6:31 A.M. – The Shatterverse
Vast Desert
Nick went tumbling after falling out of the purple gateway and into what appeared to be a massive desert, nothing but sand as far as the eye could see.
"Oh, that's pleasant, said nobody ever," Nick groaned. "Where the heck am I supposed to go in this place?"
Before Nick could think about how to do that, though, he felt a strange sensation. Reaching into his Jetpack Backpack, he fished out both the red and yellow Prism Shards, which were shining brightly.
"Oh, right," Nick chuckled. "The Prism Shards I have can show me the way to the others. Welp, then let's get going."
Nick began his trek across this vast desert, following the pulse of the Prism Shards and hoping to find something before he collapsed of either heat exhaustion or thirst. It had happened on a mission once, so he didn't want to take any chances.
Through sand dunes, ancient marble pillars that still stuck through the sand after god only knew how many years, and many other mysteries, Nick continued to trudge through the desert.
Eventually, though, the Prism Shards in his hands led him to a gigantic, sprawling ancient temple that looked relatively untouched by the passage of time.
And the shards were pulsing like crazy.
"That can only mean that the purple shard is in there somewhere," Nick quipped. "Just one more to go, then maybe we can head to that other dimension and see if those spies will let us recombine the Prism so we can fix this mess."
Nick glanced towards the temple. "But first things first, let's actually find this shard," Nick stated as he slid down a nearby dune and headed towards the temple.
He just hoped there weren't going to be any surprises in there. He'd had about enough of those for one lifetime.
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(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 110: Buzzer Beaters
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: June 30th, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and forty-seventh co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and ten of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. The spring sports season is underway at Mali-U, but there's already problems, because after a buzzer-beating win on the basketball court, the players suddenly begin fighting each other. Mat, who was covering the event, is thankfully able to get away, not yet knowing that this is actually the work of the Zanzibar Coach, who's teaming up with, of all people, Ariel, to turn any buzzer-beaters into battlefields across the country. Can the spies stop the sports scuffles and take down these dastardly villains?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Time for #110, people! After finishing our last project, which was Countdown, we're going to be sticking to the current dimension this time around. Let's just say that seeing a lot of buzzer-beating shots in basketball through 27 seasons attending my local college men's basketball team was my inspiration for this. It's not March Madness yet in this, but it'll feel like it and then some with this project. If you're a sports fan of any team, don't you just love it when your team banks a buzzer-beating shot, yet hate it when the opposing team does the same? Let's just say I've witnessed quite a few in attending my local men's college basketball games for 27 years and women's softball for most of 2 calendar years. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: Season nine is nearing its completion, and we've got an interesting teamup of baddies today. Ariel's only shown up in The New Adventures once, way back in season five, so we figured it was time to rectify that. And as for Coach, we'll never figure out his real name, will we? Either way, let's continue season nine with some last-second wins, shall we? 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?
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Act 1: Victory at Any Cost
12:58 P.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
As the infancy of the spring semester at Mali-U had gone on, the spies were all acclimated to their classes and schedules and on-campus jobs if need be. For Mat, he was currently catching up on the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season; the last round was at San Francisco's AT&T Park, and Mat had to miss it due to covering a men's basketball game for Mali-U. Calling the race was the usual team of Ralph Sheheen as announcer, Jeff Emig as analyst, and Erin Bates as the pit reporter.
The Supercross Lites main went to Trey Canard #38 on the Factory Connection Honda, who led from gate to checkers. Points leader Jake Weimer #12 on the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, who won the first three races of the season, settled for 2nd place.
However, at the start of the Supercross broadcast, Mat grinned at hearing the news he wanted to hear... after a 3rd place finish at the last race in Anaheim 2, James Stewart on his #1 San Manuel Yamaha was ruled out for the night's racing due to a wrist injury sustained in that mid-air tangle-up with Kawasaki privateer Kyle Partridge at Phoenix.
"I had a feeling that might happen," Mat sighed, now content with the 2010 Supercross season after this news.
Simultaneously, Nick, May, and Haruka had come out into the den; May and Haruka were already in their water polo swimsuits.
"What's going on?" May asked.
"James Stewart's out for San Fran with a wrist injury," Mat replied with a satisfied grin on his face.
