Author's Note: Back with another chapter.

Just to remind everyone, this will be the last chapter that covers a canon episode for a while. After this, the next three chapters will be originals to wrap up the season.

Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.

After a fun and productive morning, Five, Miko, and Tim drove their company van and stopped right in front of the Kubota household.

"See you later, Miko." Five said. "If you need me, I'll be back at HQ getting stealthy with the new Spec Ops Solid Gold Edition."

"And I'll be coaching Five in it." Tim said. "It's been a while since he played stealth-based games, so I thought he might need some tips."

"You don't know that." Five protested.

"When was the last time you played one?" Tim asked.

"Easy. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Black Widow Edition! Which was…" Five frowned. "About 4 years ago."

"Exactly. I think a guy who can climb walls and be pretty sneaky himself might be able to teach you a thing or two."

"Sounds fun." Miko said, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Welp, good luck." She proceeded to hop out of the van via the sunroof.

"See you after lunch!" Five waved.

"Toodaloo, you two!" Miko waved back summoning Ally. She rode her all the way to her bedroom window while the boys drove off.

"Quiet now, Ally." Miko whispered opening her bedroom window. "If Mom sees you, she'll blow a gasket."

That didn't stop Ally from popping into the room and acting up. Miko had to jump on her to calm her down.

Meanwhile, her parents and little sister sat at the dining room table, cups and plates with sandwiches for lunch around them. They heard the loud thumps coming from upstairs, but Hugh and Mayumi decided to ignore them because A., loud noises from Miko's room were honestly not a big surprise anymore, and B., more importantly, Lexi Kubota—who was wearing karate gear—was quite depressed.

"Your mom and I just don't see what the problem is." Hugh said trying to assure his youngest daughter.

"The problem is, my karate tournament's tonight," Lexi explained, "And there's no way I'm going to win against Nancy McGillicutty. She's too good."

"Well, maybe you just need a little coaching. Ooh! There's this great movie where a kid learns karate by painting fences and sanding floors."

"That sounds like the worst karate movie ever." Lexi dismissed.

Another THUD sounded from upstairs, along with squawks and shouts, but the family once more ignored it to focus on the matter at hand.

"Lexi, if you're so unhappy, let's just enroll you in ballet or chess." Mayumi suggested.

"But karate improves discipline, physical grace, confidence…"

One more giant THUD and a war cry from Miko sounded, making the family finally stop and look up in confusion before the girl in question slid down the bannister, having finally managed to put away her companion pet.

"Hey, all!" Miko greeted happily. "Just flew in for lunch. Forgot to pack mine again. But hey, so nice to get out of the office to kick it with the fam. This guy knows what I'm talking about. Am I right, Pops?" She nudged her dad good naturedly before grabbing a nearby sandwich and chowing down.

"Miko, we're having a discussion." Hugh said dryly.

"Is it about me? What'd I do now?" Miko asked with her mouth full before swallowing. "For the last time, I am NOT a superhero, you guys! Nor do I KNOW any superheroes!" She proceeded to gather up the rest of the food on a plate and sit at the end of the table, annoying the rest of the family.

"It's NOT about you, Miko." Lexi said.

"Lexi may be giving up karate." Mayumi informed.

"Oh, no." Miko said sarcastically. "Did we find the one thing Lexi doesn't have a trophy for?"

"Shut it, Miko!" Lexi shouted slamming her fist on the table. "Have you ever won a single trophy?"

"I'm a ranked gamer. I've unlocked, like, a bajillion trophies."

"Yeah, imaginary ones."

"The word is 'virtual'!" Miko slammed her fist on the table accidentally revealing her Glitch Tech gauntlet. She acted quickly to hide it, but Lexi saw it before smiling as an idea formed.

"That's enough." Mayumi said thankfully not seeing the gauntlet as Miko made it disappear. "Lexi, if you're so worried about this tournament, I'll just tell them you're not coming and sign you up for…"

"Oh, I'm not worried. I'm bringing home a trophy." Lexi said before turning over to Miko. "Come on! You're helping me practice."

"Who come on? Me, come on?" Miko asked before getting dragged back upstairs by her little sister. "OH, COME ON!"

Lexi brought Miko back to their room. She made sure they weren't followed before closing the door and confronting her big sister.

"I can't help you practice karate." Miko said. "I have to get back to work."

"Yeah, work." Lexi said with a mischievous smile. "Where you use all those magicky powers of yours."

Miko was shocked to hear that. She tried to laugh it off. "Magicky powers? Me? Your mild-mannered sister-about-town? That is completely ridiculous!"

