7:38 A.M. – Beverly Hills
Somewhere Off the Coast
He drifted across the open waters on his surfboard, once again taking in the sight of the multiple buildings and high-fancy places that dotted the city of Beverly Hills.
It also gave him time to think about how much it sickened him.
It seemed like no one in this accursed city had learned their lesson after what he had tried to pull off before.
But he wasn't too concerned about that, to be honest.
After all, he had a new plan this time, one that couldn't possibly fail.
He wasn't too worried about the fact that the team of spies that had dunked him before had expanded by quite a bit. He'd made sure to have a contingency plan for that as well.
Rule forty-five, after all.
He decided to surf away from the city for the moment, just to give him time to prepare for his scheme.
He was sure of himself this time, too, but he didn't want to get too overconfident. After all, the spies had foiled him before.
"Just let those little dudes and dudettes try to stop me this time," Frankie Dude chuckled as he took one last look at the city of Beverly Hills for now. "I'll dunk 'em all for sure."
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies: The New Adventures
Episode 46: That Sinking Feeling
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: October 6th, 2021
Story Summary: The sixtieth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode forty-six of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Once again, an older foe of the spies has resurfaced, namely one Frankie Dude, and he's got a bit of a nasty plan to make the spies' first beach day of the summer their last one ever. Frankie is going on a bit of a bender by kidnapping swimmers from all over so he can send them to a watery grave, but problems arise when both Alex and Haruka are taken to be part of his "test subjects". Can the spies save their friends and dunk the Dude, or will their summer be ruined before it even starts?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, we're back for our next project, and it's on my page. I've titled this That Sinking Feeling. It's safe to say this'll be the last of our projects at Mali-U until next season or so. In that case, we're closing in on Totally Spies being nearly two decades old. As some of you know, Totally Spies was the show that put me through all 4 years of high school and early college. While there were some suggestive scenes, I have to admit it did appeal to my senses in many different ways, but I won't go into THAT conversation. Anyway, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: Well, well, we have another one-shot villain who's back for a chance at their "richly-deserved" revengeance. Also, holy crapbaskets, Totally Spies is almost twenty years old! (It might be by the time this goes up, you never know.) I'm starting to wonder why I lost interest in writing for this show (actually, I know many reasons), but no matter what, my love for this quirky French-Canadian cartoon never faded. But, I'll bore you with anniversary wishes later, let's get to the action! 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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Act 1: Summertime Step
10:00 A.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
It was another usual week at the Malibu University campus. The twelve spies were all packing up to vacate campus housing for the summer; Blaine was also vacating campus housing as well himself. Finals were over for everyone, and it had been nearly seven whole days since Mat was made unbelievably happy via Yamaha's Chad Reed winning the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross title.
"Summertime, here we come!" Alex cheered.
"Beach house, here we come!" Clover cheered as well.
"And fun... here we come!" Sam giggled.
"Time for a fun summer vacation!" Britney exclaimed, coming out, too. "Nothing but fun, fun, and more fun!"
As Mat came out all packed, he was understandably still grinning over Chad Reed winning the Supercross title and 9 races on top of it; as luck would have it, he also had set to record the race on TV as well.
"I'll bet you felt the same way if it happened the first time with Chad Reed, Mat," May replied as she came out herself.
"I think I was happier this time than 2004," Mat laughed.
"Well, if that's that, we got an end-of-semester party to get to," Bridget stated as she came to the den.
"Hey, how much longer until we have to leave the campus?" May wondered.
"I think we have until 3:30 this afternoon to leave the campus," Haruka answered, having overheard May's question. "And I think the final call is at 5:00."
"Well, that should be enough time since we all got head starts after our finals were completed," Alex quipped.
She and May even shared a grin, knowing they had dibs on the first car wash of their summertime in an attempt to make Nick completely awestruck.
In the meantime, Nick, Nozomi, Melissa, and Dawn were the only ones who needed more time to finish packing. Sam and Bridget went over to their rooms to tell the others that they were heading to the end-of-semester party since it was already under way.
"We're coming," Nick called from his room.
"I'm about done," Nozomi answered when she was asked.
She then joined the eight others, who left for the end-of-semester party.
"Well, I think that should just about wrap up my packing," Dawn replied from her dorm room.
"I guess I'm finished, too," Melissa quipped, but something else seemed to be on her mind.
"Well, let's get going then since Bridget, Sam, Clover, and the others already got to that party down at the Mali-U Beach," Dawn told her.
