I am terribly sorry that this came out so late. I was distracted and preoccupied.
I have never been to Paris. I don't know the sights or where everything is. I don't even know what is in Paris aside from what is mentioned in this series. Paris, France is number one on my list of places in the world I wish I could visit.
Marinette and Tikki led Shadow away from home so that they could show him around as much of Paris as possible. Marinette had already called her parents and told them that she would be home by dinner. The problem was that there was so much of the city to see and too little time to see it, especially on a school night. Right now, they were currently sitting at a table outside of a café (one that Marinette had recommended for Shadow to take Juleka to), reading the map of Paris in Shadow's atlas.
"We could show him—"
"Or we could start with—"
"But what about—?"
"But what if we—?"
"Ooh! Good point. Maybe we could—"
Marinette and Tikki were going back and forth trying to figure out where to start. Since Shadow was new to… well, Earth, he didn't exactly have a list of places he wished to see, aside from the Eiffel Tower, but Marinette wanted to save that for last.
"Girls, we have very little time for this." Commented Shadow, impatiently.
"We're sorry, Shadow, but Paris is a big place." Said Tikki.
"Yeah. We just don't know where to start." Said Marinette.
"Do you have a euro?"
Marinette found this to be an odd question for Shadow to ask, but despite this, she reached into her bag and pulled out a shiny coin (Marinette previously told him about this world's currency… well, actually, only about euros). Shadow cleared the table, laid the map down on top of it and spread it out across the surface. He then took the coin, flipped it up into the air and let it fall onto the map. It hit the surface and settled on a spot.
"There. That's where we'll start."
Marinette and Tikki leaned in and eyed the marked location as Shadow got up out of his seat.
"But it's so far." Said Tikki.
Shadow took the map and closed the atlas after giving the coin back to Marinette.
"I know." Shadow started walking away.
Marinette, with Tikki hiding in her bag, soon followed after him, leaving some money to pay for the drinks that they ordered. She was nervous of the "how to get there" part of the plan.
"So… are we going to take a taxi or a bus?"
"No."
They rounded a corner and saw that there weren't that many people out. Marinette was afraid that her suspicions were correct.
"We're going to run, aren't we?"
Shadow was well aware that Marinette didn't exactly like taking the (as Sonic or Adrien would probably call it) "Shadow Express" (just the thought of calling it that made Shadow cringe).
"I know you don't like it, but teleporting would be like a game of roulette without knowing exactly where we're going, and we can't exactly leap from the rooftops and waste Tikki's energy."
"He has a point there, Marinette." Said Tikki.
"(sigh) Alright."
Marinette walked up to Shadow, expecting him to scoop her up.
"Wait." Said Shadow.
Marinette looked at him in surprise. Shadow reached into his pocket and pulled out the yellow chaos emerald.
"We can't see all of Paris before dinner, but this should help buy us more time so we at least see enough of it." He said, holding it up as he looked back at her and Tikki. "Hold on to me."
Marinette looked at him in shock to his request.
"Just trust me."
Marinette hesitantly got closer to him and held on to his arm while Tikki did the same. Shadow then threw the emerald up into the air.
"Chaos…"
The emerald glowed brightly before it started to fall and Shadow caught it with ease.
"Control!"
The yellow light blinded the girl and little kwami. When the light faded, Marinette and Tikki looked around and saw that the few people, along with some pigeons, who were around had suddenly stopped moving.
"Huh?!" Exclaimed Marinette.
"What happened?!" Tikki asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. I just used this to temporarily stop time." Shadow held up the glowing yellow gem.
"Wow!" The girls said in unison.
"We didn't have much time before, but with this and my speed, we have all the time in the world. Granted, the effects of a time freeze are only temporary, but so long as I keep drawing power from the emeralds in my backpack, I should be able to maintain it for a bit longer."
Shadow stashed the gem in his pocket and while Marinette was distracted with the idea that the entire world was on pause, Shadow caught her off guard when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in so that he could carry her bridle style.
"Do we still have to run?" She asked nervously.
"Don't worry." He said with a reassuring smile. "We'll go slow."
Marinette gave a small, nervous smiled in response to his smile and wrapped her arms around his shoulders for good measure. Tikki flew out and sat down on Marinette's stomach.
"Feel free to tell me to stop at any places that I should know about. Hmph… Alright… Here we…" Shadow got into a starting position. "Go!"
Shadow took off, not like a speeding bullet, but more like a speeding motorcycle. Marinette soon realized that the wind in her face wasn't as strong as the previous times she held onto Shadow while he ran. It almost reminded her of when she would use her yoyo as a mode of transportation, only smoother and less like a carnival ride. As they ran toward their destination, Marinette often stopped Shadow to show him someplace and tell him about it. When they reached their destination, Shadow took out the map. Eventually, the chaos emeralds' magic did stop along the way, but with all of the time they were saving while it was in effect, it wasn't so much a big deal. So they just kept walking around with time moving normally (use your imagination to decide how their evening went). Soon enough, Adrien did call. Shadow made a comment that they still had limited time; however, that didn't end the call… the long call that seemed to last forever (at least in Shadow's mind).
