2:46 A.M. – Unknown Location
They continued to chant in perfect unison as they stood around the altar, their spell to bring life to this lifeless puppet that they had put together for their ritual.
As their chanting reached a crescendo, a beam of eerie, evil-looking green light thundered down from above and enveloped the puppet body for about ten seconds, warping and changing it from its original blank slate form.
When the beam of light dissipated, they glanced down at their magnificent new puppet.
She had has long purple hair with a couple white streaks, two braids in her hair, one in her bangs and one over her shoulder, with quite a few colored gems and beads strewn throughout her hair and a piercing on her left ear. She wore a slightly ripped black eye-patterned shirt with red and white stitches over her chest, as well as an oversized jacket. She also had a stitch over her face and a cat-like mouth.
They had done it.
Their ritual to implant a soul into an artificial body turned out to be a huge success.
With their mission complete for now, they all warped away, leaving the girl on the altar.
After a few seconds, though, the girl opened up her eyes, revealing them to be white eyes with purple undertones and a red ring around her red pupils.
She quickly jumped to her feet, extremely confused as to where the heck she was. Looking around, she only saw darkness around the altar, but she somehow knew there was a path in that darkness.
Despite her understandable confusion, only one thought raced through her mind as she examined her current surroundings.
I need to get the hell out of here.
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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 114: Fight or Flight
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: August 29th, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fifty-third co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and fourteen of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Several professional fighters of all kinds have been disappearing lately, only to be discovered in an underground fight club where they are... "messed with", to put it mildly, to keep them from escaping. Naturally, the spies are on the case, and this turns out to be the work of F.I.G.H.T. host Vince King and former Tae Kwon Do instructor Shirley. Worse, though, an old friend of Mat's from Hawaii is among the missing, so it's gonna be a little more personal for Mat this time. Can the spies shut down this fight club nonsense and stop King and Shirley before something goes horribly wrong?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: We have made it to season TEN of Totally Spies: The New Adventures! Who'd have thought this would happen? What started out as 2 joint fics way back in 2005 with multiple missions, turned into what we've dubbed The New Adventures after we fell out of contact during story #3 (Disillusioned Memories) and losing interest in Totally Spies as it phased out of leaving Cartoon Network. Then, back in late summer 2019, we got back in contact after TS was aired again on Universal Kids for a short time. Anyway, if you haven't, make sure you read and review my newest one-shot that I worked on with The Blue Time Ranger, which was titled Beachside Blast. I would also like to give a shout-out to the user known as Doc Fossil who DM'd me this synopsis on Fanfiction. Anyway, here's The Blue Time Ranger with a few things of his own he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: Season ten of Totally Spies: The New Adventures is off and running! Trust me, we've got some doozies lined up for this season, and we're starting off with Mat's first pick, where Shirley finally makes her New Adventures debut! It's gonna be a heck of a caper today, so how about we just dispense with the formalities and get this roller-coaster ride through season ten started, 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: Throwing the First Punch
11:45 A.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
It was another seemingly usual day at the Malibu University campus, and the spies' penthouse. A few days had passed since the last round of the 2010 Supercross season took place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The winner of that race turned out to be Ryan Villopoto on the #2 Monster Energy Kawasaki for the third time in 2010. Mat and the spies were taken aback because Villopoto had won the race after going to the Last Chance Qualifier due to a mechanical problem in his heat race.
Currently, Sam, Dawn, and Nozomi were returning to the penthouse from morning classes. Upon coming in, the den of the penthouse housed only Mat, who was updating his site regarding the 2010 Supercross season. That was when one of the doors opened.
"Oh, it's just you," Nick replied, thinking Haruka was one of the spies.
"You were expecting us?" Sam asked as Nick came out in his board shorts.
"Just hoping it wasn't Haruka," Nick admitted. "I guess I've been thinking about a first date with her..."
"Ah ha!" Dawn exclaimed.
Alex and Bridget were the next ones to return to the penthouse upon the completion of Dawn's statement.
"What's going on?" Bridget wondered.
