On Today's Episode: With iCO "reset" and now firmly on the spies' side, Lady Dragon has unveiled her trump card, the Final Weapon, which she claims has something that can destroy the Datascape. Is there any validity to those claims, and can the spies take down Lady Dragon and her "final boss" before she can use this weapon?
Act 3: System Restore
9:21 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Datascape
Sector J – The Final Weapon
"I really am sorry for everything I did to you, everyone," iCO proclaimed as the spies continued to explore the Final Weapon in search of Lady Dragon. "I had no idea that Lady Dragon was holding my free will hostage with that restraining code..."
"And making it seem like you were being a jerk out of your own free will when she was really just controlling you," Sam responded.
"Lady Dragon really doesn't seem to know when to stop being a little shit, apparently," Nick quipped.
"Man, this place is creepy," Alex quipped, reaching out to hold Nick's hand. "I know I say that with a lot of villain lairs, but it usually fits!"
"I'm willing to bet Lady Dragon made it that way, considering her video game designer mentality," Melissa replied. "The final level is usually the bad guy's lair, after all."
"Speaking of which, any sign of miss video game flop?" Bridget asked.
May looked around, her anchor at the ready, until she noticed something sinister-looking just ahead.
"Um, I think she's over there, right next to that big-ass laser cannon," May proclaimed, pointing to Lady Dragon standing in front of a massive laser cannon device.
("Life Will Change" by Lyn Inaizumi plays)
"You like?" Lady Dragon cackled. "Behold, my magnificent Data Destroyer! If I can't have your precious Datascape, then I'll just wipe it all out with this!"
"I'm starting to think you've crossed a line that you're not meant to cross," Nick proclaimed, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "And that's a big 'nope' when it comes to us."
"Let's just cut the chit-chat and pound this nutball into the ground," Mat stated.
"Ooh, I'm all for that!" May laughed, brandishing her anchor. "You ready to eat anchor, Lady Flop?!"
"You're not messing with the Datascape any longer!" RiCO exclaimed. "We're taking you down!"
"And that means all the way down," iCO proclaimed as the spies all prepared for battle.
"You better have heard every word, Lady Dragon!" Clover emphasized.
"Right!" Haruka added. "Because your game's over!"
"We'll see about that, girlie," Lady Dragon sneered. "And because you made the bold prediction, you're experiment number one for me!"
With that, Lady Dragon aimed her cannon at Haruka herself.
"Might I add I haven't tried this on a person yet?" Lady Dragon continued. "Any last words...?"
"Not so fast!" RiCO and iCO shouted simultaneously.
"Command Line: Haste Protocol!" RiCO exclaimed, though this time she used that command on iCO instead of herself, allowing iCO to blitz Lady Dragon with speeds that rivaled Bridget in Sonic Mode, attacking her from multiple different angles before finishing with an overhead strike that knocked Lady Dragon straight to the ground.
Lady Dragon was left stunned after what just took place.
"How do ya like them apples?!" iCO proclaimed.
"Haruka, that cannon's deadly," RiCO told Haruka lightly.
"I figured," Haruka remarked. "But I didn't think Lady Dragon would turn to something so douche-y!"
"Well, we can counter, right guys?" Bridget proclaimed.
"No matter..." Lady Dragon growled. "I'll still come after you with this!"
"Can ya prove it?" Bridget boasted. "Sonic Mode, online!"
With that, Bridget started speeding every which way, and while Lady Dragon fired shot after shot after shot, she never got close to hitting Bridget.
"What's wrong with your little toy?!" Mat taunted.
"Dude, we gotta counter that thing," Nick proclaimed.
"And I think I might have an idea how..." Sam deduced.
"What do you propose we do, Sammy?" Alex wondered.
"Bridget's only doing the cut and run," Clover pointed out.
"Exactly," Sam quipped.
"You mean scatter in all directions?" Mat asked.
"Exactly," Sam repeated.
Something came over May, thinking she could hurl her anchor at the cannon.
"What have we got to lose then?" Britney quipped.
