Summary: The Lotus must split into two groups in order to face simultaneous threats from the Wuju Twins and Sage's Nanocats.
At the dojo, the Lotus Ninjas were practicing Taidō as part of their training session with Saldana watching them. Donna and Ellie were moving the way of the bodies very slightly, Ella was moving the way of the body in quick accuracy, and Lee was moving the way of the body slowly and gracefully.
"What's the matter?" Ella said to Lee. "Trying to learn a new move in slow motion?"
"At least, I could perfect my moves to become a better kunoichi unlike you." Lee retorted calmly.
"Oh yeah? Try ignore this!" Ella snapped.
Lee and Ella charged forward to attack each other with fast, swift kicks. Donna and Ellie stopped practicing and watched the fight between their older sisters.
"Oh brother." Ellie sighed.
"They're at it again." Donna said with a groan.
"Enough!" Saldana shouted as she stepped forward between her older daughters.
Lee and Ella immediately stopped attacking each other and turned to face their mother.
"Competition is an excellent motivator for many ninjas and kunoichis, but not when it turns the two of you against each other." Saldana said. "So right now, you will spar two on two."
"Okay." Lee said as she placed her hands on her hips. "I take Donna."
"You will take Rafaela." Saldana said firmly.
Lee and Ella shot each other a cautious glance. They are completely different girls: Lee is more serious, mature, focused, and responsible while Ella is more tough, sarcastic, mean, and cynical. Putting them together isn't a good idea.
"You two must focus on working together, not competing with each other." Saldana continued.
"So, let me get this straight. You want me and Ella to go up against Ellie and Donna?" Lee giggled slightly. "I don't find that fair."
Donna and Ellie looked offended by Lee's words.
"Uh, excuse me. What's that supposed to mean?" Donna snapped with narrowed eyes.
"Well, it's really simple. We're way better fighters than you two combined." Ella responded with a grin.
"As if." Ellie scoffed.
"Let's put that to the test." Ella grinned.
Donna looked furious and Ellie glared at her two older sisters as they both have accepted the challenge. The girls faced each other into offensive stances as Lee and Ella looked confident while Donna and Ellie looked more determined than ever.
"Hajimé!" Saldana shouted.
With rapid punches and kicks, Lee fought against Ellie and Ella fought against Donna. Lee and Ella tagged each other with laughs and swapped places as Lee fought against Donna and Ella fought against Ellie. Immediately, Donna and Ellie fell to the ground beaten in defeat.
"Yamé!" Saldana shouted again.
Lee and Ella grinned down at their younger sisters, who were groaning in pain.
"You know, mother?" Ella smiled proudly. "You're right. Working together is fun."
In the Shadow Clan HQ, Inque slithered inside the throne room and knelt one knee down to the floor as Lady Shade stared down at her henchwoman on her throne chair.
"Mistress Shade, the Wuju Twins agreed to raise our cut to 90% for the clan's services." Inque informed.
"It would have seemed that your mutated form has its advantages." Lady Shade said. "But locating Saldana and the Lotus Ninjas is our primary goal. Don't ever forget that."
"If I weren't stuck in here, I would have caught Saldana by now." Sapphire grumbled.
Inque looked at the left side of the throne room to see Sapphire sealed inside a glass spherical bubble created by Sage because of her unstable mutant ghostly abilities.
"Such a shame even for you." Inque smirked.
"Just wait till I get out of here!" Sapphire snapped.
"Enough Sapphire!" Lady Shade spoke coldly. "Scarlett is right. You are useless to me with your uncontrolled powers in that rate." She then turned back to Inque. "I'm counting on you. Find me information for my future plans, or Sapphire won't be the only one missing her face."
Back in the Crete Fortress, the Lotus Ninjas were relaxing in the living room. Donna sat on the couch with her touchscreen pad next to Ellie, who was sitting upside down and playing her orange handheld game console in her hands. Ella floated herself in mid-air as she was reading her favorite horror comic book. Lee was sitting on the floor watching her favorite show on TV with a plate of pizza in her hand. But Donna and Ellie were still furious that Lee and Ella beat them in training because they believed that they were no chance against their two older sisters, so they just gave her the silent treatment.
