8:32 A.M. – Location Unknown
She looked back again, hoping that none of those hooded creeps were following her. She wasn't sure if they had any way of tracking her down.
She was just glad to be free of that place.
Now she just needed to figure out what those freaks had done to her.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't dredge up any memories of what had happened to her or why she'd been put in this new body.
And she was pretty sure the guys in hoods were responsible for both of those.
As she stopped to take a breather, she wondered just how she was going to get around when she had absolutely no idea where she was. Even though she was clearly out of the hooded creeps' lair, she still had no clue where she was going.
Suddenly, she felt something strange well up within her. She looked down and noticed that her hand was glowing green. Not the same shade as what the hooded weirdoes had, but similar nonetheless.
Did that mean... she had some of their power, given what they'd done to her?
That got her wondering if she could...
Deciding to test that theory, she raised her glowing hand forward and thought about where she wanted to go. Anywhere but here, maybe to someone that can help me out.
After a couple seconds, a circular portal of green light burst to life in front of her.
Despite what she'd thought, this power didn't feel strange to her, even though it had assuredly been given to her by the weirdoes. This power felt... right, somehow.
But all she could do as she made her way into the portal was hope that it would, indeed, lead her to someone that could help her.
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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 116: Family Fracas
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: September 28th, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fifty-sixth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and sixteen of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. One day, Nozomi finds out that her parents may be close to separating, and it's tearing her up inside. But when she goes back to Tachikawa to see what's going on, the spies discover that their old foe Violet Vanderfleet is the one behind this, naturally attempting to cause chaos and strife among the spies. Alongside dealing with Violet's dangerous plant life, the spies also have to try and keep Nozomi from making any rash decisions that she may regret in her attempts to keep her parents together. Can the spies stop Violet before it's too late for Nozomi's parents?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, season ten is already dialed in after we got through with Mad Memory Mixup, and we saw the debuts of Mandy's lackeys Caitlin and Dominique in this. You've already seen some races from 2010 Supercross as either the prologue or epilogue in each project so far, but let's just say that I've been going round by round because there's quite a bit of developments that take place as opposed to 2009 Supercross when it was Josh Grant winning the opener at Anaheim 1 and James Stewart winning 7 races in a row. If you saw my last authored project, Fight or Flight, that was a synopsis sent to me by Doc Fossil and one more of his will come soon. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: And we're still trucking along with season ten, with another interesting one from Mat. I just noticed that all four of the "could these possibly be this particular spy's last mission because of this or that" episodes have been Mat's idea. Guess he just beat me to the punch on something like this, huh? And if you're wondering who our mystery guest up above is, trust me, you'll find out soon enough. For now, let's get to the fracas! 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: A Smile to Hide the Pain
12:00 P.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
Another week of the Spring term at Malibu University had come to the spies. May, Bridget, and Haruka had returned with the Water Polo team, but their moods were mixed after losing 8-7 after playing catch-up for most of that game. Simultaneously, Mat was updating his site after the Atlanta Supercross left him feeling a bit of everything after Suzuki's Ryan Dungey won his third race of the 2010 season, and Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto finished a disappointing 19th due to a bad crash and a visit to the pits after a clump of dirt got stuck in the tailpipe of his Kawasaki. To top it off, Honda's temporary stable-mate Trey Canard on the #38 had hit the podium in only his second race on the 450 with a 2nd place finish.
"How're you girls holding up?" Nick asked as he came into the den.
Currently, May, Bridget, and Haruka were having lunch, and Mat was rewatching the Atlanta race. Nozomi came out with Nick.
"Well, we're feeling a bit disappointed because we think we could have and should have pulled off an upset," May answered.
"I admit Mat's race has helped us forget about that a little bit," Bridget commented.
"What happened?" Mat wondered since he hadn't covered that game at all.
"Well, we had a chance to tie it, but our coach subbed May out for the last possession," Haruka explained. "We got a shot off before the buzzer courtesy of Bridget, but she didn't make it."
"We played the last possession like how our coach wanted, but Bridget's shot was blocked," May finished.
