Welcome back! As we wait for more episodes, I'll keep writing crap to fill the void!
This chapter was requested by a reader on AO3, a follow-up of sorts to chapter 3's kwami shenanigans. I do take prompt requests so if you have any let me know.
"Second Chance!"
The Snake Miraculous was activated, marking the start of the heroes time limit. It wasn't the usual team of Ladybug, Cat Noir and whichever heroes were on shift. This team consisted of Viperion, Ryuko, Vesperia and Rooster Bold. No sign of either of the co-guardians in sight.
In fact, every Miraculous holder in Mrs. Bustiers class was out of commission! Their kwamis weren't in their usual hangout and they couldn't find them anywhere! So now it was up to the four who were outside the class.
"So we are all clear on the plan. Without Ladybug, we can't fix everything after the battle. With my power, I can rewind time if the collateral damage gets too bad. Vesperia will paralyze the akuma with me and Rooster as backup. Ryuko, you find the kwamis." Viperion relayed the plan once more for the sake of the readers.
Vesperia sighed. "I'm worried about those little guys. What do you think happened to them?"
OXOXOXOX
"You told me you loved me!"
"That was before you made out with my evil twin adopted brother! Now I loathe you!"
Seated in the back of the movie theater was a group of kwamis, hiding under the seats where no one could see them. All of them, even Tikki, were completely engrossed in the film. Ziggy, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the phone for akuma alerts, had put it on silent without thinking and paid no attention to the flashing alerts.
OXOXOXOX
As Ryuko leapt over the rooftops, the remaining trio looked over the side of the building they were on, observing the supervillain marching down the streets. The middle-aged red-skinned man had bowling balls for fists. "I am Perfect Game! If the bowling alley won't let me play anymore, then all of Paris will be the pins in my lane!"
Rooster Bold raised an eyebrow. "You know, they really should make anger management sessions mandatory for a city with a supervillain who targets negative emotions." The other two nodded in agreement.
Perfect game struck a pose and tossed one of his bowling ball fists towards a nice cafe. The ball smashed through the window and crushed someone's nice garden salad they had just received. The trio realized the destructive power this akuma held and swiftly leapt into action. "Back off, akuma!" Vesperia pointed as she struck a landing. "You've struck out and-" "Vesp-" Rooster leaned in to whisper "That's a baseball term. Doesn't work for this villain." "Dang!" the girl snapped her fingers in disappointment.
"Where are the bug and cat?" Perfect Game asked. The outline of a mask glowing on his face appeared as he spoke with Hawkmoth. "Not important. We can handle you by ourselves." Viperion struck a heroic pose. The akuma wasn't threatened. He shot his other fist towards the heroes who moved out of the way… and left the bowling ball on a collision course with a brand new car. The driver blinked at the ball that crushed the hood of his car. "... Good thing I got supervillain insurance."
Elsewhere, Ryuko searched for the kwamis. But realized one important detail a little too late. "... Paris is a huge city and they are very tiny." The task was nearly impossible, even for her. Ryuko stepped aside and hid behind a chimney, dropping her transformation and cupping the little dragon that landed in her hands "Longg-sama, can you think of anywhere the other kwamis could be?"
"That is a difficult question. With Plagg they could be anywhere fun and with Tikki she'd make them all be careful and hide themselves well." Longg sounded angry, and why wouldn't he be? He never gets to go out on the town with the other kwamis when they sneak out! AND HE WAS THE ONE WHO GOT THE HAT FOR THE GARY DISGUISE AND THEY DIDN'T BRING HIM ALONG!
Kwami drama aside, Longg did list a few places the others hadn't been to yet. And he kept listing them. In excruciating detail. And Kagami was taking precise notes.
It would take a while.
The other three kept stalling Perfect Game. Rooster made his power 'stop any bowling ball being thrown around me' while Vesperia went in close to use her Venom. Calling forth her stinger, she reached out towards the akuma. "Not a chance, missy!" a bowling ball launched from his hand and knocked the bee heroine away. The venom stung a pigeon that was trying to fly out of the way and paralyzed it. "Viperion, he wasted my power!"
The snake hero sighed. He ducked behind a car and called Ryuko on his lyre, though it went straight to voicemail. "Maybe…?" he tried calling Kagami's regular phone, and that call went through "Ryuko, why did you de-transform? Did you find the kwamis?"
