Chapter 7: Another Akuma Bites the Dust

The heroes were taken aback by Origami, who had turned the tables on them. Following Ladybug's plan to a tee, they all thought, Ladybug included, that Origami was finished, when she found out his real body. But it turned out that Origami had one last trick up his sleeve and he was going to use it. The heroes, who were caught by surprise, could not help but to feel like the real fight had just begun.

"Oh, great… this guy's really a box of surprises." -Panda Rouge sighed to himself.

"And here I thought he wouldn't give us more trouble." -Ladybug thought, as she looked at Origami, who kept looking at her and the others, as if waiting for them to make the first move.

On that very same moment, Brutus and Madame Romani burst through what was left of the reading room's door. Seeing what was going on, they quickly assumed that Origami had things under control. Still, neither one of them was just going to sit there and see him kill the heroes, when they too wanted a piece of the action, especially Madame Romani, who was anything but happy with the way Rena Rouge and Forest Doe had left her and Brutus trapped, to come and help the other heroes dealing with the Akuma. None of them said a word, and both sides seemed to be waiting for the other to take the first step, as if they were afraid to make a mistake that would cost them the battle. The heroes, gathered in a half-circle, tried to figure out how they were going to do that.

"So, what's the plan?" -Rena Rouge asked Ladybug, by whispering to her hear.

"The plan? Well…" -Ladybug whispered back, only to be interrupted by Panda Rouge.

"I'll take care of those two. You guys just wipe the floor with this guy." -Panda Rouge whispered to Ladybug and the others. Being the one who had arrived later, he was not feeling as tired as the others felt, and he believed that with his drawing powers at his disposal, he could handle Hawk Moth's lieutenants, while the rest of the team handled Origami.

"Shouldn't it we do the opposite? With your powers, you could easily stop Origami." -Ladybug suggested to him.

"As I see it, Origami can match anything that I can throw at him. With his powers, he can literally copy anything I create, or, he can match it with its opposite. The gypsy witch and Schwarzenegger over there, on the other hand, don't have much of an imagination." -Panda Rouge explained. –"We can't fight fire with fire, this time. Instead we have to fight fire with water, if you get my meaning."

The idea was not half-bad, and it did make a lot of sense. Origami was an Akuma whose powers were enhanced by his creativity, just like it happened with Panda Rouge. And even though Madame Romani's powers also demanded that she used her imagination, her hatred for the Miraculous Heroes clouded her judgement and made her use her powers in the most basic of forms. As for Brutus, he was not the most imaginative person in the world. With that in mind, he was sure that he could put those two out of commission, especially because his teammates had already worn them out.

"Well, usually, I'm the one who comes up with the great plans, but I don't see anything wrong with yours. Solet's do it." -Ladybug smiled at Panda Rouge.

"You sure, you don't need any help?" -Carapace asked him, between teeth.

"Don't worry about me. Just take care of Origami, and end this, before we find out he has any other trick up his sleeve." -Panda whispered back at him.

"He's right. The longer it takes to defeat him, the harder this battle will be." -Forest Doe said.

"Then, let's do it." -Ladybug smirked, as she began to spin her yo-yo, creating her famous spinning shield attack. –"Miraculous Team, go!" -she shouted.

And with that shout, the battle recommenced, with the heroes going against the villains. As decided, Panda Rouge took on Brutus and Madame Romani, single-handedly, while Ladybug and the others took on Origami.

Thanks to his powers, Panda Rouge was able to come up with a way to fight both Madame Romani and Brutus at the same time, even though their fighting methods were quite different from one another.

"You know, you could try and be a little bit more imaginative with those illusions of yours." –Panda Rouge told Madame Romani, who had conjured up a series of doubles of herself, mimicking Flamingo's own power, to attack him, –"I mean, if Flamingo was here, she would probably be really upset that you're copying her." -he taunted her, as he smacked one of the copies.

"My illusions do not need to be imaginative to do what they're supposed to do. They only need to kill you!" -Madame Romani said, as she ordered her copies to attack Panda Rouge. –"And you, attack him as well!"

