"El Scovillain Strikes!"
Anne came downstairs one morning to breakfast, and saw her mother angrily talking on the phone.
"What do you mean the pepper delivery never made it?" she spoke in Thai. "I ordered them nearly a week ago, and we need them for our restaurant!" She hung up.
"Everything okay, mom?" Anne asked.
"No." Mrs. Boonchuy said. "The hot peppers for the restaurant never got delivered, and you know how important spice is to our cuisine."
"I do." Anne said, remembering the times she tried it.
"It's not just our restaurant." Mr. Boonchy added. "The paper says chili peppers all over LA are disappearing, and no one can figure out why."
Anne thought maybe that some new villain could be behind it, but she kept it to herself until she got to school.
"Does anyone know about the pepper shortage?" she told her friends.
"I hear that some guy who calls himself El Scovillain is responsible for the thefts." Twig said. "His name might be good for some creature in a video game."
"What could he want all those chilies for?" Haddie wondered.
"Not sure, but we better keep a look out for any signs of trouble." Sasha said. "We may need to power up."
Meanwhile at Terri's apartment, the animals were discussing about their new life in our world.
"It's so strange that we're in a world inhabited by a species that doesn't exist in our own." Bryan said.
"And stranger still, our own species exist here, but they don't have any sentience at all." Daniel added.
"I don't like how they imprison our kind in these places they call zoos. It isn't right." Jordan added.
"But Terri said we can't try to free them, or we'll get into really big trouble." Daniel reminded him. "All we can do is just learn to accept the differences between our worlds."
"You're right." Jordan replied. "Still, I am glad that the humans are accepting us as equals instead of like monsters."
"Maybe it's because of all the heroic deeds we've been doing." Bryan said. "I actually like being a hero."
"Me too." Daniel said. "I've read that humans see lions as noble creatures."
"But we still have duties as crime fighters." Jordan said. "I've read the paper, and there are reports of chili peppers being stolen all over the city."
"Why would anybody do that?" Bryan wondered. Then a news broadcast came on the TV.
"We're live downtown where a pepper-masked criminal is spraying innocent people." the reporter said. Knowing this was trouble, the boys raced out of the apartment to the warehouse.
Anne and her friends were already there. "I see you heard the news." Marcy said.
"We did, and that guy must be stopped before he causes more trouble." Daniel replied. "Let's go." But before they could power up, Ally and Jess stopped them.
"We gotta show you the things you'll need for this mission." Jess said. She pulled out three superhero costumes made for the animals. They put them on.
"This feels great," Jordan said. "and thanks for adding tail holes."
"No prob." Ally said. "And here are your helmets. They'll keep your eyes from getting sprayed. Plus you're gonna need these." She showed them a quartet of objects that resembled water shooters.
"Why is there milk in them?" Bryan asked.
"Because milk is the perfect counter to capsaicin." Jordan said. "I know, I'm used to spice."
"Alright, now we can go!" Sasha said. They powered up, and set off.
Downtown, blinded people tried to run for cover as the criminal continued his assault.
"Tremble before me, you fools!" he laughed. "No one can extinguish the fuego of El Scovillain!"
"Except us!" said a voice. It was Anne. El Scovillain turned and saw the heroes for the first time.
"So, you must be Calamity Trinity and Preda-Force 3, I assume. I heard about your heroic deeds over the news, but now you have a real hot enemy to deal with!" He held up his sprayers and fired.
A cloud of capsaicin came towards the group, but the girls put up a shield to block it.
"Help, we can't see!" a victim begged.
"You guys help the populace, we'll try to get those sprayers away!" Jordan told Calamity Trinity.
The girls flew over the area, spraying milk onto the citizens, and relieving their pain. Even those who were lactose intolerant were grateful.
Daniel ran towards El Scovillain and pounced on him. "Why are you doing this, you sicko?!" he snarled.
"Because no one would eat the food in my restaurant, complaining it's too spicy. I was highly offended, so I decided to show them some real spice. I began breeding different kinds of chilies together, increasing their Scoville ratings through the roof!" the villain said. "If they can't take the heat, then I'll make them suffer!"
"You have no right to do this!" Bryan grabbed one his sprayers and threw it over the horizon.
"Bad move, lobo." El Scovillain said. He opened up Bryan's helmet, and stuck the nozzle of the other sprayer in it.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Bryan screamed in pain. "IT STINGS MY EYES!"
Jordan raced over and gave his friend some milk to cool him down. "You are gonna pay for that!" The angry fox used his telekinesis to throw a mailbox at El Scovillain. He was thrown back into a lamppost.
"Surrender, you fiend!" Marcy ordered. To make her point clear, she pointed her shooter at him.
"AY! Don't shoot! Leche is my weakness!" he begged.
"We won't, if you promise to turn yourself in." Anne said.
"I promise." El Scovillain got up, but he threw a capsaicin cloud into the trio's faces! "SYKE!" he laughed and ran off.
Daniel ran over to Calamity Trinity and sprayed milk to cure them. "You alright?"
"NO! We got pepper sprayed by that Mexican moron!" Sasha yelled.
"And he's getting away!" Anne said, rubbing her eyes.
"How can we stop him?" Bryan asked, his eyes still watering a bit.
"He said his weakness is milk," Anne thought, "but we're all out of ammo."
"We need more. Where's the nearest store?" Daniel asked.
Marcy got an idea. "We don't need a store." She made the trio fly off. Then Jordan's keen sense of smell picked up a scent.
"He's going towards a playground!" he said. "We can't let him spray the children!" They knew that wasn't going to be good, and raced towards the rescue.
The kids were enjoying playing, when El Scovillain arrived. "Hola, ninos." he sneered.
"Who are you?" a boy asked.
"You know that onions can make you cry, right?" the criminal smiled. "Well, here's something worse!" He held up his sprayers, ready to fire, when a loud roar shook the playground.
"It's Preda-Force 3!" the boy said. Bryan, running on all fours, leapt onto El Scovillain, and punched his face!
"That's for spraying me!" he yelled. "No one sprays innocent children on our watch!"
Daniel herded the kids to safety, and turned to El Scovillain. He pulled out a sword, and using it, slashed the hoses to the sprayers.
"You fool! I'll destroy you!" But before he could make a move, Calamity Trinity appeared, carrying a cow over themselves.
"What's with the cow?" a boy asked.
"Hey, hot-shot!" Marcy called. "Your crime wave is E-I-E-I-Over!"
"Nice one, Mar-Mar!" Anne grinned. The trio squeezed the cow's udder. Milk streamed out right into El Scovillain's face.
He couldn't avoid the blast, and his sprayers malfunctioned. "Okay, you win." he groaned.
Soon the police arrived and put the criminal in cuffs. "Thanks for apprehending him." one officer said.
"We found his hideout, and recovered all the stolen peppers." another said. "He's going away for a long time."
"This isn't over!" El Scovillain yelled as he taken away. "I will get you next time!"
"Yeah, in 5 to 10 years!" Jordan said.
"Our first arrest! What an accomplishment!" Daniel said.
"Come on, guys! Let's go to my parents' restaurant to celebrate!" Anne said.
"Hopefully they won't give us anything too hot." Bryan said.
"Says you! Bring it on!" Jordan smiled eagerly.
"Oh you!" the others laughed.