"Look, we know you two are upset because you both are still the important member of this team." Lee said to Donna and Ellie.
"Just because you two are way better fighters than us." Donna said sarcastically as she didn't bother to look up her oldest sister.
Lee and Ella exchanged glances on each other.
"Pretty much." Lee smiled as she took a bite out of her pizza. "But we shouldn't compare ourselves in every way."
"If it counts, which it is." Ella muttered.
"So, you're saying that we're inferior compared to you two?" Ellie snapped as she sat back up and glared at her older sisters.
"How brilliant, Ellie." Ella laughed. "You finally found a smart question coming out through your thick skull."
"Whatever." Ellie said, rolling her eyes and went back to her game console.
Suddenly, Casey walked into the living room and sat on the nearby chair. The girls quickly ran over to the teenage vigilante.
"Hey, Casey, what's wrong?" Donna asked.
"I just got out of the hockey rink and the Wuju Twins stole my phone." Casey said. "Girls or not, no one mugged Casey Jones."
"Don't worry, we'll kick their butts for you." Lee said firmly.
"Yeah, we'll teach those punks to mess with Casey Jones." Ella said as she was cracking her knuckles hard.
"Oh, come on, ladies. I can't let you all have the fun." Casey said with a smirk. "Besides, I can always get a new phone."
"Casey is right." Saldana said as she stood across the room. "It is best to let this go."
"Why?" Lee asked.
"Because one cannot predict the consequences of battle." Saldana replied as she walked towards her daughters. "Every fight has the potential to stir a hornet's nest. A simple cell phone does not justify this risk."
"Mother, it's the Wuju Twins." Ella smirked. "Even Ellie and Donna could beat them."
"Shut up, Ella!" Donna and Ellie protested angrily.
"Don't worry, mother. We'll be careful." Lee assured.
With that, the Lotus Ninjas ran towards the fortress exit.
"Heh, what ya gonna do?" Casey smiled with a shrug.
"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with them." Saldana replied with a sigh.
Meanwhile, the Lotus Ninjas detected the Wuju Twins spending their time relaxing in their hideout from the rooftop. Juli and Juni were checking out their stolen devices until they got blasted by a powerful fist-shaped blast of fire and hit hard to the far wall. The Lotus Ninjas jumped down from the ceiling opening and landed their feet on the floor in their offensive stances.
"The Lotus?" Juni shouted in surprise as she and her twin sister got up from the floor.
"Sup, twins." Ella said with a smirk.
"Let's get 'em, sis!" Juli yelled.
Juni charged forward and ready to down Ellie, who grinned confidently and summoned wind around her body. But Ella quickly kicked Juni backwards with a swift kick, leaving the orange mystic kunoichi groan under her breath. Donna charged Juli and was about to attack her with rock gauntlets, but Lee jumped in front of her and kicked Juli back to the wall that made Donna snarl at her. The Wuju Twins got easily defeated with Lee and Ella teaming up together, much to Donna and Ellie's annoyance.
"We're outta here!" Juni said to Juli.
Unfortunately, Ella and Ellie blocked the Wuju Twins from their chance to escape as Lee and Donna walked up to them.
"You punks stole a phone from a friend of ours." Lee said threateningly. "We want it back."
"Sweetie, we steal a lot of technology devices around this city." Juli scoffed. "What's your excuse?"
"Then, let's see 'em." Lee said. "Now!"
A couple seconds later, the Lotus Ninjas were surrounded with a large stash of stolen devices from the Wuju Twins. The girls saw a bunch of cameras, computers, radios, and a whole lot of phones. Donna found a black iPhone that belongs to Casey. But suddenly, the ground started to shake and the floor was cracked open. The girls watched as a dozen of small metallic silver cat-like robots jumped out of the crack and grabbed the stolen devices in their tails before jumping back to the opening floor. The girls then saw the Wuju Twins quickly escape with Casey's phone.
