In the Crete Fortress, Ariana was experimenting on the mind control serum from the mind collar with Ezra's help.
"Okay, with some hydroxyphenyl propionic acid and one drop of glutathione, this should do the trick." Ariana muttered as she stared at the beaker of brown liquid in her hand.
Ariana carefully poured one small drop of glutathione into a beaker of dark blue liquid. But it didn't do anything. She sighed heavily for the failure and continued burying herself in work.
"Don't worry, Ari." Ezra encouraged. "We'll find a cure."
Then, Talia was carrying a tray of two sandwiches in the lab and placed it on the desk that caught Ariana and Ezra's attention.
"Though you two might be hungry. Can't work on an empty stomach." Talia asked. She then marveled at all the stuff from the shelf. "What's with the cool toys, Ariana?"
"They're collectibles, Talia." Ariana corrected as she took a bite on the sandwich. "It's my trophy shelf."
"Ariana keeps them from old memories or past fights." Ezra added as he took a bite from his sandwich.
Talia gazed at her older sister's trophy shelf. She remembered each stuff from the previous battles: a Shadow Droid's head, a Kraang head, a duplicate of Kraang mind control chip, the Kraang Communication orb, Evil Venus' jar, Omalgae's arm with black-tipped claws, and Baku's spike.
"I'm guessing this is the Kraang mind control thing that Donnie told you about." Talia asked as she picked up a small silver device in her hand. "So, how's the mind control serum coming?"
"It's almost frustrating." Ariana answered. "I'm still trying to figure out how to reverse engineer the serum, but nothing is working. Heck, not even my potions."
"Well, I'm sure you're figure something." Talia said.
Talia stared at Evil Venus' jar and noticed that it was glowing faintly. As she moved her face closer to it, the jar suddenly glowed brightly with a scary face. Talia jolted with a scream as she lost her balance and fell hard to the floor. Ariana got up from her desk and looked down to with Ezra check her younger sister. Because Talia's hard fall shook the desk, a drop of dark blue liquid came from the beaker and spilled on Ariana's forehead.
"Ow!" Talia exclaimed as she pressed her hand on her forehead from the string touch.
"Ariana, are you okay?" Talia asked as she got up from the floor.
"I'm fine. You really need stop being clumsy, Talia." Ariana groaned frustratedly.
"Ariana, it's not-." Ezra said, but he winched and held his arm in pain. "Ah."
"Ezra, are you alright?" Ariana asked.
"Yeah, I guess I'm still recovering from Viral's lab." Ezra assured. "I'm gonna get an ice pack."
Ezra walked out of the room and Talia sighed, sadly.
"Poor Ezra." Talia frowned. "Are you sure you're okay, Ariana?"
"I said I'm fine." Ariana snapped. "I'm gonna get some antiseptic for my head. Do. Not. Touch. Anything."
Ariana exasperatedly exited her lab while itching her forehead.
"Don't worry, sis. I promise I won't touch anything." Talia smiled reassuringly. She glanced at Evil Venus's jar over her shoulder. "I could have sworn this jar made a face. It was almost as if Evil Venus was somewhat...alive."
As Talia exited out of the lab, Evil Venus's jar started glowing again ominously as the lid slowly opened itself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the dojo, Sage stood towards Casey as Kirana, Leia, and Kale stood next to the white mage kunoichi.
"For today's training, Casey, you have to defend yourself against Kirana, Leia, and Kale." Sage smiled.
"Don't hestitate now, Casey." Kirana said with a sly smirk as she summoned out her twin tessen. "You'll get what's coming to you if you think we're gonna go easy on you."
"Oh, this outta be fun." Leia grinned as she and Kale engulfed their hands in dark magic and laser guns.
"Fine by me, guys." Casey snickered as he twirled his hockey sticks in his hands. "Bring it on!"
"Hajime!" Sage said.
Kirana charged forward and attacked Casey with her twin tessen. But Casey blocked the attack with by his hockey sticks in a X motion. Leia ran towards Casey and attacked him with swift black energy punches before Kale jumped through the air toward Casey and kicked him with his leg.
Next to them, Camilla was sparring with Talia and Ariana while Ezra and Norbit were sparring. Talia was attacking Camilla with her whip and Ariana stood right behind her younger sister with her spear. Ariana stopped fighting and caught a glimpse of Casey fighting skillfully against two mages and one alien as she sighed softly with a spaced-out expression. Camilla threw Talia into Ariana that sent both of them crashing down to the floor. Ezra and Norbit kept blocking each other's attacks until, Ezra's arm began to hurt again and the robot companion was able to knock down the teal mage ninja as he was distracted.
"You bet me, bud." Ezra smiled.
"Only because you are still recovering, Ezra." Norbit said.
"Don't worry, bro." Talia added. "You'll be better in no time."