"Oh, that's really too bad," Mat told them. "That could have been overtime, but I guess we'll never know."
Sam, Clover, Alex, and Britney had returned with some lunches of their own, and Sam and Britney noticed Mat was rewatching the Atlanta race in a taped format, according to Mat.
"What'd we miss?" Haruka asked as Nick went to Alex.
"To not spoil much, Trey Canard stunned me last night," Mat remarked.
Fortunately, the Supercross main was just starting, and they came to see how the Atlanta race went since they didn't get to see it with the others due to their water polo game. They were surprised at seeing Canard running as high as 3rd and then saw Villopoto's crash.
"Yikes, that looked like it was rough," Bridget quipped.
"Now I see what you meant when you said you wished we'd seen this," May chuckled. "That was just crazy!"
"And how much do you want to bet it's only going to get crazier from here on out?" Haruka noted.
After seeing the final results, they could see Canard with his 2nd place finish behind Dungey, and Villopoto listed in 19th.
"What's up with the rookies?" May wondered.
"I said the exact same thing about Canard," Nick laughed.
"Yeah, you missed a great one," Alex told Bridget, Haruka, and May.
"You should've seen the Lites main, though," Mat added.
"No doubt about that," Sam quipped.
Melissa and Dawn returned to the penthouse as well, and Melissa naturally went to Mat.
"How're you girls holding up?" Melissa asked Bridget, May, and Haruka.
"Okay, I suppose," May answered.
"Well, nothing a little beach day can't fix," Clover suggested.
Everybody agreed to it, including Bridget, May, and Haruka.
"No use moping about it," Bridget remarked.
"Yep," May added. "We may have only led the first quarter, but everyone has a temporary setback..."
To be exact, the Mali-U Water Polo team had only led the first quarter, 2-1, but they trailed for the rest of the game. At halftime, Mali-U trailed, 5-3, but they managed to tie the score at 6 at the end of the third. It was tied at 7 early in the fourth quarter until the opposing team had scored what would be the final goal of the evening with only 5 minutes remaining.
1:02 P.M. – Malibu University
Beach Area
While at the beach, Sam, Clover, and Bridget were having fun in the ocean while Mat was sitting with Britney and Melissa. Nick was having fun with a two-on-two beach volleyball game with Alex, Haruka, and Nozomi.
"I wonder where May got off to..." Alex wondered at a stopping point.
"I think she's having fun surfing out there," Nick chuckled as he pointed towards the water, where May could be seen surfing along the waves.
"I don't think she needs to prove anything else to Souji," Nozomi giggled.
"Ah, she's probably just enjoying shreddin' some waves, as they say," Haruka quipped, only to see the volleyball fly right past her. "H-Hey, that's cheating!"
"This is why you keep your eye on the birdie, Haruka," Alex giggled.
"All right, then, you clearly asked for it!" Haruka proclaimed as she prepared herself. "See how you like this!"
As Alex served the ball back, Haruka jumped off of Nozomi's shoulders to get enough height to intercept the volleyball in mid-flight, then slammed it with both hands, sending it flying back with enough force to slam into Nick's chest with barely any warning and send him skidding back across the sand.
"...oof, that was a thing that happened," Bridget chuckled.
"...my moment of triumph was fleeting," Nick sputtered as he picked himself up from the sand.
In the end, Nick and Alex won the first game, but as it was going to be a best of three, they decided to take a quick break until the second game.
During that break, though, Nozomi got a message on her X-Powder, and she flipped it open to see what it was.
After a couple seconds of taking in what she saw, though, her expression quickly morphed from shock to sadness to worry.
Before anyone could ask her what was wrong, though, Nozomi scrambled to her feet and took off, leaving the spies confused.
"...okay, what just happened?" Haruka wondered.
"I might have some kind of feeling, because I've been in that situation before, and I know Nozomi has, too," May quipped.
"What do you say, everyone? Should we get to W.O.O.H.P.?" Sam asked.
"I think that's a good idea, Sammy," Nick responded. "Because that look on her face got me very concerned."
