A/N: I had no intention of having this to be over 2600 words, it just how it happened. At the same time, just because it's long doesn't mean it's good, there is some cringe writing ahead. I got a little lazy at the end. All mistakes are my own.
Sam and Tucker were in less shock at how Paris looked when they got back. Everything seems normal, nothing exploding or flashes of light that would normally indicate a ghost fight. Bringing up the Ladyblog, Sam couldn't find much information, but then a news helicopter blew past that almost sent the Speeder off course of just hovering.
"Follow it." Sam urged Tucker.
The scene before them was a random street, and Ladybug was swinging her yo-yo around in front of her as the Phantom clone tried to blast at her. There was no sign of Chat Noir.
Then Sam caught the sight of an incoming blast towards the clone, confused from where it came from and looked to the side to find a grinning Tucker. Once the clone had been blasted away, they moved the Speeder forward to block any sight of the young hero.
"Where's Chat Noir?" Sam asked her when the door opened.
Ladybug huffed when she pointed behind her, a black tail peaking out behind the smoke stacks, she dropped slightly. "I don't know what to do…" she whispered, "We've only taken on something like this once before, and that's when Phantom was on our side." her head was in her hands.
"That isn't Phantom!" Sam snapped back, "He wouldn't hurt people on purpose."
"Sam." Tucker hissed out to her, all the while trying not to bring more stress to Ladybug, he pointed up to the flying butterfly coming for them.
"Ladybug!" Chat came running forward, also seeing the akuma, scorch marks on his suit, "They're here to help." he tried to soothe. "Trust them by trusting me."
The akuma kept getting closer, and Sam made a quick movement to grab the thing to keep it away from making things worse. There was a problem…She doesn't normally wear rings. Normally, she kept this ring hidden, but she almost lost it the one day. Before making it to Paris, she slipped it on her finger to keep it safe. Now, it was her undoing as the akuma fused with the green and gold ring.
The voice was persuading, convincing her to make a deal to show the city that this was the wrong Phantom. Then something else was building, taking in the dark energy and growing stronger. As the voice started to fade, a different power over took her, green and black, life in the death. Images flashed through, of a town once covered in vines took over. The two energies began to meet, but still couldn't merge, like they kept twisting together on a fine line. They ended up corrupting each other, the power changing her while the akuma gave an extra ability.
Outside of her head, Ladybug and Chat backed up at the change in the transformation. Instead of pure black and purple energy it was a mix of green and black. Tucker had noticed the change of her last possession when Undergrowth conquered the town, there were more ribbons that looked like vines, but still keeping that queen look.
He decided to step between Ladybug, Chat, and Sam, shouting, "Sam! Stop, this isn't you!"
Ladybug looked anxious at him, "Akumas can't be reasoned with."
"I don't think this is just the akuma, she looked similar to this when a ghost possessed her and made her a queen." he stated glancing back. When he paid attention back to Sam, a green light filled his vision, then nothing.
Chat and Ladybug stared in shock as Sam blasted a beam at Tucker transforming him into a monster ghost version of himself. Chat stumbles as he backs away, Ladybug grabs him and swings off. They land on another roof, a more hidden alcove between two homes.
"Citizens of Paris!" a man yelled.
Chat and Ladybug bring up the news on their phones, staring in anger as the cameras showed Vlad floating in the air.
"You're heroes left you at the sight of this opponent, abandoning you."
The people below him begin to back away in fear, the fact that they didn't know where Ladybug and Chat Noir were, weren't helping the situation. The news casters asking where they were, the mass of fear growing with the sight of Phantom and now the new akuma.
Ladybug turned to her partner, "We have to show Paris we are still here."
Chat nodded back at her, standing solid on his feet and extending his staff, Ladybug following to face their adversaries.
The fight wasn't much of anything, Sam with Tucker was keeping them in a corner while Vlad and clone Phantom were destroying the city. Even if all they could do were blocking attacks, it had been wearing them down. They were tired, and needing a break. They didn't see the vine coming from around them, sneaking through their defenses by their feet, but when they both tripped they realized they were far over their head. The vine, by Sam's control began to wrap around them, tightening them, but a sudden chill took over. Looking down, ice covered the plants, they broke free as clone Phantom were encased in a block of ice falling to the street.
The two free heroes escaped to meet up with the real Phantom, bringing up their defenses for a third time.
"Are you two okay?" Phantom asked floating down, looking out for a significant Fruitloop.
