Chapter 5 – Shadow Play

A/N: Alright, we got another original chapter and another original villain coming up! Plus, this chapter contains a few fairly depressing bits, so if you are suffering from depression yourself (like me), please be warned. And let me tell you, you are loved! Just the fact that you're reading this couldn't make me happier that you're there!

Story-Info: Though Manuel is the protagonist of this story, he will not always be the one taking centre-stage. Instead, I have multiple other characters, original and canonical alike, who just may get influenced by the involuntary world-traveller and take centre-stage themselves.


-s-s-s- (Manuels POV)

"Hey now, sun. That's a bit too bright don'tcha think?", I sighed more to myself than to the sun, as I awoke to its rays shining down upon me, "…You picking a fight with me, you bright yellow bastard?"

Just to spite that giant prick in the sky, I walked further into my alleyway, and blocked its sunlight by throwing a stray-trashbag over my head.

Didn't do much good though, because that bastard of a celestial body was shining straight through what I used as a pillow. "Ugh, fine! I'll get up! But if I regret that decision I'm going back!"

I think it's pretty darn clear right now that I wasn't having a good day up to now. My body was still sore from all the shit I went through yesterday with the Bubbler and, even more than that, with that Soleil-girl. What was the deal with her anyway? There can't be this few decent people in this city, to make me stand out that much, right?

Not to mention I've been going for several days without my antidepressants by now, and I guess it really started to show. My mood was down to the lowest point it had ever reached since I got here. Not to mention my severe case of homesickness right now.
I couldn't help but think about my poor parents and my sister. What they must be going through right now. And my dear puppy Colleen! She must be so lonely without me! "I have to get home. No matter HOW I do it, I just HAVE to. I can't stay stranded here forever."

I saw officer Raincomprix again on my way, guiding the traffic for the moment, but for once he just left me alone. Seems he wasn't gonna be that big of a deal today, and I surely wasn't going to make him a bigger deal. He would just get in my way once more, like he always did up to now. I was sure of it.

-o-o-o- (7:07am)

Here I was, standing on a bridge over the Seine, looking down into the river. The strong water-current beneath me was oddly soothing. It helped easing my depressed mood.

But I wasn't going to stand here for too long. Otherwise my depression might suggest that I could jump and make my problems disappear. Depressing, I know, but what can I say? Horribly depressed since the ripe age of 14, and still going up and down today, baby! Been dealing with that for four years now, and just as I was starting to get better, this goddamn world literally kidnaps me and sets my age back to when it all started going downhill! Ain't I the luckiest person on the planet?!

Instead of getting lost in my autopiloted thoughts, I took a deep breath in and looked along the sidewalks following the Seine. "Master Fu lives somewhere near the Seine. If I just run along the river, maybe I'll find a clue at the very least… And if not, it will be much needed endurance-training at least."

Starting off with a slow jog, I casually made my way along this huge ass river. I almost had a whole hour 'till school, so I sure as shit wasn't gonna stress myself over this. Well, that WAS my thought until I grew impatient and transitioned into an actual run so that I would actually GET anywhere.

While I was running, I noticed multiple extras look after me, with apparently impressed expressions. And I mean, who else would be dumb enough to spend his time in the morning with a jog, right? Well, it seems Kim was an excellent candidate for that I realized, as he was literally coming my way from the other side of the river.

"Hey Manuel!", he called out to me, as he passed the nearest bridge and came up behind me, "You training for the next Akuma already?"

"Kim *pant* I can't talk *pant* while running!", I cut him short, making him laugh a little, "Of course not! It takes time to reach that level of stamina!"

"That's what I'm trying to do here!", I replied annoyed.

"Same here!", another voice called out to my right, startling me in the process, making the same voice add, "Chill out, man! It's just me!"

"That's the problem…" "Soleil?! Why are you here?!", I asked in confusion, making her laugh a little, "Hah, are ya kidding? I'm a semi-professional runner! I GOTTA keep active!"

"Whoa, you're pretty fast for that short size!", Kim noticed, amusing Soleil even more, "Pfft, you call this fast? THIS is just a regular jog for me! I'll show you just how fast I can go!" And with that she transitioned into a full blown sprint, going at a speed that would make Sonic the Hedgehog proud. Well, not literally, but figuratively.

"Whohoa! How can she go so fast?!", Kim asked shocked, making me answer, "High rate *pant* of *pant* steps."

-o-o-o- (7:51am)

Well that was a huge waste of time! I didn't make ANY progress! Not to mention Kim kept asking questions about my battles! I TOLD him how much I hated that, and he didn't even pay it a second thought! And to make matters worse, Soleil caught up with us again as well, asking even MORE questions!

And just to add salt to the wound, this damn girl was going to Francois Dupont Highschool AS WELL! Apparently, any teen of even minor importance just HAS to go here! Are there no other Highschools in this animated nightmare?!

A few minutes before we had reached the school, I finally managed to shake the two of them off, as they had gotten into a deep conversation with each other.

