On Today's Episode: The spies continue their journey through the datascape, hoping to find a way to stop Lady Dragon and CHAD from wreaking any more havoc. Between destroying some nasty viruses, Lady Dragon's alterations of the datascape, and an unexpected ally attempting to create something to help them against CHAD, the gang's definitely got their hands full, but with Sophia's assistance, they shouldn't have too much trouble. Right?
Episode 2: The AI and Its Heart
2:59 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Datascape, Sector H
"Wow, get a load of this place!" Haruka exclaimed. Sector H resembled a fancy, old-school carnival.
"Bring back some memories, May?" Nick asked.
"I'm still keeping up with the news," May giggled. "It seems like the carnival's doing pretty well since Kawaki surrendered."
"I just hope he's learned his lesson," Bridget quipped.
The trip through Sector H was mostly silent, save for some commentary by the spies.
"Here we go again... going down the only road we've ever known," Mat parodied.
"Very funny, Mat," Melissa chuckled.
"Okay, I was not expecting Sector H to look like this," Alex remarked.
"That makes two of us," Mat commented.
May and Britney looked around at the surroundings themselves.
"Is it just me or does virtual reality always change?" Mat wondered.
"I don't remember Sector H looking like this last time we were in cyberspace, though," Bridget pointed out.
"...that's because it's not!" RiCO exclaimed.
"And I'm pretty sure I know the reason for that..." Nick chastised.
"Not hard to figure out 'Miss Sore Loser' over not getting her games accepted," Clover groaned.
"Aw, how'd you figure me out so quickly?" Lady Dragon taunted as she stepped out from the shadows, with CHAD right behind her.
"Save the dumb speeches, Lady Lizard!" Bridget exclaimed. "You know we're not gonna stop pursuing you until we take you down!"
"Like I haven't heard that one before. CHAD, you know what to do..." Lady Dragon retorted.
"Oh, yes!" CHAD cackled as he changed into a virtual octopus, extended a tentacle behind the spies and snatched Mat unsuspectingly. The spies never knew until Mat gave an "OH MY!"
"...what?! MAT!" Sam screamed.
"Oh, that is it, you virtual vixen! Now you're gonna pay dearly for that!" Nick exclaimed.
"You sure about that?" Lady Dragon taunted again.
"It was one thing you went after Alex," Sam growled. "BUT YOU DON'T GO AFTER MY HONEY-BUNS!"
"We better work fast, guys!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Before CHAD turns Mat into a stress relief ball," Blaine added.
"And then some!" Clover exclaimed.
"You guys better hurry..." Mat screamed, feeling the tentacle's grip getting tighter and tighter.
"No worries, Mat!" Klee shouted.
"We got your back, pal!" Clover remarked.
Nick worked fast as CHAD's octopus tentacle was about to send Mat crashing to the ground.
"I don't think so, squid boy!" Nick shouted, flying towards CHAD as fast as he could, forming a psychic blade on his hand so he could slash forward with it and sever the tentacle from CHAD's body. Nick quickly spun around, snatching Mat in his psychic hold and bringing him back to the group.
While Nick set Mat safely down, Sophia went to work, shifting into battle mode and rushing forward to clobber CHAD's body with her yo-yos multiple times.
"Get off of me, you useless girl!" CHAD shouted, flailing his tentacles about and forcing Sophia to jump backwards, only to be knocked backwards when May flew in and beaned him in the head with her digital anchor (RiCO had held onto it for May in case the spies made another trip into the datascape).
"Oh, yeah, you're in trouble now," May laughed as she began bashing CHAD's body with her anchor, allowing Sophia time to charge up and drop a large red energy heart on top of CHAD, forcing him to revert back to his original humanoid form.
While CHAD was stumbling back, Klee flew into the air and prepared herself. Sophia noticed this and began dancing around CHAD to attack with her yo-yos and buy Klee the time she needed to charge up.
Suddenly, CHAD transformed into a large, skeletal monster with a cape and a massive anchor-like sword.