"Nick's in a bit of a 'first date quandary', so to speak," Mat replied.
"Haruka?" Alex asked.
"Well, if you want to get that over with this week, you better make it quick," Bridget stated as a fair warning. "We got a water polo road trip coming up this weekend..."
"Oh, crapbaskets, I almost forgot about that!" Nick exclaimed. "Talk about being absent-minded..."
"Well, we were pretty distracted with everything that happened in the Shatterverse," Nozomi admitted.
"Not to change the subject, but are you going to swim, Nick?" Sam asked.
"You could say that," Nick stated, trying to contain his laughter.
He then led the spies outside and pointed to the penthouse pool where Melissa was relaxing on Clover's floatie.
"Nick, you're not serious, right?" Dawn asked.
"It's better than Bridget or May, right?" Nick reasoned.
"To be fair, she's probably expecting May with how many times she's done it," Sam chuckled.
Alex would have chimed in if she didn't notice Nick stealthily moving towards the pool.
Oh, boy, he's actually gonna do it, Alex thought. This was gonna be fun.
Mat was the first to notice Nick was already darting for the penthouse pool.
"He's going for it!" Mat gasped.
The spies watched Nick do a cannonball in the penthouse pool which was enough for Melissa to squeal. She fell off the floatie and landed in the pool. She resurfaced to see Nick laughing.
"Nick, did I mention I HATE IT when you do that?!" Melissa complained.
"Sorry, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up," Nick laughed.
Melissa scoffed and got out of the pool to see the spies present in front of her. She grabbed her towel, at least happy Mat was there, and went to him.
Dawn couldn't help but chuckle at the display, now glad that Nick had never done something like that to her.
"Come on, Melissa..." Nick laughed, acting like he didn't do anything wrong.
Melissa knew the perfect way to get back at Nick and call it even, and she smirked at Nick before stepping a bit closer, ducking down and leg sweeping him. Though he tried to keep his balance, Melissa playfully tapped him on the forehead, and this caused Nick to go toppling into the pool.
"There. Now we're even," Melissa giggled.
Simultaneously, the rest of the spies returned to the penthouse and saw what Melissa and Nick were up to.
"Somebody want to fill us in?" May wondered.
Haruka seemed to have something on her mind like Nick, but she stayed silent for the time being.
"You gonna tell him, Haruka?" Clover quietly asked.
"I didn't think it'd be this tricky," Haruka admitted. "I mean, I know we're officially a couple now, but that just makes the whole 'first date' thing that much more difficult to plan when you really wanna do it right..."
"First dates usually are," Clover quipped. "Trust me, I know. You want my advice? Don't fret too hard over it, otherwise that's gonna crush you under the pressure. And besides, this is Nick we're talking about. Don't you always say that?"
"...yeah, you're right," Haruka responded, deciding right then and there to just go for it.
As the full team convened and had a good laugh over what had happened between Nick and Melissa, Haruka gathered up her courage and walked over to tap Nick on the shoulder.
"Say, Nick?" Haruka asked. "I was wondering... well, you and I haven't really had our official 'first date' yet, so..."
"I... thought I was gonna ask you first," Nick admitted.
"W-Wait, you were thinking the same thing I was?" Haruka gasped before smiling again. "Of course you were. Great minds think alike, right?"
"Especially given how long we've known each other," Nick chuckled. "I wanted to ask you pretty soon since this weekend's no good because of your water polo road trip that I almost forgot about."
"If I might step in and make a suggestion?" Nozomi quipped. "I saw an ad for this really cool-looking music festival in the downtown park for the next couple days. Maybe you'd wanna give that one a spin?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Haruka responded. "Sorry if I concerned you, Nick. First date jitters and all that..."
"Trust me, I can relate," Nick quipped as he leaned over to hug Haruka.
All of a sudden, the water in the pool suddenly started swirling around and turning into a whirlpool of sorts. Only problem, nobody was in the pool.
"Methinks Jerry's slipping a bit," Bridget giggled.