"Yeah." Ezra fake smiled. "Just keep waiting."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in Ariana's lab, the lid of Evil Venus' jar was busted open from the shelf. A green glowing slime was slithering slowly on the floor and jumped on the desk. It went into the dark blue liquid on the beaker as if it was absorbing the whole chemical from the beaker. The smile turned dark green as it slithered out of the jar and fell to the floor. The slime began shaping itself as a tall, voluptuous humanoid woman. She has light green skin, long dark green shoulder-length curly hair, sea green eyes, and dark green lips. She wore a short black skintight strapless dress over black tights, black elbow length gloves, and a pair of black high-heeled boots.
"Finally. No one doesn't have no clue how crazy it gets inside that jar." Evil Venus said as she stretched her limbs slowly. She opened the lab doors slightly with a satisfying smile. "Now, it's time to take revenge."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Ariana and Camilla began sparring each other one on one. Ariana dodged all of Camilla's gauntlet punches and kicked the red mage kunoichi away with her spear attached to her leg. Camilla crashed herself to the tree that made one leaf fall from the tree branch. The leaf fell down slowly as it was swaying back and forth. Ariana's brownish red eyes followed it curiously as her irises started to glitch strangely.
As Ariana was distracted, Camilla tackled Ariana to the ground and pinned her younger sister down in joint lock.
"Okay, okay, Camilla." Ariana screamed in a pleading manner. "I'm done! I'm done!"
"Wow, Ariana, I really thought you had me there for a second, but you can't really never knock me out from a fight." Camilla smirked.
Sage walked over to Camilla and stared down at her with narrowed eyes. Camilla immediately got off of Ariana and helped her younger sister to her feet. Ezra and Norbit kept blocking each other's attacks until, Ezra's arm began to hurt again and the robot companion was able to knock down the teal mage ninja as he was distracted.
"You bet me, bud." Ezra smiled.
"Only because you are still recovering, Ezra." Norbit said.
"Don't worry, bro." Talia added. "You'll be better in no time."
"Yeah." Ezra fake smiled. "Just keep waiting."
"Ezra, may I speak with you and Ariana for a moment." Sage said as she noticed her younger son feeling down.
"Sure, mother." Ezra answered as he walked over to stand by Ariana.
"It's not like you to hesitate, Ariana. What happened?" Sage said questioningly.
"I...I don't know, mother." Ariana replied as she was unsure what happened herself. "I mean, I know I should've countered that attack, but I guess I got distracted for some strange reason."
"I know that you are still recovering, Ezra." Sage said to her son. "But do not let your injury go above the risk."
"It's just a bruise." Ezra lied.
"Not there." Sage said as she pointed to his arm and pointed to his head. "In there."
"You're right, mother." Ezra nodded. "I should take it easy for a while."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ariana, Casey, and Leia walked out of the dojo and headed to the lab.
"Are you sure you're okay, Ariana?" Casey asked worryingly.
"I'm not sure. I was hoping a little training would clear my head." Ariana responded. "I can't figure out this mind control serum solution for Kuro."
"Anything we can do?" Leia asked.
"Yeah, I think you can." Ariana replied with a smile. "I could use a fresh sample of your potions you were making."
Ariana, Casey, and Leia arrived at the lab. As Ariana opened the doors to her lab, she and her friends gasped with wide eyes. The entire lab was trashed with green slime everywhere.
"But how did this happen?" Ariana said with disbelief. She narrowed her eyes in realization. "Talia!"
"What?" Talia shouted. She darted into the lab and slipped into the ground when she stepped on the green slime. She got up and looked around at the sight of the mess in the lab with wide eyes. "Whoa! Hey, I have nothing to do with this. It didn't look like this when I left. But I can help you clean it up."
Talia waved her hand back and forth with a grabbing shape to conjure a mop in her hand. As she was about to clean the slime, Ariana went up close to her younger sister's face with anger.
"Oh really?" Ariana scolded. "Well, TA-A-A-A-A-A...Camilla, care to explain how my lab was..."
"Uh, Ariana, why did you call me Camilla? My name is Talia." Talia pointed out.
"And it's almost like you have a computer error in your voice when calling her Camilla." Leia added.
"I did? And my voice?" Ariana gasped as she stared at Talia and Leia with confusion. She immediately shook it off and glared at Talia. "Whatever. Just help me clean up, Talia."
Ariana walked away from Talia and moved her index finger in a circle to conjure a mop in her hand as she began mopping the floor past Casey and Leia. Casey and Leia exchanged worried looks at each other as they can tell that Ariana's symptoms are starting to get worse.
"You alright, Ari?" Casey asked.
Ariana stopped mopping and turned around look at Casey.
"I'm fine, why you ask?" Ariana asked.
"Because your arm is glitching the broom upside down." Casey pointed out.
Ariana raised an eyebrow in confusion. She looked at the broom in her hand and her eyes widened as the mop was really glitching in her hand. She quickly flipped the mop around and started mopping again.
"Oh, yeah. I meant to do that." Ariana said. She suddenly felt lightheaded and started falling to the floor, but Leia and Talia caught her in a nick of time. "I think I have a bad headache, that's all."