"Do not tell me what to do. I know what I must do." -Brutus said, as he charged against Panda Rouge with a sword in each hand.

One did not have to be a genius to understand that there was no chemistry between Brutus and Madame Romani. The gypsy witch's temper and personality were clearly clashing with those of Brutus, who did not like when people bossed with him around. In fact, they both shared that personality trait, with the only difference being that Madame Romani saw herself as someone who was above him, in every sense of the word. Seeing them arguing, the redhead hero saw all of that arguing as a trump card he could play to his advantage.

"They don't work well together. Perhaps I can take advantage of it." -Panda Rouge mused to himself. –"Hey, Brutus! Are you going to let that witch over there, boss you around, the same way she bosses Reptile?!" -he asked Brutus with a mocking voice, as he punched the last remaining copy of Madame Romani that was still standing, only for this one to also disappear in front of his eyes.

"Do not think that you are going to cause me to lose my focus with those silly taunts, young hero." -Brutus said, as he attacked him, trying to chop off his head with a scissor move, only for Panda to escape it, by performing a backflip.

"Who says I'm taunting you?!" -Panda Rouge asked Brutus, while dodging another attack from him. –"I'm just saying what I'm seeing, with my own two eyes." -he said, dodging another thrust. –"But if you don't want to believe me, fine…"

"Would you kill him already?!" -Madame Romani said, as she casted one more of her illusions; this time, she created several bludgeoning weapons, which she threw at Panda, only for him to dodge them. –"I missed!" -she cursed her luck. –"Just kill him, and don't you dare give him advice on how to use his weapon! That's getting old, you know?! What kind of a person, who calls himself a warrior, helps his opponents, by giving them advice, on how to wield a weapon?!"

"See? There she goes again. She clearly doesn't' trust you to take me down!" -Panda Rouge went on mocking Brutus, as he tried to cut off his head. –"I mean, if I were you I would tell her to mind her own business." -he laughed in the face of Brutus.

"Enough! Stop talking and fight!" -Brutus exclaimed, as he dropped both his swords, only to pull out a spear from his left shoulder, so he could fight Panda Rouge with the same kind of weapon as him.

"Well, I'm not really in the mood for fighting an idiot like you, so, instead of fighting, let's play a game. Have you ever played "Let's wrap-up Brutus like a beautiful Christmas gift!"?" -Panda Rouge asked Brutus, as he shrank his spear to the size of a pen, and began drawing with it. –"No? Then, it's like they say, there's a first time for everything!" -he joked, as he continued to draw.

And while Panda Rouge was having fun with Brutus and Madame Romani, Ladybug, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Dragonfly and Forest Doe were busy dealing with Origami, who was showing them a new full set of moves. If he looked fast before, then now he looked lightning fast. The five heroes were having a hard time keeping their eyes on him, as he jumped around like the Tasmania Devil on Looney Tunes, while also trying to cut off their heads with his samurai swords. Still, they were not giving up, and they were determined to keep up with him, no matter what.

"Stand still!" -Forest Doe exclaimed, as she shot a few arrows at Origami, hoping to hit him, but failing. –"I think I preferred when this guy was busy creating crazy origami constructs and throwing them at us." -she thought to herself.

"If you can't keep up, then you are not worthy of the miraculouses that you possess." -Origami said, as he landed in front of Carapace and stroke him with his swords. –"And if you're not worthy of them, you should just give them to me, so I can give them to Hawk Moth." -he said, as he continued to strike him, only for the turtle hero to defend himself with his tonfas.

"And let him destroy them, so he can rule this planet, unopposed? I don't think so!" -Carapace exclaimed, as he hit Origami, taking advantage of an opening in his defense. –"I think I speak for myself and my friends here, when I say that as long as we're around, that maniac will never get us paws on out miraculouses… thanks, babe!" -he said, as Rena Rouge joined him, and whacked Origami in the head with her flute-staff.

