A/N: Last time, the mysterious boy that Jordan and Zeus met is actually the former's favorite character! How will this turn up to them and how will they stop Willard and the Black Tundra in time? Here's Part 3 to find out!
It's Her Party and I'll Crash If I Want To: Part 3
"Tony, Tony! Please, wake up! I know you still got a lot in you."
In Tony's POV, his eyes slowly open to see Jordan and Zeus in worry. It revealed that they transport him to a nearby street bench to tend his wounds from the last battle.
"Ow. What happened?" he asked as he sat up groggily.
"You were tossed into a dumpster by that cloaked man," Jordan said.
"Well, how can I thank you for you help?"
"You can start by answering a few questions," Zeus said in a serious tone, "You got a lot of explaining to d- OW!"
Jordan angrily stomps Zeus's foot and says, "Z, you can't interrogate him yet! He's injured and needs our help!"
"But he deceived us and try to spy on us! Plus, he was able to change into a Runner when he's not even an official Runner! Aren't you a little angry about this?"
Jordan's expression became grim when he asked that question.
"I wanted to be angry because I never see him when I first arrived in Southdale. But seeing how brave he was to charge in to save us, I'm too worried and happy to be angry."
"Y-You're not angry to me? Even after what I've been through to you, guys?" Tony asked in confusion. "But why?"
Jordan become silent for a few seconds.
"Because in this world where you and your siblings' adventures are part of a cartoon TV show, you're my favorite character of all. Despite you're immature and hard-headed one of the group, I think you're still the coolest," she spoke up. "Plus, I always wanted to meet the Dark Reaper in person."
Tony suddenly blushed in embarrassment at what she said.
"Uh, aren't you a little too lenient on him?" Zeus asked in worry until Jordan angrily stomps his foot again, much to his dismay.
"Ow! Will you stop doing that?!"
"Will you stop being such a nit-picker?!"
Zeus rolled his eyes and Jordan turned back to Tony.
"So I guess you hate me for lying about my identity, don't you?" she asked with shame in his voice.
"Actually, no I'm not," Jordan said with a smile.
"Really?"
"Really. In fact, I think I… like you even more now," she said as she took his hand. They both blushed fiercely as they continued to gaze into each other's eyes.
Back at Jordan's house, Ricky knocked on the door to her room, with Mr. Bigby.
"Jordan, Mr. Bigby just wants to know how your first week of school has been," he said as the entered the room. But then, they turned and saw the wax dummy of Jordan with have of it's face melted off.
"AAAAAAAAH!" they scream as the backed up and knocked over the Zeus and Kani dummies, and knocked the Andre one's head off, which made them scream even more.
"What the heck!" Mr. Bigby shouted. Ricky picked up the Andre dummy's head.
"Wait a minute. These are wax dummies," Ricky said as he suddenly realized why his "daughter's" face was melted.
"Wow, they're so lifelike," Mr. Bigby said with amazement.
Back at the streets, the two Runners sat down next to Tony as Zeus asks, "Okay, first up, how did you got the Runner powers without a official permission to become one in the first place?"
"Well it's kinda of a long story," Tony said.
"Well, how fast do you think you can tell it?" Jordan asked.
"Pretty fast. Well it all started several weeks ago…"
Flashback: On a stormy night, Tony walks into Siber Smoothies and sits in one of the booths.
Tony: It was a stormy night and my siblings and I had just finished another mission. And once again they dug into me about my immaturity screwing things up. We had a big fight and I went to Siber Smoothies to blow of some steam.
Tony activates his RunCom, and finds himself in the ULO world as his avatar with his hair darker and loose unlike his real-life self and wears a black coat under his blue curcuit lines designed shirt, black pants, and black boots.
Tony: I started playing ULO, and was just minding my own business when suddenly something strange happened.
Outside a large bolt of lightning strikes the antenna on Siber Smoothies' roof. The electricity travels through the electrical system, exits through a light, and hits the RunCom, shocking Tony. As Tony is shocked, he suddenly shifts into a new form.
After a few minutes, he woke up and saw himself in the mirror, revealing his new form is his avatar self.
Tony: I didn't know how did I changed into my avatar except that the lightning was responsible for it. But all I know is that I somehow inherit my skills, my scythe, custom skills, and abilities as my avatar in the game.
Back at the present, Jordan quickly spoke up, "And let me guess, you decided to become a real-life version of the Dark Reaper to the real-life criminals in Southdale?"
Tony simply nods in confirmation and continues, "Yeah, at first, I was having fun with my new powers and beating up bad guys. But the longer I'm in my avatar self, the less I'm enjoying it. Because of that, I'm starting to get paranoid and decided not to tell my boss or my siblings about it. I even try to hack the police and WOOHP records, too! I try to control myself, but somehow I can't."
After hearing his story, Zeus became suspicious of this and asks, "Does your ULO avatar have a artificial personality? You know, a custom alter ego you created in Universal Legends to become anonymous."