"I'll be right back. I'll get you some ice." Casey said.
Casey exited out of the lab and ran into the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Ezra's bedroom, Norbit held out a book about spells as Ezra flipped through the pages to find the spell and stopped at the right spell.
"Heælo Crystalzìo." Ezra casted.
A sea green mist came from the book and went into a moisturizer bottle. The substance turned green and glowed faintly.
"Done." Ezra smiled. "Norbit, I give you the healing lotion. It's guaranteed to heal any injury in seconds."
"Are you sure about using the healing lotion for your arm?" Norbit asked as he set the book down. "Sage said that it will take some time."
"I know, but I need this to be healed so I can be back in shape." Ezra responded. "Here goes nothing."
Ezra opened the cap and used the lotion on his arm. Norbit helped rub it in for assistance. Ezra quickly felt his arm getting better as the lotion was smoothed in.
"How do you feel?" Norbit asked.
Ezra tested his arm and laughed when he felt no pain.
"It works!" Ezra cheered. "I feel better. Come on, let's get some sodas to celebrate."
Ezra and Norbit walked out of the bedroom. Unaware to them, Evil Venus snuck into the room and swiped the healing lotion with and evil grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the kitchen, Casey walked over to the refrigerator and opened up the freezer. Pink Hallow waved his hand at Casey and handed him a medium-sized ice pack.
"Thanks, Pink Hallow." Casey smiled, patting Pink Hallow on the head with his hand.
"Is everything all right, Casey?" Sage asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"I'm not sure, Sage." Casey replied. "There's something's wrong with Ariana, but I just can't figure it out. Distraction isn't something she does for a living."
"Ariana often puts too much burden on herself." Sage said. "Sometimes the best solution only arrives when you take a step back from the problem."
"Thanks, Sage." Casey said with a kind smile.
"And please close the freezer. Pink Hallow is starting to become sticky." Sage added.
Casey looked at the pink hard candy mutant and gasped as he watched Pink Hallow began to turn himself into a sticky substance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the dojo, Kirana and Kale were training their ninja skills together with speed and agility.
Suddenly, Kirana and Kale stopped what they are doing. They didn't move when a huge shadow loomed over them. They sensed that someone was standing right behind them as if that someone was sneaking up on them. Kirana and Kale turned around to try to attack at the person, but a giant vine-like arm hit them flying into the spiritual tree. Kirana and Kale looked up as they couldn't believe what they saw.
"Evil Venus?" Kirana gasped.
"That mutant you told me about?" Kale asked Kirana.
Ezra and Norbit walked in and gasped as they saw Evil Venus in their dojo.
"It is Evil Venus." Norbit said.
"Oh, crud." Ezra gulped, as he summoned his shield and stood by Kirana.
"That's right, Norbit." Evil Venus grinned. "I'm back!"
Kirana held out her twin tessen and charged forward to deliver multiple slashes of blue energy at Evil Venus as Kale released a hurricane of dark energy blasts from his guns at the plant mage mutant. Ezra delivered hits of teal energy at Evil Venus as Norbit summoned his armor to blast his rocket fist at the plant mage mutant. As the mage kunoichi, mage ninja, robot, and alien fought, they knew that neither of their attacks weren't strong enough to hit Evil Venus effectively.
Suddenly, Evil Venus grabbed the mage kunoichi and alien's faces with her giant vine-like arms and and swung them around the dojo room repeatedly. She then pinned them to the tree with two large vines wrapping around their throats that made them unable to move.
"Guys!" Kirana screamed.
"Help us!" Kale hollered.
"Let them go!" Ezra shouted.
Evil Venus kicked Ezra and Norbit to the wall, knocking them both out cold for a brief moment. As the large vines keep tightening Kirana and Kale, they slowly started to suffocate unconsciously that made Evil Venus smirk evilly on her face.
Unfortunately, the mages and the human vigilante immediately came running inside the dojo. They arrived just in time to see Evil Venus strangling Kirana and Kale against the dojo tree and Ezra and Norbit weakly trying to get up from the floor. Camilla's eyes widened when she recognized the plant mage mutant's reappearance.
"You!" Camilla hissed.
Leia looked to see Kirana and Kale limping unconsciously in Evil Venus's grip.
"Kirana! Kale!" Leia gasped.
Evil Venus released Kirana and Kale from the vines as she turned around to face her other enemies.
"How did Evil Venus come back?" Talia exclaimed.
Evil Venus threw Kirana and Kale directly at the group. Ariana and Casey caught them while Camilla, Talia, and Leia charged at the plant mage mutant. Sage went over to check on Kirana and Kale. Camilla summoned her gauntlets and began delivering a barrage of lightning quick jabs that sent Evil Venus straight to the wall. Next, Talia curled herself into an orange sharp spiked ball with her whip and rolled forward to attack Evil Venus. Then, Leia channeled her dark energy around herself and then fired it forward in the shape of a giant dragon that hit Evil Venus heavily on impact.