Now alone at long last I casually walked inside the school, only to realize Alya keeping a ridiculously close eye on me and even going so far as to film my every move. Now THAT was the point where I wasn't going to tolerate her research as journalist anymore.

So I just walked over to her, "Okay, Alya, what are you doing?"

"Uhh… Schoolblog?", she tried to reason with me, but her voice had "Excuse" written all over it, with which I sure as hell wasn't dealing right now, "Kinda surely not, but I really don't care whatever you're filming me for right now. Just… stop, okay? I don't like getting filmed or photographed, especially not behind my back, and I'm having a bad day as is. So… please, just… don't, yeah? I would like to have some time for myself, okay?"

Alya looked kinda surprised at me but did respect my wish and put her phone away. Marinette looked kind of worried as well, and asked me, „Are you doing okay?"

„Let's just say, I'm not having a very good day…"

I merely walked into class and sat down at my desk. But with over five minutes to go until class started, there wasn't really anything to keep my mind off home. My parents, my sister, our three dogs, our cat… my friends with whom I have made so many memories…

I missed my real home… "I need to find the guardian!Goddammit, now I'm even starting to talk like Hawk Moth!"

Still, there was little time to keep thinking this way, because Miss Boustier walked in, causing Alya to put her phone away again. I hadn't even noticed she had it out again, though I DID feel watched, admittedly.

-w-w-w- -o-o-o- (Narration) (12:00am)

As Manuel went on his way to use the time he had as efficiently as possible, Alya kept watching him without doing as much as blink. "Uhh, Alya? You okay there?", Nino tried to get her attention, but she just packed his hand, and pulled him along with her as she followed Manuel with a bit of distance.

"Listen up Nino! I need your help keeping track of him!", Alya commanded him, confusing the DJ even more, "Wh-What? Why are we stalking Manuel right now?"

"I think I've found the real identity of Chat Noir!", she explained excitedly, taking the boy aback.

"Uhhh- What? You mean to tell me Manuel is Chat Noir?", Nino asked, clearly not convinced by her theory, which was why she immediately started to explain, "Think about it! We've never actually seen the two of them together! And whenever Manuel disappears, Chat Noir appears not that much later!"

"Well, yeah.", Nino agreed with her, before he explained that behaviour, "That's because he's not an idiot despite being as brave as can be. Why would he stay near a villain if there's nothing more he can do?"

"Because he's an amazing fighter! You've seen the way he moves! He knows his way around these things!", Alya kept arguing, "On top of that, he also chooses a staff-like object as his weapon of choice and is both swift and cunning! Fighting with distractions, ambushes and the like! He's super-buffed up as well-"

"Because he does a lot of sports.", Nino cut her off, but she continued, "OR because he has to battle supervillains for the sake of Paris!"

"Okay, let's say your evidence actually were to be connected to his battles, there is still a lot that doesn't match up.", Nino kept arguing this time, "For example: Admittedly Manuel has blond hair around the same length as Chat Noir, heck, he even has a similarly wild hairstyle and wears a lot of black, but his eyes are blue while Chat Noir's are green. Not to mention, we have never seen him wear a ring either."

"Sounds like a good counterpoint, until you consider, that his second persona is in the image of a cat!", Alya countered him, "Cats are only born with blue eyes, but their bodies start to produce Myelin over time, causing their eyes to change colours from blue to – guess what – brown or green! The only exceptions to that rule are Siamese cats, which are incredibly fluffy and most of all white, which Chat Noir is not! And as for the ring: You're right that we have never seen him wear it, but what he DOES always wear are these gloves-"

"-which are fingerless, may I point out.", Nino interrupted her again, but Alya didn't let that stop her, "Even so, they are long enough to potentially keep a ring all the way at the back of the finger hidden."

Nino let out a deep sigh, "Okay, Alya, I'll admit that's a lot of evidence, but Ladybug and Chat Noir have been around for months, while Manuel JUST moved here not even a week ago."

"Mhm, that's what he SAYS!", Alya admitted, but wouldn't let up, "But we don't exactly have proof for that. In fact, we have proof that his story is made up, because for the past few weeks there hasn't been ANY flights from or to Austria due to maintenance work at the airports."

"Well, yeah, but-" "Furthermore,", Alya kept pushing, "just some time ago he let slip that he was looking for someone who he has no idea of where to find! Someone he calls his grandfather!"

"Sounds to me like family-issues, honestly.", Nino replied, but Alya corrected, "Or maybe like a superhero looking for the source of all evil? Like Hawk Moth?"

"Ugh, Alya, now it's starting to just get weird.", the boy was getting straight to the point, "I'll admit, if you point what we know about Manuel in just the right way, it can seem like he's Chat Noir, but the more we're talking about it, the more it feels like we're forcing half of these things to fit together, instead of them fitting naturally."

"A good reporter never changes the information from her sources just to make them fit her theory.", Alya defended herself, "And by the end of the day, I'll have proven to you, that this isn't just a theory!"

With that, she went on her way to watch Chat Noir from the shadows, even if Nino didn't follow her.