Bridget would quickly have to eat her words when a large metal tube protruded from the ceiling while everyone was distracted by the whirlpool and sucked everyone into it.
12:14 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
All thirteen spies fell in a pile on top of the big O, still surprised by the fast one Jerry had pulled on them.
"...you did that on purpose," Melissa quipped.
"Maybe," Jerry chuckled, failing to hide his grin.
"I may have been the one who suggested the ol' bait-and-switch," iCO chuckled as she and RiCO materialized in the office.
"Well, regardless of all that, who's deciding to be a troublemaker this time, Jerry?" Sam asked as the spies all jumped to their feet and changed into their spy suits.
"I believe it would be these two rapscallions," Jerry proclaimed, gesturing to the viewscreen as RiCO changed it to a mugshot of both Vince King and Shirley.
"Oh, lordy, this greased nutball and his lame-duck fashion sense are back," Mat groaned. "Can you tell I've kinda had enough of this guy to last a lifetime?"
"Yeah, a little bit of that guy goes a long way, trust me," Alex chuckled.
"Hold on, Shirley's with him, too?" Clover gasped. "You mean that Tae Kwon Do chick who just about kicked all our butts?"
"Well, she won't be kicking butts so easily this time," Nozomi proclaimed. "After all, our team's expanded big time since then, and let's not forget our lil' psychic buddy and speedster among the team."
"Your flattery is duly noted, Nozomi," Bridget laughed.
"Wait, what exactly are these two baddies up to?" Britney wondered.
"For about the past two months, there have been a lot of reports of professional boxers, martial artists, kickboxers and the like all going missing," RiCO explained.
"We're not entirely sure what Vince and Shirley are doing with them, but we're sure you'll find that out sooner or later," iCO stated.
"Very true on that one," Blaine quipped as the spies moved to retrieve their gadgets.
12:36 P.M. – Beverly Hills
"Is there anything we should be looking for, specifically?" Haruka wondered. "Like, anything that would maybe lead us to our missing fighters?"
"Hey, speak of the devil," May quipped as she walked to the north and picked up what appeared to be some kind of ticket.
"What's it for?" Dawn asked.
Sam analyzed the ticket for a few seconds.
"It appears to be for a live-streamed pay-per-view event," Sam noted. "...I'm not liking the looks of this."
"You think that 'event' might be where our fighters went?" Alex wondered.
Nick suddenly spun around in his spot, having sensed something nearby.
"Something wicked this way comes, Nick?" Bridget quipped.
"Yeah, and it's approaching fast," Nick responded.
No sooner had Nick said that than Shirley herself came flying out of the nearby bushes, already aiming an attack for the spies. Nozomi, however, was quicker on the draw, lashing out with a flying spin kick to counter Shirley's overhead kick. This forced Shirley to jump back a few feet as Vince King made his own appearance.
"And lo, the villains approach," Mat taunted as all of the spies shifted into fighting stances.
"Mock us while you can, you little brats," King laughed. "Things are gonna be different this time around."
"Oh, sure, they say that every time, too," May retorted as she activated her Emergency Gadget Transporter to summon her anchor to her hands.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, you little punks?" Shirley chuckled. "I still remember how you just barely managed to defeat me last time."
"Well, we've got both numbers, experience, and some special tricks on our side this time, Shirley," Sam responded. "So don't go thinking you're gonna swat us aside so easily now."
"Let's test that theory, shall we?!" Shirley exclaimed as she lunged forward to attack.
"We better find out what those fighters are up to as well!" Sam quickly told the others before Shirley drew first blood.
"Don't count on that, little lady..." King sneered.
Sam was able to duck and avoid a hit from Shirley.
"You know that thirteen on two isn't fair..." Shirley proclaimed.
"Oh, get used to it!" May shouted.
"You're one to talk about what's fair and what's not..." Haruka retorted.
She then leaped over Sam and ducked down while Shirley executed a kick on Haruka herself. Haruka ducked between Shirley's legs and side-swiped her from behind the same way Melissa leg swiped Nick earlier.
