Hi! I was planning to do another original chapter here, but I still need to work out all the details. In the meantime, here's the next canon chapter.
Read and review!
Chapter Twenty-Three
Spy Gladiators
Somewhere in a dense jungle, a powerfully-built African-American man, known as Reggie Willis to many, ran through the foliage, jumping over tree roots.
Stopping only once, he picked up the pace when he heard a rough voice echo through the trees.
"Get him!" one of his pursuers shouted, accompanied by loud, metallic footfalls.
Reggie could only gasp in shock as he was soon cornered by two men almost as big as he was.
One wore a getup that looked straight out of ancient Egypt, complete with a pharaoh's headdress, carrying a spear The other dressed in an outfit that almost reminded Reggie of a medieval executioner, only with axe blades protruding out of either side of the hood. This man carried a mace, one that was lit on fire when a button was pressed.
"Give it up," the Egyptian-looking man said, toughly. "Prepare to meet your demise!"
"Give up!" his companion shouted.
They both charged at him, only for Reggie to jump up, grab a branch, catapult himself into the air and swing himself over the branch. As he swung back down, he grabbed one by the torso with his legs. Then, doing another backflip, he sent the Egyptian man flying into a rock behind him.
The other man, the executioner, as Reggie had been referring to him, charged next only to receive a kick to the neck, knocking him unconscious.
Hearing movement from one of the nearby bushes, Reggie ran as fast as he knew how.
Eventually coming to a cliff by a waterfall, he could see no other way to safety other than to grab a nearby vine, using it to swing across the gap Tarzan-style.
Landing safely on the other ledge below, he was sure he would have no more problems.
He thought wrong.
Standing above him was a giant of a man, who wore a helmet with a mesh screen and brandished an enormous mace.
His assailant swung the mace downward, Reggie narrowly evading it... only to lose his balance and fall off the ledge into the waterfall.
Meanwhile, Reggie's encounters with the men and his plunging into an assumed watery grave were both cheered on in a massive TV studio, with hundreds of people eagerly fixed to a screen.
Beverly Hills High School-8:30 AM
As a red convertible pulled into the student lot, its occupants, well, three of them, at least, struggled to keep their breakfast in their stomachs.
Sean's head flew forward into the back of the front seat as Sam pulled to a screeching stop.
The redhead looked to Clover who was sitting in the passenger seat to her right.
"Look at that," she told her passengers. "We made it to school in record time."
"Think of how much time we could have saved if those pedestrians would have just stayed off the sidewalks!" Clover said.
Sean sat back up. Sam had recently gotten her driver's license and her parents had decided to allow her to drive to school if she wanted to.
Unfortunately, Sam's driving when she was in a hurry was almost as hazardous as Alex's.
"Note to self," Sean muttered. "Never tell Sam we're gonna be late while driving."
The rev of a motorcycle drowned out his statement, prompting him and the girls, particularly Alex to look to their left.
As the bike drove up, its rider removed their helmet, revealing a tan complexion with crimson hair matted with sweat.
The rider wiped her hair before turning to show her face... a face that Sean knew.
But apparently, judging by the blush on her face, Alex didn't.
"Cool motorcycle," she said. "Who's the intense biker babe?"
"Donna Ramon," Sean answered. "I heard she was just released from juvie."
"Looks more like she escaped from juvie," Clover corrected.
"Come on, guys," Alex said innocently, getting out. "I'm sure she's perfectly nice."
She began to walk over to Donna. Sean folded his arms.
"Yeah," he said under his breath. "That's what the kid she put in the hospital in 8th grade said."
Alex didn't hear him and was already next to Donna's bike.
"Hi!" she introduced herself. "I'm Alex! I don't think we've met!"
But as she stepped forward, she accidentally kicked a discarded soda can into the bike's metal surface.
The dent it left was small, but noticeable. And so was the scowl of anger on Donna's face.
"Oops!" Alex admitted over Donna's growl.
The biker girl just glared at her.
"You know what happened to the last person who touched my ride?" she asked, acidly. "Let's just say she eats her dinner through a straw these days."
Alex smiled nervously.
"What a coincidence," she said, voice quivering. "I like protein shakes too!"
Alex, thankfully, was saved by the school bell.
"Gee, there goes the bell. See you around!"
She zipped inside the building ignoring the other girl who now had her teeth clenched in hate.
Alex's friends, in the meantime, just stared.
"Should we do something?" he asked Clover and Sam.
Sam whistled nonchalantly while Clover focused on applying her lipstick.
"Yeah, didn't think so. Can't say I blame you. I'd like to live till graduation at least, thank you very much."
Later, during soccer practice, Alex's encounter with Donna was more or less forgotten. Racing with Clover to kick the ball into the other goal, she was about to get an unfortunate reminder.
Nearby, Donna sat on a bench painting her nails. As Alex pushed Clover out of the way, she kicked the ball toward the goal... only for the goalie to intercept it and send it flying into Donna, knocking her over and her bottle of nail polish into the air.