"My pleasure, turtle boy." -Rena Rouge winked at Carapace, as she saw Origami change shape, this time into what she believed was a ninja. –"First a Ronin, then a samurai, and now a ninja? I'm seeing a pattern here. You sure like Asian-themed warriors." -she said, as she tried to hit him again with her flute-staff, this time failing.

"Just like origami is the noblest of all arts, warriors from Asia are regarded as the best this world has ever seen. It would be a dishonour to me, as well as a shame, if I did not carry out their legend." -Origami said, as he jumped up into the air and threw origami shurikens at the two heroes. Seeing them coming, they did their best to defend themselves from them, using with their weapons. –"Excellent defense, but you'll have to do better than that!" -he said, as he shot more origami shurikens at the heroes.

While evading from the shurikens, Carapace and Rena Rouge did their best to not be cut or hit by them. Though they did manage to avoid being turned into pin-cushions, some of them did manage to cut Rena Rouge on the face, before Carapace placed an energy shield in front of them. Looking at his girlfriend, he cursed his nerves, for not having thought about that solution earlier.

"Are you okay?" -Carapace asked her, as he saw a small drop of blood, running down her left cheek.

"I'm okay. It's just a scratch." -Rena Rouge answered him, as she wiped the drop of blood with her fingertips. –"What about you?" -she asked him.

"Don't worry about me, I've got a tough shell." -Carapace joked, making her smile, as Origami continued to throw more and more shurikens, which kept hitting the energy shield.

"Just give up your miraculouses and this will end… augh!" -Origami yelled, upon feeling something hitting him on the back of his head. What had hit him had been Dragonfly's frisbee.

"You, Akumas, need to start talking less and attacking a lot more, dude! Otherwise, you'll never kill us, much less get one of our miraculouses!" -Dragonfly exclaimed, as she retrieved her frisbee in mid-air, just before attacking Origami from behind, performing a series of rotating kicks, and hitting him on both the back and the head. –"Take that and that! And that's for nearly crushing Panda Rouge and myself a couple of minutes ago, buster!" -she shouted, as she landed another kick on Origami, making him fall to his knees.

"Well said, Dragonfly!" -Rena Rouge said, as she jumped over the energy shield, she was behind of and attacked Origami as well, with her flute-staff, hitting him on the back.

"Hey, save some for me!" -Forest Doe said, as she joined them, and punched Origami, who was having a hard time to evade those sudden attacks by the heroes.

Seeing that they were temporarily in advantage, Ladybug decided it was time for them to put in motion one of their fighting tactics, and end that fight, that was already going on for far too long.

"Usually we do this with more of us present, but we'll just have to work with what we've got. Let's criss-cross this guy, everyone!" -Ladybug told her teammates, whose eyes sparkled when they heard her saying that word.

Criss-cross was yet another one of the techniques that they had come up with, while training. This one consisted on coordinated attacks from every single hero, one after another, without giving the Akuma time to react, and thus inflicting as much damage as possible. Obeying Ladybug's command, they did not waste any time and attacked Origami, using that technique. The first one to attack was Ladybug, followed by Forest Doe, and then by Rena Rouge and Carapace. The last one was Dragonfly, who spared no expenses, when attacking Origami. Once she finished attacking, the heroes repeated the pattern, not giving Origami a chance to even react. The whole criss-cross technique was one of the best in their list of techniques, mostly because it not only relied on their fighting abilities, but also on their speed. By itself, a Miraculous hero, with the exception of Dragonfly, could only reach a certain velocity, and its attacks, no matter how sequenced and destructive they were, could only inflict a certain amount of damage to an enemy. But when combining multiple attacks, from multiple heroes, the damage inflicted became far greater. And that was just what they were doing to Origami.

Being hit all over the body, Origami tried to transform into a bird and fly away, to avoid that, but the incredible coordination of the heroes' attacks prevented him from doing anything, except absorbing them. In a desperate move, he tried to change shape into that of a giant, but due to the continuous series of blows from the heroes, he was unable to complete the transformation, ending up on the floor. Stopping, Ladybug and the others looked at him, and knew that that battle was over. A second later, from his chest sprouted a black Akuma butterfly, which began flapping its wings, trying to get out of there

"No!" -a voice was heard. It was Madame Romani who had screamed, upon seeing Origami being defeated.