Camilla, Talia, and Leia suddenly froze as Venus began to glow in a bright dark blue light with a smile on her face.
"What the heck?" Leia gasped.
"What's she doing?" Camilla asked.
"I don't know, but it's totally freaking me out." Talia whimpered fearfully.
As the dark blue light faded out, Evil Venus smirked ruthlessly and charged forward at the three mages. Sage, Kale, Kirana, Casey, and Ariana's eyes widened in shockingly surprise as the plant mage mutant was moving around in fast speed. Evil Venus dashed around the dojo several times and hit three mage kunoichis in several directions. Camilla got knocked off her feet, Talia got flinged against the wall, and Leia got tossed to the wall near Sage's bedroom.
Evil Venus slowly turned her face to the rest of the team, but Sage charged straight for the plant mage mutant and delivered quick fast blows at Evil Venus' limbs before swiftly unleashing a powerful white energy beam that blasted the plant mage mutant right out of the dojo.
"Is everyone okay?" Sage asked.
"Hai, mother." Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra responded with nods.
The K-5 got up as they hurried after the plant mage mutant. They followed the trail of green slime Evil Venus had left behind and ended up in the lab, where the plant mage mutant had managed to escape from them.
"So, Evil Venus was the one who trashed my lab. But how did she get out?" Ariana wondered.
"I remember she made a scary face at me when she started glowing in her jar." Talia explained.
Casey rushed in the lab and ran through Talia and Camilla. Sage, Leia, and Kale followed him. Unknown to them, Ariana's birthmark started to glow on her forehead.
"Are you guys all right?" Leia asked Kirana, Ezra, Norbit, and Kale.
"Yeah, but Evil Venus is gone." Kirana replied.
"And she took Omalgae's arm from the shelf!" Talia exclaimed.
Ezra looked down and noticed a drop of the healing lotion on the floor.
"Oh, no." Ezra alerted. "She even took my healing lotion."
"That is not good." Norbit said.
"What would she want those things for?" Leia asked.
"I think I know why-y-y-y-y-y-y-y." Ariana said with dilated pupils.
Everyone stared at the purple mage kunoichi shockingly. Ariana's entire body began to split apart and created purple static with her voice becoming distorted. Her body soon came back together that made her forgot what she was saying before just when her glowing birthmark was suffering a severe crack.
"Wait, what were we talking about?" Ariana asked with a frown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Evil Venus stood on the building rooftop and stared at the city lights.
"You're be the perfect comrade for my revenge." Evil Venus said, looking down at Omalgae's arm in her hands.
Evil Venus hopped onto each rooftop building as she was charging Omalgae's arm with her raw energy while holding the healing lotion in her other hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the lab, Ariana was pacing back and forth. Her limbs started stretching on their own that reached to the walls and the ceiling that made everyone stare at her. She went back to normal after a few minutes and held her head in pain.
"Um, Ariana, I don't know what's going on with you, but you really need to focus." Kirana said. "We need to find Evil Venus."
"Evil Venus is back? Oh, man, my precious experiment." Ariana exclaimed in a childish manner.
"My scanner indicates that something is wrong with Ariana." Norbit said.
"Are you all right? You're acting more weird than Talia." Camilla said as she moved closer to Ariana.
"Hey!" Talia yelled with a pout.
"Isn't that the mind collar serum you were working on?" Casey asked.
"It was until it spilled some on my forehead when Talia fell down." Ariana responded as she scratched her forehead.
"Look, we don't have time for this. We got to find that plant now." Ezra said exasperatedly.
"We can patrol in the Sonicrusier." Kirana declared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside, the Sonicruiser drove on the road in the city as it followed the green slime trail from Evil Venus.
"Evil Venus' trail is getting close. Got anything, Ariana?" Kirana asked.
Ariana didn't respond. In fact, she wasn't focusing on the main task. She was actually playing a fixed shooter video game at the computer.
"Um, Ari, why are you playing a video game?" Ezra asked as he, Casey, and Norbit leaned over and watched Ariana firing bullets at the insect-like alien enemies.
"What the heck are you doing, Ariana?" Camilla yelled in annoyance.
"Just use your mutagen compact." Kirana said.
"Oh, yeah, right." Ariana said, taking out her purple mutagen compact and held it upside down. "I'm not...I don't got any signals. Why won't this thing work?"
Ariana moaned as she slammed her face right into the keyboard.
"I remember Ariana saying that Talia's fall affected Ariana's birthmark." Norbit announced.
"Yeah, it also somehow affected Evil Venus." Talia noted.
"Yeah, she wasn't back to her usual deadly vampiress self." Camilla agreed.
"So, if that serum made Evil Venus smarter, then that means Ariana is becoming..." Kirana said in realization.
"Found it!" Ariana yelled.
Ariana slammed her finger onto a red key button and the Sonicruiser instantly powered down as it came to a complete stop in the middle of the road.
"Ariana, have you seriously lost your mind?" Camilla yelled angrily.
"What are you talking about?" Ariana asked.
