A tale of superheroes and animations

by DaniLP95

Manuel always loved Miraculous as a show. He had a breakdown over every moment Marinette and Adrien had, celebrated Ladybug's victories and laughed at every pun Chat Noir could dish. But that NEVER meant he wanted to be stranded in its world! How will he find his way home, and why was he brought here to begin with? Rated T just to be safe.

8. Chapter 8 - Next level Paparazzi

SURPRISE EVERYONE, Chapter 8 is rolling out WITHIN TWO MONTHS! I deserve to be pat on the back for the level of productivity I've reached these last two weeks!

And it's sooooo damn long! Well, original chapters tend to become a bit longer, I guess…

Story-Info: Okay, wow, I'm already running out of things to say here… Uhh… Have I mentioned this story is non-canon? xD

---

-s-s-s- (POV of Manuel)

Ahh, nice peaceful Sunday… Nice weather and warm temperatures. And better yet: No media hunting me down like predators! Looks like Raincomprix really scared them off!

That means, I can now focus on the REALLY important things: "I'm hungry as hell… I haven't eaten all day yesterday!" My stomach growled, underlining that statement additionally, "Yep, that works as confirmation."

Moving on, I walked a train of thought on where a broke like me could find something to eat, "Let's see… I've found a few charity shops where they hand out food for free. Of course I would like to avoid going there, given my publicity by now. A semi-celebrity as a guest at a charity shop. No way in hell that's not drawing attention."

I passed the park once more, where Adrien was busy with another photoshoot. As to avoid interrupting or distracting them, I simply kept moving, when a thought passed me, "Wait a minute, Adrien's rich! Couldn't I-?" I mentally slapped myself, banishing the thought back into the depths of my brain from where it must have come from, "Hell no! Can't engage in social interaction with the Agrestes of all people! When his father demands to meet me, I'm in for a world of awkwardness!"

That thought sticked with me for a moment. I would inevitably meet Gabriel Agreste at one point or another… and also one WAY or another. Should I just get that out of the way? I did let myself get akumatized, so that it was done by Season 1 before the villains got stronger and smarter around Season 2 and 3…

Of course, here we're talking about confronting a filthy rich businessman, who is simultaneously a grieving, hurting husband, and a neglectful asshole of a father. That's not quite the same as letting something happen to you that happens to pretty much everyone in this world anyway.

"Nah, would probably be a bad move.", I decided against it, "I still don't even know why I'm here, what I'm meant to be doing, how this happened… Really, there are just far too many unanswered questions to actually start taking active influence on the story."

As I strolled around the city, though I was kinda lost in thought, I couldn't help but feel a… presence around. It's difficult to put into words, but I felt like I was being… watched.
Just to be certain, I looked around. There was a number of regular pedestrians passing by. Nothing weird about that, no one out of place among them. Still, this feeling kept lingering. It started making me nervous – so much even, that I felt a chill running down my spine.

"I'm not paranoid, am I?", I asked myself, "A feeling like that doesn't come out of nowhere."

Suddenly I was pulled out of my trance-like stance, when something bumped into me. Something big and heavy. "Oh, sorry! I'm in a hurry!", a voice apologized, and when I looked, it was Nadja Chamack who was standing next to me. After a second of her noticing who she just ran into, she quickly took word again, "Oh my! Mr. Gilson!"

"Oh HELL no!", I declined instantly, and turned to walk away, when she held me by the shoulder, "Ah- Wait! Please! I'm not here to-!"

"I told you, I'm not giving interviews!", I cut her off, "I swear, I'll bring the cops AGAIN!"

"I'm not here for an interview!", she called after me, which made me stop, "…You're not?"

I turned back towards her. Her look was definitely not deceiving or mischievous. "Then what ARE you here for?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I was on my way to the Dupain-Cheng-bakery.", she answered, which confused me a bit, "The bakery? Why?"

"Because, well…", she rubbed the back of her head, seemingly embarrassed, "I ordered a cake in the shape of the Eiffeltower just the other week. And my appointment to pick it up was… yesterday."

Now, things clicked into place. She never was at the bakery yesterday. "Shouldn't have been chasing after me all day then.", I replied slightly annoyed, "I was thinking whether none of you had anything better to do."

"Turns out we did.", Nadja admitted whilst looking at the ground, "And after I heard you went to the police because of us, I felt really bad… Of course, being persistent is part of being a journalist and / or reporter, but we should really know our limits."

"Now you're just quoting my thoughts from yesterday.", I threw in coldly, "But as long as it never happens again, I think I'll be able to get over that chaotic mess that was yesterday."

Nadja looked up at me. "So, you won't be pressing charges against us?"

"If you're staying off my trail from now on,", I clarified, "I'll pretend yesterday never happened in the first place."

I turned to leave again, when my stomach growled loudly again. "Ugh, now if you'll excuse me, I gotta find me something to eat."

"W-Wait, may I invite you to something from the bakery?!", she called after me AGAIN, before I could walk away, making me stop AGAIN, "…Whyyyyy would you do that?"

"…As an apology?", she proposed carefully, "It's the least I can do after all the trouble we caused you just yesterday."

Now, normally in this situation, I would raise an eyebrow, call out Stranger Danger in my mind and decline as politely as possible whilst walking away. Never go with strangers, kids. But in this case, I was pretty sure I knew her good enough from the show to put at least THAT much trust in her. Plus, this chance for free food sure enough wasn't gonna be passed up!

"Okay… But if I find out this is a ploy, I'm calling the cops instantly.", I warned her, "I mean, I'm really hungry anyway, and if there's a chance for free food I'm not passing that up."

"Very straightforward! Thank you for this chance, Mr. Gilson!", she thanked me, letting out a sigh of relief, "Shall we go then?"

"Right behind you.", I informed her, "I'm NOT going in front of you. And uhh… You may call me Manuel. I'm not old enough to be addressed as a Mr."

"Fair enough, then."

-o-o-o- (5 minutes later)

Okay, so, let me just say, I'm glad Nadja knew now where her limits were. She did try to stir up a small conversation every now and then, but when she noticed that I was fairly reluctant to engage in her small-talk, she stopped rather quickly.

Quite surprisingly as well was, that the topics of these were no longer about my battles or my unofficial (and cursed) title as civilian-hero. Instead, they were about our private lives, what we did when we had some spare time, about our families as well… which I DEFINITELY didn't engage in. Not because it was a sore spot like she thought, but because I didn't know how to answer that.

Eventually, we did arrive at the bakery, and apparently we entered right into a little conflict between Marinette and her parents.

"But I didn't overhear her!", Marinette argued, "I've been right here when the appointment was!"

"You left the bakery to meet up with your friends.", her father replied, "Of course you would have missed her if you were out."

"But I was back half an hour early!", Marinette reasoned, "That should be more than enough time, right?"

"Uhm, excuse me?", Nadja raised her voice carefully, making Tom jump a bit, "Oh! Nadja Chamack!" He stumbled back towards his counter, and handed her the Eiffeltower-shaped cake, "I'm sorry that we left you in front of closed doors yesterday. My wife and I were out celebrating our anniversary, and Marinette was supposed to greet you in our place, but-"

"Don't worry, you didn't leave me hanging.", Nadja declined with a forgiving smile, "She didn't miss me anyway. I failed to show up in the first place."

"Yeah, 'cause she was busy chasing after me…", I added with a slight growl in my voice, still not entirely forgiving her for that.

The looks of Marinette, Tom and Sabine switched between me and her, before Sabine raised her voice, "Well then… It seems we owe you an apology, dear."

