Hello! Sorry for the long wait, but I finally finished the Puppeteer chapter of the Evillustrator's escapades! Thanks for waiting so patiently, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

~anipwrites

Nathanael really shouldn't have been surprised.

Well, he did have a reason to be surprised, given that it happened to him. But he honestly always had bad luck when it came to akumas. He had been kidnapped by the Horrifficator and sealed into a pod after being whipped around while the monster-later discovered to be Mylene-fought off Ladybug and Chat Noir. Or, when Dark Blade nearly took over all of Paris, turning his class-and the rest of Paris-into his knights. Juleka-well, no, Reflekta-turned him, half the school, and half an arrondissement of Paris into copies of her; including the Mayor.

Not to mention being forced to party before being trapped in a bubble and sent thousands of stories up in the air, being chased around by a lunatic on roller skates, being hit by a guitar that left him unable to stop dancing for hours, being chased by a bear down the street, and being-could it be considered killed?-by a giant floating triangle. Oh, right, and there was the whole akumatization thing. What akuma hadn't done something to him at that point?

He was working on an art project. He hated being restricted to assigned prompts, really, or being graded on his works. But it was the only class he didn't get in trouble for drawing in, he may as well draw the right thing. The prompt he had been assigned was 'Justice,' which all but point-blank instructed him to draw Ladybug and Chat Noir. He had to pick two to four pieces to draw inspiration from and explain how and why he had chosen that piece, which was the part that sucked. He'd been at the museum looking for inspiration since that afternoon, when finally 'Liberty Leading the People' caught his eye. Finally, he was almost done!

That was around when he felt a strange sensation creeping up his body. It started at the tips of his toes, so it was ignorable, but as it began to expand and reach waist height it was irritating. He looked down to ensure himself that no, there wasn't an army of ants crawling up him only to find he was wearing dark purple and red pants, a sight that shocked him so much he dropped everything.

He was turning back into the Evillustrator?! How?! Why was this happening, was there anything he could do to stop it?!

There was no time to find out. As the ring of magic reached his chest, he felt almost as if he was being pushed out of his own body, a numbness taking its place. There was nothing he could do, no way to stop the darkness that was taking over him.

He last thought of how he had promised himself to never let such darkness take over him again, how he would never hurt anyone. Less than two months and he had already failed.

'I'm sorry,'

Finally! After lying dormant for so long, the Evillustrator was back in business!

Kind of.

This time, he wasn't taking orders from the dark voice he had been before, but instead a… Six year old?! What business did some six year old have being the boss of him?! Whatever. He'd deal with it. He was back, that's all that mattered for now.

His hands clenched into fists as he received the first set of orders for his new awakening. 'Get the Ladybug doll,' the voice ordered. 'Meet me at the Kids+ Building.'

He nodded, even though the girl presumably couldn't see him, and made his way to the exit. The patrons of the museum he had found himself in-the Louvre, some part of him recalled-seemed appalled by his appearance. Some raised their phones to snap photos. Perfect. Let the world know the Evillustrator was back. He could take down Ladybug and Chat Noir anyday. Let them come. He snarled for the cameras before he got outside.

With a flick of his wrist, he drew out a hoverboard for him to use before jumping on and zooming off to his destination. It was perfectly adjusted in regards to his weight, and an ease to control. The feeling of existing once more felt just as good as flying through the streets on his hoverboard. He didn't care if people turned and stared.

Rogercop ran up alongside him, rivaling the speed of his hoverboard and not breaking a sweat. The robotic enhancements probably helped in that department-that same tiny part of him recalled seeing the man, in his unakumatized form, attempting to chase after a purse-snatcher and huffing and puffing and falling quickly behind. He nodded at him, and the Evillustrator understood that they were on the same team.

This was going to be interesting; at least three against two for those dumb heroes. They wouldn't stand a chance.

And by the time they made it to where they had been called to, the odds were even better. Five against one?! This was child's play, especially with Chat Noir on their side!

"One against five?! That's not very fair and square!" Ladybug complained.

"The Ladybug doll, get it!" the Puppeteer commanded, pointing her wand forward as if a commander shouting a call to arms. This was going to be a piece of cake!

...Turns out it was not a piece of cake. He'd nearly forgotten just how cunning the spotted heroine of Paris was. And being controlled by a five year old was no way to effectively win a battle. Which is how he'd ended up frozen in mid-air by one of Lady Wi-fi's runes, in a tangled mess with Rogercop on top of him, and Chat Noir and Lady Wi-fi incapacitated and unable to help the instant one of the wayward pause runes hit the leader of their motley crew. They all could only watch as Ladybug casually walked up, whistling a smug little tune, and broke the Puppeteer's wand. How had they been defeated by a yo-yo, some tape, and an extension cord? Ladybug had found a way to make it work to her favor sometimes.