RiCO and iCO got wind of what Sam's plan was.
"Prepare for another L on your mantle, then," Blaine stated.
"Okay, people... GO!" Sam proclaimed.
Everyone scattered in different directions to draw Lady Dragon's attention away.
"You really think you're going to get away with your dumb plans?" Lady Dragon laughed.
"Well, catch me if you can!" Bridget laughed as she continued to speed around the area, none of Lady Dragon's shots even coming close to hitting her.
While Lady Dragon was focusing on trying to hit Bridget, May flew in closer to the cannon barrel, her anchor at the ready.
"My serve!" May exclaimed as she swung her anchor at the cannon barrel, hoping to do as much damage as possible. After about four swings, May had to dive downwards to avoid the cannon as it swung towards her.
This gave RiCO the perfect opportunity to create a cybernetic construct shaped like a large sword that she and iCO both tossed into the Data Destroyer's outer hull.
"You know, you spies are really beginning to annoy me," Lady Dragon growled.
"Well, we're kinda kicking your keester in, so..." Clover quipped.
"Oh, you haven't seen what my magnificent weapon is truly capable of," Lady Dragon laughed as she jumped into the cockpit of the Data Destroyer and activated its control panel. A few more weapon ports opened along its side, and the cannon barrel began glowing with an eerie red light.
"Oh, who thinks this is going to end well?" Britney quipped.
"You are so right," Lady Dragon proclaimed. "Prepare for de-resolution!"
"Hey, maybe stop acting like you're the Master Control Program or something?" Nick quipped as he fired a Final Shine Attack at the Data Destroyer, only for the blast to fizzle out against a barrier that the machine had created. "...oh, crapbaskets."
"You were saying?!" Lady Dragon cackled as she swung the Data Destroyer around to fire a blast at Nick, only for that blast to also hit a barrier, one that iCO had created to protect him.
"Hands off my friends," iCO proclaimed.
"Worthless traitor!" Lady Dragon shouted as she aimed the Data Destroyer for iCO instead, only for Bridget to lunge forward and distract her by punching the barrier around the Data Destroyer with a Metal Masher Boxing Glove.
Naturally, Bridget sped away as Lady Dragon fired at her again, but Nick now noticed that the barrier around the cannon had vanished.
"I'll bet it needs to recharge the barrier every now and then," Nick quipped as he flew forward and blasted the cannon with a Final Shine Attack, causing Lady Dragon to struggle to stay in her seat as the barrier reappeared.
"Lucky shot, boy," Lady Dragon laughed. "But you won't be so fortunate this time!"
Two of the weapon ports opened to fire a barrage of missiles towards Nick, but he simply caught them all in his psychic grip and flung them back into the barrier, momentarily dropping it so that Sam and Mat could both fire Cyclone Blast Hairdryers into the Data Destroyer before the barrier could re-establish itself.
Melissa and Dawn were once again using their favorite combination with Melissa flying the two of them around with a Helicopter Hand Fan while Dawn fired potshots from the sky. Lady Dragon quickly swung the cannon to fire at them, but that's when the barrier decided to fall again, allowing May to get close and start bashing at the cannon's hull with her anchor.
"All right, I've officially had enough of your meddling," Lady Dragon proclaimed. "I hope you're ready to suffer!"
"You're kinda, you know, not doing anything to us!" Haruka exclaimed. "Maybe find a way to back up your claims before you start making them!"
"Oh, I'm glad you said that," Lady Dragon laughed, firing another shot from the cannon that flew too fast for anyone to react to, striking RiCO in the upper shoulder. Though it didn't destroy her like everyone thought it would, it did stun her momentarily.
"Don't worry, you wretches, that shot wasn't meant to de-rez her," Lady Dragon cackled as the cannon began to charge up again. "This one is, though."
Though Sam, Mat, and Britney all moved to help RiCO out, the Data Destroyer's other weapons fired on them to keep them away.
