Unknown Time – Location Unknown
Nick glanced around in abject horror, having quickly realized the gravity of his current situation.
He was currently floating helplessly within a vast expanse of space with purple coloration and thousands of crystal-like shards floating within it, a massive black void at the very bottom of this place, best described as "an eternity of darkness". Five multi-colored hexagonal shapes (colored red, green, blue, tallow, and purple in that order) were dotted all around this void, no doubt gateways to...
...he honestly wasn't even sure anymore. Not after whatever had just happened.
All he had meant to do was keep that artifact out of his hands.
He never would have thought it would cause something like this.
"Where is everyone?" Nick wondered, his voice echoing throughout the void. "Don't tell me they got taken out by that blast, too..."
Nick let his psychic aura flare to life around him before he started flying through the void, hoping to find something, anything that was recognizable to him.
Occasionally having to shoot a few random crystal formations out of the way, Nick continued to "swim" through this mysterious space in search of someone he knew...
...until he found her.
"W-Wait, Alex?" Nick gasped. Indeed, Alex was standing precariously on one of the nearby crystal formations. "Alex! Oh, thank everything that you're all right."
Mysteriously, Alex said nothing to him.
"Is... is everything okay, Alex?" Nick asked. "Look, I really don't think it's safe here. We really need to find our way back home, and..."
"...home?" Alex replied, in a soft and annoyed tone. "Home? Don't you see what just happened, Nick?!"
Alex gestured towards the void around them, as well as the strange, multi-colored gateways.
"In case you still don't get it yet, let me spell it out," Alex growled. "That place we called 'home' doesn't exist anymore..."
Much to Nick's surprise, Alex leaped off of the crystal and lunged forward to actually attack him.
"...because of YOU!"
(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies: The New Adventures
Episode 101: Dreamy Revelator
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: February 23rd, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and thirty-seventh co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and one of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. One day, during a concert at The Groove, the singer, Elphelt Valentine of the "Valentine Sisters", a mixture pop rock/heavy metal band, suddenly declares her undying love for Nick, even saying they're going to get married. Naturally, this confuses the spies, since they've never met the Valentine Sisters before today, but they quickly realize that their old foe Phil Jenkins is behind this, making Elphelt act strangely to keep the spies busy while he carries out his own plan. Can the spies snap Elphelt back to her senses, possibly with the help of her older sister, and can they save the music and put an end to Phil's latest hypnotic plot?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, well, well... it's the start of our 9th season of Totally Spies: The New Adventures, and we hope you're still being entertained. We just do these for the heck of it, and considering we fell out of contact for as long as we did, I forgot how fun this was. There's no ending in sight for us for the time being. We hope you enjoyed our S8 finale and our movie, too, because this S9 opener is going to be very epic. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: With our seventh movie all wrapped up, we're off and running with season nine of Totally Spies: The New Adventures! I'm stoked for more, especially considering that we'll be getting season seven of the OG Totally Spies sometime this year. But onto the premiere, we're bringing back the very first villain seen on the original show, along with yet another Guilty Gear character to adapt (yes, I'm a fan, could you tell?). But I won't spoil it all here, so let's sing the ballad of love and kick off season nine! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
Act 1: Empty Hearts and Broken Dreams
1:14 P.M. – Beverly Hills
The Groove
"Wow, the Groove is as lively as ever," Alex chuckled as the spies all headed to The Groove for their typical weekly shopping trip, happy to get back to some semblance of normalcy after all of the craziness that had gone down at the Society.
"Hey, there's a band up there," Melissa stated. There appeared to be a concert venue set up outside the main lobby, and a band seemed to be playing a mixture of pop rock and heavy metal.
"You're the main music buff of all of us, May," Mat quipped. "Do you know who's playing up there?"
"It looks like they're called... the 'Valentine Sisters'," May replied, pulling out her phone to check the internet for details about the band. "According to this article, the Valentine Sisters are actual sisters, Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine, whose greatest claim to fame in the music scene is creating songs that mix up both pop rock and heavy metal."