Then, the mutagen compact started beeping and Casey picked up to check on it.
"Guys, Evil Venus is going north on Bleecker, just a block away." Casey informed.
"Camilla, Talia, Ezra, you're with me. Casey, Norbit, keep an eye on Ariana." Kirana commanded.
Kirana exited out of the Sonicruiser with Camilla and Ezra following behind her. Ariana moved her head side to side while humming goofily. Talia looked back worriedly as she got out of the vehicle.
"Ariana, we got to get this thing moving. Do you remember how to turn it back on?" Casey asked Ariana.
"Hm, no clue." Ariana murmured with a shrug.
"I would suggest pressing a button." Norbit said.
"Oh, come on. How hard could it be?" Casey said as he moved Ariana and looked at the computer. He pressed the green button on the keyboard and the Sonicruiser was turned back on. "Heh, that was easy, right, Ariana?"
Casey heard no response and looked around to notice that Ariana was gone out of the vehicle.
"She is gone." Norbit said.
"Ariana? Ariana?" Casey called. He sat on the chair and let out a heavy groan. "Well, that's just great."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra leaped across the rooftops until they stopped on a greenhouse rooftop and quietly took a peek side to see Evil Venus doing something to Omalgae's arm.
"Remember, guys, don't let Evil Venus touch you." Kirana whispered.
"Yeah, we kinda establish that minutes ago." Camilla whispered back.
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra continued to watch Evil Venus until suddenly Ariana popped out of nowhere near the red mage kunoichi.
"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Ariana yelled.
Ezra quickly covered Ariana's mouth.
"Shh!" Ezra whispered.
The K-5 looked back at Evil Venus. They watched as Omalgae's arm claw grew itself into a darkened clone of the original Omalgae. Evil Venus held onto the healing lotion tightly.
"This looks very bad." Kirana muttered.
"Yeah, no kidding." Camilla retorted.
"Yeah, it looks like Evil Venus made the..." Talia said.
"Son of Omalgae!" Ariana finished.
"Yeah." Talia nodded.
"We have to get that lotion back before Evil Venus can make a whole army with it." Ezra alerted.
Omalgae broke out the door and suddenly sent the K-5 flying through the air. Evil Venus and Omalgae busted out through the greenhouse door. Talia, Kirana, Ezra, and Ariana went after Omalgae while Camilla stayed back to battle Evil Venus. Unfortunately, the four mage kunoichis and one mage ninja couldn't take the plant mutants down.
"They're too strong!" Ezra groaned "Even my energy balls can't defeat them!"
"Everyone, back to the Sonicruiser!" Kirana ordered her younger siblings.
Camilla and Ezra jumped from the building and landed on the nearby fire escape. Talia grabbed Ariana's leotard hoodie and tossed her older sister to the fire escape.
"I-I don't understand." Ariana panicked as she ran up through the stairs. "Why can't I think of anything?"
"That's not the only issue." Ezra added. "How do we get the lotion and get rid of them?!"
"If Evil Venus is after blood, then we can bait it into a trap." Talia said as she followed after Ariana.
Kirana followed after her younger siblings all the way to the building rooftop.
"Excellent plan, Talia." Camilla admitted as she was surprised with her youngest sister's idea.
"Yeah, but we got to use ourselves as bait." Talia said.
Then, Kirana's K-Phone started ringing in her waist belt and took it out to answer it.
"Kirana, we have a problem. Ariana's gone." Casey said through the phone. "But I did get the Sonicruiser working."
"Don't worry, we got her. We're on our way." Kirana said to the phone.
The K-5 ran away from the plant mutants and jumped down into an alley to bait them. Talia took Ariana to the next alley to hide her near the dumpster.
"Talia, what's going on?" Ariana asked with wide eyes.
"Just stay put here, sis. I'll be right back." Talia said. She ran off out the alley and faced to the plant mage mutant as a distraction. "Over here, Evil Venus!"
Ariana whimpered and shook fearfully when she saw both Evil Venus and Omalgae slowly following after Talia. After Evil Venus and Omalgae were gone, Ariana saw a rat running past her feet.
"Yay, a squirrel!" Ariana squealed happily as she chased after the rat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja took a turn from the street corner.
"The alley! Draw them into the alley!" Kirana ordered.
"Come on, swamp creatures! Come and get us!" Talia called out.
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra ran right into the next alley as Evil Venus and Omalgae slowly walked in the alleyway. They looked up to see the mage kunoichis and mage ninja crouching on the fire escape stairs.
"Casey, now!" Kirana shouted.
The headlights turned on and the Sonicruiser drove forward at full speed.
Suddenly, Ariana dove in front of Evil Venus and Omalgae, who looked at her with confused faces.
"I like pizza bites!" Ariana exclaimed with a smile.
"Ariana!" Camilla yelled.
Camilla shoved Ariana out of the way as the Sonicruiser slammed into both Evil Venus and Omalgae, sending them flying into one of the lined car that knocked them out. Casey then unleashed a barrage of explosive barrels that ignited some oil and blown the plant mutants to smithereens. The K-5 watched the plant mutants being engulfed with burn flames.
