On Today's Episode: The spies continue chasing Lady Dragon and ViA until they seemingly make their escape. The problem is, the two baddies are now effectively going after what could be considered the "heart" of the Datascape, the Deep Log. Knowing pretty much exactly what would happen if the Deep Log fell into enemy clutches, the spies pursue with every intent of wiping ViA out before he can mess things up any further than they already are...
Act 2: Secure Connection
10:17 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Datascape
Sector F
"Hey, Lady Flop, why are you running from us?!" Melissa taunted once the spies had caught up with Lady Dragon and ViA in Sector F.
"Because I have better things to be doing with my time, of course!" Lady Dragon retorted.
"That's pretty deceiving," May commented.
"Oh, what, you don't want to play with us?" Mat taunted back.
"Maybe she won't, but I will!" ViA exclaimed.
"Hey, we've seen what you can do, and we're really not impressed," Dawn stated.
"Is that a fact?" ViA taunted back. "Well, then, we'll see if this shuts you up!"
Before long, ViA reached out with electric arms and grabbed Dawn.
"Hands off my cousin, you viral reject!" Nick gasped.
"Or what?" ViA taunted.
"I'm glad you asked that," Nick quipped.
"You shouldn't have opened that door," Haruka warned.
All ViA did was scoff.
"You really don't seem to understand the situation here, boy, so how about I teach you that you're not in any position to be making demands of me?" ViA chuckled as he reached for his beam saber.
Henya responded by aiming her Wondercube and opening a hyperdimensional pocket underneath Dawn that sent her falling into it, before opening up another pocket above ViA, allowing Dawn to fall out of it and pounce on ViA before blasting him backwards with an Electromagnetic Curling Iron.
"Sorry, but we're a lot wilier than you think," Dawn taunted. "Comes with the years of experience in fighting off crazies and loonies like you."
"I'm still gonna cut your pasty little keester into ribbons, so nothing personal, right?" ViA cackled as he rushed forward to attack.
Nick was there to intercept him by way of a Final Shine Attack to ViA's face that sent him stumbling backwards.
"You little pests are really starting to annoy me, you know," Lady Dragon proclaimed.
"Yeah, well, you're annoying us by not thinking up a new scheme for once in your life!" Sam shot back. "Seriously, get a new gimmick already!"
"And why do you not look mad when you said that?" Melissa wondered.
"Oh, that's quite simple," ViA laughed as he rejoined Lady Dragon's side. "Once we get to the heart of this problem, you'll never be a problem again."
Having said what they needed to, both Lady Dragon and ViA teleported out in a flash of light.
"I'm really starting to get sick of this smug little jerkface," Alex proclaimed once the area was calm again. "Why does he seriously think he's going to beat us when so many other attempts haven't worked?"
RiCO, however, was deep in thought, trying to run a connection through her mind about what ViA had mentioned.
"Is everything okay, RiCO?" iCO asked.
After a few more seconds of the spies discussing possibilities for what ViA was up to, RiCO gasped out loud in shock when she finally put the pieces together.
"What's the matter?" Blaine wondered. "Did you figure something out, RiCO?"
"...yeah, I did, and I can't believe I didn't think of it before," RiCO answered. "ViA said something about the 'heart of the problem'. Combine that with Lady Dragon's incessant need to take over the Datascape, and I think I've figured out what exactly she's up to this time around."
"Well, then don't keep us in suspense, RiCO," May quipped.
RiCO looked back at the spies before telling them.
"They're going after the Deep Log."
Naturally, the spies were a little confused, but iCO now looked appropriately shocked.
"...are you sure, RiCO?" iCO asked. "If they're really going after it, then we might be in a lot of trouble."
"Pardon the cut-in, but what exactly is a 'Deep Log'?" Britney wondered.
"You know how I told you all that there are ten major sectors of the Datascape, right?" RiCO explained. "Well, there's also a much more hidden eleventh sector that's basically the heart of everything in here. Essentially, the Deep Log is the central core of the Datascape, the important cog that keeps everything in the Datascape running smoothly and efficiently."
"Basically, if Lady Dragon corrupts the Deep Log, the whole entire Datascape might be in deep trouble, am I right?" Nick quipped when he realized what that meant.