"That's a pretty interesting combination, if I may say so myself," Nick chuckled.
Once the current song was over, the Valentine sisters thanked the crowd and prepared for their next song.
As the spies moved closer to get a better look, though, something strange happened.
The younger sister, Elphelt, noticed Nick and jumped down from the stage. Elphelt appeared to be about nineteen years old, with light grey dyed hair, green eyes, and wearing a white sleeveless dress with a pink ruffled underskirt and black shorts, a pink leather jacket and thigh high boots, silver spikes on her boots, a pink spiked collar, wrist cuffs, and headband, with copper spikes down the center of her dress, black biker gloves and a clover zipper pull on her jacket.
Nick tensed up slightly, wondering why this was suddenly giving him strange vibes.
"Um... can I help you, miss?" Nick asked.
As swift as a lightning flash, Elphelt lunged forward to hug Nick tightly, and her next words shocked everybody, including the spies and the crowd that had come to see the concert.
"YAY! My future husband came to see me perform!"
Naturally, most of the crowd started giving Nick suspicious glances, even when he was clearly as confused as the rest of them.
"U-Um... what, exactly, do you mean by that?" Nick wondered, hoping he could defuse this situation before the crowd decided to tear him apart for whatever reason.
"I knew you'd find your way back to me," Elphelt giggled. "Ah, that's just the course of true love!"
Realizing that he was about to enter dangerous territory, Nick decided to improvise and see if that could get him out of harm's way.
"How about I come see you after the concert's over?" Nick quipped. "I'm sure you've got a lot of fans to perform for, right?"
"Oh, yeah!" Elphelt gasped. "I came here to perform, after all!"
Elphelt quickly rushed back onto the stage, which allowed Nick to rejoin the spies. As he did so, Nick realized he'd picked up some troubling thoughts from Elphelt, which usually meant trouble for them.
"So, um... what the heck was that all about?" Haruka wondered.
"I have absolutely no freakin' clue, but I picked up some odd thoughts in Elphelt's mind that didn't really click with her personality," Nick quipped.
"That probably means she's being mind-controlled by someone," Sam stated.
"And who do we know that likes to hypnotize people with music?" Clover quipped.
"That sounds like a recipe for trouble, so that means we need to get to W.O.O.H.P. on the double," May proclaimed.
Nothing more needed to be said as the thirteen spies all beat feet for W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters, just missing Elphelt's older sister staring in a concerned manner in the direction they'd taken off.
1:49 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"Oh, good, you're right on time," RiCO chuckled as the spies all entered Jerry's office, changing into their spy suits on their way in.
"Let me guess, Phil Jenkins is on the loose?" Clover quipped.
"You guessed correctly," Jerry responded. "Did you run into him already?"
"Not necessarily," Alex answered. "There was a concert going on at The Groove, and suddenly, the lead singer of that group just starts fawning over Nick, even saying that they were going to get married!"
"I managed to shake her off, but before we got away, I picked up some strange subliminal messages in her mind," Nick stated. "We kinda suspected Phil right after that, given how it does match that guy's M.O."
"I'm more curious as to what the Valentine Sisters have to do with his latest scheme," Mat quipped.
"I guess that's what we're going to find out," Bridget replied.
"Our sensors recently picked up Phil's signal somewhere in Rodeo Drive," RiCO proclaimed. "That'd be the most likely place he'll be skulking around."
"All right, then, everyone, let's take down a washed-up musician!" May quipped as the spies all set out for Rodeo Drive.
"Seems really odd that Elphelt would already know Nick, brainwashed or not," Mat commented.
Everybody agreed there.
"I was just as surprised as you, bro," Nick stated to Mat.
2:18 P.M. – Rodeo Drive
"Well, we're here," Clover remarked. "Wish we were here for shopping purposes, though..."