"Yeah!" Camilla cheered.
"Whoo-hoo!" Kirana clamored.
"You just got burned, freaks." Talia whooped.
"We have done it." Norbit said.
"Yes!" Ezra cheered.
"I could get that learner's permit for this vehicle." Casey said, getting out of the vehicle with a sheepish smile.
"Don't worry, Casey. The Sonicruiser's seen worse cases than this." Camilla said with a reassuring smile.
"It's not the Sonicruiser I'm worried about." Kirana said as she was looking at Ariana.
"Ari, you okay?" Ezra asked as he helped his sister up.
Ariana was staring at the fire as if she was completely mesmerized by it.
"Oh, look! A fire." Ariana giggled in a childish voice. "Who wanna toast some delicious marshmallows?"
"Oh, man." Kirana said with a groan. She went over to pick Ariana up and walked inside the Sonicruiser with her. "Let's get Ariana back home, ASAP."
Ezra looked in front of the fire and saw the healing lotion, completely unharmed. He went over to pick it up and went in the Sonicrusier with Norbit. Camilla, Talia, and Casey followed them as the Sonicruiser drove back to the Crete Fortress.
Unbeknownst to the team, the goo and plant remains of Evil Venus and Omalgae have fused together into a ball of green light that formed above the fire as they were becoming a single plant entity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, Kirana, Camilla, Ezra, and Norbit stood in the living room as they watched Talia, Casey, Leia, and Kale chasing after Ariana around the room, knowing that the purple mage kunoichi's mental state isn't improving too well.
"She's getting worse by the second." Camilla sighed.
Ariana moved her index finger in a circle to create a massive purple ball and jumped on top of it as she started to bounce up and down many times.
"Bouncy! Bouncy! Bouncy! Bouncy!" Ariana giggled childishly.
Talia summoned her whip and threw it to wrap around the waist of her older sister, trying to pull Ariana down off the ball with the help of Casey, Leia, and Kale. But Ariana won't budge.
"Yeah, but the only person who can figure out what's wrong with Ariana is Ariana." Kirana said.
Talia, Casey, Leia, and Kale walked over to Kirana, Camilla, Ezra, and Norbit after giving up chasing Ariana. Everyone watched as Ariana was wandering around the room with a crazed smile and purple glitching eyes.
"I've done a check-on spell on Ariana and her intelligence is beginning to degrade." Leia reported. "And her birthmark is suffering a crack because of it. If we don't fix her, she'll lose her IQ...permanently."
"We have to do something." Kale said with wide eyes.
"How do we cure her?" Ezra asked.
"I would suggest a reverse serum." Norbit said.
"Well, if we knew what was in that mind collar serum solution, maybe we could figure out how to reverse it somehow." Casey suggested.
Talia remained silent for a minute and walked into the lab with an idea on fixing a perfect antidote for Ariana.
"It's my fault Ariana got splashed with that serum." Talia said to herself. "I've got to make it right."
Talia sat on the chair and began recreating the stuff that Ariana was working on by using her photographic memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Talia began working on the experiment for an antidote, everyone was watching Ariana bobbing her head side to side on the floor. Casey, Ezra, Norbit, Camilla, Kale, and Leia sat on the couch while Kirana stood next to Sage, who was remaining calm on the situation.
"What do you think, mother?" Kirana asked.
"It could be possible whatever caused the effect on your sister could be the solution to curing her." Sage replied. "Maybe meditation could help her."
"Hey, come back here, Pink Hallow!" Ariana yelled as she was chasing Pink Hallow around the floor and finally grabbed him in a tight hug. "I promise I will take real good care of you!"
"A lot of meditation." Sage said slowly.
"Even Talia's a genius compared to her." Camilla groaned.
That's when Ezra looked around the room to notice Talia isn't here with the group.
"Wait a minute. Where is Talia?" Ezra asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the lab, Talia was adding a pepperoni into her concoction as a finishing touch and watched the light blue beaker turned into light pink.
"Perfect." Talia smiled.
Everyone walked in the lab and Talia whipped around to show them a cure for Ariana.
"Hey, guys, look!" Talia exclaimed. "This brain cure will definitely fix Ariana."
"Are you insane? You have no idea what that could do to her." Ezra said, frantically.
"Look, I know Ariana is the science nerd, but I pay attention with my photographic memory." Talia explained. "Remember that freaky mutant centipede?"
"This is different, Talia!" Ezra reminded.
Suddenly, Ariana popped out from behind Talia and looked over her younger sister's shoulder as she took the light pink substance from Talia's hands.
"Oh, a milkshake." Ariana smiled.
"No, Ariana!" Kirana, Camilla, Ezra, Casey, Leia, and Kale yelled.
But it was too late. Ariana tilted her head up with open mouth and drank the light pink liquid. After she was finished, Ariana faced away from everyone and started coughing as she stood up straight.