"From when?" Haruka wondered.
"That crash at Phoenix, most likely," Mat deduced.
Sam, Clover, and Alex had come in during the first Supercross heat race; as usual, Nick chose to watch with Mat.
Jeff: Uh oh...
Ralph: Oh, Dungey a big mistake!
Mat reacted at Suzuki's Ryan Dungey #5, the rookie and points leader, had crashed off the side of the San Francisco track while chasing down Honda's Andrew Short #29 for the lead.
Jeff: Oh, and the bike's on him!
Ralph: A huge mistake for Dungey! Now's he got to get back... back on course, headed in the proper direction. He's on the final lap, Jeff – he might not make the transfer to the main now!
Fortunately, Dungey got going and was listed in 6th place. A replay showed he had seat-bounced a triple, and the line took him to his left, where he landed on some tuffblocks.
"And there he goes," Haruka quipped.
"It's always when you're too focused on something that things like this happen," Nick stated. "Trust me, I can relate."
Andrew Short went on to win the heat race while Dungey crossed the line in 6th.
"Rookie mistake I'd bet," Mat commented.
The end results of heat #1 showed a big surprise: multi-time Supercross/Motocross champ Grant Langston on the #8 J-Law Racing Yamaha had finished one spot out of qualifying in 10th place.
"Mat, what's with the sudden change?" Sam wondered, immediately noticing Mat seemed to feel better.
"I got the news I wanted in James Stewart pulling out due to a wrist injury," Mat told Sam.
"Oh, that's good to hear," Sam replied. "At least he's prioritizing his health."
"Make no mistake," Mat pointed out. "This season still hurts, but I think I can live with it now."
"I'm sure Stewart will be ready to rock next season," Alex responded.
"And he'll probably be double motivated to kick some serious ass next time," Nick quipped.
"Well, we got to get going," May told the spies present. "Water polo practice."
"Our first game is in a couple more days," Haruka added.
"Where's Bridget?" Mat asked.
"Already at practice," May groaned. "And Haruka and I are running late."
Both May and Haruka even got quick kisses to Nick before running off.
Mat was left in some surprise after the highlights of heat #2 showed Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto check out to win, but Kevin Windham on his #14 Factory Connection Honda was running 3rd when he mistook the white flag for the checkered flag for the second time in his career, having done so before at the 2007 Washougal Motocross second moto. This time, he was able to recover 3rd place from Michael Byrne on his new #26 Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha; Byrne was picked up to fill in for Josh Grant #33, who was already out for the Supercross season with a shoulder injury.
"Oh, not again?!" Mat chuckled.
"What the heck, Windham?!" Nick chastised.
"At least he had time to make up for that this time," Mat commented.
Nozomi, Melissa, Dawn, and Britney came in from a pool day of their own, and Blaine had returned from beach volleyball practice to see Clover.
The Last Chance Qualifier highlights showed Grant Langston did not qualify for the main due to a bad start and crash on the opening lap. The final results had two privateers in Manuel Rivas #921 of Spain, and #55 Kyle Chisholm of Florida finishing 1st and 2nd.
"That's no good for Langston's comeback season," Mat sighed.
"Sometimes, you kinda know when you're screwed due to a bad start," Melissa noted.
"Oof, don't I know it," Dawn answered. "I'm still smarting over what happened the last time we played Mario Kart..."
Melissa certainly noticed that Mat was in higher spirits and asked what happened. Needless to say, she was glad to see that Mat was feeling better.
"At least he'll definitely be motivated next season," Melissa stated as she leaned over to hug Mat.
"It's not perfect, but at least I can live with the season now," Mat told Melissa specifically.
"The G.O.A.T.," Ricky Carmichael had joined the booth before the 450cc main began.
The main saw Dungey get the holeshot after that bad heat race, but a new face was up in the top 5: Team Kawasaki's newest fill-in rider, Nick Wey #27. Wey was filling in for Chad Reed, who was out due to his hand injury, and he was running 2nd. Unfortunately, that was short-lived for Wey, as Davi Millsaps on the #18 Factory Honda took 2nd away from Wey.
"Dungey's leading again... Mat, didn't you say he's a rookie?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah, but things like this CAN happen," Mat replied.
