9:15 A.M. – Unknown Location
"Damn it all, they're gone again?!" Gigi exclaimed after her thorough search of the area turned up nothing. "These guys really only know how to run..."
"Well, that's probably because they're onto us, Gigi," Cecilia responded. "I highly doubt they'd stay in one place and let us wreck them, especially given how long we've been chasing them..."
"Is there any sign of that other strange person with the Collective's energy signature, Raora?" Elizabeth wondered.
Raora glanced around, using her sight powers to search for any sign of that trail.
"They're on the move again, I think," Raora answered. "I'm not sure if this person is really an enemy, though, considering they don't seem to be following the same pattern as the rest of the Collective..."
"If they have some of the Collective's power, then they could potentially be our enemy," Elizabeth responded. "But for now, let's just wait until we find them before we pass judgment on 'em."
"...everything okay, Raora?" Gigi asked when she noticed Raora's eyes twinkling.
"I'm not entirely sure, but... I can sense something about this place," Raora replied. "Almost as if there were some great battle that took place. I can still sense the last fading echoes of that battle."
"This world's really got a lot of surprises, doesn't it?" Cecilia chuckled. "And you're sure this wasn't one of our fights that we just forgot about?"
"I think I'd remember if that was the case, Cici," Raora quipped. "Remember, I have a photographic memory."
"Well, well, it seems like this mystery just keeps getting deeper and deeper, doesn't it?" Elizabeth chuckled. "For now, everyone, let's just keep pulling at this string, and we'll see exactly what it unravels."
(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 117: Marina Madness
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: October 13th, 2024
Story Summary: The one-hundred and fifty-eighth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode one hundred and seventeen of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. A bunch of animals stationed on Siren Island have mysteriously vanished for inexplicable reasons. The spies naturally suspect that Helga is up to her old tricks, but not this time! It's actually the work of Charleston and the Ringmaster, having teamed up to create a circus-like water park attraction full of "circus freaks". Worse, they've also managed to kidnap Siren while she was trying to defend the island! Thankfully, Rei managed to escape unharmed, joining up with the spies to shut down this demented water circus and hopefully free Siren from a fate worse than unwanted mutation...
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, well, well... it's our next project with an old friend or two returning in Siren and Rei. We hope you enjoyed our last one, Family Fracas, which dealt with the possibility that was Nozomi's last WOOHP mission, but it turned out not to be. Plus, if you haven't already, please read and review my latest one-shot titled Somewhere in the Rain. I'd appreciate it for sure. Anyway, for this one, there's going to be a lot of water involved in battle, and on this mission itself. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: The mutants are back in town, but it's NOT Helga this time! Like last season's Datascape adventure, this time I decided to change up the game slightly, because today, our villains are a guy who's only made a small appearance way back in The New Adventures season five and a guy who's making his New Adventures debut! You also probably know that our next movie is trucking along during all of this, too, but that's for another time that's not here. For now, let's take a water ride! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
Act 1: Dive Into the Mellow
11:34 A.M. – Malibu University
The Spies' Penthouse
"ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!" Clover exclaimed, unable to believe what had just happened.
"See, Clover, that's what you get when you don't know how to bait the counters," May chuckled.
"I'd like to think it's gotten easier once we have more experience with this game," Bridget quipped.
"So help me, I'll defeat your lousy Fire Emblem characters yet!" Clover proclaimed rather dramatically.
Needless to say, another rowdy Super Smash Bros. session was getting underway at the spies' penthouse at Malibu University.
"If it's not one thing, it's another, isn't it?" Sam chuckled as she and Mat entered the penthouse to see the scene before them.
"Wow, you guys are getting pretty rowdy, huh?" Michi chuckled. After literally dropping into their penthouse the other day, the spies had agreed to let Michi stay with them until she recovered her memories.
"That's how Smash sessions usually get around here," May noted.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Alex giggled. "At least it's a nice day again, huh?"
"Yeah, winter's slowly starting to give way to spring," Haruka quipped. "About dang time, if you want my opinion. Why is it that winter is always the season that sticks around longer than it should, and summer's the one that just zooms by like it's Sonic the Hedgehog or something?"
"Forever one of the greatest mysteries of our time," Nick laughed.