"Um, yeah. A direct opposite of me, to be exact. Serious, down-to-earth, mature, sensible, essentially everything I'm not," Tony said. "I created it when I was angry with my siblings again."
Jordan was confused at the moment and asks, "What are you getting at, Z?"
"Remember how you were able to access ULO's world without a virtual reality equipment?"
"Uh, yeah? It's the hypnosis program called Unimatrix Neo-Link, created by one of the creators of Universal Legends specifically for it."
"Well, one of the features of that program is to create artificial personalities to remain anounymous to other players or you just wanted to role-play as your avatar," Zeus explained. "Somehow, when your RunCom and that conversion app got affected by the lightning, it must have affected the Link as well. In short, not only you turned into your avatar on the outside, but inside as well."
"That explains why. But when I turned back into my normal self, I can feel my old self again," Tony added. "So when I change back, the Link deactivates as well."
"Looks like it," Zeus confirmed his situation.
"Well, back to me..."
Flashback: We then saw the same avatar from before being chased by Itzal in the Unitas's forest.
Tony: While I try to do my job in ULO...
The scene cuts to the same burglar from before got caught by the mysterious figure, revealing to be Itzal.
Tony: I did the same in real life at night. But I have to keep my new vigilante life a secret to the others as well. However, I have questions running through my mind lately. How did a companion cellphone-like watch can change me into my avatar? What's the connection between the game and my current situation right now?
The scene shifts to Tony and his siblings in spy mode, sneaking around a familiar warehouse.
Tony: I have no clue what's going on until that mission. It's when we try to pursue one of the villains that our fellow spies, Sam, Clover, and Alex, caught in the past: Tim Scam.
Jordan: You mean that sadistic former WOOHP technician?
Tony: Yeah.
As the spies listens into Scam's and the mysterious cloaked men's conversation, Tony suddenly feel dizzy.
Tony: While we are trying to hear what Tim Scam and those cloaked guys are talking about, I suddenly felt my avatar alter ego is re-emerging. I didn't know, but all I know is that I sensed something's bad about those guys with Scam.
Zeus: Apparently, the cloaked guys you're talking about must be the same guys from yesterday, the Black Tundra. Your Link must have activated since it senses other world visitors.
After his older siblings are shocked at Tony's decision to stop them immediately as he left the group, he hides behind a stack of boxes as he mysteriously summons his scythe.
Tony: Yeah, I feel something's not right with those guys. So I decided to create a plan on my own to stop them. But before I can ambush them, someone wants to crash the party.
It then cuts to a mysterious vortex from the warehouse ceiling as Jordan fell from it to the ground, which Scam and the cloaked guys hear what happened.
Jordan: Hey, it's not my fault that I was sucked into Zeus's portal in the first place.
Tony: Huh?
Zeus: (sheepishly) I'll explain later.
After that, the villains forced themselves to escape through Scam's newly created portal, much to Tony's dismay. However, he went to another stack to see Jordan being approached by his siblings.
Tony: When I take a closer look at what just happened, I saw you with that RunCom with a different design.
"After that, I decided to go back to my house a little early, since I was too suspicious at your appearance back in the warehouse," Tony finished. "And after Lee, Marc, and Megan told me what happened, I decided to investigate your friend as well."
"And when you accidentally got sent here by that portal that the cloaked man created and saw us at the party, you decided to get up close and personal with us," Zeus guessed.
"Yes," Tony said in guilt. "Look, I'm sorry again! I only did it because..."
"You're confused about what's happening to you? Don't worry, I was confused about most of what's been happening myself," Jordan said. "We'll explain about what's happened to you later. Right now, we have to identify and catch that cloaked man before it's too late."
"Well, I don't know much about him since I only got a little part of his WOOHP prison profile in the break-in report, but his name is Willard."
Jordan then froze in shock after hearing the name of the cloaked man.
"What did you said?"
"I said his name is Willard. And he's involved in some kind of 'slowing down the world' when Sam, Clover, Alex, and Britney confronted him," Tony said in confusion.
Hearing this, Jordan waves her hand to her left arm, revealing her RunCom (which was hidden during her Runner transformation) and searches something in the internet browser app.
"Ah-ha! Looks like I got the full info about our baddie!" Jordan said in glee as she shows a holographic picture of Willard to Zeus and Tony. "Willard is a mad scientist who is an extremely slow man. Whatever he does in the living is very slow and hates anything fast."
"That explains how he stops us with his ray guns. He must have turn our movement speed into slow temporarily and of course, talks very slow when we confronted him," Zeus said.
"Not only he tries to slow the world with his prototype ray gun in the past, but he was confronted by the girls the second time, when he tries to trap them in a self-destructed prison island. However, he was defeated once again by the Britney's wits and the girls' teamwork," Jordan added.
"Whoa, did you know all that through the internet?" Tony asked in shock.
"No, just the picture. I didn't realize it was him until I dig deeper into my head on the previous episodes of Totally Spies TV show after you mentioned his name," Jordan said as she shuts off her RunCom, disappearing into data once again.
