ATUHOR'S NOSE: This episode takes place some time after "Rocketear" and before "Gabriel Agreste" (which, if you didn't read the timeline notes on previous chapters — possibly because we edited them in weeks after the initial upload — is moved to just before "Dearest Family" in our headcanon timeline)
Nobody idly try to figure out the numbers on some of the stuff in this chapter... we did that while writing it and eventually realized "wow, the real numbers kinda suck for our narrative timing, let's not use them".
"They're not ready to wake."
"Well, they can't sleep forever. I don't know what they're waiting on."
"... nor do we, Koppi."
...
"What do you look so baffled about? This is your headspace, isn't it?"
"It is, yes, and whomst the actual fu—"
Another few months had passed, during which Ikarus was occasionally called upon to help out with an akuma. Today was one of those occasions.
"Bad idea bad idea bad idea!" Ikarus exclaimed, tactically retreating down an alleyway.
"Icker ish!" Gigantitan cooed, crawling after him.
"You got the wrong entity, kiddo!" Ikarus declared, jumping up and bounding off the alley walls to the rooftop above.
"Icker ish?"
"Nope! Ikarus is not liquorice, no matter how similar the words may sound!" Ikarus said with a grin, leaping up and over Gigantitan to land on top of his head. Told you it was a tactical retreat!
Never doubted you for a second, Achille.
We can read each other's minds, Celine, I felt your skepticism!
Whatever, just look out for those giant baby hands.
Ikarus quickly returned his attention to the villain, just in time to dodge a swipe from his giant baby hands. "Eep!" And another. And one more. "Oh my gosh kid, take a breath, will ya?!"
The giant baby did not take a breath, but another swing, knocking Ikarus into the air — where he was swiftly caught in Ladybug's yoyo and brought back down to earth.
"Haha, whoops, I got greedy again," Ikarus said with a grin as Ladybug released him and pulled back her yoyo.
"Please be more careful, Ikarus," Ladybug said. "I swear, even Cat Noir isn't this reckless."
"Oof, that's a critical hit to both of us, milady," Cat Noir said, leaning casually on his staff. "Not wrong, though."
"I'm sorry," Ikarus said, standing up and brushing himself off, "but the akuma is right there in the baby's bracelet, I'm sure I can get it if I just try hard enough..."
"Maybe you need an edge," Ladybug said. "After all, I haven't even summoned my Lucky Charm!" And she tossed her yoyo up so it could summon...
"... a pair of boots?" She poked at the soles, which were ridiculously springy. "... Pogo boots? Are those a thing?" She looked around...
"Ooh, ooh, give — give me the spring boots, I can use 'em!" Ikarus exclaimed.
Ladybug grinned. "Yes, I think I will do that..."
Left to his own devices, Gigantitan had wandered through the alleyways to a flower shop, where he was sticking his face in the largest displays. "Pretty!"
"They are pretty, aren't they?" Ikarus said, leaning casually on the shop's wall, holding a flower he had retrieved from a toppled display.
"Icker ish!" Gigantitan exclaimed, and turned to chase after the hero.
"That's right, kiddo — it's me, 'icker ish'." He did a little hop and bounced several meters into the air. "Catch the bouncing octopus, August!"
"Icker ish!" Gigantitan said again, crawling at maximum speed after Ikarus as he bounced off, leading the giant baby on a merry chase through the streets of Paris.
After quite some distance, Ikarus finally found his target — a big open-air swimming pool. And while it took a few more blocks for Gigantitan to notice it as well, he was immediately enthralled.
"Splash!"
"Yeah, splash!" Ikarus said, bounding into the pool with a... yeah. And back out.
A pool like this one would be dangerous for a normal baby, but Gigantitan's massively enhanced bigness attribute meant the water came up about to his knees. He sat down and splashed around energetically.
And thanks to the water muffling any sound, he didn't hear Cat Noir's "Cataclysm!". By the time he noticed his akumatized bracelet had been destroyed, he was already back to normal and safely in Ladybug's arms.
Cat Noir jumped out of the water back to the poolside and dismissed the aqua powerup, taking August from Ladybug so she could purify the akuma.
"No more —"
"Wait," Ikarus interrupted her. "Before you do that..."
Ladybug boggled. "Um, what?"
"Defeated by teenagers once again..." She held out her hands in front of her. "I imagine Shadow Moth must be feeling pretty frustrated right now..."
"... what in the world is he doing?"
Uh, Celine, why'd you jump in front, what in the world are you doing?!
Taking a calculated risk. "Mimic."
A blob of ink squirted out —
The transmission of emotions and energy, forming a bridge that will convey our will from afar —
And formed into a little inky butterfly.
"... That determination. That frustration. That arrogance." Shadow Moth grinned devilishly. "It's perfect. Very well, Ikarus, I accept your gambit — go forth, my akuma, and evilize him!"
"Fly forth, little butterfly, and give Shadow Moth a taste of his own medicine!"
