Episode 2: Truth and Trust/Dark Rider

It was a bright and shiny Sunday morning, and Marinette had decided to spend it bringing her latest idea to life. She thought that she had all of the materials necessary for the cape, and so, all that she had left to do was to turn them into it. Tikki was helping her, bringing her spools, needles, thimbles, or bandages if she needed them, which—of course—she did, occasionally.

Meanwhile, Shadow was in the middle of another nightmare. Fortunately, this was the one that he had grown the most used to. It was the one where he found himself in the middle of a post-apocalyptic version of his world. Whenever he would encounter a survivor, they would back away, hide, or just run away in fear. They would also shout things like "Monster!" or "Please don't kill me!".

All of his teammates and allies were gone, the sky was red, most of the city was destroyed, and at the middle of the city was the Black Comet, rooted to the ground as if it were some kind of evil plant's seed, waiting to sprout. When he first started having this dream on a regular basis, he found it tormenting, and would occasionally wake up in a cold sweat, finding that he barely got any sleep that night, but as time went on, the nightmares became less frequent, and even when he would have them, he found that he was used to it, and just accepted it as his own subconscious fears. Of course, he would still feel somewhat tired upon awakening. He knew that he was still a threat to everyone, but that was why he had Rouge and Omega; to keep him in line. He was grateful for having them as his teammates. As he dreamed, he started to hear a voice. It was loud, and somewhat annoying.

"Hey, young man." Came the voice again, this time louder. "Hey!"

Shadow was snapped out of his slumber and found himself looking up at a large man in a blue shirt, matching hat, and a whistle around his neck. Shadow noticed that the blue shirt and hat were actually a policeman's uniform.

"(groan) Can I help you, officer?" Shadow asked, hoping that the policeman would explain his reasoning for disturbing his sleep quickly, not that he was getting much sleep to begin with.

"Young man, you realize that this is a public park, not a hotel or some kind of camping ground, right?" The officer informed him with a serious look.

Shadow slowly sat up and looked around. It was early in the morning and he was still in the park that he remembered falling asleep in the night before.

"Oh, of course. My apologies, sir."

"Just watch where you choose to fall asleep. Now, look here, son. I'm going to let you off with a warning this time, but if I catch you sleeping here again, I'm gonna have to call your parents." The policeman turned to leave.

"That would be understandable, [if I had any]." Shadow uttered that last bit under his breath, in English, as he grabbed his backpack and the box that held his loaf of bread and stood up.

"Huh? What was th-?" As the policeman turned to face Shadow once again, he found that he was gone, leaving himself dumbfounded.

VOIP

Shadow had used chaos control before the policeman turned around and was currently outside of the park and on the other side of the street. Once he was out of that predicament, he brought out his chaos emerald and used his chaos sensing ability to search for the other emeralds. He sensed one that appeared to be moving, which meant that someone had found it, and it was moving to an area near his location.

"Grrrr, really? Again with this?" He said, annoyed. "(sigh) Well, may as well get to it. I can't waste any time."

Shadow took off, running to where he sensed it.

Back with Marinette, she was wearing an empty backpack and walking down the stairs that lead up to her room. She was working on her design, but then discovered that she had run out of material.

"Morning, Marinette. Did you sleep well?" Asked Sabine when her daughter entered the living room.

Sabine was cooking breakfast in the kitchen area while Tom was watching the News. He was currently awaiting his own breakfast.

"Yeah, Mom. I slept great." Marinette replied. "Morning, Dad."

"Good morning, Marinette." Replied Tom.

"Well, what do feel like for breakfast?" Asked Sabine.

"Actually, Mom, I need to go out right now and get some material, but I'll be right back." Marinette ended her discussion by giving both of her parents kisses on the cheek and went straight to the door. "Love you, bye."

With that, Marinette closed the door behind her and made her way down the stairs, through the bakery, and out the front door. She ran straight for her destination. It was a quick trip to get her materials and get home, but she wasn't accounting for any unexpected surprises…

... and neither was Shadow.

