7:35 A.M. – Lyrobia, Queen Tassara's Palace
As Queen Tassara adjusted her crown, she looked out the window of her quarters.
It felt like a lot longer than it had been since that day when her own sister had plotted against her in a bid to rule both Lyrobia and the neighboring Kenyopia.
"I wonder how the spies are doing?" Tassara asked herself as she continued to prepare herself for her royal duties.
However, that train of thought would come to a screeching halt when one of her aides burst through the door, looking like she'd run a marathon just to get up here.
"What's the matter?" Tassara asked.
The aide simply ran over to show Tassara the pictures some of their scouts had taken the night before. Most of them appeared to show a very high-tech ship, almost alien-like in its design.
"This ship apparently passed over the palace last night," the aide explained. "What do you think we should do about it?"
Tassara thought for a few seconds before coming to a decision.
"We should probably call W.O.O.H.P.," Tassara answered. "They investigate strange occurrences all the time. Perhaps they could help us again."
The aide nodded. "This way, then, my queen."
Tassara followed her aide to the communication room, hoping that the spies could help her solve this strange problem before it became an even worse problem.
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(Don't just sit there and waste your precious time. When you want to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It's the only way to live a life without regrets.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies: Demons in the Desert
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: May 24th, 2021
Story Summary: The thirty-eighth joint project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, collectively known as Totally Spies: The New Adventures. It's a brand new year, but as expected, trouble has already reared its ugly head. This time, Queen Tassara had contacted W.O.O.H.P. to tell them that she may be in trouble, courtesy of recently escaped baddie Sagan Hawking. The spies will have to make a journey through the Nairobi desert to hear Tassara's side of the story and hopefully not get abducted by anything unnatural along the way. But what strange schemes does Sagan have under her Trenchcoat this go-round, and can the spies ground those schemes and keep the queen of Lyrobia safe?
Author's Note from Mat49324: Well, after we got through with #37 – Stay Frosty – it's now time for our 38th project together. I've called this one Demons in the Desert, and for a change, an old "friend" has requested the spies' services. Here's a hint: she's from early S1. The villain is also from S1 as well. We've used this villain before in one of our projects – The Anomaly in Anaheim – well, there were TWO villains there, so I'll tell you right now that the villain is none other than "Miss Alien Leader", Sagan Hawking. I'll leave you to figure out whom the "old friend" is. In addition, we're starting the spies' scene out with a similar callback to S6's Astro-Not. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger if there's anything he'd like to say.
Author's Note from The Blue Time Ranger: Ah, from one temperature extreme to another. We're revisiting an old ally of the spies from waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, and a certain alien-obsessed nutball is up to her old shenanigans again. Also, we're so close to the end of another season of The New Adventures! The season finale, Our Beginning, is right after this story, and then comes the big movie! But we'll get there when we get there. For now, let's make contact! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters created by us truly for the story (in this case, Nick, Haruka, Bridget, May, Nozomi, Dawn, and Melissa on my side, and Mathew on his side). Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
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Episode 1: First Contact
11:39 A.M. – Malibu University, the Spies' Penthouse
It was a nice Friday mid-morning at Malibu University. Some of the spies were in the penthouse, and it was pretty warm outside. Currently, Nick, Mat, Klee, and Nozomi were in the den of the penthouse.
"Phew... for a new year, I didn't predict this heat wave coming so early," Mat told Nick, Klee, and Nozomi.
"Eighty-nine freakin' degrees today," Nozomi pointed out. "And humidity was supposed to be pretty high..."
"How'd you know?" Nick wondered.
"Haruka had the morning news on and I overheard the weather report," Nozomi answered.
"How're you holding up, Klee?" Nick wondered.
"I'm doing all right," Klee answered.
"I'd expect this kind of weather around the summertime," Clover stated, coming into view in her bikini. "This heat is totally the last thing I wanted before Spring term begins after the weekend!"
"And Anaheim 1 2008 no doubt," Mat added with an intriguing look on his face.
"Figured that was on your mind," Nozomi chuckled to Mat and rolled her eyes.
"The 'you' in the future is just as big a motocross fan as you are, Mat," Klee laughed.