"If I didn't know any better, you got a front row seat at what I did to Melissa earlier today," Nick chuckled at Haruka.
"Or I just know you like a book," Haruka playfully retorted.
Shirley got up on her own power, knowing this was far from over.
"Don't celebrate so soon..." Shirley growled.
"All your Tae Kwon Do stuff won't get you out of this one!" Nick exclaimed.
He then fired some psychic shots at Shirley to make her stop in her tracks, which made Shirley completely shocked.
"You better be intimidated..." Nick warned.
"That kid can do that a hundred times and still lose!" King shouted at Shirley.
"Just like how many 'gay vibes' I've gotten from you?" Mat retorted to King.
He did not like hearing the "gay vibes" part at all, regardless if it was a stereotype or just "atypical."
"And you better put your money where your mouth is, King!" Nick exclaimed and fired a shot at King himself.
While Nick was doing that, Nozomi snuck up behind King and jumped onto her hands before twirling her feet around, scoring multiple hits on King's face.
As King stumbled, May tossed her anchor like a javelin to knock King over.
"And that's how the cookie breaks," May chuckled.
"It's time you brought out some of our army!" Shirley shouted to King.
"Your army?" Alex wondered.
Britney saw this as an opportunity to get a bit of video so the spies could figure out how to counter back and win. She equipped the Tiny Hidden Investigative Ring Device (or THIRD) to get any hidden video of the battle.
Much to the spies' surprise, some of the fighters attempted a strange form of fighting, specifically attempting to grab their bones and throw them in various ways.
"H-Hey, what's with you nutballs?! Are you trying to break our bones or something?!" Clover shouted.
"Honestly, yes," one fighter laughed.
"All right, enough of this!" Bridget exclaimed as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
With that, Bridget sped around the fighters in circles.
The army tried what they could to try to hit Bridget, but none of them were successful. Sam, Clover, and Alex were easily able to sideswipe them.
"You see what we mean?" Dawn proclaimed.
King and Shirley just growled in frustration.
"Consider this a draw," King growled. "And you'll taste defeat for the first time in your miserable lives!"
With that, King used a smoke bomb to get away from the spies.
"Dang!" Melissa exclaimed.
"Not a total loss, though," Britney quipped, showing the THIRD gadget. "I got something to send to Jerry and RiCO."
She used her X-Powder to plug in the THIRD and send the video she shot to Jerry and RiCO.
"Great thinking, Brit!" Clover exclaimed.
"That doesn't look like some kind of fighting I've ever seen," Alex commented when they saw the film.
"It's definitely not sumo or karate," May deduced.
With that, Britney contacted Jerry and RiCO to see if they could fill in the blanks.
"It appears that this form of martial arts is of Hawaiian origin," Jerry told the others when his visage appeared.
"Hawaiian martial arts?!" Alex remarked.
"According to what I could find, this is known as Kapu Kuʻialua," RiCO stated, finishing Jerry's point.
"This is totally new," Blaine stated.
"Mat, I don't remember you ever mentioning something like this before," Bridget told Mat.
"I never did," Mat stated.
"It's Hawaiian martial arts, after all..." Nick deduced. "Mat?"
"...first I've heard of this," Mat told the others. "Just because I'm originally from Hawaii doesn't mean I know every detail about the state..."
"That's true," Melissa conceded. "If only it were that simple, huh?"
"That's what you've got me for," RiCO giggled before running a double check on her data. "All right-y, then, according to my databases, that martial art a lot of those fighters were using is known as Kapu Kuʻialua, or simply Lua. It's an ancient Hawaiian martial art primarily based on bone breaking, joint locks, throws and pressure point manipulation. Weapons are also involved sometimes, too, which is kinda odd for a martial art."
"That would explain why one of those weirdoes literally tried to break my leg or something," Clover quipped.
"It has its origins in the 1300s, when a caste system and various martial arts styles were introduced to the Hawaiian island by Tahitian colonists," RiCO continued. "The Koa warrior group are usually the ones credited with the creation of Kuʻialua, the word meaning 'two hits'."
