Story Created: 8/10/22
1:02 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
At the spies' beach house, Sam, Clover, Britney, Nick, and Mat were just finished with lunch before going to The Groove for shopping and a mani-pedi. Blaine wasn't among them, but he said he would meet them at The Groove later in the day. As for Alex, she was upstairs tending to other businesses.
"Should we throw in a little beach time afterwards?" Mat asked everyone.
"Sounds good to me," Sam quipped.
"I'm not gonna say no," Clover giggled.
"We're just waiting on Alex, then?" Britney wondered.
"Uh-huh," Sam answered. "I guess she wanted to give Oinky a bath first."
"I'm still completely baffled that Alex has a piglet," Mat sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Trust me, dude, I've seen stranger cases of weird pets," Nick quipped. "Would you believe me if I said that one of May's friends in the Jellyfish Pirates once had a bat as a pet?"
"Yuki seems like the kind of girl who would do that," Mat chuckled.
The spies waited on Alex to come back downstairs so they could leave; she said she'd eat something at The Groove for lunch.
"If one thing's for sure," Clover stated, remembering one time Alex tried to bathe Oinky. "Bathing Oinky will be a chore!!" (A/N: Remember S6's Dog Show Showdown?)
"Totally," Sam chastised, remembering she and Clover tried to help Alex out.
"If bathing a dog is hard, I can only imagine how tough that time must have been," Britney told Sam and Clover.
"It's a little pig, I don't think it's any easier," Mat chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.
"True," Nick stated until he let out some laughs at how tough it can be to bathe a dog in general.
Meanwhile...
Upstairs, Alex was already in the beach house bathroom trying to give Oinky his bath.
"Oinky, stop... fighting!!" Alex chastised, but Oinky refused to go in the water, even jumping away from Alex at one point.
Alex was honestly surprised that Oinky could jump so well.
Alex was having no luck, but when she heard the doorknob being jiggled, she freaked out – she'd forgotten to lock the door!!
"Alex, how're you coming?" Nick asked. "Sam and Clover's patience is wearing thin..."
"Oinky does not... want to... get in... the stinkin' bath!!" Alex exclaimed, flailing around with each attempt to catch Oinky.
"Ah, the eternal problem of pets not wanting baths," Nick chuckled as he walked in. "They'll walk in the rain and all that no problem-o, but the bath? Yeah, chalk that one up as a nightmare and a half."
"Is there anything you can do to help me with this, Nick?" Alex asked. "I know you're good with pets."
"Let me give it a shot," Nick quipped as he moved to try and calm Oinky down.
To Nick's surprise, Oinky simply dashed underneath him as he made a grab, causing Nick to lose his balance and fall into the water himself.
"...not my finest moment, I'll admit," Nick sighed. "If you'll excuse me..."
Nick quickly got back to his feet and dashed downstairs past the rest of the confused spies as he chased down the rogue piglet.
When Nick made it to the living room, however, he saw Oinky, oddly enough, perfectly calm and curled up in Nozomi's arms.
"I found a cute little piggy," Nozomi giggled.
"...how did you do that?" Nick wondered. "Alex and I have been trying to give this little guy a bath with very little success, and here comes you, and you've got him cuddling you like you just bribed him with a pet treat. ...I don't exactly know what pigs like to eat."
"I've kinda been through the whole 'trying to give my pet a bath' rigmarole myself, so I know how to get them to calm down so I can actually administer the bath," Nozomi responded. "And I guess that also applies to unusual pets like this cute little piglet."
"Seriously, Nozomi, you are a lifesaver," Alex laughed. "Now come on, Oinky, let's get you all cleaned up so I can join the others for our beach time before Clover literally yanks me out of this bathroom."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Clover got impatient enough to do that, and I'm usually the one with the super-limited patience around here," Nick teased as the three of them returned to the bathroom to give Oinky his bath.
"Hold on a minute, Alex," Sam replied, seeing what Alex was wearing.
"I'm surprised you're wearing your swimsuit already," Clover quipped.
"It just felt like it would work," Alex replied.
"Anyway, Nozomi has a magic touch for pets after all," Clover pointed out.
"I'll say," Mat added. "I'm impressed."
He even did a double take on Alex since she wasn't wearing her PJs like before.
"Maybe we should take note, too, Sammy," Clover commented to Sam.
"Maybe, just maybe," Sam quipped.
"You got the magic, Nozomi," Mat stated. "I never owned a pet at all because I just didn't want all those responsibilities hanging over me and such."
"So, is your mani-pedi still on at The Groove, or are we just foregoing it and going to the beach?" Nick asked the others.
Sam and Clover thought it over a bit.
"There'll be other days for a mani-pedi," Clover stated. "I guess going to the beach defeats the purpose a bit of a mani-pedi slightly."
Sam nodded as Mat came to her.
"I guess Alex was really thinking ahead," Mat kiddingly replied.