Lexi grabbed onto Miko's arm and pressed on her bracelet, which shot Ally out to sit on the other bed. The bird popped around the room while Lexi had on a smug face before Miko pulled her back into her gauntlet.

"Okay. But just to be clear, my powers are techy, not magicky." Miko started to dial up her gauntlet ready to erase her sister's memories of her Glitch Tech powers. "How long have you known about my gauntlet?"

"Forever." Lexi answered. "And don't try zapping me with that forgetty thing you used on Mom and Dad, because I've backed up the evidence."

Lexi pulled out her phone and used it to make a drone hover in between her and Miko. The drone then showed a holographic screen which showed video footage of Miko fighting a plant Glitch with Five and the Web Tech.

"Yeah. Pretty freaky that your video game pen pal as even freakier powers, huh?" Lexi continued.

Miko gasped. "I've been compromised! You realize blackmail is a violation of the sibling code!"

Lexi pulled out a flash drive from her done and tucked it into her gi. "Miko, I don't want to tell anyone your secret. I just love karate so much. But since I'm not so good at it, you're my only hope."

Miko looked at Lexi with sympathy before finally giving in. "Fine. Big sis will power level your karate with some tae kwon tech." That brought a hopeful smile to Lexi's face. "But to sneak you into work with me, we're gonna need a little help from someone on the inside. I'll call Tim and Five." She started to dial into her gauntlet before a thought entered her mind. "So… That drone footage… How much of my job have you spied on?"

"You mean other than the part where you were getting into that vicious fight over that cat girl over your spider friend?" Lexi asked, quirking an eyebrow with another sly smile. "By the way, didn't know you could bite like that. Props."

Miko blushed and chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that… So the sibling code suggests…"

"Say no more." Lexi assured.

"Okay, you're doing good, Five." Tim assured his friend as he played his new game. "Don't forget, the toothpick can be thrown to distract the guards while you take his keycard."

"Good intel." Five said inputting the command his friend suggested. "Yeah. I am the dusk."

"Five. Tim." Phil's voice caught the two by surprise.

"Oh! Good afternoon, Phil." Tim greeted with a nervous chuckle.

"Mission for us, sir?" Five asked seriously before leaning into Phil's face. "Is it dangerous? Does the fate of the world depend on it?"

Phil stared blankly before using the coffee cup in his hand to gently nudge Five back. "Think you've been dipping a little too hard into the stealth titles."

"Uh, is this your first time meeting Five?" Tim asked. "He always dips hard into whatever game he plays. His first time playing those movie-based games, he wouldn't stop quoting the movies they came from."

"Hey, you quoted some too." Five argued.

"Whatever." Phil shrugged. "Anyway, I need you two to mind the register while BITT and I inventory a new shipment of repair parts."

"Aww." Five groaned. "How about intel? I'm great with intel."

"Uh… You're welcome to keep it top secret from Bergy." Phil said patronizingly. "He's an undercover agent."

Tim looked over at Bergy, who accidentally shined his scanner into his own eyes. "Yeah… He's a regular Bond villain."

Once Phil turned to leave, Miko's ringtone rang from Tim's cell phone. He held it up to his ear to answer. "Whaddup, Miko?"

"Tim, is Five there?"

"Yeah. Wait, if you wanted Five, why did you call me?"

"I wanna talk to both of you. Put me on speaker."

"Uh, sure." Tim said before turning to Five. "Miko wants to talk to us."

"Really?"

Tim nodded and pressed the speaker button. "You're on speaker, Miko. What's this about?"

"What's the transmission, Miko?" Five whispered dramatically.

"Why do you sound so whispery?"

"It's that game he's been playing." Tim said. "Sometimes, Five gets so into a game, he mixes that behavior into the real world."

"I'm in stealth mode." Five said.

"Perfect. I need both of your help with something, but you can't tell anyone."

"Like a top-secret stealth mission?!" Five shouted not realizing how loud he was. He and Tim ducked down to make sure they weren't heard. "Like a top-secret stealth mission?"

"I need you to get the key card for the Tech training simulator."

"But Phil's the only one who has that key card." Tim said. "Miko, how important is this?"

"Let me put it this way: our jobs are on the line."

Tim and Five suddenly shared concerned looks before turning back to the cell phone.

"Mission accepted." Five answered. "This message will now self-destruct."

"'Self-destruct'?" Tim asked with wide eyes. "Uh, Five, you do remember whose phone that…"

Too late. Five threw Tim's phone on the floor and stomped on it plenty of times. He rolled away for a moment while Tim gave a very unamused look. Five then ran back to check on the phone.

