10/25/23
15 Reviews, 8 Favs, 10 Follows
The heroes came across the reflection cavern made of crystals.
"Impressive, those crystals are enormous," Blu Tembo said.
Panthera thought she saw her reflection did not mimic her own, it somehow changed into something else.
"Uhhh….guys? I think it didn't mimic our moves" Panthera said.
"You're right. This one looks like my nightmare" Cat Noir saw his own reflection grin creepily.
"Indeed it is!" Anti-Cat came out of the reflections.
"What the…" Cat Noir backs away.
"….hell is happening?" Anti-cat finished his sentence.
The other heroes' reflections came to life but were eviller and menacing.
"We are your dark sides!" Dark Bug came out.
"Not this again!" Ladybug said.
"But it is," said the evil Blu Tembo.
"And you are?" Blu Tembo asked.
"Call me Loxodon!" Loxodon drew out tusk-like swords.
"Hola, chica" Evil Panthera chuckled evilly.
"Oh, boy!" Cat Noir faced Anti-Cat.
"Det är som att prata till en spegel" Loxodon referring to a mirror.
"Förstör du så sju års otur" Blu Tembo replied.
"Now you are speaking my language, calf boy!" Loxodon attacks but Blu Tembo blocks with his horn.
"Heroes! Assemble!" Cat Noir lunged for Anti-Cat.
"At least ours are not Shadybug and Claw Noir! They are reformed!" Ladybug dodged the sword.
"Time to die Ladybug!" Dark Bug turns around.
"What the matter, kitty cat? Afraid to become like me? Scared to kill those you love whenever your anger gets the best of you?" Anti-cat cackled.
"I'll never be you!" Cat Noir bears his claws.
"Your claws say it can!" Anti-cat attacks him.
"Look at you! Too nice, too compassionate, and whenever bullies torment you, you don't kill them to end your emotional torture!" Oscura yelling at Panthera.
"Because vengeance isn't the answer!" Panthera strikes with her spear, leaving a cut on Oscura's cheek. Panthera exclaimed at what she did.
"You are so gonna regret that, puta!" Oscura bares her claws.
"Come on!" Panthera did the same.
"Look at you. Such a scaredy cat that looked like he saw a ghost cat!" Anticat looking for him.
"I'm not a killer like you!" Cat Noir hides behind a crystal.
"You're a coward just like your maniac father! So young like a kitten to believe your own father who went crazy to think you escaped your prison and started tormenting your friends!" Anticat found him.
"SHUT UP!" Cat Noir clawed at his chest.
Anticat grabbed his wrist to immobilize him, "Very good. Now you know the anger it makes you! A maniac like I was when our father ruined our nine lives!"
"Unlike you, I have a moral code!" Cat Noir struggled.
"Once I'm done with you, your lady is next!" Anticat said.
"Stop It! Claw Noir was evil but he redeemed himself! So can you!" Cat Noir pushed him off.
"He must have been a fool to do that!" Anticat then claws at his chest too.
"Because he was grieving! So are you!" Cat Noir jumped aside from the cataclysm.
"Was! Until milady died!" Anticat lunged at him.
Dark Bug tried to attack Ladybug, taking her anger out on her, "AAARRRGGGHHH! You should've killed your alley cat! He made me like this!"
"I was under Chrysalis' control! She used me!" Ladybug dodged her aggressive counterpart.
"Then I'll have to get it into your skull!" Dark bug shouted.
"Lucky charm!" Ladybug summoned her charm, "Throwing stars?" She caught them.
"No, to make you see stars when I knock you out!" Dark Bug attacks.
Blu a Tembo jumped from giant crystals to crystal to avoid getting sliced off by his crazy doppelgänger's dual swords.
"Elephants may not be predators but they can stab with their tusks! Hold still!" Loxodon kept missing.
"They get aggressive at times!" Blu Tembo dodged again.
"And that's exactly what I hate about poachers killing my majestic creatures!" Loxodon attacks again.
"So do I but I don't get aggressive like you! I seek justice, not revenge! If you knew why they do it, killing isn't always the solution! Killing only causes addiction!" Blu Tembo blocks with his blow horn, "The more killing comes with a heavy price!"
"The more the merrier!" Loxodon then kicks him back.
"Are you insane?!" Blu Tembo exclaims.
"Insane enough to wipe out all those who mistreat my children!" Loxodon kicked the blowhorn away, "Starting with you who let poachers live instead of punishing them!"
"I'm not gonna back down!" Blu Tembo said.
Oscura crawled on all fours to find her, "Things would have been better for you if you took revenge on your ex-friend who made your life a living hell!"
"That's not how it works! I moved on rather than be stuck with anxiety and grief! I made a new friend!" Panthera jumped out of the way and blocked the weapon with her spear, "I don't make my enemies suffer!"
"They made you suffer and you never had a perfect life!" Oscura snarled.
"The past made me who I am today! My moment wasn't this moment until I came to Paris! Ladybug and Cat Noir changed my life for the better when I became Panthera! I don't dwell on the past! Even if the memory is still in my head, I focus on the positivity!" Panthera struggled.