-x-x-x-

Alright, finally caught up to him…", Alya sighed, as she panted from her sprint after Manuel, „This guy really lives fast paced. But what's he doing in the park of all places?"

Manuel, unaware of Alya stalking him from the shadows, took out another of the tent-poles he used against the Bubbler, and began to practice, „Now how was that again? Feet apart, sword moves first foot moves second, and skill beats power."

He set his feet apart, so that he had a good stand. Next he extended his pole to a length that was roughly equal to the length of his body from feet to torso. And then, he proceeded to engage in several motions that Alya concluded to be battle-moves. What didn't make sense to her, though, was the way he executed them. Judging by the way these movements looked, they weren't for battle with a staff, but rather… „With a sword? That doesn't make sense? Why would Chat Noir, whose primary weapon is a staff, practice sword-fighting-moves?"

As Manuel kept practicing his moves by repeating his movements and getting more and more precise in the process, Alya kept watching him and taking notes.

However, that went well for only so long, until the boy stopped and called to nowhere in particular, "Okay, that's it! I can tell someone is watching me! I can practically FEEL your stare on me! Just show yourself already but stop stalking me like that!"

With a pit in her stomach, Alya came out of her hiding spot, making Manuel sigh in exasperation, "Goddammit Alya… Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"S-Sorry Chat- Uh- Manuel, I was just- Uhhh…" The boy Alya thought to be Chat Noir recognized instantly that she was just looking for an excuse right now, and so he shut her down without a second thought, "Listen Alya, I have no idea what's up with this sudden obsession about me, but for now I'm going to ask you politely to stop it. Please don't force me to use a harsher tone."

He turned around, "I'd like to be left alone for a while, if that's okay with you…" And with that he just left, going back to just wandering around aimlessly.

-x-x-x-

Just when Manuel thought he would have some peace and quiet for a moment while he was strolling along the Seine lost in thoughts, yet another voice demanded his attention, "Heya! There you are!"

That voice belonged to Soleil, who was apparently following him now as well, for whatever reason, "I thought you'd come back here eventually!"

"Why would YOU care?", Manuel asked, though he was only listening with half an ear, "It's not like I'm such an important character."

"Are ya kidding me?!", the girl asked excitedly, "I want to know more about what we did just yesterday! What was that rock-like thing you smashed? How did you find it so easily? How do you know what it does?"

"I'm gonna have to stop you right there.", Manuel interrupted her between questions, "What I know I already told you."

"Nah ya didn't!", Soleil called out his lie, "What you DID tell me answers literally none of the questions I asked just now!"

"That's because I don't know the answers to those questions myself.", he tried to get out of her interrogation, which she noticed though, "Oh don't you try and get away from me like that! You didn't find that stone by the Agreste-mansion just by lucky coincidence! You KNEW that thing was there, and you KNEW how to find it! And that brings me back to my original question: How?"

"Why do you care so much about that?!", Manuel asked this time in his frustration, which she answered just as cheerful as ever, "Come on, man! Why would your partner NOT care?!"

Partner. That one word was, what pushed Manuel over the edge. He turned to Soleil and declared angrily, "Listen up, Soleil! What I do is something that ONLY I can do, and I have no room for any partners whatsoever! That being said, I REALLY need some alone-time now, okay?!"

With that, he turned away, leaving a shocked Soleil behind, who didn't understand the reason for his over-the-top reaction. "Did I say something wrong? Why does he insist on being such a loner? I can literally SEE that he doesn't fancy being alone, so what gives?"

-x-x-x-

"To be separated from your loved ones with no one respecting your need for privacy. A frustration I know all to well.", Hawk Moth spoke in his lair, as his big window opened and the butterflies arose around him.

He opened one of his palms, and one of the butterflies landed on it. He laid his other hand over it and filled it with a dark magical energy, before letting it fly away through his window, "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize this lost soul!"

-x-x-x-

Mere moments later the now black butterfly found Manuel currently sitting in another alleyway, finally hidden from all curious looks. He was looking down at his watch, contemplating the fact how long he must have been missing from home by now, when the butterfly landed on it and merged with it.

Just moments later, he heard Hawk Moth's voice within his head, "Shadow Play, I am Hawk Moth. No one but you understands the comfort of living in the shadows. Well, I can give you the power to MAKE them understand."

"Oh hey, I was wondering when YOU would show up.", Manuel straight up cut him off, catching the villain off guard, "So you were expecting me, I suppose."

"You could say that…", the boy answered, "I mean, I'm separated from all I ever knew. I would have been more surprised if you DIDN'T make your butterflies jump at me."

"Well, since you were already waiting for me, I can assume we have a deal?", Hawk Moth kept pushing, making Manuel stop for a moment, "…You know… Given that that's gonna happen sooner or later anyway, might as well get it out of the way. I only give you ONE shot of akumatizing me though, so you better not have any regrets later on."

"I am the one giving orders here, Shadow Play. And I trust you know what I want you to do in return?", the villain questioned, making his victim sigh annoyed again, "Steal ancient magical jewellery from two minors, I know the drill. Just get on with it already, before I change my mind."