"Right.", Tom agreed, looking away in embarrassment, "If that's the case, then you are, of course, not grounded. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions there."

A loving family hug later, and we are back to us on the conversation, "So, Nadja! Anything else we can do for you?"

"Yes, actually!", Nadja jumped right onto that, "See, since I caused Mr. Gilson all of this trouble just yesterday, I would have liked to invite him for some lunch!"

"That's a great idea!", Marinette encouraged us, "Nothing like some good pastries to overcome old misunderstandings!"

"Misunderstanding is putting it mildly…", I muttered under my breath, but kept my thoughts to myself.

-x-x-x-

Okay, so, despite me being forced to socialize with Nadja for this, these backed treats were definitely worth the effort.

"So… Manuel… Mind telling me where you're from?" Except for Nadjas continuous questions! I almost choked on my drink when she asked me that! "…Do you want me to leave?", I asked coldly as I wiped the juice off my chin, "'Cause that's how you get me to leave."

"Oh please, don't get me wrong.", Nadja interrupted me calmly, "I'm not asking you as a news-reporter here. I'm asking as someone who hoped to forge a friendship with you."

Not gonna lie, that seemed even worse. "Why is everyone trying to befriend me here?"

"See, you're most notably a good friend of Marinette, whose life you even saved during an Akuma-attack once.", the reporter explained further, "And since SHE oftentimes babysits for my daughter, I figured we just might see more of each other in the future. So why not get to know one another?"

"Quite frankly…", I replied, "I'm not the best at socializing. Sorry, but I really dislike attention on me, which makes me pick my contacts very carefully. I don't think a news-reporter amongst my friends would do me any favours there…"

"Understandable.", Nadja simply accepted, though I could hear the regret in her voice, "If I'm honest, a lot of eyes solely on me take their tool on me too."

"Really?", I questioned, genuinely surprised at that, "But then… Why become a news-reporter of all things?"

"It's just a really interesting and fulfilling job!", she began explaining with great enthusiasm, "Getting to interact with lots of famous people, more often than not being right on the scene when something interesting happens, and not to mention always being the first one to know the most details whenever something occurs!"

"I CAN imagine that must be really exciting.", I did admit, when I let these thoughts roll around in my head, "Though, doing it as an everyday-job? I can NOT imagine doing that. Not myself, anyway. But hey, to each their own, I always say."

"Still, I can't help but wonder…", Nadja questioned yet again, "Ladybug and Chat Noir are superheroes who are specifically equipped to fight and defeat the akumas. What makes you so eager to lay your life on the line like that?"

I stayed silent. She just couldn't help it, could she? Curiously asking questions is not just her job as a reporter. It's just that big a part of her. How could I hold that against her?

"Please understand, that I'm not trying to get a story out of you here.", she reassured me as my answer took longer and longer to come, "I'm just genuinely curious. And so is my daughter, as a matter of fact."

"Manon is talking about me?", I asked confused, and, quite honestly, positively surprised. If I managed to get even HER attention, I must be doing SOMETHING right, correct?

"Oho, you wouldn't believe just how much!", she replied happily, "Ever since Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared, she's been all over them. You know, the classic fangirling-process: Buying merchandise, reading the news even though she's just learning to read, calling yourself their biggest fan."

"Hahaha, yeah, sounds like the classic fangirl-process, alright.", I laughed along with her.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't believe how all over she is over YOUR battles now.", Nadja added, and began explaining before I could even react, "With Ladybug and Chat Noir battling supervillains on a daily basis, she, of course, started to have this crazy dream of being a superhero herself. But thankfully, she never really worked on that since she knew that she couldn't bridge the difference between herself and actual magic powers. But you can probably imagine how excited she got, when she heard that a completely ordinary civilian started to stand his ground against supervillains, and even being successful at that."

"…She's idolizing ME now, isn't she?", it dawned on me, sweat starting to form under my hair already. But thankfully, Nadja could lay those concerns to rest… sort of, "No, not particularly idolizing you – that honour continues to go to Ladybug – but she IS very insistent to meet you someday and learn to fight from you."

I blinked in amazement. Manon was apparently WAY more eager to straight up take arms than she had shown in the show so far. "Hate to disappoint, but that's not gonna happen."

"Good.", the mother sighed in relief, "I was worried I had to talk it out of you."

"Hell no, I'm not much of a teacher to begin with.", I declined nervously, "But fighting supervillains is something a little kid like her REALLY shouldn't be dealing with."

"Glad we're on the same page there.", Chamack agreed with me yet again, "As her mother, there's no way I could possibly condone that. All the enemies she would make in the process, the dangers she would expose herself to. I don't think I could live with that."

"The life of a superhero is way less fun than people make it out to be.", I confirmed, "I'm not even official and am getting targeted by certain dangers of it."

"Once again, I'm sorry about that!", Nadja sighed in exasperation at my not so subtle hint, "Right now, I gotta find a way to knock some sense into her without all glass in my apartment bursting from her screaming."

"Your daughter sure is something it would seem."

"Indeed she is.", Nadja agreed, "And she has quite a talent for getting her way too."

"Let me guess, the baby doll-eyes?", I jumped in knowingly.

"You guessed it.", I was confirmed, "Took even me a while to get resistant to those."

"I can imagine. Little kids know exactly what they're doing. Even more so than one would expect."

We paused there for a second, both of us needing a breather. But then, Chamacks expression suddenly changed to confused, and she picked the conversation back up, "Say, Manuel…" I looked at her, not quite sure what was coming for me. "How exactly do you know my daughters name?"

Ah, that's what she was concerned about. Made sense, honestly. After all, for all she knew, I was a complete stranger who knew her preschool-aged daughter by name.

"Before our chat you didn't even know I HAD a child. How do you know her name?", she pressed on, but didn't get my expression to loosen up. I had a lie ready for that, in case I slipped up, you see, "You have a Wikipedia-article, you know that?"

She looked at me confused, which is why I continued to lie my arse off, "When you were pursuing me all day long yesterday, I went on to research just who was on my tail all that time. Your article contains a lot of information about you, including career, education and family."

"…I see…", she accepted, and looked away from me, though now having a serious expression, "I thought I had taken that down years ago. Guess someone must have reuploaded it."

"You know what they say, the internet doesn't forget.", I played along, "But it does switch its focus every two hours. I honestly doubt anyone who doesn't actually know you even glanced at it."

"Hmm?", Mr. Dupains voice suddenly caught my attention, when he looked into the oven, "That's odd. Still entirely cold… Uhh, honey, did you rewire the stove?"

"I only did that once, and I promised you to never do it again.", Mrs. Cheng declined, "Why?"

Tom looked at the settings of his stove, but didn't notice anything out of place, "No, still the same as before. Marinette, did you trip over the wires again?"

Marinette looked just as confused as the rest of us, "No, I haven't tripped all day for a change. What's wrong?"

"Well… For some reason, the stove seems to be completely out. The settings haven't changed though, so something must be up with the device itself." The baker tried getting the stove working again, but, judging by his confused reaction, was failing miserably, "And here I thought electric stoves are supposed to be easier to use. When it comes to repairing them though, I'm guessing Papah must have a way easier job."

With an audible buzzing, the lights suddenly turned off as well, and thus it got a whole lot darker in the bakery. "…Seems like a power-outage to me so far.", I suggested in an attempt to be helpful, but Nadja disagreed with me, "But then everything would have gone down at once, not one by one."