"I told you that she's nothing more than a program, and I intend to drill that into all of your minds!" Lady Dragon laughed. "I hope you've said your goodbyes!"
A gigantic beam of red light fired from the Data Destroyer's cannon straight for the paralyzed RiCO.
Despite this, iCO threw herself in front of RiCO as the blast closed in.
"iCO, w-what are you doing?!" RiCO gasped.
"I still don't know if I can atone for what I did while Lady Dragon was controlling me, but I hope this is enough," iCO proclaimed. "Please, take care of everyone for me... sister."
iCO just smiled at her "sister" as the blast enveloped her.
When the beam dissolved, there was nothing left of iCO in the slightest.
"Oops, looks like I missed my target," Lady Dragon chuckled. "But hey, at least I took care of one of you. Now who wants to be next?"
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering could be heard, and Nick was the first to notice that it had come from RiCO, who had just broken free of her paralysis with an expression of pure, unyielding rage that none of the spies had ever seen on her.
"You... are going to pay for what you just did," RiCO growled, data screens opening up all around her.
"Don't make me laugh!" Lady Dragon exclaimed as she aimed the Data Destroyer for RiCO, too caught up in her gloating to notice that the cannon's barrier had dropped again.
Nick quickly flew to the other side of the cannon and spreads his hands outwards, his left hand glowing with a bright green light and his right hand glowing with a bright yellow light.
Before Lady Dragon could make any more taunts, Bridget charged in and once again hit the machine with her Metal Masher Boxing Glove, causing Lady Dragon to fall out of the cockpit and to the ground.
Rings of golden data began to spiral around RiCO's hand, and eventually a series of golden data screens opened up around her before absorbing themselves into her.
Nick slammed his palms together, the two glows around his hands joining into a bright silver glow around his palms.
"Yeah, Lady Failure, you just made a big mistake," Mat proclaimed.
"Command Line: Full Delete!" RiCO shouted, a massive beam of golden light erupting from her palm.
"Shining Star Attack!" Nick exclaimed, wrenching his hands apart before clapping them back together to unleash his gathered energy in the form of a massive wave of silver light.
The two attacks screamed through the air and collided with the Data Destroyer before exploding in spectacular fashion, illuminating the area with a bright light as the blast completely eviscerated the Data Destroyer.
Lady Dragon could only look on in shock at the destruction of her trump card even as Nick raised his hand to encase her in a psychic bubble.
"Well, well, look at that, you lost again," Nick proclaimed.
"But at least I took one of you down with me," Lady Dragon cackled as RiCO opened a gateway back to the real world so that Nick could send her back there.
Nick turned to see how RiCO was taking the loss of her 'sister'.
"RiCO? You okay?" Nick asked. His answer came when RiCO jumped forward to hug him tightly.
"I just... I didn't expect to get a new sister, only to lose her so soon after..." RiCO admitted.
"I know it's hard when you lose someone you care about," Nick quipped as he hugged RiCO back.
"At least something good came out of all of this, though," RiCO replied as she opened a data screen to show Nick a picture of what appeared to be iCO and her own data patterns. "When I hit her with that factory reset, I also saved a bit of her source code inside my own program, just in case something like this would happen. I'll just need a bit of time and some assistance from the W.O.O.H.P. tech boys to refurbish her, but she'll be good as new soon."
"Always two steps ahead," Sam chuckled. "That's our RiCO!"
"Aw, you guys," RiCO giggled.
10:35 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"Marvelous performance, everyone," Jerry proclaimed as the spies all returned from the Datascape. "Lady Dragon is on her way back to containment as we speak."
"All in a day's work, really," Nozomi responded.
"And we're having our computer and network technicians work on iCO's source code as we speak," Jerry stated.
"My new sister will live again someday soon," RiCO proclaimed. "I'll send you all back home so you can get some rest."
RiCO waved her hands to open up a tunnel and send the spies back to Mali-U before disappearing and rematerializing in the Datascape.
"I'll see you soon, sis," RiCO quipped as she headed out into the Datascape to fix whatever Lady Dragon had messed with.