"Wait, I know this w-. Wait. Oh, I swear if it leads me back to that blasted bakery, I'm gonna-!" Shadow instantly stopped in his tracks and focused on regaining his senses. "Hurk! Ugh! (pant) I—I need to stay (pant) calm, or else I-"

"Hey!"

"Huh?!"

Before Shadow could register what was going on, something had crashed into him, or rather, someone. The one who had collided with him was none other than Marinette. After a moment, Marinette finally opens her eyes, which widened at the first thing she saw; a pair of red eyes right in front of her. After another moment of no one saying anything, and Marinette just staring into Shadow's eyes while Shadow looked around awkwardly waiting for her to get up, Shadow finally said something.

"Um, would you mind getting up, please?"

"Huh? AH!" Marinette's response was followed by her immediately throwing herself backwards and landing on her rear. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know and… W-well, I knew, but I-!"

"(sigh) It's fine. No harm done, I suppose." Said Shadow, picking himself up followed by Marinette.

"Alright, let me start over. (deep breath) Hello, Shadow. It's nice to see you again." Marinette held out her hand to shake his.

"Right. Well, 'hello' to you too, I guess." Shadow just ignored her handshake completely. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Oh, right." Marinette withdrew her hand once she realized that Shadow didn't want to shake hands. "See, I was just on my way to buy some material, but then you just came out of nowhere so, I… well, I guess we both saw what happened."

"Right, sorry. I was just… doing something. Something I really should get back to, so… bye."

Shadow was about to speed off when Marinette spoke up again.

"So much for 'not seeing each other again', huh?"

"(sigh) I'm sure this will be the last time. Goodbye."

Again, Shadow was ready to leave.

"So, where are you going?"

Shadow was stopped once again by her question.

"That's classified. Good-"

"Well, I was just asking because-"

"No, you cannot help me."

"Uh… and why not?"

"My mission doesn't concern you. That's why."

"Is it dangerous?"

"That is also classified. Look, I don't have time to waste with pointless questions. I have a job to do, so if you would be so kind as to let me get back to it?"

Marinette didn't care for his sudden rudeness or hastiness to leave, one bit. She wore a serious expression on her face as she began to approach the dark haired teen. She looked him straight in the eye as she spoke.

"If you don't get back to it, would it be a problem for Paris?"

Shadow saw what she was doing. She was trying to assert a sense of dominance against him, but he held his ground and met her serious stare with his own.

"That is also classified. Don't trouble yourself with matters that do not concern you."

"When the matter at hand could be trouble for the city I've sworn to protect, then it does concern me."

"These matters are my concern and my concern alone. So drop it."

"No, I will not 'drop it'! Not until you tell me whether or not this matter is a danger to the city!"

For minutes they continued to stare each other down, both waiting for the other to relent, but neither side did, and Shadow saw this.

"Ugh, I don't have time for this." Shadow raised his hand between himself and Marinette, using his index finger to press his middle finger into his thumb. "Chaos Control."

SNAP

VOIP

"Gah!" With a snap of his fingers, Shadow disappeared in a flash of green light, that momentarily blinded Marinette.

After regaining her eyesight, Marinette, saw that Shadow was gone.

"Oh, come on! Seriously…?! (sigh) How rude."

Marinette knew that if there was a danger to Paris, then it certainly concerned Ladybug and Chat Noir. She made a mental note to try and look more into this later. Of course, that meant looking for the boy who just teleported away and interrogating him. That alone was reason enough to start searching for him. Not that there was any other reason to search for him, right? Of course, that would all have to wait until she was finished with her current task.

She was about to continue on her way when she caught sight of something on the ground. It was an open box from her family's bakery with a half-eaten loaf of bread lying next to it. She recognized it as the very same loaf of bread that she had bought for Shadow the day before. Though she was still a little peeved at him for being so rude to her, she decided that she couldn't just leave this here. And since it has been on the ground, she figured he wouldn't want it back. So, she picked it up and walked away to find a proper garbage receptacle to dispose of it into. She also made a second mental note that, since it was mostly her fault that he had dropped it, the next time she saw him, to buy him a new loaf to replace the one that he had dropped.