"Kinda figured," Mat laughed as well.
"So, how do you plan to cool off, Clover?" Nick wondered.
"Well, besides just wearing my swimsuit, I figured I'd see if the pool's open," Clover answered.
"As expected," Melissa quipped and stepped out of the penthouse in her own swimsuit.
Mat and Nozomi looked around to see where some of the other girl spies were.
"Good thing we got our classes picked early after coming back from Resort Ridge," Nick commented.
"Totally," May stated, coming into view in her own swimsuit, obviously overhearing Nick's statement.
"Did you see where Sam and the others went?" Mat asked May.
"Kana's still here," May replied.
Mat looked to see Kana come to the den, too.
"Hey, kiddo," Mat told Kana.
"I think some of them went to get an early lunch," May continued as her answer.
Nick and Mat went to see for themselves, but they were stopped in their tracks to see Melissa and Dawn up to pool antics of their own.
Dawn even ran up to the unsuspecting Melissa like a charging football player and tackled her into the pool; she even went in the water, too.
"Oh, geez!" Nick exclaimed.
"That's one way to beat the heat," Mat commented with a few laughs of his own.
"Really?!" Melissa exclaimed at Dawn after they both resurfaced.
"What do you expect? It's hot as hell today!" Dawn chastised.
"Well, if you wanna throw down, you'd better be ready to defend yourself!" Melissa shouted, spinning around and swinging her right arm to drench Dawn with a short-range wave...
...only for Dawn to dive underwater to avoid it and grab Melissa by the legs, causing her to squeak in shock before jumping back to keep Dawn from dunking her.
"Those two are a pair, all right," Mat quipped.
"Yeah, but a pair of what?" Nick teased.
Nick then looked behind him to see Sam, Alex, Britney, and Bridget coming back to the penthouse; Mat looked to see Clover and Haruka dashing down to the penthouse pool to join Melissa and Dawn in their "pool war." Haruka was in a two-piece also.
Sam, Alex, and Britney were all in two-pieces, while Bridget sported a onesie this time.
"Hey, where'd you come from?" Nick asked the others.
"Alex and I had early morning shifts at the Mali-U café," Sam answered.
"And we all picked up lunch on the way back," Bridget added.
"And in case you missed the memo, it's hot as hell today," Alex laughed.
"Plus, we're not the only ones going around campus in these," Britney quipped, adjusting her bikini.
"Though I wouldn't mind being in an ice-cream shop with today's weather," Alex added as she went to Nick.
Sam did the same thing, only with Mat.
"There's just no way to escape this heat," Bridget laughed.
"No, there's not," Nick quipped. "Except Melissa and Dawn have a good alternative until we go back to our beach house and have the occasional water hose war."
"Can't say I blame 'em," Sam laughed when she happened to see Haruka and Clover resurface.
Alex looked at Sam, and the two shared a nod.
"Hey, girls! Make some room for us!" Alex shouted as she and Sam made a mad dash themselves.
"PIRATE DIVE!" May exclaimed as she jumped into the pool right after Sam and Alex, drenching everyone near the point of impact.
"That never gets old for you, does it?" Nozomi teased.
"Hey, at least I give some warning when I Pirate Dive into a pool," May quipped. "Did you forget when you tried to cannonball into this exact pool last year and landed right on top of me?"
"Well, sorry if I didn't know you were underwater when I jumped!" Nozomi proclaimed.
As Nozomi and May had their fun, Sam and Mat were sneaking up on Nick and Haruka in an attempt to dunk them as well.
However, before they could make their move, Nick and Haruka suddenly dove underwater, almost as if they'd been expecting that very move.
Before Sam or Mat could get their bearings, Nick and Haruka emerged behind them, jumping out of the pool to do a handstand on their shoulders.
"Seriously, you guys are too easy!" Haruka laughed.
Sam and Mat winked to each other before bending backwards rapidly, causing Nick and Haruka to lose their balance and collapse back into the pool.
"You were saying, Haruka?" Mat teased.
"Oh, it is on now!" Haruka sputtered once she'd resurfaced.
"Looks like those guys are having fun," Klee giggled. "Let me try something..."