"Not yet. Longg-sama has been telling me every place they could be. I'm writing it down as we speak." He heard from the other end. Viperion facepalmed "We don't have time for that. The other two have already used their powers and we can't keep stalling hi-"
A loud crash shook the streets. Viperion popped his head up to look at what had happened. There was a giant bowling ball in the side of the Arc de Triomphe. His eyes looked to Rooster Bold, who was standing nowhere near the arc and gaping in horror at the carnage. "... We can't fix that."
OXOXOXOX
"Second Chance!"
Having rewound time, Viperion found himself back on the rooftop with the other three heroes. "Just went through a loop. Ryuko, go search for the missing kwamis and please don't ask your own for help." "… Alright." The dragon heroine knew there must be a good reason for that note.
"Rooster Bold-" Viperion looked at the rooster hero. "Give yourself the power to protect iconic landmarks." "Uh… sure." Rooster shrugged.
Like the first time, Ryuko went to search for the kwamis as the remaining three peered down at the supervillain. "I am Perfect Game! If the bowling alley won't let me play anymore, then all of Paris will be the pins in my lane!" The scene played out once again.
Rooster Bold raised an eyebrow. "You know, they really should make-" "Yes, yes they should." Viperion nodded, knowing what his friend was going to say. Though Vesperia tilted her head, confused about the conversation.
As the first bowling ball thrown crushed the salad again, the trio sprung into action… again. "Sublimation! I choose the power to protect iconic landmarks!" Rooster Bold activated his power as he landed. Vesperia landed beside him. "Back off, akuma! You've-" "It's a baseball term." Viperion corrected her before she finished. The bee girl snapped her fingers in disappointment while Rooster Bold blinked, completely lost on what happened.
"Where are the bug and cat?" Perfect Game asked. The outline of a mask glowing on his face appeared as he spoke with Hawkmoth. "Not important. We can handle you by ourselves." Viperion struck a heroic pose… again!
The battle played out similarly to before, and when it came time for Vesperia to call forth her venom, Viperion held her back. "Hold on a minute. Don't activate it until you're in range." The girl nodded, heading his advice. She charged at the supervillain, dodging bowling balls as she made her way over to Perfect Game. "Venom!" she summoned the power at point blank, with no way to miss.
… and Perfect Game responded by shooting her in the gut with a bowling ball at point blank.
Vesperia flew into a wall while Perfect Game conjured an enormous bowling ball. It soared through the air and collided with the Le Grand Paris, which Rooster Bold was unable to protect as it wasn't an iconic landmark. Viperion cringed at the damage, before checking in with Ryuko "Any luck?" "No, none." with that answer he used his power once again.
OXOXOXOX
"Second Chance!"
Back at the start again, Viperion quickly recapped his last loop. "Our previous attempts didn't work. Let's try it a little differently and have Ryuko and Vesperia switch roles." The girls nodded, though the bee girl raised her hand. "It wasn't my fault, was it?"
"... no." Viperion hesitated to answer, knowing that she indeed missed her target both times.
Rooster leaned over the snake's shoulder. "You hesitated." He whispered out of earshot of the girls.
With Vesperia off to search for the kwami's, the group went over the new battle plan. In particular, Rooster Bold was to use his sublimation to give him the ability to protect ALL structures from bowling ball damage. The trio found Perfect Game, giving his opening monologue again, "I am Perfect Game! If the bowling alley won't-" blah blah blah you heard it before.
Rooster had just opened his mouth when Viperion nodded to him. "Yes, I agree." "Agree with what?" Ryuko asked, wondering what he was talking about. It was Rooster that explained "I was about to say that this city needs mandatory anger management classes for-" he couldn't finish his sentence, as the effects of his chosen ability pulled him away to intercept the bowling ball that would have crushed the salad. Apparently, this time, instead of catching the balls, he used himself as a superhuman shield to block the damage. It hurt.
The snake and dragon heroes leapt down and approached the villain. "Where are the bug and cat?" the akuma asked again. "They'll be here soon." Ryuko assured him, though the other heroes knew she was bluffing. "In the meantime, you will deal with us!"
The battle began differently this time, as Ryuko took the offensive to deflect the bowling balls with her sword. Rooster Bold had his hands full stopping each of the stray sporting goods, forever thankful that his Miraculous made him more pain tolerant. Viperion didn't let his companion suffer alone. He also took to shielding the public from the stray attacks.