Donna sat up, black nail polish covering her jersey and an angered look plastered across her face.
"Oops!" Alex admitted, embarrassed. "Sorry!"
The whistle blew, announcing that practice had come to an end.
"Maybe I'll just use the entrance at the other end of the school," she added, trying not to show fear.
She ran off, leaving an infuriated Donna and a stunned and slightly terrified Clover and Sean.
"Is it me or is Alex a magnet for disaster today?" Sean asked, taking off his sweatband.
At lunch, Alex sat down with her friends, relieved at apparently having evaded the thrashing of a lifetime at Donna's hands.
"What a stressful day," she said, exhaling. "I hope I never see that thug again."
"Considering she dislocated someone's jaw before she got thrown in juvie," Sean said, taking a bite of his pizza. "'Thug' might be an understatement."
Alex didn't appear discouraged, instead focusing on her lunch.
"At least they're serving my favorite lunch today: soy cheese pizza!"
She took of a slice, but before she could bring it to her mouth...
"I'll take that!" Donna said, swiping the slice straight from Alex's hand.
"Hey!" Alex protested. "Give me my pizza back!"
"Not a chance," Donna sneered. "Way I figure, you owe me lunch money for a year after what happened today."
Sean furrowed his brow in disgust at the biker girl.
Clover and Sam, it seemed, shared his sentiments.
"Alex," Clover said. "You're not gonna let her extort you like that!"
"Yeah!" Sean agreed, as Donna took a bite of the pilfered pizza.
"Stand up for yourself!" Sam added.
Alex hesitated, but grabbed Donna's wrist.
"I-" she stammered. "I'm not gonna pay! In fact, I want my pizza back!"
As she struggled with Donna, her friends could hear whispers from all around the cafeteria.
Those whispers grew louder as the pizza slice slipped out of Donna's grip and collided with her face.
By now, everyone was staring and Donna's rage intensified.
"On second thought," Alex said, panicking. "You can keep the pizza."
Donna gripped Alex's wrist like a vice.
"I'm gonna turn you into my own personal hand puppet!" she yelled.
She balled her fist as everyone but Alex, Clover, Sam and Sean chanted "Fight! Fight!"
She pulled her fist back while Alex closed her eyes, flinching.
The fist never connected as the doors to the cafeteria swung open, letting Mr. Tetley enter.
Sensing imminent punishment if she continued, Donna let go of Alex's wrist.
"You're lucky," she said. "For now. But tomorrow at 3:00, you're dead meat!"
This elicited a gasp from Alex as the other girl stormed off.
"You hear that?!" Alex said fearfully as she and the others walked to the tray return. "I'm dead meat!"
"Don't sweat it, Alex," Sam reassured as they placed their trays on the conveyor belt. "I'm sure this will all blow over."
"Well, until it does, give me a call. Until then, I'll be at the North Pole!"
"You know," Sean said, walking next to her. "I used to feel the same way about Tad. Every time I came into W.O.O.H.P, I just wanted to disappear until he quit or Jerry fired him. But when that didn't happen, I knew I just had to live with it."
"But that's different!" Alex retorted. "Tad didn't want to kill you!"
"Uh, Alex?" Sam broke in. "Your memory's a little fuzzy. He did try to kill Sean. All of us."
"That jerk got what was coming to him," Clover added. "She will too!"
But Alex didn't look reassured.
"It's times like this I wish I was invisible!" she whined. "I'd even take getting pulled away to W.O.O.H.P right about now!"
That was when the entrance to the tray return's dishwasher began to glow.
"What the hell?" Sean asked leaning closer, only to be sucked in by a powerful wind. The girls followed after him.
As they fell through the chute, Sean looked over to Alex.
"Well," he shouted to her over their screams. "Looks like you got your wish!"
When the ride was over, they fell out of a hatch and right in front of Jerry, who took about out of what appeared to be a cheese sandwich.
Sean looked around. In lieu of Jerry's office, they now sat in the kitchen of W.O.O.H.P's break room.
"Can I offer you a sandwich?" Jerry asked.
"No thanks," Clover declined. "We just ate."
"Some of us did," Alex complained, lamenting her lost pizza.
"So, what is it this time, Jerry?" Sean asked as he and the girls stood up.
"Have you ever heard of a television show called F.I.G.H.T?" Jerry began.
"You mean that wrestling show that takes place on an island?" Sam asked, as the top two cabinets retracted to display a video screen.
"That's the one," Jerry confirmed. "F.I.G.H.T."
The screen showed footage of the show in question.
"Fear Island Gladiator Habitat: F.I.G.H.T."
"I love that show!" Clover squealed with excitement. "What's up?"
"Well," Jerry continued as footage of Reggie Willis played on the screen. "It seems that what's up is that one of the contestants, an Olympic decathlete named Reggie Willis, hasn't been heard from since losing on the show last week."
"Hey," Sean said. "I've heard of this guy. He's a marathon runner and a snowboarder. I can't imagine him losing anything."