"Please, be okay. Please, be okay." He looked at a still glaring Tim and flashed an apologetic grin and chuckled nervously. "My bad."

Tim rolled his eyes, swiped his phone back and pocketed it before peeking over the counter. He watched as Phil helped BITT unload boxes. He then leaped into the air and stuck himself onto the ceiling. He proceeded to crawl across until he was right above Phil. All he needed was for his boss to be distracted.

With some clumsy and amateurish stealth moves, Five snuck to a counter nearest to Phil. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a single coin, which he then tossed across the floor.

"Ooh. Did I hear loose change?" Phil asked following the sound of the coin. As he turned, however, Tim used his web to silently slink down behind him and snatch the key card from his waist before quickly returning to the ceiling.

Five finally rose up from his hiding place, only to be caught off-guard by Bergy's sudden greeting. "Hey, Five!" Out of instinct, Five pulled out his gauntlet and shot a flash of light at Bergy stunning him.

"I'm sorry, Bergy. I didn't mean to do that."

"Do what?" Bergy asked blankly.

"Uh, right. You saw nothing." Five said before running off to the locker area. Tim followed, and they both jumped into the portal to HQ.

Meanwhile, after finding his coin, Phil turned to Bergy and noticed the spilled products around him. "What's going on?"

"I saw nothing." Bergy said walking away in a trance.

"Hey! Clean up this mess, or I'm not paying you!"

"Five, you don't have to slink across the floor on your belly like Serpent in the game." Tim said as he and Five proceeded down the hallway.

"But that's the fun part," Five said before he and Tim found Miko. "Wow. You got down here fast. I thought for sure Tim and I'd be the first—" His eyes suddenly saw Lexi behind Miko, and he freaked out pointing at her. "YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWED!" He then prepared another memory flash, but Miko pulled his hand away and it shot to the side instead.

"Whoa! No memory wiping my sister!"

"This is your sister?" Tim asked in surprise.

"'Sup. Name's Lexi," the girl introduced herself before grinning widely. "Gotta say, your powers are MUCH cooler in person than I thought! The way you clung to that ceiling and used those webs was SO neat!"

"Miko, what's going on?" Tim asked.

"Right. Explanations." Miko took a deep breath before quickly saying what she needed to say. "My sister knows our secret identity and wants to be OP in kiddie karate, so I promised to help her train to win a trophy using Glitch Techy powers. There. I explained."

Tim blinked twice with a surprised look. "Seriously? If she knows about the Glitch Techs, why didn't you erase her memory?"

"Can't. She backed up all the footage she took." Miko grumbled before sighing. "I know this isn't what our job is, but I REALLY want to help out my little sister. So all I'm asking for is a little time with her to practice her karate in the simulator before her tournament tonight."

Tim looked at the two girls, particularly Lexi who looked with pleading eyes, before sighing himself with a small smile. "All right. Who am I to turn away a little girl in need?"

Lexi squeed happily.

"So what game program did you want to use for karate training?" Five asked using Phil's key card to buzz everyone in.

"I was thinking of Karate Trainer." Miko answered.

"Yeah, that'd probably do it." Five said.

"You sure?" Tim asked. "I mean, karate in video games isn't exactly like how it is in real life."

"Anything to help me win." Lexi said. "Let's do this."

The kids proceeded to enter the simulator. However, right after they did so, BITT flew to the door and posted a sign that said it was closed for repairs.

"Let me see here." Miko said going through the games in the simulator. "Calling up the non-glitched game files. Looking for Karate Trainer 1… 2… 3… Ooh! There's a fourth installment." She clicked on the fourth game on the list.

"Now loading game file."

The start screen projected in front of the kids, but Lexi didn't seem impressed.

"That's it? Where's the techy magic? We could have just played this in somebody's dingy basement."

"Can you do THIS in a dingy basement?" Tim asked with a smirk, pressing on the start button.

All of a sudden, the entire simulator room changed into a huge, fancy karate dojo with the title screen projected overhead. Lexi was welcomed as player one and was given a selection of training belts to choose from. Miko chose the black belt for her.

"Whoa!"

"You're darn right, 'whoa'!" Miko cried out. "Soak it up, sister! Big sis is busting out some serious next-gen up in here! Ready to become a karate master?"

"You know it." Lexi confirmed.

"Watch the door for us, Five." Miko told her friend.

"Guard duty?!" Five exclaimed excitedly. "I'm on it! I shall be the eyes in the front of your head." He proceeded head on outside.