"That's so like you, Clover," Alex chuckled.
"But no disagreements," Sam added since they were all shoppers at heart.
"Anyway, where's that musical washout?" May wondered.
Nick used his psychic radar to try and sniff out Jenkins.
"I sense him to the east," Nick told the others as he led the way to where Phil Jenkins was hiding.
"You picking anything else up, Nick?" Blaine wondered.
"Not yet," Nick stated, sounding surprised that Phil Jenkins hadn't set any booby traps of sorts.
"I think it's a good thing he's not messing with us for a change," Bridget commented.
"For now..." Haruka reminded.
It was another several more minutes before the spies finally caught sight of Phil Jenkins.
"There's the rat!" Clover exclaimed.
"He made it too easy," Sam remarked. "Be on your guards, spies!"
"Duly noted, Sam," Britney stated.
Phil sneered however.
"You better be on your toes if you want to get out of this alive..." Phil quipped.
Before long, the spies were surrounded by others who were hypnotized by the Valentine Sisters' music tracks.
"Looks like this could get a little hairy..." Nozomi commented.
"But nothing we can't handle," Melissa added.
Two members of the 'mob' attempted to jump on Melissa, but Nick raised his hand to telekinetically toss them backwards, while both Sam and Alex leg sweeped another pair off their feet.
Bridget easily ducked another pair's flying tackle before barging forward to shoulder tackle them away.
Eventually, Nick was able to snatch up all six hypnotized fans and throw out a psychic pulse to disrupt their brainwashing, allowing Mat to herd them away from the danger zone.
"Come on, Phil, we've been over this how many times now?" Nick taunted as he aimed his glowing right hand towards Phil. "You're not gonna win this one."
"Well, maybe I'll just need to use my secret weapon," Phil chuckled.
"There's no way you're springing your trump card on us already," Nozomi retorted.
"Oh, this is only one of my trump cards," Phil answered.
("We Got the Beat" by The GoGo's plays)
Before long, the spies heard something odd and saw someone navigating through the mob like a gopher digging through the ground.
"What the heck is that?!" Dawn chastised.
"HEY, HUBBY!" Elphelt shouted.
Nick was completely flabbergasted by this.
"Great... now what?" Nick groaned.
"I'll leave you to deal with that," Phil laughed. "Have fun."
Nick attempted to chase after Phil, only for Elphelt to fling herself towards Nick, forcing him to duck to avoid her. Unfortunately, this allowed Phil to make his escape.
"Okay, this definitely isn't what I expected to happen," Mat noted.
"Um, I'm the one with the problem here, Mat!" Nick exclaimed as he continued to dodge Elphelt's wild jumps towards him.
"Aw, honey, you don't have to play hard to get, you know," Elphelt giggled. "I'm just making sure to connect the strings that'll tie us together!"
"Lady, you're not making any sense!" Nick shouted as he kept dodging again and again, not wanting to do anything that would get Elphelt hurt in the process. "Do I need to remind you that my fiancée, as in the woman I already proposed to, is right there?!"
"You already look like you have multiple lovely ladies in your life," Elphelt replied. "What's one more, am I right?"
"Okay, this is starting to get out of hand," Alex stated. "Can someone please get a hold of her so Nick can snap her out of it?"
"I'm trying, but she's moving too fast for me to get a solid grip on her!" Haruka exclaimed.
"You need only call my name," Bridget teased as she brought out her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Elphelt couldn't help but gasp in awe as Bridget transformed into Sonic Mode before rushing her down, running circles around Elphelt to keep her in her spot so the other spies could think of a plan.
Before Bridget could keep running, though, a laser blast shot through the air and struck the ground in front of her, forcing her to jump away.
"Okay, that was low," Sam growled when she noticed that Phil had returned.
"When have I ever cared about what's fair?" Phil chuckled. "I'm a mass-hypnotizing supervillain, after all."
"Wow, absolutely no shame in admitting that, huh?" Mat taunted.