"Bingo, Nick," RiCO replied. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Lady Dragon figured that out sooner or later, but I think we'd better hurry to the Deep Log and find those two before this gets troublesome."
"Um, how exactly do we do that?" Clover asked. "I don't think any of the teleporters had that as an option, sadly..."
"That's a security measure that Jerry and the tech crew put in when they established the Datascape for the first time, to make it extremely hard for any random viruses or other malicious programs to just wander into the Deep Log," iCO responded. "We can get in there, but we'd need to access it from one of the signal towers."
Thankfully, the Sector F signal tower wasn't too far away from where they were right now, and it only took a quick minute or so jog to get to the tower, where RiCO immediately swiped her hands to open a trio of data screens so she could punch in the necessary codes that would allow them access to the Deep Log.
After a few more seconds, a shimmering portal of neon-blue light opened up near the signal tower.
"Well, all in who's going in," RiCO proclaimed, and the spies followed her and iCO into the portal.
10:54 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Datascape
The Deep Log
"Whoa," Alex gasped when the spies finally got a good look at the Deep Log. The area around them resembled a high-speed tunnel of light, with data streams of all different colors speeding along in the background.
"So, this is the place they're trying to take over?" Haruka quipped.
"Well, then, let's go find them so we can show them the door," Nick proclaimed. "RiCO, lead the way."
"Naturally," RiCO chuckled as she swiped open her data screens to scan for the way to go.
"I'm detecting some kind of anomaly to the southwest, RiCO," iCO stated, checking her own data screens.
"Let me guess, viral activity?" RiCO quipped. "Those two really don't know when to stop being jerks, do they?"
"It seems like it," iCO answered. "We should hurry before they cause any further problems."
"Well, spies, let's take care of business, shall we?" RiCO proclaimed, and the spies all followed her into the Deep Log.
"I don't like the sound of this if they're going for the Deep Log," Mat remarked.
"Believe me, this is 'life or death' for the Datascape," RiCO emphasized. "Think of it as a regular computer that even with five antivirus software programs installed not being enough to protect your computer from freezes and crashes."
"Not a pleasant thought," Nick commented. "We might be chasing criminals left and right for weeks if that happens."
"Believe us," iCO told the others. "With RiCO and I, that WON'T happen!"
"Speaking of... I dread to think what this next anomaly is before us," Clover commented.
"One could perceive this as part of the LGBTQ movement..." Melissa replied.
"Totally," Sam stated. "None of us are against it, for the record."
RiCO and iCO continued to lead the spy team through the Deep Log.
"Do you see ViA anywhere yet?" Dawn wondered.
Nick was also using his psychic radar at the same time.
"No signs yet," RiCO replied.
Nick and iCO were no different.
"We're coming up on the anomaly, though," iCO quipped.
Before long, things around them began to change to where they were now on an old-school "Tunnel of Love" ride at the amusement park.
"I think we just stumbled on it," May replied.
"Talk about cheesy stuff," Nozomi added. "This is OLD!"
"If ViA's trying to throw every element of nature at us, he already went with fire, and there's two more he hasn't used," Mat cringed.
"Don't forget the 'ransacking' of Clover's old mansion," Alex added. "Trying to play on our responsibilities is a total low."
The spies didn't have any chance to enjoy the ride because Haruka noticed something in the water.
"What in the world...?" Britney wondered.
Sam immediately realized what those were... piranhas.
"Don't do anything!" Sam exclaimed. "Those are piranhas!"
"Piranhas... in THIS WATER?!" Dawn chastised.
"Remember, this is the Datascape..." Nick groaned.
"I think this should be easy," May commented and tried using her anchor to smash the killer fish.
Much to her surprise, the piranhas were not fazed by May's anchor after one was successfully smashed. She then heard some smacks on her anchor, and when she tried to pull it up, she started to get pulled in herself.
"MAY!" Bridget screamed and managed to grab her in time.
The rest of the spies joined.
"I honestly didn't see this coming," Nick grunted.
"What kind of whacked-out anomaly is this?!" Blaine chastised.
"Forget that for a bit, we have to get May out of this before she becomes fish food!" Melissa exclaimed.