"Oh, so that's the way we're gonna play, huh?!" May shouted as she ran towards CHAD and began to duel with him, their weapons clashing repeatedly.
Klee raised her glowing right hand before drawing a circle with it, then using her left hand to draw a star shape inside the circle. The circle began to glow brightly as Klee raised her right hand to the sky.
May ducked under another swing before striking low to the ground and causing CHAD to fall on his back, thus leaving him wide open for Klee.
"Shove this down your USB drive," Klee taunted. "Meteor Starfall!"
The circle of light began firing off hundreds of star-shaped psychic bolts into CHAD, damaging him severely and forcing him back into his original form.
"You can see this isn't going very well for you, right?" Sam taunted. "Now either beat it or suffer our wrath, mine especially! You're definitely not getting away with what you did to Mat!"
CHAD simply lunged for Sam, who dodged to the right and threw a Boomerang Buzzsaw Barrette to slice off CHAD's right arm. Even though CHAD quickly regenerated that arm, the original arm lay still as CHAD and Lady Dragon retreated for the time being.
Mat was able to free himself from the right arm that was once attached to CHAD... only to be met with a tight hug from Sam. The rest of the spy team chuckled as Mat was met with a ton of kisses from Sam.
"Big thanks, guys," Mat remarked while Sam kissed him. "I owe ya one!"
Sam and Mat even exchanged a final hug before getting back to the topic at hand.
"Well, that was fun," May quipped.
"Indeed it was," Sophia replied.
"Might as well send some of this to Jerry," RiCO stated as she approached CHAD's severed arm, cutting a few pieces of it off to send to Jerry. "Maybe more pieces of this nutball will help them develop a countermeasure quicker."
"We're already on that, RiCO," Jerry's voice responded.
"Um, who's 'we' in this case?" RiCO asked.
"That... would be me," the voice of who else but Adam Lewis replied as RiCO opened a data screen to show Jerry's office in W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters, where Adam was sitting at a computer with Jerry watching over him.
"Hey, Adam, long time no see!" Alex proclaimed.
"I'm sorry you all got wrapped up with my own creation again," Adam answered. "That Lady Dragon chick just popped up out of the blue and forced me to recreate CHAD for her sinister plans."
"As villains do," Klee quipped.
"But, that's why I'm here at W.O.O.H.P.," Adam replied. "Since I created CHAD, that also means I can create something to stop him. I'm going to create a multi-agent program of my own that can infiltrate CHAD's code and delete him from within."
"Those samples you sent us have definitely helped our endeavor," Jerry answered. "It may still take a little while, but the samples will speed up the process significantly. We'll contact you when it's ready."
"Once again, Jerry, you rock!" Clover proclaimed.
"In the meantime, how is Sophia acclimating?" Jerry asked.
"I'm doing pretty well, all things considered," Sophia answered, shifting out of battle mode so Jerry could see her face. "It's so fun traveling with everyone here."
"I imagine the Japanese W.O.O.H.P. datascape looks a lot different from ours, huh?" Nick asked.
"Exactly," Sophia replied. "If you ever find yourself in Japan again, stop by, and I'll gladly take you on a tour."
"Guess we'd better get on their trail again," RiCO proclaimed. "Even if they can't get out of the datascape right now, we probably don't wanna know what kind of damage they could cause."
"True that," Alex quipped. "Let's head out, peeps!"
The spies got out of the datascape safely with RiCO's assistance.
"I'll deal with Lady Dragon and CHAD until you spies come back – Sophia, too," RiCO told the spy group before her visage disappeared.
The spy group made its way back to Jerry's office where Adam Lewis sat on his laptop.
"I can see your group has certainly grown," Adam commented when he saw Alex and the rest of the spies.
"Yes, it has," Alex quipped.
"Good to see you again," Sam told Adam after they had briefly gone through introductions.
"Not to worry, spies," Jerry added. "I've already made it clear to Adam that all this fracas and information on W.O.O.H.P. does not leave this room."