"I'd better go make sure he doesn't get us into trouble." Tim sighed following Five out.

"Okay. Let's belt one out." Miko said pressing on Lexi's belt.

Suddenly, the environment changed. It went from a dojo to a Chinese village.

"Lesson one…" An egg floated down from the sky, and a big, menacing chicken man burst right out. "Chicken style!"

"Can't make an omelet without breaking a few yous." The Chicken Master said in a smooth, menacing tone.

"What is the point of this?" Lexi asked.

Miko pulled out a holographic instruction manual to the game. "Uh, to defeat a series of foes, to unlock enough chi powers, to take on the final boss, the… Mandaringtail?" She chortled. "Who in their right mind would make up a name like that?!" She stopped laughing before focusing again. "Luckily, we don't have time to go through the full game. Just have fun punching stuff!"

"Fine." Lexi said stepping up to face the Chicken Master. She readied her karate stance as the fight was set to begin.

"HAJIME!"

The Chicken Master clucked as it went after Lexi and swept his feet at her legs to make her trip.

"Hey! No fair!"

"You're over… easy."

"Your chicken style is weak, young one." Miko said. "What are you even doing?"

"Karate." Lexi answered. "I start with the ready pose, find my chi, then do a snap kick."

Miko rolled her eyes and selected her own belt to wear entering the game as player two. "Yeah, no, see, you're in MY dojo now, girl. My moves are gonna take your game to the next level."

Tim chuckled in amusement as he watched Five play stealth music as he creeped alongside the walls. His smile dropped when Phil was seen walking past the far end of the hall.

"Uh, nothing to see here!" Five called out. "Move along!"

"Did you say something?!" Phil shouted from afar.

"Five, don't." Tim warned.

"Uh, I said, nothing to see here!" Five chuckled nervously.

"See where?!" Phil asked loudly.

"Five, I mean it. Don't make us look suspicious." Tim said.

"Hang on! Let me come over there!" Phil yelled beginning his walk toward Five and Tim's direction.

"Five, do something." Tim said.

"Uh, uh…" Five stammered before acting on instinct. He sprinted and flipped over to Phil before tackling him to the ground.

Tim smacked his own face. "Anything but that."

Phil got up and looked down at Five with a very angry look. "Do you have a death wish?"

Tim laughed as he ran over and helped Five up. "Sorry about that, Phil. He must have… slipped. People tend to fall and… crash into people when they slip, you know."

Five chuckled again. "Sorry, Phil."

Phil huffed before looking down. It was his key card that Five dropped after crashing right into him. "Hey, is that my key card?"

"You, uh, must have dropped it." Five answered.

Phil picked up the card, gave the boys a warning look, and walked off.

Tim let out a sigh of relief. "Seriously, Five, how long are you gonna keep acting like this?"

"Probably the rest of the day." Five answered with an embarrassed shrug. "Come on. Let's see how Miko and her sister are doing."

The boys headed over to the training simulator door and opened it up to enter the game Miko and Lexi were playing. Before they could ask how it's going, they stopped to notice that Lexi was struggling with getting her head out of a giant fish's mouth.

Tim turned to Miko, who had a despondent look on her face. "What happened?"

"Well, Lexi needed me to finish off a chicken-style guy for her, and now, she's struggling with this frog guy." Miko said. She pointed at the newest opponent, who was a giant, green toad with a purple pouch and a large hat. "My little sis has a really hard time getting the hang of this. Hey, Five, you love tutorials, right? I think she needs some basics."

Miko and Tim sat to the side while Five stood on the road beside Lexi as they faced the Toad Master.

"Zen gaming is about becoming one with the combo." Five said calmly. "Relying upon repetition and muscle memory."

"Okay, that's kinda like karate." Lexi said.

"That's what I've been saying the whole time!" Miko cried out.

"Did you really say anything along those words?" Tim asked suspiciously.

"Well… I'm more of a visual learner. You know that."

"Now, come on. Follow my lead." Five went into a ready pose, and Lexi did the same.

The Toad Master began by shooting his tongue out at the two, but they began hopping like frogs themselves to avoid them. Lexi followed Five's lead as he hopped around the Toad Master.

"Ribbit! Ribbit!" Five said before delivering his strikes. "Lower kick! Upper punch! Spin!" With the last spin, he knocked the Toad Master near Lexi's position.

"Do I really have to say 'ribbit'?" Lexi asked.

"Yes. That's essential."

The Toad Master recovered and started shooting his tongue at Lexi, who hopped around to avoid him while ribbiting. She then hit him with the same combo Five did.

"Hey, not bad." Miko said.