With that in mind, the twelve remaining spies all packed up their beach stuff, returned to their penthouse to put it away, and took off for W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.
1:57 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"I would assume this is about Nozomi?" Jerry asked once the spies had entered his office. Naturally, this surprised all of them.
"Wait, did she stop by W.O.O.H.P. at all?" Nick wondered.
"Yeah, she requested a Skyskimmer ride and then she just took off," RiCO answered after materializing in the office. "She looked very stressed out for some reason."
"It must have something to do with whatever that message she got was," Melissa noted.
"If it's not any trouble, Jerry, could we take a Skyskimmer of our own and follow her?" Alex asked. "Given how upset she looked, I'm worried she might do something rash."
"And trust us, Jerry, we've been in that boat many times before," Clover quipped.
"We've already prepared your Skyskimmer, believe it or not," iCO responded. "When we noticed how upset Nozomi looked, we figured something was up."
"You guys are lifesavers," May stated. "Come on, everybody, let's get moving, and quick."
As the spies made their way to their own Skyskimmer, they couldn't help but wonder what exactly what was in that message Nozomi sent. What did she see that had gotten her so upset?
2:42 P.M. – Tachikawa, Tokyo
"Ah, home sweet home," May quipped, even if this wasn't the part of Tachikawa she had grown up in. The spies had opted to land in Nozomi's original neighborhood to begin their investigation. "Sort of."
"All right-y, then, let's try and find Nozomi before she gets herself into any trouble," Mat stated. "Can you sense her anywhere nearby, Nick?"
"Nope, no dice," Nick responded. "She's probably out of my radar's range right now."
"...wait, I think I'm picking up her X-Powder signal," Haruka answered. "Let's move!"
However, when they made it to the nearby town hall, where the signal had been coming from, there was absolutely no sign of Nozomi, just her X-Powder lying on the ground as if she'd dropped it and forgotten about it.
"Okay, this is really getting weird," Blaine noted. "What's her X-Powder doing lying on the ground here?"
"Let me see if it can tell us what's gotten Nozomi so upset," Nick quipped as he kneeled down to pick up Nozomi's X-Powder, flipping it back to the message that was most likely the culprit.
"What does it say, Nick?" Alex wondered when she noticed Nick's thoughtful expression.
"I hope I'm wrong about this, but..." Nick sighed. "It looks like Nozomi's parents might be getting a divorce."
"W-Wait, what?" Bridget gasped in surprise. "That doesn't sound right at all. The last time Nozomi talked about her parents, which was only about two weeks ago, apparently they were both as happy as they could be!"
"Yeah, I highly doubt a relationship that's lasted as long as theirs has could just dissolve into chaos in that short of a time," Mat stated.
"That's why I'm suspicious," Nick responded. "And it's also why I'm pretty damn sure this reeks of our rogues' gallery."
"But who, though?" Dawn wondered. "Who'd possibly be petty enough to want to destroy a relationship just to spite... us..."
Dawn trailed off when she made the connection to the most likely culprit, and it didn't take long for the rest of the spies to figure it out as well.
Before they could make plans to go find said villain and possibly kick their face in, Nick looked up, then towards the southwest.
"Uh-oh, I know that look," May quipped. "Something wicked this way comes, right, Nick?"
"Yup, and we've got a lot of it," Nick answered.
Almost as if on cue, a small platoon of insectoid-looking plants started marching towards them.
The more plant-looking minions resembled a flower with orange roots, a thick green stem, many tendrils, and pink petal-like structures that encased a tall pod with a pointed tip.
The more insect-looking minions heavily resembled a human-sized rhinoceros beetle, grayish-blue in color, and with six legs. They had a massive, cyclopean eye with a black pupil and a yellow iris that took up the majority of the front of their face, two serrated mandibles at the bottom of their head and a single horn on top, and segmented armor which curved forward in a singular spike.
"Jeez, that's even creepier than the last ones we fought," Clover groaned.
"Is this one a kaiju, too, May?" Mat asked, since May was the resident kaiju movie expert among the spies.
