Marinette woke with a start, sitting up quickly in bed.
"It was a mistake to give Alya the Fox Miraculous! I've got to get it back!"
Tikki and the other kwamis hovered around her.
"Marinette, before you do anything, you need to read this note," said Tikki, holding up a sheet of paper.
"Not now! I have to check that the Miracle Box is safe!" said Marinette.
"It's safe," said Tikki. "You just had a nightmare. Please read this now."
Marinette took it and started reading. "This is in my handwriting... a note from future me!"
"Future you used the Rabbit Miraculous to bring it to you last night after you went to sleep. We decided to wait until you woke up."
"This is fantastic!" said Marinette. "It gives information from the future, a plan to capture Shadow Moth. His identity is in here too – Gabriel Agreste!"
She read a bit more.
"It also warns me that Chat Noir is going to be shocked that it's his father . Adrien is Chat Noir! I'd better not tell him until we've captured Shadow Moth and gotten his Miraculous away. Adrien might get akumatized into Chat Blanc. He also learned my identity... I'm not sure that should happen this time around."
Marinette got dressed and put the note in her purse. She went to the Miracle Box and got Kaalki's glasses.
"We only have a short time before Shadow Moth is in place. I'm going to have to fetch Chat Noir. Tikki, spots on! Tikki, Kaalki, unify!"
Pegabug picked up a handkerchief and tied it around her face. She regretted this bit of deception, but she needed to go to Adrien without him suspecting that she knew who he was.
"Voyage!"
Pegabug heard a piano playing, and it suddenly stopped.
"Ladybug, is that you? Why the costume change? Why are you blindfolded?" asked Adrien.
"Chat Noir, I'm unified with Kaalki for teleportation. You can call me Pegabug. Tikki told Kaalki where to find you in your civilian identity, and I'm blindfolded so I don't, uh, see your face."
"Just like when Kaalki came to warn me when we were fighting Sole Crusher. I wondered about how she knew where to find me."
"Yes, like that."
"So, what's happening? Is there an emergency?"
"I got a message from my future self, using Fluff. There's a perfect chance to capture Shadow Moth today."
"Great news, Bugaboo! Plagg, claws out!"
"Minou, could you carry me out from here to a rooftop? Then I'll take off the blindfold. I don't need to see what your room is like."
"I don't need to see because I already know," she thought. "When this is over, I hope to spend a lot of time with you here."
Pegabug divided from Kaalki and fed her an apple.
While they waited for the recharge, Ladybug told Chat Noir selected details from the note, about what Shadow Moth was doing (only the part about threatening Alya's family) and how they could catch him from behind to get the coffee cup that controlled Sentibubbler, and also get both of his Miraculouses.
"Yes!" Chat said, "Now we can pounce!"
Pegabug checked the clock in her yo-yo.
"It's time. Tikki, Kaalki, unify! Lucky Charm!"
The charm was still a cooking pot. Pegabug wielded it, preparing to strike like last time. She fixed in her mind the place to portal, above and behind where the note said she had seen Shadow Moth emerge to cross to Alya's home.
"Voyage!"
The portal location was wrong. Shadow Moth wasn't where they expected! They turned around and there he was, close enough to touch, with his back to a chimney. He had the coffee cup in his right hand and the phone in the other, but he wasn't speaking into it.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir!" snarled Shadow Moth. "You got here too quickly! That wasn't the plan! Sentibubbler, come bubble them!"
Ladybug smashed at the hand holding the coffee cup with her pot. Shadow Moth moved his arm and the blow missed. But he was double-teamed. Chat Noir struck the cup from his hand with his baton. It rolled off the roof, out of reach.
Shadow Moth's left hand covered his magical jewelry. His right hand went for his sword.
Inside the house, Alya saw Sentibubbler rush out to the porch but then freeze. She saw that Ladybug and Chat Noir were fighting Shadow Moth. They looked like they needed help.
"Trixx, let's pounce!"
She made a Mirage of two more heroes leaping in, Vipereon and King Monkey.
Shadow Moth saw himself badly outnumbered. He had to create a distraction and escape.
"Sentibubbler, I dismiss you from existence! Catch the hostages, heroes!"
The bubbles disappeared. Alya's family and Nino started to fall.
Rena Rouge rushed to the porch, letting her concentration on the illusion drop. She had only one leap. Nino or her family? With a despairing cry she leapt to save the twins who where falling close together. Not used to judging this kind of leap, she just missed.
"Ella and Etta, nooo!"
Chat Noir looked for Nino, but his bubble was out of sight, falling one block over.
Pegabug leaped up, but she saw there was no way from her position to use her yo-yo to catch them. The bubbles were too scattered. What could she do?
She spun a yo-yo web, but it was too late. The hostages hit the ground.
Pegabug reasoned that forcing Shadow Moth to dismiss Sentibubber was victory enough for the cure to work.
She threw the pot into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
The magic ladybugs swooped up the victims, restored them to life, and put them back in the house, whole but traumatized.
As this was happening, Rena Rouge leaped at Shadow Moth in a fury. "You killed my family!"
At the same moment, also in a rage, Chat Noir called "Cataclysm!"
Shadow Moth stabbed at Rena Rouge with his sword. His blade caught her in the chest, but Chat Noir grabbed his extended sword arm with his power-throbbing hand. Shadow Moth turned to dust before their eyes.
The cure had ended and two had missed the window of healing: Rena Rouge and Shadow Moth.
"What have we done?" said Pegabug. "How could this have gone so wrong?"
Tears filled her eyes as she realized what had made the difference. The note said Marinette shouldn't go to Alya's house. So Alya had no reason to go into her room. So she was out with her family and Nino when the Sentibubbler arrived, bubbling all of them except for Alya. So Shadow Moth made his call earlier, if he even needed to make one. So his movements were different and he wasn't in the predicted place.
Time travel had made everything much, much worse.
