeleton roared in response to losing an entire arm in an instant.
Chat Noir and Ladybug both smiled at this while Shadow smirked at the fact that it actually worked.
"Woah!" Exclaimed Chat as he examined his hands. "And they're still going!"
Chat Noir then turned his hand over and looked at his ring.
BEEP-BEEP
"That was a powerful destructive attack." Shadow explained as he put his gold inhibitor ring back on, finally recovering from using his chaos power. "Attacks that powerful or more will reduce your time. Let's not waste anymore!"
Shadow pointed to something behind Chat Noir. He turned around and saw that it was one of the monster's hands attempting to crush them.
"Don't touch it, yet! This is our chance! Move!"
Chat Noir managed to jump out of the way and the let the hand slam behind him; unfortunately, he accidentally touched the floor upon landing.
"Oops." Was all he could say before falling through the floor.
Using his super speed, Shadow grabbed onto Chat Noir's wrist before he fell through.
"Thanks for the hand." He said, pulling Chat to safety.
"No jokes. Just destruction. Let's go." Shadow let him go on the floor and ran to the hand.
"Huh, that wasn't even a joke." Chat said to himself.
Chat Noir used his bow-staff, which was immune to his destructive power, to propel himself onto the hand with Shadow.
"Feel free to run on all fours to pick up speed and destroy as much of this thing as you can. Just be careful not fall through. Now, let's go!"
The two of them raced off, up the arm, Chat Noir taking Shadow's advice and running on all fours, causing the giant skeleton to lose more and more of its arm.
"Chat Noir, incoming on our right, get ready! Remember you only have to touch it! Save that energy for the chest!"
"Aye-aye, captain." Chat jump up and swiped his hand across the hand that was going to attack them, thus destroying.
With every hand that sprouted up and attacked, Chat Noir and Shadow destroyed it.
"I'm starting to really like these chaos power ups!"
As they soon got close to the hand that Ladybug was trapped in, the skele-giant raised his hand away from them, trying desperately to swat the heroes away.
"Chat Noir, give me a lift!" Shadow requested as he threw more chaos spears at the hands.
"How?! I destroy everything I touch!"
"Your staff, you idiot!"
"Oh, yeah." Chat Noir would've face-palmed if not for his super charged super powers.
He then reached behind him and tossed his bow-staff to Shadow. Shadow caught it and examined it for a second.
"The button on top—!"
"I know how it works!" Shadow interrupted him.
Since there were only two identical buttons, not counting the green paw print in the middle, it wasn't hard for Shadow guess which ones made it grow and shrink. He held the staff in a firm grasp on the arm and pushed the top button. While he was doing this, Chat Noir was busying himself with warding off every hand that reformed. The staff instantly extended toward the hand. Shadow grabbed ahold and made the staff reduce in size.
"Shadow!" Exclaimed Ladybug, happy to see her new friend.
Shadow grinned and nodded before looking at the hand that grabbed her.
"Hold still." He told her.
Shadow raised his hand up, focused his chaos power into it, slashed at the hand, and grabbed Ladybug before she fell.
"Thanks." She said to him.
"I have a plan to end this fight. Will you help?"
With determination in her eyes, Ladybug agreed.
"What do you need?"
"Your yoyo."
Surprised to by his request, Ladybug did not respond verbally. Instead, she looked at him with a curious expression. While Chat Noir kept the giant skeleton hands at bay, Shadow was telling her the rest of his plan. In the end, Ladybug gave Shadow one end of her yoyo while she held on to the other end.
"You ready?" Asked Ladybug.
"Let's get that emerald." Said Shadow before calling out to Chat. "Chat, I don't want to see a single hand!"
Shadow then threw the staff back to Chat Noir.
"Thanks, and you got it!" Chat responded before he began jumping from one hand to the other, continuously, destroying them on contact.
"Let's hurry!" Said Ladybug. "He can't keep it up forever!"
Without another word, the two of them jumped to the shoulders of the skeleton giant. When it saw this, it tried to sprout new limbs to stop them, but Chat Noir wouldn't allow this. Using his bow-staff to aid him, he was jumping to the walls then to the skeleton, destroying anything that looked like a lump growing out of it. Ladybug was standing on its right shoulder while Shadow was standing on the left.
"Now!" This was the signal that Shadow used to alert when they would simultaneously jump off of its shoulders and swing around on the indestructible wire that the yoyo used for a string to the opposite shoulder.