As Bridget and Clover swam past each other, Klee raised her right hand to snatch them both in her psychic hold, thus allowing her to dunk them from afar.
"She did that to me once," Kana admitted.
All in all, it was a very fun pool time for the spies, a way to beat the menacing heat and humidity.
"Well, that was very refreshing," Alex giggled once the spies were finished with their pool fun.
"I definitely feel a lot better now," Nozomi laughed. "Today seems like it's gonna be one of those days..."
"Hey, the humidity only makes it worse, if you want my opinion," Nick admitted. "One of my aunts lives in Arizona, and despite how high the temperature can get there, it's usually more of a dry heat, so it's more bearable."
"I still can't believe you were onto us," Haruka quipped.
"Hey, you've done the old 'up-and-over' to us how many times now?" Sam teased. "We just wanted you to think we were none the wiser."
"Guess that means we're gonna have to try a new tactic, huh?" Haruka laughed.
As the spies continued to walk through the hallways of Mali-U, Nick was the first to notice that Klee had started shaking a bit.
All of a sudden, Klee clutched her head, groaning in pain, but before anyone could make a move to help her, she fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
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"...where... am I?"
When Klee opened her eyes, she found herself standing on one of many tall, stained glass pillars rising up from a seemingly unending void, each pillar connected by a long walkway.
Floating all around this oddball void were dozens and dozens of large, mirror-like screens, each one displaying what appeared to be a moment in Klee's life.
After making a mental note that this was almost exactly like the place in Nick's mind that Alex and May had found themselves in when trying to free him from Psykos' control, Klee glanced around and noticed that some of the mirrors were filled with static.
"Are those... my still-missing memories?" Klee wondered.
"Yes. These memories still remain lost to you."
Klee looked ahead towards the next platform and saw multiple silhouettes of what appeared to be the spies, only older.
And right in front of the troupe was a silvery doppelganger of herself.
"You have been searching for your memories for so long. The last remaining pieces are within your grasp."
As Klee walked over to the other platform, across a long, mirror-like bridge, the silvery doppelganger extended her hand.
"All you have to do to regain them... is reach out."
The static on the empty mirrors began to fade out as Klee got closer to her other self.
And when she took her other self's hand, the static completely faded to reveal the pictures that belonged there.
Klee's silvery other self erupted into a flash of blinding light, but the last thing Klee saw before losing consciousness again...
...was the smiling face of her other self.
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Klee slowly opened her eyes to find that everyone was staring down at her with a mix of concern and worry.
"Hey, guys," Klee giggled. "Did I have a nice nap?"
"Seriously, Klee, what the heck happened?!" May gasped. "We were just having a nice conversation about the kind of food they make in the future, and then you just zonked out and collapsed on us!"
"How long was I out?" Klee wondered.
"About an hour," Alex answered. "So... is everything okay, Klee?"
Klee looked around, just now noticing that she was in Nick and May's dorm room, before looking back at everyone and smiling.
"Yeah. More than okay, mama," Klee laughed. "I got the rest of my memories back!"
"You did? That's awesome, Klee!" Nick exclaimed as Klee leaped out of bed to hug Nick and Alex.
Before Klee could tell everyone about the memories she'd finally regained, the dorm room door opened to reveal a large metal vacuum tube.
"Well, so much for relaxing, huh?" Clover sighed as Nick raised his hand to create a psychic barrier in front of the group that protected them from the tube's suction until it stopped, allowing everyone to jump into the tube of their own volition.
Almost immediately after entering Jerry's office, the group was blasted by a deluge of cool air.
"Precious air conditioning!" May proclaimed.
"Yeah, we know how hot and humid it is outside right now," RiCO giggled. "So we figured we'd accommodate you all for this one."
"Once again, RiCO, you rock!" Clover exclaimed.
"All right then, Jerry, who's today's nutcase?" Nick asked as the spies all used their X-Powders to change into their spy suits.
"Well, it appears that our old friend Queen Tassara has contacted us recently," Jerry explained, the viewscreen switching to the pictures that Tassara's aides had taken of the strange, alien-like craft. "Her aides took these pictures of something strange."