"Go, Lexi." Tim cheered.

"Now, spiral whirligig crane kick!" Five shouted.

Lexi proceeded to spin her feet around and knocked the Toad Master down depleting his remaining health.

"Hey, I did it." Lexi said proudly.

"Crush him! Five…"

"Come on, sis!" Miko shouted. "Bust out a sweet finishing move!"

"Four…"

"A finishing what?" Lexi asked.

"Three… Two…"
"Ugh! Like this!"

"One…"

At the very last second, Miko attacked the Toad Master by kicking him high into the air. She then jumped up to catch up to him. "TOAD STYLE COMBO BREAKER!" She launched several super-fast punches and strikes at the Toad Master before finally slamming him down to the ground. She then landed on the ground triumphantly.

"Those moves are unreal!" Lexi shouted in amazement.

"Well, nothing here is technically real other than us." Tim said. "Still, that was very cool, Miko. How'd you pull it off?"

"Oh, it wasn't really that hard." Miko said with a big smile and a blush. "I just imagined that toad being Black Cat. Pummeling her makes pulling it off much easier."

"Well, that's… concerning," Five said as he and Tim shared a look. "Anyway, let's move onto the next lesson."

He changed the setting, and the kids went from the village environment to a jungle environment.

"Lesson three…" Suddenly, a monkey in a green outfit and sunglasses flipped in with a flashy style. "Monkey style!"

"Hey, anything for you to teach me?" Lexi asked Tim.

"Me?" Tim asked. "I don't know. I'm not much of a karate expert. But I would recommend getting to know the character of your opponent as you face him. This monkey guy has sunglasses, a supposed 'cool' style, and he's accompanied by cheerleaders." He pointed to a pair of girl monkeys with heart eyes. "That shows that he's full of himself, so his moves are going to be flashy. Be sure to expect that."

"Well, that's something, I guess." Lexi said before readying herself for her next fight.

"HAJIME!"

The Monkey Master sped ahead and started the fight. Lexi was able to see it coming and dodge before countering. She and the Monkey Master had a quick exchange of attacks dealt to each other blocking and dodging while they were at it.

"Double fist monkey punch!" Five shouted.

"Swinging high kick!" Miko yelled.

"Down-up punch!" Tim advised loudly.

"Duck low, then try a back swing kick with a forward lunge!"

Five, Miko, and Tim called out their advice to Lexi more and more, further confusing her. As they did so, she was losing the advantage in her fight, unable to process what they were saying over each other. It went on and on until finally…

"STOP!" Lexi shouted.

Miko sighed again as she pressed pause on the game. "What now?"

"How am I supposed to focus with you three yelling at me?!" Lexi shouted. Just then she heard an alert on her phone. She pulled it out to look at it before getting upset. "It's Mom and Dad. They're on their way to the tournament. Now, I'm out of time, and I'm still terrible at karate."

"I wouldn't say you're terrible." Tim said. "I mean, you fought that toad guy like a boss."

"That didn't help!" Lexi shouted. "Thanks for nothing, Miko!" She ran out of the simulation in total frustration.

"So I guess this whole mission kind of broke the fail scale?" Five asked.

Miko facepalmed. "Thanks for trying to help, fellas." she sighed. "I should probably go after her." She pressed on her belt buckle to disintegrate it before running out of the simulator.

Just as Miko left, though, Otto and BITT walked right in with carts full of repair equipment.

"Oh, hey, guys." Five said. "What can I do for you?"

"For starters, you can leave." Otto answered bluntly. "BITT and I have to repair the simulator."

"Repair?" Tim asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We've been getting reports that parts of the simulation don't always disappear when they leave the room like they should." Otto explained. "Taking things that far from a game is sure to cause a problematic Glitch if it's not handled properly. So if you're done with…" He looked around at the Karate Trainer 4 setting. "Whatever this is, shut it down so we can get to work."

"Oh, of course." Five said.

After deleting his black belt with Tim, Five pulled out the game's menu and pressed a button to shut it down. Unfortunately…

"Shutdown incomplete. Player one belt is still active."

"But Lexi was player one." Five said before gasping. "Oh, no. Tim, you don't think…"

"That Miko's little sister unknowingly left with a piece of the Karate Trainer game which can act out and possibly cause trouble any minute?" Tim asked with increased worry.

Five nodded fearfully. "We gotta get to that tournament!"

Lexi had no idea she still had on the Karate Trainer belt when she entered the high school gym where her karate tournament was taking place. Nervously, she stretched when the official told her that her match was in five minutes. She then saw her parents in the stands with fan hats for her.

