Totally Spies! X Martin Mystery

Eau de Pandan

The Centre, 10.06 am
Martin crawled right into the Centre's security treadmill. Diana and Java came in right behind him and the three went through the routine retinal scan and palm scan before meeting with Billy, who still went about in his BS 1000.
"Hi, guys!" Billy greeted cheerfully.
"Hey, Billy," the three greeted in unison.
Billy grinned and gave Martin his signature fist bump, much to Diana's dismay. She had tried to offer him one once, but it just didn't feel right to him.
Billy got out of his suit and led him straight to MOM's office, hovering in his little saucer. It seemed like MOM had learned her lesson, her tabletop void of any experiments or delicate work.
"Wow, MOM, this is the first time I'm seeing you doing nothing in particular," Martin remarked, wearing a smirk. "How uncool..."
"Uncool for you, she's probably traumatised by the number of times you've foiled very important work," Diana pointed out, poking a finger at him.
"Agent Lombard is right, that's exactly why I'm keeping work-related things in the other room," MOM stated, crossing her arms as she regarded Martin. "This is now my sitting room and nothing else."
Martin pushed that aside. "Anyway, what's the mission this time, MOM?"
MOM got right down to business. "Strange happenings have been reported in an all-girls school located in Southeast Asia."
"Lots of strange things happen in all-girls schools," Martin groaned. "Like remember the coven?"
Diana shuddered. "Please, don't remind me. That one still gives me the creeps! Being one of them was horrible!"
"Please, I couldn't really tell the difference since you were one with the witches since the start," Martin smirked, giving her a sideways glance.
Diana growled and lunged at him. It was a good thing Java managed to pull her back.
"So where are we off to this time?" Martin asked, giving his step-sister a sly smirk. "Korea? Taiwan? Japan? Where?"
"None of those countries are in Southeast Asia, Martin," Diana pointed out. "There are eleven countries in Southeast Asia. Which one are we going to, MOM?"
MOM smirked just the slightest. "Malaysia. You will be going to the Anglo-Indian School For Girls."
"Alright! So we'll be meeting some awesome Indian girls?" Martin excitedly chimed in.
MOM just sighed and instructed Billy to just open a portal to lead them right there. Martin sheepishly grinned and let Java drag him all the way to Malaysia.

Spies' Penthouse, 12.01 pm
The Spies made their way back to their home after class and decided to just sit around since they didn't have anything else to do. They certainly deserved the time off since the previous mission had been a little longer than they had intended.
Clover suddenly sat up with a gasp in the middle of scrolling through her phone, gaining the attention of her best friends.
"No way!" Clover exclaimed. "That vicious, horrendous witch!"
Alex put her phone down beside her. "What is it, Clover?"
"It's Mandy!" Clover burst out. "She stole Alfy! And she's happily uploading about it all over social media!"
"Alfy?" Sam repeated, confused.
Clover rolled her eyes. "You know, Alfy? Alfred Yoo? That hottie from Surfology 101?"
The girls thought for a moment. "Oh!" They exclaimed together as they remembered the time when Clover introduced the tall young man with jet-black hair.
"You mean the guy with the barf-coloured surfboard?" Alex grimaced at the thought of the unattractive coloured board. "Yeah, I remember him."
Clover was fuming, but not at Alex's statement. "He broke up with me just last night, work of Mandy no doubt! Wonder what that backstabber said to poison him!"
"Relax, Clover, it is Mandy, after all," Sam shrugged.
"But it's Alfy!" Clover sobbed. "Mandy took my Alfy!"
Just as suddenly as she started, Clover stopped crying and turned angry again. "I'm gonna get her for it! This isn't the first time she has stolen a boy from me and it. Won't. Be. The. Last."
"I'm in!" Alex grinned and raised her arm. "What's your plan?"
Sam just sighed. "Come on, girls. You're seriously not gonna do this..."
"Oh, we are!" Clover exclaimed, smiling sinisterly. "Let's bring it on!"