"Then my best guess is, that we have an akuma on our tail… AGAIN.", I sighed. Even outside of the canonical episodes I didn't get a goddamn break. I reached down to my bag, and took my tent-pole out.

As I carefully moved towards the door to see if anything odd was outside, Marinette kept watching me with a certain… interest I would say.

An interest that was NOT shared by Nadja Chamack who was staring at me in uncertainty, before calling after me, "Manuel, what exactly are you planning?"

I didn't answer her directly, since it should have been fairly obvious. Instead I gave instructions to the rest, "Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Cheng, turn off all electric devices in the building until we know more. Marinette, go upstairs and be my eye from above. I'll go out and look for myself."

Of course, that was my way of giving her a chance to transform if need be. As I hovered my hand over the doorhandle, I turned to face Nadja once more, "Oh, and Nadja? No live-footage, got it? You're free to talk in the news about it, but if you're filming footage of me, I'm suing the hell out of TVi."

-x-x-x-

When my hand finally gripped the doorhandle, I suddenly felt an immense pain flow through my body. Like a burning knife cutting its way through my arm from the inside, whilst my hand felt like it laid in the middle of a fire. My fading vision picked up blue and yellow sparks fly around me, and my other hand got too weak to keep holding its weapon.

Two seconds later, I felt myself getting pulled away from the door, and falling to the ground. My vision only slowly returned, but I was keenly aware of several hands touching me all over and trying to get me up. My face felt numb, as did most of my body actually, but when another shiver went through me, I was wide awake once again.

"Whoa…", I spoke, my voice suddenly raspy and dry, "What in the world just happened…?"

"I think you just took an immense electric shock!", Nadja called out in worry, "That you're not having a heart attack right now is a straight up miracle!"

"Hehe… Miraclulous…", I laughed weakly, "Nice…"

The three present people looked at me in worry, until Sabine spoke up, "I think that's still the shock that's confusing him. Maybe we should give him some time?"

I let out another weak laugh, "Hahaha, shock… You're all really funny people, you know that?" I chuckled once more, but my burning lungs protested instantly, "Haha-oww, laughing hurts… Oww…"

I tried to stand up, only for my body to greatly resist that as well, making me fall back against the wall again. "Maybe you should take a break, love.", Sabine suggested, the worry clearly readable in her expression.

"I took a break.", I declined, forcing myself up despite the pain all over my body, "For a whole ten seconds. If that's not enough, then that's my problem."

All people present looked at me in astonishment, until Nadja raised her voice yet again, "I legitimately can't tell, if you're incredibly brave or downright foolish. I'd wager around a mix of both. Please excuse my language, but you're more than just lucky you're even breathing right now!"

„Seems like it's my lucky day then! Better make the most of it!", I replied, as I moved to the door once again. In front of it, I stopped though.

"Not touching that thing again.", I spoke more to myself, as I gave the doorhandle a death glare. Instead, I picked up my pole, taking another slight shock in the process, and smashed the glass of it, before jumping through. Surprisingly, my energy seemed to have returned quite soon.

"Sorry about the door! If it doesn't get fixed by the ladybugs, it's on me!", I called back to them before running along the streets looking for the akuma that was definitely on the run. "Please don't let that be on me…! There's no way I'll EVER be able to pay that back…!"

-x-x-x-

I had barely made it across the street, when something that seemed like a whip smacked down just an inch next to me. I jumped, startled by the sparks that flew from where it had hit down. The same kinds of sparks that flew around me, when I got my electric vibe check.

"Close one, kid! But I won't miss next time!", I heard a sinister voice from somewhere above. I looked around, and soon spotted from where exactly. Just above me, sitting atop of the phonelines, was unmistakably another akuma, but one I was unfamiliar with.

She was dressed in a black business-suit, similar to that of Nadja, though in a much darker shade of black and with neon-yellow stripes all over her that were spun like lightnings. She was also wearing neon-yellow glasses in the shapes of lightnings. Really, her entire look was just lightning-themed.

The thing she just tried to smack me with looked like a microphone, which she held in her hand like a whip. Though she held it backwards, making me draw the conclusion, that the actual whip was the cable of it, rather than the microphone itself.

With an elegant twirl, she spun herself back down on the street, and landed a bit closer to me than I would have liked. "So then, I hope you're ready!"

"The only thing I'm ready for is to go home.", I replied coldly. I wasn't gonna have a polite conversation with the asshole that just tried to give me a heart attack.

"Too bad for you, Mr. Gilson.", she replied, faked condolences in her voice, "But I'm afraid that will have to wait. At least until AFTER I'm done interviewing you."

With my patience at its limits by now, I just yelled right back at her, "Freaking again?! We just did that same bullshit yesterday!"

"I'm perfectly aware…", the villain confirmed, her voice getting lower and more threatening, "And I got FIRED because of YOUR refusal to cooperate!"

"Whoa there, lady!", I backed up, as I held my arms up defensively, "I'm pretty sure that wasn't my fault! If YOUR employer is THAT unforgiving, then that's on HER not ME!"

"Ohh, are we already blaming others for your problems?", the villain asked with a grin, "What a shameful thing to do for a civilian hero."

"I'm neither a civilian hero, nor am I shifting the blame. I'm just pointing out facts.", I argued, but she didn't want to listen, "Either way, it doesn't matter. What my boss wanted was an interview with you. And an interview with you, I'll get! One way or another!"

We just stared at each other for a moment, before I took word again, "I'm not sure who I should be contacting right now. The police for me, or a therapist for you."

"How about a lawyer for your testament?", she suggested threateningly, giving me a shiver down my spine. Why were the villains in this show so chill with death-threats since I got here?

"Uhh… You're… excessively violent.", I pointed out to buy a bit more time. I sent Marinette away minutes ago, so Ladybug should be arriving anytime now, right?

The villain got into a maniacal laughing fit, and then spoke again, "What, you think that shock on the door was bad? Just you wait till I call forth the electricity of a lightning storm!"

She seemed to charge her power now. At least the sparks started jumping all around her again, and lightning engulfed her. "Uhhh… Nope." I tried to find shelter behind a container in an alley, but when she unleashed her full power, the massive shockwave basically blew up the entire area around her.

-x-x-x- (Narrators POV)

In another part of town, though not too far away, Soleil suddenly heard a massive boom, and when she looked out the window, there was what seemed like a pillar of lightnings shooting down from the heavens and unleashing in a massive shockwave. "Jesus Christ, if that ain't a supervillain I don't know WHAT is."

She tried to run out of her appartement but was stopped dead in her tracks when the door was slammed right in her face. "And where exactly are YOU going, young lady?", the face of the caretaker her parents hired for her asked.

"Didn't you see?! That pillar of lightning HAS to be the work of a supervillain! I HAVE to help out!", she explained in a hurry, but her caretaker wasn't going to accept it, "Nope, not happening, kiddo. The last time you got pulled into a fight you literally got absorbed. I'm not going to let something like that happen again."

"Wha-? Charles, are you serious?!", Soleil asked, her eyes shrinking by these news, "Manuel would have DIED yesterday had I not intervened!"

"And that's EXACTLY why you're staying here.", her professional parent-substitute made his point clear, "Ladybugs lucky-charm can repair all it wants, as your caretaker, it is my duty to not let you go anywhere near that warzone."

Soleil totally understood that he couldn't officially condone that the girl he is supposed to protect and care for is fighting actual supervillains, but that wasn't going to make her accept it, "I get that, but you can't seriously intend to stop me from helping out my friend!"