"Wait a minute! Sam, Clover, and Alex have their own TV show?! That's not fair!" Tony said in dismay. "Plus, isn't their spy life supposed to be a secret?"
"Of course it is, duh," Jordan said as she began to explain. "In this world, all the spy missions and adventures that they, and you and your siblings go on are two separate TV shows that take place in the same universe…somewhat."
"Oh. Wow, really?"
"Yep."
"Sweet! Are there anymore worlds around that are TV shows here?"
"Hundreds!"
"Wow, I must be one lucky guy to have traveled here."
"Good to hear," Zeus said. "Now don't you think we ought to go get this Willard guy. If he's working with the Black Tundra, there's no telling what he's now capable of."
"You're right. We best find him and fast," Jordan said. "Tony, you think you can walk?"
"Yeah I'll manage," he replied. "Let's go."
After some searching and tracking, the three came across Willard, still cloaked, meeting with two high-up enforcers of the Black Tundra, also cloaked and several foot soldiers in the empty back lot of an abandoned building. As they watched and listened from the roof, the Enforcers spoke to Willard.
"Ah, Willard," one Enforcer said. "I assume you have it."
"Yes," Willard confirmed as he took the gadget he'd stolen out. "WOOHP's very own Rapid Molecular Decelerator. Had to fight several of those Runners you warned me about to get it."
"Well they won't be a threat to us," the second Enforcer said. "Once we plug it into our special laser and shoot it into the skyline everyone in this city will be frozen solid in time, which will some anyone from stopping us from corrupting both this world's Data Core and Southdale's once we get back there."
"Ah sounds like my kind of scheme," Willard said.
The three Runners were stunned.
"Oh no," Tony gasped, "they're gonna use that stolen WOOHP invention to help take over my world and yours.
"We gotta stop them!" Zeus said frantically.
All of the sudden, Jordan's phone rang, which she tries to find it, but can't.
"Hey, my Runner form hide my cellphone!" Jordan said in dismay.
"Use the Com Holo-link, it should redirect your call," Zeus said.
Following Zeus's suggestion, Jordan pulls out a video phone-like holographic screen. "Hello?"
"Jordan, it's Kani! We got a big problem in our hands!" Kani said on the phone in a worried tone.
"What's the matter, Kani? Spill it!" Zeus said.
Back at the party, we saw Andre babbling jibberish, running around and bouncing off the walls (almost literally), shocking everybody.
"It's Andre! He drank a drink called Stinging Shock and went crazy!" Kani explained in worry.
"Wait, Stinging Shock?! That energy drink that supposed to help you on sports, but turns you crazy if you drank too much?!" Jordan said on the phone in shock.
"Yeah, that's the one!"
"Does he's know what's in that junk?"
"Apparently not. He neglected to read the part of the label that said 'Content: methylxanthines, B vitamins, and herbs, carbonated water, guarana, yerba mate, açaí, and taurine'."
"Well try to calm him, we'll be back ASAP." Jordan ended the call and turned toward the boys.
"Bad news guys, Andre drank a bunch of that Stinging Shock energy drink and he's gone nuts," she told them.
"Aw no," Zeus exclaimed.
"Aw yes! We gotta get back to the party now!"
"But what about the Black Tundra?" Tony asked. "We can't just leave them with that gadget! If we do both of our worlds are doomed."
"Tony's right. As much as the middle-schoolers reps mean to me, this is bigger than that," Zeus told Jordan.
Jordan wanted to return to the party to calm Andre and save her plan, but she knew the Tundra had to be stopped first.
"Okay, but let's make this quick."
Back at the villains, they are discussing their plans to take over the worlds.
"The obstacle to our plan is those Runners. Will you able to deal with them while we commence the operation?" the first Enforcer asked to Willard.
"Don't worry, I'll slow those Runners down for you. After all, their running speed is getting annoying anyway," Willard said with confidence.
"Think again, Wil-lusk!"
The villains turn around in shock to see Jordan, Zeus, and Tony prepare themselves to fight them.
"I prefer fast than slow on my terms," Jordan said to the villains. "Plus, I rather freeze water than you guys freeze time."
"You better watch your mouth, little brat!" Willard said in anger.
"And you will learn to respect your elders, too. Attack!" the second Enforcer orders the foot soldiers, which they did as they try to assault the Runners.
Zeus and Tony were about to attack them back, but Jordan stops them.
"Jordan, what's the big deal?" Zeus exclaimed.
"Because this is the perfect time to try out my new special ability after I became a Runner," Jordan said with confidence.
"A new ability? For your Ice element?"
Jordan nods in confirmation and says, "See for yourselves."
She then creates three aura orbs and summons a small floating pool of water. Then she combines them all and freezes the water altogether, create some kind of glowing ice crystals.
"Hey, Black Tundra jerks! Here's a welcome gift from L.A.!" she said as she throws the crystals to the foot soldiers.
When they landed to the ground, the soldiers are confused at first, until the crystals suddenly explode, which they are quickly frozen in ice.