"I'd like to get lost with him," Clover swooned. "He's hot!"
"Yes," Jerry said, awkwardly. "Well, in addition to being 'hot', he's also supposed to represent the United States in the Olympic Games in a few months. Which brings us to your mission: I want the four of you to go undercover on F.I.G.H.T to find out what happened to him."
Sean wasn't sure he liked where this was going.
"Undercover in what capacity?" Sam asked, taking the words out of Sean's mouth.
"As contestants, of course," Jerry clarified.
"I was afraid he'd say that," Alex muttered.
Jerry ignored her, walking over to the fridge, opening it.
"And now for your gadgets."
He began pulling them out of the fridge.
"Zipline Bracelets, Parachute Belts, Mini-Ski Aerobic Sneakers, Laser Heat Hairdryers, Buzzsaw Wristwatches, and Lip Balm Smoke Bombs."
"Ooh!" Clover said excitedly, taking the last one from Jerry. "I could use a little lip relief!"
"Uh," Sean tried to warn. "Clover, I wouldn't open-"
But it was too late as Clover twisted open the lip balm tube letting loose a cloud of pink smoke.
As if in reaction to Clover's mistake, the vent above the kitchen stove opened up, sucking up both the smoke and the screaming teens.
"Enjoy the mission, spies!" Jerry said, despite knowing they couldn't hear him.
Gladiator Island-1:20 PM
Sean saw the island grow larger as their pink hovercraft sped across the South Pacific. Their craft came ashore, letting them see the waves crashing upon the tropical shore.
"This is Fear Island?" Sean asked, as he and the girls stepped out. "I don't see anything scary about it."
A vehicle horn sounded behind them. Next thing they knew, a huge jeep swerved out in front of them.
Behind the wheel was a tanned, muscular man with long brown hair and a mustache.
"I stand corrected," Sean said to the other three.
"Vince King's the name," the driver introduced. "Promoting human combat is my game! You must be our new contestants."
"That's right," Sam replied. "I'm Sam and this is Sean, Clover, and Alex."
"Terrific." King gestured to the unoccupied seats in the jeep. "Let me give you the grand tour!"
The jeep raced through the jungle as Sean and the girls surveyed their surroundings.
"F.I.G.H.T is an international sensation," King explained. "It's seen in every nation in the world! Every terrain in the world is represented on my island!"
King's point was proven as the jungle changed into a desert and the desert changed into a tundra and back into a jungle.
"F.I.G.H.T has the most fantastic playing field in any sport ever conceived!"
"This is remarkable!" Sam exclaimed in awe.
Alex took out her Compowder, calling Arnold.
"Arnold," she said as his face popped up on the screen. "Has Donna cooled down yet? Did she call off the fight?"
"Are you kidding?" Arnold said on his end, taking betting slips from multiple students. "Things are just starting to heat up! Smart money's on Donna, but you're an attractive long shot."
Alex groaned in anxiety as Sean tried comfort her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
"So, Mr. King," Clover broke in. "Have you heard about the disappearance of Reggie Willis?"
King just stared at the road ahead of him.
"Probably afraid to show his in public after his brutal defeat at the hands of my merciless gladiators."
"Brutal?" Sean asked, astonished. "Merciless? Are you saying that the fighting on your show is real?"
"Oh," King said, as if catching himself. "Of course not! It's just... showbiz! All of our action is choreographed in complete safety."
At long last, the jeep drove up to a building that looked like it was part Hollywood set, part Ancient Roman ruins.
Next to the building was a sign that read "Gladiator Studios."
King parked right in front of the building's massive entrance, letting the four spies out.
"Hit the dressing room, kids!" King said. "Suit up and meet me on stage. The show starts in an hour!"
"And I thought Sam's driving was bad!" Clover exclaimed, looking a little nauseous.
Behind the blurry, glass changing screens, Alex voiced all of their complaints.
"What is this, a wedgie suit?!"
"This is even tighter than my spy uniform!" Sean said, finally managing zip up the top part of his suit.
Once all four were finished, the sound of an applauding audience declared that their time in the dressing room was up.
Sean looked to his left. He could see that their outfits were virtually identical, looking like their normal spy uniforms but with shorter sleeves and the legs cut out.
And like the spy suits, these uniforms all differed in color. Coincidentally, Sean saw that each matched their normal uniform color.
Still, that didn't make them any less uncomfortable.
"Tell me about it," Sam agreed with him. "No wonder everybody on this island wants to fight!"
Outside, King addressed the cheering crowd through a microphone.
"Now," he began. "Let's meet the contestants!"
The cheering grew louder.
A door on the stage, bearing the show's logo, flanked by two flaming cauldrons, opened.
The spies stepped out, observing their... well, adoring public.
"Sam, Sean, Alex, and Clover will risk life and limb to try and win this!"
On the screen behind king, an image of a massive belt appeared, with a golden fist in the buckle.
"The coveted F.I.G.H.T Belt!"
The picture of the belt was replaced by those of numerous gladiators.