Just as everyone was turning back to their Smash session, the spies all heard a beep coming from somewhere in the room.
Knowing what that most likely meant, Nick raised his hand to project a large psychic bubble around everyone as the ceiling slid open to reveal a large metal tube.
Nick snapped his fingers to dispel the bubble once the suction stopped, only for the floor to suddenly open up and drop everyone into it, the floor quickly closing back up after.
The surprised spies all fell down onto the large cushion formed by the O in Jerry's office, still a little surprised that Jerry had pulled a fast one on them again.
"He's getting better," Clover quipped.
"I do have to try and catch you off guard sometimes," Jerry chuckled. "But anyways, let us get down to business."
"W-What the heck just happened?" Michi gasped, having been completely caught off-guard by that.
"It's always a little overwhelming the first time, Michi," Haruka quipped. "Trust me, all of us here can relate."
RiCO materialized in the office and waved her hands to change the office viewscreen to a video feed of Siren Island, a large island far off the coast of Beverly Hills where Siren and some of her fellow mutated animals lived.
"Recently, some of the animals on Siren Island have gone missing," RiCO stated.
"Oh, lordy, you don't think Helga's back, do you?" Britney groaned. "This smells like her handiwork, after all..."
"Actually, it isn't them," RiCO responded, and this surprised the spies. "Our surveillance footage caught these two charlatans in the act."
The viewscreen changed to show a much earlier video feed of both Charleston, the dolphin-human hybrid from Dorsal Academy, and the Ringmaster, the four-armed man who had run his own freakshow circus.
"Oh, lordy, it had to be these two," Alex groaned. "After what both of them did to me, I kinda hoped they'd just waste away in their containment cell..."
"W-Wait, is that Siren they captured?" Nick gasped when he saw who the Ringmaster had caught in his large net.
"Oh, that can't be good in the slightest," Melissa stated.
"How about we head over to Siren Island and see if we can find some clues?" Nozomi responded. "Maybe it might be able to help us find where they took Siren."
Nothing more needed to be said as the spies all retrieved their gadgets so they could set out.
As Michi watched the spies coordinate, she couldn't help but feel like she'd lucked out in finding them.
12:26 P.M. – Siren Island
Off the Coast of Beverly Hills
"Yikes, it's kinda quiet here," Alex noted when the spies had touched down on Siren Island. "It's eerie."
"Can you sense any of the animals here, Nick?" Sam wondered.
Nick took a step forward before using his psychic radar to scan the immediate area for any sign of Siren's fellow mutant animals. "...nope, it's just us," Nick sighed. "They must have nabbed all the animals and vamoosed before we got here."
"Jeez, I really hope Siren's okay, wherever she is," Bridget quipped.
"Well, you won't be missing her for long."
The spies all looked up to see both Charleston and the Ringmaster approaching them, riding in a mobile pod shaped like a circus tent.
"Oh, goody, you're back," Alex groaned.
"Well, well, if it isn't my little dolphin girl," Charleston cackled. "Come to realize that your rightful place is by my side?"
"Unless you want me to blast you into the next freakin' zip code, you had better keep those grabby eyes away from my fiancée," Nick growled, his psychic aura exploding to life around him. "And don't think I won't do it."
"Ah, it seems like you have assembled quite the entourage yourselves since last we met, spies," Ringmaster chuckled. "How perfect, considering our own scheme."
Charleston and Ringmaster advanced, only for a large bubble to suddenly envelop their mobile pod before exploding outwards, sending it reeling.
"All right, who's the wise guy?!" Ringmaster growled.
The 'wise guy' in question jumped out of the water right below the mobile pod and fired a pair of ice beams from her palms to blast the pod away before landing on the ground next to the spies.
It was a girl who appeared to be about the spies' age, with long, flowing light blue hair, slightly darker blue eyes, a rather nice figure dressed in what appeared to be a combination of a dress and a hoodie with stingray designs printed on it, and a long, pointed stingray tail.
"Nice dramatic entrance, Rei," Nick chuckled. Rei was a mutant stingray hybrid created by Helga and Doctor Fox, embedded with a shard of manufactured nethicite left behind by Wavemaster's defeat that had granted Rei her aquatic powers. Initially hostile to the spies due to being convinced that they were trying to destroy their environment, Rei had swiftly seen the light and helped the spies defeat Helga and Fox. Nowadays, Rei lived on the island with Siren and the other mutated animals, protecting the island together.