Shadow had teleported to the top of the building he and Marinette were in front of and then backed away, wanting to put some distance between himself and the ledge, in case she decided to look for him after he had teleported. He remembered how smart she was. He discovered this when he saw how she used a fishing hook to remove Baker's apron the previous day. Once he was sure that he was far away enough, he brought out his chaos emerald and once again used chaos control to find the emerald, only to find out that it had moved again.

"Ugh, I can't waste time on this again…"

Shadow then decided to pursue a different emerald; however, that was when he finally noticed something. "Wait a minute."

Shadow looked at his arms and saw that his only source of food for… however long he was to stay in this world, was gone. He face-palmed and groaned a little at his misfortune. He knew that he couldn't just ask for another one like some sort of beggar. He decided that he had no choice but to just continue on without it.

Using his chaos emerald, Shadow had sensed the other two emeralds. They were both on farther sides of the city in opposite directions. He picked one and used chaos control to teleport himself close enough to the emerald.

VOIP

Meanwhile, in a tower, far from Shadow's location, a man was going over his options. In light of recent events, he felt that he was going to need a new strategy if he was ever going to retrieve Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses; especially now that this dark newcomer came into the picture.

"Hmmm, there must be some way to counter the mysterious power that boy used against me, but what?"

While the man was focused on this for the time being, the little insect-like kwami named Nooroo decided to spend some time alone in the shadows of the butterfly filled tower, away from his current master. However, unlike the rest of the times when he hides, this time he found something peculiar.

"(gasp) It can't be!" He said, gazing upon the beautiful, glowing, purple gemstone before him. "This must be one of those powerful gems like the ones that boy and Baker were using."

"Oh, no! I can't let Master see this! I'll have to keep it out of his sight. If this really is one of those gems, then there's no telling what kind of damage master could cause with it, to himself or all of Paris."

Nooroo then proceeded to pick up the gem and carry it out of sight, behind his master's back. It would have worked if not for the fact that Nooroo can't phase objects through solid matter, meaning that he'd have to carry the large, glowing, and somewhat heavy gem out of the room the long way. There was also the matter of his master being in the same room, so he had to be as quiet as possible.

"How did this thing even end up in here?"

"Nooroo!" Nooroo was about half way to the door when he heard his master calling him.

Acting fast, Nooroo stashed the gem beside the door and hoped his master wouldn't turn around, let alone, notice it.

"Y-yes, Master?" Nooroo responded nervously.

"I need something to distract me from my troubles. Perhaps wreaking havoc on Paris will bring a smile to my face? Nooroo, Dark Wings, RISE!"

As his master extended his arms out, almost immediately, Nooroo was absorbed into his miraculous. Butterflies then covered him from head to toe. In an instant, he was transformed into the evil Hawkmoth.

"Now, let's see who would make a suitable villain, today."

Hawkmoth looked out of his butterfly shaped, stained glass window, keeping a lookout for anyone who was feeling miserable and vengeful.

A few hours had passed and Marinette was finally on her way home with Alya, who was assisting her with the materials that she had bought. Marinette had met up with Alya on her way to the store, and the two of them ended up staying there for longer than expected.

"Thanks again for helping me, Alya." Said Marinette.

"Anytime, though I think you'll be all set for a while." Alya responded.

"A-heh, I guess I did go a little over board."

"'A little'?" Tikki said, playfully skeptical.

"Okay, I guess a bit more than 'a little'. Heh, it's a good thing Mom didn't get upset with me."

"Good thing you had Tikki to remind you to call your mom earlier." Said Alya.

"Yeah, but like you said, now I have more than eno-o-Ooooh!"

CRASH

What with the large amount of supplies in her hands, as well as her full backpack, it was easy for Marinette to miss a tiny pebble on the sidewalk. If falling flat on her back wasn't enough, the fabric and supplies that she was carrying ended up on Alya's head. Once Marinette had recovered from the experience and finally noticed her best friend's condition, she immediately arose and began cleaning up her mess, starting with Alya's head.

"Oh, sorry, Alya!"

"It's fine, girl. Though I'm afraid this outfit kinda makes me look a little 'trashy'."

