An: To answer you question QuickestSecret I usually post new chapters on Friday morning MST.

Chapter 31:

Air! Marinette desperately thought as suddenly finding herself submerged in ink jolted her to consciousness. She clawed her way to the surface, coughing and sputtering ink from her lungs. Someone was soon by her side, rubbing her back as she continued to clear her lungs of ink and murmuring words of comfort. Her entire body felt sore and her head throbbed, though she couldn't quite remember why. Once she got her breathing under control, she tentatively reached up and touched her head, wincing at how tender it was. Her hand was met with wetness, but she could only see ink when she examined it and couldn't tell if she was bleeding.

"Careful Marinette," Henry advise, Marinette finally realizing he was the one helping her. "You got hurt pretty bad when the Projectionist hit you."

"The Projectionist!" Marinette said in fear, the events of the fight rushing back. The Projectionist must still be here and she had to stop him. Marinette tried to get up, but Henry held her down.

"Slow down there, Adrien's taking care of the monster," Henry tried to reassure, but it was obvious he was worried. "But Adrien had to transform and I think something is seriously wrong."

"What do you..?" Marinette began but trailed off as she took in the fight for herself. Chat was fighting more furiously and wildly. His baton was nowhere in sight, using his bare hands instead to attack the Projectionist. And, while it was hard to tell with how much they were moving around, but Chat didn't look right like, like his proportions were off.

Chat leaped onto the Projectionists back and, to the shock of everyone, bite the film reel embedded in the Projectionists shoulder and ripped it out. The Projectionist shrieked in rage and pain, trying to shake Chat off. Chat dug in with his claws to hold, but the Projectionist somehow managed to reach around himself and grab Chat. The Projectionist threw Chat off him, slamming Chat into a wall. The Projectionist shrieked at Chat's direction before heading back toward the maze to recover from the fight. Chat got back up from where he had landed and took off after the Projectionist on all fours.

"Chat! Wait!" Marinette called, causing Chat to stop. He turned and growled at her, causing her to gasp as she finally got a good look at him. His limbs were longer and thinner than normal with each of his extremities having claws. His mouth was open wider than humanly possible, full of sharp teeth and his eyes a glowing yellow. His suit seemed to be made entirely of ink, his tail no longer a belt but now a part of him and with a pointed tip. What used to be his cat ears, was larger and looked more like horns. His entire form seemed unstable and ink was constantly bubbling off him and evaporating as misty shadows.

"Oh no Adrien," Henry said as he took in Chat's form as well. "Is this because he transformed again?"

"He's not transformed," Tikki informed sadly, looking at Chat. "At least, not in the normal sense."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, glancing at the Kwamii.

"Plagg's still out," Tikki replied. The two humans looked closer and they could see the little cat Kwamii flying around Adrian, desperately trying talk Chat out of his rage. Chat ignored the Kwamii and growled at the humans again and began leaping toward them.

"Adrien stop!" Henry pleaded, placing himself in front of Marinette.

"It's me Marinette!" Marinette added, trying to get through to Chat. Chat's eyes seemed to clear briefly as he skidded to a stop in front of them, splashing them with ink. Chat began backing off, shaking his head in confusion. He looked at the humans once more, this time with clear horror and fear on his face, before he turned and ran off into the maze, Plagg following close behind.

"Adrien! No! Come back!" Marinette shouted as she tried to follow after them, but Henry held her back.

"Let me go!" Marinette shouted as she struggled to get free. "I have to go after Adrien! He's in trouble! I have to do something! He needs me!"

"Marinette! Stop struggling! You have to let him go!" Henry said sternly, eventually getting Marinette to stop struggling and listen. "There's nothing you can do for him right now. I hate it too, but we have to go on without him. Once we get Alya and Nino to safety, we can come back. We'll save Adrien and everyone else trapped here by Joey's madness. Please Marinette, let him go so that we'll have the chance to save everyone."

Marinette slumped in defeat and gave a weak nod. Satisfied that she wouldn't run away, Henry let her go.

"We will save everyone Marinette," Henry assured with confidence. "We have a better idea of what we're up against so we can be prepared when we come back. I know we can find a way to fix this. Besides, you're a superhero, right? I'm sure you've faced tough situations like this before and overcame them. You can handle this."

"You're right Henry," Marinette agreed, some of her usual confidence returning. "This isn't the first time I've had to save Adrien from the clutches of a villain after all. I'll save him just as I have before."

"That's the spirit," Henry smiled, getting a small smile in return. The two headed up the stairs and met up with those at the elevator.

"We saw the ink mix with Adrien's transformation," Alya said worriedly once the other had got there. "Did the infection finally get to him? Is that why he ran off?"

"I bet that's why he looked so awesome," Nino added, trying to lighten the mood. "Especially those shadows seem to rise off him. It made him look so intimidating."

"His form is unstable, which is why there are those shadows as you call them," Tikki explained, rather than Marinette. "The magic that his body has absorbed from being Chat Noir is fighting against the mess of magic that is in the ink. Both are trying to overpower the other, leaving Adrien caught in the middle and making him confused and disoriented. Right now, he's mostly just following his emotions, such as his protective streak over Marinette and anger at the monster that hurt her. All that combined with the connection he has with the Ink Demon, it'll be a while before he can become stable and even semi-coherent... if he does at all. Like we've said before, the strange mix of magic makes it hard to predict what will happen when combined with ours."

"Man, poor Adrain," Nino murmmered in sympathy.

"We'll save him," Marinette said with conviction, repeating what Henry had told her. "We'll find some way to fix this and save everyone."

"That's the Marinette I know," Alya smiled, happy that her friend was still going strong despite what just happen.

"But first let's get back to Alice and get you two out of here," Henry concluded. "Then we can figure out how to save everyone."

The teens nodded and they all piled in the elevator, heading back up to level 9.

AN: If you want to see a picture of what looks like. You can use the link below.

soniccrazygal/art/Demon-Noir-766954326