"Then how about you prepare to get your clock cleaned?!" Bridget exclaimed as she lunged towards Phil, equipping a Metal Masher Boxing Glove to her hand so she could punch the ground near Phil with it. This expelled the kinetic energy she'd gathered to keep Elphelt in place as an emerald-green shockwave that blasted Phil away.
"Now you'd better spill, Phil," Nick growled. "Exactly what does Elphelt have to do with your schemes?!"
"Like I'd be stupid enough to tell you that," Phil laughed. "And besides, don't you have something else to deal with at the moment?"
Almost as if on cue, Elphelt came leaping towards Nick, and this allowed Phil to once again make his escape while the spies were busy dealing with that.
Thankfully, Elphelt seemed to be distracted by a bell in the distance, no doubt the downtown clock tower announcing the start of the hour.
"Ooh, that bell reminds me of something I sung in my new album," Elphelt giggled. "It's a song about two old lovers reuniting in the afterlife. One of them went to heaven, but the other went to hell. Oh, what a cruel twist of cosmic fate! But we reach out from beyond the borders of the afterlife, busting down the borders between heaven and hell for a truly miraculous reunion! Ooh, now that's everlasting love if I've ever seen it!"
Elphelt raced off in the opposite direction, still squealing happily about love. Haruka thankfully managed to throw a tracker on Elphelt before she vanished.
"...okay, so that was... a thing that happened," May groaned.
"I'm still confused as to why Phil hypnotized Elphelt to obsess over Nick specifically," Haruka asked. "After all, we've never met the Valentine Sisters before today, right?"
"Hell if I know how our rogues' gallery works, really," Nick sighed. "At this point, I've given up trying to understand their massive leaps in logic."
"Um, excuse me?"
The spies all turned around and noticed that someone had approached them. She was a young woman about the same age as Elphelt, with a dark-skinned complexion, white hair, and golden eyes with bronze highlights. She was wearing a blouse with puffy sleeves with ribbons on her collar and lower back, a short folded skirt, and her white straps on her thighs with no footwear, the entire ensemble carrying dark gray, dark green, and white coloration.
"Hey, isn't that Elphelt's older sister?" Nozomi wondered. "She was singing up there with her when all this started."
"Yes, and I must apologize for how my sister is acting," the woman stated. "My name is Ramlethal Valentine. I'm sorry if I'm intruding on anything important, but I noticed you all before you left the concert."
"Okay, then, miss Ramlethal, you said something that makes me think this isn't the first time Elphelt's acted like this," Sam quipped. "Can you explain that to us before Nick's fiancée or his girlfriends decide to bring out the cat claws?"
"It's a bit of a story," Ramlethal answered. "Let's get somewhere safe where Elphelt can't follow us."
The group all headed into the shadows of a nearby alleyway so Nick could telekinetically levitate them all to the top of one of the high-rise buildings just outside of Rodeo Drive.
"All right, this spot should be as safe as anyplace, so... what's Elphelt's whole deal?" Nick asked.
Ramlethal looked up into the sky as she told her side of the story.
"I've technically raised Elphelt for most of our lives," Ramlethal explained, the memories still fresh in her head even though it had been over a decade and a half. "Our parents went through a... let's call it a 'very messy' divorce when we were very young, and then not even a year after the divorce, our parents both died in a car accident. I think what happened really affected Elphelt, because ever since that day, she's always said that one of her goals is to get married young and live a rich, fulfilling life with her 'betrothed'. My guess is that she didn't want her possible new family to suffer the same fate that ours did."
Ramlethal looked back down at the streets below. "But she'd never been this obsessive about it until recently," Ramlethal admitted. "She would never willingly intrude on someone else's love life, though. She considers all love to be sacred."
"And I'm willing to bet mister music man has something to do with Elphelt's sudden personality shift," Nick stated.
"We need to go find her before she gets herself or somebody else hurt," Melissa proclaimed.