"That's exactly what I intend to do.", Charles replied, as he locked the door and put the key away, "I'm sorry for your friend, I really am, but my top-priority is your well-being." He walked back into the living room but even though he had said it under his breath, Soleil could still hear him say, "God I hope that poor boy will be alright. What good is a kid in a battle between godlike forces?"

-x-x-x-

„Well…", Manuel groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, his hair standing straight up, and electric sparks still flickering around him, „That hurts… Gotta prevent her from doing that next time."

Standing on shaky legs, he looked around himself. And he instantly got nervous, when he couldn't find the villain anymore. „…Stay on high alert…", he instructed himself, and braced himself for any sort of impact, „She is most definitely still around…"

He got his answer, when a wire wrapped itself around him tightly, making him drop his weapon and preventing any sort of movement, "Huh- What the-?"

The next moment, the villain dropped down right in front of him, "Right you are, Mr. Gilson! Just as perceptive as you'd expect from the civilian-hero!"

"I'm not the civilian-hero-", he protested increasingly frustrated by his forced on title, but was cut short when a pulse of electricity shot through his body again, "GAH! Goddamn, what's up with you and electricity?!"

"Careful, Gilson.", she warned him with a bittersweet voice, "My microphone detects and punishes any lie you could throw at me."

"Doesn't really work properly though, huh? Just punished a true statement- ARGH!", he tried to deny his title AGAIN, but was cut short AGAIN. The villain chuckled, "My microphone certainly doesn't think so."

Manuel scoffed, "You mean YOU don't think so. This just shocks when YOU think I'm lying, right?"

"I don't even need to know whether you're truthful or not.", the villain denied, "Truth or lie, my microphone will know, even if I don't." With a swing, she hurled Manuel through the air and made him land harshly on a chair of a nearby café. "Well, at least they evacuated already…"

He could only watch, as the akuma-victim cupped her hands and sat down in front of him, "Now then, are you ready for your interview with Paparazzi?"

"…" Manuel was fairly hesitant to answer. He sure as shit wasn't ready, but what answer would earn him a shock? He decided to try a loophole, "Paparazzi? Is that your name?"

He couldn't see it through the shades, but judging by the sound effects, she was probably blinking confused under them. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Not per se.", he answered, surprisingly going unpunished, "Just, you know… Surprised by how on-the-nose your name is to your behaviour and motives. Your villain-name is Paparazzi and what you do is hunt down your object of interest to interview them whether they want to or not. I'm not even wrong, else I'd get shocked right now!"

Paparazzi shut up her victim by pulling on the cable angrily and growling, "Quiet, kid! You can be civilian-hero all you want, I'll NOT be judged by you!"

"I mean, I'd be judging the wrong one anyway.", Manuel replied between hard breaths from the tight bindings, "Hawk Moth is the one giving the names and outfits." A grin formed on the boys face, knowing perfectly well what he was about to do, "Honestly, it's quite saddening that someone with such terrible taste exists. I mean, really! Half of these outfits look like they were designed by some edgy teenager!"

"Damn, that must hit hard.", he thought to himself with great satisfaction, "Calling the outfits of HAWK MOTH terrible? Wonder how he's gonna react to that."

"Enough!", the rage in Paparazzi seemed to erupt, "I hope for YOU, you can answer my questions with the same confidence with which you insult others!"

"Sassing is the correct term, mind y- GHH!", the boy interrupted, but received yet another shock as an answer, "Okay, maybe it's insulting here and there…"

-x-x-x-

"Alright then, first question:", Paparazzi began, that happy anticipation back in her voice, "Where exactly are you from?"

"I thought we already established that I am from Austria.", he answered in annoyance, and when he didn't receive a shock, his captor grew visibly confused, "Hmm… Interesting. Then how did you get here?"

"The hell do you mean?", the boy asked.

"Well, there were no flights to or from Austria these last few weeks due to maintenance-work at the airports.", she explained, "So how did you get all the way from there to here?"

Manuel saw himself get backed into a corner. He hadn't known about the maintenance at the airports, so his easy escape was kind of ripped away from him now. "No damn clue.", he finally answered, actually quite truthfully, thus not getting shocked.

Who DID look shocked though was Paparazzi, who, judging by the look on her face, struggled to connect the dots. "How?"

"I forget easily.", the boy explained, still not getting shocked, since, while it wasn't the explanation for THIS puzzle, it wasn't a lie either.

"You mean to tell me, you straight up FORGOT how you got here, like, a week ago…", the villain asked, clearly not buying it.

"That IS what I'm telling you.", Manuel answered, treading the line between lie and truth like a provisional balancer.

"You're joking, right?", she tried to squeeze him out more, but he simply replied, "You'd know if I were."

A deep sigh escaped the villain. It hadn't taken Manuel long to really get on her nerves, causing him to laugh internally. "You really are a mystery, huh?", she finally spoke again.

"Trust me, a big part of me is a mystery to myself as well.", the boy replied, STILL not getting shocked, "Damn, I should join a circus with the balancing skills I'M demonstrating here…"

"Okay then, different topic.", Paparazzi eventually moved on, "Where did you learn to fight, and how would you describe your fighting-style?"

"Which one now?", he interrupted for the sake of buying time, making his captor sigh in annoyance, "Both!"

"Well…", Manuel spoke again, not even needing to be vague about this one, "With my weapon, I learned how to fight effectively at a certain club that teaches itself and others historic martial-arts. Most of my moves however are literally just imitations from videogames."

Now Paparazzi was screaming in annoyance, "ARGH! Do you have ANYTHING interesting to say about yourself?"

"I never claimed to BE interesting.", he replied simply, "I just accidentally pulled the spotlight on me, and everyone else THOUGHT I was interesting."

The villain looked at him, with wide eyes Manuel was fairly sure. "Face it,", Manuel encouraged her further, "When we break it down to the minimum, I'm just a kid like everyone else, with the exception that I fight villains."

Manuel himself wasn't quite sure why, but he still didn't get shocked, even though he wasn't technically answering truthfully here. After all, he was not like everyone else. He was the only one who was aware of what's to come. And the only one capable of sensing these dark auras. Not to mention, the only one from another world. Really, there were MANY aspects in which he was not like ANYONE else.

"Right! Great topic!", Paparazzi suddenly beamed again, startling her victim a bit, "What is your motivation?! What drives you to risk your live to fight supervillains?!"

"Uhhh…" Manuel wasn't sure how to speak around this one. At least not for a few seconds. "Let's just say, I consider it my job, okay…?", he finally answered carefully, but Paparazzi wasn't satisfied with just that.

"Details…!", she growled in his face, clearly frustrated by now, as she pulled him in and tightened the bindings even further, cutting off his bloodstreams. His face contorted in the pain, and quickly his arms started falling asleep. Even breathing was starting to become a challenge, let alone actually answer.

"It's called civil-courage!", the determined voice of Ladybug interrupted, and when Paparazzi was hit hard in the face by the signature-yoyo, Manuels bindings instantly pulled back to the microphone itself, "And he's got LOTS of it!"

Finally being able to take a deep breath and rubbing his sore arms, he instantly thanked his saviour, "Oh my god, THANK you!"

"Don't mention it! Mere payback!", Chat Noir replied as he joined his lady, "But this show is not quite over yet either."

"No, not really.", Manuel agreed as he regrouped with them.

"Hrgh… You know, it's quite rude to interrupt a private interview…", the villain growled at the two heroes, "VERY rude indeed…" At that last part, the dark aura engulfed her fully, mixing with the sparks that danced around her to create a most unsettling display.