"We're fine, but Sam and Tucker…" Chat pointed over.
"Uh," he stared at his two friends, "what happened?"
"Sam grabbed the akuma that was heading for Ladybug and it transformed her into that, she then blasted Tucker and he also changed." the cat explained, Ladybug whipped back at finding out what Sam initially did.
"I guess the akuma powered some of the ecto-energy that they had from previous …possession?" Phantom tilted his head, "I think."
"What happened to Tucker?"
"He made a wish to have powers like me, except it kinda went bad."
"His wish gave him a ghost counter-part?" Ladybug asked.
Phantom shrugged, "Best bet is to purify her."
"We can't make any hits."
He smiled in return and pulled out two objects, "The Far Frozen tribe were able to make these quickly based off of my parents' inventions." he handed over a staff and a yo-yo. "That string is indestructible, but not infinite." Ladybug nodded, testing it out. Chat pushed the button on the staff and the two ends extended into green beams. "It shouldn't hurt you."
All three dodge to the side when Tucker attacks, Phantom firing an ice beam freezing him on the spot. When he turned to face Sam, a glinting on her finger caught him off guard, the gold ring being a vast difference to the rest of her. Being as distracted as he was, a vine nocked him back. "The ring." he whispered.
"Phantom?" Ladybug called.
"The gold ring, the akuma is there."
Phantom, along with Chat, distracted Sam as Ladybug called for a Lucky Charm gaining a mirror in response. The two boys kept Sam's attention on them as Ladybug began to look around.
The fight had began to even out, Chat's claws had even been able to cut through the vines with a timely swing of his arm. Just as Phantom was about to blast a beam of ice, a stray figure came into his sight and tackled him into the roof. Wincing in pain as he rotates his joints, the clone version of him smirks in satisfaction down into the minor crater at him.
Chat looked back worried at the sight at the two Phantoms, only to leap away from the vines coming for him. Everything halted, the clone had been iced in air, making it fall; Ladybug wrapped the ghost line around Sam, trapping her arms to her side, making her unable to move her vines; finally Chat got the orders to shine the mirror into Sam's eyes.
Sam brought her hands up to shield her eyes, Chat got closer making the reflection of the sun to gain a broader area preventing her from blinking away the light. Chat reached for the ring, gripping it carefully, he begins to remove the ring. Just as Sam comes back to sense to fight back against the ties of the ghost line, Chat calls upon his cataclysm, the dark magic balanced with the pure heart forces the ring to rust and crumbles into dust.
As the dark butterfly tries to escape, Sam collapses onto her knees, now drained of energy. A distinct sound of glass shattering made all three turn around to find one of the Phantom's encased in ice shatter when it falls to the ground. Ladybug grabs her yo-yo and catches the akuma, Chat stands in front of her as she purifies it and calls out her cure, but only the damaged cause by a possessed Sam had been fixed.
Ladybug looked around at some of the still smoking spots along the road and some minor crumbling from the buildings. Turning back to Chat, she found him standing in his protective stance against Phantom, "What are you doing?"
"Sam?" Phantom turned intangible and flew over to his downed friend, going through the two other heroes.
The action shocked them, shivers going down their spines, but they understood that this is the true Phantom. This is the person that doesn't like to hurt anyone.
"Dudes!"
They all found Tucker sitting to the left of them with his hands raised in the air.
"What happened?"
"A lot." Phantom stated, Sam being insistent on standing, he helped her up, "Ladybug, Chat, I want you two to take Sam and Tucker out of here."
"Danny." Sam whispered to him.
"Plasmius is going to be angry, I don't want anyone in the area while I face him."
Tucker came up to them, seeing their concerned faces at the thought of leaving Phantom to fight Vlad alone. "He's right." he stated, slipping into Sam's other side. "We can take the Speeder."
Chat and Ladybug nodded reluctantly, they help Sam as Tucker leads them to the Speeder.
Phantom breaths a quickly sigh, "Here we go." and floats above the city, looking for that familiar white.
Unbeknownst to him, Vlad had remained invisible through the whole fight, and after each fail with the clone and the fact that Danny has returned, rage boiled in his blood. In a wisp of smoke he disappeared then reappeared above the boy, firing a disk, blasting him into the ground. It created a significant dent. The only time Paris had seen that kind of power was with an akuma, however the reality of what these ghosts can do, made many of them back away initially in caution. They waited for their heroes to arrive, but as time passed caution began to grow into fear.