5:41 P.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
The Next Day
"See, Nick, you do have some skill in this," Alex giggled as the spies all sat down for dinner the next night in their penthouse. Nick and Mat had decided to make dinner for everyone, even if only so Nick could improve his own cooking skills.
"I will forever be jealous of mister 'rookie cook' over here getting it so right so early on, and you cannot sway me otherwise," Nick teased.
"Well, let's not waste any time and dig in, shall we?" Melissa proclaimed.
As the spies continued to chow down, Nick glanced over at Mat, who was apparently quite nervous, though he tried his best to not let it show on his face.
("Dreamin' ChuChu" by emon feat. Megurine Luka plays)
Hey, bro, is everything okay? Nick thought.
That obvious? Mat thought. I'm nervous as hell. Were you this nervous when you were planning to propose to Alex?
Oh, like you wouldn't believe. The only reason I didn't start freaking out more is because we had... other problems to deal with.
Do you think I should go for it, Nick?
Oh, absolutely. You two have something incredible, and I know for an unbreakable fact that that's never going to change. So, just go ahead and say it, buddy.
Mat looked over at Sam, and how radiant she suddenly looked to him, even as she was laughing over silly dinner stories traded between Melissa and Dawn, before gathering all of his confidence to take the plunge.
I'm gonna do it, Mat thought.
You've got this, bro, Nick thought.
("Marry You" by Bruno Mars plays)
Mat had prepared a bowl of his "famous" spaghetti and put it on the table where Sam was going to sit.
"We'll leave you two be," Melissa giggled at Sam when she saw Mat was ready to have dinner with her.
Sam went off to sit and have some dinner with Mat. She still had no idea what Mat was planning to do, even after Mat played the role of a gentleman and pulled out her seat.
"He's actually going to do it," Melissa whispered so that Sam wouldn't overhear.
"I think he's got this," Dawn replied. "You're okay with it, Melissa? Just checking, after all, since I know that..."
"Hey, it's totally fine," Melissa answered. "I know that Sam was the one who captured his heart first. I'm just happy that he's got enough room in his heart for me, too."
"That totally sounds like something Nick would say," Dawn giggled.
"He probably has," Melissa chuckled.
"Hope you have an appetite?" Mat told Sam.
"After that mission, totally," Sam answered.
Mat sighed, which Nick caught sight of, but Mat executed his plan without even looking back at him.
"By the way," Mat continued as Sam was now comfortably seated. "You remember I told you that you are my first ever girlfriend?"
"Yes, I do," Sam answered, still not knowing what was going on.
She was still confused, but before she could ask Mat what was up, Mat got down on two knees. She gasped as Mat unveiled his engagement ring and she couldn't piece together two words; unknown to them both, the rest of the spy friends were watching, but nobody made a sound.
"I feel I'm ready to... take the next step," Mat stated despite a deep sigh. "So... Sam, will you marry me?" Mat finally asked.
Hearing Mat ask that question left Sam with so many things running through her mind. They had come a long way from almost losing Mat prior to his own family moving back to Hawaii, then came Mat's "Supercross Heartbreak" in regards to the 2006 Supercross finale, them spending numerous nights in each other's beds, etc. Her eyes swelled up as she couldn't figure out what to say next.
"For real?" Sam asked through her tears.
"For real, real," Mat emphasized while still nervous.
He still awaited Sam's ultimate answer.
As it turned out, Sam couldn't even talk through her tears of joy. She merely nodded repeatedly.
"Yes... yes!" Sam finally blurted out.
She finally let the tears out as Mat got to his feet and helped Sam up. He then put the ring on Sam's finger, and the two lovers hugged each other tightly.
"He did it..." Nozomi remarked, completely surprised.
"He actually did it," Bridget quipped.
"See, bro, I told ya you got this," Nick laughed.
"Well done, Mat," Britney giggled as everyone applauded.
Everything the others blurted out went on deaf ears to Sam and Mat as they shared a deep kiss.