"No way!" Tony said in awe.
"I can't believe it! You made and master that ability in 1 day?" Zeus asked in awe.
"I call mine -Crystal Grenades-. A little weak, but it works to our advantage," Jordan explained.
"Speaking of abilities, let me show you mine," Tony said and suddenly rushes in to the remaining foot soldiers, much to the Runners' shock.
"Run Convertion! Log In!" Tony shouted as he activate the app on his RunCom, changing him into his avatar self.
The soldiers prepare themselves as he rushed to them with his scythe. But without an explanation, he suddenly jumps into a dark alley, much to their confusion.
When they checked the alley, they saw that Itzal is gone. However, he quickly jumped out the inside of the abandoned building and attacked them behind, much to the villains and Runners' shock.
When he reunited with Jordan and Zeus, the former asks, "Whoa, you can teleport?!"
"Only in dark or shadowed areas like the alley. Light is the weakness because it can shine up the dark areas," Itzal explained. "I call it -Shadow Ambush-."
"Cool," Jordan casually said when a soldier suddenly ambushes them, but Zeus pulls them out of a second.
Zeus pulls out his katana and blocks the soldiers' attack. At the same time, two more soldiers tried to ambush Zeus from the right side, but Jordan blocked the double attack with her sword. But a fourth soldier tried to attack her from behind but was stopped by Itzal and his scythe. The soldiers continued to slash at the Runners, driving them back. Itzal then used his -Scythe Block- and pushed the soldiers back and away from them.
"Okay, this is very awkward. We have the power of the elements and can fight with real weapons, there's three of us, but these guys are many and can cripple us in a second," Jordan said while being surrounded by foot soldiers. "Not what we are going for, but in cartoons, the weak heroes in dire situations always win, right?"
"Right, by combining the strengths the have into one. If we do that we can beat them easy, right?" Zeus agreed.
"Wrong."
Jordan and Zeus became confused and shocked at what he just said as the Water Runner asks, "Why? It's perfect! We can stop them in one strike!"
"Yeah, but there's one problem to your plan." They became even confused as they stare each, wondering what's the flaw on the plan.
"You're right about them crippling us to their advantage thanks to Willard, but there's another tactic they use," Itzal explained. "Judging their movement and attacks, they're trying to gang up on us from all sides and angles."
"Whoa, you can tell all that just by looking and attacking?" Jordan asks in awe.
"Yeah. I forgot to mentioned that ever since I got a custom personality, I can sort of read their tactics and their strength just by looking or seeing them fight. It's weird for me though. But enough about me, I doubt we can stop them with just a strategy."
"What do you mean?" Jordan asks in confusion.
"I can explain later. But right now, I have a plan to stop the soldiers," Itzal said. "Are you guys with me?"
No choice but to trust him, Jordan and Zeus nods with confidence.
"Now listen up guys," Itzal said as he whispered his plan to the others. Just as he finished telling them the plan, the first Enforcer stepped up. "Why don't you just give it up?"
"Never," Jordan said. "Not as long as there is evil like you around, especially in my world."
"You are a fool, girl," Willard said. "You are only delaying the inevitable. The Black Tundra will rule this world and all others in their reach."
"Man are you that blinded by their bull," Zeus asked. "And how do you know that they'll allow you to rule alongside them once they completely take over?"
"Yeah, who's to say they won't drop you like a hot tamale after they fully accomplish their goals?," Itzal inferred.
"Silence!" the second Enforcer snapped. "We've have had it with you brats and your slanderous accusations. Now either surrender to us and live or fight us and perish."
"I'll take 'fight and perish' for 800, Alex," Jordan quipped as she, Itzal and Zeus posed, ready to keep fighting.
"Very well. Soldiers, attack!"
The foot soldiers then charged at the Runners. One clashed with Jordan, while two tried to take her from the left. But this time, Jordan flipped out of the way, and Zeus took her place, and cutting all three soldiers down. On another hand, Itzal was fighting four small soldiers when a large on tried to grab him from behind. Itzal sensed him coming up and quickly rotated places with Jordan who was fighting two others. The large soldier was startled by this, and had no time to react as Jordan used her -Freeze Touch- to freeze him solid. The three continued rapidly switch and rotate between fights until all of the soldiers were beaten.
"That takes care of those soldiers," Jordan said in confidence.
"Except the leaders and Willard. They're gone!" Itzal said as he saw where Black Tundra is supposed to be, but disappeared.
"Huh, for a slow guy, he knows how to escape fast."
Zeus then walks to the spot where they should be and raise his hand.
"Looks like I can't open up a portal in here. Which means they still here in California and must have run away during the fight instead," Zeus guessed.
"That sucks. Now what? L.A. is a big place and we'll never able to find them in a big city," Jordan said in dismay.
After a few seconds of thinking, Itzal realizes something and said, "Maybe not. I'm not letting my target slip away so easily, so I put the ULO item, -Bullet Tracer- to track them. I put it to Willard before he escaped in here..."