"Looks like someone's not happy with our work." -Dragonfly chuckled. –"Sucks to be her, right now." -she laughed about it.

"Well, then she's about to be even less happy with what's going to happen next." -Ladybug said, as she readied herself to destroy the Akuma Butterfly –"No more evil-doings for you, you stupid Akuma butterfly!" -she said, as her yo-yo began to glow and she shot at it at the little dark creature. –"I relinquish you from evil!"

And with those words, the Akuma Butterfly was destroyed and the threat that Origami posed to them and everyone in the city of Paris was over, as he turned back into his original self. Seeing that, Madame Romani screamed on the top of her lungs, while continuing to battle Panda Rouge, who had managed to immobilize Brutus, by wrapping him up with numerous kinds of ropes and cables, making him look like a With him out of the picture, Panda Rouge could focus on doing the same thing to her, as he did to Brutus, though it was a little harder, given how different her powers were, which allowed her to counter his. The remining heroes saw that Panda was still fighting her, and wondered if they should go and help him; but instead, they decided to leave him to handle her, seeing that he was handling himself pretty well. Plus, they knew that if needed help, he would ask them. Panda was just that kind of person, who would ask for help, whenever he felt he needed it, not afraid to show that a hero sometimes needs help.

"You might have defeated Origami, but I will finish what he has started!" -Madame Romani growled at him.

"If I were you, I would worry about yourself!" -Panda Rouge said, as he performed a sweep kick, knocking Romani off her feet. –"See? What did I tell you?" -he mocked her, only for her to glare at him. If looks could kill, he would be dead in a matter of seconds.

"You mock me, but you're going to regret doing that!" -Madame Romani growled, as she tried to get up, only for Panda Rouge to point his spear at her neck. She did not like to admit it, but she was running on fumes. Most of her energy was gone and she knew that there was no way she would be able to beat the hero in a hand-to-hand combat.

"Doubt it. And now, I think I'm going to give you the same treatment I gave Brutus over there." -Panda Rouge told her, as he pointed to Brutus, who was still on ground, trying to break free from the numerous ropes and cables that Panda had wrapped around him.

But before Panda Rouge could do that, she disappeared in front of his eyes, along with Brutus, with the only thing proving he had been there being the ropes and cables that he had around his body.

"Where did they go?!" -Panda Rouge asked, looking around to see if that was one of Madame Romani's tricks or not.

"I think they're gone." -Carapace said, as he too looked around, trying to see any sign of the two villains.

"They got away again like that?!" -Dragonfly asked out loud. –"Hawk Moth really doesn't want us to find out where his hideout is, if he teleports his minions back to it, before we can even begin to question them. This is getting old, really fast." -she said.

"I, for one, wouldn't want to be in their shoes." -Panda Rouge said, as he joined his teammates.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud cough; this one coming from Takeshi, he, who until a few moments before had been that day's Akuma, Origami. As he tried to move, he felt like his whole body had been submitted to a monumental pounding, which was not far from reality. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the Miraculous Heroes.

"W-What happened?" -Takeshi asked them.

"You were akumatized, but it's okay. You are free from Hawk Moth's influence, as well as his minions." -Ladybug explained to him, as she helped him get up.

"Oh my… I can't believe I was akumatized. And all because of that book." -Takeshi sighed, ashamed of what had happened.

"What book are you talking about?" -Carapace asked him.

"A very rare tome about origami that I wanted to check, but they did not allow me, because I need a special permission to check it. I just really, really wanted to consult it and see if I could upgrade my origami skills a little further. It's my favourite hobby." -Takeshi explained. –"I never had the intention of hurting anyone." -he said.

"Well, that explains the theme for this Akuma." -Rena Rouge thought to herself. –"Don't worry, I don't think anyone was hurt during your little rampage." -she told Takeshi. –"But next time, maybe you should try and not get so mad, when people tell you

"I think after this, I'll lay out of the origamis for a while." -Takeshi admitted, as he took a step forward, only to almost fall.