"But first, they have to make it past my highly trained, hand-picked, international gladiators!"
Sean looked around, wondering where they were supposed to start fighting.
"Are you ready?!" King asked the audience.
"Yeah!" the crowd cheered.
"On your mark, kids!" King said to the four teens. "Get set! Release the wolves!"
"Wait, what?" Sean asked, as a cage was lowered from the ceiling.
The cage opened, and just as King said, about a dozen gray wolves leapt out.
"Wolves?!" the spies asked, terrified.
But rather than stick around to ask more questions, they just took off running through a door that conveniently opened up behind them.
Their scenery changed from a television studio audience to a rugged canyon.
"Pick up the pace, guys!" Sam said urgently. "Those wolves look awfully hungry!"
"And we look like lunch!" Clover screamed.
While her friends kept running, Alex stopped.
"Please!" Alex said, trying to sound reassuring. "King said this is all just showbiz! These pups wouldn't hurt a fly!"
She gestured to the snarling beasts behind them, who didn't look like they were ready to relent.
If anything, they looked hungrier.
Sensing she was wrong, Alex continued running along with the others.
"Apparently, no one told the wolves it's only showbiz!" Clover shrieked.
"This is why I'm a cat person!" Sean added.
Unfortunately, they reached a dead end.
"Great!" Alex complained. "What now?!"
"Climb up!" Sam ordered.
Obeying, they gripped the rocky surface, slowly but surely scaling the side of the cliff.
"It's a good thing wolves aren't good climbers!" Sean said.
Finally, they reached the top, safe at last... or so it seemed.
"Huh?!" the spies asked.
In front of them were some of the biggest people Sean had seen in his life.
A woman dressed in Viking getup carrying a large battle axe, a man in a rhino themed costume carrying a shield and morning star, a samurai brandishing a katana and a man dressed in an odd blue outfit wielding a staff.
"Is there still time to throw ourselves to the wolves?" Clover asked.
The rhino man charged at them, swinging his morning star at them.
They jumped out of the way, Sam and Alex dodge-rolling toward the edge of the cliff.
The samurai charged at Sean, who leapt over him using his back to catapult himself to safety.
Clover, in the meantime, was gripped from behind by the Viking woman.
"Get off my back!" she yelled.
Sam was face to face with the blue, staff wielding man, who twirled it like a giant baton.
He threw it at her, who leapt out of the way, letting instead hit Clover's captor, allowing the blonde to escape.
Overhead, another gladiator, riding a jet propelled hang glider, soared above the scene, prompting all to scatter.
Sean and Sam went on together while Alex and Clover opted to go by themselves.
Jungle Zone-3:25 PM
As the gladiators pursuing Alex continued the chase through the jungle, the girl came to a river.
"Great," she said, staring at the rushing water. "The one day I forget to use moisture-wear eyeliner!"
She looked around, and spotting a tree, an idea formed in her brain.
Pressing the center of her Buzzsaw Watch, it soon proved to live up to its name as an enormous buzzsaw propelled itself from the watch and allowed her to cut through the bark.
The gladiators caught up with her, the rhino man pointing at her.
"Over there!" he shouted.
But they could do little to stop her, as by now, Alex used the tree she chopped down as makeshift raft, propelling herself down the river.
However, nothing stopped them from finding a downed log, and using it as raft to pursue her.
"Huh?" Alex asked, turning around to see them. "What do I have to do to get rid of these guys?!"
She hit the rhino man with the long stick she was using as a makeshift oar.
"Get your hands off me!" she yelled at them. "I'm not your prom date!"
With enough force, they fell off the log and into the rapids.
Just as Alex breathed a sigh of relief, her celebration was cut short by the sudden appearance of a waterfall.
"Uh-oh," she said to herself.
Standing up, she pointed her watch at another tree on the left side of the river.
A sharp metal cable expanded from the watch, letting her zip off the raft and in the jungle canopy to safety.
"See you next fall!" she called to the gladiators as they fell off the waterfall, while in the studio and in many homes around the world, people were cheering for Alex.
Except for King, who growled in frustration.
Back in the jungle, Alex jumped out of the tree, still wet from the river.
"I hope this outfit isn't dry-clean only," she said, before something moved out of the corner of her eye.
She looked to her right, and hovering beside her head was a metal spherical object flanked by two solar panels, and topped with an antenna.
She wasn't sure, but to her it looked almost like a satellite.
"Hello, what do we have here?" she asked as it floated off.
Ruins Zone-3:51 PM
Elsewhere, Sam and Sean came out of the jungle to see an ancient temple infested with overgrowth and vines.
"Whoa!" they both said.
"This island has everything except a mall," Sam said in awe.
"This is not the time to admire the scenery, Sam," Sean reminded her. "Those gladiators could be anywhere. We've got to find out what's going on here and regroup with Alex and Clover."
"Right," she agreed.
The two climbed the stairs to the entrance to the temple... blissfully unaware of the three gladiators perched above them.
The blue man, Viking woman and another man who wore a mesh screen helmet.
