Author's note: In my stories I use multiple ways to separate my paragraphs. In this one, I use the -x- and -o- lines.

-x- is a normal paragraph-separator, while -o- is always used when I make a time-jump. (Flashbacks, Timeskips, other timelines,…).

When I use a line like this (-w-) it means, I'm switching perspectives. That is mostly, because some things are easier to wirte in different styles. -s- means chapter starts here, and -e- means chapter ends here.

Now with that out of the way, back to Chapter 3!


-s-s-s- (Narrators POV)

"Goddammit, the old man really knows how to stay under the radar!", Manuel growled inside.

As Alya had kept nagging him about why he zoned out so often, he accidentally let slip that there was someplace he was looking for. And Alya had given him an idea which made him mentally slap himself for not thinking of that himself. Use the goddamn internet.

But when he tried to Google (after being surprised Google was a thing here) he just hit yet another dead end. First he tried the news, because he thought, maybe he could find clues within the behaviours of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but the best he found was a short article about a cancelled fitness-show pulled from TV due to „unrealistic expectations".
The search for an old man named "Wang Fu" just led him to a multitude of anime streaming-services, half of which he was sure were illegal anyway.
The search for physiotherapy-shops showed everything except his, given that none of the, count them, TWO shops was anywhere near the Seine.
And the search for a Chinese shop just led him to Chinese restaurants.

"Well, that worked out well.", he groaned sarcastically, "The only thing I learned, is that there is an abundance of Chinese restaurants in Cartoon-Paris. Why would you need 10 Chinese restaurants in one city?! Anyway, progress made: Zero."

"So, found what you were looking for?", Alya asked as Manuel came out of the library and down the stairs, but he just sighed, "Unfortunately, no. I should have known I wouldn't find his shop on the internet. After all, he is already 186 years old."

"W-What?", Marinette asked surprised, making Manuel realize his mistake and correct instantly, "86! 86 years old! He just… often times seems over 100 years old. With his mannerism and tradition, that is. Not a bit senile though."

"Why are you looking for someone this old-fashioned? You don't exactly seem to know him that well, so what gives?", Alya began her usual digging again.

And like that, Manuel began improvising again, "He's my grandfather." "Wow, awesome excuse, you moron. Literally anything else would have been better."

Once more, Alya beamed, "Wow, no way dude! You have relations in Paris? I thought you were from Austria!"

"I-I am, but uhh… see… my grandfather, he… sort of… likes to live in solitude. Which is also the reason I don't know where exactly he lives.", Manuel lied his arse off.

"So, how come you even know him?", Marinette asked sympathetically, and Manuel answered, "Actually, I really only know OF him. My parents told me, I'm supposed to meet up with him when I get here, but didn't give me an address. So now I'm left to wander around looking for him."

„Okay, now that we know you're looking for your grandpa, we can help you out! Right Alya?!", Marinette suggested.

Alya agreed to that idea instantly, unlike Manuel, who accepted their help only very reluctantly after incredibly stubborn pushing.

But thanks to the plot-convenience of this show, the school-bell rang just right to save the cornered boy from this awkward conversation.

-o-o-o- (10:00 am (2 hours until lunch)) (Manuels POV)

Fantastic, just fantastic…", I scolded myself as I walked into the changing-room for the boys, getting ready for PE-class / gym-class / sports or whatever they call it here, which was held, as I had suspected, in the entrance-area, „Now you're gonna be the reason Marinette meets Master Fu way to early in the timeline! This is a straight up disaster! God, now I'm even starting to TALK like her already!"

„Yo, what are you worrying about, dude?", Nino suddenly asked me, as he took of his cap and hung it in the garderobe.

„Oh, n-nothing, just… worried I guess…" I answere… or dodged the question, to be precise.