"It felt appropriate," Rei quipped before turning to face the villains again. "Now what did you two little clucks do with Siren?"
"If you want to join her so easily, then we can arrange that!" Charleston cackled as the two villains approached again.
"You're asking for a beating... you got it!" Nick exclaimed.
"We should be the same to you..." Ringmaster sneered.
With that, they charged for Nick and Alex right away, but they were not intimidated.
"That was your mistake," Nick taunted as he and Alex waited for both villains to get close enough, then split apart at the last second so that their attack missed.
"Here, have some explosions on us!" Alex shouted as both her and Nick threw Incendiary Earrings that exploded on the villain's vehicle, destroying it and causing them to fall to the ground.
"Don't mess with me, Charleston!" Alex exclaimed. "I'm not your type!"
Before long, Charleston and the Ringmaster were met with shots at the ground just BARELY missing their feet.
"You want to deal with Nick and Alex, you're getting through me first!" Rei proclaimed. "I may look like a hybrid, but I can pack a wallop that'll send you home crying or beaten up..."
"Wow, 'preciate that," Nick commended to Rei.
"Plus, my thought process knows about Alex's past encounter," Rei added. "Allow me to fight on your behalf!"
Nick and Alex gladly stepped aside to let Rei take on Charleston and the Ringmaster.
"You don't know the pile of crap you've stepped in..." Charleston sneered at Rei.
"I think YOU are the ones who are standing in a big pile..." Rei retorted as she waved her hands to conjure a ring of exploding bubbles all around Charleston, then snapping her hand down to cause them all to explode and floor him easily.
Ringmaster unfurled a large whip that resembled a lasso and cracked it out to grab Rei by the waist.
"I would advise against that," Rei chuckled, grasping the lasso with her right hand and turning it into ice that she easily shattered with another downward chop.
Rei didn't even give Ringmaster a chance to gawk before she floored him with an ice beam blast from her right palm.
After Rei delivered the proverbial coup de grace, Charleston and the Ringmaster were very shocked that they were completely cleaned out.
"Had enough?" Rei emphatically retorted.
The two villains knew this was the ideal time for a tactical retreat and did so.
"I had no idea you had those kinds of talents, Rei!" Nick exclaimed.
"I'll say," Alex added.
"I feel like I just saw another Trey Canard thing on our missions this time," Mat replied.
"Not gonna argue on that," Blaine chuckled.
"Yeah, that was incredible, Rei!" Sam exclaimed.
"Thanks," Rei replied. "I've been learning more since the last time we met. But it didn't do anything in terms of finding Siren."
"Where'd you last see her?" Nick wondered. "That's what my radar's for."
"I was just swimming around the island," Rei explained. "You know, to test how fast I can swim. But then I heard this ruckus, and I resurfaced just in time to see those two clucks kidnapping Siren and a bunch of the other animals before they beat it. I was chasing after them when they came back to the island."
"Down underwater, I'm presuming?" Melissa asked.
"I'm about 90% certain it's a yes," Rei told her.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Sam asked rhetorically.
"Well, we hope you're okay, Siren," Haruka sighed, hoping for the best.
"We probably have to keep an eye out for any other animals who got nabbed as well," Nozomi quipped. "I don't want to know what those two jerks have in store for them."
"Given their track record, it can't be anything good," Clover replied.
"...do any of you hear some kind of whistling sound?" Haruka wondered.
Rei only had a chance to fire a bubble to push Nick away as a large steel cage crashed down onto the ground and trapped everyone but Nick and Rei inside it.
"You are gonna pay for that," Nick growled as Charleston and Ringmaster reappeared, driving another mobile vehicle. However, this one also held a pod that contained what was no doubt some of the captured animals, and Siren was among them.
"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you," Charleston chuckled. "Just you wait until you see our circus."
"I'm sorry, your what?!" Blaine retorted.
"If you must know why we're capturing these animals, it's very simple," Ringmaster laughed. "Look at them. Most of them have incredibly interesting mutations. They'd be perfect for a little 'freakshow circus', don't you think?"
"Is that your sick plan this time?!" May shouted.