"She drank it." Norbit said.
"Ariana?" Kirana spoke slowly.
"Say something." Casey cried.
Ariana slowly started to turn around and moaned goofily as she had her tongue sticking out and her purple glitching eyes crossed.
"Talia!" Kirana, Camilla, Ezra, Casey, Leia, and Kale shouted with glares.
Talia chuckled awkwardly from receiving many dead glares by her siblings and her friends.
Suddenly, the lights from the Crete Fortress started to flash in green color as an alert.
"Earthquake!" Talia screamed.
"What's going on?" Ezra asked.
Camilla ran into the living room and conjured up a crystal ball to observe the city as her eyes widened in shock.
"Guys, I think you all may want to see this." Camilla informed with fear in her voice.
Talia ran over to the crystal ball just in time to see a giant plant mutant covering the city with a loud screech. The giant plant mutant took form as a slender female figure with brownish soil skin, short black hair, glowing green eyes, and wore a black long-sleeved dress with green tights and black high-heeled boots. She began terrorizing the people in the city.
"OMG! Evil Venus and Omalgae have combined themselves into Velgae!" Talia exclaimed.
Ariana mumbled moronically as she was danced randomly around the living room with the groaning Pink Hallow in her arms.
"She's reaching critical." Leia said with a serious look on her face.
"This is bad. We need Ariana for something like this." Kirana sighed.
"Well, that's because someone made her dumber than herself." Camilla said, glaring straight at Talia.
"Shut up, Camilla!" Ezra yelled, making the red mage kunoichi blink in shock and making Casey almost laugh out loud.
"At least, I tried to do something." Talia snapped with a glare. She looked back at the crystal ball. "But now, we have to save the city from letting Velgae making the city her own massive plant food buffet."
"Well are we gardeners or ninjas?" Ezra asked.
"How are we gonna stop that thing?" Camilla asked Kirana.
"Our Magnolia Cycles are still fully loaded." Kirana replied. "Let's do this."
Ariana sat on the floor and drank a pound of grape soda in her hands.
"We'll stay here with Ariana." Casey said. "Maybe we can get through to her somehow."
"I will help with Casey." Norbit said.
"Good luck." Kirana said.
Kirana rushed out of the fortress exit to save the city with Camilla, Talia, and Ezra following after her.
"Sage, do you think your healing spell can work on Ariana?" Kale asked.
Sage looked down at Ariana, who was starting to mumble hoarsely after drinking all of that soda and began collapsing with her eyes dimmed just in time for Casey to catch her in his arms.
"Highly doubtful." Sage responded firmly.
"I agree." Leia agreed with a deadpan look on her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja hurried to the city, they raced through the streets in the Magnolia Cycles. It wasn't hard to find the giant plant mutant, but they applied specialized transparent masks on their mouth areas so they wouldn't be affected by the sleeping gas Velgae had sprayed. They looked around to notice that Velgae have sealed a most of the people into green cocoon-like stasis in the surrounding area.
"Look at the people. Velgae put them all to sleep." Ezra said.
"Got a plan yet, Kirana?" Camilla asked.
"First, we got to free those people before Velgae turns them into plant food." Kirana responded. "Talia, you said you wanted to fix this. You're ready for this?"
"Yes, I am." Talia said with a nod.
Talia revved her cycle and rode through Velgae's legs with rocket missiles, making the plant mutant fall to the ground. Velgae quickly regrew her legs and rose back up from the ground.
"She's still growing back!" Kirana yelped.
"Let's torch that freak!" Camilla shouted.
Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra rode on their cycles as they fired a hail of flaming missiles from the sides of their cycle that burned Velgae on impact.
"I think we made her mad." Ezra said to his sisters.
Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra drove away as they tried to dodge Velgae's long arms. Velgae grabbed Talia from the Magnolia Cycle and strangled her with her finger vines. Kirana sped forward and rammed her Magnolia Cycle into the face of the huge plant mutant. Velgae screamed in pain and knocked over Kirana's Magnolia Cycle straight to the building wall.
"Oh, no." Kirana gasped as she looked down to see her mask was broken into half. "This is not good."
Kirana coughed as the toxic air was surging in her throat and she slowly collapsed on the ground while snoring herself to sleep. Then, Velgae used her finger-like vines to grab the blue mage kunoichi and dragged her into the cocoon-like stasis.
"Kirana!" Camilla screamed.
"Watch out!" Ezra warned.
Velgae heard Camilla's scream and summoned large number of giant vines erupting from the ground underneath the red mage kunoichi, who dodged each one with her gauntlets. Camilla then ran forward and delivered a flurry of fast powerful punches at Velgae. Out of quick second, Velgae fired a hail of green energy bolts at Camilla from her hands that send the red mage kunoichi flying to the wall and fell down to the ground.
Camilla got up and saw her masks broken in half with her wide eyes.
"Oh, no!" Camilla gasped.