"Yup, that's Legion, from Gamera 2," May answered. "What the heck is Violet's fascination with sending freakin' kaiju after us, really?!"
"Maybe it's because I need to step up my game if I'm going to destroy the likes of you, you little wretches," Violet Vanderfleet chuckled, showing herself while riding on the back of one of the Soldier Legion, with two Plant Legion flanking her. "And besides, I may just be a bit of a kaiju movie nut myself."
"That aside, let's get to business, Violet," Haruka proclaimed. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing here in Tachikawa, and does it have anything to do with why Nozomi came back here?"
"Oh, if you want anything from me, you'll have to wring it out of me," Violet cackled.
Nick clenched his fists and let his psychic aura explode to life around him.
"Oh, that's the idea," Nick taunted.
"You don't want to know how many lines you crossed, Violet!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Oh, I didn't cross any," Violet egotistically retorted.
"You still didn't answer Haruka's question, either..." Sam warned.
"That's because I don't need to!" Violet proclaimed.
With that, three of her killer plants came to her aid.
"Wasting no time with that crap, are ya?" Melissa taunted.
"Crap? You mean the winning formula..." Violet sneered.
That was when Violet and the three plant villains were met by psychic shots by Nick himself.
"My sister's hardly ever wrong, but you certainly are more than wrong in this predicament!" Nick exclaimed.
That was when vines came out of their branch arms.
"You aren't going to get very far..." Bridget remarked. "Sonic Mode, online!"
She then ran in various directions while the vines chased her; they ended up getting tangled up like spaghetti.
"There you have it!" Bridget quipped.
"You're making me hungry that way," Mat joked to Bridget.
"No denying your spaghetti is damn good, Mat," Dawn added.
Nick ducked and weaved through the vines as they attempted to wrap him up as well, but when two of the Plant Legion tried to box him in, Nick simply formed a psychic blade on his hands to cut them both down.
"And now for the big cheese," Nick quipped as the fired a Final Shine Attack directly towards Violet, only for one of the Soldier Legion to fly in and take the blast.
"Why, yes, I did remember to give them extra armor for their shells," Violet cackled.
In response, May wound up before throwing her anchor like a javelin to take down the Soldier Legion that had protected Violet, its shell cracking and splintering as it fell.
"...you were saying, lady?" May taunted.
"Looks like these fauna killers could use a little something hot..." Clover remarked.
"My sentiments exactly," May stated. "And I think we can make something, too..."
The two of them combined their Laser Heat Curling Irons to try spark a fire.
Thankfully, it worked just as expected, with the Laser Heat Curling Irons burning a sizable hole in the Plant Legions they'd fired at.
"So plants like that are vulnerable to fire, ice and anchors," May chuckled. "Good to know."
Violet looked in complete shock that her three plant villains were dealt with.
"If that's not proof we've got you covered, you're dumber to think you still have a chance," Blaine taunted.
"Lucky for me, I always have a backup plan," Violet sneered, regaining her self-esteem.
"Be ready, spies," Sam told the others and equipped the Pouffy Pendant.
"That'll do you no good," Violet proclaimed. "Now, feel the wrath of my..."
Her statement got interrupted by a hand right around her neck area, and Violet could feel her airways being blocked by the pressure.
"What the heck?!" Alex wondered.
Violet Vanderfleet then fell to the ground unconscious, and Nozomi stood behind her with a toad-like expression on her face.
"Wow, I'd have expected that from Jerry," Clover commented. "Go, Nozomi!"
"And glad we finally found you, Nozomi," Melissa remarked.
"Are you holding up okay, Nozomi?" Britney asked, hoping Nozomi hadn't fallen under an influence or something.
Mat, Sam, Nick, and Melissa looked over at the unconscious Violet Vanderfleet, then back to Nozomi, who looked rather sad, despite everything, though the spies could understand, given the bombshell that had been dropped her way.
Before anyone could talk to Nozomi, she simply ran off without sparing a second glance at the spies.
"...okay, that was weird," Bridget quipped. "Could she be hypnotized or something?"