"That's a must," May commented.
"Do you remember ANYTHING if Lady Dragon brainwashed you or anything?" Mat asked Adam.
"She didn't try that, thankfully," Adam answered. "She just threatened me with the usuals to make me recreate CHAD for her plans."
"That makes sense," May quipped.
"Okay then," Haruka stated.
"I've also arranged to fly in some extra help, spies," Jerry announced.
"Hello, spies," a familiar woman's voice resounded.
It turned out to be Keiko, the ex-WOOHP agent.
"I arranged Keiko to be flown here for help if needed," Jerry explained.
"I had a little assistance in the Japanese datascape," Keiko added. "Don't worry, my husband completely understands."
"Nice!" Britney exclaimed.
Sam and Mat backtracked their attention spans to checking on Kana's well-being.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Kana told them.
"Apparently your 'Lady Dragon' villain Jerry has told me about has certainly done a number on the W.O.O.H.P. datascape – especially the Japan segment," Keiko replied. "It has also effected the electronics in Japan as well."
"How so?" Haruka wondered.
"This CHAD appears to now have the ability to interfere with electronic devices," Keiko explained.
"No doubt due to Lady Dragon's 'alterations'," Sam proclaimed.
"It was actually Sophia and her creator that first noticed the disturbances and alerted us to the possibility of a problem," Keiko continued.
"Then it's emphatic that we stop Lady Dragon right away!" Sam exclaimed.
"Right," Blaine quipped. "But where do we start?"
"I can assist you from Jerry's office," Keiko remarked.
"We'd appreciate it," Mat commented. "Thanks for the help!"
"Indeed," Nick added.
"Okay, now where do we start?" Bridget wondered.
Before anyone could suggest ideas, the alarms began to resound in the office.
"Okay, what now?!" Clover exclaimed.
"Well, that's the sound of trouble," RiCO proclaimed as she and Sophia appeared on the office viewscreen.
"Do you remember how I said that I was able to come to this branch of W.O.O.H.P. for my training?" Sophia answered. "It turns out that Lady Dragon just sent CHAD through that gateway!"
"Wait, I thought they couldn't leave the datascape because of RiCO's security measures?" Klee wondered.
"It turns out that doesn't apply to gateways to another part of the datascape, apparently," RiCO answered. "We're gonna have to patch that soon, Jerry."
"That we do, RiCO," Jerry replied.
"Wait, hold on, does this mean CHAD's going after the Japanese datascape?!" Melissa gasped.
"Probably to finish what he started there, no doubt," Dawn quipped.
"Well, this is a bit of a pickle," Nick stated. "How are we gonna handle this, everyone?"
"Well, considering that our villains are attacking on two different fronts, we should do the same to counter them," Sam responded. "So, here's my idea. Nick, I want you to take May, Melissa, Dawn, Nozomi and Haruka to Japan and try to stop CHAD from messing up Japan any further."
"I'll follow you to Japan's datascape," Sophia proclaimed. "I've got a bone to pick with that psycho virus thing anyway."
"I can more than handle Lady Dragon if she's all by herself, so you don't have to worry much about me," RiCO replied.
"I'll prepare the Skyskimmer at once," Jerry stated, snapping his fingers.
In response, Nick immediately raised his hand to create a psychic bubble around everyone who was headed to Japan, much to Keiko's surprise.
"One day, Jerry," Nick teased.
"I will keep trying," Jerry laughed as Nick's group dashed off to board the Skyskimmer.
"My, my, your team is certainly full of surprises," Keiko admitted.
"That is true," Sophia giggled as she dashed off to find the gateway that she had used to get here.
7:23 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan
"Wow, this a pretty slick place, isn't it?" Nick quipped as he and his friends arrived at the headquarters of W.O.O.H.P.'s recently-established Japanese branch.
"Ah, you must be the agents from the American branch," an agent stated.
"I take it you have a virus problem of sorts?" Nozomi asked.