The akumas flew towards each other, and collided —
the true akuma sunk into the replica —
the replica akuma sunk into the true one —
the earth tremored, just a little.
"Er, Ikarus?" Cat Noir said. "I think you might be dividing by zero here..."
Ikarus held her hand out towards the %)(#*& %? floating in midair, grimacing under the strain. "I — I can win this clash, damn it —"
"Shadow Moth's a fully-grown adult, Ikarus!" Ladybug cried. "You can't overpower him with sheer brute force!"
The earth shook again, and the %(*# %)(*$ sparked.
"I'm nearly an adult myself — and I'm — more determined than he is — !"
The earth shook once more —
and something in the clashing magic finally gave way —
a neon butterfly mask — no, an octopus — flickering erratically between the two —
"Hello, Shadow Moth."
"Hello, Legion."
"..." Ikarus frowned slightly. "I... can tell you meant that greeting to feel like a kick in the nads, but I don't quite get why..."
Shadow Moth sighed. "Because I know your secret identity now?"
"Oh!" Ikarus started. "Oh, right, that. That is bad. ... orrrr, it would be, under normal circumstances. But I've connected to you, too."
"You can't get my identity from that," Shadow Moth declared. "Even though I've akumatized you before, I still wouldn't have been able to recognize you under the mask but for your uniquely fragmented mind. You, on the other hand, lack even that small advantage."
"Oh, we're getting all kinds of info from you, mothy," Ikarus said. "For example, did you remember we can see through your eyes? Ah, your panic says you didn't. Too late to close that window — we've already memorized the view."
"... 'we'?" Cat Noir whispered.
"Later," Ladybug said, yoyo still at the ready.
"So what do you intend to do with this information? I'm going to have your address in minutes. Are you planning to simply scour all of Paris looking for this view?"
"Kinda, yeah," Ikarus said. "If you can really figure out where we live, that means we can't go there anymore — and what better to do while on the run than seek out the one who put us there?"
"Uh, Ladybug, what is Ikarus talking about?"
"I'm not quite sure —" if Shadow Moth can figure out where they live, that means he's somehow figured out their identity! "— but it's definitely bad."
"I can tell you're on at least the third floor," Ikarus continued, "so excluding anything that doesn't have that many... you'd be surprised how well that narrows the search."
"Not if I evilize you and erase your memory of this conversation." The flickering neon mask glowed brightly and held the butterfly shape —
"Not if I transform you first!" And flickered again, glowing even brighter, giving off magical sparks as the earth tremored once again —
and suddenly the connection vanished.
"Wh — what just happened?!" Ikarus exclaimed, looking around frantically.
Ladybug opened up her yoyo and released the purified butterfly, alongside a few extra sparks that presumably used to be Mimic ink. "That had gone quite far enough, I think."
"I had him —
"But no point arguing about it," Ikarus said, seemingly interrupting himself. "Tall building. At least three stories. Big circular window with four oblong American-football-ish thingies all intersecting together in the center like an X. Circular aperture thingy to cover the window — not sure if it's inside or outside. We're going to go feed Koppi and start searching."
Koppi, what are you going to want to eat after that?
Ladybug opened her mouth to argue against this, but her earrings beeped their last-dot warning. "I don't have time — this is a bad idea and you should return the Miraculous before something goes even worse."
This is kinda niche, but... candied violets would hit the spot.
Ikarus just handed over the Lucky Charm boots. "Probably, yes, but — a chance to take down Shadow Moth for good? We can't turn that down, no matter how slim. In the likely event that we regret this, you have every right to tell us you told us so."
Not sure offhand where to find those, but we've got a smartphone and we know how to use it, we'll find some.
Ladybug, knowing there was no time to press the point, simply handed August back to Cat Noir, tossed the boots into the sky — "Miraculous Ladybug!" — and zipped away to feed Tikki.
Ikarus glanced down at the flowers he was still holding. "Gah, already screwed one thing up..." He shoved them at Cat Noir. "Here. Er, the geranium was supposed to be for Ladybug so she doesn't feel left out — the others are for you though." And before Cat Noir could respond, Ikarus bounded away with the normal super high jump of a Miraculous-powered superhero.
Cat Noir blinked, looking down at the slightly-battered trio of flowers for him in his hand. "Daffodil, balloon flower, cosmos?" His ring beeped.
"Kitty?" August said, reaching for Cat Noir's ears.
"Oops, guess I should think about that after I get you back to your mama, huh?" And with that, Cat Noir pole-vaulted back to where August's mother would be waiting.
"Whee!"
"Spots on!" Marinette transformed back into Ladybug and immediately checked her bugphone — no messages from Ikarus or Cat Noir, so she called Ikarus.
Ring ring, ring ring... ring ring, ring ring... "The Miraculous you are calling is currently inactive. Please try your call again later. If you would like to leave a voice message, press pound."
"They must still be detransformed," she muttered, disconnecting the call and trying Cat Noir next.