"That name was given to the god of that martial art, and only those associated with the ali'i, Hawaiian nobility, were taught it," iCO continued. "Say, professional warriors, guardsmen, and members of the royal family."
"During times of war, they also taught the common folk the basics of the art," RiCO continued. "Better safe than sorry, I guess. The old warriors of this art tended to coat themselves in a thin layer of coconut oil and remove all their body hair so they could slip away and avoid getting grappled. Makes sense, since the word for Lua masters, 'ōlohe, quite literally means 'hairless'."
"Yeah, that's the last place I wanna get grabbed," Blaine chuckled.
"The Koa tribe helped Kamehameha the Great unify the islands in 1810, and Lua was only to be practiced by the king's honor guards," iCO explained. "A while later, while living on O'ahu, King Kamehameha the Second established at least three Lua schools so the art wouldn't fade into history."
"All right, now here's my question," Mat quipped. "How, exactly, did King and Shirley discover this particular martial art, and what are they planning to do with it?"
"I wonder if it has something to do with that pay-per-view event ticket that Sam found," Haruka wondered.
"I'm suddenly not getting anything close to good vibes from this," Nick quipped. "I sensed a lot of aggression in the minds of some of those fighters before they all skedaddled."
"You think they're being brainwashed?" Dawn asked.
"No, they're not," Nick answered, catching everyone's attention. "And that's the weird part. I didn't find any signs of brainwashing when I checked their minds out, just lots of aggression and other weird thoughts."
"Oh, lordy, you don't think..." Melissa gasped when one possibility started to dawn on the spies.
"I think some of the pieces are coming together," May growled as she twirled her anchor around in her hands. "But if we're gonna fit the rest of the pieces together, we'd better go find those two dastardly little punks."
No more words needed to be said as the spies all chased after King and Shirley, RiCO using her superdrone tracker to assist them.
Thankfully, it didn't take them too long to catch up with the two villains as they were skulking around the downtown area, accompanied by more of the fighters from their "army".
"Hey, flunkies, you lost?!" Nick taunted to catch King and Shirley's attention.
"You're calling us flunkies?" Shirley laughed. "I don't know if you've heard, but the last time I fought your little girlies, I was handling them easily. It was only some blind stroke of luck that got me caught in the end."
"Oh, sure, that's what they all say," Nozomi retorted.
"You want to push your luck?" Shirley cackled.
"Get 'em, boys!" King exclaimed as Shirley went on the attack, most of the fighters accompanying her.
"Yeah, how about no?" Bridget stated. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Many fighters leaped towards Bridget in an attempt to dogpile on her, but Bridget simply blitzed off in that direction after transforming, bowling down anyone in her way.
"STRIKE!" Dawn laughed.
Shirley leapfrogged off of one of the fighters in an attempt to ambush the spies from above, but Nick simply met her in midair.
"Y-You can fly?!" Shirley gasped.
"Among many other fun little tricks," Nick chuckled. "Here, let me show you!"
Nick reached out to snare Shirley in his telekinetic grasp before slamming her back down into the ground. Not finished just yet, Nick flew back down and slammed his palm into the ground, unleashing a Zero Gravity that sent Shirley and a bunch of fighters helplessly floating into the air.
Bridget continued to run circles around the area to keep the villains and their fighters boxed in.
"Come on, little man, fight me already!" one fighter snarled as he approached Mat with obvious intent.
Mat would have said something along the lines of "oh bring it" if something about this particular fighter didn't ring familiar to him. The fighter naturally took advantage of Mat's confusion to start attacking him with Kapu Kuʻialua-style martial arts.
As Mat continued to dodge this fighter's strikes, it suddenly hit him why this fighter looked so familiar to him, and he actually gasped in shock.
"Watch your six, Mat!" Melissa shouted as she fired a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer to knock the fighter away from Mat.
"Damn it, girlie, this isn't working!" King growled.