"There they are!" one said. And all three jumped down, surrounding the duo.
Sean and Sam yelped in shock.
Getting over the surprise, Sam pulled out the Lip Balm Smoke Bomb and grabbed Sean's wrist. Twisting the tube, she let out the cloud of smoke, letting her pull Sean out of the cloud... and allowing them to run into the edge of the temple wall they now stood on.
Sean grit his teeth at the deep voice behind him and Sam.
"Give it up, you two."
Their three opponents advanced closer.
"Not a chance," Sam taunted as she and Sean fondled their watches.
Firing their cables, they attached them to the wall, allowing them swing in midair Tarzan-style.
They were sure they had escaped until two more gladiators, one who dressed like an ancient Egyptian and another like an executioner, charged at them from Sean's left.
"Don't these beefcakes ever take a break?!" Sam complained.
Then Sean looked out of his peripheral vision to see something he was acquainted to seeing back in L.A, but not here.
"A sewer in an ancient city?" he asked. He looked at Sam, who just shrugged.
"Oh, well," she said. "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Especially when that horse gets you away from five homicidal maniacs," Sean added.
After hopping down into the sewer, Sean tried not to gag at the scent of the sewage he and Sam now trudged through.
"This is the second time we've had to hide in a sewer," Sean said, thinking back to the boat chase in Paris a few weeks ago.
"Yeah," Sam added. "Well, let's just hope it doesn't become a pattern."
She took out her Compowder, contacting Jerry.
Jerry appeared on the screen.
"How's the mission going?" he asked them.
"Just great if you're in to running for your life from homicidal gladiators!" Sam complained.
"Bad news," Jerry informed. "It turns out several more athletes who competed on F.I.G.H.T have seemingly vanished."
"That's not hard to imagine," Sean said as Sam hung up.
After a while, they came to window with bars connecting the top and bottom.
Sean and Sam looked inside and a very disturbing sight met their eyes.
Below was some sort of... dungeon.
And inside were at least nine men busy working out an various different types of exercise equipment.
And an overseer was making sure they weren't slacking off by cracking a whip every five seconds.
"What the..." Sam asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Sam," Sean whispered.
"Seize them!" a voice shouted.
They turned around and the gladiators from before were running through the sewer.
Sean and Sam took off, running toward the first source of outside light they could see.
The good news was they found the exit. The bad news was it led straight to a 100-foot drop.
They skidded to stop themselves from falling.
Hearing the footsteps of the gladiators, they were left with no other choice but to jump.
The dove into the pool beneath the waterfall, finally losing them.
Desert Zone-4:10 PM
Out of all the spies currently trapped on the island, Clover figured her situation was the worst, even though she had no idea what horrors Sam, Alex, and Sean were going through.
As her feet took her over the endless dunes of sand, she found herself wishing she'd brought a bottle of water with her.
"I'd give my entire shoe collection for some relief from this heat!" she complained.
That was when she lost her balance, tumbling over the dune... and landing in the part of the island where the biomes changed from scorching desert to frozen tundra.
The transition from sand to ice was very jarring, but Clover nonchalantly accepted it.
"Not exactly what I had in mind," she shivered.
The hum of snowmobiles announced that Clover had no time to rest.
Pressing buttons on the side of her sneakers, the length of a ski spread out from underneath each one.
And luckily, these skis were jet propelled.
But the snowmobiles appeared to be just as fast if not faster.
As one sped up beside her, driven by a man wearing hockey equipment and swinging a long stick with spikes at the end at her, she grabbed the weapon and flipped its wielder out of the snowmobile, allowing her to hop in its vacant seat.
"Mind if I borrow this?" she asked, flooring it.
The remaining three continued the chase.
Reaching into her bag, Clover took out the hairdryer she'd received back at W.O.O.H.P headquarters.
Aiming carefully at a spot between two snowmobiles, she squeezed the handle, sending a pink laser into the ice, melting it.
Two snowmobiles strayed behind the growing meltwater pool, but one managed to get ahead, but just barely, before landing in the icy water.
Clover thought she was home free when she heard a voice call out.
"Help! I'm drowning!"
Guilt stinging her, pulled over.
"Why do I have to be such a nice person?" she asked herself.
With great effort, she pulled the downed snowmobile driver back onto land(or ice, as the case may be).
Dragging him by the collar of his Inuit-like snowsuit, she was able to pull him from the water and something lose from his neck.
Something golden, metallic, and in her opinion at least, very unfashionable.
"What's this gaudy thing?" she asked.
A necklace she supposed. But it looked too high tech to be just a fashion statement.
Meanwhile, back in the studio audience, the crowd cheered for their new favorites.
Many female members of the audience seemed to be excited over Sean in particular.
King, however, was more curious... and enraged.
This had been the farthest anyone had ever gotten. But with the show was designed, no one had ever gotten as far as the jungle.
"Who are these kids?" he muttered.
Alex stuck her head out of the foliage, looking for any sign of danger.
She was taken aback by two figures jumping from the trees down in front of her.