As Alya started laughing at her own joke, Marinette soon joined in while continuing to remove the supplies with Tikki's assistance.

"Yeah, you're right."

Once her mess was cleaned up and the two of them were back to walking, Alya took this opportunity to talk about something that was on her mind.

"So, about this new hero guy."

"'New hero guy'?" Marinette stared at Alya curiously.

"Oh, you know. The new guy who was helping you two out yesterday."

Marinette finally understood who it was that Alya was referring to.

"O-oh! W-what about him?"

"What do you know about him?"

Marinette wanted to tell her what she knew about him, but she also didn't want to break her promise to Shadow about keeping their conversation private. She looked at Tikki, hoping she had an answer, but she just gave her a look and a wave of her arm, telling her that she had to decide for herself. So, she decided to tell Alya a little about what she knew about him, while in the process, leaving out their talk.

"Well, you know that guy who I said saved my life the other day, but then resisted that akuma that came after him?"

"You mean 'tall, dark, and jerky'?" Alya almost instantly caught on and stared at Marinette in surprise upon realizing what she was saying. "Wait! You're not saying that it's him, are you?!"

"Mm-hmm." Marinette nodded.

"Seriously?! Well, I guess that explains why he was so rude when I interviewed him."

"You interviewed him?"

"Yeah, but he was totally rude about it. He gave such short answers to my questions, and then just up and left before I could continue. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, he is pretty rude sometimes."

"Hm?" Alya gave her another curious look, wondering about her statement.

"Uh, because from what you told me and what I already know. Heh-heh." After her little fib, Marinette composed herself. "But still, he can't be all bad. He was probably just having a bad day. I wish I knew more about him."

Alya noticed her best friend's clutch on her clothing supplies tighten.

"Hey, are you alright, Marinette?"

"Huh?" Marinette snapped back to reality and started talking fast. "Oh, yeah! I'm fine! Really! Never better!"

Alya wanted to know more but decided to leave it at that, until…

"Actually… Alya? Can I… talk to you about something?"

But just as Alya was about to agree, Marinette took notice of something heading straight for them.

"Look out!" Marinette managed to duck and pull Alya with her in time to avoid getting hit.

CLANG-SMASH

CL-CLINK-CL-CLINK-CL-CLINK

As everyone screamed and ran away from the commotion, Marinette and Alya looked up to see someone who looked like he was part of some kind of evil biker gang with two chains wrapped around his body, sitting on top of a menacing looking motorcycle.

"Now everyone will know who rules! Me!" He said.

"Who is that?!" Alya loudly asked in surprise.

"Whoever he is, he sure is causing a lot of trouble." Said Tikki, emerging from Marinette's hand bag. "Marinette!"

"I know." Marinette responded, picking herself off of the ground and Alya doing the same. "Alya, you should get somewhere safe."

"And you should probably call Adrien and then get somewhere private."

"Right, good luck."

"You too."

With that, Alya and Marinette ran off in opposing directions. Once Marinette was safely hidden from prying eyes, Tikki joined her. Marinette then took out her phone and dialed her boyfriend's number. After a minute or so of ringing, he finally picked up.

"Why, good morning, Bug-a-boo." He greeted her.

"Now's not the time for flirting, Adrien." She responded. "We've got an emergency!"

"Okay, give me the where and when!" He said, getting serious.

Marinette told him her location and he told her that he was on his way. After hanging up, Plagg called out to him from his spot on the couch, where he was enjoying a plate of camembert cheese.

"Do we really have to go? Can't we just stay here. I'm sure Ladybug can handle it by herself."

"That had better have been one of your jokes.

Plagg, Claws Out!"

Adrien held out his right fist, revealing his white ring turning black, and almost immediately, Plagg was absorbed into it, causing a green cat's paw print to appear. Adrien ran two fingers across his eyes causing black a black mask to appear. When he opened his eyes, it revealed that they had turned green and the pupils were thin like a cat's. He then ran both his hands through his hair, causing it to appear messy as well as causing black cat ears to sprout from his head. Green lightning then began to cover his body, replacing his usual daily wear with his super hero suit. His retractable bow staff appearing behind him on his belt. He had transformed into the cunning Chat Noir.