"Hopefully Nick didn't go yet," Melissa stated.
Dawn was a little perplexed, but they both left their dorm room and checked anyway; as luck would have it, Nick didn't leave for the beach party yet.
"Oh, good," Melissa told herself.
"Come on, girls," Nick quipped as he came out in a tanktop and board shorts.
"Nick, could you... hold on?" Melissa requested.
"What's up?" Nick wondered.
"Nick, you're the only one I can really talk to about... this," Melissa stuttered a bit.
Nick wondered what Melissa was worried about, but he wasn't going to just read her mind to find out what it was.
"Let's go find somewhere we can talk, then," Nick quipped. "You know the saying about prying eyes and all that."
"True that, especially after the whole thing with Snit," Melissa chuckled as she and Nick walked to his dormitory so they could talk about whatever was bothering her.
Making sure to close the door behind him so no one could be a peeper, Nick turned back to his sister. "All right-y, then, I think we've got our privacy, so... what did you want to talk to me about, sis?" Nick asked.
Melissa shuffled her feet a few times, obviously very, very nervous about trying to say what she was thinking.
"Hey, remember what we always say, Melissa?" Nick stated. "If it's something you really want to keep a secret, I swear I'll take it to my grave with me."
"...you totally stole that phrase from dad," Melissa chuckled. "Okay, then. I know I can trust you to keep a secret, Nick. ...it's about Mat."
"Did something happen with him?" Nick wondered.
"Well, not to him, but... oh, god, I knew this was going to be hard to explain..." Melissa proclaimed. "See, the thing is... well... how exactly do I put this?"
Despite Melissa's tripping over her own words, Nick now had a good idea of what Melissa was trying to say, but decided to hold off until she said it herself.
"Normally, I'd try to deflect in a situation like this, but... I know I can't lie, Nick, especially not to you," Melissa admitted. "So I'm just gonna stop tripping over myself and say it."
Melissa looked down for a split second before looking back up to meet Nick's gaze.
"...I'm in love with Mat."
Nick took a couple seconds to process this information before replying, knowing from experience that he needed to choose his next words carefully so he didn't inadvertently upset Melissa any further.
"How long have you had feelings for him?" Nick asked.
"A couple months," Melissa replied. "It really started right after we got out of the Datascape when Lady Dragon and Geraldine put us through all that 'test your luck' crap. After we cleared up that misunderstanding with Britney, I started wondering why I was feeling so strange about it, but... it didn't take much longer after that to realize that I had fallen in love with him."
"And I'm going to guess that you didn't say anything because of the obvious reasons?" Nick responded.
"Nailed it," Melissa quipped.
"Any specific reasons you fell for him?" Nick wondered.
"Well, most likely for a lot of same reasons that Sam and Britney did, really," Melissa stated. "Those times he helped me out on some of our recent missions only made those feelings stronger, too. I wanted to say something to you for a while, but every chance I got, we kept getting interrupted by a mission..."
"Okay, so here's the question I'm pretty sure you expected me to ask," Nick proclaimed. "Do you ever plan to tell Mat about this?"
"Therein lies the problem with all of this, Nick," Melissa retorted, suddenly looking like she was about to start crying. "You and May were lucky that Alex is so understanding, but I don't know if Sam and Britney would be the same way. But on the other hand, I know that if I keep holding this in, it's gonna find its way out at the worst possible time, and then what's going to happen?! I highly doubt Sam and Britney are going to be as forgiving with these feelings I shouldn't have developed, but did anyway!"
Before Melissa could say anything more, Nick reached out and pulled his sister into a hug, and that finally drew out the waterworks as Melissa started crying.
Nick just held Melissa for as long as felt like she needed, allowing her to get all of her tears out.
"...I understand it's hard to admit something like this, especially in the situation we're in," Nick stated. "But here's my two cents. Like you said, you don't want this to get out at a bad time, like what almost happened with May and I. And you're also right that keeping it hidden forever is only gonna make things worse. But I also think that Mat at least has a right to know, so we can decide what we're going to do."
"...yeah, you're right," Melissa admitted. "I was just scared, because I didn't think I'd be as lucky as you were with May... but I can't keep hiding this. Otherwise it's just gonna turn into a clustertruck of anger and rage that we don't really need."
Melissa leaned in closer to kiss Nick on the cheek. "Thanks for talking with me, big bro. I really appreciate it."