I was setting the white schoolbag I was given by Adrien of all people as a welcoming gift down. That thing was honestly quite neat. It was big, had lots of bags, and even featured the famous Gabriel Agreste-brand, showing off the high class. Water resistant, easy to wash, and of really high quality. I didn't even know Gabriel designed bags as well. Seems he was more of a designer in general, rather than just a clothing-designer.

But of course, Mr. Sunshine had to come for support, „Worrying a lot, it seems. You're sweating."

„I am?", I asked surprised, and when I swept over my forehead, sure enough, there was a whole lot of sweat on my palm, „Whoa, didn't even notice…"

„You're heating up.", Adrien pointed out, as he held a hand to my head, „No surprise with the hot weather we're having today. You should wash your face with cold water.", the guy suggested, „It may not be comfortable, but it does help cooling down your temperature and level your adrenaline. To others, using the bathroom has a sort of calming effect as well."

„I… think I'll try the water first. Thanks, Adrien.", I agreed and hurried into the bathroom.

-x-x-x-

I turned on the water, and washed my face with the cool water, just like Adrien recommended. I could feel my temperature dropping instantly, and the headache, which I didn't even know I had until now, left as well.

"Ahh, much better.", I sighed in relief, and bent over the sink to catch my breath, "Oh god… This world is getting to me… My god, this world is really messing with me…"

I looked up from the sink and into the mirror, for the first time since I got here getting a good look at myself. "Holy shit… What?! the hell?! is this?!"

This reaction may seem over the top at first but given how bizarre whatever I was seeing here was, I wouldn't call it an overreaction.

The thing that jumped out to me the most, was my insultingly inaccurate body build. Both my arms as well as my chest were freaking ripped, so much in fact, that I could see my trained muscles on them. And in spite of that, they were still thin and practical, unlike Kims buffed up arms.

In complete contrast, though, were my fragile looking legs, which, seriously, should be way more trained than my damn arms. "What, did my animated self skip leg-day or something?"

Why does that bother me so damn much? Because my real-life-self (or previous self, I guess) used to be the exact opposite. My biking, running and skating led to really strong legs, while my arms always got left behind. Plus, I rarely EVER did anything that would require strong arms! I always did things that required stamina and precision, rather than brute force! "How was I supposed to do anything precisely with these unpractical muscles?!"

But I digress, I know. So, once I got over the complete inversion of my physicality, I took a look at my face. As it turned out, this world did keep my blonde hair, as well as my dark-blue eyes, while it shortened my neck a bit, which I really appreciated. I never really cared about my eye-colour, but I always loved how they shined in photographs. My neck, on the other hand, was always ridiculously long, or at least I felt so, meaning I really liked having that cut short a bit.
"Haha! Still photogenic as hell!"

When it came to my hair though… Well, I WAS happy, that it kept my blond hair-colour, and even brightened it up a bit, making me strawberry-blond like when I was an innocent little kid. It honestly always bothered me, how my hair-colour had changed from a bright blond to a weird looking brown.
But then another detail hit me in the face. They were short. And not just short in a girls sense of short, meaning the were just at neck-length. No, I mean REALLY short! As in, barely reaching my ears! "What the hell, man?! What do you think I grew them for over the last whole year?! They had reached shoulder-length just some time ago! And what's up with that wild hairstyle as well?! Screw you man!"

I ranted on and on about my lost hair-length for about a whole minute, until I realized I probably shouldn't waste so much time in the bathroom. So I took a quick breath, cursed this world for all it took from me, and then made sure to take in the rest of my appearance.

The last thing to really check was my clothing, and it was also the only thing I couldn't really criticize. As a top, I wore an orange short-sleeved shirt with a V-cut, though I kept that buttoned up all the way as I was uncomfortable with showing off my (usually) long neck.
Over that, I had a black jacket with one orange stripe running down on both of my sides and along each of the long sleeves. I honestly didn't know what sort of material this was, but both these things were amazingly comfortable. No wonder I could sleep so well in this outfit! You know, as well as you COULD sleep on the ground, anyway.