"So not only we can track him, but also the Black Tundra as well! Great idea!"
"Huh, I never knew you're serious about being a PKer."
"You have no idea"
"So where are they now?" Jordan asked.
"They are…" Itzal said as he checked his RunCom's GPS for the Bullet Tracer at Linking Street.
Zeus nearly froze when he heard the address. "Oh-no."
"What is it?" Itzal asked.
"That's Lena's street!"
Not long afterwards, the three arrived back at Lena's house.
"Why would the Tundra be around here?"Itzal asked.
"Maybe they wanted to crash Lena's party," Jordan said.
"Or maybe they're searching foor the Data Core here," Zeus suggested.
"Or they're putting their plan with the stolen gadget into action?" Itzal said.
"Well either way we'd better find them, before-"
Suddenly, they heard several crashing noises inside the house including Kani's voice.
"Come on Andre, calm down!"
"Oh man," Jordan said. "We forgot about Andre. I hope he hasn't caused too much trouble."
The three changed to their civilian forms and entered the house only to discover most of the party in shambles and Andre still going crazy with Kani still trying to calm him down. She then saw the three enter the house.
"There you guys are!" she said, "Where have you been?"
"Long story," Jordan said. Zeus then stepped in and tried to restrain Andre, but Andre continued to wriggle and squirm around uncontrollably. Eventually, the squirming caused the two to fall on top of the stereo, breaking it and stopping the music.
"My stereo!" Lena cried as Jordan. She then turned to the other middle-schoolers, and glared at them angrily. "You little brats! You broke my stereo! Just you wait until-"
Suddenly the lights began to flicker on and off in the house, perplexing the kids.
"Now what?" Lena cried.
"The Tundra. They're here," Itzal said.
"We'd better investigate," Jordan said. The three exited the house once more, and saw the power lines in the neighborhood seemed to be sparking with visible electricity. The electricity seemed to be being drawn somewhere.
"We best see where that power is going," Zeus suggested.
"Right, come on," Jordan said. The three then ran, following the flow of power several blocks down. In the distance, they saw a giant laser power generator in the middle of the street draining the power from the transformers. They approached it slowly and Itzal recognized the stolen WOOHP gadget plugged into it.
"There's the Rapid Molecular Decelerator," Itzal exclaimed
"So this is the laser they mentioned," Jordan observed as she looked at the generator. "They're stealing the neighborhood's power to charge it."
"How perceptive," a sinister voice said behind them. The three turned to see Willard and the Enforcers, with even more foot soldiers behind them. "Too bad you won't be able stop us."
"We'll see about that," Jordan said as she turned to her friends. "You guys ready?"
"Ready," they both said as all three activated the app on their RunComs.
"Run Convertion! Log In!" they shouted. With flashes of blue, purple and white light, they had transformed into their avatar forms. They then posed, weapons drawn ready to fight.
"Attack!" Willard shouted and he and the Tundra Enforcers and soldiers and the Runners charged at each other. Using the same strategy as before, the Runners made short work of the soldiers. Jordan and Zeus then took on the Enforcers, while Itzal handled Willard.
"The Black Tundra will prevail," the first Enforcer said as he parried swords with Jordan.
"You guys are so full of yourselves, you know that," Jordan said.
"We shall have this world soon, and you fools will be our slaves," the second forcer said as he and Zeus fought each other.
"I am no one's slave!" Zeus shouted angrily. He turned to Jordan. "Let's finish these chumps!"
"You read my mind," she replied. The two then charged for a special attack.
"Aqua Freeze Blast!" Jordan shouted as well.
"Heaven's Rage!" Zeus shouted as well.
Using both Ice and Water elements, Jordan used her staff to create a storm and tsunami altogether. And creating a blade like a scythe from her staff, she then struck the enemies with both of her staff and her powerful magic-infused sword.
Charging with his light magic-infused katana, Zeus stabbed at the sky, which white thunder boomed into the sky as lightning strikes the enemies. When that ended, Zeus charged in with a powerful magic-infused katana.
The combined attacks sent both Enforcers flying into the ground, scraping up the pavement. Jordan and Zeus then hi-fived.
Meanwhile Itzal continued to fight Willard.
"Ready to lose again?" Willard cackled as he blasted at Itzal with the same ray gun he'd beat him with before.
"Not this time," Itzal said as he deflected the blasts. He then used his -Blackout Push- to send the ray gun flying out of Willard's hands.
"Give me the power to protect my new friends in exchange for my innocence."
"Mind Blinding!" he shouts as his eyes suddenly become dull and suddenly covered in black-infused purple aura. "Assassin's Mask!"
"Itzal?" Jordan says in worry as she and Zeus noticed what was happening to their new friend.
He then turns around to see the two with a glare like a killer, but he quickly blinks as he hears his own thoughts, "I want to protect Jordan and Zeus!"
Hearing this, he then turns back to Willard, much to the Runners' relief, but to Willard's fear.