On lap 4, Kawasaki's Villopoto was making a run at San Manuel Yamaha's Josh Hill #75 for 3rd place.
Jeff: Wow, and what a difference a week makes here for Villopoto, who last week at Anaheim was outside the top 5, but wasn't really going anywhere...
"Yeah, Villopoto's riding much better than last week," Mat observed.
A later pit report from Erin Bates revealed that Villopoto's parents had made the trip to San Francisco to support Ryan that night. That was when the next shot showed 2nd place Davi Millsaps had crashed.
Ricky: Very technical turn there, Jeff, and you could talk about that 90-degree turn. Those things are very hard – there's a jump going into it, probably washed the front end out. We just seen the tail end.
Jeff: Still hasn't gotten the bike started at the top of the screen there...
"It's good to see you're back to your old self, Mat," Sam quipped.
"I was thinking the same thing, especially after how those first two rounds went down," Mat chuckled.
On lap 8, Hill had came up on Villopoto and stuffed him to move into 2nd place.
"Maybe the San Manuel Yamaha people told something to Hill with Stewart on the sidelines," Mat deduced. "I haven't seen Hill ride like this in quite a while."
Then, Hill and Villopoto played cat-and-mouse for a lap until Villopoto got back around Hill on lap 10. On the same lap, everybody reacted at an unexpected development.
Ralph: DUNGEY IS OFF THE BIKE – UNBELIEVABLE! THAT'S WHERE THE CHAMPIONSHIP COULD GET TURNED COMPLETELY AROUND!
Fortunately, Dungey was able to get back up in time to keep the lead.
Ralph (continued): WHERE'S VILLOPOTO NOW?! THERE HE IS!
Ricky: Oh, his bike's messed up!
Both Villopoto AND Hill had caught up while Dungey was still getting sorted out. Villopoto pounced on Dungey and took the lead right away, and shortly after that, Hill also got around Dungey for 2nd. To add to the fray, Davi Millsaps was also getting in the fight, too and pressuring Dungey for 3rd.
"Come on, Dungey, get back up!" Alex shouted.
"I don't think that's gonna happen this time, Alex," Nozomi quipped.
"Oh, he's finished now," Mat sighed as Dungey lost 3rd to Millsaps.
Another replay showed Dungey with a wild ride in the whoops, but he did not crash again.
Jeff: ...if you look at his left hand, that's where the clutch lever is, that clutch lever is basically pointed straight down, and it needs to be up about 90 degrees parallel with the ground. It's kinda typically where they're at – that left lever's straight down, so he's having to reach really far in front and roll over the front of the left grip, and that's going to make it really tough for the rest of this race.
"Seems like it, bro," Nick deduced.
Dungey rode the rest of the race in 4th while Villopoto took his first win of 2010 with Hill in 2nd and Millsaps in 3rd. Dungey still held the points lead with 90, but Villopoto had moved up to 3rd just 13 out of 1st place.
"Well, I'm caught up now," Mat chuckled.
"Mat, not to change the subject, but I'm on the same boat as Sam now that you can live with this season," Nick replied.
"True that," Mat answered.
5:12 P.M. – Malibu University
Sports Complex
Later that day, Mat was busy covering a basketball game at the Mali-U sports complex, and it was getting to be a pretty close game.
Though, in the end, the Mali-U team had managed to swipe the victory at the very last second by way of a buzzer-beating three point shot.
Mat looked down to write on his notepad about what he'd seen, but when he looked back up, he wondered just what he was seeing.
The rival team had suddenly started going after the Mali-U team, their players quickly getting physical and throwing wild punches and other moves all over the place.
As the fighting began to spill out into the audience stands, Mat quickly decided it'd be best for him to hide somewhere, and he did so by ducking and covering underneath one of the nearby media tables that were meant for reporters like himself.
After waiting about a couple minutes with no sign of an end to the fighting, Mat found an opportunity to slip away and get out of there.
But as he left the sports complex, Mat noticed someone odd out of the corner of his eye. But when he tried to get another look, that person was gone, lost in the crowd.
Still, Mat's spy training made him more suspicious of odd figures in times like this, so he filed it away for the moment as he got the heck out of the sports complex and ran back to the spies' penthouse.