The figures stood up, and she was glad to see they were friendly faces.
"Sean!" she cried. "Sammy!"
"Alex!" they said in unison, hugging her.
"You're alive!" Sam said.
"Just barely," she countered. "The island's crawling with those muscle-heads!"
"Well, don't let your guard down," Sean cautioned. "They could still pop out from anywhere."
As if to prove his words, the tall grass behind them began rustling. With no wind on the island, all three assumed the worst.
They each jumped on the location of the movement, restraining the person crawling through the grass. But it turned out to be only...
"Clover?!" they asked.
"You can get off me any time now," she said uncomfortably.
In a tree not too far away from where they regrouped, the spies discussed their next move while snacking on fruit that Clover managed to find.
"I've got a hunch Reggie never left the island," Sam said, taking a pomegranate. "Not alive, at least."
Alex took a bite of a banana.
"Well, the quicker we find out what happened to Reggie," she said. "The quicker we can get ourselves off this island."
Sean swallowed the piece of passion fruit he'd picked out of the pile.
"This seems like a long shot," he said. "But maybe those underground captives can give us some answers. Sam and I saw them in the sewer while we were running from the gladiators."
"Weird, huh?" Sam added.
"Come to think of it," Alex said. "I saw something weird too: a satellite was following me down by the river. And then, suddenly, it disappeared."
Then, Clover reached into the pile of fruit, pulling out the golden collar she'd taken.
"Does this qualify as weird?" she asked. "It came off one of the gladiators. Looks like some kind of electronic collar."
"Prisoners, a satellite, an electronic collar," Alex summarized. "King is definitely up to something."
"I think it's time to talk to the prisoners," Sam suggested.
"Sam's right," Sean agreed. "They're the only people on this island who haven't tried to kill us."
Sam jumped off the branch, followed by Sean. Alex and Clover followed suit.
After finding a spot that was camera free, the four teens changed into their spy uniforms and ventured into the sewer Sam and Sean had visited earlier.
Running through the damp, cold, pungent tunnel, the spies did their best to overlook their less than ideal situation.
Well, all except for Clover, anyway.
"For being glamorous international spies," she complained trudging between her friends. "We spend an awful lot of time creeping through stinking sewers!"
Up ahead, Sean spotted the bars he and Sam had looked through before.
"There it is!" he announced.
He peered through, the girls joining him.
Down below, the prisoners where exactly as they had left them. Even their overseers hadn't moved.
"Wait a second!" Alex said. "These people look familiar."
"That's because they're professional athletes," Clover informed. "And probably former F.I.G.H.T contestants."
"And now King is keeping them here to work on his island!" Sam deduced.
"We've gotta save them!" Sean said.
But those plans weren't going to get off the ground as behind them stepped six of King's gladiators... weapons drawn.
"Great!" Clover shrieked. "Who's gonna save us?!"
"I've got to hand it to you four," King said to the captured spies.
After being apprehended, Sean and the girls were dragged into King's office, which they discovered doubled as a shrine to his time in the Australian Wrestling Federation.
In addition to a throne like chair, and several trophies and pictures of him in his glory days, King's office also had an assortment of exercise equipment not unlike the kind professional bodybuilders used.
"You've got the moves, you've got the skills, you've made it further than any other contestant on F.I.G.H.T! But most importantly, the audience loves you."
"Excuse us if we don't seem appreciative of your compliments," Sam said.
"That's okay," King said. "You can show your appreciation by working as warriors on my island! And once I whip you into shape, I think you'll make fine gladiators."
"As if," Alex scoffed.
Sean narrowed his eyes.
"First off," he said. "They're in plenty good shape already. I should know, I trained them. Second, you're nuts if you think you're going to turn us into gladiators!"
"Oh, I'm not," King denied, holding up a collar that looked exactly like the one Clover had shown them. "But my temperament collars will."
"Huh?" they all chorused as King turned on the many monitors behind his chair.
"I can control the moods of every gladiator on the island with a remote control."
He demonstrated the effect, showing the blue costumed gladiator doubling over in pain before getting back up with a fierce expression.
"I can make my gladiators as docile as kitties or as vicious as cornered Pit Bulls."
"And you do it all from the comfort and safety of your studio!" Sam spat.
"You never even have to get your hands dirty!" Sean added.
"That's the idea!" King beamed, turning the monitors off. "Fit them with the collars."
The gladiators grabbed each of the spies as King's chair disappeared below a trap door.
"I need to check our ratings," he said. Then he was gone.
While the huge executioner had Sean, Alex and Clover restrained, Sam was struggling against the man dressed like a rhino.
Her struggle was in vain as he managed to slip a collar on her, screaming as it activated.
"Sam!" Sean shouted.
The remaining gladiator, the masked one Clover had saved, growled, before grabbing the executioner by the solar plexus, letting his three captives go.
Doing a body slam, his opponent was down in seconds.
Then he tackled the rhino man, sending him flying into the wall.
Once they were neutralized, he took of his mask and stared at the spies.