Melissa looked on, still happy for Mat since she was seeing him on the side (as was Britney). Nozomi and May also had a slight amount of mixed feelings that wasn't either one of them over being with Nick in the long run – especially since Nozomi was Nick's first girlfriend, and May fell in love following Johnny's demise – and Nick HAD made it clear that he wanted to spend his life with Alex.
"Penny for your thoughts, May?" Nick asked.
"I know I've thought this a lot, but..." May started, only to squeak in surprise when Nick pulled both her and Nozomi close to him.
"Hey, I'm pretty sure Melissa and Britney were thinking the same thing, considering the circumstances," Nick quipped. "So, let me diffuse any of the nasty thoughts that might have creeped into your heads because of that, 'kay?"
Nick hugged both girls, causing them to smile brightly. "Nozomi, you were my first girlfriend," Nick proclaimed. "And May, you were my first kiss. Your firsts are pretty dang special, right? So, no matter what comes in the future, even after Alex and I finally take that step, you two will always have a place in my heart. Don't ever forget that, all right?"
"We definitely won't," Nozomi giggled as she and May both leaned in to kiss Nick on the cheek from either side, and Alex stepped closer to hug Nick from behind.
"I hope I also didn't affect your appetite with this?" Mat laughed.
"No way," Sam giggled as she shook her head.
At the same time, she beheld her engagement ring. Everybody had a whole-hearted dinner from both Nick and Mat.
"Congratulations, you two," Bridget stated to Sam and Mat.
"Way to go, Mat!" Dawn exclaimed.
As Sam and Mat kissed again, much to the rapturous applause of all the other spies, only one thought was running through their minds.
I love you.
Totally Spies: Subdigitals
~The End~
Final Note from Mat49324: With that, we end Subdigitals here and now. I hope Mat's proposal took you by surprise, and if it did, kudos to me. Anyway, next up, we're dealing with no computer-related things, but with one particular old flame who's bitter about Sam being off the market. That's right, James has returned to take Sam away by force, and another of the rogues' gallery is in cahoots as well – and I'll leave that a secret. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Final Note from The Blue Time Ranger: Ring some bells for the newly engaged couple, everyone! What a way to end this one on, huh? I can only imagine how long Mat wanted to write this little thing, and I can't help but wonder if I inspired him when Nick and Alex got engaged at the end of A Crack in Time, but I'll speculate another time.
Next time on Totally Spies: The New Adventures, someone ain't happy that Sam and Mat are finally engaged, and he's looking to throw a bunch of monkey wrenches into that plan. Yup, good ol' psycho ex James in back in town, and that means he's probably about to get another stomping, but how far will he go to take Sam back this time? You'll see next time on Elements of Happiness, which will be posted by Mat. So, until next time, have a fantastic day, don't listen to the screeching morons, enjoy this preview of Elements of Happiness, and we'll see you next mission!
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"Do I really have to say it again?" Myrna Beesbottom groaned as her cohort, one James, simply refused to believe what she'd just said. "I'm telling you, your ex-girlfriend is officially off the market."
"Well, obviously, she's still dating that Hawaiian dish," James proclaimed, pacing around their lair. "That's not exactly news to me."
Once again, Myrna groaned. He was so unbelievably stubborn.
"I mean, permanently off the market," Myrna responded. "Sam is engaged now."
Just as Myrna showed him the picture she'd taken recently from one of her drones, James shoved her out of the way and gasped in shock when she saw the wedding ring on Sam's finger.
"...you can't be serious," James proclaimed.
"Now do you get it?" Myrna stated. "I'd give up on trying to win her back if I were you, because it's clearly not going to work anymore. And I say this as a supervillain who's lost more than her fair share of scuffles with those wretches."
"Oh, I'm done trying to win her over," James snarled. "Now, I'm going to take her back, by force if need be."
"Now you're speaking my language," Myrna cackled. "And I just so happen to have the perfect plan in mind."
"I'm listening," James laughed.
To be continued in Totally Spies: Elements of Happiness...