"No need to worry, King," Shirley laughed. "After all, this is only the beginning of our little game."
King grinned evilly as he snapped his fingers to call all of the fighters back to their side. "This was only round one, spies. Next time, y'all won't be so lucky," King proclaimed as he, Shirley, and the fighters all retreated.
"Yeah, good riddance to the lot of you!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Hey, Mat?" Melissa wondered once everything was calm again. "I noticed that one guy trying to attack you, and you seemed to recognize him. Do you know him, by any chance?"
"I... do know him," Mat stuttered. "Not that way though, just to be clear."
"With a fiancée and two girlfriends, including my sister, we've gotten that idea, bro," Nick remarked, just to cover that portion.
"A friend from one of my very early college journalism journey," Mat replied. "Tao Chen – he's also from the islands, too..."
"Your first assignment?" Sam asked.
"One of my first, yes," Mat answered. "Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you all are..."
Britney also seemed to be relieved as well, but she also remembered Mat saying that Sam is his first real girlfriend.
"I gave him a hard copy of my print story after I finished it and was posted," Mat added. "I guess we immediately hit it off being former Hawaii residents and all."
"Small world," Nick chuckled.
"The guy's good at what he does, trust me!" Mat told them with a nod. "He owns a karate dojo, but he's proficient in that Kapu Kuʻialua as well. It's a wonder he never had as many broken bones or whatnot."
"I'm not challenging him any day," Clover remarked since her knowledge of martial arts was very limited at best.
Everybody agreed there.
"I guess I ran into him on one of my trips back home," Mat told the spy team.
Sam looked at Mat, knowing that look on his face meant he wasn't very close to Tao.
"I guess that seems to be for the expert martial artists," May deduced.
"I know I excelled in Karate," Nick commented. "But this is definitely new to me. I'm starting to think we may have to play along to defeat Vince King and Shirley."
"There's no way we can learn Kapu Kuʻialua on the fly though," Mat replied. "I'm no martial artist, but I know that for a fact after following sports for so long."
"Good point," Haruka remarked. "But surrendering is definitely out of the question..."
"We got no choice but to go with what we got," Bridget admitted.
"I'm just glad I never really forgot all the karate that Nozomi and I learned in middle school," Nick chuckled. "It might be our best hope of getting out of this."
"We can still pull out a win somehow with what we got," Nozomi stated.
"I agree with Nozomi," Sam quipped. "They can come up with new martial arts and still lose to the likes of us!"
"But it won't be easy," May remarked. "One broken bone from all of us, and we're all chasing our tails recovering!"
"Well, that's a chance we'll have to take," Nick stated.
Blaine looked a bit nervous since martial arts was definitely not his cup of tea.
"I might be able to assist you, Nick," Haruka quipped.
"We need a game plan, though..." Dawn told them.
"So, where do we start?" Melissa wondered.
"As probably the resident karate experts in this group, I think Nick and I might be able to give you guys a few pointers that'll keep us together," Nozomi quipped. "Basically, it's a couple things we got drilled into our heads during karate classes."
"And one of the most important lessons we learned is to always try and use your opponents' moves against them," Nick stated. "If Kapu Kuʻialua is based on mostly joint locks and throws and the like, then one of the best counters is to try and turn their momentum against them."
"Also, try to stay at least two steps ahead of your opponents," Nozomi continued. "After all, even if the fighting style is about bone breaking and such, they can't exactly break what they can't catch, right?"
"Very true," Haruka quipped.
"One more thing," Nick stated. "Always try and anticipate what they're gonna do next. It'll keep you on your guard and ready for anything your opponent might try and pull."
"Did you two have a preferred style of karate that you practiced?" Blaine wondered.
"Not really," Nozomi admitted. "Nick and I honestly just practiced whatever we felt would be useful and blended it into our own styles."
"Our teacher was a really cool guy when it came to that," Nick responded. "He encouraged us to go with the flow and find our own styles that worked best for us."
Before Nick could continue, though, he glanced towards the southwest, having picked up dangerous thoughts approaching them from that direction.