"Hey, you're my sister, and that means I'll always have your back, no matter what," Nick replied.
Just then, the dormitory door swung wide open to reveal a large metal pipe protruding from the ceiling just outside the room, aimed towards them.
"How about this?" Nick quipped, raising his hand to project a psychic barrier to keep the tube from sucking them in right away. "We'll make plans to explain after this mission. That sound good?"
"Sounds good to me," Melissa replied. "Now let's go see what nutball's on the loose today."
Melissa gave Nick one more hug before they both jumped into the tube, sliding down it until they found themselves in Jerry's office, ready to be briefed on their latest mission.
"I'm surprised you keep sending us through tubes, Jer," Clover quipped. "Haven't you ever considered, like, teleporting us to the office when it's mission time?"
"Well, consider that we're not always in a full group when it's mission time," Nick responded. "I figure Jerry probably summons us in certain intervals to reduce the chance of someone seeing something they probably couldn't."
"Have you guys at W.O.O.H.P. ever had to go... you know, 'Men in Black' on those kind of people?" Melissa wondered.
"A few times," Jerry admitted.
"It's a very interesting experience," RiCO quipped as she materialized in the office. "But we won't waste any time with movie talk, so let's get to today's baddie."
RiCO waved her hands towards the viewscreen and it changed to a mugshot of Frankie Dude.
"Holy crapbaskets, it's Frankie Dude!" Clover exclaimed. "I haven't seen that weirdo in a while."
"One of your many golden oldies, I bet?" Dawn laughed.
"He was some wingnut who used to be a big-shot surfer, but he lost his pinky toe to a new resort building and decided to take his anger out on all the beach resorts by destroying them with actual tsunamis," Sam explained.
"Yeesh, another petty jerk to add to the list of petty jerks," Nozomi giggled.
"Oh, is that list a long one," Alex laughed as the spies moved to retrieve their gadgets.
"We last sighted him somewhere out on the ocean, but he might be in the city by this point, so keep an eye out for him," RiCO proclaimed. "We're gonna keep looking into what he could be up to this time."
"Always appreciated, RiCO!" May proclaimed. "Now let's go dunk this dude, everyone."
"Totally!" Clover exclaimed.
All the girls on the spy team were in bikinis from the end-of-semester beach party, and Blaine and Mat were in t-shirts and board shorts, along with Nick, before everyone got in their catsuits.
"Oh, one more thing, spies," Jerry replied. "WOOHP will also work on transporting your belongings to your beach house while you're gone."
"Wow, thanks, Jer," Mat quipped. "That's a real load off our shoulders, no pun intended."
"Oh, yeah, thanks," Nick added.
With that, the spies were sent out of WOOHP and off to downtown Beverly Hills.
11:08 A.M. – Downtown Beverly Hills
All thirteen spies were flying in the sky via their jet pack backpacks.
"Just our luck!" Clover complained. "The end-of-semester beach party is going on and WE'RE on a mission!"
"With our luck, we'll be back with time to spare," Alex replied, trying to be optimistic.
"But those whom are vacating campus housing for the summer still have until 3:30 to finish packing," Haruka pointed out.
"How long's the party?" Dawn wondered.
"It's until 6:00," Britney answered. "But it's not gonna matter since we'll be outta there beforehand."
"Maybe sooner when you add in Jerry saying WOOHP's helping us with our belongings," Bridget quipped.
"Okay, since we're in BH, WHAT are we looking for exactly?" Alex wondered.
"Any kind of trail that Frankie Dude might've left behind," Sam answered.
"Well, last time, he was in a submarine out in the ocean," Clover pointed out.
"Right," Sam quipped.
"Guess it's time we got the UPWATIs on," Mat deduced.
As Alex tried getting the UPWATI punch line in, she was immediately stopped by Nozomi.
"Alex... don't..." Nozomi requested.
"Totally," Mat replied. "The punch line doesn't make it funnier or whatnot..."
With that, the spies equipped the UPWATIs and took to the bottom of the sea to see if that's where Frankie Dude might be hiding out. As luck would have it, they did find a submarine camouflaged the same bluish color as the water. It was located at the surface.
"Lucky thing I was able to pinpoint that," Nick commented.
The spies checked out near the submarine, and it paid off, since Melissa found a tiny black box about several feet away that was sinking to the bottom. She managed to grab it before it was too late. That was when they all got to the surface to board the sub.
"Strange to see a black box from a submarine," Sam commented when she saw Melissa's clue.