"They got the phone!" Lee yelled. "Donna, Ellie, get them! We'll handle the metal kitties!"
"Hey, wait a second!" Donna retorted.
"Just shut up and do it!" Lee snapped.
"And you know who to call if you're too ashamed to handle it on your own." Ella grinned.
Lee and Ella followed the cat robots through the tunnel, leaving Donna and Ellie alone in the dark room.
"Let's go get Casey's phone." Donna sighed to Ellie.
As Lee and Ella followed the tunnel, they found themselves inside an old warehouse laboratory where they faced against a familiar techno mystic, who was obviously the mastermind behind the cat robots.
"Well done, my darlings." Sage laughed with a smile.
"Sage!" Ella said.
"If you're here to stop me again, then you won't stand a chance against my Nanocats." Sage said. "The robbery was a successful test run, but now it's time to move on to the big guns."
Sage held out her armored gloves and sprayed the mystic kunoichis with a red mist, making Lee and Ella cough hard as they believed that the mist is deadly. But then, Lee and Ella realized that the mist have done nothing to them that left them completely confused.
"Wait a minute. That's it?" Ella asked.
"Yeah, I was expecting something deadly out of you, Sage." Lee said.
"Oh, but that's the best part." Sage said deviously.
Suddenly, all the Nanocats came charging at the mystic kunoichis altogether with their metallic claws. But Lee and Ella quickly destroyed them one by one with amazing speed and power.
Unfortunately, Sage snapped her fingers and hundreds of Nanobots came into the room from the secret compartment.
"Uh, time to go!" Lee cried.
"Way ahead of you!" Ella agreed.
Lee and Ella quickly made their way into the streets with an army of Nanobots on their heels. Sage giggled viciously, but she got taken away by Juni before she had a chance to observe her creation.
Meanwhile, Donna and Ellie have tracked Juli to an abandoned cosmetic factory. They quietly looked keenly through the skylight and became shocked to see Juli holding up Casey's phone to Inque.
"Oh, great." Ellie said with a groan. "Not only we got Juli to deal with, but we have to take down Inque too. Even though they insulted us earlier, we should contact Lee and Ella for emergency."
"And listening them bragging about they are better than us? Forget it!" Donna said fiercely.
"So, then what are we gonna do against Juli and Inque?" Ellie asked.
"We need a stealth diversion, so we can grab the phones." Donna said, looking back at Juli and Inque closely. "And I know just the spell to do it."
"Surprise me." Ellie said with an impish grin.
Lee and Ella raced across the rooftops while being chased by the Nanocats at the same time. They used their elemental magic to escape the robotic cats, but they can't fool every single one of the Nanocats.
"How do those cats keep tracking us?" Lee wondered.
"It has to be that stuff Sage sprayed on us!" Ella replied.
"Maybe my water magic can clear us up." Lee suggested.
Lee motioned her hands around and created a barrier of water that surrounded herself with her younger sister to wash off the spray. But that has proven to be unsuccessful and the entire Nanocats had surrounded the mystics after Lee vanished the water barrier out of thin air.
"This is ridiculous. We need to call Donna." Lee said. "Her technological expertise can help us against the Nanocats."
"No way! Not a chance!" Ella said stubbornly. "We are not going to act chicken by Donna and Ellie!"
The whole army of Nanocats approached the mystics slowly and dangerously to Lee and Ella.
"Okay, call Donna." Ella sighed frustratingly.
Meanwhile, Donna was twirling her purple glowing index finger around in a circle as she and Ellie sat against the skylight.
"What are you sure this is gonna work?" Ellie asked.
"Trust me, it's flawless." Donna replied. She immediately felt her L-Phone vibrating from her waist belt and took it out to answer the call. "What do you want? Ellie and I are kinda in the middle of something important."
"Is that Lee?" Ellie asked with a smug grin. "But don't tell me she and Ella need our help on their important mission?"
"Yeah, do you and Ella need our help?" Donna grinned.
"Uh, heck, no!" Lee replied. "Ella and I are just fine. We're just checking to see if you two need any help."