But it was too late for Camilla to cast a spell to protect herself from the toxic air, making her to fall asleep on the ground. Velgae grinned as she used her finger-like vines to grab the red mage kunoichi and dragged her into the cocoon-like stasis.
With Kirana and Camilla out cold in their sleep states, Talia and Ezra realized that they were the last ones standing against Velgae.
"It's up to us." Ezra said, as he parked his Magnolia Cycle and stood by Talia.
"I've got an idea that might work." Talia said. "But I need another one of your new spells."
"You got it." Ezra smiled. "But I need time to get it started."
Talia nodded and went to face Velgae for a distraction as Ezra was getting the spell ready.
"All right, Velgae, it's you and me now." Talia said. She summoned out her whips from her birthmark and noticed the plant mutant giving her a glare of that name. She put on a brave smile as if she was ready to fight the plant mutant one-on-one. "Yeah, that's right. I named you Velgae! If you don't like it, then too bad. You want me? Come and get me!"
Velgae roared as she impaled her hands to the ground and caused huge blade-shaped vines coming out of the ground to attack Talia, who moved out of the way and jumped high in the air that made Velgae look up at her.
"Ezra, now!" Talia shouted.
Ezra grabbed Velgae with his energized hands and lifted her to fry them with surges of teal energy before throwing the huge plant mutant into the ground in a striking heroic pose. Talia and Ezra smiled victoriously and walked away from the grounded plant mutant, but the orange mage kunoichi and teal mage ninja suddenly found themselves squeezed tight in Velgae's grasp by one of the vines. Velgae rose back up in the air and immediately threw Ezra to the wall to knock him out.
"Ezra, no!" Talia cried.
Then Velgae levitated Talia in front of her face as she was ready to finish her off.
Suddenly, a dark purple motorcycle rode past Velgae and Talia as it stopped itself in front of them at the left side of the battle. The rider took off her helmet and revealed herself as a recovered Ariana. She was wearing a purple specialized transparent mask while carrying a purple fifty-two dart revolver-style blaster that featured a rotating barrel with a bunch of contained retromutagen blasters inside in her hands.
"Get away from my siblings, you extinct freak!" Ariana shouted.
Velgae hissed angrily, but Talia and Ezra smiled at the sight of their older sister.
"Ariana!" Talia exclaimed happily.
"Her memory's back!" Ezra cheered.
"I've bet you're wondering what this is. Retro-mutagen weed killing blaster!" Ariana said threateningly. She released a laugh and spoke in a dark tone. "You wanna it, come and get it."
As Velgae went charging after Ariana, the purple mage kunoichi shot out orange firing darts right into the Velgae's mouth, causing her to explode and leaving black mutagen blood everywhere in the city. All of the sleeping people were released from the green stasis and fell right into the ground.
"Ariana!" Talia smiled happily. She and Ezra ran over to hug Ariana. "You're back!"
"We missed you!" Ezra added.
"Well, of course. Your antidote actually worked on me." Ariana chuckled to Talia.
"It did? Cool." Talia gushed.
"I think I can fix this with my magic." Ezra said as he looked at the disaster.
He casted a whiff of teal magic and made everything go back to normal.
"Come on. Let's get our sisters out of here before all the people wake up." Ariana said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, Ariana placed a green lock metal box that suppressed some of Velgae's remains on the shelf in her lab.
"Well, this should keep what's left of Velgae secure." Ariana said.
"It's good to have you back, Ariana." Kirana smiled.
"It's good to be back." Ariana smiled back. She turned away from Kirana and faced Casey, Kale, and Leia. "Thanks for helping me with my mental problem. After everything I've been doing, I've never thought I can get myself all the way to Talia-level trouble."
"Aw, sis." Talia said. She then quickly realized what Ariana just said. "Hey!"
"I still can't believe Talia actually came up with the right antidote." Talia smiled, leaning her shoulder against Talia's shoulder.
"Me neither." Leia snickered.
Talia glared at Camilla and Leia while Kale giggled under his breath with his hand covering his mouth.
"I guess having a photographic memory is really clever for Talia." Casey noted.
"It certainly is." Ezra smiled.
"Also, the nitrates in the pepperoni acted as the perfect reversing agent." Ariana added. She gave her younger sister a soft smile. "I owe you big-time, Talia." She walked in front of Talia before walking past her and Camilla. "I have to admit to you. There are some times that I can be hard on you and act like you're not as smart as I am."
"No sweat, sis." Talia said with a cool smile.
"But now I truly understand how you feel all the time." Ariana said as she walked out of the lab.
"Thanks, Ariana." Talia said. She immediately stood up and realized she was being insulted by her older sister. "Wait a second."
Ezra glared and held out his hand for Norbit to hand him a pipe. He pat the pipe in his hand and looked directly at Ariana.
"What?!" Ariana screamed. "No! I meant to say thanks! Seriously!"
Ezra grinned and Ariana gulped before she ran around the fortress screaming as Ezra chased her with the pipe. Talia blinked in confusion, but shrugged it off and joined Ezra.
"Ariana! You better watch out!" Talia yelled.