"Hey, you're back already?" Haruka asked. Water polo practice had ended about an hour ago, and Haruka, Bridget and May were thus back at the penthouse. "Didn't the game just end?"
"That's why I booked it back here," Mat explained. "Our team won the game, but here's the problem. The other team apparently got really angry that the Mali-U team won by a buzzer beater, and both teams just started brawling."
"Yeesh, someone on that team must have been salty," Melissa quipped.
"But that's not what's bugging me," Mat continued. "I was hiding under one of the media tables until I could find a clear shot to get the hell out of there, but before I escaped, I saw someone rather shifty-looking in the crowd for about a second."
"Oof, how much do you wanna bet I know who that was?" Blaine groaned, realizing who Mat had probably seen. "I'm seriously sick of him."
"You think he might still be on campus?" Sam asked.
Nick activated his psychic radar and did a sweep of Mali-U, attempting to pick out Coach's thoughts amongst the people. It took about a minute of searching, but eventually, Nick did pinpoint his target.
"I've got him!" Nick proclaimed. "It seems like he's heading towards the aquatic complex."
"Well, them, how about we go and intercept so we can stomp him again?" May chuckled.
"Music to my ears," Bridget quipped.
The spies all made their way to the aquatic complex and waited for the Coach to make his appearance.
Sure enough, about a minute after they arrived there, Coach pushed his way through the doors, mumbling to himself about what he'd accomplished.
May quickly wound up before throwing her anchor like a javelin to catch Coach off guard.
"H-Hey, who's the wise guy?!" Coach exclaimed.
"That's usually our line, you nut loaf," Haruka chuckled as the spies all prepared for a fight.
"H-How the hell did you figure me out so quickly?!" Coach shouted. "I just got out a couple hours ago!"
"I saw you at the sports complex," Mat answered. "You thought you were being super stealthy, but sometimes trying too hard to not be noticed only makes you more noticeable."
"Grrr... all right, miss sister-whatever, you may as well get out here!" Coach bellowed. "There's no point in hiding from them any longer!"
Before the spies could ask who Coach was talking to, a burst of red light erupted nearby, and when the light cleared, Ariel was standing near the Coach.
"You should have expected this, Coach," Ariel chuckled. "They are quite wily for inferior spies."
"Wait, it's you?!" Sam shouted. "What the heck are you doing working with him? I thought you hated all men!"
"Yes, that hasn't changed, but exceptions can be made when it comes to ridding the world of you wretches," Ariel responded, twirling her staff around in her hands.
"And we've got quite the banger of a plan to work through here, so if you don't mind, kindly stay out of our way," Coach taunted.
"Oh, you wanna play that game, do ya?" Bridget chuckled as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
"Oh, please, like I'm scared of your same old tricks," Ariel laughed, overconfident as always.
"I wouldn't run your mouth if I were you," Bridget retorted. "I've learned quite a bit since the last time we kicked your face in. Nick, you wanna show her?"
"I'd be delighted," Nick responded, reaching out as Bridget sped by so she could take his hand and they could both blitz towards Ariel. "Let's show this little man-hater the brand new Purple Comet Attack!"
Ariel attempted to cast a barrier spell before they could reach her, but Bridget was naturally faster, using her momentum to uppercut Ariel into the air.
Nick followed by leapfrogging off of Bridget's shoulders and knocking Ariel back to the ground with an overhead fist slam.
Before Ariel could even bounce, Bridget sped by her, causing her to spin around in place for a couple seconds.
Nick lunged forward to kick Ariel in the back and send her stumbling forward.
Nick and Bridget ran to either side of Ariel and started attacking in perfect sync with each other, landing four direct punches each before snap-kicking Ariel into the air.
"Ready for the finale?!" Bridget shouted.
Just as Ariel started falling, Nick and Bridget charged, striking Ariel rapid-fire from multiple angles and making it look like she was being pinballed through the air.
For the final blow, Nick and Bridget joined hands once again, then flew swiftly towards Ariel, using their joined hands to clothesline her and send her crashing back into the ground.
"I bet that didn't feel good, did it?" Nick taunted.