Once he was fully suited up, Chat opened up his window and used his bow staff to head off to where Marinette told him to meet her.

After hanging up, Marinette turned to Tikki.

"Alright, Tikki. Time to transform." Marinette said confidently.

"Aye-aye!" Tikki playfully saluted.

"Tikki, Spots On! Ha!"

Marinette held up the hair covering her left ear, revealing her black earrings turning red, and almost immediately, Tikki was absorbed into them, causing black spots to appear. Marinette ran her hands across her eyes causing sparkles followed by a red mask with five black spots to appear upon her face. Sparkles then began to cover her body, replacing her usual daily wear with her super hero suit. Her magic yoyo appearing around her waist. She had transformed into the miraculous Ladybug.

Meanwhile, Shadow had finally reached his destination; unfortunately, no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't seem to find the fifth emerald. After hours of searching, he was now standing in an alleyway that he had just finished searching.

"Darn!" He cursed while hitting a wall, but being careful not to break it. "Where is it?"

Shadow then decided to used his chaos sensing ability again. He brought out his emerald and held it out in front of him. He held it in a tight grasp by both of his hands and closed his eyes so that he could concentrate.

"Chaos Control…!" Shadow moved to the middle of the street, where the chaos energy was strongest. "Here?"

Shadow searched around the entire area, but still found nothing.

"This doesn't make any sense. It should be here." After a while, Shadow was growing impatient. "Grrrr… where is it?!"

When he yelled that, in his little fit of irritation, Shadow had stomped his foot on the ground and felt the ground shake. He was about to punch a crater into the ground, but then realized what was happening… again. After a moment of struggling, he managed to quell the darkness within him once again, but not without slightly tiring himself out.

"Darn it! (pant) (pant) I have to focus on (pant) (pant) finding that emerald (pant) (pant), but I can't do that (pant) if I have keep fighting off—"

"We're here—LIVE—with breaking news! A new super villain is terrorizing the city" Came a female voice from nearby.

Shadow's attention was drawn to a nearby store window filled with television sets; all of which, were on the same channel, the NEWS. Shadow approached the window and saw a NEWS reporter standing next to what looked like a sinister biker gang member with two chains wrapped around his body.

"Sir, care to tell us your name?" Asked the reporter.

"You all can call me Dark Rider. And from now on, this city belongs to me!"

It wasn't the new villain that surprised Shadow the most. It was the fact that he was being interviewed on live television.

"I'm gonna burn straight through this whole city til' the end of forever, and ain't no way anyone is ever gonna to stop me!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Came another female voice on the T.V. that Shadow recognized.

"Wait, that's…" He said.

Shadow watched as the camera moved and closed in on the insect themed super heroine, Ladybug, as she appeared on the screen.

"Lemme' guess," said Dark Rider, "you're Ladybug! I'm Dark Rider, and I want your miraculous!

"Yeah, what else is new?" The camera moved to the source of the second voice that Shadow recognized.

"You must be Chat Noir." Said Dark Rider.

"The one and only." Said Chat Noir, striking a pose.

"The two uh you bein' here just made my job a whole lot easier!"

Unseen by those watching the NEWS, the new villain then reached toward one of the chains that were wrapped around his body and pulled it off. He was now holding the chain in his hand.

"After I get both of your miraculouses, nothin' will stop me from takin' over this city!"

Dark Rider started spinning his chain and then threw it at Chat Noir, who dodged it with ease. Once it reached its full length, Dark Rider yanked it back to him and started spinning it again and then throwing it at Ladybug, causing her to dodge the attacks.

"With aim like that, that seems unlikely."

Dark Rider kept spinning then throwing his chain repeatedly at superhero duo.

"Any idea where his akuma is hiding?" Chat Noir asked Ladybug.

"Could be in his chain, but it also could be in his jacket." She answered.

"Alright, then I guess we'll just have to go for both."