"Sweep the leg, honey!" Hugh called out.

Lexi waved with a nervous smile, which fell quickly as her nerves took over again. While she waited, Miko approached her from behind.

"Did you come to fight Nancy for me?" Lexi asked.

"No. …Do you want me to?"

"No! Look, if you're worried about the deal we made, don't." Lexi pulled out her flash drive and gave it to Miko. "I won't tell your secret."

"I'm not worried." Miko said. "Sorry I gave you such major aggro back there. You don't need that stress. I just got a little carried away 'cause you asked me for help, and I really wanted to come through for you."

"You did?" Lexi asked.

"Sure, dude. Sibling code."

"Thanks."

"And now, for the silver trophy," the official announced, "Kubota vs McGillicutty!"

Lexi was still nervous, but she walked over to the mat where she met her opponent, Nancy McGillicutty.

"Ganbatte kudasai, Lexi."

"Hello, Nancy."

"Good luck, and may you emerge uninjured."

The two girls bowed and readied their stances. The official raised his flags and waved them down.

"Begin!"

All of a sudden, Nancy's behavior changed. She became a very energetic beast who shrieked and swung her attacks at the frightened Lexi, who dodged desperately until Nancy got behind her and tapped her back with her fist.

"Point, McGillicutty!" the official announced.

While the girls got ready for the next round, a carboard box slid across the room until it stopped next to Miko. Already, she knew who was inside.

"Hey, Five."

"Aww. How'd you know it was me?" Five asked peeking out of his box. "Tim, she's onto us."

"I told you she would." Tim said running up to his friends. "Miko, Lexi's in trouble."

"No kidding. That Nancy is a real junior ninja." Miko said.

"No. We mean, she's still wearing the training belt." Five warned.

"What?" Miko asked finally noticing the black belt around Lexi's waist. "Shouldn't it have de-rezzed when we shut off the training room?"

"It wouldn't shut off." Five said. "And Otto said that if the belt isn't handled properly, it could be a disaster."

"Uh, oh." Miko said in worry.

The next round began, but it ended a LOT quicker than the next one when Nancy landed her fist on Lexi again.

"Point!" the official called out. "McGillicutty is the winner!"

"What happened?" Tim asked. "I blinked and missed it."

"Lexi… lost." Miko said sadly.

"Oof. Bummer."

Nancy ran over to her family to celebrate, but Lexi sulked over to her parents who tried their best to cheer her up.

"That was a great effort, honey." Hugh said. "And you said you weren't any good."

"You gave it your best." Mayumi assured. "How about we all go get a Frosty Freezy Freeze?"

"I didn't win the trophy." Lexi said sadly.

"I, uh, think Lex just needs to say her goodbyes." Miko said. "Meet you guys later?"

"Okay." Mayumi agreed before kissing Lexi and leaving with her husband.

Tim made sure everyone else was gone and it was just himself, Five, Miko, and Lexi, who was packing up her gear miserably while Five scanned her belt.

"I'm giving up stupid karate." Lexi pouted.

"Lex, you said you loved karate." Miko said. "Maybe you should stop worrying about winning trophies and just enjoy what you love about it."

"She's right." Tim agreed. "There are over a hundred trophies for my games I know I'll never earn, but that doesn't keep me down."

"That's different." Lexi said. "I'm talking about an ACTUAL trophy."

"Why does it even matter?" Tim asked. "It's basically just an empty cup taking up room on your shelf."

Lexi groaned. "You wouldn't understand."

"At least this belt didn't give you any trouble." Five said trying to delicately handle the belt.

"We should get it back to the training room before anything bad happens." Miko said.

"Like being humiliated in front of everyone? Too late." Lexi said sullenly. "Here. Take your glitchy old belt." She grasped the front of her belt trying to remove it.

"Wait, don't!"

Five's warning came too late. The moment Lexi pressed her belt buckle, it suddenly flashed green, and the entire arena changed into the same training dojo that appeared around the Karate Trainer 4 title screen.

"Lexi, take that belt off!" Miko shouted.

Lexi tried to remove the belt, but it zapped her hands and blasted a bright, green lightning strike into the air. The light landed on the ground and formed an intimidating figure of a masked tiger with black rings around his tail. He wore a red-and-green outfit and had rings on all ten of his clawed fingers. Once he appeared, he readied himself in a martial arts stance and spoke in the same accented voice they been hearing all day.

"Final lesson… THE MANDARINGTAIL!"

"That's still a stupid name!" Miko yelled.