"True," Bridget added. "That must mean Frankie Dude is nearby somewhere..."
Everyone looked around, even off in the distance, but there was no sign of Frankie Dude anywhere. Maybe he was in the sub?
"I'll send this to Jerry in the meantime," Melissa quipped.
Everyone got in the sub to perhaps try and sneak attack Frankie Dude for a change.
"Hopefully we can get an upper hand on the villain for a change," May commented.
As it turned out, the submarine was deserted, so a sneak attack for the spies wasn't going to happen.
"Seems like nobody's here," Dawn chastised.
"And this Frankie Dude guy wasn't nearby either," Blaine added.
"Oh well, I guess we should head back to Mali-U's beach party then," Sam told everyone.
With that, everybody got off the sub, re-equipped the UPWATIs (minus Alex trying the punch line again), and headed back to the Mali-U campus. Unknown to them, in a scuba outfit popped up Frankie Dude with a sinister grin on his face that the spies were unknowingly going to where he wanted them to go.
"Your graves are waiting for you, ya meddlesome spies..." Frankie Dude sneered.
11:53 A.M. – Malibu University
Beach Area
Back at Mali-U, some of the spies were enjoying themselves with some of the other students before a nice summer off.
Sam, who was enjoying some snacks with Mat and Britney was looking off in the distance, slightly disturbed over that last investigation; Nick and Alex were getting a merry chase in as a last hurrah until the fall semester.
Bridget and Haruka, both in bikinis, came to the three of them with sodas in hand.
"Something on your mind, Sam?" Bridget wondered.
"I was so sure that Frankie Dude was gonna be in that sub when we found it," Sam quipped. "The fact that he wasn't..."
"You think he's got something else planned?" Haruka wondered.
"I wouldn't put it past mister surfer boy..." Bridget replied.
Sure enough, Sam's concerns weren't unwarranted, as when Bridget took a look out at the water where a couple students were swimming, she noticed someone reaching out from underwater to grab them by the legs and drag them under.
"Okay, that might be a problem!" Bridget shouted.
"I think 'problem' is overstating it," Nick proclaimed as he rushed towards them. "Mister dude just snatched up Alex when I wasn't looking!"
"Okay, now he's gone too far," Haruka stated.
"Yeah, let's clean his clock!" Bridget exclaimed as she flipped open her X-Powder. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Once Bridget had transformed into Sonic Mode, she blitzed off in the direction she'd seen Frankie Dude come from, dashing along the beach until she spotted him reaching out to grab another swimmer.
"Not this time, dubeboy!" Bridget taunted as she sped forward to land a flying kick that knocked Frankie Dude away from the swimmer.
"I should have figured you little valley girls would try to cramp my style," Frankie Dude responded.
"You wanna explain yourself before we have to start beatin' on you?" May challenged, using her Emergency Gadget Transporter to summon, what else, her anchor to her hands. "Because trust me, you don't want that."
"It's simple revenge," Frankie Dude laughed. "Nothing more, nothing less."
"Yeah, sure, like we're gonna believe that load of deep-sea garbage," Melissa shot back. "Tell that to the other swimmers you just captured, including my brother's girlfriend!"
"And believe me, you're gonna pay dearly for that one," Nick growled.
"Oh, what, you're salty about your little nutmeg?" Frankie Dude cackled.
Not in any mood for Frankie Dude's surfer speak, Nick clenched his fists and threw his arms outwards, his psychic aura exploding to life around him. Nick took some satisfaction in the fact that Frankie Dude was surprised to see him do this, as the only time the spies had faced him was well before Nick and Haruka had joined the team.
"Now where is she?!" Nick shouted.
"It doesn't matter how much you glow," Frankie Dude laughed. "You're not getting her back, and that's just a fact you're gonna have to deal with."
Nick just sighed in frustration and blasted Frankie Dude backwards with a Final Shine Attack.
"I'm through messing around with you and your dumb hair," Nick proclaimed. "This is your last warning. Tell me what your did with Alex, or there's going to be consequences."
Focused as he was on Frankie Dude, one of the surfer's new henchmen, a large man dressed in tacky scuba gear, was able to sneak up on the group and snatch Haruka up in his big, meaty arms before diving into the ocean with his captive.
"D-Did your mook boy just pull a fast one on us?!" Melissa shouted.
"I didn't know you even had henchmen!" Mat exclaimed.
"Rules for villains, number sixty-four," May quipped. "It's always a good idea to get henchmen to do the grunt work for you."