Once the camera view was back too normal, Shadow had noticed that the distance was farther than before, implying that the camera man and the reporter had probably moved farther away from the battle. Smart choice.

Dark Rider continued to throw his chain at the duo, who kept dodging until they finally leapt off of the building and onto the street. Dark Rider stopped throwing his chain.

"What's wrong? Run out of steam already?" Chat Noir mocked.

"Heh, I just wanted you two to meet a friend of mine." Said Dark Rider. "I call her Dark Wheels."

Dark Rider raised two of his fingers to his mouth and blew.

WHISTLE

VROOOOM

It was then that Ladybug and Chat Noir heard a loud, rumbling noise.

"Hey, you hear that?" Asked Chat Noir.

Turning around, Chat Noir took notice of something coming straight for them, and it was fast.

"Look out, m'lady!" He shouted, grabbing Ladybug and using his staff to propel them both out of the way.

Unfortunately, despite his efforts, Chat Noir was a tad too late, for the speeding object had run into his staff and knocked it over and sent them falling into the sidewalk.

"(groan) That could've gone better." Chat Noir groaned, followed by a pained groan from Ladybug.

Once they were both able to stand and see straight, they both saw that the speeding object that had almost run them over was actually a motorcycle, and one of a rather sinister and intimidating design, at that.

"What do ya' think uh' my baby, Dark Wheels?" Asked Dark Rider. "She sure is somethin', huh?"

Dark Rider then wrapped his chain around himself, climbed onto the motorcycle, and revved up the engine.

"Chat Noir, get ready." Said Ladybug, spinning her yoyo.

"He just got me by surprise." Said Chat Noir, spinning his staff. "I won't let that happen again."

Shadow could tell that this villain was different from Baker, but he still didn't feel like his presence was needed.

"I'm sure that they have everything under control." Thought Shadow as he turned around to continue his search. "I need to get back to finding that—"

"Ahhhh!" Came a loud scream.

"Ladybug!" Came the call of Chat Noir.

"What?!" Shadow immediately turned around when he heard her name.

"I cannot believe what I am seeing." Said the reporter. "Dark Rider and Ladybug are gone… Wait, is that a trail?"

Hearing the report, Shadow returned to the window so that he could see what was happening. It was just as the reporter had said; Shadow couldn't see anything but Chat Noir and motorcycle tracks on the screen, leading him to the conclusion that Dark Rider must've taken her.

"I'm comin', m'lady!" Chat Noir shouted as he took his staff and used it to propel himself in the direction that the tracks lead.

"And now Chat Noir appears to be attempting to chase down Dark Rider and Ladybug. We will try to see if our NEWS chopper can see anything."

The image then changed from the reporter to a bird's eye view of the scene. Something was zooming through Paris, far too fast for the chopper's camera to zoom in on, while Chat Noir tried his best to catch up; unfortunately, Chat Noir didn't appear to be closing the gap between them in the slightest, despite his efforts. Shadow was growing less and less confident that they could win.

Dark Rider drove on down the road with Ladybug being dragged behind him, and Chat Noir attempting to tail him.

"Ha! Nice try, cat boy!" Mocked Dark Rider as he drove passed him and knocked him down. "Now then, why don't I show you just what my baby can do."

Dark Rider stared straight ahead, and speed up. At first look, it appeared as though he had lost his mind and was about to intentionally crash into a wall, but then it gets even more odd as he pulls up and performs a wheelie, still increasing his speed.

"Chat Noir, help!" Screamed Ladybug.

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Shouted Chat Noir, but he just couldn't catch up to the motorcycle.

Before Ladybug knew it, her head had hit something, and it felt as though she was upside-down. Once she finally recovered from the hit and took another look around, she had realized that she was indeed upside-down and going up; up a building wall, that is. That was the reason behind Dark Rider's wheelie.

It wasn't long until the Dark Wheels had finally reached the edge of the roof, but the motorcycle didn't stop; it just kept going up. Almost like a plane driving down a runway, only to end up driving off of a ramp and into the air. Soon, gravity finally kicked in and started pulling down the heaviest object, which was the Dark Wheels. Unfortunately for Ladybug, Dark Rider had let go of his chain so that she would continue flying up, further than the motorcycle, until gravity finally started affecting her, resulting in her plummeting to her doom.