"And with that, we must go," Charleston cackled as their vehicle sped off down the ocean. "Much to do with our quarry, after all."
With that, Charleston and Ringmaster fled the scene.
"Don't worry about us, Nick, we've been through much worse!" Haruka exclaimed. "You and Rei just focus on getting those poor animals free!"
"Right, we'll be back as soon as we can," Nick answered.
"Give me your hands, Nick," Rei stated. Nick held his hands out, and Rei fired an ice beam that formed into what almost looked like ski handles in his hands. Rei wrapped her end of the ice strand around her neck like a scarf so Nick could hang onto it. "Now hold on tight!"
Rei lunged forward onto the ocean, actually ice skating along the surface of the water, said water underneath her turning to ice as she did so, and Nick was being pulled along like he was going skiing.
"Very inventive," Nick chuckled.
"Like I said, I've learned a lot of cool tricks," Rei giggled. "Now let's go!"
Rei started accelerating across the water, with Nick skiing on the ice behind her as they charged after the villains.
"This was quite the interesting catch we've made, wasn't it?" Ringmaster chuckled, using two of his four arms to steer their vehicle and the other two to man their onboard weapon systems in case of intruders.
"Um, you may want to start firing, because two of those little punks are following us!" Charleston proclaimed.
"Hey, freak boys, you lost?" Nick taunted.
"Because we can show you where you should probably go," Rei stated.
"Don't just stand there gawking, shoot them down!" Charleston growled.
"Worry not, they won't get anywhere close to us," Ringmaster sneered as the pod's lasers began to fire on their attackers.
Rei juked to the left to avoid the lasers, and Nick did a stylish ski jump over a few of them.
"Can you blast them while you're 'carrying' me, Rei?" Nick wondered.
"Watch and see," Rei chuckled as she raised her right hand to fire an ice beam that completely froze two of the pod's laser cannons, allowing Nick to another ski jump to get enough elevation to fire a Final Shine Attack and destroy them.
"As fun as that was, I think we need to get closer so we can free those animals," Nick quipped.
"Already on it," Rei quipped as she started skating forward faster.
With less lasers firing on them, Nick and Rei didn't have to do much in avoiding them so they could get closer. Rei swung Nick around in a wide berth when she got close, and Nick let go of one of the "ski handles", formed a psychic blade on his hands, and slashed at the connecting joint of the sphere holding the animals. This caused the pod to fall into the water.
"Curses, foiled again," Charleston groaned.
"There will be other opportunities," Ringmaster responded. "Let us retreat for now and formulate a new strategy."
With that, both villains sped away.
"Yeah, and come back when you don't suck!" Nick taunted as Rei dissolved the ice strand so they could both head towards where the glass sphere had landed.
Rei placed her hand on the surface of the sphere, freezing it just enough so that Nick could easily rip it open and set all of the animals free. Thankfully, all of the mutant animals here were aquatic-based, so they were able to swim back towards Siren Island, chirping in thanks to their rescuers.
"I should have figured you'd all come to help me eventually," Siren giggled as she swam forward to hug Nick. "You're never too far behind, right?"
"It's what we do, Siren," Nick chuckled.
"By the way, Rei, that combo you two were doing was really cool," Siren laughed.
"Honestly, it just came to me," Rei admitted.
With that, Nick, Rei and Siren all headed back to the island where, just as predicted, the spies had all busted out of the cage. They knew the cage had just been a distraction tactic so the villains could get away, after all.
"That was definitely an odd experience," Michi admitted.
"Sounds like you had fun out there," Alex teased.
"We're just glad that you're okay, Siren," Sam stated.
"Glad to be here, really," Siren quipped. "But right now, I think we need to head after those weirdoes. No doubt they've got something even scummier than what they just did under whatever counts as 'sleeves' for them."
There were no arguments there as all thirteen spies took off towards the city to chase after Charleston and Ringmaster, Rei and Siren following closely behind.
"We haven't heard much from you since the last time, by the way," Siren told the spies.
"Got any updates we should know about?" Rei added.
Haruka quickly jumped on that by coming up to Nick.
"Haruka and I are an item now," Nick stated for clarification.
"Another girlfriend?" Rei wondered, completely surprised.
"I think the last time I remember seeing you, you just had Alex and May as girlfriends..." Siren told Nick.