"I'm not entirely sure yet," Nick admitted. "I didn't get a chance to read her mind before she ran off."
"This is starting to get really weird, if you ask me," Melissa noted. "I know Nozomi's upset about her parents possibly breaking up, but that look in her eyes really unnerved me."
"We'd better go and check in on her parents first," Sam stated. "We need to see if this situation is really as bad as it seems like."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Mat responded. "You probably know this area better than most of us, Nick, so why don't you lead the way?"
"Wait, what about Violet?" Dawn asked.
"Just leave her there," May quipped. "We can keep kicking her face in if we've gotta."
Nick did just that, leading the spies through Tachikawa back towards the Itou household, reminiscing on how long it had been since he was in this particular part of Tachikawa, considering most of their return trips to this area had been in May's neighborhood to assist the Jellyfish Pirates when it came to a case.
Nick took a tentative step towards the front door of the Itou household, but before he could knock, he suddenly heard shouting and what sounded like heavy objects being thrown.
"...oh, that didn't sound any kind of good," Alex quipped.
Nick didn't need his psychic abilities to know that something was very wrong inside that house. Bracing himself for whatever was about to happen, Nick pushed open the front door and stepped inside...
...only to be forced to quickly drop to the floor as a random vase came flying his way and shattered against the upper wall above the door.
"H-Hey, what the hell?!" Nick shouted, taking a good look towards the nearby room where that vase had come from, and it was there that he saw Mr. and Mrs. Itou fighting with each other, almost like they were actually getting into a physical fight and not just an atypical shouting match.
"Well, this brings back a bunch of memories I'd rather not relive," May groaned, remembering how similar this was to one of their much earlier scuffles with Violet, when May had finally confessed her feelings for Nick.
"I think that's your cue to get in there, Nick," Haruka quipped.
"You read my mind, and that's what I usually do," Nick chuckled as he moved towards the kitchen where the fight was happening.
"Don't you force-feed me that crock of shit," Mrs. Itou growled as she tried to punch her husband, an attack that he ended up ducking. "I know what you were doing on those 'trips'!"
"Oh, like you're one to talk," Mr. Itou retorted as he picked up a teacup and threw it as hard as he could, just barely missing his wife. "What about all the times I saw you sneak out of the house when you thought I wasn't looking?!"
"That's none of your business, and you know it!" Mrs. Itou shouted.
"We're supposed to be married, which automatically makes it my business, you selfish witch!" Mr. Itou snarled back.
"Okay, I'm stepping in now, because this is just getting sad," Nick quipped as he moved closer and unleashed a psychic pulse all around him that knocked both of them to the ground.
Much to Nick's surprise, however, this didn't seem to have any effect, as both Mr. and Mrs. Itou simply got back up and started going at it like they hadn't even been interrupted.
"Wait, wait, that didn't work?!" Melissa gasped. "That usually does, right?"
"Hey, you two, knock it off right this instant!" Bridget exclaimed.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Mr. and Mrs. Itou shot back, throwing another vase at the spies and forcing them to retreat back outside.
"I have no words for what we just witnessed," Blaine admitted. "They were really going at it."
"I'm pretty sure it's not something that just happened, because I got a chance to check out their minds before we had to scram, and they're definitely being brainwashed," Nick responded.
"Here's the question I'm sure is on everyone's minds," Clover stated. "Why didn't Nick's wake-up pulse work this time, when it's worked mostly every time so far?"
Before the spies could ponder that conundrum, Nick suddenly realized something and flipped open his X-Powder to contact Jerry and RiCO.
"How goes the mission, spies?" Jerry asked.
"There's a lot to unpack here, but basically, we have good reason to believe that Violet Vanderfleet is up to something here," Nick responded. "Nozomi's parents are fighting like it's straight out of Mortal Kombat, and Nozomi herself is acting all kinds of strange. And here's the kicker: I tried my usual trick to snap Nozomi's parents out of it, and it didn't work."
"That is a bit of a pickle," Jerry admitted.