Frankie Dude made an attempt to advance on the remaining spies, but May swung her anchor hard enough to keep him at bay.
"Well, I guess we'll have to pick this up some other time," Frankie Dude chuckled. "I've got an appointment with all of my hostages."
And with that, Frankie Dude retreated by diving into the ocean himself.
"Aw, nuts," May groaned. "I was really hoping we'd get to stomp him good for that one."
"Well, you might still get your chance to," RiCO proclaimed from Nick's X-Powder. "My surveillance drone is following him now, and it looks like he's retreating deeper into the ocean."
"Probably to his secret base," Sam quipped. "So the submarine was there to distract us!"
"Baddies are getting smarter, sadly," Bridget sighed. "But let's worry about finding Alex and Haruka before our surfer boy does anything nasty to them."
The remaining spies all donned their UPWATIs and dove into the ocean to chase after Frankie Dude.
Every now and then, Melissa would glance at Mat, remembering the talk she'd had with Nick before the mission and wondering when would really be a good time to say anything.
Melissa shook her head to clear her mind, also remembering that she and Nick had agreed to wait until after the mission to discuss... that.
This is so weird that I'm in love with someone who's already got two girlfriends, Melissa thought.
Hey, we're all weird in some way, Nick responded mentally. And really, in our line of work, normal's overrated.
Melissa smiled, happy Nick was there to keep her spirits up.
Knowing this would mean the strong possibility of Mat having three girlfriends, Melissa was able to put that on the backburner as the mission continued. Secretly, she got a look at Mat's face when he asked if he could interview her and some of the Mali-U girls' beach volleyball team for his Journalism class.
"What would Frankie Dude want with Alex and Haruka after all?" Clover wondered while everyone made their ways out to where RiCO's surveillance drone was picking up some activity.
"One thing's for sure, he didn't spy-nap Alex and Haruka because of the bikinis they had on," Nick commented, especially since he'd gawked at Haruka in a two-piece before.
"That's a safe bet," Bridget replied.
"I would say so," Sam stated in agreement.
She also remembered her situation when Sunny Day and Tuesday Tate had spy-napped her and Clover from the model shoot last summer.
"I just hope they didn't get far," Mat quipped.
"I've locked on to their X-Powders," Britney told everyone. "We just need to go a little further out."
"Thank goodness," Nozomi remarked.
Understandably, Nick was on edge since two girls very close to him were spy-napped.
Despite his worry, Nick couldn't help but smile when he remembered another time that Haruka had teased him with her swimwear (she liked to do that a lot, apparently). It had been in his first year of high school in Japan, almost a year before he'd moved to Beverly Hills. As the students were coming out of the hallway to the pool, Nick had caught a glimpse of Haruka doing another silly pose to mess with him. Naturally, Nick couldn't help but glance her way, only for one of the other boys to start needling him about it. This had caused Haruka to "accidentally" slide forward and whack the guy in the face with her long hair and send him into the pool.
If Nick remembered correctly, Haruka's precise words were "Hey, he's my bestie, he can gawk all he wants".
"I see something," Nick replied, coming back to reality.
It turned out to be the submarine the spies saw earlier.
"Okay, is this another diversion or is Frankie Dude piloting this thing this time?" Clover wondered.
"Only one way to find out," Melissa quipped.
Nick knew that meant using his psychic powers again.
"Nope, he's not anywhere nearby," Nick answered. "But I do see Alex and Haruka are being held hostage inside."
"Are they hurt?" May wondered.
"Thankfully, no," Nick answered. "But we better get them out, and block out any surprise attacks, too!"
Bridget equipped the Metal Masher Boxing Glove.
"Uh, Bridget, are you sure about that?" Dawn wondered.
"Yeah, that way, water will come gushing in and we might not get to Alex and Haruka in time," Clover pointed out.
"Maybe not," Nick commented. "I can still use a psychic bubble underwater, and we can get in without water gushing in."
"Good thinking, dude," Mat quipped.
Blaine gave a thumbs up as Nick formed a psychic bubble encasing the eleven spies.
"Here goes nothing..." Bridget replied as she punched a hole in the side of the submarine.
Fortunately, Nick's bubble was big enough to only allow a minute amount of water to seep through.
"Great thinking, Nick," Britney commended as the hole Bridget's MMBG left disappeared and dispersed Nick's psychic bubble.
Haruka and Alex (bikinis on and all) were overjoyed to see that help had come.