"It looks very... extraterrestrial," Alex quipped.
"Oh, please don't tell me that Sagan Hawking's behind this one again..." Mat groaned. "I was hoping to never see that wacko again..."
"Regardless, we want you all to head to Lyrobia and see if there is merit to this story," Jerry proclaimed. "I highly doubt Her Majesty would lie to us, but..."
"...but we still don't know if it's actually Sagan Hawking or not yet, right?" Nick answered.
"Yup," RiCO replied. "We just want to get some concrete evidence of what baddie this could be. You know how slippery they can get, right?"
"No kidding," Klee responded, glancing at her reflection in her X-Powder. Now that she had fully regained her memories, she knew it wouldn't be much longer before they could go back to the future and reunite with her friends and family, then scuttle Corvus' crazy plans.
She could hardly wait.
The spies were given the coordinates, and they left for Lyrobia. As usual, Kana stayed behind in Jerry's office.
But Kana couldn't help but smile as she watched Klee walk out. She was happy that Klee had finally regained her memories.
1:03 P.M. – Lyrobia
Sam and Clover were at the controls of the RATVAT (or Rugged All Terrain Vehicle And Tunneler) in an attempt to keep out of the heat.
"Thank the stars the RATVAT has air conditioning, too!" May proclaimed.
"Hey, Klee, are you sure you're okay?" Mat wondered. "I'm a little concerned since you were out of it for as long as you were..."
"Nah, I'm fine," Klee remarked. "I have all my memories back, after all."
"Well, that's good that you do," Haruka stated. "But Mat does have a pretty valid point after all, considering how hot it was today at Mali-U..."
"Plus I ask, because when Josh Grant crashed at the final round of the Motocross season at Glen Helen last September, he was out for just three minutes!" Mat added in.
"I think Mat's point got even more valid," May commented. "You were unconscious for almost an hour, Klee..."
"Totally," Alex quipped. "I hope it wasn't heat exhaustion or anything."
"I just... had a vision of sorts," Klee explained. "I saw myself in a place full of mirrors..."
"Just like Nick's mind that one time," May quipped.
"Some of the mirrors were full of television static, and I figured those represented the memories I still hadn't recovered yet," Klee continued. "Then, I saw what looked like older versions of all of you, and then a silvery, glowing me. It told me that all I had to do was 'reach out' to regain what I was missing, so I just took her hand, then I woke up and now I remember everything! ...is that weird to anyone?"
"Hey, May and I went into Nick's mind to save him from Psykos' control," Alex laughed. "Weird just doesn't faze us anymore."
"Well, now that that's taken care of," Clover stated. "I say May and Nozomi owe us an explanation about earlier..."
It only took two seconds for Nozomi and May to realize what Clover was referring to – when Nozomi cannonballed on May in their penthouse pool last year.
"Yes, I say we hear about that," Britney added in agreement. "A good way to release a little tension anyway..."
"Um, guys, that'll have to wait," Sam quipped as she checked the outside surroundings.
"Are we there yet, Sammy?" Alex wondered.
"That we are," Sam answered, pointing outside the windshield of the RATVAT.
The spies all took a look to see Queen Tassara's palace, practically unchanged from the last time they were called there.
"Now, you guys," Sam told the group. "Tassara already knows who we are, but we still gotta be on our best behavior."
"At least you three," Mat corrected Sam, feeling his nerves going every which way. "Tassara doesn't know that the team has more than quadrupled..."
"We got that covered," Melissa quipped.
"All right, let's go," Sam remarked in her leader tone.
The spies exited the RATVAT and came to Tassara's quarters.
"Welcome again, spies," Tassara greeted as the spies took a knee in front of her. "I can see your team has grown considerably."
"It has, Your Majesty," Alex quipped.
With that, the three main spies quickly ran through introductions; Tassara seemed to be pleasantly surprised at hearing the three main spies had found boyfriends of their own, and extra surprised at hearing Klee is Nick and Alex's future daughter, and that Mat and Sam have Kana as their future daughter as well.
"Jerry has already briefed us on what happened to you," Sam stated to Tassara. "But can you tell us yourself what happened?"