"Totally," Clover sighed with an inquiring smile.
She then got on the phone to let Blaine know they were cancelling The Groove and heading to the beach instead.
"I could see you doing the same as Alex if you had a pet yourself, Sam," Mat commented.
"I probably would," Sam admitted.
"I'll give Alex one thing, it IS rather appropriate," Clover replied.
"Yeah, and it beats having wet clothes any day," Mat added.
"No arguments there," Britney laughed.
"Should we... check it out before we go?" Clover wondered.
Sam, Mat, and Britney got some giggles out of it and decided to see for themselves.
The three of them couldn't help but chuckle when they saw Alex standing there triumphantly, right next to a very clean Oinky.
"Nozomi's definitely got that magic," Nick quipped.
"Welp, I'd say it's time for us to hit the beach!!" Alex proclaimed.
"I noticed you already had your swimsuit on, huh?" Nozomi quipped.
"Yup, I figured since we're hitting the beach, I'd get my swimsuit on while I'm trying to give this little guy his bath, and if I get wet like Nick did, then I won't have to worry, since they're technically clothes that are gonna get wet anyway," Alex explained.
"That little guy is freakin' fast, let me tell ya," Nick sighed.
"Are you gonna join us, Nozomi?" Britney asked.
"Actually, I figured I'd pet-sit for Oinky while you guys have your beach trip," Nozomi answered. "Considering that I've got a 'magic touch', I figured I could keep him nice and calm so he's not freakin' out wondering where you went."
"Dogs do that a lot," Nick quipped. "I remember my first dog doing that all the time when we had to go somewhere that we couldn't take her. She'd always give us the fabled 'puppy-dog eyes' when we did."
"You can never resist the puppy-dog eyes," Alex giggled.
2:07 P.M. – Santa Monica Beach
"And those two are definitely not wasting a second," Nick chuckled as he watched Sam and Mat playfully chase each other across the beach.
"I mean, why would they on such a beautiful beach day?" Alex laughed.
Nick gave Alex a mischievous grin, clueing her in to what was most likely about to occur.
Alex flashed an equally-mischievous grin right back just as Nick hopped to his feet and started pursuing his girlfriend.
Alex dashed away, laughing all the while, and the chase was on.
Simultaneously, Sam had reached Mat and managed to tackle him into the surf.
"Mat, you're too easy to catch," Sam giggled when they both got up soaking wet.
Clover and Blaine were just enjoying some lunch and catching some rays on top of that, too.
"Thanks, Blaine-y," Clover giggled.
Meanwhile, Mat was now chasing Sam, who chose to wear her red and white tie-on bikini. He managed to catch her and tackle her into the surf.
"I think I'm glad we rescheduled our mani-pedi for this," Sam giggled.
"There'll be other days," Mat remarked as they shared a kiss.
As for Britney, she was getting a couple of snacks for herself and everyone else at the concession stands.
"Thank you," she told the employee at the concession stands.
Both couples were still playing in the water and chasing each other every which way when Britney came walking back to the shoreline.
"Snacks, anyone?" Britney asked as she took a seat next to Clover and in-between Nick and Alex's belongings.
When the two couples came back for a break, they were all soaking wet and looking to catch a breath.
"Oh, gosh!" Nick wheezed. "I haven't had a chase like that in quite a while!"
"Same here," Mat replied as he took a seat with Sam.
Britney offered some snacks to them both and they complied.
"Ah, that was all kinds of fun," Alex giggled. "It's been a while since we had a chase that fun, eh?"
"I definitely concur," Mat chuckled. "You two definitely looked like you were having the time of your lives out there."
"And it looks like someone over there's having a crazy time of it, too," Clover chuckled, gesturing to a spot further from them, where a group of people were all crowding around someone Nick definitely recognized.
"Wait, is that...?" Alex wondered when she recognized them as well.
"Yup, it looks like Souji's off on one of his tangents again," Nick quipped. "I'd better go stop him before May dunks him again."
"Wait, that's happened before?" Britney gasped.
"Long story," Nick laughed as he moved to see what was going on.
Souji appeared to be talking rather enthusiastically about something, though the other Jellyfish Pirates seemed to be bored with it, no doubt having heard Souji's long-winded speeches many, many times before.
"It looks like we have a speech-giver here," Nick teased.
"Please shut him up, Nick," May dramatically groaned. "I don't know how much more I can take..."
Nick suddenly got a cunning idea, and maneuvered behind Souji while he was still speech-ing. The rest of the Jellyfish Pirates watched with bated breath, wondering what Nick was going to do.
Nick raised his right hand, and with just a small push of psychic power, he sent Souji tumbling into the water, causing the Jellyfish Pirates to start laughing.
Souji could only sputter in confusion as he resurfaced. "...yeah, I guess I had that one coming, huh?" Souji chuckled.
Totally Spies: Pig in a Bath
~The End~