"Wha-What are you?!" he said.
"Your worst nightmare," Itzal answers with a cold tone as he raised his dark-infused charged scythe. "Raven's Spear!"
He then slashes a powerful wave to Willard, send him flying back into the machine. After that, his eyes starts to turn back to normal and his blackened aura disappears as he quickly fainted, which Jordan and Zeus catch him.
"Whoa, what was that all about?" Jordan asks in confusion and worry.
"-Mind Blinding-. A hypnosis skill I combined with some Reaper skills," Itzal weakly explained. "And using -Assassin's Mask-, I can hypnotize myself to gain power, at a cost of my memories. You're lucky I can vaguely recognize you two or you guys might be PKed by the -Dark Reaper-."
"Well, try to warn us the next time you use it. You almost gave us a heart attack," Zeus said with relief.
Willard started to get up, when he noticed the power gauge on the ray was full.
"Well you're too late any how," he said as he took out a remote. "The ray is at full power now. It's slow-time!"
Everyone, even the Enforcers groaned at the slow pun as Willard pressed a button on the remote. The ray began charging to fire.
"Oh-no," Zeus said.
"Oh yes," Willard cackled. "This time the bad guys win!"
Jordan then noticed that the ray's generator was still connected to the power lines. She then got an idea.
"That's what you think!" She then summons for her Water Wave Staff and cried "Waterfall Cannon!" A large stream of water shot out of the staff and drenched both the power lines and the ray. The ray then overloaded and shorted out before exploding. Itzal managed to retrieve the Rapid Molecular Decelerator before the ray exploded.
"Alright!" Itzal said as he ran up to Jordan and put his arms around her. "You did it, Jordan."
"Well, everyone knows water will short out just about any machine," Jordan said.
"Retreat," the first Enforcer shouted as he created a portal with his bracer. The foot soldiers, having recovered, all rushed through it. Willard ran to it as well, but before entering, he stopped and turned to the Runners.
"You know this isn't the end," he snarled. "You'll all pay for this!"
"I've heard that one before," Jordan said. Willard then stepped through the portal, as did the Enforcers. The portal closed behind them.
"Well that was exciting," Jordan said. "We best get back to the party."
Back at Lena's house, the three, now back in civilian form, re-entered the party, whose power had been restored. Calla then ran up to them.
"There you are, what was going on?" she asked.
"Faulty power box," Zeus said. "The electric company just fixed it, it seems."
"Yeah, well," Lena furiously said as she came up the group. "it doesn't change the fact that you middle-schoolers broke my stereo, knocked over my food tables, and scuffed and stained my parents' new carpet, among other things! My party is ruined, and it's all your fault, Jordan Waters! If you think you and your friends had it bad at school before, just wait until tomorrow, cause it's gonna get a whole lot worse!"
The group looked around and saw every one of the high-schoolers was glaring at them angrily. Kani and Andre then turned to Jordan with glares of their own.
"Well thanks a lot Jordan," Kani said. "Not only did your plan backfire, but now everyone hates us even more than before."
"Now hold on you can't blame Jordan for this," Zeus interjected. "Plus Andre, you're the one who drank that energy drink, not her."
"Which wouldn't have happened if she hadn't convince me to come here," Andre said. "Well I certainly you're happy Jordan. Because right now, I really hate you right now."
"Me too," Kani said.
"But I-" Jordan tried to explain, but Kani held up her hand, cutting her off.
"Save it. Goodbye."
Kani and Andre started to walking towards the door, leaving Jordan stunned and hurt that two of her new friends now hated her.
"Wait a minute," Calla spoke up. "That energy drink you had, Andre… it wasn't Stinging Shock, was it?"
"Yeah, why?" Andre replied as he and Kani turned back.
"I should have known."
"Should have known what, Calla?"
"Every party she throws she serves that drink and every time, some dude ends up sugar crazy because of it. I keep warning her to stop serving it, but she never listens."
"Hey," Lena cut in, "It's not my fault if these little brats can't handle the boost."
"Yeah, but you blame them every time something bad happens when the boost kicks in, when in fact you are to blame for giving them that drink, despite my warnings."
"Hey don't criticize me, you middle-schooler rugrat," Lena snapped. The crowd gasped. Calla was stunned.
"What did you just call me?" she angrily asked.
"You heard me, you puny little junior high pest."
The crowd gasped even more.
"How could you?!" Calla gasped. "I thought we were friends."
"Me too!" Lena sniped. "I became friends with you for your fashion sense, and I thought you were better than this! But you're acting just as stupid as the rest of these little punks. Especially that video-game obsessed loser and giant-brained cousin of yours."
The crowd gasped again. Calla became enraged.
"How dare you! Nobody talks about my cousin or her friends that way."
"Yeah well I just did."
"Yeah well as of right now you can consider our friendship over. We are through, finished, done, finite, kaput!"
"Fine, but just so you know, you just made the biggest mistake of your life."