"So much impatience. With such a drive I trust you'll fulfil your promise in no time.", Hawk Moth concluded, and a dark matter engulfed Manuel.

When the matter left from around him, he had significantly thinner arms and in exchange his legs had gotten a lot stronger. His now black hair with shining blue streaks was standing straight up.
What stood out the most though was his skin that was now pitch black, even his eyes were just voids of black with a neon-blue iris shining out of them threateningly. On his chest was a shining blue circle as well, just like around both his wrists and ankles. The watch with his akuma within had turned purple just like the shoes he was wearing now. He was now Shadow Play, and he would play that role to its fullest.

-o-o-o- (14:00 / 02:00pm)

„Does anyone know where Manuel went?", Miss Boustier asked her students when classes were supposed to start again. No one answered, though.

„Alya, shouldn't you know?", Nino asked after a while, but she could only answer, „Well, I saw him practicing his martial arts for a while, but I haven't seen him since."

„So I guess Manuel is gonna be absent for this class.", Ms Bustier concluded, a barely notable sigh in her voice. „Seems like that's yet another student with chronic absence…", she thought to herself.

However, the one in question would be found soon enough, as the shadow of the teacher slowly began to spread further along. Only a few noticed, but didn't call it out, because they didn't think much of it.

But whatever was happening to Ms. Bustier's shadow got more and more terrified looks as some sort of black smoke started to emit from it. Said smoke pilled up and up, until eventually it swallowed Ms. Bustier leaving but a black spot in her place, when the smoke seemed to take form. „You called?", a dark evil voice asked, and sharp blue eyes stared out of the smoke.

„Ahh- Manuel?! Is that you?!", Marinette called out in shock, but the shadowy figure merely answered sparsely as it turned its piercing eyes towards her, „The answer is yes… and no… You may call me Shadow Play, baker-klutz." He took a slow bow, further reinforcing the real identity of this dark entity. But the way he spoke gave chills to those in the room. So slowly filled with menace. Every single word sounded like a death threat.

„Ugh, you're pathetic, Gilson!", Chloe snorted annoyed as she stepped in front of him, „You'd think some loser playing hero would turn into a good villain, but instead you just turn into a sentient pile of mist! Utterly ridiculous!"

„Chloe, stop!", Adrien asked her most carefully, but she ignored his advice.

„That's the reason you have next to no friends, you spoiled brat. You judge before you know.", Shadow Play spoke to the mayor's daughter, who was clearly not ready for that, „What, moi? Spoiled? Pfft, as if. I only have a lot of money."

„How wonderful…", the villain replied in a slow deep voice, „How many true friends do you think you can afford with that?"

„Tch, listen up, you shadowy loser!", Chloe started to yell, „Everyone adores me and you know it! I will live my life the way I please, and I will not let some oversized smoke-machine lecture me about that! So how about you get lost before I shine you into oblivion with my flashlight?!"

„So do it then.", Shadow Play accepted, his voice sounding challenging all of a sudden, „If you are so insistent on being obliterated, who am I to deny you?"

True to form, Chloe did take her phone out. But this was the point Adrien stepped in. „Chloe, you have to get out of here!", he called as he shielded her, only to get violently shoved aside by the villain, „Stay down, little princeling! If you want to die that badly you'll have to wait your turn…"

„Adrikins!", the blonde brat called out in worry, her fist clenching and her voice trembling, „Oh now you're in for it!" She pointed her phone at him, and turned on the flashlight.

For a moment, Shadow Play had to shield his eyes from the bright light, but then proceeded to grow. Chloe dropped her phone in terror, as Marinette used the chaos to run out of class.

She hid in one of the bathroom stalls, and allowed Tikki to fly out of her bag. „Seems Manuel was serious when he said he said he needed some time for himself.", Marinette said, her voice filled with worry.

„If someone tells you about their feelings, you should always take them seriously!", Tikki lectured her Master, who confirmed, „Right, and that's exactly why I'm going to stop him! Tikki, Spots on! Yeah!"

-w-w-w- (back in the class)

Meanwhile in the classroom, Shadow Play only stared Chloe down, who was frozen in fear. „Have you ever played around with shadows?", he asked, „The stronger the light, the more prominent the shadow. If you don't know how to act properly, it's better not to act at all."

He took control over the girl's shadow, causing a purple light to emit from it. Multiple dark hands reached out of it, grabbing her by the legs and dragging her down into the darkness, causing her to groan in disgust, „Eww! What are these filthy things doing?!"

„Drown in the loneliness of the shadows. Never again shall you see anything but darkness!", Shadow Play announced, as the Chloe was getting dragged down by the hands.

Suddenly a red yoyo with black dots wrapped around the girl's waist, and pulled her out of the grasp of the shadowy hands. „Manuel snap out of it! Taking out your rage on others won't make you feel better!", Ladybug tried to talk the villain out of his anger, but he was clearly not interested, „Ah Ladybug. The light of hope shining in the darkness of despair. I've been looking forward to this."