"Precisely," a second agent responded. "Sophia is already in the datascape waiting for you."
"Sophia, can you hear us?" Haruka called out. "We're ready to head inside!"
"Roger that," Sophia's voice proclaimed. "Beginning network transmission."
A flashlight-like device descended from the ceiling and shined a bright red light on the group, transporting them into the datascape.
7:26 P.M. – Japanese W.O.O.H.P. Datascape, Sector D
"Wow, you were right, Sophia," Haruka quipped as the spies beheld the Japanese W.O.O.H.P.'s datascape. "Yours is very different from ours."
The general design of this particular datascape was a bunch of areas made up of a bright red light, much like the color of Sophia's hair, though it still looked very much like the US W.O.O.H.P. datascape in overall construction. Sector D was comprised of many different shrines in a way that reminded Nick of Kyoto.
"The shrines were my own personal touch," Sophia admitted. "Now, we should probably hurry and find CHAD before he decides to cause any damage."
"You most likely know this place better than us, so lead the way, Sophia," May quipped.
With that, Sophia guided the spies through the area, following her radar data screens to find CHAD's unique signature.
"Um, pardon my asking, but mister Adam said he was creating something that could stop CHAD," Sophia asked. "How exactly does he plan to do that?"
"I think Adam said it was a 'multi-agent system'," Nick replied, since they'd asked Adam about that on the way to Japan. "He said that because CHAD's a multi-agent program itself, he's going to create a similar one to fight CHAD off. The one he's making is apparently mixed with some kind of special malware that'll target CHAD's code and eliminate him."
"And hopefully he'll stay dead this time," Nozomi stated.
Sophia gasped in surprise, switching her data screens over to reveal a video feed of CHAD stomping around Sector D, even destroying a few of the shrines in the process.
"Okay, now he's just being rude," Melissa sighed.
"Well, let's go stomp on him and stop his wanton property damage!" Dawn proclaimed.
Thankfully, it wasn't much longer until the group reached the area where CHAD was wrecking the area, and Nick quickly fired off a Final Shine Attack to blast CHAD in the back and get his attention.
"Yeah, I'm looking at you, virus boy," Nick taunted.
"How did you follow me all the way back to Japan?!" CHAD proclaimed.
"The particulars are none of your business," Sophia shot back, shifting into her battle mode and brandishing her yo-yos. "Now stop destroying my system unless you want to be destroyed."
"Ooh, isn't this cute," CHAD taunted. "The little yo-yo girl thinks she can stop me."
"Do you want a reminder of how this went down last time?" Sophia answered, taking a step forward in hopes of baiting CHAD to attack her.
Thankfully, CHAD took the bait and rushed forward to strike at her. This gave Sophia the chance to swing her yo-yos in a wide arc, severing CHAD's legs and making him fall flat on his face, even if his legs quickly regenerated.
While CHAD was down, Sophia stepped closer and began wailing on his body with many different yo-yo combos, intent on causing as much damage as possible.
When CHAD jumped back to his feet, he changed his hands into gigantic hammers and attempted to crush Sophia underneath them, but Sophia simply created a data barrier above her to repel the attack, then threw her yo-yos boomerang-style into CHAD's face, causing him to reel backwards.
"Wow, Sophia's really wailing on him, isn't she?" May laughed.
"Still, we'd better be ready to step in if things get ugly," Nick replied. "I have no idea what other tricks CHAD might have up his non-existent sleeves."
("The Warrior" by Scandal plays)
"That's a good point," Sam quipped, remembering back to how they were almost defeated.
That was when Sam's X-Powder went off, and Keiko's visage appeared from Jerry's office.
"We'll monitor from out here," Keiko replied.
"I'll know what's a virus, a trap, etc." Adam pointed out.
"I can still help as well as a second spotter," Kana added in.
"You'll certainly need your ear ring communicators," Jerry told the girls. "And for the boys, we've created headphone communicators."
"Nice work, Jer," Mat replied.