"Shit, I almost forgot about that…", Manuel remembered at last, "Where is it though?"

He didn't have much time to think about it though, as he was forced to jump to the side in order to dodge the cable of the microphone that was whipped in his direction again. When it came for him again though, it was Chat Noirs staff that blocked it.

"Manuel, any information on how to fight her?", Ladybug called out to him, while Chat Noir kept defending him from the onslaught of attacks the villain threw at them. Something that was far easier than expected, as the aura, for some reason, had dissipated again.

"Well…", Manuel thought for a moment on what he found out thus far, "Information is limited, but listen up! Her name is Paparazzi, and her goal is to force an interview out of me! Watch out for the cable of her microphone, as she uses it like a whip and can electrify you with it as well! When you get ensnared by it, you're shocked any time you're lying to her!"

"So essentially,", Chat Noir summarized as he and Ladybug danced around her to both dodge her strikes and keep her focus on them instead of Manuel, "don't touch her microphone, no matter what!"

"Yeah, and-", he tried to continue, but was smacked in the face when a whip meant for Chat Noir went astray, "AHH! OW!"

"Oh! So sorry!", Chat called out, as he dived down so her whip went over him, which, instead, sent Manuel flying against the wall, "Sorry again!"

"Dammit, you're all so quick and annoying!", Paparazzi started getting frustrated as she still had yet to hit the mark, "It's like trying to swat away flies!"

When she held in for a moment, she seemed to gather all her energy, and the aura practically burst out again, "I'll fry you until you don't even look human anymore!"

Suddenly sending an onslaught of attacks way too fast to even follow, all three of them were soon thrown on the ground, and blasted apart by an explosion the villain caused by smacking the whip on the ground whilst charged.

"Daahaamn…", Manuel reacted as he slowly picked himself up again, "Chill out a bit, I'm just trying to survive here!"

"Ugh, Manuel…", Ladybug called out to him whilst getting back up herself, "You gotta go and stop her power-boost. We can't fight her when she's this buffed up."

Manuel was gonna do that anyway, but getting invited to do it clearly signalled him it was time to finally leave. "Got it! Leaving now!"

"W-Wait, watch out-!", Chat Noir tried to warn him, when Manuel ran straight into a barely visible wall of pure electricity that was spun between to buildings, getting another harsh shock as punishment.

"Ohow!", he yelled in pain yet again, "What the hell was that?!"

"Paparazzi has weaved her electric net all across Paris!", Ladybug explained, "It's like a deadly maze with near-invisible walls. That's also why it took us so long to get here. Sorry about that."

"…Dully noted…", he confirmed, getting tired of this fight by now, "If I have to endure even one more shock, I swear to god…"

-o-o-o- (5 minutes later)

"Okay, things turned bad really fast.", Ladybug summarized as she and Chat Noir were hiding in a knocked over trash-container, "That huge wave is nothing to mess around with. It shocks and blasts away pretty much anything in a radius of 10 metres at least."

"Okay, getting some feeling back into my legs…", Chat Noir stated, fairly exhausted from that blast just a few seconds ago, "Good to know that strong shocks pretty much short-circuit your brain…"

"You okay, Chat Noir?", Ladybug asked just to be sure, "Your hair still seems… kind of on edge."

"So is yours. It looks like you have two antennas on your head.", Chat replied with a bit of a disapproving groan, surprising Ladybug a bit, "…Guess the humour-department in your brain hasn't quite recovered yet…"

"Possibly…", he agreed. Even he himself knew he should have found that pun hilarious. "Anyway, any bright ideas, Milady?"

"Unfortunately, no. Not yet anyway.", Ladybug denied, still deep in thought, "Paparazzi is already fast and flexible as it is, but when she powers up, she gets even faster than that and her power goes to the extreme as well."

Wrecking her brain over what to do, she eventually just gave a deep sigh, "I hate it, but I'm not quite sure if we CAN do anything until her power drops again… Sorry Chat Noir…"

"Hey, no need to apologize!", Chat cut in instantly, "Hanging in there until the villain is weakened is nothing we haven't done before. And if need be, I'm sure your amazing ideas can top even a super-akuma!"

Ladybug gave him an appreciative smile at his encouragement. Their feelings weren't mutual, that was for sure, but Chat Noir still definitely knew how to pick her up when she felt helpless and weak. "Thanks Chat. If we work together, I'm sure we'll hold out more than long enough!"

"That's the lady I know!", Chat confirmed positively, before they rushed back into battle…

-w-w-w-

"Goddammit – goddammit – GODDAMMIT!", Manuel started to get frustrated as he traversed the maze Paparazzi had laid out, "Nope – Blocked – Blocked as well. WHERE THE HELL EVEN AM I?!"

Suddenly, at long last, he felt the aura spike again, and lucky him, he wasn't even all that far away as far as he could tell. "Finally! At least SOMETHING of a clue!"

He followed the power to the best of his abilities, when he finally found what he was looking for, prominently displayed on the fountain of an empty park. "Yeah, that's not suspicious at all…"

He approached it, only to get shocked when he tried to enter the park. "GODDAMMIT!"

-w-w-w-

"Nope – Nope – Oho no!", Chat Noir spoke to himself as he barely managed to keep ahead of the whips Paparazzi threw his way, "Why – won't – you – hold – STILL?!"

"Gotcha!", Ladybug called out in triumph as she threw her yoyo towards the villain. The dark aura suddenly engulfed her again though, and with inhuman speed she spun around and whipped at her instead.

Only the cable stopped halfway, as did the yoyo, as the two weapons had become entangled with each other and holding one another back. Both hero and villain stopped their fight for a second in confusion. Everyone present was flabbergasted how THAT had happened. The both of them tugged on the bundle once or twice, not getting any results.

"…Cease fire?", Ladybug offered after about a second or so, but Paparazzi was having none of it, "No, YOU let go, you insect!"

"I kind of need that, you know?!", Ladybug threw back.

"Well look at me, so do I!", Paparazzi countered.

"Care about another opinion?", Chat Noir, who was standing to the side of this scenario, asked, but both ladies shut him down, "Not right now!"

Paparazzi was still arguing to make Ladybug let go, "Listen, bug! Unlike YOU, I can barely fight without that thing! Cut me some slack, damn you!"

And Ladybug was still willing to keep it going, "How about YOU cut US some slack?! WE don't have that crazy power-up you get every ten seconds!"

"And YOU still have to lose a battle!", the villain countered.

"But at least we fight fair!", the heroine re-countered.

"I think I'll just sit back and watch this one…", Chat Noir merely accepted that he was being pretty much ignored here.

"Well… Of all things, a sort of reasonable discussion was NOT what I expected…", another voice made itself known next to him as he was sitting down in one of the chairs of the café.

"Oh hey! Soleil, right?", the feline hero reacted to her, "Yeah, this isn't how I imagined my day to go down either…"

"What happened to Manuel?", the girl asked by the way, "I was kind of expecting him to be in the middle of a fight here."

"Already went to hunt down the stone.", Chat provided, leaning back in his chair, "I wonder how he's traversing the maze right now."

"Yeah, should have probably guessed…", Soleil accepted, "…I don't think I'm gonna catch up to him in THIS labyrinth though. I mean, the odds that I'll happen to come across him here are like, what? One in a thousand? So… Guess I'll see what can be done here…"

"Not much for the time being.", Chat replied kinda bored, "Not until they stop fighting."

"Looks like it might take a while…", Soleil observed, as both Ladybug and Paparazzi were pulling on their respective weapons. Ten seconds passed, until Soleil asked by the way, "…You hungry? I think the café is still open."