My pants were black as well, with the same orange stripe running down my legs as the jacket and made from the same comfortable material.
The shoes I had screwed Stormy Weather over with were black as well, with orange soles and bands. And, as it turned out, they weren't hard. Not the shoe itself, anyway. Instead of the shoes themselves being hard, it seemed that the only robust thing about them were the soles in particular, while the inside was actually cushioned, making them hard on the outside, but super-comfortable to wear. Evidence for all that was, that I could bend the shoe itself to my liking without even putting in much effort, while the underside of it was seemingly reinforced or something.

In short, there were a ton of things I didn't particularly like about my animated appearance. The shorter hair and wild hairstyle, my fragile legs in contrast to my strong arms.
But I couldn't deny that it had its qualities as well. I really loved my brighter hair-colour, as well as my outfit. Reason for that being, that orange is my favourite colour, and black mixes just so incredibly well with it. And heck, I even forgot to mention my orange watch on my wrist showing me not only the time but also the day of the month, which was REALLY convenient to keep track of the time in the messed up continuity of this show. Not to mention, I even got some really cool white fingerless gloves giving my clothing some more colour! "Seriously, Thomas Astruc, you can't just release episodes randomly. The audience should be able to understand an episode without needing to wait for another one released much later. Looking at you, Party Crasher."

I heard the door handle getting pushed down behind me, putting me on high alert again. I bent over the sink again, just moments before Nino came in to look for me, "Dude, you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine.", I told him, straightening myself up again, "I just needed a moment to prepare myself."

"Aha… You good now?", he asked again, "'Cause Monsieur D'Argencourt is already waiting for us."

"D'Argen-who? Who the hell is that?", I asked myself in my mind, but since I was gonna find out in a moment anyway, I just tagged along, "Yeah, let's go."

-x-x-x-

"Oh, this guy!", I thought to myself, as I realized Monsieur D'Argencourt as Adriens fencing-teacher, "He actually works here as a PE-teacher? I thought he was just Adriens personal trainer."

"Now then!", D'Argencourt took word right away, "I want to see 3 laps from everyone for starters! That includes you too, Ms. Bourgeois!"

Chloe merely pouted but did tag along with the rest of the class.

While I was running alongside the others, I did notice something. In spite of my legs looking super thin and weak, that didn't mean I had a major decrease in running speed and stamina. Which was good, otherwise I might as well have turned into an akuma myself. Introducing: The Shapeshifter, with the ability to look in anyway he wants!

"Heh, that would be something.", I laughed to myself, "If I weren't filled with so much spite, that would seem really realistic. Though, if I were going to take this chance to rewrite the story, I could offer Hawk Moth some advice. Make him come over his issues… That WOULD be a really nice scenario." The thought of this perfect ending brought a smile to my face, even though I knew I couldn't do that. A man can dream after all, can't he?

"You seem in a good mood.", Marinette suddenly talked to me, as she was running right next to me right now, "What happened?"

"That's- Hah- something I doubt- Puh- you'd understand.", I answered her in between breaths. Talking WHILE running was still a challenge on its own. Fascinating that Marinette had zero trouble with it, even as a civilian.

"Watch your breathing! Short inhaling, long exhaling and as little distractions as possible to prevent premature exhaustion!", our teacher reminded us, since he seemed to notice the two of us talking.

So we finished running the rest of the three laps, before continuing our conversation. Just moments after we stopped to breathe, she was right next to me again, asking, "So, what were you grinning about before?"

I returned her question between my breaths, being way more out of breath than her, "Why- are you- so interested in that- anyway?"

"Well, up until now you were always so zoned out and always thinking about something.", Marinette explained, and I heard clear concern in her voice, "It was just nice seeing you smile for once. And not even a joking or sarcastic one, but a real, happy smile. I'd like to know how to make you show that more often."

I was, legitimately, caught off guard by that. "Was my smile really such a rare sight?", I wondered, "I must've seemed pretty cold to everyone."