"I'll say," Nick added.
"Yeah, likewise," Blaine quipped. "By the way, are we gonna know what's a virus and what's not?" he asked.
"That's what RiCO and Sophia are here for after all," Nick deduced.
"Exactly right," RiCO answered as she and Sophia stood before the spies.
"Is the datascape safe now?" Clover asked.
"For now, yes," Sophia answered. "I sent CHAD running."
"Thank you, Sophia," Bridget quipped.
"Praise accepted," Sophia giggled, once again humming her tune.
"We better get back in there and stop CHAD from his sinister ways quickly!" Haruka exclaimed.
"We'll show the way," RiCO replied.
"Follow us," Sophia quipped.
"Can't forget to be prepared," Klee added as she got her psychic powers warmed up.
Nick did the same thing.
"Wait, how'd you guys get back from Japan so quickly?" Alex asked.
"I brought them through the gateway I used to get here," Sophia answered. "I figured it would be the optimal solution, given the situation at hand."
"It was weird at first, but I've long since accepted the strange things that we see on our missions."
"Not to interrupt, but does Sector D look a little different from the last time we were here?" Mat asked, remembering it was a neon city.
"I think so," May replied.
"It still looks like a neon city, but a different kind of city," Haruka quipped. "Almost as if it's more urban instead of 'downtown'."
"Well, different or not," Britney stated. "It doesn't change the fact we got two villains to stop!"
"Totally," Melissa stated.
The spies moved forward until there was a hose attached to a fire hydrant and a car in front with a "wash me" sign there. This took the spies by surprise.
"A car wash?" Bridget wondered.
"Did Lady Dragon tap into our summer plans or something?" Haruka added.
"I'll be surprised if she did," Alex commented.
"You did car washes over the summer?" Sophia wondered.
"You shoulda seen Nick and Mat's reactions when their girls took part in one," Dawn told Sophia. "Especially when Haruka and Bridget teamed up – twice!"
"That must have been interesting," Sophia admitted.
"Especially the part where Haruka got me up the nose," Bridget quipped.
"Hey, I tried to warn ya, but you just turned around too late," Haruka laughed.
RiCO checked things out.
"It's a trap, spies," RiCO told them. "We have to leave it alone..."
"And save a REAL car wash or hose war for another time," Haruka quipped and even flashed a cheeky smile to Nick, knowing that meant Haruka being in a two-piece most likely.
Nick couldn't help but grin back, knowing exactly what Haruka was thinking.
"That's summertime," May replied.
"Now we track down those two dopes and get after them for tapping into our summer thoughts..." Bridget quipped.
"You don't need to look far..." CHAD cackled.
Lady Dragon was near him as both villains made their appearances to the spies.
"Ready for an ass-whooping, you two?!" Klee exclaimed.
"I believe we'll be dealing the 'ass-whoopings' in this particular fight," CHAD laughed.
"Um, need I remind you of how much Sophia's been kicking your buggy face in?" May shot back. "You really think it's going to go any better for you this time?!"
"They seem to be very fervent followers of rule seven," Sophia replied as she shifted into battle mode.
"A lot of our baddies are," Sam sighed.
CHAD crossed his arms and transformed his body into a large, muscular creature carrying two gigantic swords.
"Oh, what, is that supposed to intimidate us?!" Bridget exclaimed. "Sonic Mode, online!"
CHAD swung his swords as Bridget approached, but she doubled back to avoid the strike, then charged back in and punched CHAD in the chest with a Metal Masher Boxing Glove. The strength of the glove combined with Bridget's enhanced speed resulted in a rather substantial hole in CHAD's chest.
"Suck on that!" Clover shouted.
CHAD simply chuckled as the hole began to close itself up quickly. RiCO responded by raising her hand and firing a bright blue beam of light through CHAD's chest in the same spot that Bridget had just punched. To CHAD's surprise, even though the hole still closed up, it did so a lot slower than normally.