Ring ring, ring ring... "Hey there, bugaboo. August is safely back with his mama. We ready to get back in action?"
"Nearly. It seems like Ikarus is still recharging, so we'll want to keep our eyes out for them to return. Honestly, I still think they should give back their Miraculous rather than trying to escalate this. It's way too dangerous — especially if Shadow Moth really does know their identity like I suspect!"
"You retired Rena Rouge for almost the same reason, yeah. Having seen what Shadow Moth can do when he knows someone's identity... we want to avoid that at all costs. You might have to take their Miraculous back by force."
"I really hope it won't come to that... but if it does..."
Achille left the corner shop with a backpack full of snacks and a face full of frown. You are seriously pushing the limits today, Celine.
Yeah well — you gave flowers to Cat Noir!
That is so not the same level! I thought that out in advance, I know there's only one realistic outcome, which I am fine with, and also Cat Noir isn't a supervillain!
"Internal struggles?" Koppi asked, poking his head out of their backpack as he munched on a candied violet petal.
"So many struggles," Achille said with a sigh, retrieving an apple for himself. "Celine's idea is so dangerous, and it's too late for us to back out." He twisted the apple's stem anxiously. "If something goes wrong... so much can go wrong!"
By this time they'd walked into a secluded alleyway, so Koppi was safe to fly out and land on Achille's shoulder. "Hey, I know it's risky, but you've got this. You all, Ladybug, Cat Noir, and the other heroes too."
"I guess," Achille said, now fiddling with the twisted-off apple stem by itself. "Ladybug wants us to give back the Miraculous — but Shadow Moth knows who we are, and what's to stop him from trying something even if we do get permanently retired?" He ran his hand through his hair nervously.
Koppi nudged Achille in the shoulder. "Quit fiddling with that apple and eat it, Achille. You need to recharge too." And with that, he swooced back into their backpack for another candied violet.
...
Apple consumed and core discarded, Achille was now querying an internet map service for every building in Paris of three or more stories. As many buildings as this excluded, it still left a whole lot of them.
"We could see that big tower through Shadow Moth's window, right?" Koppi said.
"... you mean the Eiffel Tower?" Achille said, navigating to it on the map.
"Yeah, that one!" Koppi said. "Between that and the direction of the sun..." He traced out two lines on the map, forming an angle from the tower. "It's gotta be in this part. And the window we're looking for will be almost but not quite facing it."
"That is an enormous help, thank you Koppi." Achille frowned in thought. "Think we could work out a distance from the size of the tower?"
"Maybe," Koppi said. "Not sure how you'd do that, 'specially since everything else we could compare it to was washed out by how bright it was."
Achille closed one eye and held his hand out against the horizon. "I think it looked about this big... If we use the similar-triangle thing..." He pulled out a notebook, drew two right triangles, scribbled some numbers on them, input them into his phone's calculator app... "Adding some big error bars 'cause of how screwy vision can be... Shadow Moth's lair is probably around that far away, putting it on an arc that looks like this." He took a screenshot of the map with tall-enough buildings highlighted, drew the arc on it, and posted the marked screenshot as a comment on the Ladyblog. "Okay, Koppi — arms up!"
"Sir, I've found the address of Jade Leclair — but I've just checked the Ladyblog and it seems they've severely narrowed down where you are. If this image accurately depicts their search area, it only contains a few dozen buildings, and your home is correctly included in them."
"That arc... it's centered on the Eiffel Tower. Was that all they needed to narrow it down so far? I truly underestimated them. No more. We'll need to pull out all the stops, now. Nathalie... are you well enough to become Catalyst again, one last time?"
"Report comment report comment report comment — ugh, that's gonna be too slow, I should call Alya directly —" Ladybug pulled out her bugphone and dialed the number. "Alya! I know I'm calling from the wrong phone, this is an emergency — you need to delete the comment I just reported, now, before Shadow Moth sees it!"
"All right, girl, I'm on it. You're awfully worked up about a... whoa. Does this map mean what I think it means?"
"Yes, and if Shadow Moth realizes that he's going to get desperate! I've already saved the picture and copied it to Cat Noir, just get it off the public site!"
"Copy that, and it's gone. You know he might've seen it already, though, right? If he has any sense at all, he's actively watching my blog for stuff like this."
"Yes. I'm reactivating all the temporary Miraculous — Rena Furtive needs to stay out of sight even now, but everyone else is coming back: Carapace, Pegasus, Ryuko, Pigella, King Monkey, Purple Tigress — I'd even bring back Aspik, Queen Bee, and Multimouse if I hadn't already found replacements for them all. This is going to be the final battle with Shadow Moth, whether we like it or not — so I'm making absolutely sure we win it."
"Shadow Moth..." Catalyst coughed. "I give you the power... to unleash an unending swarm of akumas and amoks. You are now... Mayhem Moth."
Shadow Moth simply stood there silently as the red catalyzing energy transformed him into Mayhem Moth. Catalyst coughed again.