Unknown to Donna and Ellie, Lee and Ella sat on top of the nearby water tower with the Nanocats slashing their claws through the wood below.
"Sure they are." Ellie laughed.
"Not at all. We followed Juli to the cosmetic factory." Donna said with a smirk. "How are you girls doing?"
"Oh, we're good." Lee replied. "Uh, gotta go, bye!"
Donna put her L-Phone away and went back to her spell with Ellie.
Back at the rooftop, Lee quickly put away her L-Phone and turned to Ella with a panic look.
"We're screwed, are we?" Ella asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Lee replied with a nod.
Lee summoned a pair of water wings extending from her back and grabbed Ella's arms before soaring away from the water tower and high above the city.
Back at the futon factory, Donna and Ellie peered into the building as they watched Juni dragging Sage into the building to Inque. The girls exchanged a look and quietly opened the skylight window to keep themselves as silent as possible.
"Found her." Juni reported. "She's the one who used her robots to steal our stuff."
"To be fair, I was actually helping." Sage spoke with a grin.
"Oh really?" Inque asked "Explain."
"I've created my Nanocats to destroy the Lotus at my command." Sage explained. "Well, only two of them."
"So, you make robots. So, you're a mystic with expertise on electronics." Inque said.
"The one and only!" Sage said confidently.
"Then, hack into this phone." Inque said, holding up Casey's phone. "We need something valuable within it."
"Not a problem." Sage scoffed.
As Juni released Sage from her grasp, Sage snapped her fingers and conjured up a grey miniature supercomputer in her hand. A black USB cable slithered out to plug itself into Casey's phone with a hint of Sage's magic. Before Sage could get started on her hacking magic, all the lights were cut off that left everyone in a complete darkness.
"What's going on?" Inque hissed sharply.
In a nick of speed, Ellie snatched the phone in the darkness. The two mystic kunoichis ran for the exit as their plan was a success. Well, almost. The only thing the girls didn't know is that Inque was slithering right behind them. The ink mystic mutant pinned the girls down to the floor with her arm whips just when the lights were turned back on.
"Well, it's official. That plan didn't work at all." Ellie commented nervously.
"Get the chains!" Inque ordered to the Wuju Twins.
The Wuju Twins took out the chains to hand them over to the ink mystic mutant. Inque chained the two mystic kunoichis to the wall, leaving the girls to watch Sage's efforts on hacking into Casey's phone with her supercomputer. Donna then realized that she has installed a GPS system in the phone that will allow Sage to see every place the phone has been, including the location of the Crete Fortress.
Out of the corner of her eye, Inque found the L-Phones from the girls' ninja belts and took them away.
"I'm letting Sage hack these as well." Inque grinned.
"Uh no." Ellie whispered to Donna. "Do something!"
"L-Phone, self-destruct!" Donna commanded.
Inque suddenly dropped the L-Phones when the phones did exactly what Donna commanded. She let out a loud hiss and approached the purple mystic kunoichi threateningly.
Outside, Lee and Ella could see the Nanocats are chasing after them again below. Lee kept flying high in the air while Ella created large blazing orbs of fire in her hands and launched them at the Nanocats one by one. But unfortunately, the girls are confronted by more Nanocats.
"That's it! I'm calling Donna!" Lee said. She flipped Ella over on her back and took out her cell phone to call Donna and then Ellie for the second time, but neither Ellie nor Donna were answering their phones. "Something's wrong! They're not answering!"
"Then, use your aura sense to track them down." Ella said.
Lee nodded her head and focused on her powers when her blue glowing spade-shaped birthmark appeared faintly on her chest area. She finally sensed only two colorful auras detecting inside the factory building when the glow from her birthmark faded away.
"Found them!" Lee shouted.
Lee glided herself down to the hideout straight ahead and went bursting inside through the skylight. The two mystic kunoichis landed onto the floor and stood in their offensive stances just as Sage was almost finished hacking into Casey's phone.
"Not so fast, ladies!" Lee said.
"Wait a minute! How did you two escape my Nanocats?" Sage asked with a surprising face.