"Starving.", Chat replied with a grin, "My treat, if you would allow it."

"Sure, not gonna say no to that!"

-w-w-w-

"Okay… this has to be it, right?", Manuel spoke to himself, panting heavily by now, his hair standing up more than ever, and his clothes smoking from all the heat of electricity, "I've freaking earned it by now, right? I mean, I could claim I'm a Super-Saiyan and no one could even deny it anymore!"

He stepped forth slowly, since his sore body no longer allowed anything faster, and picked up the dark stone, "You, my friend, have caused FAR more trouble than need be! I'm freaking DONE with you!"

He threw it on the ground in his anger, and got ready to stomp right on it, when suddenly- "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!" he was kicked square in the face and sent flying again.

"ARGH! GODDAMMIT!", he cried out, getting more pissed by the second, "Can I have TEN MINUTES without getting shocked, smacked or punched?!"

"So you ARE the ally of this decrepit old man. The one who keeps going around and destroying my beautiful vissaxa.", the same voice, loud and full of echoes, continued as he picked himself up from the ground yet again.

"And judging by that line, I guess YOU'RE the one creating and placing 'em then, eh?", he replied tiredly. He looked at who attacked him… and was essentially just as smart as before.

Almost the whole face was covered by a black mask, a deep black hood covered her hair, and the rest of her outfit was… well, black as well. "Talk about emo…"

The only thing Manuel COULD make out was the grey eye-colour that was shining through all the black. He couldn't even recognize the voice of this woman as she was also using a voice-synthesiser! The only reason he knew she was female was because of her body-build, which was easy to find out in this style of animation!

"So uhh…", Manuel tried stirring up a conversation, "What exactly should I call you?"

"You do not need names…", the masked one denied, "Neither do you need reasons. All you need to know-" Her grey eyes seemed to spark, "-is that you will DIE here."

"…Yeah, pick a number and get in line, you're not the first one at that.", Manuel replied to cover up his honest to god terror he got just from looking and listening to her.

"Quite the impressive feat to act so calm when you are shaking with, quite frankly, completely justified horror.", mask-lady complimented him, "You've earned a reward for your solid acting."

"Oh boy!", Manuel already foresaw, "What kind of kick in the guts have I won myself now?"

"Rejoice, for you shall not die by MY hand today!", she declared, and held her hand above the dark stone she called a vissaxa. The dark aura spiked up again and some smoke emitted from it. A smoke, that would soon take a shape that had earned Manuels unyielding hatred by now. Paparazzis shape.

He and the dark shape faced each other for a few seconds, before he turned to the masked one again, "Shadow Play did it first, you're not special!"

A comment, that went unwarranted. "Dark-Paparazzi. Rid us of this nuisance.", the lady commanded before disappearing into another dark cloud.

"Really? The same name just with 'Dark' put in front? And while we're at it: Vissaxa? The Latin words for 'power' and 'rock' put together? Who wrote this shit and where can I sue them?", Manuel asked himself, only to get smacked in the face by yet another whip.

-w-w-w-

"So, uhm…", Soleil asked with her mouth still half full with the cheese-sandwich Chat had bought her, "Do you… actually need food when transformed, or is it just for sake of eating good food?"

"I mean…", Chat replied after swallowing his bite of the Salmon-sandwich he bought for himself, "When transformed I can endure hunger far more than normally, and I don't think I GET hungry while transformed. But I do transfer the hunger of my normal form over to my super-form."

"Cool…", the girl responded before swallowing, "And uhh… what about your CHOICE of food? Are your preferences also influenced by the respective miraculous?"

"Nope.", Chat denied, before thinking again, "That is… I'm not sure, actually. I always liked seafood and the like, so I wouldn't know."

"Well, you're a cat.", Soleil thought again, "Do you ever feel like eating mice or birds or something? Do you get the urge to hunt your food?"

"Not usually.", Chat denied yet again, "The only prey I hunt are purple butterflies."

"HAHAH! Nice one!", the girl laughed, and the both looked out to see the argument between the two ladies getting more heated, "Should we… step in?"

"In a moment…", Chat replied, biting into his sandwich again, "Seems like a bad idea to interrupt an argument this heated."

„Yeah, you're probably right.", Soleil agreed at the sight of hero and villain starting to get louder in their argument, „Usually when my parents are fighting, the best thing I can do then is hide away as well."

A bit of an awkward silence set in, when Soleil soon added, „By the way, please don't tell anyone I was here. I'm supposedly sitting in my room right now…"

"Well that's ONE thing we have in common!", Chat Noir laughed, "So don't worry, this cats lips are sealed!"

"Thanks man!", Soleil thanked him, "All in all, this day turned out to be not so bad after all!"

-w-w-w-

"Goddammit… This day just freaking sucks…", Manuel groaned between his pained gasps. Not only did this dark replica have all the same moves as the original, but its power was equal to that ones as well!

He somehow managed to pick himself up again from the ground, and faced his shadowy opponent once more, "I can't wait for this day to end…" Standing on shaky feet by now, he couldn't even bring up the energy to dodge the incoming smack from the whip, but merely shielded his face with his arms.

The cable didn't hit him in the face as a result, but instead it wrapped itself tightly around his arm, and allowed Dark-Paparazzi to fling him right into the electric barriers once more.

Another shock later, and Manuel was once again on the ground, motionless.

"Okay… Dodging is out of the question by now, and defending ain't working, so…", Manuel thought, "Last strategy is attack. It can't kill you if you kill it first, right?"

He could hear the footsteps of the shadowy foe come closer, him still just catching his breath on the ground. Eventually, he was picked off the ground by his shirt, and held up high.

When Manuel carefully opened his eyes, he noticed the storm-clouds right above him already crackling with electricity. "This bastard's not trying to zap me anymore. This time he's trying to grill me outright."

In an adrenaline-rush, out of fear of getting the entirety of this storms electricity channelled right into him, he managed to put all his energy into a direct kick to the villains face. The replica lost its grip as it stumbled backwards, letting Manuel fall to the ground once more.

His foot now sore as well, and all his remaining energy put into that oh-so-powerful kick, he didn't even manage to pick himself up anymore. And with the villain-replica menacingly walking towards him, the best move he could do, was looking up and giving him an uncertain smile. "Heh… Well played, I guess.", he praised the shadow, "Hope your ready for when Soleil comes to kick your ass."

The villain-fake raised its whip for a final blow, but, since no one in this show ever actually dies, this final attack was yet interrupted by a very characteristic green shield. "Hang on a second, a green shield? But… That dude isn't supposed to debut until Season 2!"

A relatively short figure took stance right before him, shielding him from any further damage, "You won't bring any more harm to this young man! I, Shelldon, will not allow it!"

The shield, that was just thrown in the villain-fakes face, returned to where it came from, and put itself on the head of the figure like a huge Asian hat. The rest of his saviours attire was in pure green clearly belonging to a bearer of the turtle-miraculous. And thus, Manuel's mystery was solved, "Oh wait, it's him. Surely could have saved me a lot of time, if he's just gonna show himself like that now anyway!"

"Manuel Gilson, can you still fight?", the man who just introduced himself as Shelldon asked without taking his eyes off his opponent, but Manuel could only painfully deny, "Sorry… Can't even get up anymore…"

"Then just stay back and rest up.", Shelldon accepted, and took his shield into his hand again, "I will take care of it from here on out."