"Rest now, Catalyst," Mayhem Moth said, helping her stand. "Don't do anything more than maintain the connection." Mayhem Moth withdrew a crimson feather from his fan. "This scarlet sentimonster will see to everything you need," he said, planting the mayhem amok.
"Th... thank you, Mayhem Moth..."
"It's the least I can do." And with that he made to leave the apartment, but hesitated. "Nathalie... you've been such a tremendous help to me for so long... I couldn't bear to lose you. I'm going to defeat those heroes, take their Miraculous, and finally cure Emilie — and you. This... this may be my last chance. I must succeed."
"Don't be bemused, it's just the news! Paris has been overrun by a horde of sentimonsters and akumatized villains — it seems Scarlet Moth is back, but what brought on this sudden ruthlessness? Just keep your emotions under control as best you can, and hopefully that will keep the scarlet akumas away from you — a tall order in the middle of a crisis, but I have faith in my audience."
"... Holy motherforking shirtballs."
Seriously, Achille? If there's just one appropriate time to drop a real F-bomb, that was it.
"How did it get this bad!?"
We threatened him with exposure and he got desperate. Same way we got desperate.
"We have to do something!"
Yeah, it's called the same thing we were already gonna do. Seek him out and take him down. Just add to that taking down akumas and amoks on our way.
"I hope I was right about other Miraculous being able to purify those. Cat Noir never got back to us about that."
It looks like the villains and sentimonsters are heading toward Place de la Concordes.
"Wait, I should just text them and ask."
Is Shadow Moth planning to fight us there, or is that just what he wants us to think...?
"And tell her that she's gonna want the other heroes too, though I'm guessing she figured that out on her own."
Might be best regardless to hang back and wait for an opportunity, though...
"You done, Celine? Cause as soon as Ladybug texts back, I'm gonna handle this fight however she tells us to."
Unless we see a chance to take down Shadow Moth, right?
"Okay yeah, sure, if we see a chance we take it. Obviously. Just saying that, tactically speaking, we're letting Ladybug call the shots so we don't try anything that might divide by zero again. Or get us killed a normal way. Or do some other going-horribly-wrong thingy."
I take it you're not pleased with this outcome?
Achille glared very loudly. "I know you can't see this but you can feel it and I will have you know that this is my loudest glare. Of course I don't like this! There's like a nine in ten chance everything's gonna go horribly wrong! And you knew that when you did it!"
Yeah, but there's like a one in ten chance of taking down Shadow Moth for good!
"That doesn't balance! Ugh, maybe we should just give back our Miraculous if one of us is gonna be this way..."
You'd seriously go that far?
"... Gah, I wouldn't. Lousy goddang sneaky predicty sister being right about things..."
Haha, I win~
"Oh, hush off... We should get into position. Ladybug could be texting us back any moment now."
The air was tense, and not just because the battle was fast approaching.
... Something's wrong.
"What do you want, Celine?" Achille snapped.
See, that's literally what I'm talking about — normally when we're fighting like this, Le would've stepped in to mediate by now.
Achille blinked. "... Huh. Now that I think about it, we haven't heard from him since... this morning, when we transformed to handle Gigantitan." Le! You awake? "... What the heck, calling his name usually works! Where did he go...?"
"Today's plan will be pretty similar to Heroes' Day, only with sentimonsters to deal with as well — and thankfully, without Dark Cupid on the enemy team ready to get anyone akumatized in a moment.
"In fact, a lot of the old akumatized villains won't be around today, because today Shadow Moth was acting out of desperation — he didn't have time to plan an incident to shatter the spirits of Paris's citizens, so a lot of people just weren't vulnerable.
"He's been backed into a corner — you all saw the map Ikarus made — and he's lashing out with everything he's got, because he knows that if he doesn't win now, his civilian identity will be exposed in short order. But that also means that he's not going to give up this fight unless we've crushed him completely.
"So that's why —"
Ladybug trailed off, suddenly noticing that the other heroes were staring behind her. She turned around. "What the — is that — ?!"
"Legion. And Domain," Cat Noir confirmed.
"But Céleste and Jade both have magical charms! They should be protected!" And — Ladybug frantically pulled out her bugphone to text Ikarus. She got a response back in seconds.
What? No, we're not akumatized, why do you ask?
Wait hell we just saw it. How the hells did Scarlet Moth bring back our akuma form ex nihilo?
"I'm actually seeing one heck of a lot of villains who shouldn't have been possible to re-akumatize," Cat Noir added. "Like — is it just me, or do I see Bubbler and Rocketear walking next to each other? Aren't they both Nino Lahiffe?" Cat Noir tried very hard not to glance at Carapace as he said this.
"That is... extremely trippy," Carapace said. I'm Nino! Who the hell are they?! "Where did those two come from? Are they clones or something?
"Sentimonsters," Ladybug said, a look of horror dawning on her face. "They're sentimonster copies! He's done it before with Sentibubbler — now he's doing it again, but more! He could release unlimited akumas last time, now he has unlimited amoks too!"