"That's because I'm using my anti-virus program on you," RiCO proclaimed. "You may be a super-sentient AI virus, but you're still a virus at your core."
"Wretched program!" CHAD bellowed, marching towards RiCO with every intent of deleting her where she stood, only to be stopped by Sophia, who planted herself in front of RiCO and swung her yo-yos upwards to knock CHAD backwards.
"As Nick says, 'fear the almighty yo-yo'," Sophia giggled as she began spinning her yo-yos around herself in a wide arc before conjuring seven golden-yellow data screens above her, each one firing off a large beam of light towards CHAD. The multi-pronged attack did enough damage to force CHAD to return to his default form to recover from the damage.
"You wanna keep mocking us now?!" Nick shouted.
"Unfortunately, we do have other things to be doing," Lady Dragon admitted. "So for now, we'll bid you all adieu."
"But don't think this is over," CHAD proclaimed as the two villains retreated for the moment.
"Well, that was a thing," Nozomi quipped.
"I really wanted to blast him one," Klee stated.
"Any idea where he's heading, RiCO?" Nick asked.
RiCO was immediately checking her scanners for any sign of their villains. Thankfully, it didn't take too long to pinpoint their location.
"They're heading for Sector G," RiCO proclaimed.
"Ah, the pipe maze," Mat quipped. "Here's hoping it's not actually a pipe maze again when we get there..."
8:15 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Datascape, Sector G
To Mat's relief, Sector G hadn't been changed into the Pipe Maze this time around, though it now seemingly resembled another world from Super Mario Bros. 3, what with the ominous-looking tower that stretched into the sky.
"Ah, wonderful, now we're in The Sky," Mat quipped.
"Once again, I'll admit that Lady Dragon's got a bit of taste," Nick replied. "One wonders if she played the heck out of Super Mario Bros. 3 when she was younger..."
"I'll admit, it was a bit of a nostalgia trip," Lady Dragon admitted as she and CHAD approached the spies. "But we'll discuss sky towers and angry suns later."
"Oh, lordy, don't remind me of that freakin' angry sun," Nick groaned. "Thank god they kept it in the desert world outside of Bowser Land..."
"I believe we have an appointment with your de-resolution!" CHAD laughed as he began to transform into another form...
...only for something to strike him in the back and interrupt his transformation.
"Who dares?!" Lady Dragon bellowed. "Don't tell me there's another one of you brats?!"
"I... don't think so," Haruka wondered. "Everyone's here except Kana, so..."
Klee ducked down so she could see who had attacked CHAD, only to see someone she hoped wouldn't show up now of all times.
"Oh, wonderful," Klee groaned.
"What, is it Lumiere?!" Alex gasped.
"Nope," Nick growled, now knowing who Klee had seen. "Guess who wears a gaudy cloak and has been a real pain in our rumps lately?"
May was quick to summon her anchor, as that description could only match one person the spies knew.
And sure enough, it was Corvus, his hand glowing a dark purple.
"So nice to see you in this digital world, spies," Corvus proclaimed.
"Wait, how did you get in here?!" RiCO exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure I closed the gateways when we came back in here so Lady Dragon and her virus couldn't get out until we were done!"
"This nutball's got some real freaky powers, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was capable of warping into the datascape somehow," Nick stated.
"But on to actual business, you wanna explain what you're doing here?!" Klee shouted. "It can't be just to ruin our day!"
"But we've already established how fun that would be," Corvus cackled. "Besides, I'm still hoping that you'll give me more of a challenge than your parents did."
"...I'm sorry, what?" Klee growled, her aura flaring around her. "Are you insinuating that you did something to my mama and papa in the future?!"
"Maybe," Corvus laughed. "Why don't you come over and take the answers from me?"
"Oh, we'd be more than happy to oblige, mister creepy," Alex challenged as the spies shifted into fighting stances.
"Excuse me, but who do you think you are, butting in on my schemes?" Lady Dragon proclaimed, stepping forward so she could tell Corvus off.