"You sure about this…?", the boy asked the turtle-hero, while trying to stand up successless, "You're not – Ohh, that hurts… - what you'd call young, exactly…"

Shelldon looked back at him, a look of clear judgement on the old mans face, but then turned to his foe again and replied, "I am young enough to hold my own, and experienced enough to win the battle."

"A'ight…", Manuel just accepted since he clearly wasn't getting anywhere like this, "Best of luck then! I'll be right here, if ya need me."

-w-w-w- (Manuel's POV)

So there I was, laying defencelessly on the ground with my entire body in pain, while a 186-years old man was fighting for both our lives in my stead. A bizarre situation, to say the least.

Paparazzi-Black seems to have picked up on Master F- I mean of course, SHELLDON being her… or its new opponent, given that it wasn't even looking at me anymore. Or it was just that certain I was out for the count. Wasn't too inaccurate anyway.

To my utter shock, the old man turned out to be a way better fighter than he had EVER been shown to be! When the whip was smacked his way, he had no trouble blocking it two times, diving out of the way once, and then straight up catching it midway to throw her into the fountain.

The fountain collapsed in on itself, and, of freaking course, that damn rock fell the wrong way! "Come on! I can barely move as it is!"

When the shadow got back up, I noticed something fairly interesting. The figure of the faker had gotten slightly… softer, with part of its dark essence flowing around it instead of being part of its body. It looked like it was losing shape. Of course not drastically, but definitely noticeably. And not only that, but both the aura of the stone and the aura of the boosted Paparazzi in the city had shrunk by a considerable amount as well.

"Okay, that's interesting…", I thought, as Dark-Paparazzi prepared for another attack, "Does that mean, this thing and the aura are linked like the villain and the stone?"

"Give up your attack.", Mas- Uhh- Shelldon talked to the shadowy figure, "You have no chance at winning against someone with THIS much experience."

The shadow didn't react. I wasn't even sure if it COULD react. Instead, it seemed to charge itself up, preparing an attack I recognized immediately. "Nope. Not putting that away again.", I decided instantly, and forced myself under immense pain to crawl behind the fountain. "Has to provide SOME cover, right?"

When the shadow let itself be struck by lightning again, I finally noticed a terrible flaw in my plan, "Wait, electricity flows through water unhindered! WHAT AM I DOING?!" Well, was too late anyway, as the electricity-wave released with such power that it covered the entire park.

I felt myself getting blasted away yet again, but surprisingly not getting shocked. When I dared to look again, Shelldon held me protectively in one arm, with the other arm holding his shield up and summoning his Shellter. "Wow, looks like I switch between lucky and unlucky more often than Marinette."

"Are you alright?", the shield-hero (haha, great reference!) asked me over his shoulder as he turned to face the villain again, "That was a very dangerous attack."

"Tell me about it…", I replied tired as hell, "I already took that shit full force once…"

"You've been through enough for one day already. Now take care of yourself.", he advised me and charged right back into battle. "Already on it…"

As I watched the two of them battle, Shelldon clearly keeping the upper-hand with carefully planned and precise moves, my eyes soon fell upon the so called vissaxum if that is the singular-term.

Making a quick decision, I slowly crawled over to the stone, and raised my fist over it. "Die, you little shit!" I let my fist fall onto it with full force, shattering it once again.

The moment the rock was shattered, the dark foe staggered backwards, and soon puffed into a black cloud, that vanished moments later. "So they WERE linked. Gotta remember that for the future."

-x-x-x-

Okay, so, despite all the differences my mere existence seems to make, some things still seem to stay consistent. And luckily, one of those things is the 100 % reliability of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

After I had smashed the stone it took less than a minute for the magic ladybugs to fly around and return everything to its former state. The only thing that was yet again ignored, was me. And this time, it was really a kick in the butt since I barely had any energy to even move.

"Why is it always ME who gets screwed over here…?", I groaned to myself as I tried to get up from the ground, but broke down under my shaky arms and legs.

"Here, young man.", Shelldons voice spoke down to me, and when I looked up he handed me a sort of… small ball in a white shining light… Seriously, I'm not making this shit up here.

"Not gonna lie, that looks like a freaking drug…", I commented his lightbulb.

"Try breaking it in your hand.", the turtle-hero advised me, "It'll make you feel better."

"Not much I got to lose, I guess…", I spoke more to myself, and simply squeezed it together in my palm, and soon it shattered as well, turning into a white mist that enveloped me.

To my surprise, I immediately felt entirely alive again. I didn't feel any pain anymore, even my tiredness had worn off. Like nothing happened in the first place. "Huh…?" Yep, that was my brilliant reaction to me essentially getting a Senzu-Bean here. "What… was that?"

"We call it a healing-tonic, a magical object that restores its users vitality.", the old man explained to me, and then proceeded to a fairly generic thanking speech, "Manuel Gilson, it would seem I owe you a great debt by now. My thanks. I could have not ensured Ladybugs and Chat Noirs survival all alone-"

"Dude, I'M in YOUR debt right now!", I interrupted him, not interested in a speech of thanks like I've heard them a million times in movies and games before, "YOU just went and saved my life!"

Shelldon looked to the side, not quite acknowledging my argument, "I am only following my duty as a wearer of the turtle-miraculous. You preserved the triumph of Paris' protectors even against impossible odds."

I let out a deep sigh. "Ugh, then how about you give me the miraculous and we call it fair?" Judging by the shocked look on the mans face, he was clearly not familiar with sarcasm, so I just spoke more plainly, "I'm not looking for a reward. Nor any praise or adoration. I just do what I have to do, because I'm the only one who can. The most I got is civil-courage."

"As well as great humbleness.", Shelldon added closing his eyes content, "I can see why the people call you the civilian hero."

I wasn't even gonna argue with that one. At this point, there was no way I was going to get away from that title. My only response was another deep sigh.

"Manuel Gilson, I have a request, if you have the time.", he took word again, which I accepted without a second thought, "I'm not going among people for the rest of the day anyway, so sure. What is it?"

Shelldon seemed to brace himself before stating his request, "I'd like for you to accompany me home. There are several things I would need to talk to you about."

FINALLY he was officially making contact with me! Goddamn, took long enough! "S-Sure! No problem! I got nothing else to do for the day anyway!"

"That is most fortunate.", he replied, seemingly relieved that I accepted. Then he turned his back to me and invited me to hop on, "We'll be faster and less noticeable this way."

So, just placing my faith in him that he knew what he was doing, I complied.

-o-o-o- (2 minutes later)

Of course his shop would be in a small alley. Why did I not even expect that? No wonder I didn't find it just by running along a gigantic freaking river.

"Well, that's minimalistic.", I thought to myself when I found out that his studio REALLY didn't consist of anything more than his cupboard with various things in the back, and the mattress in the middle.

"I apologize for the chaos.", Shelldon apologized, and I really didn't know WHERE he found any chaos here, "I would have cleaned up had I known our paths would cross today."

"I… literally don't know WHAT there is to clean up.", I commented, more astounded by the LACK of stuff in his room, than by the… non-existent chaos.

"Usually my floor is not this dusty.", he explained, "But my duty called on me unexpectedly today. But that is not what you're here for anyway." He went towards his player, "Wayzz, shell off."

In a flash of light, Shelldon was gone, and in his place, the guardian of the miraculous Master Fu with his kwami Wayzz stood in front of the player. Yeah, who saw THAT coming, huh? What a plot-twist, eh? My whole world has turned upside down!

"Manuel Gilson, my name is Wang Fu.", he introduced himself, of course not knowing that I knew him already, "I am the last guardian of the very last miracle box."