Thanks to inertia, Ladybug had flown up higher than the motorcycle. Chat Noir pushed himself forward as far as he could. He even tried jumping off of his staff so that he would reach her in time. As he flew straight for her, he felt that he would succeed. Unfortunately, he did not. His hand was only a single centimeter away from her leg, but she still continued to fall while screaming.

With her arms and legs tied up, she had absolutely no way to save herself. Looking up, she could see Chat Noir diving in a way that was intended to make him fall faster. In worry, she shut her eyes, hoping that the next thing that she would feel would be Chat Noir's arms, or at least his hand on the chain.

Before she knew it, Ladybug had stopped falling. She opened her eyes, expecting to find herself in the arms of Chat Noir, but she wasn't. Instead, she saw something that, for the second time today, made her stop and stare. She saw a pair of crimson eyes staring back at her from the dark shadows of a black hoodie. Chat Noir latched onto the nearest windowsill to stop himself from falling any further when he saw someone in a black hood appear in front of him, and heard the sound of rattling chains. Upon inspection, he could see that it was Ladybug being held in his arms, meaning that she was safe from danger.

"(sigh) Thank goodness." He sighed in relief.

Everyone watched as the mysterious hooded figure, floating in mid-air, began to drift down to the ground with a tied up Ladybug in his arms and something glowing yellow in his hand. He then knelt down, laid her onto the ground, put whatever was in his hand into his pocket, removed his hand from his pocket, raised his hand, which was now glowing green, and struck at her. She just barely flinched, but soon realized that his purpose was to cut her out of the chains that had bound her once she saw her body free of the metal that was now lying on the ground, beneath her. Once again, Shadow had saved her life.

"Thank you." She said in awe. "But, how did you know—"

"The NEWS." He said plainly.

"Hey!" Came the rough voice of the villain, Dark Rider. "Who—the heck—are you supposed to be?!"

Shadow stood and turned to face Dark Rider.

"Nah. You know what?" Asked the Dark Rider, arising from his bike. "I don't care. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna make you regret getting in my way!"

Dark Rider took hold of the second chain, removed it, and started spinning it around.

"Get ready, buddy, 'cause you're in for a world of hurt!"

Dark Rider threw his chain toward Shadow. Shadow noticed how the chain was aimed right at his upper torso, so, using his super speed, he leaned back so that the chain would shoot right passed him. Just when it did so, Shadow grabbed the chain with both hands.

"Hey! Let go of my chain!"

"He's obviously not French." Shadow thought, as grasped the chain tightly. "His accent and the way he puts no effort in his French pronunciations proves that much. But then why is he here? Why was he akumatized? And where is his akuma? Well, I know one thing; he is definitely nothing like Baker, and since he's—more than likely—not related to Marinette…"

Shadow followed up on his thought by grinning maliciously at Dark Rider.

"H-hey!" He said, struggling to pull the chain back toward himself. "W-what's that… l-look about?!"

Shadow's only answer was using his strength to yank the chain back with Dark Rider still holding onto it, causing the supervillain to be flung forward. Now that he was in close range, Shadow followed up by punching Dark Rider in the gut so hard, that it knocked him back a few feet.

"Augh-Ah-Ooh-ughf!" He said as he repeatedly impacted the ground.

With the wind knocked out of him, he could barely get to his knees. He clutched his lower abdomen in an effort to ease the pain, slightly. He looked at Shadow with a vengeful expression, then slowly raised a hand to his mouth. Ladybug new just what he was going to do.

"Hey…!" She began to call out to warn him. "Um… uh…"

Ladybug knew that she couldn't use Shadow's real name, or at least, she thought that was his real name since that was the name he used when introducing himself the other day. So, after a second or two of thinking, she just said the first thing that came to mind that sounded remotely like a superhero name. Two words that came to her that reminded her of him based on what she knew and what she had heard from him.

"Dark… uh… Chaos!" She shouted to him. "Dark Chaos!"