"Thankfully, the tracker that Haruka put on her is still working," RiCO answered from Nick's X-Powder. "I've tracked her down to Venice Beach!"
"All right, then, let's go and take care of business!" Haruka exclaimed.
"I'm coming with you all," Ramlethal stated. "Maybe I might be able to help you snap Elphelt out of this delusion."
"Well, then, let's get moving," Nick quipped, telekinetically bringing the group back down to ground level so they could head off for Venice Beach.
"Hypnotized or not, this sounds like another love-crazy version of Clover," Bridget commented.
"HEY!" Clover shouted.
"Well, it isn't wrong," Nick stated with a quizzical look on his face.
"Totally," Sam replied. "Until she met Blaine."
Ramlethal noticed Nick and Alex share a few grins with each other.
"I could have sworn I heard 'fiancée' on my way to catch Elphelt?" Ramlethal asked. "Are you the ones?"
"That's us," Alex giggled as Nick shared a nod with her.
"Congrats, then," Ramlethal quipped.
"Add us to the fold, too," Mat added as he and Sam joined hands.
"Congrats to you, too," Ramlethal stated to Mat and Sam.
"Let's hope everything will be swept under the rug when we save Elphelt," Melissa commented.
4:01 P.M. – Venice Beach
("Hands to Heaven" by Breathe plays)
"Everything seems to be pretty normal so far," May replied when they beheld their surroundings.
"For now..." Dawn stated realistically.
"So, Ramlethal, what can you do to help us?" Britney asked.
"I've managed to get her to calm down during one of her 'love rushes' before," Ramlethal answered. "Maybe if I can get her to calm down during this one, that'll give you all a chance to snap her out of it."
"Okay then," Sam remarked. "I think I have an idea of how to start this game plan, at least..."
"Let's hear it, Sammy," Alex quipped.
"First, we need to box her in if she comes our way," Sam explained. "After all, she's pretty wily in her love-induced hypnosis. Nick, the instant you see your opportunity, get in there and pulse her awake."
"Roger that," Nick quipped.
The spies checked some of the beachgoers and nobody was under the hypnosis of the music from the Valentine Sisters.
"We can actually explain why Elphelt's acting the way she is, too," Clover pointed out to Ramlethal.
"Yes, that's Phil Jenkins who hypnotized Elphelt," Sam added. "We know him because he's part of our rogues' gallery."
"So, I'm talking to the right people, then...?" Ramlethal wondered.
"We're the ones," May quipped.
Ramlethal all of a sudden had a strong sense of hope that saving Elphelt was not going to be an impossible task.
"Guys, it's time for my plan," Sam announced.
"We probably just have to wait for Elphelt to show her face," Melissa stated. "Which I'm sure will be any minute now..."
Nick quickly raised his hand to project a psychic barrier that blocked a flurry of laser pistol shots that came from just up ahead.
"Why don't you just flake off for once, Phil?" Nick stated. "We've kinda got other problems to deal with right now!"
"But it's my duty as a villain to make sure you can't actually deal with that problem," Phil laughed.
"...why is he suddenly making a lot of sense?" May groaned.
"Regardless, why don't you just do what I just said and flake off?!" Nick shouted as he blasted Phil down with a Final Shine Attack.
And just in time, it seemed, as he heard a very familiar voice coming his way. Nick jumped into the air to avoid a flying tackle from Elphelt while the rest of the spies attempted to box her in and give Nick his opportunity.
"Ooh, my hubby's flying!" Elphelt laughed. "That means we can go soaring through the skies on a hot air balloon, without actually needing the balloon! That's so lovely!"
Nick continued to dodge Elphelt even as Phil continued to fire shots at him.
"All right, now you're just annoying me!" Nick growled as he flew back down to shoulder tackle Phil off of his feet, sending a glowing CD flying into the air. Nick quickly caught the CD before swerving to avoid another flying hug from Elphelt.