"Manuel… You're doing it again.", Alya pointed out, making me snap out of my thoughts again, "Damn… I'm sorry."

"No biggie."

"I didn't mean to come off as cold. I just… really suck at social-interaction.", I excused myself again.

"Don't worry, we know.", Alya agreed, and gave me a joking punch to the shoulder, "But you know that we're gonna help ya out if you want."

"Appreciated. Thanks, you two.", I thanked them, just before our teacher (to whom I'm referring like this because his name is REALLY hard to remember) took word again, "Very well done, students! An impressive improvement since the start of the year! Five minutes for drinking now, next up is a game of dodgeball!"

"Hell yeah!", I exclaimed excited, startling the rest of the class which made me retreat in an embarrassed manner, "I-I was thirsty anyway!"

-w-w-w- (Narration)

While Manuel fled the scene for a moment, under the excuse that he was getting his water, Marinette and Alya looked after him with an amused smile. "He's quite the character, isn't he?", Marinette spoke up soon, to which Alya answered with a determined look, "Indeed he is. Can't wait to figure out his secret."

Marinette gave her friend a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Just look at the way he behaves and speaks!", Alya began to explain, "He keeps zoning out, gets lost in his thoughts and – most importantly – he keeps avoiding questions! That guy is hiding something! And I definitely ain't resting 'till I know what it is!"

"What?! Alya! You heard him! He has anxiety! Of course, he's gonna act nervous around us!", Marinette scolded her friend, "Besides, doesn't everyone have his secrets? He's no different in that regard."

„Well… Maybe I'll let it rest for now.", Alya agreed for the moment, „But you better believe me, that I'm back on his trail the moment I deem him suspicious."

„Suspicious, how…?" Marinette already began to worry already…

-w-w-w- (with Manuel)

While the two girls were having their chat, Manuel was in the boys changing-room, once more scolding himself, „Get your damn act together, you absolute moron! You can't keep drawing all this attention to you!"

He opened the side-bag of his schoolbag, from where he took his pink water-bottle, the welcoming gift of Marinette. He only took a few sips before closing it again, though.

When he came back to the entrance, however, everything was suddenly going to hell. Some random dude in a black Gi with dark red sweatbands and shoes suddenly slammed down on the ground in the entrance-area, before arising again, and raising his voice, "Greetings, you spineless youths of Paris! My name is Master Fitness, and my job is to whip this pathetically weak city into shape, starting with this high school!"

"What the ffff…frick?", Manuel wondered, correcting his language midsentence as to not heighten the age-rating of the show, "Did this happen in the original show? 'Cause if so, that most definitely was off-screen."

"Excuse me, this school already has a PE-teacher, and that is not you.", D'Argencourt complained, "So, with my utmost respect, look for your own school to teach PE at."

The random guy just stared down at him (which is where Manuel noticed just how huge the guy was) and simply stated, "Then I'm going to test your ability to teach this subject."

The way he spoke gave Manuel one clearly directed thought, "I'll be damned if that isn't the guy whose fitness-show was cancelled."

He reached to the belt of his Gi, his headband glowed up a bit, and he pulled some more of the same kind off of it, which he threw at the teacher. The headband instantly wrapped itself around his head. "For starters, give me 100 push-ups!" The headband glowed up, and D'Argencourt was clearly forced to do said push-ups.

"Yeah, screw this, I'm leaving.", Manuel decided for himself, sneaking around the guy that was obviously an akuma-victim.

But just as he was reaching the main entrance to the school, a bunch of black hockey sticks flew over his head and barred the exit. "Nobody is leaving here until I end the training-session!" He threw more of the same hockey sticks around the area, barring every other door of the school as well, locking some other students into their classrooms, while trapping Manuel and his class in the entrance area.

"What a douchesandbag.", Manuel sighed to himself, and chuckled a bit at his own pun.