„In that case, let the others go! Let this be between you and me!", Ladybug tried to reason, but didn't get the reaction she was hoping for. Shadow Play moved towards her, his steps slowly and short. His head hung down, and when he stood in front of her he looked up into her eyes, speaking in but a whisper, „Trust me, this WILL be only between the three us… Whether you like it… or not…"

Without warning he turned into black smoke again, shooting right into her face and blinding her temporarily in the process. While Ladybug cried out in pain and fell back, Shadow Play took control of the shadows of the rest of the students, letting them get sucked into the darkness one by one. Only black spots remained in their places.

Adrien, who managed to loose the hands of his shadow by running out the classroom, immediately took cover in one of the bathrooms. Plagg flew out of his jacket and greeted him with a sly, „Let me tell you, when you live half your time in a ring, you start to loose interest in your shadow."

„Then let's make sure we don't live ALL our time in our shadows.", Adrien replied, „Plagg, Claws out!"

-w-w-w- (back in the classroom)

Nice moves, Shadow Play.", Hawk Moth praised his supervillain, „Now, take her miraculous while she's helpless!"

„You gave me these powers, but you're not in charge of me.", Shadow Play refused, „I have a better plan, and as a civilian she won't be half as useful to me…"

Ladybug's shadow started to emit the purple light, and the dark hands grabbed her by the wrists and ankles, causing the heroine to fight back desperately despite still being blind.

But just as she began to descend into the darkness, a silver staff hit the villain directly in the face, making him loose his focus and thus freeing Ladybug. „Sorry, but I'm the only one allowed to hold her hand."

„Chat Noir, is that you?", Ladybug asked quickly, and her partner confirmed with a grin, „Here to pull you out of the darkest times as always!"

Finally Ladybug's vision came back, and she quickly spun her yoyo as a shield in front of her, „Watch out! When he turns into smoke he can blind you temporarily!"

„I'm used to the darkness. I experience it every second without you, M'lady.", Chat commented by the way, making his partner facepalm, „Chat, this is serious! Shadow Play is more powerful than any villain before him!"

„Allow me to correct you…", said villain took word, „I'm anything BUT more powerful than anyone before me. The difference is, that I'm not an idiot."

„You can think of yourself as high as you want!", Chat jumped back into action, „M'lady's wits can never be outmatched!"

„Watch out!", Ladybug called out suddenly, and threw him away with her yoyo, causing the hands that were grabbing Chat's legs to lose their grip, „He can control your shadow!"

„How can we stay safe of something that we can't separate from?", Chat Noir questioned, making Shadow Play answer, „Ask your lady. YOU said, her wits can't be outmatched."

Ladybug answered jokingly, „Aww, you guys are flattering me."

-x-x-x-

The two heroes switched to attack, jumping straight towards the villain. Shadow Play dodged most of the incoming attacks with his agility. But as the battle went on, the two heroes slowly separated to both attack from either side. With only one of them in view at all times, Shadow Play was soon tripped by Ladybug's yoyo wrapping around his leg and pulling it away.

But when Chat Noir prepared for a follow-up-attack, the villain caught his staff, and flung him right into Ladybug, leaving both of them lying on the ground for a moment.

"Perfect! Now Dark Shadow! Take their Miraculous!", Hawk Moth commanded, his voice rising in ecstasy. His villain moved towards them, but didn't reach out for Ladybug's earrings OR Chat Noir's ring. Instead he called upon the dark hands to restrain them and pull them into the shadows again.

However, his plan didn't work out, as this turn of action still allowed Ladybug to throw her yoyo up, let it wrap itself around one of the classroom's lights and pull herself out of her dangerous situation. Chat Noir was pulled out mere moments later, and this time they clearly kept their distance from Shadow Play.

"You sure don't make this easy, you know…?", the villain commented by the way, to which Ladybug replied, "We won't let you drown Paris in shadows!"

"Who was talking about that?", he asked in return, but shrugged it off nonetheless, "Whatever, I think we can agree that this is a bit unfair, right? Two superheroes against just one villain? I feel kind of outnumbered… Allow me to even the odds a bit…"

He clenched his fist, and the watch on his wrist started to glow, as did all the black spots all around the room. „Rise, my fellow shadows! Rise and come to my aid!" The spots widened, until figures emerged from them. Pitch-black without even a touch of colour, but the silhouettes were the same as of the ones who were pulled into the darkness.

„Okay, from two against one to twenty against two. Seems fair enough.", Chat Noir joked, but had to dodge one of the silhouettes charging at him. Jumping over it, he made it trip behind him, while he hit another one back with his staff.

Meanwhile, Ladybug was fighting three more of the silhouettes, until she jumped up and threw her yoyo at Shadow Play himself. The villain however turned into smoke again, charging at the heroine once more. This time though, she jumped out of his way to avoid yet another blindness.

„Chat Noir, the window!", she called out, and the two of them fled through it, as to think of a better strategy.

„Run as far as you like, your shadow will always be with you!", the villain called after them, but didn't bother pursuing his targets.