As she cast her lucky charm, Evillustrator felt himself fading away again. It wasn't exactly a feeling one could get used to, or just accept. Would he ever come back? He'd find a way to, even if he had to tear apart Nathanael's very soul, his very being, he would do it.

He just needed some time. And he'd have plenty soon enough.

Nathanael finished jotting down the last few notes for his painting, noticing the setting sun peeking over the top of his notebook. Why did the Louvre have so many windows, it surely wasn't good for the paintings...which was exactly why the Louvre didn't have windows.

So where was he? He looked around and didn't recognize any of the furniture or the layout of the room or anything. He didn't really recognize the street outside the window either. Good luck getting home.

What he did recognize-or moreso who-was Alya, Officer Roger, and Chat Noir and Ladybug standing in the room. Some little girl was there too, for whatever reason-probably related to why he was in the same room as Ladybug and Chat Noir with no recollection of what had happened for the past who knows how long. In fact, everyone except Ladybug looked about as confused as he was. Ladybug said something about puppets, but he tuned it out. What better time to grab some quick sketches of the subjects of his next painting. He'd never be able to get the color of Chat's eyes just right, the school's art supply was only so limited, but if he could just get the shape right it'd help with the project and some comics he'd had planned.

Alya came over and peered at his notebook. "Do you have any idea why we're here?"

"None whatsoever, I was hoping you did." he replied, not even looking away from the two heroes as he tried to get as many life-sketches as he could.

"What's that for?"

"Art project; I got assigned the prompt 'Justice,' but the guidelines basically said 'draw Ladybug and Chat Noir' so that's what I'm doing."

"Oh, hey, you're good at art, right?"

"I became an evil artist for a reason. I'm honestly surprised you know who I am, I don't talk much in class."

"Why is that? You seem… decent."

"What could I possibly have to say?"

"Huh." Alya seemed to be one of those people who didn't understand the concept of 'I don't think I have anything to add to any conversation, and I'm also cripplingly shy, so I don't talk'. Which he wasn't surprised by. She could carry a conversation with half the student body, and always seemed to be talking to someone. Honestly, Nathanael almost envied it. "Well… you wanna do some art for the Ladyblog sometime? I'll give you credit for sure, but it could really use a new look."

"I mean, I think it looks fine the way it is, but sure. Just let me know what you want sometime."

"You kids alright?" Officer Roger asked, walking up to them. When they both nodded, he added. "You go to Sabrina's school right?"

"We do. We saw you at Parent's Day." Alya stated.

"Huh. You need a ride home? I can walk you guys to my car and escort you home."

"Well… sure, much better than walking the whole way." the two turned to Nathanael expectantly. He shrugged noncommittally, which they took as a yes. They all went down stairs (turns out they were at the TV studio) and found Roger's car.

By the time he got back home, he was drained. And there was a new post on the Ladyblog about what had happened-at least, as far as Alya remembered and what she was able to scrounge up from Ladybug before they left. He was sure by this time tomorrow, she'd have gotten her hands on security footage from any camera that had caught so much as a glimpse of what had happened. Even though she was a teenager, she was the best source for information on akuma attacks and Ladybug in the city, rivaling even the news station at points. They surely wouldn't bat an eye at contributing akuma footage.

He laid back in bed and cranked up some music, plugging in his headphones. He didn't have the energy to continue any research for his art project, or any other homework for that matter. He'd been hoping to get back from the Louvre in time to work on the Physics and Language Arts assignments before he got tired, but extenuating circumstances gave him an excuse for some late work.

He was sure Ms. Mendeleev was going to point out that Max had finished all of his homework after he'd been akumatized. But he'd worry about that tomorrow.

This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, mainly because there weren't very many timeskips in the Puppeteer episode, and I didn't want to just re-write the entire fight scene over again. I hope you don't mind!

This is the last chapter of Casual Villainy for now, primarily because the season is over. If we see the Evillustrator again in upcoming seasons or anything, this story will get updated, though probably not immediately. I'm really excited for the webisodes, I hope we get to see some Nathanael in it. Hopefully, we might even get some canon clarification on what went down after Evillustrator, though I somewhat doubt it.

If you're craving more Nathanael or Evillustrator in your life, feel free to check out my profile! Basically everything I've been writing recently centers around Nathanael, so I hope you find something that suits your tastes.

Otherwise, thanks so much for reading my story! Have a wonderful day!