The Mandaringtail slammed his fist to the ground and burst out a wave of fire at all possible directions. Everyone looked scared by that.

"Student, defeat master!" he ordered.

With a dragon-shaped aura surrounding him flashing out of one of his rings, he breathed out a long burst of fire from his mouth aimed directly at Lexi. Thankfully, Miko jumped and pulled her sister away just in time.

"Something tells me his name may be lame, but his skills pay the bills!" Tim stated.

Five squinted to get a closer look at the rings, which all had animal symbols on them. "Those rings must represent all of the previous bosses that are in the game. We already faced a chicken, a toad, and a monkey. Guess there was a dragon in the game too."

"Along with six other terrifying animals this jewel hog can conjure into himself!" Tim shouted.

"Okay, guys! You can turn off your magicky techy stuff now!" Lexi panicked.

"The only way we can do that at this point is to defeat the big boss! Namely, Mandaringtail!" Tim said equipping his Web Tech suit. "Ready, guys?"

"Born ready!" Miko shouted.

"Let's straight-up tank this fool!" Five agreed.

After putting on their Glitch Tech gear, Five and Miko started by firing their blue blasts at the Mandaringtail, who then used the ring of a goat to headbutt the blast and deflect it into the air. He then activated a ring with an ox on it and slammed his fists down on the ground shaking everything.

"WHOA! NOT GOOD!" Miko shouted.

"If we can't de-rez him, we can at least try to delay him!" Five suggested. "Tim, impact webs!"

"No need to tell me twice!" the Web Tech shouted swinging over the shaking ground. Once he got close enough, he fired his special web.

The Mandaringtail was caught off-guard when the impact web hit one of his arms, binding him to the ground. Despite his bound status, he used his toad ring to shoot out his tongue to try and knock the Web Tech out of the air. Thankfully, he was too fast to be hit and kept shooting Impact Webs at him until he was almost completely covered.

"I got him! Let's finish him!" the Web Tech yelled landing back with his friends. They readied their gauntlets before they noticed that the Mandaringtail wasn't struggling anymore. Instead, he lowered his head and looked like he was readying for something.

"What's he doing?" Lexi asked. "Is he giving up?"

"We're never that lucky." the Web Tech answered.

"Whatever it is, it's not good." Five said.

"Lexi, take cover!" Miko advised.

BOOM!

With the power of all ten of his rings combined, the Mandaringtail released an explosion of energy so big, it quickly hit Five, Miko, and the Web Tech. Lexi barely managed to take cover by the time the shockwave reached her distance. Once it was over, she looked back and saw her sister and her friends laying down on the ground sore and nearly defeated.

"Miko!" she screamed.

"Student, defeat master!" the Mandaringtail repeated himself.

Lexi then gasped realizing what he meant. She looked down at her belt and remembered how she was named player one in the game. "'Student, defeat master'."

The Mandaringtail stood over the Glitch Techs who were struggling to return to their feet. "This is not your fight!" With his ringed claws raised high, he was about to slash at the three.

"This is MY fight!" Lexi shouted tightening her belt. "I can do this! I HAVE TO!"

The Mandaringtail swung his arms down, but before his claws could connect, Lexi jumped in the way and blocked them with a field of energy that covered her whole body. She pushed the Mandaringtail away and finished transforming into a tall, spirit-like karate warrior.

"Get away from them, you Glitch!"

"Lexi, get out of here!" Miko shouted.

"Sorry, sis! That's against the sibling code!"

"But why?" Tim asked.

"You heard him! 'Student, defeat master'!" Lexi shouted. "You guys can't beat him because you're not players anymore! It has to be me! It's the only way!"

"HAJIME!"

The real fight began, and Lexi and the Mandaringtail met with a quick exchange of multiple blows. The Mandaringtail activated his chicken ring and shot his neck over to Lexi and ended up sending her flying to the wall.

"I told you never underestimate chicken style!" Miko shouted.

"Your karate is weak!" the Mandaringtail insulted.

"I assure you, you ring-crazed pussycat," Lexi said, "This is NOT KARATE!"

Lexi dashed right back to the Mandaringtail and his him with a combo move. Everyone else smiled and cheered from the side.

"Yeah! My baby sister's first combo move!" Miko shouted proudly.

"You think you're SO tough!" Lexi said as the Mandaringtail activated his snake ring and moved almost bonelessly to avoid Lexi's blows. She then smirked. "But you know what they say about grabbing the tiger by the tail!" As the Mandaringtail struck and tried to bite at her with his fangs, Lexi ducked and got behind him before grabbing his long tail. Feeling the tug, the Mandaringtail turned and attempted to bite Lexi again, but she quickly held the tail up and instead, he bit down on IT! He made a stunned face and a small "mew" like a kitten before screaming in pain.