Later, the three of them agreed to go through Paris almost like a spiral, with the Eiffel Tower being their last stop. Every so often, they would use the emeralds to once again stop time so that they wouldn't waste too much of it (time, that is). Marinette and Tikki showed him the Notre-Dame, the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, even the Pont des Arts. They eventually stopped by the Louvre where the girls showed him some of the most famous art pieces in the world, especially including the Mona Lisa.
Although through most of the tour, Shadow's expression remained neutral, Marinette could somehow tell that he was enjoying himself (if anything, a little bit). In less than two hours, they found themselves standing on the Eiffel Tower's second story lookout. It wasn't yet dinner time, but it was drawing close, but at this moment, they were just enjoying the view.
"So, how did you enjoy the tour?" Asked Marinette.
"This city is… primitive." Said Shadow.
Marinette's eyes widened at his statement. He glanced at her and realized what he just said.
"B-but the architecture is beautiful!" He quickly corrected himself.
Marinette was back to smiling.
"(sigh) I didn't think we would cover this much of Paris in just two hours!" She said.
As they looked out at Paris, they could see the sun setting over the horizon. With this, some of the lights of the city came to life.
"You know; I sometimes wonder how someone as unlucky as me could also be lucky enough to be born and raised in such a beautiful city." As she said this while looking out at the City of Lights, Shadow glanced at her and for some odd reason, he felt no desire to look away. "Can you imagine anything more beautiful than this view?"
"… No."
As he kept staring, she turned to look at him… and her face flashed into Maria's. That alone snapped him back to his senses.
"Uh!"
"What's wrong?!" She asked him with concern.
"Um… nothing." He said while shaking his head.
She didn't look convinced.
"Shadow, why do you do that? Whenever you look at me for a long time, you suddenly look like you've seen a ghost." She approached him. "What's wrong, Shadow?"
Shadow tried to not look at her by looking out at the city.
"Shadow, please tell me." She pleaded.
Shadow chanced another glance, but soon came to regret it when he saw her face flash again. He shut his eyes, looked away and kept saying the word "no" in his own mind.
"Y-you… rem-mind me… of… someone… Someone I knew…"
"Of who? Who do I remind you of?"
Shadow didn't want to, but he feared if he didn't, she would keep pressing the matter and make things harder. So, with a sigh of defeat, he kept his eyes off of her as he reached into his pocket. Marinette's eyes widened as he held out his treasured photograph. Shadow never forgot to take it with him everywhere he went. She looked at it and saw the picture of the old man sitting beside a young girl, but noticed that Shadow's thumb was covering the girl's face. She slowly reached with her hand and gripped the photo. She slowly eased the picture out of Shadow's hand and every time she did, more of the girl's face was revealed. When she could finally see the whole image, her eyes widened, for this was the first time she had actually gotten a good look at the entire picture. She could see every detail of it… including Maria's face.
"B-but… she looks just like…"
As Marinette stared at the blonde haired girl, Tikki, curiosity getting the better of her, flew in front of her and saw Maria's face, as well.
"Marinette, she looks just like you, only younger with blonde hair!"
"Shadow, who are they?" She asked.
"They are…" Shadow corrected his mistake as soon as he heard himself. "They were… my family… My creator, Prof. Gerald Robotnik, and his granddaughter… Maria Robotnik… In a way, she was like… my sister… They were the closest thing I ever had to family."
"… What happened to them?"
Shadow hesitated before speaking.
"The raid." Shadow felt no resistance to share this story with her, for every time he turned to look at her, he saw only Maria, which would only force him to look away. "Fifty years ago, onboard a space station called The Space Colony ARK, there lived an old man who dedicated his life to science. His main goal was to cure the incurable disease known only as NIDS, Neuro-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome. It's a disease that affects the body's immune system, making it almost impossible to combat illness. One of the unfortunate people who was diagnosed with this disease was his own granddaughter, Maria. Because of her condition, she had no choice but to live on the ARK to protect herself from Mobius' bacteria ridden atmosphere. The common cold alone would be fatal for her. The Professor didn't want this to be her life. This encouraged him to find a cure. But that proved to be impossible.
"He soon came to the conclusion that if he couldn't find a cure, he would make one, himself. But at the same time, the government funding his research wanted him to create a super weapon to aid them in the war that was going on between the Humans and the Mobians. When… an opportunity… presented itself, the Professor decided to use it to… kill two birds with one stone. After a lot of trial-and-error, he eventually… (sigh) succeeded. He made the ultimate cure. He made the ultimate weapon… He made me, the Ultimate Lifeform; Codenamed: Project Shadow. But this wasn't the life my creator wanted for me.