"Which actually brings me to why I called you," Nick continued, catching the spies' attention. "Do you remember way long ago, when Violet did something similar to this in Beverly Hills with an army of Biollante monsters? You used some of the pollen from those monsters to make an antidote for this problem, right?"
"...ah, I see what you're getting at," RiCO chuckled. "Well, good news is, we kept some samples of that pollen just in case we'd ever need that antidote again, so we can make some to send your way, but it's gonna take a bit of time to make enough for all of you."
"You rock, RiCO!" Alex giggled.
"It probably has something to do with the fact that the hypnotizing effect is based on Violet's pollen and not like most brainwashing methods you're all more used to," RiCO replied. "But don't worry, iCO and I are gonna get right on that."
"Right," Sam stated. "In the meantime, we're gonna try and find Nozomi before she does something she might regret."
Almost as if some cosmic force had been waiting for someone to say that, something whizzed through the air and struck Sam's X-Powder, knocking it out of her hand.
"All right, who's the wise guy?!" Haruka shouted.
"Probably Violet, I'm sure," Dawn quipped, remembering that they'd left the unconscious Violet to go investigate the Itou household.
"...no, it's not her," Nick stated as he turned around and saw that it was Nozomi, looking like she had been crying for a while, but at the same time, she also looked very angry.
"W-Wait, Nozomi?" May gasped.
"You're not driving my parents apart, you monsters!" Nozomi shrieked as she charged head-on to attack the spies.
"Whoa, Nozomi, what's the big deal?!" Britney gasped.
"It's because she's been affected by Violet's pollen," Nick answered. "I can sense it in her mind clear as day now."
Before anyone could make a move to try and stop her, Nozomi threw down a flash grenade that swallowed the immediate area in a massive flash of light. The spies could just barely see Nozomi moving to grab Britney through the light, and when it finally cleared up, both of them had vanished.
"D-Did... did Nozomi just spy-nap Britney?!" Clover gasped.
"We'd better go after her," Nick responded. "And hope that Jerry and the boys at W.O.O.H.P. can finish that antidote quickly."
Nothing more needed to be said as the spies all took off in the direction they were sure Nozomi had retreated.
"If Nozomi's under the influence of Violet's pollen, what made her try to kill Violet herself?" Alex wondered.
"Probably a defect in the pollen, or perhaps Nozomi declared there was a new mission," Sam cringed.
"Nick, are you able to track where Nozomi had gotten to?" May asked.
"Not yet," Nick stated. "But at least I would know some of Nozomi's usual spots from the time we were an item..."
"You really think she'll be at one of them?" Mat wondered.
"Take my word, bro," Nick emphasized. "Next to Alex, Haruka, and Melissa, Nozomi's the top person in my list of close people that I've been able to predict just about every single time... maybe you're in the running for second or third, Mat..."
"Makes sense, honestly," Clover commented.
Melissa, Dawn, and May could only agree in that context.
The first place the spies investigated was a restaurant near the suburban area of the neighborhood, a place that they had frequented a lot in their youth. Nick was surprised to see that it was still open, given how long it had been around for.
"Well, that turned out to be a bust," Blaine chastised.
"Hopefully the next one is the one," Mat remarked.
"Maybe that'll be when my radar pinpoints Nozomi's thoughts," Nick added.
The investigation continued through the local park where Nick and Nozomi had gone on quite a few dates, through the public pool, and even through what had been a playground. Nick remembered that one very well, as Nozomi had often taken him here so they could practice for their middle school karate classes.
Eventually, though, they found something back near the pool area.
"What the heck?!" Bridget chastised. "It's Britney's X-Powder!"
"Sure hope Brit left a clue..." Alex stated, feeling for Britney.
Mat could feel his heart sink a bit since he and Britney were an item, and he checked out Britney's X-Powder.
"Did she leave something?" Haruka wondered until Sam stepped forward to see for herself.
"She left a message for us," Mat remarked.
"It says... 'Look for what remains in the hallowed ground of education'," Sam stated.
"Ugh, it had to be school," Clover groaned, even though the others could tell she was just teasing in an attempt to relieve some tension.