"Welp, looks like we might be applying those pointers sooner than we thought," Nick stated as more fighters surrounded the spies from all directions. Mat looked through the crowd, but Tao Chen didn't seem to be among them.
"Why don't you fight us, you little brats?" one fighter cackled.
"Oh, bring it on!" May retorted as the spies all charged into battle.
Most of the spies were easily able to fight back the fighters who weren't using Kapu Kuʻialua on them, leaving only the four or five in the crowd who did.
One of them decided to go after Nozomi, who stood ready for the challenge. As she prepared herself, she remembered the words her karate teacher would always tell her and Nick.
Discard what does not work, refine what does, and use that against your opponent.
"Well, teach, I hope you're watching from over there in Japan, because it's time to remember what you taught me," Nozomi chuckled.
The fighter naturally went for a grapple first, but Nozomi simply swung her arms up to knock his arms away, then charged in for a shoulder tackle.
The fighter recovered quickly before moving back towards her, swerving left and right in an attempt to keep her guessing. But Nozomi had been wise to that trick for years, her eyes easily following the fighter's movements.
Just as the fighter tried to reach out and grab her by the shoulder, Nozomi weaved to the left and swung her right foot out to stumble the fighter before sending him tumbling backwards with a fierce palm strike to the chest.
With that taken care of, Nozomi glanced over towards Nick, who was engaged in his own battle.
The fighter was pretty footsy, trying to keep Nick off his own guard, but Nick continued to counter each attack the fighter sent his way.
Eventually, the fighter ducked back before lunging forward to try and grab his legs.
"You know, I kinda feel like I have an unfair advantage thanks to my psychic powers," Nick chuckled as he punched downwards to knock the fighter to the ground just short of him. "But I don't really need 'em to deal with you guys."
A shout of surprise caught Nozomi's attention, and she turned around to see that one of the Kapu Kuʻialua fighters had snatched Blaine from behind and was preparing to try and dislocate his shoulder.
Nozomi rushed towards Blaine, leg sweeping the fighter to make him stumble before flipping over him, karate chopping his hand to make him let go of Blaine, and finally knocking the fighter away with another palm strike, this time to the face.
"Oof, that was close," Blaine sighed in relief. "Thanks for the assist, Nozomi."
"Always happy to help a buddy out," Nozomi giggled.
"Oh, no you don't!" Nick shouted as he charged towards another Kapu Kuʻialua fighter who was attempting to sneak up behind Alex while she was dealing with another fighter.
Before the fighter could try and snatch Alex, Nick reached out to ensnare the fighter in his telekinetic hold before tossing him into another crowd of fighters that Nozomi scattered with her signature handstand spinning kicks.
This seemed to finally be enough to force the fighters into a retreat.
"Yeah, that's right, come back when you don't suck!" May taunted.
"Now that that's out of the way, how about we head off after King and Shirley?" Britney quipped.
"...um, we might have a problem with that," Mat stated.
Before the others could ask Mat what he meant by that, he pointed to a few feet away.
Mat's friend Tao Chen was standing there, in a fighting stance, looking ready to hurt something.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Britney: Is that the friend you mentioned, Mat?
Mat: Yeah, that's him.
Haruka: And ooh, boy, he looks mad as hell.
Mat: I don't think he's normally like that. It must be whatever King and Shirley did to him.
Sam: And you're sure he hasn't been brainwashed, Nick?
Nick: Absolutely positive, but that also means I'm kinda worried, especially if what actually happened to Tao Chen and the other fighters is what I think happened to them...
Melissa: Right now, I think we need to focus on this guy.
Dawn: Ooh, boy!
Nozomi: Remember what Nick and I taught you, everyone!
Bridget: I can do the whole 'can't hit what you can't catch' thing easily, next time on Totally Spies: Fight or Flight, "A Much-Needed Kick Start"!
Alex: Gotta say, it's been interesting having those martial arts teachers on set to help us learn about this style.
Mat: Yeah, they're not half-assing anything when it comes to this.