But his funny mood only held for a moment, until he looked around and noticed, that Marinette and Adrien were still here as well. And they had no way of getting out of sight to transform. And the stakes were upped even more, as Master Fitness now started to take control over the others in the class as well, making them either run 50 laps, do 200 push-ups / sit-ups or something else fitness-related. "What an ABSOLUTE douchebag!"

Manuel tried to tear the hockey sticks barring the exit away, but it was clear that this was a hopeless case. Those things clearly weren't going to bug one bit. "Okay, so now that the exit is barred, Ladybug and Chat Noir won't be able to save our arses, and the main reason for that is clearly, because I was trying to run too early."

He looked around. There was no other way to get away from the area. Not even upstairs, as the stairs were barred as well. And all that was because Manuel had drawn attention to himself again. "…I gotta take responsibility for that, don't I?"

-x-x-x-

Letting out yet another sigh, this one more exasperated than worried, he quickly made up his mind, and looked for the rest of his not-yet-controlled class. When he found them gathered in the corner behind the stairs, not entirely visible to Master Fitness, he breathed easier. They weren't going to get in the way, that was for sure.

So now he stepped forth, chest proudly pressed forward, and heroically raised his voice, "Ayo douchebag! Down here!" "Damn I'm skilled at the heroic speeches…"

The akuma, who was balancing on a battle-pole similar to Chat Noirs, turned around, "Hmm? Who dares approach the master of physicality?"

"That would be me.", Manuel answered, "What's up, Master Fit?"

"It's Master Fitness, pipsqueak!", the akuma corrected, "What is it you could possibly want from your superior?"

"Do you happen to accept constructive criticism?", Manuel asked all by the way, but the villain declined, "Not from a flyweight like you."

"Geez, no wonder your show got cancelled.", the boy groaned annoyed, but touched a certain weakspot a bit more harshly than he had realized.

He reacted barely fast enough to duck under the headband the akuma was throwing at him, but the black basketball that came right afterwards hit him directly on the head and straight up exploded in his face. Manuel flew backwards and crashed directly against the bars of hockey sticks at the entrance.

But the boy still managed to pull himself back to his feet, though he was a bit shaky. "Holy shit… Just go the full length put a full power nuke in your basketballs why don't'cha?" He didn't have much time to think though, as already another basketball came flying his direction. "Just according to plan. Thank god he's uncreative." He took just one step to the side, letting the explosive ball shoot against the barrier instead. But, against Manuels predictions, the ball bounced right off of it. "Sorry WHAT?!"

The ball flew back in Master Fitness' direction, making him quickly jump to the side. When the basketball hit the wall on the opposite side, it finally exploded. "I see. His own creations don't set of each other, and neither does the floor. At least not automatically. They do, however, blow up when they hit something or someone with great enough force. And judging by the way he dodged, he himself is not immune to them either."

"Quite the good reflexes you got there, kid!", Master Fitness complimented Manuel, "You would have been a great sidekick on my show!"

"Thanks, I'll pass.", Manuel declined, "Being on TV really isn't for me…"

"Of course it's not.", the akuma grumbled angrily, "Noone ever wants to be a guest in my show…"

"Hey, I don't want to be on TV in general! This is not about you OR your show!", the boy explained, but the akuma wasn't having any of that, "But it is! The people couldn't keep up with me, and for that they took down my show! Just because they're all a bunch of weaklings!"

"If you want to teach something, it's the teachers job to fit the students level, not the other way around!", the boy taught the villain, "How do YOU think education works?!"

Now was the point, when the villain was starting to get impatient, "Quiet! I don't take kindly to trashing! Especially from people inferior to me!"

He threw a whole bunch of basketballs in Manuels direction. Too many for him to dodge. He flew against the wall, completely vulnerable to any and all explosions coming his way. But, luckily for him, the wall he just crashed into collapsed. And just in the right way, to shield him from any additional damage of the basketballs.

"Holy shit, I must be the luckiest guy on earth…", Manuel thought, as he realized he was still alive, "Or this world at least… Right after Ladybug…"

"It's not trashing!", Manuels voice came out of the rubble, as he freed himself from the destroyed parts of the building, "It's called constructive criticism! Learn the difference already, dammit!"