"We're just getting started, you brats," Ariel growled as she picked herself back up. "I hope you're ready for some pain."
"Funny, we were just about to say that to you," Nozomi taunted as the spies prepared to go back on the offensive.
"You better spill why you're going this route in the next five seconds," Nick remarked.
"That's for you ingrates to find out..." Coach sneered.
"And there's no 'Sisterhood' either, just so you know," Mat added to Ariel.
"That's where you're wrong, kid," Ariel sneered, too.
"If you're looking at ruining a lot of student athletes' lives, you won't get too far," Melissa emphasized.
"Oh, I'd say we are certainly far along already," Coach told them.
"As soon as we deprive this school of all student athletes, our chances of the Sisterhood and world domination will skyrocket at the same time!" Ariel sneered.
"Speaking of skyrocket," May retorted. "I see two more people who are going to skyrocket here and now..."
"You can't seriously think you're referring..." Ariel taunted, but she couldn't complete her sentence.
May had hurled her anchor while Nick added his psychic powers to May's anchor to send Ariel and Coach into the nearby pool. Luckily, the main pool area was clear of any swimmers or water polo players.
"Believe me when I say... 'Yes I am!', bitches!" May exclaimed.
"Looks like someone's put an exclamation point on this season," Bridget commented.
"You can say that again," May emphasized.
"I think we're in for a good season, then," Haruka deduced.
"And it's now time that you answered for something that's a part of sports all around, too!" Nick added when they saw Ariel and the Coach resurface.
He fired multiple shots at the pool where Ariel and the Coach's silhouettes were, but as Nick did so, Sam noticed something strange in the pool. While Nick was busy dealing with the baddies, Sam slipped on a pair of Cyberjacker Sunglasses to see if she could pinpoint the anomaly.
"Guys, we need to pitch in," Sam replied, using her Laser Lipstick.
"Sammy, that pool is huge!" Alex exclaimed.
"I'm not talking about making them feel like they're in lava," Sam quipped.
"Then what, Sammy?" Clover wondered.
"Just follow my lead," Sam told them.
Britney and Mat got in the fray, too, and Sam executed her plan, throwing a pair of Anti-Gravity Propulsion Rings towards where she'd seen Ariel and Coach swimming around. The rings activated and dragged both villains out of the pool and made them float into the air, allowing both Britney and Mat to tackle them both away from the pool.
For good measure, Nick jumped into the air and fired a Final Shine Attack to destroy the gem on Ariel's staff.
Ariel and the Coach could only look on at Ariel's gem being broken.
"As Nick said, you better get the fact that buzzer beaters are a part of life, and sports, too!" Dawn remarked.
"Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't resort to this..." Bridget remarked.
"Don't just think all those shots are happening around here..." Coach sneered.
With that, Ariel used a flash of light to make them both disappear.
"There's no way they could be having this happen all around the world this early..." Clover shuddered.
Sam then heard her X-Powder go off.
"I sincerely hope we didn't jinx it just now," Melissa sighed.
"I think we did," Sam groaned. "I'm getting a report of something similar happening at the Edward James Dome in St. Louis."
"Then we'd better get moving and get over there fast," Mat quipped as the spies headed out of Mali-U.
Almost as if someone had been waiting for them to say that, a Skyskimmer parked itself close to the spies.
"Jerry, RiCO, your timing is impeccable as always," Haruka chuckled. "Coach and Ariel flaked off, probably to St. Louis."
"Good, that means we can skip a few steps," RiCO responded. "We picked up on their signal, so we figured we'd get you guys a Skyskimmer to keep up the chase."
"Forever lost without you guys," Bridget laughed as all of the spies jumped into the Skyskimmer so it could take off for St. Louis.
6:22 P.M. – St. Louis, Missouri
Edward James Dome
Almost immediately after touching down, the spies could already hear the commotion going on in the stadium.
"Oof, that doesn't sound any sort of good," Nozomi noted.
"We'd better get in there and check things out," Nick stated.
The spies shuffled into the stadium, only to see absolute chaos on the football field, where multiple burly-looking football players could be seen duking it out with each other.
"Okay, this has got to stop!" Haruka shouted.
"But how?" Dawn wondered. "Is there something controlling them?"