"That is seriously OP," Pegasus said.
"And Master Fu's hungry sentimonster was boosted by an akuma," Cat Noir said, "so Scarlet Moth is probably boosting his unlimited sentimonsters with his unlimited akumas, too..."
"None of which makes him immune to being stung," Vesperia said.
"Or disrupted," King Monkey added.
"Right," Ladybug said, regaining her confidence. "Even with all this, if one of you can hit him just once, the battle will be nearly over then and there."
"They just need me to get them a clear shot," Pegasus said.
Ladybug nodded. "We just need to take out as many amoks as possible and keep Scarlet Moth's attention off Pegasus. In the meantime, the recon team is doing their thing — based on Ikarus's intel, they might be able to find Scarlet Moth's home, and hopefully also the source of his boosted power..."
Polymouse and Purple Tigress hopped from rooftop to rooftop, watching the facades of the buildings they passed as intently as they could.
"I still don't see it," Purple Tigress grumbled.
Ryuko and Pigella met the two approaching from the other direction. "No positive identifications yet," Ryuko said. She pulled up the map image on her sword phone, which now had several red X marks drawn on it. "I was able to exclude certain houses because they had no wall space facing the Eiffel Tower that was large enough for a window even approaching the size Ikarus reported, or all such wall spaces were obstructed by billboards or similar. It seems likely that the 'aperture thingy' they spoke of conceals all signs of the window from outside.
"We'll need to investigate each remaining house's walls in detail. Polymouse."
Polymouse nodded. "Multitude!" She split into a bunch of tiny heroes, one for each house, and the mischief split up, each mouse to a single target.
"We're this close to exposing Shadow Moth and ending his reign for good!" Pigella declared. "We just have to do a little searching while the team has one last battle..."
"We'll probably have to fight in the end ourselves, too," Purple Tigress pointed out. "Scarlet Moth may be out on the front lines today, but he's probably left someone holding the fort."
"And whoever they are, I'll find out what they want," Pigella responded, clutching her tambourine. "And then we'll find them a better way to get it than working with a supervillain."
"Assuming they even know it's Scarlet Moth that's employing them, and not his civilian identity," Ryuko said. "And assuming it's even a person, as opposed to an automated security system."
"Well, if it's a robot, that'll make things easy," Purple Tigress said. "You can just zap it."
"Perhaps. But we must always remain on our guard. What we find may itself be dangerous..."
Mayhem Moth stood on top of the Luxor Obelisk, watching his double-mayhem sentimonster-villains forming ranks. (Not exactly a structure intended for the purpose, but with Miraculous-enhanced balance, standing on it was a trivial task for him.)
He gazed over the crowd with a smirk. "I've given you all your purpose. You know exactly what I want. Not like regular villains who need to be convinced, be promised, be persuaded and manipulated. You're all really just extensions of my will, aren't you? Ah, how I wish this had occurred to me long ago...
"Heroes of Paris, I am Mayhem Moth. I know you're watching me, likely not far away. I once again offer you the bargain I offered on Heroes' Day. Turn over your Miraculous, and all this goes away."
Slowly, patiently, Mayhem Moth counted to sixty. No response whatsoever.
"... Very well. If you won't surrender, only one option remains to me.
"Mayhem army, disperse and wreak havoc and destruction throughout Paris! And Paris, know that your so-called 'heroes' let this happen!"
It had been but minutes, and already Paris was in a state of utter chaos.
The sentimonster villains seemed unstoppable — not a single amok had been uncovered, and the rare captured akuma only made the sentimonsters slightly less vicious for the few minutes until Mayhem Moth inevitably just sent them a new one.
It took only a few minutes of fighting them to realize the obvious cause.
"The amoks are all on Mayhem Moth!" Ladybug exclaimed. "Why would he need to put them anywhere else?"
"I calculate an 85% probability that you are correct," Pegasus said, tossing his boomerang and tripping a sentimonster that was charging at Ladybug. "And while there is an 75% probability that taking out his cane will take out the entire mayhem army, that other 25% would leave us... rather high and dry. And as the battle stands, I can project only a 30% chance at best that an attempt to get the cane would even succeed."
"We need to go straight for the snake's head," Ladybug said. "And that calls for a Lucky Charm!"
Her yoyo spun in the air and the creation magic quickly coalesced into...
"... two empty Miraculous boxes?" One would make me think it was Heroes' Day all over again — what on earth does two mean?! She frowned as the sunlight reflected off the boxes' polished surface. "Well, one of the things it means is definitely 'watch your back'," she said, pocketing one.
"Will do, milady," Cat Noir said, swoocing in at very high speed to dropkick a sentimonster that had had its eye on Ladybug. "I watch your back, you watch mine?"