"When I was created, the Professor made it my soul purpose to protect his granddaughter. So no matter what, I would never leave her side… (ahem) of course, there were (cough) a few exceptions. I was adamant to make sure no harm ever befell her. For some reason, she decided to make me her… friend. To this day, I still have no idea how she did it, but… she became my friend, as well… and then… eventually, we became something… more… we became family. I didn't just protect her because my creator tasked me to, anymore. I protected her because I wanted to keep her safe from harm.
"Since I wasn't technically 'born', I didn't think I had a soul… but Maria somehow got it into her head that… I might have one… Both she and the Professor were so sure because… being with them made me… happy… But this happiness was short-lived. When the government found out about me and what I was capable of, they feared that the fact that I was alive would make me… uncontrollable. And so… because they were afraid of me… they raided the ARK… and eliminated anyone… and everyone associated with my creation. The Professor told me to take Maria and escape the ARK… but the soldiers caught up to us… I was fully prepared to lay down my life to protect Maria… but she… laid down hers… for me!" Shadow's fingers were starting to bend the metal bars that kept people from falling. "She jettisoned me from the ARK… and that was the last I ever saw… of either of them…"
Shadow's story brought Marinette and Tikki to tears. He didn't have to turn around to know this, because he could hear their sobs. Normally, someone crying at the top of the Eiffel Tower would draw attention, but fortunately, most of the people were on the other side of the lookout while everyone else went home for the day.
"Fifty years later, I thought I had finally put my past behind me… then, all of a sudden, I'm sent here, only to meet you. Some… random stranger who only resembles someone I once loved. Most times when I look at you, I see only a girl… but then… when you look at me… certain ways… I can only see… her face… It's almost as if… you turn into her… I… I don't know why, but… you look… so much like her." He glanced at her, and with the look on her face, her face flashed, forcing Shadow to look away. "Please, don't look at me like that!"
Marinette didn't know what to say. Her new friend saw her as someone she wasn't because of how she looked.
"I-I… I don't know what to say." Marinette turned to look at the city below.
More of the city's lights came on.
"I should go." Shadow said.
"What?!"
"You can get home from here on your own."
Shadow started making his way to the stairs.
"But, Shadow!" Shadow ignored her and kept walking, so she ran to him and grabbed his arm. "Shadow, you can't just walk away."
"Let me go, Marinette."
"No, I'm not just going to let you leave."
"I've been down this road before. I refuse to go back."
"Shadow, I can't help you with getting home if you can't even look at me."
"It only happens sometimes. It'll pass!"
"But what if it doesn't?!"
"Just let me go!"
"Just let me help!"
"You can't!"
"You don't know that!"
"Let me go, Maria!"
At first, Marinette and Shadow froze, but Marinette's freeze wore off before Shadow's.
"Please." He said to her. "Just let me go."
Marinette wasn't about to let go of a friend. So, she took a deep breath and did something she hoped would work.
"Shadow… help me."
Shadow's eyes shot open when he heard this. He slowly turned around. At first, he only saw Marinette's raven hair (her face was looking downward), but then, she looked up at him with an expression that was a mixture of sadness and worry.
"Help me… help you." Her face flashed into Maria's.
"Gah!"
Shadow tried to look away, but Marinette took this opportunity. She grabbed his face and focused it on hers.
"Shadow, look at me."
Her expression remained the same, so her face flashed into Maria's again.
"No! No! NO!" Shadow exclaimed, backing into a wall.
He shut his eyes, but Tikki, though mostly unsure of this idea, decided to help Marinette by forcing Shadow's eyes open. Every time he jerked his head to the side, Marinette would move hers. If he jerked his head up, Tikki would help Marinette force it down low enough to see her. He kept saying "NO". With his mind forced to think about Maria, he couldn't focus on any way to get out of his situation.
"Stop it! STOP IT!"
"SHADOW! LOOK AT ME! I AM NOT MARIA!" She yelled at him.
Shadow kept trying to look away, but then, her grip on his face softened until she was only gently holding it. As she started to gently caress his cheek, Shadow barely saw her and tried to look away.
"Shadow, you have to look at me. I know it's scary, but you have to." She said in a calm, soothing voice. "Please, Shadow. Help me… help you."
Shadow started to slowly focus on her. Even with her smiling, Maria's face appeared before Shadow and remained. As he looked at her, the setting around them changed. Shadow was no longer in human form standing on the look out point of the Eiffel Tower with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Tikki the kwami, he was in hedgehog form, standing in front of an escape pod on the Space Colony ARK with Maria Robotnik on her knees after just being shot, holding onto him.
"Please… I feel like I'm back on the ARK… during the raid… I don't want to go back there."
"You don't have to, but you have to accept that this face before you isn't Maria's."
"My life… I'm starting to think about it… The raid… It's…"
"Over. You have to look at me and talk to me like I'm not the person you once knew."
Shadow looked at Maria, looking deep into her blue eyes.
"Y-you… you aren't Maria."
"Good."
"Maria is gone. You are not her."