Corvus responded by waving his hand casually, covering Lady Dragon in a cloud of dark energy.
"Remove yourself from my presence," Corvus proclaimed. Before the spies could do anything, Lady Dragon vanished completely.
"What did you do to her?!" Sam shouted.
RiCO suddenly heard a beep, which meant Jerry was attempting to communicate with her. She quickly opened a data screen to see Jerry in his office along with, surprisingly, a hand-cuffed Lady Dragon.
"Jerry, what's going on out there?" RiCO asked.
"I have no idea what happened, but Lady Dragon suddenly appeared in the office, then was swiftly captured," Jerry explained.
"Corvus happened," Klee answered. "He apparently warped Lady Dragon out of the datascape so he doesn't have anything to get in his way."
"Um, then why didn't he get rid of CHAD, too?!" May exclaimed.
"I simply got rid of the trash, so we can fight on a more even level," Corvus proclaimed.
"I have no idea what just happened, but if it means we both get to crush you, the more the merrier!" CHAD cackled as both he and Corvus advanced on the spies.
"I have no idea who you are, but if your intent is to hurt my friends, then you will not receive any mercy from me," Sophia proclaimed, changing into battle mode. "After all, I am humanity's companion."
"This oughta be good," Mat commented. "Advantage Sophia, I'd like to say."
"I'm gonna put the odds in our favor, too," Nick replied, stepping up. "I've got a good chance of taking down Corvus, even IF he did us a favor with Lady Dragon!"
"Be clear, that's the only thing you're getting a pardon for," Klee warned Corvus.
"Oh, am I?" Corvus sneered in a taunt.
"Count on that!" Klee added as she warmed up her psychic powers, too.
"And I'll make it four!" RiCO remarked, joining Sophia.
"What do you say to this?!" Nick taunted to Corvus.
Corvus just cackled in full confidence, knowing he could take them all in his sleep.
"The rest of you, deal with CHAD the best you can until we can join in and help you," Nick then told the others.
"You bet we will," Sam quipped in her leader tone. "Come on, spies! Let's do what we can with CHAD!"
Mat and the others just followed.
"You'll be okay, guys?" May asked all four of them.
"We will," Sophia replied.
The spies nodded and followed Sam deeper into the sector.
"I can tell just by looking at you that you're quite the nutball," RiCO quipped, her hands glowing a bright blue.
"And you're gonna pay in spades for whatever you did to my future mama and papa!" Klee shouted, her own hands glowing a bright aqua.
"Oh, bring it," Corvus laughed as Nick and Sophia made the first charge.
Nick started by firing a few psychic bolts towards Corvus, which were easily dodged.
"Still trying the same old tricks, I see," Corvus cackled.
"Then how come you've never heard of a distraction?" Nick taunted.
Sophia took that moment to start striking Corvus in the back with multiple yo-yo combos, including a forward spiral, the walking the dog, and even a lasso attack that reminded Nick a little too much of Indiana Jones.
"You'll learn to respect the almighty yo-yo," Nick proclaimed, to which Sophia giggled.
"Make your jokes while you can," Corvus responded. "Because I'm just getting started!"
"Oh, they say that every time, too," Klee shot back, blasting Corvus back with a pulse wave so that Nick could go back on the offensive.
"Stay on guard, guys," Haruka remarked as the rest of the group went off to find CHAD.
"No need to tell us twice," Clover stated. "Especially after the last time..."
Clover certainly remembered the last time they were in the datascape, and even dealing with CHAD the first time around with Adam going after people who bullied him. If she hadn't tried getting through to Adam while they were being ascertained, their spy careers could've been over right then and there.
"Any idea what we should be looking for?" Blaine asked.
"Just stay on guard in case CHAD decides to show his ugly self and surprise us," Nozomi replied.
May summoned her anchor via the EGT just in case.
The spies continued on until Alex was startled by a loud bang that took place right behind her. That certainly got Alex extremely nervous.