"I'm checking right now to see if there's a virus behind this," RiCO stated as she opened her data screens to scan the area for any viruses.
While RiCO did that, Nick flew in closer to the tunnel's waterway and slammed his palm into the ground, using Zero Gravity to send all of the piranhas floating helplessly in the air. Nick then flew into the air and picked May up before ferrying her away from the piranhas.
"Oof, that was way too close for comfort," May quipped as Nick set her down, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, Nick."
"As always, May," Nick replied. "Now watch as I make fish sticks out of these literal ankle-biters."
Nick clenched his fists before firing a flurry of psychic bolts at the floating piranhas to push them away until RiCO found the virus that was controlling them inside the waterway and blasted it with an anti-virus beam, deleting the virus and causing the Tunnel of Love and the piranhas to disappear.
"Well, that was definitely an experience," Nozomi stated. "That whole shtick didn't do any damage to the Deep Log, did it, RiCO?"
"Not as far as I can tell," RiCO answered after doing a quick sweep of the area. "That was just something Lady Dragon put in our way to distract us."
"Then we'd better get moving and find those two before they cause any actual damage," Alex responded.
"I think I'm detecting something just up ahead," iCO noted after checking her own data screens. "And I think it's ViA!"
"I'll handle this one, then," Bridget proclaimed as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Once Bridget had transformed, she sped off in the direction that iCO had indicated, eventually running head-first into ViA just as he was attempting to mess with one of the nearby control panels.
"So sorry, virus boy, but your connection has been terminated!" Bridget exclaimed as she equipped a Metal Masher Boxing Glove and punched ViA in the face with it, sending him flying backwards.
"I'd workshop some better insults if I were you, little miss speed demon," ViA laughed as he picked himself up and drew his beam saber.
"And where, pray tell, is your designer?" Mat taunted as the rest of the spies joined the fray.
"Oh, she's off figuring out a way to twist this place to her advantage," ViA quipped. "She sent me to play with you for a while so you don't interrupt her work."
"Oh, you wanna play?" RiCO shot back, her hangs glowing a bright blue. "Then let's freakin' play!"
ViA obliged, rushing forward to strike at RiCO only for her to backflip out of the way, leaving ViA wide open so that Henya could blast him backwards with a flare of light from her Wondercube.
"Okay, now you're definitely starting to get on my nerves, little cube girl," ViA proclaimed as he moved to attack Henya, only for Henya to counter each saber slash with a swing from her Wondercube.
"That's your mistake for thinking I can't do anything without my cube," Henya chuckled as she ducked down to leg sweep ViA off of his feet before swiping her Wondercube upwards to knock him backwards.
"Hey, Nick, you thinking what I am?" Bridget asked as she started running towards Nick.
"Oh, you'd better believe it," Nick responded as he extended his hand so that Bridget could take it, the two of them dashing towards ViA. "Let's give this digital demon a taste of the Purple Comet Attack!"
For good measure, while ViA was recovering his stance, RiCO hit him with a Visual Distortion Field to keep him frozen in place.
This gave Nick and Bridget the chance to bum-rush ViA, using their boosted speed to send ViA into the air with their joined arms, causing him to fly into the air flipping.
Nick and Bridget let go of each other so they could go on the offensive, Nick landing a lifting flying kick to send ViA higher into the air, while Bridget leapfrogged off of Nick's shoulders and snap-kicked ViA back down to the ground.
Before ViA could even bounce, Nick and Bridget were on him again, lashing out to hit him with multiple super-fast strikes before sending ViA back into the air with dual flying kicks.
"Ready, Nick?" Bridget exclaimed.
"Let's stomp 'em!" Nick shouted.
With that, Nick and Bridget charged, attacking ViA nonstop from multiple angles, making it look like he was being pinballed around in the air.
For the finale, Nick and Bridget both attacked ViA in perfect sync, resembling a much faster version of Nick and Haruka's Accel Dance maneuver, before charging through ViA and sending him careening into the ground.
"How'd that feel, you little punk?" Nick taunted once he and Bridget were back on the ground.
"Oh, like I'd be fazed after something like that," ViA quipped after picking himself up. "And look at that, you fell for it again!"