"Reggie!" Clover beamed on recognizing him.
Indeed Reggie Willis was now smiling at them as he ripped off the collars of the other two gladiators.
"I don't know how to repay you," he said sincerely. "You saved my life when you fished me out of that frozen lake and pulled my collar off."
"That was you?" Clover asked, amazed.
Reggie smiled again.
"There's no need to repay me," she continued, blushing madly. "There's no need to repay me, but, FYI, I like foreign movies, white roses, and chocolate."
"Clover!" Sean gently scolded, then turned to Reggie.
"Ignore her," he told the athlete apologetically. "She gets starstruck like you wouldn't believe."
Before Reggie could make any comment on Clover's behavior, Sam tackled him from behind.
He threw her off, but she recovered with a backflip.
"Sam?" Sean asked, concerned.
"Rude way to show your appreciation, Sam," Alex said.
"It's her collar!" Reggie informed. "It's been activated!"
"You'll never capture the fight belt!" Sam declared aggressively. "We gladiators will never allow it!"
She ran through the giant metal doors off to the side, which opened and let her escape back into the arena.
"We've gotta save Sam!" Clover exclaimed.
"How can we when she's under the power of that collar?" Sean asked.
"She's got that crazy look in her eyes!" Alex added. "Like when there's a half-off sale at the mall."
"If we can't take off the collar," Reggie said. "Maybe we can block King's signal."
"But how?" Sean asked, desperately. "We don't even know where it's coming from!"
Alex thought back, remembering.
"Wait a second, maybe the signal has something to do with that satellite!"
"I've seen the satellite too," Reggie said in realization. "It's worth a shot."
The audience cheered as Sean, Clover, Alex, and Reggie fought their way through gladiator after gladiator, while King just observed with utter bewilderment.
"This isn't right," he noted. "They're supposed to have collars on!"
He looked down at his watch, twisting a dial around the face.
"Let's see how they do against my gladiators now."
It took them a while, but Alex had finally found the satellite she had seen earlier, hovering above a giant statue of a fist surrounded by jungle.
"There it is!" she shouted, pointing at it.
And currently, it was transmitting its signal to the collars of the other gladiators, who now looked even more aggressive than they did before, if that was possible.
"How are we going to take that satellite out with those gladiators out there?" Sean asked.
"If we could just get past them," Clover said. "Maybe we could scale the cliff."
"If we only had a decoy," Reggie pondered.
At that, Sean and Clover turned to Alex.
"Oh!" she complained. "Why am I always the decoy?!"
But she didn't argue. Instead she jumped over to a rock near where they were all gathering.
"Hey!" she yelled as loud as she could. "Knuckleheads! Here I am! Think you can catch me?!"
She was out of her mind. At least, that's what she thought as the gladiators pursued her through the jungle.
"Stop her!" one shouted.
While Alex was otherwise... indisposed, Sean, Clover and Reggie scaled the fist-shaped rock.
Sean gulped, hoping that all would go well and he'd have Sam back.
Why did his face heat up every time he thought about her?
Back in the studio, King was making preparations of his own, donning a suit of armor that looked exactly like the one real Roman gladiators wore.
"No one wins on my show!" he growled. "My gladiators are unbeatable!"
He donned the helmet that completed his look.
"I'm unbeatable!"
Even though his palms were sweaty, Sean was determined to keep his grip on the rock surface of the cliff.
He was thankful his W.O.O.H.P training included rock climbing. But it also included rock climbing while in the face of adversity, such as storms, fires, earthquakes, and enemy artillery.
And that last one, judging by the sound of a helicopter nearby, was about to be put to the test.
He and the others looked around, and sure enough, a helicopter with the show's logo flew past them.
"Look out!" Clover shouted. "It's King!"
And that was when the rockets started firing.
While her friends were busy trying to destroy the satellite and free Sam and the others, Alex was busy running for her life.
So busy, in fact, that she didn't look where she was going. She tripped over something.
A rock or tree root, she reasoned.
But she was wrong on both counts.
Looking back up, Sam stood over her, wearing a suit of armor befitting of a Greek goddess and a glare that could curdle milk.
"Sam!" Alex exclaimed. "You look tense. What do you say I take that collar off and give you a nice relaxing massage?!"
But Sam just stared at her in hate, then grabbed the back of her shoulder and dragged Alex off into the jungle.
Before King could shoot anymore at them, Reggie had knocked a rock loose from the cliff's surface then threw it into the helicopter's blades.
Its only method of staying airborne destroyed, the helicopter crashed into the top of the fist shaped monolith.
"Nice shot!" Sean said, impressed.
"Too bad rock throwing isn't an Olympic event," Clover added. "You'd win the gold for sure!"
They continued to climb.
"Aaagh!" Alex screamed as her brainwashed friend now held her upside down by the ankle over a large cliff.
"Sam!" she pleaded. "Don't do it! Don't you remember me?! I'm Alex! We're best friends!"
"Huh?" Sam wondered in confusion, but then went back to her aggressive state. "We were best friends!"