With the distance between herself and Perfect Game closing in, Ryuko activated her power. "Lightning Dragon!" her body turned into a burst of lightning. She zigzagged to the akuma, zapping him with her power… and kept going. "Ryuko!" Viperion cried out as he saw her heading for a power line. Ryuko stopped her power, but not soon enough for some of the sparks to hit the line. An electrical surge overpowered wires and sent a massive bolt through the power grid to the tallest building within reach. The TV station.
The heroes watched as the building cackled and the electronics smoked and exploded, Viperion got a call on his lyre and answered it "Hey, I haven't found the kwamis… and I can see the TV building smoking so…" "Yep, going back now."
OXOXOXOX
"Second Chance!"
Time had rewound again, back to the start. Viperion considered what had happened in the prior loop and looked over the team once more. "We've been through this a few times already. Ryuko and Vesperia both searched for the other kwamis and came up empty-handed. Rooster Bold, you should give it a try this time."
"You can count on me!" The rooster hero leapt from the side of the rooftop over to the next. If the girls had failed, then how was he supposed to locate the tiny gods? It's not like he had a kwami detector! "... wait a second-Sublimation!" he called upon his special ability "I choose the ability to locate kwamis!"
It felt like he had a radar in his brain, Rooster Bold closed his eyes and envisioned the city of Paris as a grid. Thirteen tiny signals bleeped to him from a few blocks away. He grinned excitedly. "Found em! Now I just have to head over before the collateral damage gets too high!"
Back with the other three heroes, the fight against Perfect Game went really bad without the Sublimation. Bad enough that the trio was gawking in horror as the Eiffel Tower leaned forward in their direction and threatened to flatten them and part of the city.
It was happening too fast. There wasn't enough time to contact Rooster Bold about the kwamis. Viperion figured his luck would fare the same as the other two and prepared to reset the time loop.
Movie theater patrons were startled when one of the superheroes of their city barged into the showing of a melodramatic romance film and squatted to speak to something under the seats. "There you guys are! We need Ladybug's power!" The group of kwamis hurried over to the rooster boy as he scooped them up in his arms. This was perfect! He not only found the class's kwamis, but with this sublimation he could locate Nooroo and Duusuu too! They could put an end to Hawkmoth's reign of te-
OXOXOXOX
"Second Chance!"
Back at the start, AGAIN. Viperion let out a tired sigh. "We've done a few loops already and there hasn't been any progress. Each of you guys has had a turn searching for the kwamis and no luck, so maybe I should be the one to look for them this time?"
The others weren't keen on the idea of Viperion leaving. He needed to be with them to know when the collateral damage necessitated a reset. "Or…" Vesperia felt a lightbulb pop over her head. Not literally, though, that would be unrealistic. "I might have an idea…"
Perfect Game trudged down the street, angrily waving his bowling ball fists in the air. "I am Perfect Game! If the bowling alley won't let me play anymore, then-" He never got to finish, For Ryuko used her Water Dragon power to trap him in a heavy downpour. Using Sublimation to give himself the power of perfect aim, Rooster Bold ran down the side of a building with Vesperia under his arm. Around 10 feet away from the ground, he leapt off and held the girl over his head, tossing her at the akuma like a javelin.
"Venom!" Vesperia used her power mid-throw, as Ryuko dropped the water, Vesperia's stinger made contact with Perfect Game! The middle-aged supervillain was stiff as a board and helpless to stop Viperion from coming up behind him and taking the bowling pin-shaped pin from his shirt and crushing it with his fist.
Reverting back to normal, the man who used to be Perfect Game gazed in confusion at the quartet of heroes and his soggy sweatpants. "Great work guys, but we still need Ladybug to purify the akuma." Viperion reminded them. Without her, the little butterfly would multiply and they'd be dealing with a city's worth of heavy-hitting bowlers.
"Wait…" Ryuko watched the akuma's flight path. "Does it notice the wood chipper right in fron-'' Apparently the akuma did not notice it. The little butterfly accidentally flew straight into the wood chipper in full view of our heroes, who gaped in horror and discomfort at the sight. What came out the other end was enough for Vesperia to puke a little in her mouth. Rooster eyed the others. "... all's well that ends well… I guess."