It was raining outside in Orlando, and A.J. and Jessie were riding off to the Black Bandanas Karate Center, where Jessie took her weekly karate lessons. Though after she got a role in LADUWS, she did it once a month to avoid tardiness.

"So why am I here?" asked A.J. "I've got to pay off bills for the beach house."

"You see, A.J.," Jessie replied as she got off the bus and opened her Minty Zaki umbrella, "for real superheroes, you need to defend yourself. Plus, this is a good chance to work on your reflexes."

"Good point, kid," replied A.J.

XxoxX

Inside the studio, A.J. could see an old picture of a 10-year-old Jessie winning the Orlando Junior Karate Competition. He was impressed because she won the competition for friendship and honor.

After he took off his shoes and got into the training room, Jessie introduced him to her karate classmates: caucasian auburn girl Emmalyn, Guatemalan American twins Alejandra and Thiago, Greek-American Manuel, and Vincenzo's cousin Alaina.

Zio Pablo was there to watch her show off her skills. Alaina explained this was her second lesson and was thrilled to have a Studio 25 kid like Jessie teach her some of the basics. Jessie explained to A.J. that she called out sick and asked her to fill in his shoes for the day.

"After this," Alaina said, "Papa is taking us to The Crafty Stove, a Japanese restaurant. Grandpa Big G already paid for me."

A.J. became excited when Alaina told them that Big G provided him a free meal. "And by 'us'," Alaina corrected, "we meant all six of us. You and Jessie have to pay for yourselves."

A.J. felt disappointed by this, but then Jessie got an idea. "You'll pay for food and I'll pay for drinks," she replied. "That way we won't worry about going broke."

"Nice work, you two," said Emmalyn. "If you did it in a tap code, A.J. wouldn't understand."

"Tap code?" asked. A.J.

"It was a morse code-like process during the Vietnam War," explained Jessie.

"Most of us are all children of soldiers in the Vietnam War," explained Alejandra. "Master Sheperd was amazed how I ranked up from white belt to red belt within two years. I've been taking lessons since I was a six-year-old. Since I won the contest and the prize money for new ghees and equipment, he decided to let me substitute for yellow and white belts."

XxoxX

During the lesson, Jessie showed them a front stance, back stance, straight punch, and down block. A.J. was a little lost on this but got it right in the end.

Zio Pablo was amazed at how A.J. caught on Jessie's lesson. He remembered last Christmas where he got his wife a record of Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting." Alaina heard it so many times, she started becoming interested in karate. Because of his father's cutbacks, Pablo decided to take her to Black Bandanas Karate Center.

Little did they know was that a samurai-like bounty huntress was spying on them. "Don't worry, Zator," she whispered in her Cockney accent. "I, Zaniyah the Zcarlet, will give them a karate-chopping they'll never forget."

"You better," Zator growled, "or else it's znake-feeding for you."

XxoxX

After the lesson, Jessie came out all dressed and then her pin started to glow. A.J., on the other hand, started sensing danger in the rain. "Pablo," shouted Jessie, "look after the kids while we handle a little rain check!" Outside, they spotted Zaniyah slashing empty cards with her swords.

"She looks like the Scarlet Samurai from 'Adolescent Genetically Altered Karate Cows'," A.J. whispered.

"Sounds like it's time for kicks fast as lightning," Jessie suggested.

"And her future is a little bit frightening," A.J. replied.

Backstreet's Back Alright

Ordnance and Centauremerald started fighting off the fiendish samurai. Ordnance did some shooting while Centauremerald did some kicks.

"Face it, lads," Zaniyah smiled evilly. "You guys are terrible at self-defense. I recognize A.J. McLean's love for shades and bad-boy charm anywhere. Looks like this is your last fan face-off."

Then Ordnance remembered the karate lesson Jessie showed her: front stance, back stance, straight punch, and down block. Zaniyah got knocked out and Dr. Zora teleported her back to Zator's castle. "Nice work, Ordnance," commented Centauremerald. "You remembered what I taught you about karate."

"This is just like when you taught Nick how to defend himself," A.J. recalled.

"Now let's get to The Crafty Stove before Pablo starts to worry," whispered Jessie.

They arrived at The Crafty Stove, which was next door to the Black Bandanas Karate Center. In the restaurant, the kids were going around the kid's menu to decide what to order when Alaina spotted A.J. and Jessie.

"Where were you guys?" she asked. "It's soaking wet out there."

"It's a good thing you all brought your 'Mermaid Battle Squadron' umbrellas," replied Zio Pablo. "Remember that episode where we learn about acid rain?"

"Dad," Alaina replied, "the rain wasn't acidic. You worry too much."

"Let's just say we defended ourselves from people with BWS," Jessie exaggerated as she winked at A.J., "otherwise known as Backstreet Worship Syndrome."

"I remember that," replied Zio Pablo. "It's that condition where they get an obsession with the Backstreet Boys. That's been going on since 1997. Good thing I warned the manager about A.J. coming here so there won't be a riot."

"Arigato, Pablo," replied A.J. as he sat down.

As they were enjoying their sushi and ramen noodle dinner, A.J. thought of something. "Kid," he whispered, "you know how we went through that samurai lady? I've got an idea how to test the boys' timing."

"I know," Jessie replied. "Seeing if who can get through an obstacle course in the shortest amount of time."

They both did a high five.

XxoxX

The next day, A.J. fixed up a training obstacle course for the boys to do. The girls were too busy with school to train them, so they decided to train themselves.

Nick, Howie D, B-Rok, and Kevin were arriving to remind A.J. of the beach house bills. "Don't worry, dudes," A.J. said to his bandmates. "The beach house bills are all paid up, and I fixed up this obstacle course to work on our reflexes and balance."

First, they brought sacks of flour to the safety line, held mannequins over tires to the finish lines, crawled through a tub, balanced themselves on a beam, and in the end, B-Rok had the shortest amount of time while Howie D had the longest, which was okay.

"Should we clean this up?" Kevin asked. "Big G wouldn't like it if we turned the storage room into a boot camp.

But little did they know, a mysterious figure and four small penguins came in and cleaned the place up before anyone noticed.

The End.