"Who am I?"
"Y-you are… not Maria Robotnik. Y-you are… M-Ma-Mari… Mari… Marinette…"
"Yes."
"You are Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Yes."
"Maria is gone, but… Marinette, you are here."
"Yes"
Shadow stared directly at Maria's face as their life as a family together replayed in her eyes. Shadow forced himself to watch. He felt all of his emotions from those times; the anger, the pain, the sadness, the fear, the happiness… the love. He kept telling himself that it was only his past. Nothing but memories. He loved and missed Maria, his dear sister, and his beloved father, Gerald. He missed them both dearly. This girl before his eyes was not Maria. As he looked at her, he was starting to mentally and emotionally accept that. His eyes were suddenly as free as his head, but he did not look away. Before his eyes, he saw Maria's hair shorten and turn dark as her body matured. Her blue dress also transformed and she was no longer on her knees for her legs had grown longer. The ARK faded away from around him until he found himself in the lookout of the Eiffel Tower looking into the face of a beautiful human, Parisian girl. Shadow felt calm and content as he breathed and sighed.
"Marinette. Thank you."
"Of course. We're friends, Shadow."
Marinette surprised Shadow by wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. Tikki then drifted down and used her tiny tendrils (or more like rested her entire body) to hug the top of his head. Shadow thought that this was weird but decided not to shake her off. He just started patting Marinette's back, but after a moment, he did something that he could not explain. He used his peripheral vision to see Marinette's face and smiled (which as we all know, was rare... but less so, as it would seem, when he's around Marinette). Then, all of a sudden, as he felt Marinette's warm form hold onto him, he began to subconsciously wrap his arms around—
FWOOSH
KA-BOOM
Marinette and Shadow stopped and ran to the other side of the lookout to see several buildings and cars on fire.
"What just happened?!" Asked Tikki before noticing the people beside her friends and quickly moving to hide in Marinette's bag.
"Down there!" Said Shadow, pointing, so the girls followed his finger and saw flames shooting from a single moving point. "Another akuma attack?!"
"But it's so late." Said Marinette.
"Guess it's true what they say, 'evil never sleeps'." Said Tikki.
"Let's go." Said Shadow.
Shadow and Marinette, with Tikki in her bag, ran to the other side of the lookout. Shadow then pulled off his backpack and unzipped it.
"Let's not wait for your boyfriend. We have to take this guy down fast."
"Wait." Marinette got his attention after he pulled out his hoodie and fingerless, leather gloves.
Shadow looked at Marinette in surprise and saw her removing her own backpack. She unzipped it and pulled out something rectangular and wrapped. She then held it out toward Shadow.
"What's this?" Shadow asked.
"I made this for you."
Shadow took the package, but before he could open it, a new explosion caught their attention.
"Thanks, I'll look at it later." Shadow stashed the gift inside of his backpack and zipped it back up.
"Oh, okay."
Shadow then put his jacket on, zipped it up, pulled up his hood and stood back for Marinette to get changed.
"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.
With the both of them suited up, Shadow strapped his backpack on and used chaos control to teleport them outside the lookout landing. Using Ladybug's yoyo and Shadow's chaos control, they made it to the villain. While Ladybug landed using her yoyo to aid her in a soft, graceful landing, Shadow just stopped teleporting when he was about ten feet from the ground and let gravity bring him down so that he could break his fall (and some of the concrete) with his fist (superhero landing).
Now that they were close enough, they could clearly see who they were up against. He wore a white, fire-proof coat with red fire designs on the bottom rim and around the cuffs of his sleeves. His boots and gloves were red with white fire designs (no pun intended). His face was red with the area around his eyes being white and flame shaped. He wore a firefighter's helmet that matched his boot's and gloves and he had a large backpack strapped to his back with a hose attached to it which he held in his hands.
"Isn't it past your bedtimes, kids?" The supervillain commented.
"We could be asking you the same thing." Ladybug retorted.
"Who are you?!" Asked Shadow.
"You may call me Fire-Man. All that I ever wanted was to keep people safe from fires, but if they refuse to respect me for my efforts, then instead of preventing fires, from now on, I'll be starting them!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Exclaimed Ladybug.
Fire-Man gave them a confident grin until he realized something and started looking around. Ladybug and Shadow thought that this was odd. Shadow looked at Ladybug curiously, but she just shrugged. When Fire-Man didn't seem to find what he was looking for, he turned to the heroes.
"Wait a minute! Who are you?!" He asked the hoodie clad hero. "Where's Chat Noir?!"
"Never mind that!" Shadow responded. "Just make this easier on yourself! Surrender now and spare yourself a beating!"
"Ha! The only way I'll ever stop is if Ladybug and Chat Noir hand over their miraculouses!"
"Not happening! Your best bet is to give up while you still can!"
"I advise that you listen to my friend, Dark Chaos, here. He's nothing like my partner, Chat Noir."
