"Where is Chat Noir?!" Ladybug ducked for cover behind a car, and pulled out her yoyo to leave yet another message for the absent feline hero.

Hawkmoth had truly outdone himself tonight, forming a monstrous knight entirely out of impenetrable diamond, who declared himself 'Diamant Solitaire.' He was both strong, agile, and beautiful. Standing over 10 feet tall, his helmet glistened in the moonlight, on his chest-plate a central diamond shone brightly, and he clenched his massive broadswords with a tight grip. The rest of his iridescent muscular body glimmered each time he swept toward them.

Ladybug had already called on some of her other allies, but Diamant's armor couldn't be breached. Vesperia had already fallen, and been shattered into splintered diamonds after their first attack with ineffective 'venom.' King Monkey had nearly been able to distract Diamant, so Pegasus and Ryuko and could surprise him from behind. Diamant swung wide and they too had been hit, falling as cascading showers of the previous stone. Polymouse had lasted a bit longer, but eventually each duplicate of the miraculous mouse had been stomped out. They were now down to Carapace, shielding Ladybug and Purple Tigress.

Ladybug shook her head and narrowed her eyes, only able to leave a brief message for Chat Nor. "Hey Kitty, it's me! I'm sorry about earlier okay, we'll talk later, but right now we really need you!" She clamped her yoyo shut, and clenched it in her hand. If he wasn't going to make it in time, they might have only one more shot at this. "Okay, this is it! Lucky charm!" Ladybug called. "A red and black diamond tipped chisel dropped into her hand."

Carapace and Purple Tigress looked up at her, wondering what their next move would be. Ladybug looked around, but she was finding it hard to focus. If she just had Chat Noir here, they could use his cataclysm, but she didn't want to wait any longer. She squinted at the shimmering sword, and looked down at the lucky charm in her hand. Then she bit her lip determinedly. "Right! Purple Tigress, I will swing you forward with my yoyo, and you take the chisel and aim it straight at the base of his sword. The weapon is usually where the akuma is hidden," she reasoned. "Carapace, you cover us until the moment we reach Diamant, then call off 'shelter.' At that moment, Purple Tigress will summon "Clout" and drive the chisel into the sword's hilt!"

Purple Tigress and Carapace rolled back their shoulders and nodded. They trusted Ladybug and her plan to defeat this akuma victim and bring back their friends.

They set right to work, assembling to put their plan into action. Carapace shielded them with cover, while they swung down straight at their target. Ladybug held Purple Tigress by the waist, as Tigress held the diamond chisel in her fist, winding back to strike. Ladybug's plan was executed perfectly, and as soon as the green shield dropped Tigress shouted "Clout!" and hit right into the hilt, splintering it from his grip. The impact of Tigress' power made both Diamont and them fly back apart from each other with a blast of white light. The sword separated violently into tiny shards, and the debris struck Tigress directly. The magic of the sword had lost none of it's power and she collapsed into tiny diamonds hitting the sidewalk below. Ladybug was nearly struck as well, but Carapace had launched his shield up to protect her just in time. Sadly, he had done so at the cost of his own safety, and he too was struck by the sharp flying pieces of shrapnel from the broken diamond sword.

Along with the light tinkling sound of thousands of diamonds hitting the ground, Ladybug's lucky charm clattered down beside her. Picking herself up off the ground, and sweeping the diamond chisel into her hand, she looked across the street where Diamant, was picking himself back up again. In horror she realized that the akuma had not been encased in the sword afterall. She had been so sure, but her miscalculation and rash plan had left her completely alone with less than five minutes left till she lost her transformation.

The looming figure across the street glared at her, with his feet splayed out. His sword was lost, but she would be no match for the power contained in a single blow from his muscular diamond attacks. Ladybug's breath caught in her throat, as absolute fear sunk into her muscles, making her seize up, unable to move. She knew she should run, there was nothing to do but run, but why wouldn't her legs obey the screams of "retreat!" in her head. She was paralyzed by the realization that she was now truly and utterly on her own. Even when Diamant charged, running straight towards her, she stood rigidly, holding her Lucky Charm out in front of her. Just when she clamped her eyes shut, and braced herself to be trampled, she felt someone fly forward and tackle her out of harms way.

Ladybug felt the air clamped up in her lungs dispel in relief, as she opened one eye to see a patch of black leather on the shoulder of her rescuer. Her Kitty had made it just in time to save her once again she thought to herself. She could always count on her..."...Chat Noir?!" Ladybug asked as her eyes opened further and looked up to unfamiliar yellow cat eyes, rather than green. Not only that, the young man that now held her didn't have her Kitty's golden hair! Instead two laid back black cat ears perched among spiked black hair. Using his baton, her rescuer launched them up to a rooftop vantage point, and set her down where she could finally confirm that although the costume was clearly some form of Chat Noir, it was certainly not the one she was familiar with.

As soon as her feet were steady on the rooftop, she put distance between herself and the 'wannabe Chat Noir." She held her lucky charm tight in one hand, while holding her yoyo ready to defend herself in the other. Eyeing down the mysterious individual suspiciously, she tallied all the discrepancies in the stranger before her. The suit defined his shoulders, with the black interlaced with charcoal grey, which met criss-cross at his bare neckline. From his feet black boots rose to his knees. His tail-like belt was tipped with additional silver which curved hook-like. He regarded her with a cool stare, and confident plant of his baton at his side like a staff. There was none of Chat's endearing banter or mischievous smirk on his lips.