"Don't worry, I'll lead you outside. You'll need to get checked by the paramedics." -Forest Doe declared, as she helped him to walk. –"You guys can finish this without me, right?" -she asked her teammates.

"Yeah, go ahead and help him out. We'll take care of the rest." -Ladybug smiled at her.

As Forest Doe accompanied Takeshi to the exit, the rest of the heroes took a moment to see just how their surroundings looked like. They knew the reading room, as well as the rest of the library's interior were in shambles because of their fight against Origami, but this was the first time they had the time to see just how bad it looked. On the floor, pages from hundreds if not thousands of books could be seen, as well as broken furniture, lamps and other sorts of objects. The damage to the place was quite big. Looking at it, a person who had not seen the fight taking place, would have thought that a bomb had exploded in there.

"It's a good thing we have the Ampulla Amulet, otherwise it would be really hard to put this place back as it was." -Ladybug said, as she kneeled and picked up what was left of a book that was at her feet. Looking at the cover, she recognized it, Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island.

"Indeed." -Dragonfly agreed. –"Anyways, another Akuma bites the dust, am I right?" -she asked her friends.

"And here I thought that Antelope was the only one who liked to throw Queen jokes around here." -Carapace said.

"Sorry, but I also like to throw them. Plus, he doesn't own the exclusive rights to them." -Dragonfly joked.

"Well, shall we put this place like it was before this whole mess began?" -Panda Rouge asked them.

"Definitely. I'm sure the people who are still trapped in those paper cocoons will appreciate being set free." -Rena Rouge said, as she looked at all the paper cocoons that were spread over the reading room. –"Will you do the honours, Marinette?" -she asked Ladybug.

"Absolutely." -Ladybug said, as she summoned the Ampulla Amulet.

And while things went back to normal at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, with the use of the Ampulla Amulet, back in Hawk Moth's hideout, things were just about to heat up. Once again, Madame Romani and Brutus failed their mission, and their master was anything but pleased with it. And as always, he felt the need to teach them what failure meant. Screams echoed throughout the hideout, as hawk Moth electrocuted the two of them with his magic. Hiding in a corner, Reptile was watching the whole thing. He too had been punished by Hawk Moth for his failure, a few days earlier. Hawk Moth had ripped his left arm and his tail, and he was still healing. It was going to take a couple of more days for his tail and his arm to fully grow back, and until then, he was as useful as a pair of heat-seeking glasses on a blind man.

"The master is particularly upset this afternoon." -Reptile mused to himself, as he saw both Brutus and Madame Romani being electrocuted. He enjoyed seeing Romani scream in pain, but not Brutus, perhaps because he treated him with respect, while Romani on the other hand, thought of herself as better than him. –"Something tells me the punishment won't be ending anytime soon." -he thought.

"Once again, you have failed me." -Hawk Moth told Brutus and Madame Romani, as he launched another purple beam from his cane, electrocuting them. –"How many times will I have to punish you, until you understand that failure is never an option?" -he asked them. –"If I hadn't teleported you from there, you would have both been at the mercy of the Miraculous Team. Not only were you defeated by them, but you were defeated by only six of them."

You could hear the bitterness and the rage in Hawk Moth's voice. He was anything but happy, as he continued to torture his two lieutenants, whom each time they were electrocuted, their screams echoed around the hideout, making it feel like they were inside a horror film. Breathing heavily, Madame Romani's lungs felt like they were on fire, just like the rest of her body. Hawk Moth had once more spared no expenses on the electricity that ran through her body. Looking at her left, she saw that Brutus was not looking so good himself. But unlike her, he did not look like he was about to faint because of the pain he was in. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it; almost begging to be punished for what happened.

"There is… no excuse for our failure, master." –Brutus panted. –"I can't… promise you that I will not fail again, but I can promise you… that I will accept this punishment, knowing that I deserve it for failing you, as will Madame Romani, I am sure."