"Yes, of course," Tassara answered. "Please follow me."
"At least there's no queenly duties like last time," Clover quipped as Tassara escorted the spy team to where the fracas took place.
"Good point," Alex replied, knowing everything Clover went through the last time.
Tassara led them to the west wing of the palace. Everyone took a good look around while Tassara observed.
"Everything seems to be in order..." Britney told the group.
"Uh, your Majesty, we understand the last time, it was your sister, Makeda who was responsible for your last abduction?" Mat wondered.
"Yes, it was," Tassara answered.
"Do you think she could be in cahoots again?" Mat added.
"Maybe Jerry can answer that for us," Sam quipped to Mat.
"And he can answer to this thing I found," May added.
"What'd you find, May?" Nick wondered.
It was a sheet of paper with weird looking designs on it.
"Okay, either Sagan Hawking took up hieroglyphics, or she's going back to her Gooper nonsense again..." Clover groaned.
"I'll send it to Jerry then," May quipped as she scanned it with her X-Powder.
"And he can also look at this, too," Blaine added.
He was holding a test tube with some red sludge inside.
"I wouldn't put it past Makeda being in cahoots again as Mat theorized then," Haruka commented when she got a look.
"Jerry can fill in the blanks, then," Sam quipped as she gave Jerry a call.
"Indeed I could," Jerry replied as his visage appeared.
"Remind me to look into how that guy knows every word we're saying..." Melissa chastised.
"How is the mission going so far?" Jerry wondered.
"Strange and confusing besides the two clues we found," Clover answered.
"Yes, RiCO and I are working on both clues as we speak," Jerry replied.
"Hey, Jer, Mat's got a theory that her Majesty's sister Makeda could be in cahoots with Sagan," Bridget stated.
"Any chance you could run a scan of the W.O.O.H.P. Containment Facility to see if Makeda is still locked up?" Mat finished.
"Scanning now..." RiCO told them.
It only took a few moments for RiCO to finish.
"Yup, she's still in containment," RiCO answered.
"Well, there goes that theory," Mat groaned.
"Keep an eye on here just in case, okay?" Sam stated. "You never know if some other villain might be operating on her behalf."
"Roger that, Sam!" RiCO proclaimed.
"Anyway, we'll keep looking for clues – thanks, guys," Sam quipped as she closed her X-Powder.
"Well, one thing's for sure, something did happen around here," Nick deduced.
"Is there anything else that you or your staff remember, Your Majesty?" asked Dawn.
"Is it possible this happened in a second area?" Klee wondered.
"I heard something strange last night during my nightly patrols," Akim explained. "When I went to follow the source of the sound, I saw that strange craft flying over the palace. It didn't do much else from what I was able to see, but it was concerning enough."
"I'm surprised you didn't hear anything, Your Majesty," Alex replied.
"I'm a pretty heavy sleeper," Tassara admitted.
"I feel ya on that one," Bridget giggled.
"If what Akim saw resembles an alien spaceship, then we already have a suspect in mind," Nick proclaimed. "Her name's Sagan Hawking, and, like most of our rogues' gallery, she's a bit of a nutcase."
"Basically, she tried to steal technology from good aliens and use it to rob banks," May stated. "Pretty lame, if you ask me..."
"My question is, if Sagan is behind these strange sightings, what exactly is her focus?" Sam wondered. "What is she after?"
"It can't just be Her Majesty," Mat replied. "After all, what would she want with a queen when she's more interested in alien technology?"
"Maybe she's branching out?" Haruka quipped. "She's probably getting sick of the same old scheme. You can only stretch rule thirty-six so far, after all."
"...hey, does anyone hear footsteps?" Bridget asked.
The answer to that question came in the form of a trio of menacing-looking robots marching in lockstep up the stairs to the throne room.
"Okay, was not expecting the bot brigade to show up!" Clover exclaimed.
"How did they get inside the palace?!" Tassara gasped.
As the robots approached the spies, they suddenly shimmered slightly before vanishing completely.
"Ah, there we go," Sam sighed. "An invisibility device."