"Oooo!" the Glitch Techs winced.

"That's GOTTA hurt!" the Web Tech said.

Lexi kicked the Mandaringtail away before he recovered and activated his toad ring. He shot his tongue out to the ceiling, where he then activated the monkey to swing and tear down the wooden pillars, tossing them down at Lexi, who hopped to avoid them while ribbiting. The villain dropped down with a superfast kick, causing a large dust cloud.

Five and Tim were about to run in, but Miko stopped them. "Stand down, stealth ops, spider boy! My sister's got this!"

When the dust cleared, the Mandaringtail didn't find any sign of Lexi at first. He found her once he turned around and saw her perched on top of a pillar. She made monkey noises before dropping down to him and hitting him with another combo.

"FINISHING COMBO!" Miko cheered as her sister accelerated her attacking speed until she landed over 200 consecutive attacks, putting the Mandaringtail on the brink of his total defeat.

"Crush him!"

"Do it, Lex!" Miko shouted.

Lexi readied herself and ran at her opponent at top speed. Once she got close enough, she jumped and landed a solid, sharp dropkick that cut straight through the Mandaringtail.

"K.O."

Once she landed, Lexi returned to her normal state, and following her, the rest of the area turned back to normal. She stood proudly before a holographic trophy appeared before her.

"Trophy unlocked. Perfect combo."

"That was awesome, Lex! And you even got a trophy after all!" Miko congratulated. "Too bad it's virtual."

Lexi didn't care. She was still proud of her accomplishment, even more so because she did it protecting her sister and her friends. She moved in to hug Miko.

Later that night, Miko and Lexi were spending time laughing and playing games on their game station, which was placed on top of a cardboard box. Tim watched as the girls had fun until the end when Miko won. Still, they were enjoying themselves.

"Not bad, Lexi." Tim said. "That's almost as long as I've lasted against Miko when I first met her online."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Miko nodded with a smile. "That was over…"

"Captain America: Slayer of HYDRA, third edition!" the two said at once. They were surprised at that, but Tim smiled and Miko looked away with a red face as she shyly brushed her hair behind her ear.

Lexi watched with a small smirk. "Oh, yeah. She's got it BAD." she thought.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Mayumi entered the bedroom with different pamphlets and a bowl of popcorn in her hands.

"Lexi? I got some new class brochures for you to look at—"

"Mom," Lexi interrupted, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before, but… I don't want to quit karate. I might still get frustrated, but I love it. And that's just going to have to be enough for me."

"Oh. Well, okay then." Mayumi said. "Here. I brought you some popcorn. You too, Five."

"Aww!" Five pouted poking his eyes out of the cardboard box. "How'd she know it was me?" Everyone chuckled at that.

"What about me?" Tim asked. "No popcorn for W3B-Burns?"

"Sorry, Tim, but your aunt's waiting for you outside." Mayumi said.

"Really?" Tim asked checking his watch. "Yeesh. I didn't know how late it was. I better go. See you all at work tomorrow."

"Later!" Miko waved.

"Adios!" Five waved.

Tim left the room, but Lexi still had something she wanted to say. She raced out of the room and caught up to him right as he stood at the front door.

"Tim, wait!" Lexi shouted stopping right beside him. "I just wanna say, sorry for ignoring your trophy advice before. You were just trying to cheer me up."

"Well, it's not just that, Lexi." Tim said. "Miko told me how much you love karate, so when you said you were wanting to quit… Well, it's basically like me, your sister, Five, or ANYONE else at Hinobi giving up on gaming. It's unthinkable. For now, just focus on having fun."

"I will." Lexi said with a smile. "And I might even apply it to a few other things I do too. Might make them a lot more enjoyable." She then hugged Tim as he hugged her back before standing up. "You know, you're a really sweet guy, Tim. No wonder Miko has the hots for you."

"Well, I can't really blame her for…" Tim started to say before his face suddenly fell. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Lexi realized what she said and covered her mouth for a moment. "Uh… I said… You're sweet."

"No, no. I meant after that." Tim said confusingly. "Something about Miko having the… hots for me? As in… she LIKES me?"

Lexi sweated nervously. "Uh… Oh, wow I think I hear Miko calling for me! Can't keep her waiting! Okay, byyyeee!" She raced away as fast as she could, muttering, "She's gonna kill me," and leaving Tim alone speechless as he stared up the stairs.

"Miko… likes… me?"