"Fine and you know I'd rather hang with this video-game obsessed loser, who by the way, is more of a winner than you, and my giant-brained cousin, anytime, you wicked, despicable, pimple-faced witch!"
The crowd looked on in shock and slowly began to applaud. Lena then stuck her nose up and walked away from Calla, who looked on in anger along with Jordan and Kani, the former turned to her.
"Thanks," Jordan said to her.
"No prob," she replied. "Can you believe I was actually friends with that blondie witch?"
"Nope," Jordan replied.
"Definitely not me, cousin," Kani added. The three giggled.
"So, uh, Calla. You wanna hang out with us sometime?" Jordan asked. Calla thought for a second and then replied with as smile, "Sure. I'd like that."
"Well this party is a bust," one partygoer said.
"Yeah let's go," another said as every one started to leave.
"Wait, hold up, everybody, we can keep this party going," Bren said as he came up.
"How there's no music," someone said.
"Just leave that to me, and my cousin Jordan."
Jordan was stunned that Bren would do this for her.
"Bren, what are you-"
"You can sing Jordan, remember? Sing to them."
"But I haven't sung since my 3rd grade Christmas pageant."
"Come on you can do it. I even got one of your favorites," he said as he showed her his iPhone with her favorite song on it.
"But how can you play it?"
"Easy, I brought my iPhone's sound enhancer."
Bren then plugged his phone into the Enhancer and plug the Enhancer into the wall. He pressed play and Jordan's favorite song began to play. Jordan was a bit nervous as she started to sing the first lines of the song.
Jordan: Give me an inch
I promise I'll take a mile
Danger is beauty
I'll face it with a smile
I'm on a mission
With no restrictions
As she continued to sing, the other kids began to clap and dance too.
Don't second guess myself
I'm born to be wild
I'm the type of chick
That likes to rock the beat
I like to rock the beat
I like to rock, to rock the beat
21st century girl, I do what I like
21st century girl, I'm taking you for a ride
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up
21st century girl, a beautiful life
21st century girl, us walking side by side
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up
Soon Jordan's friends all stepped up and started to dance with her as she sung.
Step on the brakes, then I'ma step on the gas
I am a rebel, but I do it with class
I set the boundaries, the rules don't own me
I'm living life on the edge, I choose my path
I'm the type of chick
That likes to rock the beat
I like to rock the beat
I like to rock, to rock the beat
I'm the kind of chick
That knocks you off your feet
That knocks you off your feet
That knocks you off, off your feet
21st century girl, I do what I like
21st century girl, I'm taking you for a ride
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up
21st century girl, a beautiful life
21st century girl, us walking side by side
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up
Lena scoffed at the performance.
"Who does that little wannabe think she is?"
"That wannabe's my cousin," Bren snapped. "So shut up."
I feel like I can take over the world
If only I get my dreams out
Pull gold from my soul, pull diamonds from my heart
It's that new girl thinking and this song is just the start
21st century girl, I do what I like
21st century girl, I'm taking you for a ride
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up
21st century girl, a beautiful life
21st century girl, us walking side by side
21st century girl, yeah, I'm gonna live it up
Just live it up, yeah
21st century girl
I'm a 21st century girl
I'm a 21st century girl
I'm a 21st century girl
Jordan and her friends all struck a pose as the song ended and everybody except Lena applauded.
"That was incredible, Jordan!" Calla said.
"Yeah, astounding," Zeus agreed.
"Insane," Itzal put in.
"Thanks guys," Jordan said.
"Hey great singing," Kani said "And I'm sorry for turning on you earlier."
"Yeah, me too," Andre said.
"It's okay you guys," Jordan said.
"And it looks like your plan worked out, too," Zeus added.
"Yep it sure does."
Just then the front door opened and in walked Jordan's father Ricky and Mr. Bigby.
"Oh no," Jordan said when she saw them.
"Hey check out the mall cop," a partygoer said.
"That's highly-decorated LAPD officer to you, pal," Ricky snapped.
Lena stepped up then stepped up. "Officer, if the party was too loud, I offer my-"
"Relax, I'm not here about you," he said as he pointed at Jordan. "I'm here about her."
Jordan stepped forth nervously. "Um, hi Daddy...how'd you know I was here."
"Let's just say I'm not the dummies that you made us think were you."
"Oh, I see."
"Uncle Ricky," Bren said as he ran up. "Good to see you, man. How you been?"
He then turned to Jordan, "And there you are cuz. I'm been looking everywhere for-"
"Hello Bren," Ricky greeted his nephew sternly. "Your dad called earlier today and told me and you aunt Vina that you guys had moved to L.A."
"He did?"
"Yep. And then he called me again earlier and said you'd snuck out while grounded."
The hopefulness faded from Bren's face. "And then Bigby here told me about this big party that everyone had been talking about and… well here we are now."
"Party? What party? I see no-"
"Forget it Bren. The jig's up," Jordan said.
"Oh man," Bren sighed.
"You, go wait for me at the car," Ricky told his nephew. Bren grabbed his iPhone and Sound Enhancer and walked out of the house.