Before the spies could ask what they'd fallen for, data portals opened up underneath Nozomi, Blaine, and Bridget. Though Bridget was able to speed away safely thanks to Sonic Mode, Nozomi and Blaine weren't so lucky and were dropped into the portals.
"You have five seconds to tell us what you did with them," Clover growled as she aimed an Electromagnetic Curling Iron towards ViA.
"So sorry, but I have better things to be doing with my time," ViA laughed as he teleported away.
"It's like he's trying to deliberately get under our skin," Haruka sighed. "Sadly a common tactic in our rogues' gallery."
"I'm already searching for them," RiCO commented as she opened a tracker program to find their missing friends. "It looks like their signals are being scrambled, but I can say for sure that they're both still here in the Deep Log."
"Then let's get going and find them!" Henya exclaimed as the spies all followed RiCO and iCO further ahead into the Deep Log, hoping to find Nozomi and Blaine before anything could happen.
RiCO led the way around the Deep Log to sniff out Nozomi and Blaine.
"Have you been able to grasp the situation with ViA, iCO?" Mat wondered.
"I am close to making peace with the fact that ViA is a brother," iCO replied. "But it's not official until ViA sees the truth... if possible."
"And we'll see to it ViA does," RiCO stated.
Much to the spies' surprise, she looked around and diverted the direction multiple times.
"Newsflash, RiCO," Clover chastised. "We're going in circles now..."
"I'm trying, Clover," RiCO emphasized. "But ViA is throwing more monkey wrenches every chance he gets! I'm fortunate to be keeping up with ViA!"
"Isn't there any way to intercept the next change of direction?" Haruka wondered.
"I wish I could say more," RiCO remarked. "But every time I think I have it covered, ViA sends me back to square one."
"And I have to help RiCO keep up unfortunately," iCO added.
"ViA's this quick?!" Melissa wondered in shock.
"I'm afraid so," RiCO replied.
"Even I can't spare five seconds to try and block his next direction..." iCO added.
"How come?" Nick wondered.
"Because ViA knows how to multi-task – tenfold, mind you!" iCO answered.
"Isn't there something we could do?" May wondered.
"There could be..." iCO deduced.
"Well, we should try," Britney remarked. "What other choice do we have, after all?"
"Okay, I'm sold," Sam quipped.
"All right, here's my idea," iCO stated. "I want two of you to use your Cyber Jacker Sunglasses alongside me and RiCO. That way, it'll be easier to keep ViA occupied and, thus, allow us to more effectively counter whatever he's planning."
"Wow, we haven't used those golden oldies in a while," Clover quipped.
"Mat and I can take care of that for you," Sam proclaimed as she and Mat equipped their own pair of Cyber Jacker Sunglasses.
"You'll do the hard work, then?" Nick wondered.
"Totally, just leave that stuff to us," RiCO replied.
"Just follow our lead, you two," iCO stated as she and RiCO opened their data screens and got to work, with Sam and Mat using the sunglasses to help out, searching for a weak point in whatever ViA was doing to the Deep Log.
"I hope it worked," Melissa remarked.
Before long, a part of the Deep Log opened up, and revealed where Nozomi and Blaine were being held hostage.
"That did it!" Haruka exclaimed.
She darted over to where they were, but Nick used his psychic hold to get Haruka to stop.
"I sense something!" Nick told Haruka.
"He's right!" Nozomi shouted. "You've walked into a trap!"
"What?!" Alex remarked.
"And you fell for it hook, line, and sucker!" ViA cackled as he made his appearance and snapped his fingers to open up a strange whirlpool of data underneath the captive Nozomi and Blaine before aiming his beam saber towards them. "Take one more step and I will cut that rope down and de-rez the both of them."
ViA then glanced Nick's way, grinning wickedly. "And don't even think of trying your stupid little time freezing trick, boy," ViA laughed, catching Nick off guard. "My creator did tell me that you can do that, and I also know that you need at least twenty seconds to charge one up."
"Damn it all, they're learning," Nick growled.
"So, you should have figured out that you're really in no position to be making any of your ridiculous claims that you're going to beat me like you always do," ViA chuckled.
"And where, pray tell, is your creator right now?" Mat wondered. "You didn't exactly answer that question for us last time."