Now standing in front of the villain again, he took hold of a metal pole that fell out of the wall, and pointed it directly at his foe, "Do I have to BEAT some sense into ya, or what?!"

"Ohh, so that's how its gonna be, huh?", the akuma asked, grinning menacingly, and summoned the combat-pole from before, "Fine, I'll show you the result of the unrelenting workout of Master Fitness!"

"More like Master throws-a-fit.", Manuel joked with a grin, taking the villain aback, "W-What the… What was that?!"

"Also: Workout? Please, you got your power from Hawk Moth. There's literally zero workout involved in getting akumatized.", Manuel added grinning, making the villain seemingly a bit mad, "Are you making fun of me?!"

"You attack by weaponizing sports-equipment of all things! What else am I supposed to do with you?!", the boy laughed even more, finally pushing Master Fitness over the edge.

He charged right at Manuel and swung his combat pole down at him. The boy ducked down to the left and held his pole the right. The blow meant for him missed, and instead he caused the akuma to trip over his pole. He fell to the ground, and for a second just laid there, shocked, "Did he just… read straight through my moves?"

Grumbling angrily, he got to his feet again, and was just ready to attack once again, but held in all of a sudden. His expression turned from rage to shock, and he was basically frozen.

"Take one more step, and your headband will suffer a major case of "over-stretching"!", Manuel threatened the villain, holding his black headband out in front of himself, ready to tear the damn thing to shreds. He had tested the stretchiness of the band seconds before, noting that while it seemed fairly robust due to its thickness, it was made from fairly cheap material. Ripping it apart would be no big feat.

"That IS where your akuma is, right?", Manuel continued speaking, "When you're flaunting around with your power, it's hard to notice, but every single time you summon something, that thing lights up."

"Give that BACK!", the villain yelled at his opponent, and straight up leapt at him. Manuel however just jumped to side, making Master Fitness fall behind him, and jumped over the follow-up kick. He even got a chance to hit the villain with his metal pole in the face, gaining some distance (and satisfaction) as a result.

By the time Master Fitness got back up, Manuel was already stretching the headband, giving the villain some intense dizziness. "You didn't take me seriously before, still I'm warning you only once more!", Manuel repeated, his tone much deeper and threatening than before, "Stay where you are, or your fitness-program will get a permanent cancelling!"

Though he was keeping the villain at gun-point, he did allow him to speak a few more lines, "H-How did you even do that in the first place?! I am the great Master Fitness! You should be inferior to me by default!"

"Great power is but a tool.", Manuel explained, "Power is useless if you don't know how to use it."

"…Say what?", the akuma-victim asked again, "I'm no English-major, you'll have to speak more directly."

"You are strong, I give you that, but once you get riled up, you start getting reckless. And when you tripped, it was easy using the pole to get your headband without you even noticing.", Manuel explained. But even though he was talking to him, he didn't fail to notice the faint glow emitting from the headband yet again. He pulled on the thing again, making his point clear again, "Don't try to fool me! I'm not an idiot, even though I challenge a supervillain as a civilian! Do you really want me to end you on the spot?!"

"No, hang on! W-We can still talk this out, can't we? After all, we're civilized people, correct? Come on, buddy! One sports-pro to another?!", Master Fitness panicked, making Manuel sigh, "What a chicken he is beneath all that power."

"Listen, I'm willing to let you get your headband back. In one piece and undamaged, even. I just have three demands beforehand.", Manuel bargained, making the villain groan annoyed, "What am I?! Some sort of genie?!"

Manuel wasn't even going to go into that point, "First of all, you release all your possessed victims from your headbands, AND the tasks you've given them! No exceptions and no taggin back!"

Though reluctantly, Master Fitness did snap his fingers, and the headbands over the victims disappeared, and they basically collapsed on the spot, exhausted from their brutal exercise.