"...wait, I know exactly where that is," Nick quipped.
"Same here," Haruka added.
"Well, lead the way," Clover proclaimed.
3:59 P.M. – Tachikawa, Tokyo
Rising Lights Middle School
"I'm picking up Nozomi and Britney's thoughts here," Nick told the others once they'd reached the location, the old Rising Lights Middle School that he and Nozomi had attended in their youth.
Melissa, Dawn, and May were all having major flashbacks of this location; Haruka was no different.
"There's Britney!" Mat exclaimed at seeing Britney being held by her wrists high in the air.
"Guys, you've walked into a trap!" Britney shouted down below.
Before any of the spies could wonder what that meant, they all noticed that a swarm of Plant Legion had shuffled around the corner to greet them.
"Oh, great, these things are back," Melissa groaned.
"You know I couldn't resist making you all walk right into my clutches," Violet laughed as she appeared as well, riding on a Soldier Legion. "Now, my lovely plants, destroy them."
"Oh, please, Violet," Nick taunted, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "We've beaten your monster plants many times before, and this is gonna be no different!"
Both Sam and Melissa started out, firing Laser Heat Curling Irons to burn a few of the Plant Legion, while Alex popped an Arctic Blast Breathmint into her mouth and blew as hard as she could, freezing another group of Plant Legion into blocks of ice that May swiftly shattered with multiple anchor swings.
While this was happening, Mat rushed forward, punching Plant Legion away with a Metal Masher Boxing Glove until he reached Britney, at which point he took out a Laser Chapstick and fired it to snap Britney's restraints.
"Probably didn't feel like fun hanging there like a fish, huh?" Mat chuckled as Britney moved to hug him.
"Trust me, I've got some lumps of my own to deliver to Violet for that," Britney quipped.
"Hey, did you see Nozomi anywhere around here?" Mat asked. "Nick was picking up her thoughts around here, but..."
"She tied me up and then she just left," Britney answered. "That was when Violet showed up."
"INCOMING!" May shouted as she threw her anchor like a javelin to intercept a Soldier Legion that had been flying towards Mat and Britney. "No interrupting couple moments on my watch, bug boy!"
After blasting a Plant Legion that was trying to grab Alex, Nick took to the sky and fired a Final Shine Attack to blast the Soldier Legion that Violet was riding on, causing her to fall off and crash to the ground.
"Why don't you just give it up already?" Nick taunted. "I'm sure you're as sick of this runaround as we are."
"Oh, you'd want that, wouldn't you?" Violet chuckled. "By the way, I heard from a certain little birdie that your usual psychic wake-up trick didn't work."
"Well, we'll be fixing that soon enough, you know," Haruka retorted as she blasted another Plant Legion down with a shot from her Electromagnetic Curling Iron.
"We'll see, won't we?" Violet cackled as she retreated, the remains of her current plant army following her closely behind.
"...um, what the heck was that all about?" Bridget wondered. "She just taunted us and dipped?"
"Yeah, that was pretty cowardly, even for her," Clover chuckled.
Nick simply pointed to the east, where the spies could now see Nozomi advancing on them.
And she looked mad as hell.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Sam: W-Wait, Nozomi?
Dawn: Oh, I don't like that look in her eyes.
Melissa: Whoa!
Blaine: Anyone have any ideas?
Mat: If Nick's wake-up pulse isn't going to work, we may have to just try and hold her off until that antidote spray is ready.
Blaine: Yeah, but how long will that take?
Nozomi: You're not taking anything else away from me, you wackos!
Nick: Nozomi, you've gotta snap out of it!
RiCO: Don't worry, Nick, we've finished our batches of the antidote spray, and we're sending a Skyskimmer your way to drop 'em off. Just try and hold her off until they get to you!
Nick: That's pretty much exactly what I'm doing, next time on Totally Spies: Family Fracas, "A Spray a Day Keeps the Plant Away"!
Nozomi: Man, I'm definitely feeling nostalgic. I saw this set way back in season two, even if we never actually used it for A Matter of Family.
May: You never know when they might have a brain blast, right?