"Is that so? Well then, I guess I'll just have to take him out first and then take your miraculous before I can take Chat Noir's." Fire-Man held up his hose and by twisting the nozzle, flames shot forth from it.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Shadow exclaimed before he and Ladybug got out of the way via yoyo and teleportation.
Once they were a safe enough distance away, Ladybug observed Fire-Man as he shot forth his flames.
"I think the akuma's in his hose." She said.
"Then let's take care of it as quickly as—Look out!"
Shadow grabbed Ladybug and teleported her a safe distance away when he saw that Fire-Man's hose was pointed at them and its flames were heading straight for them. He teleported the two of them to the roof where they saw that Fire-Man was shooting fire at everything.
"You can't take him on one-on-one. This villain seems to prefer to battle at long range." Said Shadow.
"You're right. All he has to do is point that hose of his and we'll get burned." Not long after saying this, she started giggling.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that by now, Chat Noir would probably come up with some kind of pun about 'us getting burned' or 'our goose being cooked'."
Shadow rolled his eyes from under the shade of his hood.
"One of us has to distract him while the other takes his hose."
"Alright. Dark Chaos," Shadow wanted to mention that she didn't have to call him that in private, but decided not to, preferring to instead focus on the mission, "you teleport behind him and distract him. I'll handle the rest. Do you think you can handle it?"
"Tch… Don't forget, I'm the Ultimate."
Shadow then threw himself back over the side and landed on the ground, hard. The sound of impact was enough to alert Fire-Man.
"Back for more?"
"Hmph, I'm back to finish you." Shadow punctuated what he said by punching his palm as he started his approach.
"Do not underestimate this opponent!" Said the dark voice in Fire-Man's head.
"Hah! That's as far as you'll be going!" He said as he pointed his hose and shot out his flames at Shadow.
Shadow was unfazed by the suddenness of the attack. Just when the heat of the flames was actually starting to burn him, before they could actually touch him, he vanished in a flash of green light. At first, Fire-Man believed that he had scared him off and smiled at himself.
"(ahem)" The sound of someone behind him clearing their throat caught him by surprise.
Fire-Man turned around while jumping away from Shadow. Suddenly, Shadow smirked at him as his hand turned green. He decided to toy with Fire-Man a bit while waiting for Ladybug to get into position. He knew he could finish him with his speed or a few chaos spears, but this fool was so easy, he knew that there was no need.
"Chaos spear." Using chaos energy, he created a spear and threw it before making and throwing another. "Chaos spear."
Shadow kept this up, constantly keeping Fire-Man "dancing" all over the place. Shadow smirked at the supervillain's humiliation.
"He's making you look stupid! Use the power I gave you!" The dark voice shouted.
"Grrr… That's it!" He said before dodging another hit. "No more mister-nice-villain!"
With a twist of his nozzle, he shot flames at Shadow.
"Chaos barrier!" By swinging and crossing his arms in front of him, a glowing green barrier sprouted up around him, protecting him from the fire. "Hmph. Please. You're no villain! You're a joke!"
Shadow's taunting irked Fire-Man, so he decided to turn up the heat by twisting his nozzle again. This made even more flames shoot out. While this was happening, Ladybug was prepping her yoyo while enjoying the show.
"You know what, with your only means of defense being that one hose, you can really only protect yourself from one opponent at a time! But if your hose is busy with one of us who can defend against your attacks, then the other can come in and take you out! Now, Ladybug!"
Fire-Man's eyes widened as he turned his head to see the superheroine throw her trusty magic yoyo at the reverse-firefighter-themed supervillain, intending to tie him up and then Have Shadow keep him restrained while she removed the backpack and then let Shadow destroy it. He seemed smart enough and resilient enough to know how to safely destroy something like that. And if Fire-Man were to redirect his shot at her, then Dark Chaos could run up behind him while his back was turned. The heroes were sure of their victory, but then Fire-Man reached behind him as quickly as he could, pulled out a fire extinguisher and pointed it at Ladybug. When he turned the fire extinguisher on, instead of shooting out fire-retardant, it shot out fire. The flames were strong enough to blow the yoyo away but keep on going.
Ladybug and Shadow's eyes widened, for they both saw where this was going. As Shadow saw Ladybug's… saw Marinette's arm outstretched from throwing her yoyo, and saw her face instantly switch from confident to surprised and then to frightened, he also saw her face flash into Maria's again, only it wasn't just her face that changed, it was everything. And she didn't just change into Maria, the setting around her changed, as well. The very situation, in fact, changed. In an instant, for an instant, instead of Marinette throwing a yoyo as she's about to take a face full of fire, the scene changed into Maria throwing Shadow out of the way as the G.U.N. soldiers were about to open fire.
"Not again." He thought to himself as he saw the flames get closer to her and swung his arms out. "Not again!"
"Chaos…!"
"Not again!" He thought as he became engulfed in green light at the same time as the barrier dissipated.
"… Control!"