"I suppose I could tell you, since it won't really mean much soon enough," ViA quipped. "Now that we've infiltrated the Deep Log, Lady Dragon is heading for its core to... well, I don't think you need a reminder of what she plans to do with that."
"Come on, ViA, you don't have to do this, you know," iCO proclaimed, hoping that she could get through to ViA before it was too late. "That's what I was originally created to do, but I managed to turn against that monster thanks to the help of my friends. Why can't you do the same thing?"
In response, ViA just laughed.
"Sorry, but... was that supposed to be emotional?" ViA taunted. "I'll admit, I may have thoughts and feelings of my own, like you, but where I'm not like you is in our goals. I'm not being forced to do anything. I'm choosing to destroy this wretched digital world of my own free will. Sorry to say that you won't be pulling the same trick you did before."
"So... there's nothing I can say to convince you, huh?" iCO sighed.
"Nope," ViA quipped. "So you can just go ahead and can whatever hokey speeches you already had planned, because it's not going to work any longer."
iCO sighed again, took a step forward...
"Command Line: Haste Protocol!"
...and lunged forward, her body surrounded by a shimmering white light as she attacked ViA, pinballing off of him from multiple angles and making it look like ViA was being assaulted by multiple streaks of shimmering silver light from many different angles.
Finally, iCO leaped to above ViA and dove downwards, slamming her palms into ViA's chest and smashing the supervirus into the ground with an outward explosion of silver light.
"Well, you can't say that I didn't try, right?" iCO admitted.
"...and what did I say about not making a single move, or I'd..." ViA laughed, turning towards his captives...
...only to find that they weren't there.
"Surprise, asshole!" Nozomi exclaimed as she jumped onto her hands and started spinning around with her feet extended, landing multiple hits on ViA before Blaine tagged in and leg sweeped ViA off of his feet.
"Henya freed us while you were busy monologuing," Blaine taunted. "You were so busy lording your supposed advantage that you forgot about rules for villains number forty-nine."
"...so, that's the way you're going to play, huh?" ViA growled, his beam saber turning from green to a dark purple and his eyes flashing dangerously. "Very well, then, I'm through playing around with you."
("Last Strike" by Lyn Inaizumi plays)
ViA twirled his saber around before charging. "We end this now, spies!" ViA shouted.
Nick raised his hand to fire a Final Shine Attack, only for ViA to actually slash through the beam and swing his saber rapidly, sending waves of cutting light towards the spies.
Henya jumped forward to absorb the energy blades into her Wondercube before swinging it down to send the blades right back at ViA.
"How'd you like those apples?!" Henya taunted.
"How'd you like me to cut you open like an apple, you punk?!" ViA proclaimed as she dashed towards Henya, only for May to cut in and swing her anchor hard enough to clock ViA across the face and send him flying backwards.
"Seriously, get a new line for once," May retorted. "When you start using puns, that usually means you're starting to lose your confidence."
"So help me, you'll learn to shut your mouth!" ViA shouted as he jumped over another anchor swing before lunging downwards to slash the anchor in half, its pieces falling to the ground and collapsing into pixels of light. "Yeah, can't fight me without your weapon, can you?"
RiCO quickly activated a materialization program to conjure another anchor right into May's hands.
"First off, how quickly you forget that what you just destroyed wasn't my real anchor," May taunted. "Second, I don't need my anchor to lay a smackdown. It just helps with smart-aleck viruses who don't know how to keep their mouths shut!"
May didn't give ViA a chance to counter that statement, slipping in close and knocking him around with multiple anchor swings, knowing she didn't have to hold anything back this time.
While May was keeping ViA busy, Nick maneuvered behind him and blasted him in the back with a Final Shine Attack, and this allowed RiCO to finally slip through a crack in ViA's defenses.
"All right, you masked weirdo, let's see if this shuts you up!" RiCO exclaimed, orbs of aquatic-blue light spiraling around her before they all flew forward to strike at ViA's exposed flank, causing him to briefly fall to his knees and actually expose his viral core.
However, ViA quickly got back to his feet, the weak spot healing itself quickly as he went back on the offensive.
"Looks like we'll need more pressure if we want RiCO to have a clear shot at finishing this guy off," Alex noted.