"Maybe so," Sam answered, catching the spies' attention. "When we were at the aquatic complex in Mali-U, I picked up a strange anomaly with my Cyberjacker Sunglasses, and it appeared to be a combination of a hypnotic transmitter and Ariel's brainwashing magic gem."
"So, basically, we've gotta find that transmitter and destroy it to make everyone stop turning this field into a Mortal Kombat warzone," Nick quipped. "Sounds like a plan to me!"
Everyone equipped their Sensible Soundproof Earplugs to keep the transmissions from possibly affecting them as well before spreading out across the field to find the source of the transmitter.
Eventually, May found the transmitter stuck to a side of the stadium scoreboard before proceeding to yank it off of the scoreboard and smash the transmitter with her anchor.
Like a flipped switch, all of the brawling players stopped fighting, all of them wondering what the heck had just happened. The spies that were still on the field made themselves scarce, all thirteen of them reconvening just outside the stadium.
"At least it seems like it'll be easy to stop these brawls once we find the transmitters, hopefully," Britney noted.
"I'm hoping this doesn't become a trend, because it looks like we're gonna be jumping all over the country if that's the case," Haruka replied.
"Then how about we start looking for little miss witch?" Blaine stated.
"I'm afraid that won't be necessary."
Before anyone could react, Ariel appeared in a flash of red light, waved her staff to entrap Sam in rings of red light that kept her restrained, before vanishing again with Sam in tow.
"...oh, she did not just do that," Mat growled.
"I'm already tracking her signal," RiCO answered. "It looks like she's being taken towards the Gateway Arch."
"Then let's hurry, everyone!" Melissa exclaimed as everyone returned to the Skyskimmer and took off for the Gateway Arch.
When they touched down, they noticed that what appeared to be a bunch of Coach's henchmen were dotted all over the arch for some reason.
"I really don't think I want to know what that's all about," Haruka quipped.
"Let's get up there, quickly!" Nick exclaimed. "According to the trackers, Sam's at the top of the arch!"
The spies all scooted closer to Nick so he could surround them all in a psychic bubble and guide them upwards. As he did so, though, large chunks of rubble were suddenly appearing all around the arch in flashes of red light.
"What the heck is Ariel doing?" Dawn gasped.
"Yeah, what exactly is her game in all of this?" Clover wondered.
As Nick landed the bubble on top of the Arch, another massive flash of red light erupted from the ground below. A few seconds later, Ariel showed up, growing in size until she was literally as tall as the Arch.
"Um, you tried this last time and it didn't work then, you know!" May taunted, referencing how the spies' previous scuffle with Ariel had ended.
"Oh, but I don't need to really do much this time," Ariel bellowed as she reached out to grab Sam in her super-sized hand.
"...you wouldn't dare," Mat snarled even as more of Coach's henchmen surrounded them.
"No time to charge up a time freeze," Ariel cackled. "No way to get to me in time. Face it, this failed has-been warrior is doomed!"
Ariel then dispelled the rings and chucked Sam away, and considering she didn't have her Jetpack Backpack thanks to Coach's mooks pilfering it, it looked like she was in very big trouble.
"What do we do?!" Alex gasped.
"Allow me," Bridget replied as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
After the customary bright flash of green light, Coach's henchmen closed in on the spies, only for a newly-transformed Bridget to blast forward at lightning speed, knocking a few of them away.
Knowing it was time to focus, Bridget started running down the side of the arch towards where Sam was falling, jumping off the arch at one point to wall-jump off of the debris pieces that the super-sized Ariel was trying to hurl at her, eventually getting enough height to grab Sam.
Sam quickly looped her arms around Bridget's shoulders to hold on as Bridget kept running down the Arch, taking potshots at Coach's minions on the way down.
Eventually, Bridget jumped off of another debris piece before spinning around and throwing a pair of Incendiary Earrings towards Ariel.
"And that's supposed to do what?" Ariel laughed.
"This," Bridget taunted, waiting until the Incendiary Earrings were close enough before firing a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer at them to make them explode. The explosion enveloped the jewel in the staff that Ariel was wearing as a necklace, much like the last time, and destroyed it. The explosion also pushed Sam and Bridget back towards the arch so that Bridget could keep running down it, eventually reaching safe ground as Ariel shrank back down to her normal size in disbelief.