"Get back, you guys! Stay together with everyone else!", Manuel advised them, before naming the rest of his demands, "Secondly, open up the barriers. And I mean all of them, got it!"

"Grr, I see exactly what you're aiming for, pipsqueak.", the villain groaned annoyed, but did comply. In a flash of light, all the hockey sticks disappeared, allowing everyone to get through the doors again.

"Okay, good.", Manuel said to himself, before talking to the villain again, "Third, allow everyone in this school to leave! Each and every last one! Then, and ONLY then, I'll let you get your headband back!"

"Urgh, fine then!", Master Fitness yelled enraged, "Run along you weaklings! And don't you dare come back!"

The students and even teachers, including Manuels class, all swarmed out, eager to get away from this sports-fanatic.

With Manuels demands fulfilled, the villain held out his hand, "Now then, pipsqueak. We had a deal, and now it's your turn to keep your end of it."

"Sure, you can have your headband back.", Manuel complied, and straight up threw it across the entrance area, "But you get it yourself!"

"Wha-?! That was NOT part of the deal!", the akuma yelled at him, as he rushed towards his headband, but Manuel simply stated while running away as well, "I never said I would GIVE it back to you!"

"Lucky charm!", he heard Ladybugs voice coming from somewhere, giving him confidence that this bizarre fever-dream would be over soon. That confidence doubled, when he heard Chat Noir call out "Cataclysm!"

However, once more, out of nowhere, Manuel could feel this dark aura emerge again. And once more he knew, things were going to turn south. Unless… "Okay, concentrate. The stones have the same sort of aura, so I should be able to sense it… right?"

He closed his eyes, and when the aura of the villain drop again, the remaining aura of the stone was far easier to find. Uncreatively hidden in the middle of one of the bushes next to the entrance.

"Well, worked before, gonna work now, right?", he simply thought, smashing the thing under his shoe once more. Just like with Stormy Weather, Master Fitness' aura vanished again, and just a bit later, the magical ladybugs repaired everything again.

-x-x-x- -w-w-w- (Manuels POV)

"Oh thank god that's over…", I thought to myself, taking a well-deserved breather, "Made up for my mistake, and even pissed off Hawk Moth. I think I have earned a break for now."

So I just walked away from the scene of the battle, but almost collapsed under the intense headache I probably got from the explosion to the head. "Ugh… Why do I still have that? Some things seem to get healed while others are getting ignored."

I did manage to get back up, but the headache was just horrible, and now that my adrenaline level dropped again, I also noticed how incredibly sore all my limbs were. "Damn… Seems I'm also an excuse to things getting healed. At least to some things. I should probably get that checked out… If I had any money to pay the doctors with, that is."

I noticed the others slowly but surely coming back to school and judging by the little bit of chatter I was able to actually understand, they were currently talking about my battle against that villain. No surprise there, from a timeline-perspective I'm now probably the first one in this series to straight up challenge a supervillain as a civilian.

"Yeah, I ain't dealing with that now. I deserve a little bit of rest.", I decided for myself, leaving the campus out of sight of the rest, spending the rest of my day processing all the shit I went through today.

-e-e-e-


A/N: I know that this took me quite some time, and I apologize for that. Some chapters are a bit harder to write than others. As for the scenario: I know it seems like I'm putting my OC into perfect situations, giving him the absolutely perfect life in this world, but let me clear that. This character is based upon me, and I'm kind of pulling a Thomas Astruc here with screwing him over with everything I got. Pretty much everything he goes through here is something I'd like to avoid. Attention, questions, suspicions, hero-roles, I hate getting all of that. So apologies if it seems like I'm favouring him a bit, but trust me, I'd hate these situations. But they are fun to write nonetheless. :D

Next time on tale of superheroes and animations: Manuel is getting consistently more suspicious to everyone, heroes, villains and civilians alike. How will this sort of high attention and suspicion change his temporary life in this world?