"I'm all for dealing some of that pressure," Clover chuckled. "And I think I know the best way to do that."
"Love the way you think, Clover," Nick proclaimed. "Let's put 'em together!"
"Like I'd really let you!" ViA bellowed, only to find himself restrained by chains of silver data that sprung up from the ground and clamped down on his limbs.
"Eyes on me, you," iCO taunted, knowing she and RiCO needed to keep ViA busy while the spies put the Vortex Blaster together.
Sam started first, producing an Electromagnetic Curling Iron and tossing it to Nick. Alex followed up with a Laser Lipstick and a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer. Nick connected the Laser Lipstick right above the barrel of the Electromagnetic Curling Iron, and the Cyclone Blast Hairdryer on top of the ECM, just behind the control panel. Clover finished by throwing Nick a Helicopter Hand Fan and a pair of wings from a spare Jetpack Backpack. Nick attached the Helicopter Hand Fan to the underside of the ECM's barrel, then placed the wings on either side of the ECM.
The combination weapon now complete, Sam, Alex, and Clover joined Nick to hold the weapon, Sam and Alex holding the jetpack wings, Clover grasping the side handle and Nick holding the main handle, his finger on the firing trigger.
"That never gets old," Henya giggled.
"Yeah, a classic never really goes out of style," Alex chuckled. "But we need to hit ViA while iCO has him restrained!"
"Say goodnight, you punk!" Nick shouted. "You girls ready?!"
"FIRE!" the four of them shouted together as Nick pulled the firing trigger.
The blades of the Helicopter Hand Fan extended outward and started spinning rapidly. Nick pulled the trigger again, and the Electromagnetic Curling Iron, the Laser Lipstick, and the Cyclone Blast Hairdryer all fired their payload into the spinning blades. Two seconds later, the Vortex Blaster unleashed a massive four-way blast consisting of a large electromagnetic beam surrounded by a spiraling wind blast and a barrage of laser bolts.
The blast screamed through the "air" of the Deep Log and collided with ViA just as RiCO and iCO retreated to a safe distance, the blast exploding outwards in glorious fashion and leaving ViA weakened, his viral core once again exposed.
"That should be the chance you need, RiCO!" Nick shouted. "Go ahead and delete this creep-a-zoid!"
"I'd be delighted," RiCO responded, waving her hand to open three golden data screens around her.
However, before she could get started, a loud scream caught her attention. RiCO turned around just in time to see iCO captured by rings of dark blue light and ViA walking up to her.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" RiCO stated. "You know kidnapping her isn't going to help you when I'm right here!"
ViA glared at RiCO in a way that actually unnerved her, and that was already hard to do.
"Oh, I'm not kidnapping her," ViA chuckled. "I'm merely... how should I put this... doing what I, what we were programmed to do all along."
Before anyone could think of a way to counter this, ViA grabbed iCO by the face and they were both surrounded by a bright flash of light.
When the light cleared away, iCO was gone, but ViA had transformed, gaining bulkier armor with rectangular shoulder pads and golden highlights around his legs and arms, his codpiece becoming a belt, pink lines running along his body, and a red gem appearing on his chest. Most notably, his helmet had disappeared to reveal his true face and his ponytail came undone, and two pink energy wings had sprouted from his back.
"W-What the hell?!" Melissa gasped.
"Just what the hell did you do to iCO?!" RiCO shouted.
"Simple," ViA proclaimed. "I activated my trump card. Since I was created from iCO's source code, I simply used Lady Dragon's technology and reconfigured her so I could rejoin her code with my own and achieve my true form. And look at that, it worked like a charm!"
"You're about five seconds from being subjected to a brutal beatdown if you don't let iCO out of your grimy clutches this instant," Nick growled, aiming towards ViA.
"Sorry, but that's not happening," ViA retorted. "Our merge is permanent now, and RiCO knows it. So, if you ever want to stop me, you know what you have to do. I'll be waiting."
With that, ViA sped away, leaving the spies to process that new information.
"Wait, so you're telling me that... if we destroy ViA, then iCO's going to be destroyed, too?" Alex gasped.
"That seems like it," Mat stated. "Is there any way we might be able to separate them, RiCO?"