What are you doing? You're supposed to seize their miraculous!", Hawk Moth got angry at his akumatized villain, who replied, „And seize their miraculous I will! But fighting these two, especially Ladybug, head on will only give her a chance to use her lucky charm against me! If I want to beat HER I have to outsmart her!"

As you wish, Shadow Play.", Hawk Moth accepted, „But don't disappoint me, or I'll take your powers away from you!"

„Oh don't worry, I have no intention of failing my mission.", the villain assured him, but little did Hawk Moth know that his mission was not exactly matching up with his intentions.

-w-w-w- (with Ladybug and Chat Noir)

„Any particular reason why we are in an alleyway?", Chat Noir questioned, as the two heroes got to a stop in some back alley.

„Because we're hidden from the light here, meaning our shadows disappear.", Ladybug explained, „Okay, how do we beat him?"

„Well, it seems he can teleport from shadow to shadow.", Chat thought about it, „And apparently he can call reinforcements from them too."

„Provided his shadow-hands have dragged them down beforehand.", Ladybug continued, „Which he summons from the literal shadow of his opponents."

„And let's not forget,", Chat added, „that he seems to get stronger the more light around him." That made Ladybug's eye light up, „That's it! Chat, you're a genius!"

„I am?", Chat was taken aback, before recomposing himself, „I mean, of course I am. But, why right now, exactly?"

„He gets stronger the brighter the environment! That means he's powerless in the dark! Follow me!"

-o-o-o-

Ten minutes later, a transmission from Ladybug was shown across all of Paris. „People of Paris, listen to me! A new supervillain by the name Shadow Play is on the lose! For your own safety, stay in your homes until everything is taken care of!"

The transmission ended, and Akuma-Manuel had a grin on his face, „You didn't have to do that, Ladybug… They already know of me."

He was standing at the Arc de Triumph, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of black spots. „Rise, my shadows! We have ourselves an insect to squash and a cat to declaw!"

The spots widened, and soon he had himself an army of shadow-warriors. They all, lead by the master of shadows, got moving.

Unbeknownst to any of them though, a downright terrified Soleil watched the shadowy army from within the Arc. „This is bad! This is really really bad! This could barely get any worse!", she muttered to herself, „That watch… That's him. But if he's a villain himself, he can't track down and destroy these power-rocks, meaning he's gonna be able overwhelm Ladybug and Chat Noir! And who knows what kinda hell's gonna rise, if Hawk Moth gets their powers?"

She hyperventilated for a while, imagining all the terrible things that might happen, if Hawk Moth finally took down Ladybug and Chat Noir. But then she took many many deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down and think rationally again. „Okay, stay calm! You're next to useless if you panic! If he is akumatized himself, then I'll just have to fill in his role! I'll just have to find that weird rock, smash it without a second thought, and BOOM- he's at their mercy, right?! I won't even have to fight him directly!"

-w-w-w- (with Ladybug and Chat Noir)

„So, what now?", Chat Noir, who was operating the camera in the studio, asked his partner, who explained, „Now that he knows where we are, he's going to come here!"

„Oh I see!", a light started to shine with the cat-hero, „And when he's here it's lights out for him!"

„Don't get cocky now…", a sinister voice spoke behind Ladybug, who instantly jumped away from him. „There you are!", she called out to him, „Now it's time to end this!"

„Indeed…", the villain agreed with her, „How fitting you chose the TV-studio for the stage of this endeavour. When the Parisans ask, how this could happen, they'll have the recordings of your last climactic battle to watch. The battle between the two of you and me… and let's not forget my hundreds of dark friends."

From behind them, all his summoned silhouettes came through the door, surrounding the pair of heroes. „Great, NOW how're we going to get out of this?"

„With a little bit of luck.", Ladybug answered, and threw her yoyo upwards, „Lucky charm!"

Her enthusiasm was cut short though, when a shadowy hand caught the charm mid-air, and handed it over to Shadow Play. „…A rubber-band. Quite the lucky charm you got there, Ladybug."

„Wha- Give that back!", she demanded agitatedly, making the villain chuckle, „Actually, that thing is really pretty. I think I'm gonna keep it. Just like I'm gonna keep your miraculous!"

Don't get ahead of yourself!", Hawk Moth's voice interrupted him, „The miraculous are for me!"

„Right… We'll see about that when we get to it.", Shadow Play shrugged him off, „For now, get them, my fellow shadows!"

The army of shadows threw itself at the heroes, who jumped upwards to escape from them. In the air, they met with the villain himself, who kicked Ladybug back down immediately.

„Ladybug!", Chat Noir called after her, but before he could even rush to her aid, she was already absorbed in the shadows, „NOO!"

„YES!", the villain cheered though, „Just one more, and I can wish myself back home in no time!"

That's enough of your insubordination, Shadow Play!", Hawk Moth growled, „The miraculous are for me, and you will give them to me as promised, got it!"

„Of course!", the villain replied, „Provided you can MAKE me do that in a dimension of endless nothingness!"

„What?!", Hawk Moth called out, but didn't notice the hands taking hold of him fast enough. Like hundreds of others, he too was absorbed into the shadows.