"As long as every back gets watched, I'm not too concerned with who does it," Ladybug said, resolutely ignoring Cat Noir's double entendre. "Though there is one thing I wanted to ask. Since the Lucky Charm gave me two boxes, it seems to make sense that you should hold on to one. Just in case."
Cat Noir nodded and pocketed the other box. "You only need one to summon the Miraculous Ladybugs, right?"
"Right. ... Hold up, someone's calling me?" She tapped her earpiece. "... Ikarus. I told you to lie low. ... A plan. ... Pegasus, Viperion, and — no, Purple Tigress isn't available, why do you need her? ... I see. That could actually work — instead of Purple Tigress, try taking King Monkey. ... Yes, you get it. I'll set up a group call for the four of you to coordinate."
The first thing that needed to happen was for Pegasus and King Monkey to gain height. Lots and lots of height. And they couldn't use Voyage to do it.
Of course, with Miraculous-enhanced strength, that just meant leaping their way up the Eiffel Tower. Pegasus could just barely see the Luxor Obelisk from there, which was all he needed.
"We're in position."
While he waited for Viperion to give the signal, he looked around the city, keeping an eye out for sentimonster-villains.
"It's rather surreal knowing that Shadow Moth's lair is likely visible from this very spot," Pegasus said conversationally.
"Well, I'm gonna guess it ain't that house with the big ugly billboard blocking it," King Monkey said.
Pegasus looked over at where King Monkey was pointing. "... Hm, that looks like the Agreste mansion. I'm surprised someone as influential as Gabriel Agreste would allow such an eyesore to block his view, even if it is only from the rear."
King Monkey shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't care cause he's too busy locking himself up for work to look outside and enjoy the view once in a while."
"Maybe..." Pegasus said, sounding skeptical. Whatever he was going to say after that was forgotten as their earpieces beeped.
"Everyone's in position."
Polymouse's inspection of each individual house's sufficiently-sized walls had produced one promising result, around which the three heroes were currently standing.
Polymouse herself had popped off to recharge Mullo, but the power of Multitude seemed unlikely to be immediately necessary, so they were now waiting not on her return, but on Viperion's signal.
"I can hardly believe that this is really Shadow Moth's apartment," Purple Tigress muttered.
"It might not be," Ryuko countered. "We need to take care, lest we accost an innocent civilian."
"It's in the right place," Pigella said. "It has a big wall with an aperture thingy covering what could be a window with the right view of the Eiffel Tower. And, most crucially, Polymouse checked all the other buildings in the area and none of them fit."
"Still, it's always possible someone made a mistake," Ryuko said. "And Ikarus themself said their methodology was extremely imprecise. I hope this is the right place too, but we need to be prepared for all possible outcomes."
"We do have a fallback plan for if this somehow turns out to be the wrong place," Purple Tigress said, "but we shouldn't be completely gung-ho just because we can. Speaking of which, let's wait for Viperion's signal. If there's anyone in here, they probably have working ears."
Pigella and Ryuko nodded and the trio waited in silence.
"Be ready. T minus 3... 2... 1... Second Chance!"
Pegasus and King Monkey jumped off the Eiffel Tower.
Purple Tigress popped the apartment's back window out of its hinges and the three heroes swooced right in. Glancing around the apartment they saw various normal furnishings, but the occupant was out of sight.
Searching the place didn't take them long. The kitchen, restroom, living room, and dining room were all empty. They found their mark in the bedroom —
A hovering, tentacled thing, holding up several objects including a tablet for a person lying in the bed — obviously akumatized, given her outfit, a bizarre metallic thing with a helmet and a glowing red visor. Despite being akumatized, she looked bizarrely weak. Or perhaps it was because she was akumatized.
"Hello there, heroes," Catalyst said, and coughed.
"Lightning Dragon!" Ryuko called, and in a flash, every exposed object in the room was fried. A feather floated out from somewhere, which Pigella swiped up with her tambourine, and the tentacled thing vanished.
"That was a service sentimonster, I'll have you know," Catalyst grumbled, slowly sitting up.
"Her akuma wasn't released," Purple Tigress observed. "The object's not on her?"
"You'll never find it," Catalyst taunted, placing her hand on the bed's headboard. "Even if you got a chance to look."
And in a flash, sticky tentacles descended from the ceiling, and all three heroes were pulled into the air, bound tightly.
Catalyst struggled to her feet and approached the three. "A dragon... a pig... and a tiger... not the ladybug and black cat we're hunting for, but valuable prizes nonetheless." She coughed again, and had to prop herself up on the bedframe before she continued. "Stealth Sneak, take their Miraculous."
A sticky tongue lashed out from somewhere on the ceiling, pulling the jewels right off the girls and turning them back to their normal selves.
The tongue's owner, now fading back into visibility, turned out to be a second sentimonster, vaguely reptilian in appearance and only slightly larger than an actual lizard would be, with countless tentacles coming out of its back, three of which were the ones holding the heroes.
"... Well, Mademoiselle Tsurugi," Catalyst said, "I must say I'm surprised to see you here, for a few reasons." She glanced at Rose and Juleka. "... don't recognize you two, but you're not going anywhere anyway."