"Uhh… Don't take this the wrong way…. But I already knew that…", I told him carefully, since this conversation would HAVE to happen at one point or another anyway.

To my surprise, he took this… fairly chilled. He just closed his eyes in thought, and replied, "That is quite interesting. I expected you to have found out a lot about this world already, but this does catch me by surprise. Would you please tell me, HOW you know me?"

Now THIS excuse I had planned out for a long time! "Uhm, how do I say this… Since I got here, I had several… visions in my sleep, I guess. I know a lot of things I'm not SUPPOSED to know."

"I understand.", Fu answered again, still seeming lost in thought, "What else are you aware of, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Of course not!", I assured instantly, and then began to run down the list of things I knew about, "Let's see… There are the identities of both Ladybug and Chat Noir as well as everyone who is to come, why you're the last guardian, Hawk Moths identity, as well as several things that are going to happen in the future."

This time, Fu DID look greatly surprised. Even worried to a certain degree. "That is a lot of knowledge for one young man to bear. Still, there are several things I must ask of you."

"What is it, Master Fu?", I asked. I had a hunch, but no concrete clue.

"First, no one must know what you know.", Fu advised me seriously, "Things have gotten bad enough as they are. You must not put an even bigger target on you."

"Trust me, I'm really not trying.", I assured him, "It just started happening. But what are the other things?"

"Second,", Fu looked down, a look of sorrow in his eyes, "I regret putting this upon you, but I will need your help to prevent our fate from changing."

So I would need to keep fighting. Was gonna happen anyway, but having it official wasn't bad all the same. "If you don't mind, there is a lot I need to explain to you.", Master Fu informed me, as he sat down on the mattress.

Refusing to decline this offer for FREE INFORMATION, I did the same.

-x-x-x-

"If we take this from the top…", Master Fu began, "This world is not the only one in existence. There are nearly endlessly many worlds out there, all separated from each other, and supposedly unable to interact with one another."

"So the multiverse-theory is true, I take from this.", I clarified, which he confirmed, "That it is, in a sense. It is all the same universe, but in something like different dimensions. A different world with different people who have lived different lives, but with many parallels as they all have the same base just with different alterations."

"Like, in some worlds these magical artefacts called miraculous exist, and in others they do not.", I combined, trying to keep up with all the information.

"Correct.", Fu confirmed again, almost seeming proud that I was still following, "And as to your situation: As I said, these different worlds are supposedly unable to interact with one another. But… it seems someone with pure darkness in their heart has found a way to cross over into another world."

"That masked woman…", I concluded. I had seen her in the park for merely a minute and I just KNEW she had a huge role here to play, "So, she made her way here?"

"That is what I'm assuming for now.", Master Fu continued, "But, to her misfortune, the universe is not fond of unbalance. Especially not between light and dark. So, when one with a dark heart crossed into this world, another with a bright heart was sent along."

"In other words… Me.", I put together.

"I'm sorry. I wish it had never come to this…", Fu apologized with regret in his voice again, but I was rejecting his apology outright, "Hey, don't say that! It's not like YOU brought me here!"

"Right…", Fu acknowledged, though his concerns were not put to rest just yet. But he didn't keep talking about it, "But now this woman is somehow creating these so called vissaxa, emanating a dark energy that boosts the power of Hawk Moths akumas. I believe you are familiar with them?"

"That I am.", I confirmed, taking the dark shard out of my backpack again, "I… have made myself quite the target for the masked one by now."

"I have noticed.", Fu replied, clearly not fond of it, but I was pretty sure he knew that this was inevitable.

"Another mystery is, that I am able to sense these auras as well. As the only one, apparently.", I brought up, piquing the masters interest, "I see. That might just be due to your origins. Since you are from the same world as the one who is creating them."

"Maybe…"

"But there is one last thing you have yet to know.", the master continued, making me pay attention again, "Yes?"

"If you'd give me a moment…", he asked, and walked over to his cupboard.

After a few seconds, he put in front of me… two miracle boxes?

"I believe you know what these are?", he asked, making me answer in confusion, "These are both… miracle boxes. But… there was supposed to be only one left."

"There WAS only one left. Until the woman and you appeared. Along with this second miracle box", he explained, "I do not know why or how, but while these ones are definitely bound to this world…" He gestured to the original box, the one from the show, "I believe, these are meant to be worn only by you and the allies you will pick along your journey."

The second miracle box was smaller than the first one, and in a shade of blue instead of red. While the original one held around 20 I would say, this one only held seven with all kinds of colours. White, cyan, magenta, lime-green, dark-brown, crimson-red and what seemed like golden.

"I've been calling it the parallel box thus far.", Master Fu added with a faint smile on his face, which made me let out a little chuckle as well, "Heh, I can see why."

We were both gazing upon the seven new, even more unique miraculous for a few seconds, when Fu decided that it probably wasn't good to leave them in broad daylight for too long, and put them away again.

"So, uhh…", I took word again afterwards, "Which one am I supposed to use?"

"Not one, for the time being.", Master Fu declined strictly, "Even I do not yet know what each of these miraculous does. I could not possibly allow you to wear one without sufficient knowledge of their nature."

"Wha- But Master Fu!", I argued, "I'm still merely a civilian! And I HAVE to fight Hawk Moths supervillains one way or another! I won't be able to do that for long if I don't have any powers!"

He thought about that for a while. Then he replied, "Alright Manuel. If you are truly willing to take this risk, I shall allow you to assist me in researching the new miraculous. But I will not allow you to take any of them to battle, until we know enough about them."

"Deal!", I agreed instantly. Better than nothing, after all.

"And one last thing.", Fu changed the subject yet again, "I have seen you sleep and live on the street up until now. I cannot accept you living without a home any longer. If you are willing to accept my proposition, I would gladly invite you to live in my shop until we get you home."

"Of course! If that's alright with you!", I accepted immediately, "I've had enough of the street for a lifetime."

"Then lay yourself to rest for the day.", Fu invited me as he led me back towards a door in the back I had never really noticed before, "You may have the entire backroom all for yourself, if you want."

"Thank you so much.", I responded, almost crying from the relief of never needing to sleep on trash-containers anymore, "I've so missed a roof over my head."

"Then I wish you a good night, Manuel Gilson.", he spoke with a smile, which I returned, "Same to you, Master Wang Fu."

-e-e-e-

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Booya, managed to make a whole chapter in UNDER three months! I am productivity in person! So, that was a fairly different chapter from all the ones before. We now got an original villain, new threats, a name to the dark stones, and we already met Master Fu! Heck, we even got to see how badly Manuel gets his ass kicked when the villains aren't messing around anymore! We are PLOWING through this story like nobodys business! xD

Also, you didn't really expect Manuel to become the wielder of his own miraculous in chapter 8 already, right? That's gonna take a little longer. But he will get it, and so will some others, matter of factly.

You all know that I LOVE feedback, comments, propositions for betterment and the like, but this time I need you all to give me something else as well: Five animals that don't have their own miraculous just yet. I don't care if they are real or imaginary, I just really need ideas for this one. xD

Thank you all so much for sticking with me on this one, I can't wait to read your reviews, and I hope you all make it through the pandemic safely. SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Next time on Superheroes and Animations: Finally, Manuel has found Master Fu. So many problems have been solved at long last. But just like that, many more arise. Like Alya wanting to get to know his grandfather at all costs, or the near impossible task of controlling a miraculous you literally know nothing about at all. And sandwiched between it all: A statue for Ladybug and Chat Noir, with a jealous as hell artist in the mix.