-x-x-x-

„Ahh, finally…", Shadow Play sighed in relief, before turning his attention to Chat Noir, „Now with that out of the way, let's end this already, shall we?"

The feline hero glared at him in pure rage, and growled, „Yes. Let's."

The two remaining fighters got into an all out battle, with the shadows preventing Chat from running. One on one, the two were more or less matched right now, due to Chat's rage. Soon, Shadow Play was thrown back by a solid hit to the face by Chat's staff. „Wohou! Good one, kitty!", he was praised by the villain, who then got a devilish grin, „Since you're so heated up, perhaps we should make this even more interesting…"

„W-What?", Chat asked in shock, as out of the spot arose a pitch-black silhouette of Ladybug. „Welcome to my forces, Shadowbug.", Shadow Play welcomed her, „I'll need your help get a naughty cat under control."

The silhouette now labeled Shadowbug threw her black yoyo at the feline hero, who jumped out of the way, only to get wrapped it wrapped around himself, and get thrown into Shadow Play's hands, who smashed him right in the ground.

„Okay, now this is unfair against ME.", Chat complained as he got back up, and defended himself against the dark yoyo thrown his way again. „Hehehe… you think this is unfair? Just you wait…" Right on cue, Shadowbug threw her yoyo in the air, and called out, „Shadowcharm!" Black spots flew all around it, and the fake bug held a gun in her hand.

„That's a bit extreme, don't you think?", Chat asked, getting angry again, „The REAL Ladybug would NEVER use such weapons!"

When Shadowbug jumped in the air and shot down at him, he jumped right after her, and hit her straight back down with his staff.

But in his rage, Chat Noir hit Shadowbug along with Shadow Play so hard downwards, that he fell through the floor, and due to his size because of the bright environment, fell all the way down to the basement, with Chat jumping right after him.

When they landed in the basement, Chat suddenly found the power-generator for the studio, and thought quickly, „CATACLYSM!" With one touch, the generator was destroyed, and all the lights turned off instantly. And without any light, Shadow Play shrank down to his original size, and all his shadow clones vanished into thin air.

„NO! Damn it all, you damned bastard!", it was the villain's turn to rage, but he recomposed himself again quickly, „No no no, I can't let this bother me. I'm still well enough to take you down myself. Especially since I can see in the dark."

His monologue was suddenly interrupted by Chat's staff hitting him in the face, „Yeah! Well, that makes two of us."

„Okay, enough of that bullshit!", Shadow Play called out in frustration, charged at Chat Noir, who used his stick to dodge him. But the villain grabbed his staff instead, and snapped it in half as Chat landed behind him, „What? Come on!"

-w-w-w- (with Soleil)

„Oh thank god, finally!", Soleil cried out in joy, as she finally held the dark stone in her hand, „Half of Paris! I had to run through half of all of Paris to find this little bastard!"

She let it drop to the ground, trying to imitate Manuel's cool composure, „Time to die, you bastard-rock!" She stomped on it with all her weight… and was crying out in pain seconds later, as she had hurt her foot on it. „OWWW! What the hell?! Why is that thing so hard all of a sudden?!"

The stone, that didn't have as much as a scratch on it, proceeded to cause Soleil quite a lot of frustration. She tried stomping on it, she hit it against the wall, she hit down on it with a stick, until finally she had enough.

„You know what? I'll just make this easier.", she said, took the stone to a back alley, and placed it in front of a huge container. „Timber!" She let the huge thing fall right on top of it, only to find out ten seconds later, that instead the stone had left a hole in the container.

Soleil sighed deeply. „That's it, I'm all out of ideas…", she concluded, and took the stone again. But when it slipped her hand and fell to the ground, it suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces.

Soleil was speechless. „Woohoo! I did it!", she celebrated her accidental victory after ten seconds of being baffled.

-w-w-w- (back at the plot)

„Gahh!" Shadow Play suddenly sunk to the ground, feeling his power leave his body, „What's going on? I'm feeling… so weak all of a sudden…"

Chat Noir, seeing his opportunity, charged at the villain, but held in when he turned himself into smoke again. „Take one more step, and you're blind.", the villain warned him, still kneeling on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

„Alright then, I'll just have to get creative.", Chat accepted, spotting the rubber band of Ladybug Shadow Play must have dropped when falling down. He picked it up, took a stone, and used the band as a sling to hit the watch on the villains wrist from a distance.

„What?! NO!", Shadow Play called out, as it started to malfunction, and releasing everyone trapped in his shadow-spots.

Ladybug joined him mere moments later, „Chat Noir! Are you okay?!"

„M'lady!", he cried out happily, „Far better now that you're back!"

„Sorry for leaving this up to you, kitty.", the heroine apologized, „Now let's put an end to this already!" She used her yoyo to smash Shadow Play's watch, and the akuma flew out of it.

„No more evildoing for you, little akuma.", Ladybug spoke, „Time to deevilize!" She caught the akuma, „Gotcha!", purified it, and let it fly away, „Bye bye, little butterfly." And then she threw the rubber band in the air, „Miraculous Ladybug!"