"Somebody needs to get her to stop moving!" Haruka shouted.
"Let me give it a shot," Bridget quipped. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Bridget began running circles around Elphelt, and this accomplished the dual intent of keeping Elphelt boxed in and Phil from getting any closer.
However, much to Bridget's surprise, Elphelt actually jumped over her and started running towards Nick again.
"Man, is this chick for real?!" Bridget gasped.
"Come on, hubby, stop playing hard to get!" Elphelt laughed.
"Okay, the only one that actually calls me 'hubby' is from another dimension, and that's not even the same me!" Nick retorted as he backflipped over Elphelt.
"All right, El, that's enough!" Ramlethal proclaimed, stepping in front of Elphelt's path. "You need to stop this at once!"
"But Ram, I finally found true love!" Elphelt chuckled. "Aren't we adorable together?"
"Nick, now's your chance!" Ramlethal shouted.
Nick quickly flew towards Elphelt, and though she was able to send a cute glance his way, Nick took advantage of that and got in close before throwing a psychic pulse all around him, sending Elphelt stumbling backwards while clutching the sides of her head.
"How quickly you forget," Phil chuckled, bringing out another glowing CD, only for Nick to destroy that CD with a short burst of psychic bolts.
"Why don't you just beat it for once?" Nick growled.
Seeing no other options for the moment, Phil decided to take Nick's advice and make a tactical retreat.
As Elphelt regained her balance, she opened her eyes and looked around, her expression seemingly back to a normal cadence.
"W-Wait a minute, wasn't I performing just a few minutes ago?" Elphelt wondered, her voice back to a more typical tone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got her," Nozomi quipped.
"Ram, what's going on? Why aren't we on the stage?" Elphelt asked, only to gasp in surprise when she realized what had just happened. "...I did it again, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I think you did," Ramlethal sighed.
"Wait, you actually knew this was happening?" Alex wondered.
"It... it felt like I was watching a movie through the eyes of the main character, and that main character was me," Elphelt admitted. "I really hope I didn't hurt anyone while I was, well..."
"You're gonna be okay, sis," Ramlethal responded as she moved to hug Elphelt. "We managed to break you out of what was causing your 'episodes'."
"Wait, someone was making me do that?" Elphelt gasped.
"Long story," Nick chuckled. "Let's get after that guy and we'll give you the skinny on the way."
With that, the spies took off after Phil Jenkins, using RiCO's superdrone to track him down, with Elphelt and Ramlethal not far behind. The spies all took this time to bring Elphelt up to speed on what was happening and why she'd been brainwashed.
"Wait, so this Jenkins guy hypnotized me?" Elphelt gasped.
"Basically," Sam replied. "Do you remember ever seeing him before?"
"Come to think of it, I did see someone who looked like him at one of our concerts recently..." Elphelt quipped. "Was that when he found me?"
"Sounds like it," Haruka stated.
"Hey, Nick, I just wanted to apologize for anything I might have said or tried to do while I was... you know, 'not myself'," Elphelt proclaimed. "I hope I didn't upset your actual fiancée or anything..."
"It's really no problem, Elphelt," Alex answered. "Like you said, you clearly weren't yourself, and we're definitely used to dealing with brainwashed people on our capers."
"Ooh, just let me at this Jenkins jerk!" Elphelt growled. "I'll kick him so hard between the legs his eyes pop out!"
"Looks like you might be getting your wish sooner than expected," Britney quipped, pointing to just ahead where Phil Jenkins was moseying towards more beachgoers.
"End of the line, music man!" Nick taunted, aiming his right hand towards Phil.
"Why must you spies always interrupt my fun?" Phil chuckled.
"Because your idea of 'fun' involves brain-bleaching innocent people and singers!" May exclaimed, summoning her anchor to her hands with a flick of her Emergency Gadget Transporter. "So why don't you just can the stupid speeches and start with the fighting?"