"Bullies should suffer! The same pain we suffered!" Oscura was about to finish her.
"Clawws, let's rest!" Panthera detransformed to make her doppelgänger reflection see why she's different in her own way, "This is who I am! Yes, I was into gothic style so I don't have to feel pain but loneliness. But I remained sane because my brother Elio told me to keep my hopes up for years! As long as there's love, it is possible. Even if it took a long time. It was only one friend I thought I could trust but it wasn't her. So instead, I just remained silent and did not get involved in drama" She explained her story, "Don't you see? This is why I cannot let madness blind me because it would only make me feel lost and confused"
It took Oscura a moment to listen but her pain was so great that her world was very suffering for her to make friends when they don't accept her, "How can you think that there's a miracle for you when it only makes you see bad in other people?!" Oscura was quiet for a moment, reflecting on her words.
"You don't have to suffer again. As long as there are friends who truly accept you, they will always be there for you, if you can give them a chance. Like my elephant friend who stood up for me from a selfish brat. He became my real true friend as well as my superhero partner. He inspired me so much more to come out of my shadow and into the light" Luna took her hand.
They heard a loud crash from two elephant men fighting.
"This is what it looks like. Fighting is like an endless battle. Do you think fighting will solve anything by hurting each other the same way as hurting ourselves?" Luna pointed out.
"No, I...It wouldn't" Oscura said.
Just then they heard Blu Tembo yelp in pain, getting stabbed by his counterpart, "AAAAAGH!" Blu Tembo struggled to keep it from getting deeper.
"You're too weak, Tembo, I'm the superior guardian of the biggest land mammals on Earth," Loxodon said.
"Hggggh! Listen to me, Loxodon! If you're gonna keep on claiming lives from poachers, will that make you feel better? Or better yet, how would your own family feel if their own son is a killer at heart?" Blu Tembo tries to come to Loxodon's conscience.
The doubleganger listened and pulled the tusk sword out, "You don't understand! I bring peace and order to the jungle!" Loxodon tried to deny it.
"But is it worth it? Think about your sister who looks up to her big brother and she sees what you have become. I only started to help those creatures because they are sentient beings like us and I felt attached to them like family. I protect them just as I protected my own from the miraculous zombies before Monarch passed away" Blu Tembo held his wound on his side.
Loxodon was at a loss for words, then looked at the blood on his sword, he dropped it in horror, "What have I become?" He fell on his knees.
"Pelle!" Luna rushed to his aid.
"Trunkk, fold my ears" Pelle detransformed.
Loxodon saw Luna tend to Pelle while he realized his errors. Pain only leads to more suffering and having someone else to suffer too only brings more and more pain with no peace.
"I'm not worthy of being the elephant holder," Loxodon said.
"That's not true. Someone once told me that giving up is not how it would go. A friend of mine thought the same thing too but I give her determination to not let mistakes haunt her. Strength in team is what it means to work together" Pelle said.
"You're right, Pelle" Loxodon said.
"Chica?" Luna saw her doppelgänger turning into mist to return to Luna's real reflection on the giant crystal.
"They are fading away," Pelle said.
"Thank you, my friend" Loxodon closed his eyes as he turned into mist.
"I think they went back to their parallel universe," Luna said.
"Totally. I just thought it was our true doppelgängers with evil intentions" Pelle said.
"Damn it, Chico" Luna saw the wound on his stomach, "I can't use cream on that. Mariquita can help. She always repairs everything with her miraculous ladybug cure" Luna said.
"Those two need our help. Agh! I can't move like this. You gotta save them before their evil counterparts kill them" Pelle said.
"We are a team, chico. I can't just leave you here" Luna said but heard Cat Noir's distress scream.
"Trunkk, this is crazy but you have to find her. Now!" Pelle said, unable to move.
"My power can cause a catastrophe," Trunkk said before flying to find Ladybug.
"Steady the wound, Chico" Luna said, giving him the towel to stop the bleeding, "We'll save you, I promise. I'm not losing another friend again. Clawws, let's hunt" She transformed and went to find Cat Noir.
x
Cat Noir was too exhausted to fight as he collapsed, "Stop please!" He begged.
"8 lives down, such a pity that you don't get to see your lovely princess ever again" Anticat bares his claws to finish him.
"How about another nine lives from a big cat, ghost cat?!" Panthera grabbed his attention.
"I'm the ghost of Cat Noir, cutie!" Anticat ran towards her.
"Don't call me cutie you perv!" Panthera blocked his claws with her spear.
"It's mating season for us when it comes to being wild cats!" Anticat laughed insanely.
"Gross! Are you crazy? You're a kid and I'm a young adult!" Panthera did not like this evil cat with twisted thoughts.
"You don't look maturely grown as a woman!" Anticat criticized her body shape as a teen.
"Because I'm petite you dumbass! And the real Cat Noir would never be this lusty!" She slashed her spear at him.
"That black cat was pathetic!" Anticat yelled and attacked her.
"You're still him in there! Everyone has good and evil balanced within! You let evil take over you! What is it that made you become like this?!" Panthera asked while fighting him.
"Monarch did this to me! Everyone around me died!" Anticat yelled.