"Not again!" He mentally shouted as he vanished in a flash of green light, just before the hose flames could touch him, but he still got a little bit burned.
"Not! again!" He mentally shouted as he reappeared in a flash of green light in front of her, facing the flames.
"CHAOS BARRIER!"
"NEVER AGAIN!" He mentally screamed out as he threw his arms into an "X" shape in front of him, causing a barrier of green light to form around them
Shadow would "never again" lose someone he cared about. Even if it cost him his own life, he wouldn't only give everything he had to save the world, he would also give everything to save one person (with the world if possible) if that person was someone whom he cared deeply for. Someone like Maria… Someone like… Marinette. The barrier was almost complete, but before it actually was, the flames hit. The barrier shielded every last part of them… except for Shadow's torso and face.
"GeeyAAAAAAAHHH!" He screamed as the barrier finished forming, but at the same time, everything on him from the waist up was suddenly ignited on fire.
"NOOOOO!" Ladybug screamed when she saw this.
Shadow struggled to keep the barrier up as his torso, arms and head burned, but it was faltering. Ladybug then grabbed him, despite the fire, and threw her weight into the barrier (she couldn't use her yoyo because she dropped it when Shadow summoned his chaos barrier). With him trying to stay conscious after being set on fire and holding the barrier that kept Fire-Man's flames out, Shadow couldn't handle someone actually bashing against it from the inside.
The barrier fell and Ladybug jumped for her yoyo with Shadow in tow. The flames from the supervillain barely got her foot, but still she managed to reach her yoyo. Shadow was slightly heavier than Chat Noir, not to mention he was on fire, but with her enhanced strength, sheer determination to help her friend and her yoyo, she was able to carry them both to safety with only a few burns on her. Ladybug carried them behind the building where she immediately pulled Shadow's backpack off as quickly as she could and proceeded to rip off his hoodie and throw it away, quickly followed by his gloves, letting the jacket burn into ashes while the backpack and leather flames simply died out. She then started patting out the flames on his red shirt while he tended to his face. When she was finished, she saw just how badly damaged he was. The flesh of his arms and the palms of his hands were burned red and his fingers and face were… well, worse (they had no protection). Seeing him in this state brought her to tears.
"I… I'm sorry!" She sobbed.
She tried to help him, but couldn't out of fear that she may hurt him. She didn't know what to do other than… Shadow saw that she was about to use her Lucky Charm, but stopped her before she could by throwing himself up and grabbing ahold of her arm, bringing it down as he fell to his knee.
"Don't…!" Shadow struggled to say despite his burnt state. "We'll need that… for Fire-Man."
Ladybug dropped to her knees so that she was level with him. She couldn't look at him.
"This was all my fault."
"No, it wasn't… Neither of us… saw that… second weapon. We were both caught by… surprise." It wasn't long until Shadow noticed her sobbing again. "Don't cry, Marinette."
She looked at him as he said this, or at least, she tried to. Shadow was currently looking at the floor in a way that his hair was blocking the view from the rest of his face.
"Remember, you are a hero… These people depend on you. They look up to you… Don't show them you're afraid…"
"Shadow… (sob) you need help."
"I'm… fine."
"Stop that…! Stop saying that…! (sob) (sob) You are not fine." Shadow stayed there for a second, listening to her sob. "Just let me help you… (sniff) please."
"You can help me… by helping me… help you. Don't focus on the… unfortunate outcomes. Focus on making all the other outcomes… fortunate. We have to focus on stopping that fire-clown." It was at this moment that Shadow raised his head and revealed that his smirking face was already healing at an alarming pace. "Besides, I've been in much more dangerous spots than this."
Ladybug… Marinette was overjoyed to see him healing. So much so, that she couldn't help throwing her arms around Shadow.
"Gah!" He exclaimed, scaring her off of him. "It's alright! I've just never been in that situation without almost-fire-proof fur, before. Especially, not while wearing something as flammable as that jacket. Heh. Guess that explains why it was in the clearance bin."
Despite still recovering from being in that situation, Marinette giggled at what he just said.
"Did… you just make a joke?"
"Of course not. I don't make jokes. Only observations."
"(giggle) Well then, it's a good thing I make my clothes out of fire-retardant material."
"Hm. Yeah."
Another explosion came to their ears and reminded them of what was happening.
"Oh, Ladybug!" Called Fire-Man. "Dark Crybaby! Where are you?!"
Shadow subconsciously growled at him through gritted teeth.
"I'm done toying with this fool." Shadow said darkly.
Ladybug eyed him closely, but saw that his eye and facial skin color remained the same. She smiled at him. When Shadow looked at her, he remembered something.
"Ladybug, use your Lucky Charm now to create something to cut his hose. Then you can use Miraculous Ladybug to repair the damage he caused…" he then turned back toward the villain, "… after we take him down."
"But Shadow, your disguise." Said Ladybug.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Wait!" Shadow looked at her curiously.