"Why don't you let me have a crack at him?" Elphelt proclaimed. "I may be a singer, but I know how to throw hands, too."
"Be my guest, El," Nick chuckled as he stepped aside to let Elphelt and Ramlethal wail on Phil.
Elphelt charged forward and started to kick at Phil Jenkins to destroy his hypnotizing CDs.
"You've got a hefty price to pay for going after me the way you did!" Elphelt shouted.
Phil was about to taunt Elphelt back before she landed a hit on him.
"Oh, don't think I'm done yet!" Elphelt shouted as Phil tried to get away, only for Elphelt to grab him by the shirt collar and yank him back towards her. "I want to find love, but not by stealing someone else's love!"
"It worked so well for you earlier," Phil taunted until Elphelt spin kicked him towards Ramlethal, who lunged forward with a jumping knee to Phil's face.
"This is oddly satisfying to watch," May chuckled.
"This ought to hold down his ammo!" Sam quipped from the sidelines.
Jenkins whipped out another CD to use, but Sam quickly fired shots to outright destroy it.
"That'll teach ya," Sam added.
"Damn it all!" Jenkins chastised.
"Not so hot now without your hypnotizing CDs, are ya?!" Clover taunted.
"Allow me to show you why you do not mess with me or my sister, too!" Ramlethal exclaimed.
Ramlethal didn't give Phil any chance for a snappy retort before jumping towards him, doing a handstand on his shoulders, then falling back down to kick him in the chest and send him tumbling backwards.
Not done yet, Ramlethal charged and went into a roll to actually knock Phil off of his feet.
"Nice one, Ram!" Elphelt laughed.
Seeing his ammo was wiped out due to Sam and her Laser Lipstick, and all the spies ganging up on him, Phil Jenkins put on the tactical retreat.
"This isn't over yet...!" Phil shouted at them.
"Oh, believe it will be over for you!" Mat shouted.
He then looked down at his feet to see that Phil Jenkins may have left a clue behind unknowingly.
"I think Phil might have just potentially made a big mistake," Mat told the others when he picked up what looked like a test tube.
Inside was a mysterious bright colored liquid.
"That's odd that Phil Jenkins would need to use this kind of stuff in his schemes," Britney commented when everyone saw the liquid.
"Hopefully Jerry and RiCO can analyze this then," Sam quipped as she took some of the liquid to send to Jerry and RiCO for analysis.
"And we should make a break for wherever Phil got to," May added.
"Yes indeed," Elphelt replied. "Until I taste this guy's blood is when I'll be fully satisfied..."
"Pretty strong words, Elphelt," Nick remarked.
Haruka was busy checking the tracking device she'd thrown onto Phil Jenkins.
"Where're you getting a reading now, Haruka?" Bridget wondered.
"It looks like he's somewhere downtown," Haruka answered.
"Well, we should get there right away," Melissa emphasized.
5:12 P.M. – Downtown Beverly Hills
"Apparently this is where the tracker's telling me," Haruka told the others.
When they reached the exact coordinates of Haruka's tracker, all they found was the tracker at the top of a pile of garbage in a trash can. Phil Jenkins had discovered Haruka's tracker and ditched it.
"Damn!" Blaine swore. "How'd he find it?!"
"I think the bigger question is... where do we go from here?!" Britney asked.
"Never fear, everyone, it's RiCO to the rescue!" RiCO chuckled as a map displayed itself on Sam's X-Powder screen. "They may be able to get rid of a simple tracker, but there's nowhere to hide from my superdrone. According to my superdrone, Phil's somewhere deeper in the downtown area."
"What would we do without you, RiCO?" Alex chuckled.
"Let's go find this creep," Elphelt proclaimed.
The spies all followed the signal deeper into downtown, eventually finding their target near the metro station where there were a lot of people waiting for trains or other similar transport.
Nick reached out to telekinetically grab Phil before he could tamper with any of the nearby sound systems and yank him back towards the spies.