Anglo-Indian School For Girls, Kuala Lumpur, 7.18 am
"Should I go undercover as one of the students again?" Diana remarked as the team watched the early-morning bustling of the school from the gates. "All I need is that Malaysian school uniform."
"Please, as if you'd blend in," Martin rolled his eyes. "Look at them, they're all Asians of mixed race. You don't look Indian, Chinese, or Malay..."
"Martin right, all girls Asian," Java added in agreement.
Diana shrugged. "Well, I guess we just have to go directly to the headmistress, then."
They asked directions to a few girls who stood right at the entrance wearing a different uniform than the other students, checking the nails and socks of other students for some reason.
"Hi, we'd like to know where the headmistress's office is?" Diana politely asked, holding her arm out to bar Martin away from her.
The Chinese girl nodded. "Yes, it's over there. Just walk into that lane, there will be a flight of stairs on your left. The office will be upstairs, just go right in."
It surprised them, just the slightest, how the girl spoke very fluent English. The three of them nodded and made their way towards the lane that the prefect pointed to. Sure enough, there was a flight of stairs with a sign that read PEJABAT, followed by an arrow that pointed up the stairs.
"That means office," Martin remarked. "I learned a few words before arriving here."
They went up and went straight into the office since there wasn't anyone seated behind the glass window. The signs were all in Malay so the three of them had to make some translations before making their way to the principal's office.
The headmistress was actually waiting for them, a tall professionally-dressed Indian woman with her dark curly hair tied into a low ponytail.
"Mrs. Shruti, I presume?" Martin greeted.
"Yes, you must be the paranormal investigators from the Centre," Mrs. Shruti nodded. "There's something really up in this school and we need to know what it actually is."
"Can you give us the details?" Diana asked.
The headmistress nodded and led them downstairs, leading them straight to a garden at the back of the compound with the name of the school neatly trimmed onto some shrubs so that it could be read.
"Do you notice anything here?" Mrs. Shruti asked. "Anything at all?"
There wasn't anything amiss at all. It was a beautiful day with the sun's golden rays shining above them.
"I don't see anything wrong here," Martin said. He sniffed the air and frowned slightly. "Except for this strange scent. But it smells nice, I guess."
"That's the thing," Mrs. Shruti pointed out. "It is the smell of pandan, fragrant leaves that are commonly used in cooking."
"Maybe there's a pandan plant growing somewhere here?" Diana suggested. "I mean, the plant is common in these parts if it's used in cooking, right?"
"That's what I thought too. I had the place investigated but there was not a single pandan plant in sight!"
"And why is this a bad thing?" Martin smiled as he sniffed the air. "It's a nice smell, not a bad one."
"Don't any of you find it odd that there's a sudden smell here despite not a single pandan leaf in sight?" Mrs. Shruti piped up. "It's as if someone crushed a bunch of those leaves and is waving it in the air in front of your face. The scent is that strong."
"Maybe there's a civet here or something," Diana suggested. "You know, those animals that also carry this same scent. I don't think there's any paranormal activity here."
"We tried looking for those too but the only stray animals we get around the school are cats," the headmistress pointed out. "We searched everywhere, but not a single one of those civets or the leaves. There's something wrong here. The school's religious studies teacher suspected that there's a lost spirit here, she suggested calling a priest but I decided to get you guys here first because I've heard stories of you guys."
"I need to read up on this first," Martin said as he opened the Legendex. In a matter of seconds, they were shown the local folk stories. "According to this, a strong scent of pandan out of nowhere usually indicates the presence of a friendly spirit. These ghosts are usually harmless and most likely seeking help." He turned it off and turned to the rest. "What do you say we test out the nifty new gadget that MOM gave us?"
"I don't want the students to get scared, why don't you guys come back at two-thirty after school?" Mrs. Shruti suggested. "There's a lot of places for you guys to hang out around here while then."
"Sounds good," Martin shrugged. "We'll be back later, I guess."

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating this book much lately, but here's a new chapter. Also, if you guys have noticed, the name Shruti is actually lifted from another one of my books that takes place in Malaysia lol. I guess I just felt lazy to pick out a new name so yeah, I just named the principal after another character lol.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Love,
ShashaMeow