"Yeah, about that." Lee replied with a smile.
Ella pointed her finger up to the shattered skylight and everyone looked up to see more Nanocats came pouring down into the building. Most of them fell on Inque that had perfectly distracted her from lunging at Lee and Ella. The Wuju Twins left the building as a retreat while Sage was trying to focus on her hacking magic. Lee swiped her arm and sent out scythe-like blades of water at the chains, freeing both Donna and Ellie in the process.
"We saved your lives. You're welcome." Ella taunted with a smile.
"Thanks for the save. Looks like you two were doing really great on those robots." Donna said sarcastically.
"Hey, we're been trying to get rid of them all the way here!" Ella snapped, pointing her finger at the cat robots. "Besides, Sage used her magic to spray us with some red tracking mist!"
The Lotus Ninjas doesn't have time to finish their conservation as they went to the fight between Inque and the Nanocats. They delivered their elemental magic at the cat robots. Lee grabbed Casey's phone from Sage and threw it to Ellie, who was barely running to keep the cell phone away from Inque. As the ink mystic mutant was chasing after the orange mystic kunoichi, Donna immediately figured out something about the Nanocats after she helped her older sisters with her earth magic.
"I've got it!" Donna shouted to Lee and Ella. "The red spray is some sort of radio-isotope that the Nanocats can be used to detect! but it can't be washed off unless someone gives out a stronger signal with that spray!"
"So, if we used Sage's armored gloves, we can use it to control her Nanobots." Lee said.
"Like those?" Ella asked, pointing her finger to the armored gloves in Sage's hand.
"Yeah, that will be them." Donna replied.
Ella smiled cunningly and released two flaming shurikens piercing on Sage's armored gloves. That made Sage stopped hacking and looked down to her gloves with wide eyes as she watched red mist spraying all over her. Ellie performed a backflip over Inque and created an enormous tornado from her hands, hitting the ink mystic mutant from behind with great force and send Inque flying straight into the red mist with Sage. The Nanocats suddenly froze from approaching close to the Lotus Ninjas and began chasing Sage and Inque. As she didn't have time to grab for Casey's phone, Inque scooped up Sage in her arms and made a run out of the building with dozen of Nanocats on her tail.
"Well done, girls!" Lee cheered.
"Yeah, I have to admit us as a team is way better than individuals." Ella said, throwing her arm over Ellie and Donna's shoulders. "From here on out, we stick together no matter what."
"Now, that's the best idea you ever said." Donna commented.
Lee, Ella, Donna, and Ellie giggled together as they teleported themselves back home.
Back in the Crete Fortress, the girls started to relax themselves after their successful mission. Ellie turned on her radio for hip-hop music and began performing her best breakdancing moves, Ella was feeding her pet cat Samson, and Lee and Donna were playing her handheld game console. Then, Casey walked out of the dojo and into the living room.
"Hey Casey." Lee smiled. "We got your phone back."
"You did? Cool!" Casey said enthusiastically.
Lee held out the phone to Casey's hands and it broke down slowly.
"Well, on the bright side, it didn't fall in the wrong hands." Lee said awkwardly.
"It's okay. This phone was always a bust to me anyway." Casey said with a shrug.
"Don't worry, Casey." Donna grinned as she held out a black smartphone. "You can have one of my custom-built L-Phones."
"Wow, this is sick, D!" Casey smiled as he took the L-phone.
"But whenever you do, don't say L-Phone self-destruct." Ellie warned.
Then suddenly, the L-Phone exploded immediately on Casey's hands.
"Or else that." Ellie smiled sheepishly.
Back in the Shadow Clan HQ, Inque walked through the doors and approached Lady Shade to the room.
"My mistress, this is the mystic who has vast knowledge of technology." Inque informed as she dropped Sage down to the floor.
"Sage." Lady Shade said coldly. "Your interference have made Inque failed on capturing the Lotus Ninjas and tracking down Saldana."
Sage got up from the floor and stared at Lady Shade with a calm look on her face.
"But, your vast power on technology may be useful for me, after all." Lady Shade said.