"Where is Chat Noir?!" Ladybug demanded.

"You're welcome, by the way, for saving your life back there," the man in black replied, without responding to her inquiry. Instead with a frustrated rise in his throat he snapped at her, "I can't believe you didn't move out of the way! Did you want to be steamrolled into the pavement?!"

"Well I...I...just froze for a second, but...but...that's not the point! Who are you and what have you done to Chat Noir?!" Ladybug stepped back, put off by the authoritative reprimand from this dark version of a cat weilder. She looked down pointedly at his ring. "Did you steal his miraculous?!" she accused, spinning her yoyo before her, poised to attack.

"Chat Noir is not available, so he sent me instead," he said aloofly, while glancing down at Diamant, who was pounding on the side of the building they were standing on. yelling at them to "come and face him."

"And he didn't even tell me!" Ladybug's voice rose. "That isn't like him at all!"

"He doesn't tell you everything," the replacement Chat stared back into her eyes, and then looked back over the ledge again. "He said someone needed to replace him to defend Paris, so here I am," he finished bluntly.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Ladybug challenged. "I'm the guardian! I should know what kind of person he's passed his miraculous of to! I should know what has happened to him!" Ladybug started to sputter, "I'm the guardian..."

Diamant decided to throw jagged chucks of broken off diamonds toward them, and the cat weilder grabbed Ladybug out of harms way against his toned chest. While spinning his baton to deflect follow-up projectiles he held her tight, and said, "Listen Lady, as far as I'm concerned, until Chat Noir comes back I'm the guardian of the black cat, and since you seem to have your hands full with the rest of the miraculous' for the time being I'm also your guardian...think of me as your guardian angel while your Chat is gone."

Ladybug's mouth popped open in protest, and she pushed herself away from him to slow her raising heart. "What makes you think that I..." she huffed trying to give him a piece of her mind.

But she didn't get to come up with a clever retaliation to his bold claim before he interrupted her, "Shouldn't you like recharge your kwami while we have a chance? Your earrings keep on doing that blinking thing."

Ladybug put her hands up in alarm over her earrings, which were on their last spot. In the shock of discovering some new being in her partner's place she had totally forgotten to watch her clock. She frantically around for somewhere to take cover.

"Don't worry, I'll turn around," the Chat weilder leaned his elbows on the edge of the building.

"What if you peak?! I don't even know you!" Ladybug screeched crossing her arms across her chest awkwardly.

"What's wrong? Are you naked or something under those spots?" the cat teased, still looking off in the opposite direction.

"I most certainly am NOT!" Ladybug huffed.

"Well then I won't be missing much," he replied.

Ladybug's face went red, and she ducked down behind a vent fan on the top of the roof muttering threats to tell Chat Noir exactly what kind of individual he had chosen as a replacement as soon at the "REAL Chat Noir" came back. MY Chat Noir would kick his ass if he ever found out that this interloper was trying to make a pass at her while he was gone. After her last spot went out, her transformation vanished, and Marinette quickly fished out a macoroon for Tikki to eat, while keeping a wary eye on the infuriating replacement. What had Chat Noir been thinking with this guy? Where was Chat Noir? Was he okay? Was he hurt? When was he coming back?

"Could you hurry it up? I think this guy has decided to make his way up here instead of waiting on us to come down and join him!" he called, still not letting his eyes stray from the horizon. Diamant had indeed made progress punching his diamond fists into the brick building, and climbing his way up closer and closer.

Tikki gave the "new Chat Noir" a curious glance, and looked up questionly at Marinette who just shrugged. With a nod from her kwami, Marinette called, "Tikki, Spots on," and regained her mask & costume. She joined the cat weilder at the side of the building to gage how close Diamont was now. "Thanks," she said guardedly, without looking at him.

He looked over at her in surprise.

"Thanks for not looking while I was detransformed...and thanks for the save earlier," she filled in.

"You're welcome," he said quietly, and then paused. "I guess for now you can just call me 'Shadowcat."

"You know, you don't really seem like a Senti-monster or some minion of Hawkmoth's trying to steal my miraculous," Ladybug looked at him sideways, but still hesitant. "But there is something about you..."

"Instead of questioning Chat Noir's judgement in choosing me, can we just save the city already?" the cat weilder suggested, gesturing to the sparkling adversary only a few meters below them now.

"Fine," Ladybug conceded, "but after we defeat him, there are questions that need answering."

"Feel free to bring it up with Chat Noir next time you see him," Shadowcat responded, leaping toward the akuma.

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Here is my version of a "new" Chat Noir (I decided not to make him too close to Catwalker or too Adrien-ish). Shadowcat will try to act in a way that he thinks is very different than how he normally acts around Ladybug. I hope you are enjoying this story so far! Please favorite or follow or even leave a review to let me know if you're enjoying the introduction to "Shadowcat" and Ladybug's reaction.

A special thanks to KagamiPINKAgreste, Liventmenow, and dontgiveahoot

Thank you for taking the time to leave such encouraging reviews! THey totally make my day, and spur me on to write even more:) Speaking of which...I'm off to write some more...Happy reading!