"WHAT?!" -Madame Romani thought to herself. –"What are you doing, you imbecile?! I don't deserve a punishment this harsh!" -she kept saying to herself.

Hearing him say that, Hawk Moth ordered Brutus to produce a sword. Obeying his master, Brutus pulled one from his chest and handed it to Hawk Moth. Grabbing it, he took a moment to observe its craftsmanship. There was no doubt that Brutus had a refined taste, when it came to create weapons. And then, without any kind of warning, Hawk Moth used that sword to stab Brutus on the chest, piecing it through his armour. Roaring in pain, Brutus did not even dare to move his arms, much less pull the sword out. The sword had missed his heart, and quite spectacularly, his left lung as well, as his blood ran down into a puddle at his knees.

"Let this be a lesson for you to remember, the last time you fail me, Brutus." -Hawk Moth said.

"T-Thank you, master." -Brutus thanked Hawk Moth, as he coughed up some blood. He knew that if he had wanted to, his master would have pierced his heart and one of his lungs with that sword. But instead, he missed them purposely, because he did not want to kill him. He just wanted to make him feel pain, so he would remember that the next time he failed him, the pain would be even greater.

"You may remove the sword; it won't kill you, if you do it." -Hawk Moth assured him, as he turned his attention to Madame Romani. –"And you… tell me, why shouldn't I just stuck a sword, or even the hidden blade in my cane, into you? Not only did you fail me, but you continue to ignore the fact that you are supposed to work with your fellow lieutenants, not ignore them, in order to destroy the Miraculous Team." -he said with a cold voice, as he looked her in the eyes. Right then, Hawk Moth's blueish-grey eyes felt like they could freeze a person, from just staring at them.

Madame Romani gulped, as Hawk Moth kept staring her in the eyes. And as this happened, her brain worked to find a suitable answer that would appease her master, and prevent him from punishing her further. Every idea that came to her mind were not bad ideas, but they were far from being what she needed right then. In a

"P-Please, master. Give me one more chance. I will find you a victim worthy of one of your Akuma Butterflies… one that will put a stop to the Miraculous Team, once and for all." -Madame Romani begged her master. –"Valentine's Day is just around the corner. If you want a victim, whose heart is broken with either jealousy, rejection or hate, so you can akumatize it and create the most powerful Akuma this city has ever seen, I can find it for you, master. You have my word."

"If you know what's good for you, you will do just that. Otherwise, I will punish you, by filling your mind with so many nightmares, you won't be able to distinguish what is real and what is not. Do you understand?" -Hawk Moth asked her with a cold and uncaring voice.

"Y-Yes, sir." -Madame Romani answered him. –"I will prove to you that these two idiots are useless and that I am the only one you need to destroy those brats." -she thought to herself. –"Before Valentine's Day is over, you will see that I'm the only one who is worthy of keeping by your side."

As he went down the street, Nathaniel was glad the trouble with the latest Akuma was taken care of much faster than he expected. He had a few places to be, and he was a little short on time, thanks to Origami, who forced him to interrupt what he was doing. After they used the Ampulla Amulet to turn things back to the way they were, he and the rest of the heroes were praised for their heroic efforts, and like always, when they exited the building, the news cameras were on top of them, trying to know what it happened and how it happened, while also trying to squeeze any more information regarding the heroes. When they finally managed to get out of there, Nathaniel made his way to where he was going, when he found out there was an Akuma on the loose, his favourite arts and crafts shop. After buying everything he needed to do a couple of more art projects, he made his way home, where he hoped to rest for a bit. The fight had drained him more than he wanted to admit.

"That was one tough battle." -Mulan said, speaking from inside the left front pocket of Nathaniel's jacket. The red panda kwami was feeling a little ran down, due to lending his powers to Nathaniel, but was nonetheless happy.

"I know… I never thought that Romani would punch that hard." -Nathaniel sighed. –"For a lady, she punches really hard." -he said as he rubbed his left shoulder.

"You've got to be more careful." -Mulan told him. –"Remember, you're not indestructible." -he said.