"Yeah, how about you kindly don't?" Nick taunted.
"I'm still not done handing out your lumps, buddy!" Elphelt stated.
"Quite frankly, I'm sick of getting lumps from the likes of you," Phil retorted. "Now, if you'd let me go about my business..."
"Yeah, fat chance of that!" Clover exclaimed as she jumped to kick Phil backwards, followed up by both Sam and Mat using their Laser Lipstick and Laser Chapstick (respectively) to make Phil "dance" in his spot.
This gave both Elphelt and Ramlethal the opportunity to get behind Phil and shoulder-tackle him towards the spies.
Nick and Haruka took advantage, rushing to opposite sides of Phil and clocking him at the same time with a right hook. While Phil was dazed, Nick and Haruka struck again, landing four strikes from each side in perfect sync with each other before knocking Phil into the air with a dual rising kick, then jumping after him and finishing the combo with a double downward snap kick that sent Phil crashing to the ground.
"Ah, it's been a while since we've done that, hasn't it?" Haruka chuckled as she and Nick high-fived each other.
"Ugh, this isn't working out too well, is it?" Phil grumbled after he picked himself up.
"It's about to get even worse for you, buddy," Bridget taunted as she transformed back into Sonic Mode and ran towards Nick, her intent obvious. "You thinking what I am, Nick?"
"Oh, you'd better believe it," Nick chuckled as he extended his hand so that Bridget could take it, the two of them dashing towards Phil. "Let's give this dreadful musician a taste of the Purple Comet Attack!"
Phil attempted to juke around the attack, only for Elphelt to lash out and slap him across the face, dizzying him.
This gave Nick and Bridget the chance to bum-rush Phil, using their boosted speed to send Phil 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 Phil higher into the air, while Bridget leapfrogged off of Nick's shoulders and snap-kicked Phil back down to the ground.
Before Phil could even bounce, Nick and Bridget were on him again, lashing out to hit him with multiple super-fast strikes before sending Phil 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 Phil nonstop from multiple angles, making it look like Phil was being pinballed around in the air.
For the finale, Nick and Bridget both attacked Phil in perfect sync, resembling a much faster version of Nick and Haruka's Accel Dance maneuver, before charging through Phil and sending him careening into the ground.
"How's that for your face?" Bridget taunted.
"It seems like we'll have to pick this up at another time," Phil groaned as he made his retreat.
"Hey, get back here, you!" Elphelt shouted as Phil vanished. "We're not done kicking your face in!"
"Don't worry, El, we'll take care of him soon enough," Sam answered. "I'm sure he's retreating to his secret lair as we speak anyways. RiCO?"
"Already on it, Sam," RiCO replied. "Just follow the blinking lights."
"You're more than welcome to join us, you two," Mat quipped.
"I think we'll take you up on that offer," Elphelt responded.
"Yeah, we've got our own stake in this," Ramlethal answered.
With that, the entire group set out, following RiCO's superdrone tracking signal to pursue Phil, hopefully into his secret lair so they could shut down his latest scheme.
To be continued...
Next time...
Haruka: Okay, so, is this Phil's secret lair?
Nozomi: It definitely looks the part. This place gives me weird vibes.
Elphelt: What's with all of these strange dossiers on other singers?
Nick: I'm willing to bet it's part of his master plan, whatever that might be.
Ramlethal: You all must have a lot of experience dealing with this guy, huh?
Clover: Oh, tell me about it.
Melissa: Hey, I think I see something odd just up ahead.
Alex: Hmmm, and what might you be?
Bridget: Hate to leave you hanging, readers, but we've gotta save some suspense for the next chapter. So join us soon for more, next time on Totally Spies: Dreamy Revelator, "Finding the Perfect Venue"!
May: Wait, is that you singing the final battle theme, El?
Elphelt: Yup! It's my latest single, too.
Nick: I think we're in for a good time when we actually get to that point.