"There's got to be a way out of this," Juleka mumbled.
"Good luck finding it," Catalyst said.
"What she said but unironically!" Rose said. "I believe in you!"
Juleka looked around the room desperately.
They were tied up pretty damn inextricably...
... and without their Miraculous, they couldn't even contact their allies...
... but how long does it really take to feed Mullo and retransform? ...
... and based on the villain's movements, she had a sneaking suspicion...
"The second amok's in the bedframe!" Juleka shouted as loudly as she could manage.
Catalyst almost laughed, before it turned into another coughing fit. It took a moment for her to recover enough to speak: "And just who do you expect to be able to act on that information, anyway?"
"Second Chance!"
"You got caught the first time around. Polymouse managed to tell me 'the second amok's in the bedframe'."
Once again, the three heroes popped the window out of its hinges, but this time they beelined directly for the bedroom.
Once again, they saw Catalyst being attended to by a hovering tentacled thing, but this time, Ryuko used Lightning Dragon to destroy every exposed object and piece of furniture, releasing two amoks.
"... Clever children," Catalyst said as the two sentimonsters vanished and Pigella swiped up both amoks.
"But no akuma was released," Purple Tigress said. "It's not on you?"
"You'll never find it."
Pegasus and King Monkey were falling off the Eiffel Tower. The tallest thing in Paris, it wasn't tall enough for them to reach terminal velocity, but they'd be going pretty damn fast at the bottom.
"Uproar!"
"Voyage!"
King Monkey held tight to the tiny butterfly plushie his power had summoned, while Pegasus watched the ground approaching, tensely waiting for the very last possible moment to throw the portal —
— opening the other end right at the top of the Luxor Obelisk, too fast for Mayhem Moth to react —
— flinging King Monkey's outstretched foot directly into the villain's smug face —
which vanished in a cloud of smoke, along with the rest of him.
"An illusion?!" Pegasus exclaimed. "Where's the real one!?"
"Uh, good question," King Monkey said as he skidded to a halt.
Ladybug and Cat Noir were still fighting the sentimonsters, alongside Vesperia and Carapace, while Rena Furtive watched from afar. (Officially known only to Ladybug, though Carapace had a sneaking suspicion.)
"This is really exhausting, milady," Cat Noir said. "We're not making any kind of progress against them!"
"Shellter!" Carapace called, putting up a barrier over the team just in time to stop several incoming sentimonsters.
Breathing heavily, Ladybug took this as an opportunity to look around again. "... I still can't see a workable plan here," she muttered, pulling the shiny Miraculous box out of her pocket once more and looking at the reflections in its surface.
"You don't see a workable plan because there isn't one," Mayhem Moth declared, suddenly approaching the team. "My plan is perfect. There's nothing you can do."
"Venom." Vesperia called, readying her paralyzing toxin.
"He's here!" Ladybug said into her communicator. "Southwest part of the plaza!"
"It's too bad your Horse is already expended," Mayhem Moth said. "There's simply nothing you can do with that information."
"Second Chance!"
It had taken over two dozen resets, including three where Mayhem Moth had actually spotted him, but Viperion had finally managed to backtrace his steps all the way back to where he was lurking at the beginning of the loop. One more reset, and...
"Recon team, the second amok's in the bedframe. Jump team, the one on the obelisk is an illusion — I'm sending everyone the coordinates of the true target."
Ikarus looked at the map data that had just popped up on his octophone. It was startlingly close to his vantage point. He felt like he could practically reach out and touch it...
"... Hey, Viperion. Is this one or two?"
"... it's two, but you didn't actually explain why you were asking — "
Ikarus leapt off the building. "Mimic — "
Ultimate destruction at our fingertips, tempered only by our own will —
"— Cataclysm!"
The street collapsed, revealing a basement containing a very startled Mayhem Moth and Volpina. (Real or sentimonster clone, Ikarus didn't know — and figured it probably didn't matter under the circumstances.)
In that moment, while they were distracted looking at him, Pegasus's portal opened up and flung both heroes out full-speed, directly into Volpina, launching her across the room.
I knew it! We'd decided not to do it unless Viperion told us we'd asked him twice, because that would mean something had gone wrong with the original plan, and this is what it was!
Mayhem Moth flipped open his cane and flung forth a trio of mayhem akumas, which got about half a meter away before being snapped up in Ikarus's chakrams.
"Not happening, mothman," he quipped, releasing the purified butterflies. "We're doing this fight the normal way."
"When all three of you are on a time limit? I'd call that 'one-sided' more than 'normal'."
"That's a good point," King Monkey said. "Should I hold one hand behind my back to even the odds?"
Mayhem Moth, apparently not appreciating the joke, just seethed and charged at him.