"What?" Panthera exclaimed and was pinned hard by him.
"Because of my father, I lost control! I lost everyone I loved! INCLUDING MY MARINETTE!" Anticat yelled in so much rage and grief, "Don't you get it now?! I refuse to be all alone to suffer!"
"Of course I do! I do know what it's like to be left alone! I was bullied in school. I was manipulated by someone I could trust as a friend. But that was all in the past. I felt the same pain as you did but you don't have to suffer again. Cat Noir had his lady but your father took that away from you" Panthera said.
"Shut up! You don't know anything about what I went through!" Anticat refused to listen.
"I'm not finished. Anticat, there's always a solution. I feared getting akumatized too because of Monarch's madness. He preys on fear because that's what he wanted us to fear, to fear him. But there's always love around you. Do you see me dead like you said?" Panthera asked.
"No" Anticat replied.
"Ask yourself. Do you want Monarch to win? Do you think he would be pleased to see you do his dirty work for him until he takes away your Akuma and throws you in the dumps? Do you want to kill him until you have nothing left but yourself in this world!" Panthera asked.
"No, I'd rather be free than be a slave," Anticat said.
"But you're not free from yourself" Cat Noir gets up.
"I loved my Marinette more than life itself!" Anticat said.
"Marinette wouldn't want us to become evil. She would be angry and scared to see what we would become. And you know it. I saw my own nightmare because I am always scared to cataclysm a person. Claw Noir traumatized me but he was grieving. Monarch was the one to traumatize me enough to have himself escape" Cat Noir explained his trauma.
Anticat realized that Cat Noir was right about their powers, "I hope you can find peace and love in your heart, Anticat. I know it's still in there" Cat Noir said.
"I will try, love is much stronger than hatred," Anticat said.
"And Monarch had no care but to take advantage of people's pain and misery. He doesn't help, he only uses them as puppets to get what he wants" Cat Noir said.
Anticat closed his eyes, then in a loud shout rejected the akuma within him.
"Is he…himself?" Panthera asked nervously.
The dream Cat Noir looked at his real self and smiled before he faded away, "Thank you, my real me" He said.
"What just happened?" Cat Noir said.
"Your evil version faced his outcome," Panthera said.
x
Trunkk found Ladybug fighting Dark Bug but he can't help without his holder. No choice but to use Recall, even if it causes a catastrophe.
"RECALL!" He used his powers.
Memory orbs were scattered and it made inanimate beings like rocks, caves, and water remember everything for thousands of years when they formed.
"What's happening?!" Dark Bug looks around.
"AAGGGHHH!" Ladybug can feel her memories scattered in her head.
"NO THIS CAN'T BE!" Dark Bug vanished.
"Agh! Too much headache! Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug tossed her lucky charm to repair the damage, even if it meant bringing her doppelgänger back.
It also healed the wounds her teammates got. Pelle managed to stand up and quickly went to find his teammates.
"Guys!" He saw Cat Noir and Panthera with Ladybug as Dark Bug reappeared.
"How dare you bring me all the pain of suffering!" Dark Bug tried to hit them all with her nunchucks.
"Because it was love that turned me back from being you Dark Bug!" Ladybug blocks each hit.
"I hate black cats! I hate how I have to keep secrets from him because he wouldn't understand!" Dark Bug yelled.
"It was wrong of her and it was my fault I didn't let her explain! I was the jerk " Cat Noir said.
"It's always your fault in everything!" Dark Bug tried to attack him.
But Cat Noir grabbed her fists and forced her on her knees. He looks at her sharply, "Just stop, please! I may hate secrets but sharing is caring. That's what friends do" Cat Noir said.
"It was to keep him sane and safe. But it was our love that saved me from the Akuma. Dark Bug, let go of your anger" Ladybug said.
"Grrr! I'll never let it go! Not until Cerise is dead with blood on my sword!" Dark Bug struggled.
"Shh….calm down" Cat Noir kissed her hard to stop her from going insane.
Dark Bug tensed up but gave in. Cat Noir pulls the ribbon the Akuma was in to let Ladybug purify it.
"Time to de-evilize you!" She purified it.
Cat Noir had to make sure this reflection clone was calm and not full of rage before pulling away.
"Bye bye little butterfly" Ladybug released it. The Ladybug clone looks at the real Ladybug confused.
"You see, well myself and our Kitty made up and admitted our problems," Ladybug said.
The reflection clone looks away, can't feel herself to forgive herself.
"Hey, it's okay. The scar you gave me, it's a reminder of my lesson to never hurt my only lady" Cat Noir held her chin up, "We are still young but we always have each other"
"You're right, Kitty" Clone Ladybug accepted his words and she returned to the crystal to bring back Ladybug's real reflection.
"That was an incredible fight we had with our dark reflections," Blu Tembo said.
"That was scary. What the hell happened? It was like everything in this cave went crazy. Especially the massive headaches I had before my brain almost exploded" Panthera said.
"Those crystals fed on our negative energy," Cat Noir said.
"Which explains why fighting ourselves would only make them stronger. Talking about our experiences made them repent" Panthera said.
"Yeah. Now we better keep going to find Atlantis" Ladybug said.