#viperyuko

Ryuko’s body could feel something was off and Viperion’s exhausted voice confirmed her suspicions. “Second chance!”

A reset.

She hated second chances. There had never been such a thing in her family.

And for that, she hated Viperion, too.

“YOU-!” she yelled, but before she could say more the snake hero tackled her with a loud ‘WATCH OUT!’, throwing both of them on the floor of the roof where they awaited Ladybug's orders. He groaned in pain, his body heavy over hers. “Why did you do that! I told you no second chances-!”

She pushed his body to the side and when she checked on him… he wasn’t Viperion anymore. 

In his place layed a heavily injured Luka Couffaine. His miraculous power ran off. Ryuko’s eyes opened wide at the discovery. 

“Go” was all he managed to say before passing out.

Viperion was Luka Couffaine. Kind, foolish Luka Couffaine who had always been unlucky with second chances. ‘Oh, the irony!’ But that didn’t matter at the moment- The akuma had intended to hit her. She would have been in his place if it wasn’t for him. And instead of using his infinite second chances to go fight the akuma, he decided to trust her and her abilities. 

He decided to make her his last second chance.

She wiped off some tears fogging her eyes and she jumped towards the fight.

She had hated second chances. 

She had hated Viperion. 

But now, more than anything, she hated that he wasn’t there, fighting by her side.

Ryuko was getting impatient. Not only had she received orders from Ladybug to wait for her partner. She hated working with a partner especially if-

“Sorry for the wait” said said partner, no other than Viperion: the hero she hated the most. “I count on you-”

She quickly drew her sword to his throat when she noticed his hand set over his wrist. “No second chances. I don’t need to cheat in order to win”

“Ok, ok” he said, raising both hands to surrender, “but put that down” his eyes signaled the sword.

“Fine” she responded, and noticing he wasn’t moving his hand back there, she withdrew her threatening weapon. “Don’t get in my way! Let’s go!”

She jumped first and when she turned back to check on him… that damn Viperion smirked.

Tsk. She hated his power. Second chance? They’re for the weak- for cheaters! You don’t get those in real life. You don’t get those when you’re a Tsurugi… They’re giving people useless hope, and they only bring you disappointment. She knew that not only from what she had been told all her life, but also from her own experience.

She never stuck a second chance.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice Viperion was catching her up. In consequence and due to her competitiveness, she jumped higher and increased her pace. She smiled when he wasn’t as close as before. ‘Pathetic’

“Watch out! To your right!” He yelled.

Dammit. His voice enraged her. With her great reflexes and keen eyesight, she dodged the attack as soon as she visualized it. The flying object came directly from the front, so out of pettiness, she decided to dodge to her left instead. She smirked proudly to herself.

“Ryuko, duck!” he said immediately after. She wasn’t sure if he was playing games with her but a flying rubber back came towards her direction, stretching flat as it got closer to the pair of heroes. Again, Ryuko disobeyed his commands and jumped instead of going below the object. ‘ Easy ’ she internally hummed.

“Beware of the lighting pole!” was his next scream. There was a long pole falling towards her, sparks coming out of the broken cables, and she was aware Viperion was too far behind to make it on time. ‘ Not that I needed him,’ she thought. Far ahead, she could see the akuma, its air cannon connected to the electricity cable. An idea sparked in her mind. “I’ve got you”

She called her lighting dragon power, became thunder and introduced herself inside the cable. As electricity, she ran towards the akuma and destroyed its akumatized object from inside. When Viperion finally arrived, the black butterfly was already released and flying to the sky. It didn’t take long until Ladybug caught and purified it.

“I told you we didn’t need your stupid power” Ryuko bragged, raising her chin proudly.

“Well done,” he said at Ryuko's accomplishment. But far from accepting defeat, the snake miraculous hero had a smirk on his face. For some reason, it irritated her. She knew why- It was her win. Why wasn’t he angry about his defeat?

She wanted SO BAD to wipe that sassy smile from his face.

With Chat Noir back (he had been hit by the akuma) and the magical ladybugs having repaired the damages, Ladybug approached, fist raised for the heroes’ iconic celebration fist bump.

“Pound it” they all said in unison.

The four of them moved to jump, all towards different directions. But Ryuko paused just before leaving, to look at Viperion as he disappeared from her vision.

Something was off.  

The way he smirked, and how he seemed to be holding his laugh…

Why was he acting like it was his win instead of hers? He did nothing at all! Useless as usual! But then- what was bugging her…?

She recalled his arrival and when they bumped fists just now…

His Miraculous.

The head of the snake had changed during this time interval, with it being closer to its end. So then, his words…

Her brows furrowed, mouth half opening, offended as she realized: He had said those commands on purpose, knowing she wouldn’t follow them.

The jackass not only had used his power prior to his arrival, but he also manipulated her in order to win.

Moving ahead as her Miraculous beeped, her knuckles turned white. “I can’t believe I lost to this weak stupid ‘second chance’ cheater!”

She hated him even more, now. But she hated herself the most for falling to notice his manipulative tactics.