Finally, Sean, Clover, and Reggie reached the top.
But before anyone could get a grasp of the situation, Sean gasped.
"Duck!" he ordered.
Clover screamed as she and her companions dodged a blow from King, who had dug out one of the helicopter's blades from the wreckage and was now using it as an impromptu weapon.
"You'll never get the belt!" King said, swinging the blade over his head. "No one beats me!"
He swung it at them again, only this time they jumped over his swipes, landing safely on the top of the cliff.
Sean and Clover looked up to see the satellite hovering over them.
"Reggie!" Sean said, gesturing at the satellite.
The athlete nodded, understanding what he had to do.
"Hey, King!" he said, getting King's attention. "Your gladiators are the biggest wimps I've ever fought and I'm gonna win that belt."
King was so infuriated that he didn't take notice of the satellite now hovering just above Reggie's shoulder.
He charged, using the broken helicopter blade like a lance.
Reggie stood his ground, no matter how close the insane show host was to him.
"Reggie, look out!" Clover warned.
As King leapt into the air, his blade ready to plunge into the Olympic decathlete's chest, Reggie knelt down.
Instead of hitting Reggie, the blade collided with King's satellite, reducing to a pile of rubble that fell to the jungle floor.
"No!" King shouted.
As Sam was about to drop Alex to her doom, her collar deactivated.
Regaining her senses, she looked down.
"Help!" Alex shouted.
"Alex?" Sam gasped. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? What are you doing?! Pull me in!"
"No!" King sobbed. "My gladiators!"
Sean walked over, picking him up by the front of his armor.
"Will you give it a rest already?" the boy asked him. "Gladiators went out of style in 476."
He let him go, walking over to Clover and Reggie, who had reached the golden statue from which the winner was supposed to take the F.I.G.H.T Belt.
Clover unfastened the belt in question and handed it to Reggie.
"You did it!" she congratulated. "You won!"
Reggie shook his head, holding up Clover's hand along with Sean's.
"No," he denied. "We won."
Clover swooned while Sean struggled to keep her from fainting with only one arm, but Reggie let her go, forcing the boy lift her up by the shoulders.
As Reggie flexed, knowing that show's entire audience was watching, Sean looked at the limp Clover.
"Guess I'll have to call Jerry to pick up King myself," he said, taking out his wallet phone.
Beverly Hills High School-8:45 AM
As the bell rang, Sean walked between Clover and Sam.
Though he noticed that Sam was looking a little despondent.
"Hey," he said to her. "You alright?"
Sam sighed. "I messed up, Sean! I knew what those collars would do to me and I let them put it on me!"
"Hey, that wasn't your fault! It's not like you could stop it!"
Sam just looked down.
"Okay, not helping," Sean said. "I get it. Look, it doesn't matter anymore. We got you back."
"I knew what I was doing but I couldn't stop it!"
"Sammy, just chill," Alex broke in. "I know it wasn't your fault. It's all good. We're still BFFs."
Sam looked over to her friends, smiling.
"Thanks, guys."
Alex looked straight ahead.
"Besides," she continued. "Isn't great to be off that island of fighting gladiators and back in Beverly Hills? I am so ready to give peace a chance."
Then she gasped as a certain biker girl stormed into the hall.
"You ready to rumble, wimp?" Donna asked.
"Oh," Sean said under his breath. "Forgot all about her."
The students in the hall now gathered around the scene, clearly hoping for the fight that was promised them.
As Donna cracked her gloved knuckles, Alex just growled in frustration.
"Listen here you big neanderthal!" she exploded, pointing at Donna. "I've been chased by wild wolves, had boulders thrown at me, and fought gladiators all night! So, if you want a piece of me, let's get it on!"
She pumped a fist, punctuating her last three words.
Donna, surprised blinked.
"Huh," she said, impressed. "For a bony runt, you're pretty tough. Not to mention, kind of cute."
"Hmm?" Alex hummed, blushing. "I am? I mean, you bet I am."
Donna threw an arm over Alex's shoulder, leading her out of the hallway.
"I didn't know you had it in you. Guess you're cooler than I thought. We're gonna have to get you a ride."
"We are?!" Alex asked, excited. "Cool!"
What else they said, Sean didn't hear, though he could have sworn he could make out the word "date."
Sam and Clover, apparently, heard it too.
"Well," Clover said. "At least one good thing came out of all this."
"Yeah?" Sam asked.
"And what's that?" Sean added onto her question. "Alex gets a date for the weekend?"
"Besides that," Clover answered. "Now that she's getting a motorcycle, I don't have to ride to school with you anymore."
She pointed at Sam.
"What do you mean?!" Sam asked, rightly offended.
But Clover just ran off through the hallway, Sam in hot pursuit, while Sean just shook his head with slight amusement.
But then he thought back to when Sam was chasing them with the intent to kill.
To think that she could be controlled like that. That she could be turned against them... him like that.
Oh, well, he thought. Chances are, that's the only time it'll happen.