Ladybug then smiled and reached into his almost singed backpack. She then pulled out the gift that she had made for him and held it out towards him. He gave her a curious, while at the same time, unamused look.
"Ladybug," he said, trying to emphasis that they were on the clock, "this is hardly the time for—"
"Please. Just open it." She urged him.
Shadow sighed and took the gift. He then proceeded to open it quickly, but when he finally saw part of what was inside, he stopped.
"When you showed me that picture of you… well, it… you inspired me." She said as he continued to unwrap the gift.
Once all of the wrapping paper was on the ground, he held up what was inside of it and stared at it in awe. He was speechless. Seeing the look on his face made all of her hard work worth it. She then got up and walked out of their hiding place.
"Come out as soon you're ready."
With that, she left the hiding place to continue the battle. Once the villain was in view once again, but could still not see her, Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and threw it up into the air.
"Lucky Charm!"
Sparkles then started to gather together around her yoyo. Banding together, they formed a red object with black spots that then landed into her hands.
It was a metal boomerang with a sharpened edge. She looked around, but couldn't figure out what to do with it.
"Guess I'll just have figure it out later." She said before using her yoyo again.
As soon as she came into view, standing atop a streetlight, Fire-Man saw her.
"Aha! There you are!" He called out to her. "Where's your little friend?! Still licking his burns?!"
"He's fine, thank you for asking!"
"Hah! He may be fine for now, but you won't be!"
Using his hose, he shot more flames at Ladybug. Using her yoyo, she started swinging high up, trying to stay out of the way of the onslaught while looking around for some way to use her boomerang.
"It's too bad you're stuck facing me all on your own!" Fire-Man said, as he reached behind him and pulled out his fire extinguisher.
He then shot out more flames, cutting her off, forcing her to stop moving and land. The flames from the hose and the fire extinguisher cut her off from both sides and only got closer.
"No one to save you now. Not even your favorite cat! I bet that really burns you up!"
"Hey!" Came a voice from Fire-Man's side.
He turned just in time to receive a clean hit in the jaw from a white gloved hand that left him tumbling away. Fire-Man got to his feet and saw who was in front of him.
"Who are you?!" He asked.
"Don't remember me?" The hero said. "Thanks for that burn earlier, by the way. I'll be sure to pay you back for that."
"You!"
The hero before the villain was dressed in black pants with red stripes going half-way up the legs, white gloves (with fingers) and a new black hoodie with red stripes going up the arms and a white design on the chest (resembling Shadow the Hedgehog's chest fur). Then there was the head area. The hood of the hoodie was adorned with red striped, black spikes protruding from the back and animal ears on top. There was also a single red stripe going up from the middle of the front of the hood. On the back of the jacket, there was a red symbol that resembled swirls with spikes (Shadow's logo). And finally, on his face (from under his hood), surrounding his red eyes, was a black mask with red stripes above the eyes.
"Miss me?" Shadow said with a smirk.
Instead of answering, Fire-Man unleashed the flames of his hose upon him. Shadow, instead of summoning his barrier or teleporting, dashed around the flame and delivered a punch right into Fire-Man's diaphragm. The punch lifted him up off of the ground. Shadow then jumped up and spun sideways so that he could kick him into the ground.
"Dark Chaos, be careful with him." Ladybug warned.
"I know. I was just paying him back for last time." Said Shadow.
"Get up! Get up!" Demanded the dark voice.
"I'll finish this myself." Shadow approached the weakened villain.
After finally getting to his knees, Fire-Man desperately reached for his hose and held it out, but he was so fear stricken, he didn't know what to do, but Ladybug did, for now, she saw the fire extinguisher (which was lying on the ground, a short distance away) and hose. With her targets in sight, she threw her boomerang. It flew toward the fire extinguisher and hit the operating lever, denting it into place, permanently. After that, the boomerang flew through the air and came back around. Just when Fire-Man was about twist the nozzle, something whizzed past and cut the hose. The boomerang then returned to the one who threw it.
"NO!" He yelled as the hose started shooting fire all over the place.
Shadow back flipped out of the way while Fire-Man tried get his hose under control. It was at that moment that he noticed something, the flames were spreading even more thanks to the constant feed from the permanently opened hose. They soon reached another car. The vehicle exploded and was thrown into the sidewalk. Shadow saw a little girl and her parents hurry into a building just in time for the car to come crashing down in front of the door of the building that they were hiding in. The car was still on fire and more flames were on the way. They were trapped and needed help.
"Ladybug!" He called to the superheroine.
"I know! I was wrong! The akuma wasn't in—!"
"Those people!" Shadow pointed to the trapped family.
When Ladybug finally saw what he was talking about, she threw her yoyo to try and help, but it was blown away by the nonstop, erupting flames from Fire-Man's cut hose. Fire-Man was running straight for her, hose literally blazing.
"I can't get close! Dark Chaos, hurry!" She called as she tried to avoid the flames.
Shadow looked at the car in front of the door as the flames made their way to it and dashed toward it.