Nick closed his eyes and extended his senses, just waiting for the robots to approach him. Once he sensed one of them nearby, he jumped away from its overhead slash, then lunged forward with a flying kick that sent the robot flying into another one, causing both to reappear just in time for Nick to blast both bots to bits with a Final Shine Attack.
"Whoever created these robots forgot to account for either my psychic abilities or rule ninety-one," Nick quipped as he rushed the final robot and cut it in half with a psychic blade. "Or maybe both..."
"Now the question is, who created those robots, and are there anymore nearby?" Blaine asked.
Nick extended his psychic radar to scan for any incoming threats.
"I'm sensing trouble just outside the palace," Nick stated. "We'd better move before that trouble gets any worse."
"I'll stay here and protect Her Majesty," Klee proclaimed. "You just go out there and sock 'em one, papa!"
Nick nodded as the spies charged, down the stairs and to the palace lobby, only to find a few knocked out guards and a few more of those tough robots.
"You know something, these robots are starting to look strangely familiar," Clover stated. "Has anyone seen a villain use these particular 'bots before?"
"What can I say? A classic never goes out of style."
The spies looked just ahead to see who else but Sagan Hawking standing at the entrance, a cocky grin plastered on her face.
"Oh, sure, they say that all the time," Mat shot back.
"I guess I should have figured you meddlers would find your way back here eventually," Hawking laughed. "Well, I made sure to prepare a welcoming party for 'Her Majesty'."
"There's someone else with you, isn't there?" Nick proclaimed. "You know you can't get that past my senses."
"Aw, I wish you wouldn't spoil the surprise, little moonbeam," the owner of the second voice replied, as she stepped out from behind Hawking to reveal herself as Lady Luna.
"You again!" Haruka shouted.
"Great, the alien nut teamed up with the space nut," Alex groaned. "Such an original combination."
"Hey, don't knock what works, right?" Lady Luna laughed. "I figured, by combining our areas of expertise, we can utilize our talents to take control of these pitiful countries for our own purposes."
"So that's your sick little game," Nick growled, his aura flaring around him. "At least you're not messing with Eri again, because that would have earned you an instant keester kicking."
"I've moved on to bigger and better prospects," Lady Luna taunted.
"You're not going to stop us this time, spies," Hawking stated. "And yes, villains always say that, but we mean it this time. Once we've gathered all the resources we need, both of these pathetic kingdoms can say goodbye to existence!"
Having said what they needed to say, the two villains turned and ran off, though Haruka managed to slip a tracker on them before they vanished.
"Still on the ball, Haruka," Nick quipped.
"Thank you, I try," Haruka laughed as she and Nick high-fived each other.
"Klee, can you read me?" Nick asked as he opened his X-Powder to check in with Klee.
"Loud and clear, papa!" Klee answered. "The queen's a-okay, so what's the situation?"
"It was Sagan Hawking all along, just like we thought," Sam explained. "But she's teamed up with Lady Luna and they're planning to do something to both Lyrobia and Kenyopia."
"Haruka got a tracker on them, so we're going to follow them," Mat stated. "Keep the queen safe, got it?"
"Not a thing will get past my keen senses," Klee proclaimed heroically.
"All right, everyone, let's move on out!" Nick exclaimed.
"Go get 'em, papa!" Klee shouted as Nick shut his X-Powder.
"Never would've pitted those two together," Clover groaned.
"Rules for villains, number eighty-two," Haruka quipped. "Pick an accomplice your foes won't think of."
"That's a good one," Mat commented.
"Hopefully Klee knows to call in case they might try something..." Alex stated.
"I'm sure she does," Nick remarked.
The spies got back in the RATVAT (minus Klee) to make a break for wherever Sagan and Lady Luna got away to.
"I hope they don't discover the tracker," Haruka commented as she opened her X-Powder.
"Anybody find it a little abnormal that these aliens are spotted in a desert?" Mat wondered.
"Kinda-sorta," Melissa commented.
"It beats a corn field like the first time," Alex stated.
"Or Angel Stadium like the last time," Mat added, remembering he and Sam were abducted following the 2007 Anaheim Supercross opener.
"Right," Sam quipped.
That was when Jerry's visage appeared in the RATVAT.