"That was... something," Bridget chuckled. "You doing okay back there, Sam?"
"I gotta say, that was some impressive running you just did," Sam quipped, hugging Bridget as thanks. "You really saved my bacon up there."
"No problem-o at all," Bridget quipped. "Now let's deal with this cluck."
Bridget set Sam down on her feet, then blitzed towards Ariel before she could recover her poise, landing blow after blow with each pass and keeping her pinned long enough for the rest of the spies to join the fight.
"Just so you know, you really shouldn't have done that, Ariel," Mat growled. "Because now I'm mad."
"And what, exactly, is an inferior man going to do to me?" Ariel taunted, only to reel back when Mat marched up and slugged her right in the face with a wicked right hook.
"That's what, you little hussy," Mat retorted.
"Yeah, if Mat hadn't done it, I definitely would have," Sam chuckled. "Now it's my turn to deliver some lumps!"
Before Ariel could retrieve another gem for her staff, Sam rushed up and roundhouse kicked Ariel across the face, sending her stumbling back into Mat's path.
Both Sam and Mat naturally took advantage of this opportunity, rushing forward to start striking Ariel from both sides in perfect sync with each other, landing four differing hits before knocking Ariel into the air with dual leg lifts, finishing by jumping into the air and coming down with a double downwards kick to send Ariel crashing to the ground.
"Hope you don't mind that we keep ganking your move, Haruka," Sam quipped.
"Hey, you two probably do it better than Nick and I ever did," Haruka teased. "Don't worry 'bout it."
"We've got Coach incoming!" Alex shouted as Coach indeed made a return appearance, accompanied by three incredibly muscular henchmen, no doubt enhanced by his bugs.
"I thought that green-suited chick-a-dee had gone splat!" Coach exclaimed.
"You underestimated me again, Coach," Bridget taunted as she gestured to her Sonic Mode suit, which was now glowing brightly thanks to all the kinetic energy she'd gathered during her run down the Gateway Arch. "Now you're gonna pay the price for that."
As both Ariel and Coach lunged to try and dogpile on her, Bridget equipped a Metal Masher Boxing Glove and punched the ground under her with it, expelling all of her gathered kinetic energy as a gigantic shockwave of emerald electricity that blew back Coach, Ariel, and Coach's bulked-up henchmen effortlessly.
"I'd just give it up now if I were you," Haruka taunted. "Because this did not end well for you last time."
"Like I'd deign to listen to the words of an inferior woman who would rather stay chained to a man," Ariel growled.
"Oh, buddy, you did not just go down that road," Nick retorted, aiming his right hand towards Ariel. "I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson that being sexist can go both ways, and you just stepped in it big time!"
Nick didn't wait for Ariel to give a retort before blasting her back with a Final Shine Attack, then sweeping it around to knock Coach back down as well.
Before the fracas could continue, though, the three bulked-up mooks jumped forward to grab Britney from behind and allow Ariel to shine the light of her gemstone on her.
A few seconds passed before Britney turned back towards the spies, her eyes dull and glazed over.
"...why did I freakin' call that she was gonna hypno-snare at least one of us?" May groaned as the brainwashed Britney advanced on them.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Alex: Come on, Brit, snap out of it!
Haruka: Wait, where did Ariel and the Coach go?
Melissa: Oh, for crying out loud, of all the freakin' times for them to pull a rule twelve!
May: It's been a while since that worked, honestly.
Bridget: We'll deal with them later. Right now, we've gotta get Britney back to her senses!
Clover: Oh, wonderful, this is the last thing we need right now.
Nozomi: Back, you savages!
Nick: Hey, who said you could do that?!
Mook: Nobody said I couldn't.
Nick: ...you know what, fair enough.
Dawn: Someone needs to get Britney to stop moving so we can wake her up!
Sam: I think I've got an idea, but you're gonna have to wait until next time on Totally Spies: Buzzer Beaters, "Swerve Maneuver"!
Bridget: I gotta hand it to the scriptwriters, that "running down the arch" segment was fun.
Haruka: Kinda wish we could film on location, but that'd probably be more trouble than it's worth.