"It's real as can be," Britney chuckled. "It's a fiancée and three girlfriends for Nick, and a fiancée and two girlfriends for Mat..."
"One of the cons of a big spy team I guess," Clover remarked since she only has Blaine as her boyfriend.
"Hard to disagree," Siren stated after seeing Nozomi come to Nick.
"Plus, Nick and I were an item before family issues forced us to break up," Nozomi added.
"To be fair, I didn't think Nozomi wanted to reconcile," Nick remarked. "And you don't forget your first girlfriend, after all..."
As expected, Alex did not mind it at all that she was not Nick's first like Mat said Sam is his first girlfriend.
"But we all have our reasons," Melissa quipped, looking at Mat.
Britney and May nodded at that.
"Next time we see you, maybe Mat might have another girlfriend..." Rei commented.
"I wouldn't put it past this big team..." Siren added in agreement.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to see what happens, huh?" Nick chuckled. "I mean, hey, crazier things have happened around us..."
"Oh, tell me about it," Siren laughed.
"Off of that, anything else?" Siren asked.
"May hit a buzzer beater for the Mali-U water polo team," Bridget stated. "From length of the pool mind you..."
"And Mat was asked to cover the game as part of the Mali-U Paper," Sam added.
"Hey, kudos," Siren replied.
Before long, the spies made it to the shores of one of the beaches of Beverly Hills. They were quick to see that the Ringmaster had already set up a circus just near them.
2:58 P.M. – Venice Beach
"Well, at least we don't have to look far," Alex commented.
"That should be a good thing," Blaine stated in agreement with Alex.
"Let's hope so," Bridget added.
"No idea what's in store, but let's go, spies," Siren proclaimed.
"Jeez, are these guys really that demented that they'd want to pull off something like this?" Rei quipped. "Mutated or no, these animals just want to live peacefully on our island!"
"You'll find out pretty quickly that most of our rogues' gallery couldn't really give two quacks about what's supposed to be the 'natural order of things'," May quipped.
"And let's just say that I've had my own share of run-ins with these two," Alex groaned. "Charleston tried to turn me into a dolphin like him, and mister Ringmaster turned me into a fish."
"Their names are 'Charleston' and 'Ringmaster'?" Siren gasped. "Not very imaginative, are they?"
"That's a common thing, too," Haruka chuckled.
"Does anybody know what exactly we should be looking for in this demented circus?" Britney wondered.
"First things first, let's see if any more of the animals from Siren Island are still here," Sam stated.
"I'd think there would be, considering there's supposed to be a lot more than the ones you freed earlier," Siren answered.
A loud scream caught the spies' attention, so they all rushed to check things out, and inside one of the nearby tent rooms, they saw a rather ghastly sight, that of a random citizen of Beverly Hills being zapped with a bright blue beam of light and mutating into a half-buzzard hybrid creature.
"...oh, I'm gonna turbo-barf," Dawn groaned.
All of a sudden, the buzzard hybrid squawked loudly before charging towards the spies, blindsiding them and snatching Alex up in its new claws before anybody could react, then flying away.
"Oh, that thing did not just do that," Nick growled as he flew out of the room, the rest of the group following suit until they found Alex, still in the claws of the buzzard hybrid, being hefted towards Charleston and Ringmaster.
"Well, well, spies, welcome to our circus," Charleston proclaimed. "The name is still pending."
"As you can see, we need attractions like any good circus, and those wonderful mutants from the island will make excellent ones," Ringmaster laughed. "But, of course, we need to have enough attractions to meet demand, so we've decided to create some of our own."
The instant Charleston pointed his transformation ray gun towards Alex, Nick took a step forward, his psychic aura exploding to life around him.
"This is the only warning you're getting, dolphin man," Nick growled. "You even touch her with that ray and you'll be in for a world of pain."
"I don't think you're in any position to be making threats at me, boy," Charleston cackled. "One press of this button and your little catch will be a dolphin, and she'll be all mine."
Just as Nick saw red and prepared to charge, Rei did the honors for him, firing an ice beam from her right palm that struck the ray gun and froze it completely solid, then raising her left palm to enshroud Alex inside a large water bubble for protection.
Rei didn't given either villain any chance to react, lunging forward to kick Charleston into Ringmaster, then unleashing a barrage of exploding bubbles that floored both villains immediately.