"Spies, RiCO and I have finished the analysis on the sludge and the note that May found," Jerry announced.
"You have?" Dawn stated.
"Well, let's hear it," Bridget added.
"The sludge appears to be some kind of fuel source, according to my analysis," Jerry replied.
"No doubt for her UFOs and other ships," Clover quipped.
Nick then hummed. "What about the note May found?"
"Those are coordinates," RiCO answered. "A few of them seem to be for the palaces in both Lyrobia and Kenyopia, but there's a couple that lead to strange, out-of-the-way caves somewhere in the desert."
"Definitely sounds suspicious," May stated.
"Talk about 'out of this world'," Blaine commented.
Haruka then checked on her tracker via her X-Powder again.
"We must be close, guys," Haruka told the group.
"Hope so," Melissa commented. "I'd hate to be Klee if she's cornered by another army of bots and we have to run back."
"Klee can take care of herself," Nick emphasized. "If it were Kana, I'd be worried."
"Point there," Sam quipped.
"What now?" Britney wondered.
Melissa and Mat both took a look outside the opening at the top of the RATVAT.
"Uh oh!" Melissa exclaimed, looking up and seeing the UFO piloted by Sagan Hawking directly above them.
"Looks like they were waiting for us!" Mat chastised.
"Hit the gas, Sam!" Britney exclaimed.
The RATVAT accelerated to its maximum speed to keep up with the flying UFO even as it began to arm its weapons systems, no doubt expecting the spies.
"Um, you guys? I think it's about to open fire on us!" Bridget shouted.
Nick quickly made his way to the roof of the RATVAT as the UFO charged up to attack, his hands glowing in preparation.
"They're still following us?!" Sagan gasped.
"They're stubborn, you should know this," Lady Luna responded. "Just fire the laser cannons and blow them apart!"
One of the ports on the underside of the UFO opened up to reveal a large laser cannon that quickly fired off a large blast of ruby-red energy right towards the RATVAT.
"Sorry, ladies, but this flight is canceled," Nick proclaimed, raising his right hand to create a psychic barrier in front of him, then pushed it forward just as the laser blast got close enough so that the barrier reflected the blast back into the UFO.
"DIRECT HIT!" May exclaimed as she and the other spies watched the reflected laser blast fly right back into the UFO, exploding violently and damaging its internal systems. This caused the UFO to lose altitude quickly, careening towards the vast desert sands...
...only for it to vanish completely from sight before it hit the ground.
"W-wait, what the heck just happened?!" Nozomi gasped. "Did they get away again?!"
Nick extended his psychic radar out as far as it could go, and though he didn't sense Sagan or Lady Luna on his radar, he could sense other things happening, like the whirring of machines and the beeping of computers.
"I can sense something," Nick proclaimed. "We might not be able to see it, but I can definitely tell that something's there."
"You think it's being covered by the same invisibility tech that Lady Luna's robots were using to get into the palace?" Mat wondered.
"That'd be my guess," Sam answered as the RATVAT continued on its drive, eventually passing through what felt like an invisible wall of light and coming out at the entrance to a mechanical cavern.
"Accurate," Alex quipped.
"Seems like we've found our first hideout," Haruka stated. "Let's head in and do some snooping."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Nick proclaimed as the RATVAT parked in front of the cavern entrance so the spies could exit and head inside, hoping to find something about the villains' scheme.
To be continued...
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On the next episode...
May: Oof, this place is a creepshow. I mean, look at all of this out-of-place crap!
Melissa: Yeah, it's definitely got that whole "jumbled mess" look down pat.
Bridget: My question is, what exactly is she doing with places like this? Is she building something?
Sam: And how, exactly, is she hiding these places?
Nick: Sounds like we've got a lot of things to discover in this cavern.
Alex: I just hope Klee's doing okay back at the palace...
Nick: I'm sure she's doing just fine, but let me call her just to make sure everything's on the up-and-up, next time on Totally Spies: Demons in the Desert, "The Truth Is Out There"!
May: ...huh. No pun this time. I sincerely hope the scriptwriters learned their lesson.
Klee: I wouldn't push your luck, May.