RiCO glanced up to the "sky" of the Deep Log, remembering something iCO had said to her when she'd confirmed that iCO and ViA were made from the same source code.
"If he tries to recombine our codes again, and you can't find a way to separate us..."
"...iCO, you're seriously not suggesting what I think you are, are you?"
"It might be the only way. Promise me, RiCO."
"...well, I did learn the importance of keeping promises from someone special to both of us. ...okay, but only if there's no other way."
RiCO glanced down at a data screen she'd opened, knowing that this was the only way.
"Jerry, can you read me?" RiCO asked, catching the spies' attention.
"What is it, RiCO?" Jerry responded, his face appearing on the screen.
"Is the thing I requested ready to go?" RiCO wondered.
"Yes, it is, but..." Jerry answered, only to realize why exactly RiCO was asking about it. "I assume there is no other recourse?"
"Nailed it, boss man," RiCO sighed.
"I'm sending it over right away," Jerry stated.
RiCO nodded and closed the data screen. About ten seconds later, a bright sphere of blue light appeared near RiCO, and she took the light and absorbed it into her body.
As the program within took effect, RiCO raised her hands to the sky.
"Wait, RiCO, what's going on?" Nick wondered.
"DiVE Armor, Activate!" RiCO shouted, her voice echoing as she was swallowed up by an explosion of blue light.
When the light died down, RiCO had also transformed much like ViA, her armor becoming much more angular and slightly bulkier with multiple golden adornments across each part of it, a white-and-gold headband in place of her hair tie, and two neon-blue butterfly wings made of data sprouting from her back. A gleaming beam saber made of neon-blue energy materialized in her right hand.
"Whoa," May chuckled. "Definitely lovin' the new upgrade, RiCO."
"Thanks," RiCO giggled. "It's called a DiVE Armor, something Jerry and the tech boys cooked up for me in case I ever needed an edge in a fight. The DiVE Armor basically ups all of my powers and attributes by at least three-fold."
"Sounds like it's the perfect edge we're gonna need to take down ViA," Blaine proclaimed.
Nick was the first to notice how conflicted RiCO looked, a marked change from her usual bubbly and upbeat personality.
"...about that," RiCO sighed as she waved her hand, a data portal opening behind the spies. Before they could question what was happening, RiCO thrust her hand forward and unleashed a pulse wave that blasted all of the spies into the portal, which closed as soon as they were through.
"This one's my problem to deal with," RiCO stated to nobody in particular. "And I can't put you all through that."
Despite the fact that she could hear the spies' cries and shouts of disbelief from one of her data screens (given she'd sent them all back to the real world), RiCO steeled her resolve and worked up every ounce of courage she could muster before flying off to confront ViA and Lady Dragon, her DiVE Armor's wings actually allowing her to glide much faster than she could move by running.
After all, if she didn't take care of ViA soon, there wouldn't be a Datascape left to defend.
To be concluded...
Next time...
Sam: Jerry, let us back in! We have to get back in there and help her!
Jerry: I wish I could, Sam, but RiCO has locked all entryways into the Datascape, and I suspect that she won't open them back up until she is finished.
Mat: Why the heck would she do something like that, though? We're friends, aren't we?
Nick: Wait, remember what ViA said when he 'merged' with iCO? He said something about the merge being permanent. Maybe...
Alex: Hold on, you don't think she's actually going to...
May: Maybe that's why she sent us out of the Datascape. She feels like this is something she's gotta do herself, even if... even if she may not want to do it.
Bridget: I just hope she's going to be all right in there. Even if she's got that fancy new armor, who knows what ViA's got up his sleeve in his own new form?
Haruka: Looks like all we can do at this point is watch and hope she makes it out all right.
Haruka: You'd better come back to us, RiCO. You'd better...
RiCO: Welp, readers, I've got a job to do, so please come back for the finale, next time on the final act of Totally Spies: Irate Internet, "Terminate Program"! Oof, I'm gonna be a wreck after filming this is over. I get too emotional in scenes like this...
Nick: Well, we've got some time before we actually have to film it, so how about we head to the cafeteria? They have those chocolate glazed donuts you really love.
RiCO: Ooh, gimme.