"There's nothing your precious heroes can do!" Vlad yelled, "They are abandoning you, they are scared of me as you should all be!"
Many of the people freeze, the confirmation that their own heroes have fled…
"Don't listen to him!"
Relief spread through the crowd at the sound of Ladybug shouting against the dominating deep voice of the ghost. Their heroes stand tall on a building, trying to be the light in everyone's fear.
"We may not be experienced in catching ghosts, but Phantom is." Chat stated.
"We will protect you any way we can." Ladybug finished off.
"Are you so sure, little girl?" Vlad asked, both hands now lit up.
In response to that question, Ladybug began to swing the second yo-yo with the ghost line, the fazing of silver morphed into a circle.
"That's not going to help!"
Phantom looked up, groaning in pain and knowing that it'll be a bit before he's up to full strength, to find Ladybug and Chat facing off against Vlad. He hissed as pain laced his back, but Vlad's yell made him turn back in worry, only to find the man crashing to the ground.
Placing a hand in front of him, Phantom coated the road in a think sheet of ice, so when Vlad stood he fell back down and the ice began to crawl on him. A layer of frost accumulated that grew thicker and thicker, to the point that Vlad had every opportunity to blast the ice away into spikes that penetrated into the concrete of the surrounding area.
"You should stop this, Vlad." Phantom stated, standing to his feet. "Nothing is going to come out of this with you winning."
Understanding flashed in Vlad's eyes for once, the boiling settled into a simmer as his eyes finally roamed the area. The people of Paris stood their ground, the news helicopters still recording their fight live, and of course the heroes protecting their city. "I will be back." he hissed, teleporting away.
Cheers erupted from the crowd, shouts and hands clapping, which increased when Ladybug and Chat landed next to him. Now that the normal heroes were there, Phantom took the chance to leave, invisible and phase into the Speeder that Sam and Tucker resided.
"You alright, dude?" Tucker asked him, as he handled the controls of the vehicle to take him away from the area. A helicopter began to follow them, and Phantom turned the Speeder invisible just long enough until the cameras returned back from where it came from.
He nodded back at Tucker's question despite the fact that he just collapsed to the floor, "Where are we heading?"
"We're meeting Chat and Ladybug back at the Eiffel Tower."
"How'd you get back?" he asked them.
Sam opened a compartment and showed the Inifimap, "How'd you get here?"
"Frostbite had been working on understanding the shifting of the zone, or…something like that."
"Danny, are you really okay?"
"I'll be fine, Sam."
She glared back at him, knowing that he wasn't telling the full truth.
The three of them had been enjoying the view until the sun began to set, at that point they began to wonder if they should leave and get home. Sam and Tucker had evidentially used a weak lie to get themselves here and they have stayed too long for that excuse to work efficiently.
"Hey."
The three turned to find Chat and Ladybug landing.
"Why'd you leave?"
"Back in Amity, I would have ecto-guns being fired at me." he calmly stated, not at all bothered by the fact.
Ladybug nodded, understanding his reasoning but not by the experience of knowing that kind of threat. "I don't like civilians getting involved," she looked to Sam and Tucker, "but thank you for helping."
"It's nice meeting you, but we really need to get going." Sam stated, "A friend of ours in the ghost zone wanted us to tell you something: When faced with darkness lean on others who can help, those others are the light that will defeat the darkness. Your allies are the brightest light, for they understand the burden you carry and help you shoulder the weight."
Ladybug and Chat looked to each other, smiling, Ladybug a little more hesitant because of the implications, while Chat was a little more giddy.
Danny and Adrien were shouting at the computer as the mecha characters fought back and forth, a nice relaxing game where their real lives aren't at risk.
"Adrien? Is Danny with you?" Nathalie asked coming in.
"Yes, Nathalie?" he called back, shouting out his victory a moment later.
"Danny, please pack your bags to return home."
"What's going on?" he pouted at the screen but put the game controller down.
"You're parents have asked Mr. Masters to return you home."
A/N: That's it, done, never coming back to this.
I initially was going to do a 13th chapter featuring Amorpho coming to Paris when Marinette and Adrien are coincidentally having issues keeping their identities secret from a number of people, and Amorpho is accidentally helping them. Even so, they contact Danny for help who just says to talk to Amorpho even though he was sure that ghost learned the first time.
However, I feel, that if I did the above, it would be worse than it already is. Not doing it, especially when I don't have the energy to care anymore.
Either way, thanks for reading!