"I will, don't worry." -Nathaniel smiled at his kwami. –"I will try and train my defense a little bit more, from now on." -he said. –"But right now, I just want to get home, take a shower, eat a little snack and then paint something."

"Paint something? And what are you going to paint?" -Mulan asked, curious.

"Like I said, something, anything. I'll let my creativity be my guide today." -Nathaniel said.

Nathaniel had just turned the corner, when he went against someone. Falling backwards, he was about to tell the person he had bumped into to see where it was going, when he saw it was. It was none other than Marc. When he saw it was him, he had bumped into, Nathaniel forgot everything he was thinking about.

"Uh… h-hello." -Nathaniel said, with awkwardest smile ever on his face. Right then, he could not help but to feel a bit like Marinette felt every time she talked with Adrien.

"That's twice we've bumped into one another." -Marc chuckled. –"Sorry about that. I guess my mind was somewhere else. Are you okay?" -he asked Nathaniel, as he helped him get up.

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay." -Nathaniel said.

"I don't think we were properly introduced the first time we bumped into each other. I'm Marc, Marc Anciel." -Marc said.

"Nathaniel, Nathaniel Kurtzberg." -Nathaniel smiled at him. Looking at him, Nathaniel saw that Marc's smile looked even more dashing and warn, than he remembered it.

"Here, let me help you pick these up." -Marc said, as he started to grab everything that Nathaniel had bought on the store. –"You've got a lot of arts and crafts stuff here. Are you an artist?" -he asked him.

"I-I… Sort of. I'm still learning." -Nathaniel said, trying to be modest. He considered himself a reasonable artist with the pencil, though the people closest to him believed that he was going to be one of the greatest comic book artists ever, during the next decade. And his Miraculous Team webcomic was already proof of it. –"Drawing takes a lot of skill."

"I understand what you mean. I'm an artist myself, though, I can't draw, even if my life depended on it." -Marc shrugged his shoulders. –"But, I can't say the same about writing."

"You write?" -Nathaniel asked him.

"Yeah… like you, I'm also taking my first steps on it, but I like to think that I'm a fairly competent writer." -Marc said, trying not to sound too cocky. –"I write during my spare time, mostly."

The conversation between the two of them went on for a few more minutes, as they both learned a little more about one another. Marc was quite the talker, while Nathaniel, being a little shier, decided to let him do most of the talking, as he listened. You could say that that was the conversation they should have had the first time they met, but that had not happened, because Marc was in a hurry.

"Well, I guess, I should be going." -Marc said. –"It was nice seeing you again. I'll be seeing you at school, Nathaniel."

"Y-Yeah. I look forward to it." –Nathaniel smiled, as he waved at Marc, while he crossed the street.

Mulan had heard the whole thing, as well as seen most of it, from inside Nathaniel's jacket pocket, and the he could not be happier for his holder. He just wanted to tell him how happy he was for him, but decided to wait a little bit, just in case Marc decided to come back to talk to Nathaniel a little longer, or vice-versa. When he saw that this was not going to happen, he decided to speak.

"Well, well, well… and here I thought you were waiting for the right moment to talk to him." -Mulan joked. –"Guess life does have a sense of humour, and has given you that right moment, right when you were least expecting it." -he said.

"Oh, shut up, Mulan." -Nathaniel chuckled. –"I know I said this when I first saw him, but I think I'm really in love with him." -he thought to himself.

First of all, I want to apologize to you all. This chapter was supposed to have been uploaded yesterday, but I was so tired that I decided to only upload it today. Anyways, we have seen the last of Origami... I can't express just how much fun it was to write this part of the story, because every battle that I write is always a challenge, mainly because I don't like to repeat myself, and that's why there are no two battles alike in this series. :)

For anyone who asks, yeah, the chapter's title is a reference to the Queen's song "Another One Bites the Dust" (I was listening to it, while I was writing this chapter). And I bet you weren't expecting the chapter to end on a sweet note, with Nathaniel running into Marc, again... xD

As always, feel free to comment, fav and leave suggestions to improve this story, or future ones.