Just as Charleston was about to get back on his feet, Siren rushed in and spun around, whipping her lobster tail out to smack Charleston in the face a couple times before knocking him back down with an overhead tail swipe.
"Nice one, Siren!" Alex laughed as she exited the bubble to return to the spies.
"My patented Tornado Tail gets 'em every time," Siren giggled.
The buzzard hybrid levitated into the air before swooping down to attack multiple times, forcing the spies to scatter in different directions.
"Somebody needs to stop that thing!" Melissa shouted.
"It thinks it's fast, but it hasn't seen fast," Bridget quipped as she reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Once she'd transformed, Bridget started running around the immediate area, generating kinetic energy as she did so.
Meanwhile, Siren leapfrogged off of Nick's shoulders to get enough height to tail slap the buzzard out of the air.
"You will not stop our beautiful creation!" Ringmaster bellowed, unfurling an electric whip.
"Oh, please, you call this beautiful?" Siren taunted. "Rei, wanna try the 'Ice Tail'?"
"Ooh, sounds like fun," Rei giggled as she fired a blast of ice at Siren's lobster tail, just enough to give it a spiky ice coating instead of completely freezing it.
While Bridget distracted the buzzard, Siren leaped forward and swung her ice-coated tail at Charleston and Ringmaster, hitting them both and causing the ice to burst outwards and freeze them in their spots. Siren's tail was complete unharmed after the attack, thankfully.
Eventually, Bridget skidded to a stop and snapped her fingers, unleashing her gathered kinetic energy as a shockwave of emerald lightning that blasted both villains and the buzzard, knocking the buzzard unconscious.
"This isn't over, I assure you," Ringmaster proclaimed. "Nobody, and I do mean nobody, mocks and belittles our wonderful circus and lives to brag about it."
And with that, both villains retreated again.
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all so many times already," Siren sighed.
Nick raised his hand to bubble up the buzzard hybrid, then flicked his hand upwards to send it off to W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters so Jerry and RiCO could formulate an antidote, since this case was probably different from Helga and Fox's mutation method.
"Hey, we'll corner them eventually," Nick quipped. "Then you and Rei can keep stomping them with more of those cool combo moves."
"Oh, we've been practicing a lot of them," Siren giggled.
"Let's keep going after them, then," Mat proclaimed.
"My thoughts exactly!" Nick exclaimed, completely ticked off that Alex had been captured and nearly put in the same position as before.
"By the way, Nick," Alex remarked. "I'd expect you to do the same thing in your own way if Siren and Rei weren't with us."
Nick could only give a few chuckles at Alex's statement.
"Those WERE incredible moves, by the way," Haruka added to Siren and Rei.
"All in a day's work there," Rei told Haruka. "It was fun to show you guys what we can do."
"Let's hope Jerry and RiCO are able to make an antidote soon, too," Sam quipped.
"Also, allow us to handle the big chunk of the battle with those two harlots when we get to that part," Rei told the spies.
"Gladly," May stated.
"Not gonna argue if you two want to do a big chunk of our jobs," Clover added, liking the sound of that.
"That helps me out as well after how my year's gone away from school," Mat sighed in relief.
"What's all that about?" Siren asked.
"Mat's Supercross season has been less than fun for him," Melissa replied for Mat.
"Oh... bother..." Siren stated, obviously caught off-guard.
"Sorry to hear," Rei added, despite not knowing one thing about Mat's Supercross series.
"Thanks," Mat replied. "My only hope is that Chad Reed can win one before Supercross is over in early May."
"And maybe win the title, too," Haruka added.
"Believe me, Reed's title hopes were gone a long time ago..." Mat emphasized.
("Hold on to the Nights" by Richard Marx plays)
"I just wish there was something we could do, but there isn't..." Britney added.
"We do sympathize with him, too," Dawn quipped.
With that, the spies continued on until they heard a roar that got everyone's attention.
"Was that a cry for help or a warning?" Blaine wondered.
Michi took a step forward to investigate it herself, since she'd heard similar roars before, in that place. She just wanted to make sure that those hooded freaks hadn't followed her.
When Michi took a look inside the nearby room, where that roar had come from, she suddenly stumbled back in surprise.