-w-w-w- (with Hawk Moth)

In his lair, Hawk Moth still had to catch his breath. Being trapped in endless nothingness took a lot out of him. "I… may have made a mistake today…", he admitted to himself, "But believe me Ladybug… One day… your world will be nothing but darkness anymore…"

-w-w-w- (back at the plot)

The magic ladybugs swarmed around, healing all the damage done and transforming Shadow Play back to Manuel.

„Hoo boy… That was… quite something… Glad we got that out of the way…", he spoke to himself, as he shook his head, trying to sort his thoughts again.

„Well, I'm glad I finally got to settle the debt for that time with Stormy Weather.", Ladybug spoke to Manuel, as she helped him get to his feet.

„And I got to make myself look good as well.", Chat Noir joked.

„Well… I guess, it's a good thing it happened now and never again.", Manuel said, „At least so long as I get my hands on some damn antidepressants already…"

„Actually, I think we can help with that.", Chat Noir took word.

-o-o-o- -w-w-w- (Manuels POV)

The day after my akumatization went WAY better than the previous one.

„Dude, if you needed antidepressants, all you had to do was tell us.", Alya told me, as we were sitting on the park-bench together with Marinette, „No way we let you get all depressed because of something like financial dependency."

„Well, you know… I don't really like bothering people with my problems.", I replied, feeling guilty for making them worry about it, but Marinette assured me, „There's no way we would ever just leave you alone when you need help. If you need anything, just say so!"

„I'll… have to get used to that. But… thanks, you two.", I replied unsurely, though this feeling that they cared so much about me was really pleasant.

But when I laid back a bit and took a deep relaxing breath, I noticed a few blue hairs behind a tree. „I have to thank her.", it shot through my head, and I got up quickly, „Uhh- Would you two excuse me for a moment?"

„Heh, sure. Just take care of whatever you need to do in such secrecy.", Alya joked, "I need to tell Nino that we never had a bet in the first place anyway."

"A bet?", Marinette asked confused, which Alya explained, "Well, I had a theory about Chat Noir's identity which was proven wrong abundantly clearly. And now he thinks I owe him five bucks."

-x-x-x-

I left the two girls to their conversation, and approached Soleil, who was hiding behind the tree, looking embarrassed as can be. "'Sup, Soleil…", I greeted her casually, to signal her I wasn't mad at her.

„H-Hey… I- Uhh- wasn't spying on you or anything! I just-", she looked for an excuse, but instead I invited her, „Want to go for a walk? Just to talk?"

„Huh?! Uh- sure, I guess?", she accepted confused, and we went on our way.

Just moments later though I took word, „Listen, Soleil. I wanted to thank you."

She looked up at me, fairly confused, „Thank me? But… I'm the one who got you mad in the first place!"

„You were curious to learn more, understandably, mind you.", I corrected, „I just overreacted because… well, what I'm doing is dangerous, and I'm the only one who can do it, really. Plus, I'm really reluctant to grow close to anyone, hence me being slightly… rude when people try to befriend me. Since, you know, I'm from Austria, and eventually I'll go back there as well. And I don't want to break any hearts when I leave."

„What sorta life is that?", Soleil questioned, „Never making friends since it may not last forever, how can you possibly become happy? I mean, what DOES last forever, right?"

„I was thinking the same thing recently.", I replied, „Which is why I wanted to apologize for being such an asshole to you before. I'm really sorry."

„Hey, no offence taken.", she accepted, „And you were going to thank me for what?"

„For taking care of my job while I was akumatized.", I answered, „I felt my power drop from one moment to the next, and you are the only one except for me who knows of the dark stones. So it must have been you. I really really owe you one for that."

„Ohokay, Mr. Samurai, if you really have to make it up to me, you can do so by letting me befriend you.", she took over, taking me aback, „Uh- what?"

„You're a really interesting character, man. I want to know more about you and what you're doing. And I want to help you doing it, while we're at it!", Soleil reasoned, and then held in for a moment, „Soo…?"

I thought about it for a while. While I did want to keep my social interactions as low as possible I couldn't deny that maybe I would need some help in the future. My time to destroy the stones would get shorter and shorter as villains got stronger, so someone else looking for the stones covering more ground would be a huge help.

„…Manuel.", I answered her after a while, making her look at me in confusion, „Huh?"

„Manuel Gilson.", I repeated myself, „That's my name."

Her face lightened up, „So is that a yes?!"

I smiled at her, as I turned to leave, „Let's just say, we'll see each other more often, okay?"

-e-e-e-


A/N: Wohohou, that was quite the challenge to write, I tell you! All those battle-moves, the scenario I had to dream up, everything around it as well. I hope you guys enjoyed it, 'cause I sure as hell put a lot of effort in this one. Feel free to leave constructive criticism and encouragement in the reviews! It is all very much appreciated! Until chapter 6, have a great week! :D

Next time on A tale of superheroes and animations: With a fashion-design-competition for a whole day, Manuel has well enough time to explain the necessities to Soleil. But someone else is looking for his attention as well, allowing Manuel to finally make some progress.