"And the rest of you," he said turning to the other kids, "if your parent don't know you've snuck out either, get home or I'll be having a talk with all of them about you."
Upon hearing that, every single kid immediately left the house, except Jordan and her friends, and Lena. Ricky then turned to his daughter.
"And as for you, young lady, I'm very disappointed in you," he told her.
"I know Daddy," Jordan said, her voice filled with shame. "I'm sorry."
"Not as sorry as you're gonna be. Now come on," he sternly said. Jordan then followed her dad out of the house with her head hanging down. Mr. Bigby began to leave but then turned to Lena and Jordan's friends.
"Well' you five had best get home too," he said to them. "And Lena, you best clean this mess up before you're parents return."
Bigby then left, and the middle schoolers started to leave too. But Lena stops them and said, "Hold it, you little cockroches."
"We are not cockroaches, you venomous queen bee!" Kani said as she stomps the floor in anger, causing her "chest" to fall off the ground, exploding in purple fluid to Lena's face, her walls, and her floor.
"My house!" she said in shocked and fear.
"Uh, what did you put in your fake "chest" anyway?" Zeus sheepishly asks to Kani.
"Grape juice. It's my favorite!" Kani answers in dismay.
"How can I clean this house before my parents get here?!" Lena asks in a desperate tone.
"I know how... I'll text you the deets," Calla sheepishly said before she and her new friends except Zeus who is frozen shock left the house.
After recovering, Zeus realizes where they are and shouts out as they leave, "Guys, wait for me!"
The next morning, in the Mid-School Lounge, Jordan's friends (minus Itzal) and Bren were gathered in a group. They were worried why she hadn't shown up yet.
"Man where is she?" Calla asked.
"I hope her dad didn't go to hard on her," Zeus said.
"Oh, you don't know my uncle," Bren told them. "He's very, very strict with her. I wouldn't be surprised if he locked her up in her room, like Rapunzel."
"Well, lucky for me I had some great, long, golden hair to help me escape," a voice said. The kids turned to see Jordan standing there.
"Jordan!" Kani said as ran up to her friend and hugged her.
"You're okay," Andre chortled with glee as he did the same. The others followed suit.
"Of course I am," Jordan said.
"So what happened with your dad," Zeus asked.
"Well like Bren said, he wanted to lock me up like Rapunzel, but I manage to plea bargain him down to a 4-week grounding."
"Lucky you," Bren said. "I got a 2-month grounding from my dad."
"Well it means if we wanna have more fun, Andre, we need more of those wax dummies," Jordan said.
"Already on it," Andre said as he rushed to a computer. Just then Mr. Bigby walked in.
"Attention, everyone," he said. The students stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards him.
"I'd like to introduce another new member of our middle school circle. He's all the way from Tokyo, Japan, and he's looking forward to enjoying our school. Please welcome Mr. Itzal Kurosawa."
Itzal then appeared next to him much to Jordan and Zeus's shock.
"Well Jordan, looks like the boy of your dreams is here to stay," Calla said.
"Looks like it." She then approached Itzal. "What are you doing here?"
"Well the Rapid Molecular Decelerator's been returned to WOOHP and I figured you'd need help fighting the BT, so I figured I'd stick around for a while."
"So how'd you go back and forth between worlds?"
"Well, I was checking on some strange glow at the Black and White Union forests according to my informer and I somehow ended up in California, so I decided to make that portal inside ULO as my bus to school."
"I see, well let me introduce you to the rest of my friends," Jordan said as she led him to Zeus and the others.
At the end of the day, Jordan walked with Itzal on the school grounds.
"Itzal," she said. "As Tony, you're my favorite character on your show, you know that?"
"Really?" Itzal asked as he blushed.
"Yep and to be honest, even if you're just an 11-year old kid who often gets into trouble, I still think you're the coolest character around, offline or online," Jordan says to Itzal as she herself starts to blush.
"I could say the same way with you," Itzal said as he grasped her hands and they stared into each others' eyes for a minute. The two then turned and continued to hold hands while staring at the sunset in the school grounds.
Meanwhile, the three got out of the school as Zeus shouts to Jordan, "Jordan! Andre is stuck in the rush stampede again!"
"Wait, Zeus!" Calla said, knowing about what's going on between Itzal and Jordan. "Let's leave them alone for now. We don't want to ruin their moment."
"Hmm, maybe you're right." They just stood and watched as the two continued to hold hands.
Just then Bren and Kani showed up with Andre, having managed to save him from the stampede.
"Hey what's up, we got Andre back just-" Bren said but Calla shushed him and pointed at Jordan and Itzal.
"How romantic," Kani gushed as they all continued to watch the two. Andre then tried to hold Kani's hands.
"If you wanna keep those, don't even try it," Kani warned him sternly. Andre pulled his hands back to himself.
A/N: Looks like they got a new friend and a new Runner ally! What adventures will awaits these three Runners next? Find out in the next episode! Until then, review and I'll see you later!