"Did something just fall behind me?" Alex wondered.
"Something did," Bridget answered.
"It's... a birdcage?" Sam quipped.
"Okay, was not expecting that," May stated.
"I don't know what he's trying, but this isn't gonna work with us," Melissa proclaimed.
Clover's X-Powder sounded and she answered it.
"Spies, do you read us?" Jerry spoke.
"Jerry?" Clover wondered as the spies gathered round.
"What's happening back at base?" Mat asked.
"Is everyone okay?" Dawn wondered.
"It appears your Lady Dragon enemy is trying to attack us back at base!" Keiko answered.
"We're keeping Kana safe for the meantime," Jerry added over the line to Mat and Sam.
"Great!" May chastised. "NOW what are we gonna do?!"
"Some of us are gonna have to go back to fend off Lady Dragon's attack," Britney answered.
"HOW did she do this first of all?!" Mat wondered.
"If only Nick could have put her in a bubble," Melissa sighed.
"Well, to be fair, we weren't expecting Corvus to show up and just shuck her out of cyberspace," May admitted.
"True," Dawn replied. "Well, Melissa and I will handle the crazy game-maker. You guys just find CHAD and beat him to a cyber-pulp."
"Got it," Sam stated, opening her X-Powder to contact RiCO. "RiCO, can you read me? How is everything going over there?"
"Pretty good, actually," RiCO answered. "We sent Corvus packing!"
"He just disappeared saying 'you will know my plans soon enough'," Klee replied. "What's the sit-rep over there?"
"Can RiCO open a gateway back to W.O.O.H.P.? Apparently, Lady Dragon's causing a few problems back in real space," Melissa asked. "Dawn and I are gonna go take care of that while the rest of you take down CHAD."
It only took a few seconds for a pulsing blue portal to open up in front of the spies.
"Once again, you rock, RiCO!" Dawn exclaimed as she and Melissa walked into the portal to return to the real world.
"We're heading your way," Sophia proclaimed. "I think it's time we settled the score with CHAD once and for all."
"Ooh, I'm down for that!" Alex laughed.
The group only had to wait a couple minutes for Nick, Klee, RiCO, and Sophia to arrive.
"All right-y, then, let's end these shenanigans," Nick proclaimed. "RiCO, where's he hiding?"
"According to my readouts, he's heading for Sector F," RiCO responded.
"Oh, isn't that where Alex had to fight mister pig-cow thing?" May quipped.
"Yeah, that was a lot of fun," Alex groaned. "I don't smell like bacon, do I?!"
"Wait, wait, is Adam okay?!" Bridget gasped.
"I'm fine, Bridget, don't worry," Adam answered from Sam's X-Powder. "In fact, my multi-agent program is finally finished!"
"Trump card complete!" Clover laughed.
"Commencing download now," Adam proclaimed. A spiral of data rings surrounded RiCO's body until she now had a futuristic laser device strapped to her wrist. "You'll have to damage CHAD enough to expose his bare code, at which point you inject him with the multi-agent program. The program itself will take care of the rest."
"Many thanks, Adam," Sam responded. "All right, everyone, let's move out!"
To be concluded...
On the next episode...
CHAD: Why am I not surprised that you all followed me here?
Bridget: Well, you're a malevolent AI-virus-program mutant thing that's trying to destroy the datascape thanks to the whims of some whacked-in-the-head game designer. Us stopping you is obvious.
Nick: Just give it up, CHAD. There's nowhere left for you to run!
CHAD: Oh, who said I was running?
Sophia: I hope you're ready to be deleted!
CHAD: Those are some big words, little program. You can talk the talk, but let's see if you can walk the walk!
Alex: ...wh-what the heck did he just transform into?!
Nick: Whatever it is, it's going down like all the rest, next time on the final act of Totally Spies: Artificial Insanity, "You Are Stronger"!
Sophia: Do not worry, Nick. I will auto-delete any unneeded puns.
Nick: Don't know what we'd do without ya, Sophia.