"WOO-HOO!" Ladybug cheered as she swung to the giant skeleton's left shoulder.
She did not stop. As soon as her feet touched bone, she kept running and then jumped off the shoulder so that she could swing to the other one. As for Shadow, he simply used the silent jets in his shoes to propel him forward so that he wouldn't need to stop. The giant skeleton tried to reach for them to stop them, but Chat Noir wouldn't allow that.
"That's enough!" Shadow called once they had revolved around it a total of five times.
They both landed on the shoulders again and Chat Noir ceased his intentional attacks so that he could get into position, only for Ladybug to jump off and for Shadow to jump as well so that he could catch her. Once he did so, he used his shoes propel the two of them to the weakened stone floor. The skele-giant was suddenly being pulled backwards. This was their plan, for the two of them to wrangle the giant monster by the neck bones and pull it back. This worked as a distraction because it was throwing it off balance and threatened to cleave the head from the body. The skele-giant was using all but two of its arms, desperately trying to keep its head on. Shadow was now holding on to both ends of the yoyo while Ladybug was running around the giant boney monster.
"Chat Noir, now's your chance!" She called to her partner.
"Got it!" Chat Noir responded.
Chat Noir started running up the monster and set his sights.
"I'm thinking of calling this my…"
He jumped for the left side of the chest and reached for it with both hands, focusing as much destructive power as he could.
"Chaos Cataclysm!"
His hands literally looked like they were erupting black lightning with green auras. He touched down on the monster's chest and the destructive magic immediately took effect. The bones were all turning to dust and the magic did not stop.
BEEP-BEEP
Only when he heard his miraculous start beeping, did he stop.
"It's all on you, M'lady." Chat Noir called out to Ladybug.
"I'm on it!" She responded.
She then proceeded to run up the monster.
"That emerald's as good as ours!"
As the skele-giant heard Chat Noir's comment, it soon realized what would come next. What happened next shocked everyone. The giant skeleton let go of its head, allowing Shadow to actually render it from its vertebrae and various other bones that it used to make up its giant neck, and threw all of its arms, sans the two that it was using hold itself up, forward to seal up the hole. The head fell apart as soon as it hit the ground. The sudden movement caused Ladybug and Chat Noir to be thrown off of the monster's chest. While Chat managed to land his feet on the stone floor, using his bow staff as support so that he wouldn't touch the ground, Ladybug just managed to save herself from falling into the pit by grabbing onto the giant skeleton's lower torso bones.
"Ladybug!" Chat exclaimed, looking over the edge.
The skeleton kept its hands on the hole, protecting its chaos emerald "heart".
"Chat Noir, go for the chest again! Hurry! Before it regenerates!" Shadow called the hero.
Chat Noir did just that by using his bow-staff throw himself directly at the monster. Landing on his feet, the force was enough push the skele-giant back, making its body tilt backwards. He put his staff away and held out his hands. Since it was using all of its free arms to protect the hole, it just made his job easier. Even more so since Chat Noir's chaos power up was still in effect. After retracting the yoyo string, Shadow used his speed to run up the walls and finally use chaos control to teleport himself directly above Chat.
"Chaos Cataclysm!" Chat Noir's hands erupted black lightning with green auras, again.
He planted them right on the hands, forcing his way through them and into the chest cavity, but he didn't stop there.
BEEP-BEEP
He didn't even stop when he heard his miraculous beep. He just continued to release more and more magical energy so to keep the skele-giant from regenerating. Thanks to Chat Noir's help, Shadow had a goal. He used the silent jets on his shoes to make him fall faster. He knew he couldn't spin-dash, but he could still fall. In a final attempt to save itself, the skeleton giant formed another giant hand coming out of its back.
BEEP-BEEP
The extra giant hand swung around, ready to flatten Chat Noir. Shadow didn't have time to warn him, so instead he waited until he was just passing him.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow immediately threw a weak chaos spear right at Chat Noir's torso, knocking him away.
SLAM
The boney hand slammed on the hole and Chat Noir impacted on the stone floor.
BEEP-BEEP
His miraculous ran out of power forcing Plagg to be ejected from his ring and for him to be turned back into Adrien. He wasn't hurt too badly, so he was quickly able to recover and see what was happening. The giant skeleton straightened up, clutching the hole with its giant appendage, and then soon regrew its head.
"Shadow!" Adrien called out, but there was no response.