"Hold on, girls, we'll get ya out!" Sam proclaimed.
"Sammy, hold on!" Alex exclaimed.
"You've walked into a trap!" Haruka chastised.
"Huh?!" Blaine and Mat shouted as the group looked around them.
Before anyone else could react, the nearby windows opened automatically and started filling the submarine with water rather quickly.
"W-wait, are the windows supposed to do that?!" Bridget shouted.
"Damn it all, I knew that was too easy!" Nick shouted. "Especially considering that now I'm picking up Frankie Dude's thoughts, and he's approaching fast!"
"Sorry 'bout that, my little dudes," Frankie Dude laughed as he showed up by the hole that Bridget had punched in the submarine. "I kinda figured you had a limit to your little enemy-scanner thing, so I waited to spring my trap on you."
"Crapbaskets, they're learning," Nozomi quipped. "I hate when they do that!"
"My real secret base is somewhere else out there in the waters," Frankie Dude cackled. "You'll just have to find it for yourselves. If you don't drown in the next few minutes, that is. Later, spy-sicles!"
With that, Frankie Dude made his exit.
"Hey, get back here, creep-a-zoid!" May shouted.
"Leave him for now," Nick responded. "Right now, we've gotta get out of this."
Nick raised his right hand to fire a few psychic bolts and blast the restraints holding Alex and Haruka up so they could rejoin the group.
"Everyone hold on!" Nick exclaimed, covering the group in a psychic bubble so no more water could surround them, then guiding the bubble out of the submarine before it collapsed in on itself due to the water pressure.
"Oof, that was a little too close for comfort, honestly," Alex quipped as she hugged Nick. "Thanks for the save, you guys."
"But that does mean that mister dude's other hostages are stuck somewhere else," Haruka stated.
"We'll find him and kick his surfer dude keester eventually," May proclaimed. "I think, for now at least, that priority one should be finding where his hostages are being kept so we can bust them out."
"Good idea, May," Sam answered. "After all, Frankie Dude did hint that his actual secret base is somewhere in this ocean."
"Sounds like we've got a lot of water to cover, huh?" Melissa sighed.
"Shouldn't be a problem, everyone!" RiCO proclaimed from Sam's X-Powder. "My surveillance drone can also scan areas for strange anomalies, so it should be able to find mister dude's base."
"Once again, you rock, RiCO!" Clover exclaimed.
"You all head back to the city and see if you can find him while I scan for him," RiCO responded. "You know, just to make sure that he doesn't snatch anybody else up."
"Good thinking," Dawn stated. "Let's go and dunk the Dude, then!"
Nick guided the bubble back to the surface, then dissolved it so the group could activate their Jetpack Backpacks and fly back to Beverly Hills so they could search for Frankie Dude.
All the while, Melissa continued to wonder how the 'post-mission' discussion was going to play out, considering... well, everything.
Everything okay, sis? Nick asked her mentally.
Mostly, Melissa replied. Just thinking about stuff.
Try not to think too hard, or you might burn out.
You would say that, heh. I'm just a little nervous, that's all.
Considering what you're nervous about, I wouldn't blame you at all. We've still got a lot of time to plan out how we're gonna do this, so don't worry, 'kay?
You got it. Thanks again for the pep talk, Nick.
Anytime, sis.
Melissa looked ahead, focused on the task ahead. She knew there'd be time to confront her feelings when they weren't taking down a certain surfer boy.
She just hoped they could come to some kind of peaceful conclusion.
To be continued...
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On the next episode...
Alex: Any sign of our resident dude?
Nozomi: Just a lot of guys in scuba suits.
Blaine: Hey, at least his mooks are playing the correct part.
Melissa: Hey, there he is!
Nick: End of the line, 'dude'! Just do us all a big favor and give it up before we have to dunk you, both figuratively and probably very literally!
Frankie Dude: And who says you're gonna stop me?
Melissa: We says, jerk-face!
Nick: Listen to my sister, Frankie. You do not want to get her mad.
Melissa: It looks like the preview line is mine this time. Cool! Well, everybody, we've got a dude to dunk, so ride the waves with us to the next act of Totally Spies: That Sinking Feeling, "Sink or Swim"!
May: ...
Melissa: Is May okay?
Nick: I think she's keeping an eye on the scriptwriter. Three and a half seasons and two movies, and you'd think we could finally get a scriptwriter who wouldn't drown us in stupid puns and OH FOR F...