"Whoa, Michi, what's in there?" Sam asked.
"It's... some kind of lion thing," Michi answered. "And I don't think it looks any sort of friendly."
Nick moved in to check it out as well, and what he saw disturbed him. It was three different hybrids, all changed into some kind of lion, and they were about to clash with each other.
"Oh, no, no, we're not having any of that," Nick responded as he raised his hand to quickly corral the three lion hybrids inside of a large psychic bubble before flicking his hand upwards to send them off to W.O.O.H.P. for analysis. "That looked like it would have ended pretty badly."
"Oof, tell me about it," Haruka chuckled. "Are there any other animals here?"
"I'm sensing something about four clicks this-a-way," Nick answered, his psychic radar guiding him in the proper direction. "And they don't seem like hostile thoughts, so that means it's probably more of the animals from Siren Island."
Eventually, the group all found a group of mutated animals in the west-most tent room.
"Hey, Mr. Bear!" Siren laughed as she ran up to a large brown bear that made a funny noise when she approached it. "Are you guys okay?"
A short series of growls confirmed everything Siren needed to know.
"It seems like they were only put here when Mr. Bear busted up one of Charleston's machines," Siren giggled. "Serves the poor chucklehead right, honestly."
"Want me to give you guys an express ride back to the island?" Nick asked, to which the animals all made noises of affirmation. "All right-y, then. I'll be right back, everyone."
With that, Nick raised his hand to secure all of the animals inside a psychic bubble before floating up out of the circus tent and taking off towards Siren Island.
"So, then, you look like you're new to the group," Siren asked as she glanced at Michi. "What's your story?"
"Well, it's kinda a weird one," Michi chuckled. "Let's just say that I have no idea what really happened to me, since I can't remember anything beyond a few days ago. I just sort of found my way to the spies and decided to hang with them until we can figure things out."
"YOU WRETCHES ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!'
"Oh, what, are you salty that we're ruining your little joke of a 'circus'?" May taunted, swinging her anchor as Charleston and Ringmaster reappeared, and they looked mad.
"How dare you ruin our amazing circus?!" Ringmaster bellowed as he and Charleston charged for them.
Michi, however, looked down at her hand which was now glowing green, remembered how she'd found her way to the spies, and realized there was something she could do.
As both villains approached, Michi raised her glowing hand and clenched her fist, causing a circular portal of green light to burst open in front of her. Charleston and Ringmaster couldn't stop in time and they fell right into the portal, which Michi closed up right after.
"Ooh, nice," Britney laughed. "Where'd you send them?"
"Oh, just for a drink," Michi chuckled.
"Hey, I kinda saw our baddies get dunked into the ocean on my way back here," Nick quipped as he landed by the rest of the spies.
"That would be me," Michi answered. "I simply created a portal and sent them somewhere they could cool off for a bit, hehehe."
"Okay, so, are there any other animals here?" Sam wondered.
Nick did a quick psychic radar scan just to make sure. "Nope, this place is perfectly clean," Nick responded. "But I think we'd better keep checking around the city, just in case they put up more of these whacked-out circuses."
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Mat proclaimed. "Let's get going, everyone."
With that in mind, the entire group left the circus tent and headed back into the city to search for the rest of the missing island animals, and hopefully put an end to the villain's big plan.
To be continued...
Next time...
Nozomi: Is there any sign of a circus tent?
Sam: Wait, I think I see something down there in the park.
Haruka: This kinda thing cannot be compliant with city laws, just saying.
Siren: Well, then let's get in there and trash the place!
Nick: I like the way you think, Siren.
Alex: All right, you clucks, where are you hiding?!
Clover: ...did they hit the bricks while we were on our way?
Nick: No, something's here. I'm just trying to figure out what.
Mat: You think it might be more of those hybrids they're trying to make?
Melissa: Well, I guess there's only one way to be sure.
Rei: Oh, nice, I get to do the preview again. Well, readers, this circus act is just getting started, next time on Totally Spies: Marina Madness, "Now It's a Water Ride"!
Michi: Oof, this mark on my face is kinda weird.
Rei: You've got marks all over your body, don't you?
Sam: Well, the effects department wanted to emphasize the whole "stitched-together body" look they were going for.
Michi: At least it washes off when we're done filming.