"Chaos control!" Using his chaos powers, Shadow teleported to the building where, through a window he saw that everyone inside was scared. "Don't worry! You're going to be okay!"
Shadow grabbed ahold of the car and lifted in above his head. The flames got closer, so Shadow didn't waste any more time. He threw the car into the flames and broke the door off, releasing the family.
"Get as far away from here as fast as you can, now!" He ordered them before turning to leave.
"Wait!" Called the mother, causing Shadow to freeze in his tracks. "You aren't Chat Noir. Who are you?"
The dark hero simply turned around and faced them with a dark look.
"Call me Dark Chaos."
With that, he took off like a black wind toward the danger while the family ran away. Once he was close enough, he saw that Ladybug was having a hard time with the villain, so he ran faster. Unfortunately, if he were to run into him at top speed, then he would cause Fire-Man serious harm, which Ladybug wouldn't approve of. And if he were to destroy his backpack, it would cause it to explode. There was no telling how much bodily damage Ladybug's Miraculous Ladybug could fix. Same thing for his usual chaos attacks. They were made with an intention to severely harm or even destroy. This was an innocent human-being who was being used for evil.
Dark Chaos then saw the straps that kept Fire-Man's backpack attached to him. If he were to separate his backpack from Fire-Man, then he would be both defenseless and out of harm's way. Dark Chaos jumped up and front flipped over Fire-Man, grabbing the top of his backpack with one hand while doing so. With his other, he summoned a chaos spear and cut the straps as he was passing overhead. He then pulled the backpack off and threw it into the air upon landing.
"Chaos spear!" He shouted as he shot it with a spear of chaos energy.
KA-BOOM
The pack exploded a safe distance away.
"Few!" Ladybug said after landing, but before she could celebrate, she saw Fire-Man pull out an axe and approach Dark Chaos from behind. "Look out!"
The supervillain swung, but Dark Chaos simply swerved out of the way, pivoted around, grabbed him by the weapon and then kick him in the chest just causing him to release it. As he was being knocked back, Dark Chaos noticed his helmet fly off, so he grabbed it before it hit the ground. As he held it in his hand, he felt the dark power inside of it. It was in his helmet the whole time. Dark Chaos tossed the helmet up and as it dropped down, swung at it with Fire-Man's axe, shattering it into pieces. Once the pieces hit the ground, Ladybug and Dark Chaos saw the akuma emerge and fly away.
"You found it!" She exclaimed.
"Hurry, don't let it get away!" He warned her.
Ladybug took out her yoyo and ran a finger down the middle of it.
"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma."
The yoyo then opened up, revealing a bright white light from inside it. She started swinging the yoyo back and forth, building up momentum, but then started spinning it around and around, posing while getting ready to release it.
"Time to de-evilize!"
She threw out her yoyo toward the akuma, which became trapped inside before it closed once again. The yoyo soon returned to Ladybug, who caught it with ease.
"Gotcha!"
Ladybug then tapped the top of her yoyo and it opened up once again, releasing a white winged butterfly from it.
"Bye-bye, little butterfly."
Ladybug smiled, then took the red boomerang with black spots and tossed it into the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
The boomerang then disappeared in the sky, and in its place, a very large loveliness of sparkling ladybugs appeared and spread out in random directions. All of a sudden, all of the damage was repaired, the flames were extinguished, Shadow's clothes were fixed and Fire-Man transformed back into a normal looking fireman. He looked around, confused as to what had just happened. Dark Chaos couldn't help but feel proud about this job well done. He turned around, but was surprised by what he saw when he did so.
"Pound it!" He saw Ladybug, extending her fist toward him.
"Um, excuse me?" He asked her, confused.
"Uh… oh!" She said, withdrawing her hand as she realized her mistake. "Um, sorry about that! Me and Chat Noir always fist bump after we complete a mission."
Shadow thought that this was odd and pointless, but for some reason, he felt… curious.
"Go ahead." He said with an eye roll.
Ladybug opened her eyes when she heard this and was surprised to see Dark Chaos holding out his gloved fist up, pointed toward her. It wasn't fulled extended, but it was clearly an invite for a fist bump.
"Hurry up, before I change my mind."
He had his head turned toward the side, but he glanced at her and smiled. Ladybug smiled back and proceeded to fist bump Dark Chaos, both of them extending their arms toward each other.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Paris, the evil Hawkmoth was looking out of his stained glass window as it closed.
"I will have yours and Chat Noir's miraculouses someday, Ladybug." He declared. "And when I do, everyone foolish enough to stand in my way will burn!"
BEEP-BEEP
The sound of Ladybug's earrings got their attention, reminding them of when Ladybug used her Lucky Charm. Dark Chaos inspected them and saw that she only had one spot left. Without another word, Dark Chaos grabbed Ladybug by the waist, reached into his pocket, pulled out his emerald and teleported away with her.
"Chaos control!"
VOIP