King Monkey tossed the Uproar butterfly toy at him, and —
suddenly, the walls melted away, revealing dozens of hidden sentimonsters
the floor melted
the sky melted
Ikarus cursed loudly and tossed out his chakrams —
— and then it all vanished in a swirl of smoke.
"Wh— an illusion?!"
"Sorry not sorry," Volpina's voice echoed from somewhere.
"She body-blocked him," Ikarus growled, looking around frantically for Mayhem Moth. "She illusioned herself to look like him so you would accidentally waste your power on her instead of — hngk!?"
"Looking for someone?" Mayhem Moth said, holding Ikarus tightly by the arms. "Well, here I am. And oh, look, such a nice pin you've got, mind if I add it to my collection?"
"Not if I take yours first," Ikarus hissed.
"Oh? And with what pow— ARGH?!" Mayhem Moth suddenly cried out in pain as Ikarus headbutted him right in the nose and grasped blindly at his chest —
"Ha! Got it!"
"That's not yours, child!" Scarlet Moth bashed Ikarus's wrist with his cane and pried open his fist, wrenching back the Peacock Miraculous just as Ikarus made a second grasp — "no, you don't! Duusu, unify!"
Mayhem Moth winced as Pegasus's boomerang smacked him in the face. "You children have vexed me enough today —" he lifted Ikarus up by the throat. "I think I'm going to have to confiscate your toys before I break you." He took the Octopus Miraculous and pocketed it —
— just as Achille made yet another desperate swipe at Mayhem Moth's chest, knocking something off with a clatter —
"FOR THE LOVE OF —" The villain tossed the detransformed child at a charging King Monkey, forcing the hero to check his attack to catch his friend. "You impossibly persistent little thorn, Jade Leclair — " but his rant was cut short as a red neon mask appeared over his face. He grimaced fiercely, apparently hearing something he didn't like. "Savor your reprieve, child. It will not be long."
And with that, he leapt out of the basement.
"... you okay?" King Monkey said.
"Put me down and follow him!" Achille said. "At least see where he goes!"
"R- right!" King Monkey set Achille down gently and leapt off, following Pegasus (who had already given chase).
And the system was once again alone.
"Ow..." Achille said. "Ow ow ow ow ow..."
Before we pass out, would you mind checking over there?
"... right. It did go that way, didn't it?" Slowly, achingly, Achille made his way in the correct general direction and dug through some rubble. It didn't take long for him to hit gold, or more precisely, to hit mysterious purple jewel.
Holy crap.
"... Yeah, true." Achille considered pocketing the brooch, but decided to be a little bit less predictable and slipped it into his shoe instead. "Can we pass out now?"
... Yeah I think we're gonna do that.
And after that is when you awoke.
"In my own bed. ... I imagine one of the other heroes brought us here?"
I cannot confirm, as the body was unconscious... but it is the obvious guess. That or the Miraculous Ladybugs.
"... Y'know, when I asked why I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a steamroller, I was rather expecting something... shorter."
The tale is as long as it is, no more or less.
"Right. Very helpful and not cryptic. And Achille and Celine are...?"
They yet slumber. While they did not realize it, your absence was severely draining to them. But they will return in due time, as you did.
"... Yeah, I suppose that tracks." Jade scanned through the news footage of the fight once again, watching the sentimonster army vanish all at once, then zipping back to the moment Pegasus and King Monkey dove off the Eiffel Tower.
What will you do, child?
"Not sure. Well, actually — there is one thing I'm sure of. Shadow Moth — or whatever he's going by now — knows we live here. So... we can't stay." They gingerly got out of the bed, wincing all the way. "Pack our bag and go... anywhere else. Anywhere the villain won't think to look. I'm surprised he hasn't jumped us already."
Suddenly, Jade looked around warily. "... No? No speak-of-the-devil moment?"
This is real life, not your stories. Our enemy will appear when he chooses to, for he is not beholden to the laws of narrative drama.
"Right. Obviously." Jade looked around for where their backpack was and spotted it hanging from their desk chair. "Don't know how long we're gonna have, so we'd best do this as fast as we can manage."
"Catalyst. I release you from your existence." Gabriel snapped his fingers, and Catalyst dissolved into a cloud of purple smoke.
"I still don't understand why my sentimonster replica bore Nathalie's illness. But unless I can work around that problem, I won't be able to use that plan again.
"Perhaps my new teammate has some advice?"
Koppi glared at Gabriel, tentacles balled up like fists. "Yeah, I have some advice, go jump in a lake!"
"My, my, such a combative tone. You haven't forgotten the power I have over you, surely?"
"You can make me tell you any ideas I have, but you can't make me think them up in the first place!"
Gabriel laughed. "Nooroo was never as rebellious as you. His spirit was broken the moment he realized my intentions. But how long do you think it will take me to break yours?"
ATUHOR'S NOSE: *looks at the ridiculousness that is this chapter* ... As incredibly cool as power-copying is as a concept, you can kinda see why it's uncommon in canons of this nature, huh 😝
But that's also exactly why we love playing around with it. 😀
